The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 5 Combination Punch
The great scholar Gao Shaowei has taught so many great figures in his life. Nowadays, there are talented people who are famous all over the world, and there are people who hold high positions and power. No matter what their backgrounds are, who dared to say that studying is easy when they were studying?
After being scolded by Gao Shaowei, Li Diudiu had to add an explanation: "It is easy for Master to find books for me to read, so he spared no effort to let me study in the academy. The books in the academy should be more difficult."
"A little harder?!"
Gao Shaowei's face turned pale with anger. He really wanted to kick this brat out. He was about to say something, but when he thought of Zhou Huaili who was still waiting outside the door and who had sent him a priceless painting of climbing the Quetai Tower, if he kicked the kid out, he would probably have to break off his friendship with Zhou Huaili. Although the two were not familiar with each other, he couldn't do anything to the extreme when things were going on in public.
People would say that I accepted the calligraphy and kicked the child out, which is not decent.
So Gao Shaowei took a breath and said, "You all should understand that studying is not easy. Reading is not about reading words, but about reading the deep meaning expressed in the words. Young people can be proud, but don't be arrogant. You must know that there is a path to the mountain of books, and diligence is the way..."
Li Diudiu added as if talking to himself: "Who cares if it's sunny or cloudy, the sun, the moon, or the stars."
Gao Shaowei held back the rest of his words.
"Who cares about the weather, the sun, the moon, and the stars?"
Gao Shaowei thought about it carefully. This sentence was not neat, but the more he thought about it, the more profound it seemed. Was it a kind of perseverance? An attitude? And a bit crazy, a kind of crazy that made people like him.
"Li Diudiu, if you really have such perseverance, you can succeed in studying."
Gao Shaowei's expression eased a lot. Li Diudiu didn't expect that a casual remark of his would change Gao Shaowei's attitude. He didn't expect why Gao Shaowei could think of this.
Gao Shaowei paced and said, "Do you know why the four of you are qualified to stand in front of me and accept my assessment? This is not the time for the academy to recruit students, but it just so happens that a few people dropped out of school because they couldn't stand the hardship of studying and went home. For such students, as long as someone said that they couldn't continue studying, I would agree and would never stop them."
He paused and continued, "To those who want to climb the mountain of books, I give them cloth shoes; to those who want to cross the ocean of learning, I give them a boat; to those who climb the mountain but not halfway down, or cross the ocean but turn back, I do not look down on them, but they are not destined to be with me."
He returned to his chair and sat down. He then asked, "Now I will ask you a few more questions, and you should answer them to the best of your ability."
"Do you know how many credits there are?"
The four children looked at each other. This question seemed difficult to answer.
Seeing that no one answered, Gao Shaowei shook his head and said, "You haven't entered school yet, so I really embarrassed you by asking this question. Now I'll tell you, in the Four Pages Academy, you read books to gain knowledge, discern right from wrong, and ask and answer questions to know right from wrong. These are the three major classes in the academy. There will be teachers to teach you how to read, and they will let you debate, and I will sit in the classroom and listen to your questions."
He looked at Zhang Xiaolin: "What is the key to studying?"
Zhang Xiaolin thought about it and answered nervously: "Read?"
Gao Shaowei shook his head: "Yes, it's thinking."
He looked at Li Diudiu again: "What is the key to the debate?"
Li Diudiu replied: "It's a bar."
Gao Shaowei's eyes widened: "What is it?"
"Argument, argumentative, argumentative, argumentative, in our village this kind of person is called an argumentative fool, he will disagree with whatever you say, if you say something good he will say something bad, if you say something bad he will say something good, argument is a spirit, a fighting spirit, so debate is about arguing, no matter right or wrong, just argue and then talk."
Gao Shaowei raised his hand and gently soothed his chest, silently saying, "Don't be angry, don't be angry, whoever you want will be angry to death would be proud of it."
He sighed and said, "The purpose of debate is to exercise the mind, broaden the horizons through debate, find loopholes in the opponent's logic and fight back. The so-called verbal battle exercises a person's mind, so the key to debate is argument... Pah, the key to debate is agility."
