Chapter 59 Notice Wall
After lunch, Sun Shan walked around the yard a few times to help digest the food.
As I walked, I discovered that the school had a notice board. On the wall of the courtyard, there was a flat board with several old notices posted on it.
But there is one that is brand new, just posted by Zheng Bo.
Sun Shan asked in confusion: "Zheng Bo, what did you post?"
There are so few students, so just give the order. In less than three seconds, the whole school will know.
Zheng Bo smiled and said, "This is a notice for corvée service. It's fresh out of the oven. Our master asked me to post it so that everyone can see it often."
He also explained that two days ago, Zheng Dalang from the county town came back. Firstly, he was notified to perform labor service, secondly, he was asked to pay for labor service, and thirdly, Master Zheng asked that if there was any notice from the county, he should copy it and bring it back to the school.
Zheng Bo posted notices, which naturally attracted students.
Sun Dingqing saw Sun Shan staring at the notice without blinking, and asked with a smile: "Shanzi, do you know what it says?"
Sun San shook his head. He had just learned a few words from the Three Character Classic, so how could he say that he could understand it?
But based on the traditional Chinese characters I knew in my previous life, I could roughly understand what the above content meant by guessing.
In fact, when I saw the word "corvée", I knew it was about the conscription two days ago.
Sun Dingqing patted his cousin's head and told him what was posted on the notice, saying softly, "I just learned it, too. The teacher told us."
Zheng Bo said with a smile: "You have learned well. I taught you this morning and now you can understand it."
During their casual conversation, Sun Shan finally understood why the school had posted the notice regarding corvee labor.
It turns out that this was one of the contents of Master Zheng’s teaching.
Every month, Zheng Dalang from the city would go to the "Eight-Character Wall" at the gate of the county government office and copy down some notices from the wall.
There are all kinds of things, such as the corvée labor this time, the reward announcement, the government decree report, etc.
Master Zheng would teach students word by word how to read notices, how to write notices, and even asked students to care about what was happening in the county.
Sun Shan carefully observed the notice. There were no punctuation marks or spaces on the notice. The key points were marked with a red pen. It was unclear whether it was marked by the writer of the notice or by Master Zheng.
If Sun Shan doesn't read it carefully now, he won't understand what the notice says.
At present, there is no punctuation to separate the words. A large number of words are connected together, and you need to read them carefully to barely understand what is written above.
Yang Qingbei and De Ge'er looked at their brothers in admiration and said, "I don't even know what it says."
Zheng Bo patted their heads lovingly and said gently, "Don't worry, the teacher will teach you later. Now the main thing is to learn to read. Once you learn more, you will be able to read later."
The other students gathered around and discussed the corvée several times. One of the more curious students even read the above content to Sun Shan's three younger fellow students. Of course, they used Guangnan dialect, for fear that if they read it in Beijing dialect, the younger fellow students would not understand.
After lunch break, the three returned to the classroom.
Sun Shan now understood Master Zheng's teaching method.
In the morning, I first check what students learned yesterday, then teach new knowledge, and then ask students to study on their own. I teach in the next class.
In the afternoon, I helped students consolidate what they had learned in the morning, and then went to the small pond to practice calligraphy.
At this time, Master Zheng quickly helped Sun Shan and the other two to explain again what they had learned in the morning, and his teaching speed was getting faster and faster.
Zheng Tongsheng waved his sleeves and said, "You should practice calligraphy outside. You must practice well. Especially, the characters you write should not be too big. Practice in the direction of small characters."
Checked the three students' copied homework.
Sun Shan and Yang Qingbei were able to write the characters in the grids, and their writing was completely correct, with clear handwriting and every stroke counted, which was very good for a beginner.
As for De Ge'er's, Zheng Tongsheng looked at him expressionlessly. This time he wrote it stroke by stroke, but the whole word was so big that it couldn't fit into two grids, and his homework was completely unqualified.
Master Zheng did not hit De Ge'er with the stick, but warned him: "Sun Dingde, you must practice well. If tomorrow's homework is still beyond the grid, don't blame me for being rude."
De Geer shrank back and said timidly, "Master, I understand."
After Master Zheng left, Sun Shan and his two companions went to the small pond to practice calligraphy.
De Ge'er hung his head and said gloomily, "Shanzi, why can't I write small characters?"
Sun Shan said bluntly: "Because you like to play and don't practice enough."
After a pause, he asked again, "After class, did you practice calligraphy?"
De Geer nodded, then shook his head guiltily: "I finished my homework as soon as I got home from class."
Glancing around to make sure no one was around, he whispered, "Practicing in the academy all day, and then practicing again when you get home, how boring."
It would be better to go out and play with my little buddy Big Head Dog, especially since I caught a lot of fish by the creek yesterday. They were as big as a palm and tasted so delicious when grilled.
Sun Shan said righteously: "Brother De, learning requires perseverance. You are stupid to begin with. If you don't work harder, you will never learn."
De Geer was startled. Why was Shan Zi talking so loudly? He looked around and luckily there was no one around.
Unconvinced, he said, "What do you mean I'm stupid? There's no one smarter than me in the village. People in Sunjia Village say I look like my aunt and I'm sure I'll have a bright future."
When people in Sunjia Village praise others, they like to be praised as Aunt Sun the most, because it is a clear success story that everyone can touch and see.
Sun Shan said sternly, "You were not stupid originally, but because of laziness, you have become more and more stupid. If you don't study hard, you will still be illiterate in the future. Auntie will definitely not want you to work in the capital. Auntie said that anyone who wants to go to the capital must be able to read and write. She will not accept a blind person."
Of course De Ge'er was eager to go to the provincial capital. Who doesn't want to eat and drink delicious food? He also knew that Sun Shan was not lying.
My father and mother taught me in the same way, even more directly than Sun Shan did. They told their three sons clearly that if it weren't for the fact that you could please your eldest aunt and get jobs in the city, they would not have spent money to send you to school.
Who wouldn't feel bad about spending a few taels of silver every year? How nice it would be to save it, so that you can have meat every meal and still have some money left.
De Ge'er touched his head awkwardly and said in a muffled voice, "I understand. I will study hard."
Yang Qingbei heard the conversation between the two cousins and asked curiously, "Are you studying just to work in the capital?"
De Ge'er said as a matter of course: "Of course it is, is it to work in the county town?
Sun Shan looked at De Ge'er speechlessly. This was definitely not what Yang Qingbei was asking.
He said seriously: "Qingbei, don't listen to Dege'er, reading can make you smart. Whether you go to work in the capital or take the imperial examination like Master Zheng, you must study hard."
Yang Qingbei nodded and said, "Ashan, I understand."
Sun Shan and De Ge'er didn't know what he was thinking.