Three days later, Bai Gui had become proficient in dictating the first half of the Thousand-Character Classic and roughly mastered hundreds of traditional Chinese characters. Although the calligraphy he wrote was still a bit horrible, he could finally read it.
So, I took advantage of the early morning retreat.
Bai Gui came to the east building, which was Xu Xiucai's dormitory.
At this time, the schoolchildren had left in twos and threes. The only sound in the formerly noisy ancestral hall was the sound of Xu Xiucai squatting down to wash pots and cooking rice, and the sound of hardwood crackling. Xu Xiucai took out a cloth bag and a dozen big red dates from the bookcase.
Dropped three or four into the pot.
He estimated how many red dates he took with his hands. He seemed to feel that he had taken too few, so he took a few more and handed them to Bai Gui to let him taste them.
When Bai Gui finished chewing a red date and spit out the date core.
Only then did Xu Xiucai speak out, with an unhappy look on his face: "It's lunch, why don't you go back? What are you doing here?"
He saw the book and black lacquer board in Bai Gui's hand, and the brush between his thumb and forefinger. However, after going to school early in the morning, he was not very willing to help others solve their doubts during this time.
It's okay to have questions, but they should be asked in class.
If you don’t understand after class, it’s okay to ask him again, but it’s been a while since school, so it’s not appropriate to come to see him.
"In reply to what I said to you, sir, the student can already write the first half of the thousand-character essay silently, so I came to ask sir for advice on how to study the second half."
Bai Gui hurriedly stuffed the red dates into his arms, then bowed and saluted.
"Are you familiar with dictation?" Xu Xiucai's expression softened a little. This was a reason. After he became proficient in dictation in class, he didn't want to waste any effort, so he came to ask for advice.
"Did you know..." Xu Xiucai was about to say lie, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was inappropriate, so with a soft face, he picked up a pen to write from the desk beside him and asked, "Which word is this?"
Even if you can write the entire article silently, you may not be able to grasp the essence of the article. Some more complicated words can be quickly recognized using modular memory if they are placed in a line, but if they are taken out individually, some people who are not good at writing will be overwhelmed.
.
Bai Gui secretly sighed that after Xu Xiucai started writing, the words he wrote were full of ink, rigorous and stretched, dignified and majestic. But at this moment, he was just distracted for a moment, and immediately said without thinking: "This is 'Zhong' (clock)
The word "gathers not only the tomb classics, but also the heroes. Du Hao Zhongli, lacquer script wall scriptures." It means: not only ancient and modern classics are gathered here, but also many talents are gathered here, including Du Du's cursive script manuscripts.
and the authentic official script of Zhong Yao, the ancient lacquer-written books excavated from the tomb of Wang Anli in Wei, and the ancient scriptures found in the walls of the Confucius Temple in Qufu."
"Do you know who is Du Du? Who is Zhong Yao? King Anli of Wei?" Xu Xiucai looked at Bai Gui in surprise. Could it be that there really is a prodigy who is born to know this?
"I don't know!" Bai Gui replied truthfully.
Although ancient classics such as the Thousand-Character Classic were not taught in previous life education, some famous figures in history did know them clearly, which is different from traditional Confucian education. Confucianism is to study the classics first and then study the historical records.
"Then how come you answered so clearly?" Xu Xiucai breathed an unexpected sigh of relief and asked.
"There are notes in the book, but I just memorized them as a rule."
Bai Gui shook his head.
It is indeed possible to hide one's inferiority, but now is the era when Confucianism is in decline. Who knows when the imperial examination will be abolished. His purpose is to gain fame and make a comeback.
The road to the imperial examination is like tens of thousands of people vying to cross a single-plank bridge, and hundreds of teams vying to cross the river. If you fall behind for a while, you will fall behind step by step.
If he wants to stand out from these Mengtong, he must let Xu Xiucai pay attention to him. Only with Xu Xiucai's attention can he start a small business and obtain more capital.
Otherwise, he could ask Xu Xiucai to check his dictation in class.
Now no one else but the two of them can allow Xu Xiucai to ask more questions.
"Bring the book to me and let me have a look."
Xu Xiucai frowned. He knew the Thousand-Character Essay by heart, but his annotations were not very clear. It couldn't be said that Bai Gui's interpretation was too shocking. He needed to see if it was true.
Flipping through the book, I found that this is indeed the case in the notes. Although I cannot say that it is correct word for word, the general idea is this.
Next, Xu Xiucai, as if he did not believe in evil, recited a paragraph and asked Bai Gui to explain another paragraph.
Bai Gui was able to explain some of the allusions in the first part with familiarity, but as he got to the back, he started to stumble a bit. Some of the allusions could only be answered by 80% to 90% of the students in the school, but this was better than 90% of the students in the school.
"You write the entire first half of it silently."
Xu Xiucai closed the book, asked Bai Gui to sit on his desk and stool, then placed the black lacquer board on the desk and said.
The Banque Thousand-Character Essay only had five or six hundred words, and was quickly written down.
"I'm going to teach you the second half of Que."
Xu Xiucai took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and said in a cold voice with a straight face: "My memory is acceptable, but it is only considered good in Bailu Village. Zhou Yuan is about the same age as you and has already memorized the four books. Now,
You are currently studying "The Legend of Gu Liang", you still have a long way to go."
"This is just a schoolchild in a village, and there are people with similar qualifications to you, let alone a township or a county?"
"The people who were my teachers in the same year are much more talented than you, but only a few people have achieved honors."
"You need to remember."
Bai Gui nodded in agreement.
His talent of being diligent and able to make up for his shortcomings is enough to make him surpass some of his peers with average qualifications, and he is far behind some prodigies!
For example, he knows that Zhao Yuanren, a Tianjin native who is two years older than him, is the father of modern linguistics. He not only speaks thirty-three dialects, but is also proficient in seven foreign languages. The most amazing thing about this man is that wherever he goes,
You can quickly learn the local dialect.
During the Second World War, this man went to France to attend a conference. When he was at a Paris station, he spoke the local Parisian dialect to the staff. As a result, the other party thought he was a Parisian who had returned from a long trip, so they talked in a friendly manner.
Also in 1920, the famous English philosopher Russell came to China for a lecture tour. Everyone recommended him as a translator. Not only could he accurately translate Russell's jokes and slang, but he would also translate in local dialects wherever he went.
Compared to real prodigies like Zhao Yuanren, he is far behind!
Speaking of Zhao Yuanren, he and Dr. Hu are both friends studying in the United States, and they have a close personal relationship. At the same time, they applied for the second batch of Geng-funded government scholarships to study abroad in Yanjing. Zhao Yuanren ranked second on the list, while Dr. Hu ranked 55th.
Dr. Hu had a famous joke, "I can't do it, thank you." Decades later, when the government wanted to hire this man, his reply was also in these five characters.
The remaining second half of the Thousand Character Essay was quickly taught by Xu Xiucai.
When Bai Gui was about to say goodbye and leave.
Xu Xiucai stopped him and said: "From now on, you can come to my teacher for advice every day during lunch and before three quarters of the hour (17:45)."
"Thank you sir."
Bai Gui suddenly became excited and quickly knelt down and saluted Xu Xiucai.
His little thought finally paid off.
After obtaining the treatment of Xu Xiucai from opening a small stove, he had noticed that only Zhou Yuan, who was treating menstruation, had such treatment, not even the Bai brothers and the Lu brothers.
Because Xu Xiucai's daily lectures were already too much for them, it was not a secret.