Liu Shengying, the most childlike of the four children, leaned over and asked, "Sir, can we debate on any topic?"
Gao Shaowei said: "There is something wrong with your question. As long as a topic can be raised, it can be debated, but there are many topics in this world that cannot be raised."
Liu Shengying asked stupidly, "Sir, what topic can't be raised?"
In this era and in this world, there are of course many debate topics that cannot be raised, such as the relationship between the ruler and his subjects, and parents.
To argue between the ruler and the subject is treason, to argue between parents is unfilial. The Great Chu has always advocated loyalty and filial piety. If one argues between the ruler and the subject, or between parents, it is disloyalty and unfilial, and cannot be mentioned at all. Today's Great Chu makes scholars even more nervous, and they have to be extremely careful when speaking.
Last year, Yan Kaixiao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was imprisoned for saying that the emperor and his subjects are like father and son. There should be nothing wrong with this saying in itself. Since ancient times, there have been countless people who have said this, and the emperor would certainly not be unhappy. However, Yan Kaixiao was reported to the emperor for trying to disrupt the government and insult the royal family.
Because Yan Kaixiao's mother was a palace maid who was married to Yan Kaixiao's father by the previous emperor, the people who reported him said that Yan Kaixiao's statement that the monarch and his subjects were like father and son was implying that he was the previous emperor's child, which was an insult to the royal family and was disloyal and unfilial.
Therefore, Yan Kaixiao's property was confiscated and his entire family was exiled to the frontier as slaves.
Gao Shaowei thought about this and shook his head: "The debate topic is given to you by your instructor. Your instructor will let you know whether you can propose it when the time comes."
The current emperor is fifty years old, but... stupid and incompetent. Gao Shaowei knows this very well but cannot say anything. The funny thing is that just after the emperor issued an order to punish Yan Kaixiao, he sent someone to secretly ask Yan Kaixiao, "Are you really my half-brother?"
Yan Kaixiao must have said fuck it in his heart.
When Gao Shaowei thought of this, he became depressed. The sage said, why study literature? Because literature can govern the country and military power can pacify the world. Literature is the carrier of the truth. But among all the scholars in the court, which one still has the integrity of a scholar?
So he didn't want to say anything more. He only talked about two of the three major courses in the Four Pages Academy and didn't want to say anything more. He waved his hand and said, "The academy focuses on studying, supplemented by strengthening the body. Have you four ever practiced martial arts?"
The Chu people believed that practicing martial arts was a lowly thing. Children of nobles practiced martial arts to cultivate themselves, but children from ordinary families had no choice but to practice martial arts. Even children from merchants and wealthy families practiced martial arts out of necessity. If they failed in their studies and turned to martial arts, they could only become bodyguards or security guards. How could they achieve anything great?
Although the imperial examinations of the Great Chu State consisted of two subjects, civil and military, the top civil candidate would be awarded the sixth rank, with a red robe and ribbons, whereas the top military candidate had no rank and after have to go to the Ministry of War and wait to be dispatched.
Seeing that they were silent, Gao Shaowei sighed again: "Practicing martial arts is neither lowly nor shameful."
He pointed outside and said, "If you practice martial arts, you can demonstrate them outside, or you can learn from each other and let me see."
Sun Rugong quickly shook his head: "I have never practiced martial arts."
Liu Shengying thought for a moment and replied, "I have never practiced martial arts either."
Zhang Xiaolin looked at Li Diudiu, and Li Diudiu was also looking at him, but Zhang Xiaolin obviously backed off, which made Li Diudiu a little disappointed. He thought, what's wrong with practicing martial arts? Should practicing martial arts make you inferior to others?
Li Diudiu replied: "The student is learning martial arts."
Zhang Xiaolin suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "Students also learn martial arts."
Gao Shaowei said: "Then you two go outside and practice for a while."
Zhang Xiaolin raised the corner of his mouth, looked at Li Diudiu and said: "You better be careful."
Li Diudiu actually had some appreciation for him and nodded: "You too."
