Chapter 87 Eating Zongzi
Afterwards, Master Zheng told the students the story of Qu Yuan who drowned himself in the river, especially the line "The road is long and far, I will seek up and down" from "Chu Ci Li Sao". He said to the students: "The road of learning is long and far, and it is boundless. As a teacher, I hope that even if you don't study anymore, you will keep a heart for learning."
Hearing this, Sun Shan was deeply touched. Living and learning are similar in nature.
Sun Shan thought that even if he failed to pass the exam to become a scholar, he should still maintain a learning and exploring heart.
Master Zheng said to the students, "Okay, I have told you the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival and the life story of Qu Yuan. Today's homework is to write a poem on the Dragon Boat Festival. Hand it in tomorrow."
He glanced at Sun Shan and the others and said, "You three don't need it. Copy the words you learned this morning 10 times and hand them in tomorrow."
When the other brothers heard that they had to write poems, they all wailed. Sun Shan and the other two covered their mouths and laughed. They knew that copying was homework without the teacher telling them.
As for writing poems, I mourned for my senior brothers. Because if I couldn't do it, or if I did it too outrageously, Master Zheng would beat me with a stick, a real one, hehe.
When Master Zheng saw that it was almost time, he took his students back to Zheng’s School. Today’s outdoor outing ended perfectly.
If it weren't for Master Zheng, no one would know the origin of the name of Dakeng River, nor would they know that there are so many activities held during the Dragon Boat Festival. Outside the mountains, it is a different world.
When they got back to the school, before class was over, Sun Shan and the other two went to the small pond to practice calligraphy.
While practicing, I recalled today’s Dragon Boat Festival trip.
De Geer smiled and said, "Shanzi, the Dragon Boat Festival is in two days, will the school be closed?"
Sun Shan knew that he had a day off because his fellow brothers had already told him so.
Yang Qingbei answered for Sun Shan: "I heard that we have one day off. Where are you going to play, Ade?"
De Geer rolled his eyes, pouted and said, "The teacher will definitely assign homework, so there will be no time to play."
Sun Shan was shocked by De Ge'er's high level of awareness. He actually did not play in order to finish his homework. He said with relief: "De Ge'er, you are right to think so. We should finish the homework assigned by the teacher before playing."
De Geer rolled his eyes at Sun Shan and said unhappily, "If I don't write, I will definitely be beaten by the teacher. Oh, how miserable."
Sun Shan and Yang Qingbei looked at each other and chose to ignore him.
When the sound of bang bang bang was heard, I knew the class was over.
Sun Shan and his two companions packed up their things, left the school, and were taken home by Sun Bomin.
After returning home, she saw Huang and her elder sister Guyu making rice dumplings. She asked in surprise, "Grandma, why are you making rice dumplings so early?" The Dragon Boat Festival is not until the day after tomorrow, so they should make them tomorrow.
Huang smiled and said, "Tomorrow your father and mother will go to your grandparents' house to give gifts, and there are also gifts for Master Zheng."
Eldest sister Guyu picked up the rice dumpling leaf flexibly, made it into a funnel shape, put a spoonful of mung beans, peanuts and glutinous rice in it, then put two pieces of pork marinated with five-spice powder, one lean and one fat, on the glutinous rice, and scooped a few more mung beans, peanuts and glutinous rice, and wrapped it tightly along the edges.
I took a small bamboo strip to tie it up, and in less than a minute, the zongzi was wrapped. The zongzi in Sunjia Village is salty, no, it should be said that the zongzi in Guangnan Province is salty and tastes particularly fragrant.
Sun Shan tried to make rice dumplings, but failed. He kept turning the leaves around and around, but just couldn't wrap them tightly.
His family members were disgusted by this and said that the child was in the way and drove him away.
Sun Shan asked again: "Grandma, we are wrapping them today, but we are not wrapping them on the Dragon Boat Festival?"
Huang shook her head and said, "Pack, pack more that day and give them to relatives in the village."
Sun Shan watched Huang and his elder sister Guyu make rice dumplings for a while, then went back to study.
Finish the homework assigned by the teacher first, and take out the "Thousand Character Classic" to study in advance.
Since his aunt bought him the book, Sun Shan would look up words in the dictionary when he didn't understand them. If he didn't know how to read a word, he would try to look up its pronunciation.
There are four ways to pronounce the word: direct pronunciation, reading as if, phono-semantic characters, and fanqie. If you use all the methods and still can't pronounce it, mark it and focus on learning it when Master Zheng talks about it.
Sun Shan didn't quite understand it at first, but he figured out how to read it slowly through trial and error. Thanks to the books his aunt bought for him, he had books to look up and didn't have to wait for the teacher to answer every question.
After completing the planned tasks step by step, I went to the well to practice calligraphy.
Because of practicing calligraphy, I use more ink blocks.
Ink blocks can be expensive or cheap. One ounce of ink costs one catty of gold, and one catty of ink costs 500 wen (the weight units mentioned in the book are 1 catty and 10 ounces, for easy conversion).
Sun Shan asked Sun Bomin to buy the lowest quality, and each hu cost 100 coins. After a long time, the number of ink blocks was not small, but he had to practice. He tried to write with water, but the handwriting was not clear and the impression was not deep, so he could only write with ink.
In fact, writing it down on paper makes it easier to remember, but due to limited conditions, I have to save as much as possible.
It felt like after practicing for a while, it was getting dark, and Su called out, "Shanzi, let's eat first."
I thought to myself, my good son is such a studious kid. Everyone is busy in the yard, but he is not disturbed. Is this what the teacher said about the two ears... What is going on outside the window?
Su didn't quite remember the sentence. She just heard Zheng Bo praising Shanzi when she was picking him up and she thought it was a good compliment. She wanted to remember it, but she couldn't.
Sun Shan responded, packed up his things, and walked into the main room. He didn't cook dinner tonight, but made some rice dumplings, so everyone could just eat them.
The rice dumplings in Sunjia Village were not as big as those in Zhaoqing in his previous life. The ones in Sunjia Village were small and exquisite, no bigger than an adult's fist. Sun Shan suspected that there was a shortage of food here, so he made them so small on purpose so that he could make more and everyone could have a share when the food was shared.
I peeled one quickly and finished it in a few bites. The rice dumplings are delicious when they are just out of the pot. The fragrance of bamboo leaves is wafting in the air. The lean meat and fat meat are overlapped with each other. It tastes oily and fresh. It is really delicious.
Huang said to Su: "Go back to your parents' home tomorrow and bring back some rice dumplings, some meat, and some salted fish."
Su responded and said gratefully, "Mother, the head of the household and I will go back tomorrow. The child should not go. There are many snakes in the mountains recently. If you get bit, it will be troublesome."
It takes a long climb to get from Sunjia Village to Hulingshan Village, Su's natal family's home. Snakes are common around the Dragon Boat Festival, so be careful.
Huang nodded and said, "You and Bomin should be careful. Go quickly and come back quickly. Don't leave too late. The road is long. It would be bad if you come back in the dark."
Sun Bomin smiled and said, "Mother, besides sending rice dumplings, what else should we send to Master Zheng?"
Huang took a bite of the rice dumpling and said with a smile, "Send some rice dumplings, a piece of bacon, two sausages, and two salted fish. These are brought back from the city, Master, please enjoy them."
Sun Bomin thought it made sense, and said to Sun Shan: "Your father will take you to school tomorrow, so you can take him with you. Master Zheng is your teacher, so you must respect him."
Sun Shan ate several zongzi in a row. He was small and had a small stomach, so he couldn't eat any more. He nodded and said, "Dad, I understand."