Gao Shaowei actually has selfish motives. His granddaughter Gao Xining is more like a boy in nature and is too active, which makes him feel a little excessive. However, Gao Shaowei's son and daughter-in-law died in an accident that year, and he and his granddaughter depended on each other for life. The girl just wanted to learn martial arts. However, how could a great scholar like Gao Shaowei let his granddaughter practice martial arts openly?
Even Gao Shaowei doesn't dare to challenge the secular world. A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent. It is enough for her to learn needlework, or at most learn some musical instruments, chess, calligraphy and painting. Why learn martial arts?
But he loved his granddaughter so much that he would grant her every request. He couldn't directly find a martial arts master to teach Gao Xining, so he had to ask a few more questions every time the academy recruited students, "Who among you practices martial arts?" Then he would let those who practice martial arts practice in the yard, and Gao Xining would hide in the dark and watch secretly.
Over the years, she has been figuring things out on her own, practicing whenever she has nothing to do. Gao Shaowei doesn't understand how she is doing, so he just lets her do what she wants.
Li Diudiu and Zhang Xiaolin walked into the yard, stood facing each other a few steps apart, and both of them clasped their fists at the same time. Usually, men clasped their fists with their left hand outside and their right hand inside, while women did the opposite.
Zhang Xiaolin is more than half a head taller than Li Diudiu. After all, Li Diudiu was hungry and full, so he was relatively small. Zhang Xiaolin came from a good family and had practiced martial arts for a long time. He was strong and had a height that was obviously higher than that of a normal age.
"Small guy."
Zhang Xiaolin smiled and said, "You should know that a duel must decide the winner, but don't worry, I won't bully you. If you feel that you are not my opponent, I can let you have a hand, or you can make any conditions."
Li Diudiu was a little excited. He had been learning martial arts with his master for so long and had never fought with anyone. His master had always said that practicing martial arts was for strengthening the body, not for fighting with others. However, he always felt that the reason why his master had been able to turn danger into safety over the years was definitely not just because he was a Taoist.
Li Diudiu asked seriously: "Can I really just make any conditions?"
Zhang Xiaolin thought about it and thought, even if this little guy played some tricks, what could it do? In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and tricks were meaningless.
Zhang Xiaolin raised his eyebrows and said, "You raise it."
Li Diudiu nodded and said, "Don't cry."
"ah?"
Zhang Xiaolin was stunned for a moment: "What did you say?"
Li Diudiu: "Don't cry. It's bad for anyone who cries."
Zhang Xiaolin: "Do you deserve a beating?"
He walked towards Li Diu and said, "I want to see if you cry after getting beaten!"
Behind the screen wall, a tall girl was watching secretly. As she watched, she kept covering her face with her hands. Without looking at the situation, you could tell from her expression that it seemed to be very painful.
Half an hour later, outside the gate of the Sixe Academy, Taoist Changmei was waiting anxiously. He felt that he was dirty so he didn't dare to go close to the main entrance of the academy. He had to walk back and forth across the street. It felt like decades had passed before he saw Zhou Huaili and Li Diudiu coming out of the academy one after another.
Taoist Changmei hurried over and bowed to Zhou Huaili, saying, "Thank you for your help."
Zhou Huaili bowed in return, looked at the Taoist priest with long eyebrows, then looked at Li Diudiu, sighed deeply, turned around and left, not even bothering to say a word.
Taoist Changmei knew from his expression that Li Diudiu's performance was not good enough. He raised his hand and rubbed Li Diudiu's head: "It's okay, it's okay if you didn't do well in the exam. It's okay as long as we tried."
Li Diudiu nodded: "But it's a waste of the money that Master worked so hard to save."
Taoist Long Eyebrows: "As long as you don't lose on purpose, it's fine. I know you can't bear to part with me, but you can't lose on purpose."
Li Diudiu: “Hehe…”
Taoist Long Eyebrows: "Did you really lose on purpose?"
Li Diudiu: "No, how could that be? I think my answer was okay. Besides, I even won the fight."
Taoist Long Eyebrows was startled: "Why is there a fight in the academy? How did you win? Are you injured?"
Li Diudiu raised his eyebrows and said, "It was an easy win. The big guy hit my fist with a combination of punches to the face, and I won. I didn't get hurt, but my fist hurts a little."
