Having figured this out, Yan Mudan directly ignored her second niece Meihua and her little nephew Yan Chu. She turned her head and continued to talk to her mother.
“Mother, my eldest brother’s embarrassed to talk to you about this matter, so I’ll help them say it. Second Treasure’s a clever child, and his future achievements won’t be worse than Eldest Treasure. The teachers in other schools have said that the earlier the children are enlightened, the better. Second Treasure’s five years old this year and can get sent to the school after the New Year.”
With that said, Yan Mudan did not forget to turn around and tell Yan Meihua and Yan Chu.
“We, the Yan family, are united in spirit. Your cousins are promising and can help you in the future. You can’t be too selfish and think about yourself. You should consider more about the whole family.”
“Little Sister, you can’t say that. Little Treasure doesn’t necessarily follow Second Brother.”
The middle-aged man who just sat in the hall and did not open his mouth all the time spoke. He looked like a rich man rarely seen in the countryside. He dressed in satin clothes, and his complexion was getting paler. He was smiling naively like the Maitreya, which was safe and harmless.
This man was Yan Chu’s eldest uncle, Yan Changxue. The white and fat woman sitting next to him was Yan Changxue’s wife, Liu Fuchun. Today, because Yan Duan should be studying in the county, he did not come with them. Instead, Yan Chunhua and Yan Tao came back with them.
Yan Changxue seemed to disagree with his younger sister’s words and explained.
“I truly don’t know how to speak about this topic. After all, it’s not easy to provide for a child at home. I also know that Second Brother’s family has paid a lot over the years. If our family wants to provide another scholar, it should be Little Treasure. But studying is an important matter, and I’m not that selfish. Today, I cheekily talked about sending my son to the school, not all out of my selfish intentions.”
Yan Changxue was cautious. He took his son’s hand, who was almost the same age as Yan Chu, then walked in front of the old couple Yan.
“Father, you probably don’t know that Duan’er was already able to recite the Three Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic since he was young. Duan’er’s teachers praised that Tao’er was intelligent. They said that as long as he passed the test to become Tongsheng58Tongshenga candidate who has not yet passed the county-level imperial exam, he would get accepted as a student. Fuchun and I can’t bear to delay our children’s future, so we brazenly come back and talk about it with you two elders about this.”
“Really?”
Oldman Yan also studied for several years when he was young. After all, he was the only son in his family, and the family was well-off. But Oldman Yan himself was not the material for studying. After four or five years of studying, he could barely recite the Three Character Classic, let alone take the Imperial examination. After a long time, the family did not say anything, so he chose to give up first.
Oldman Yan especially hoped that his children and grandchildren could do what he could not do. Therefore, after Yan Duan, who became a Tongsheng, was born at home, the parents who had not been expressly biased had their conscience on the ditch and considered Yan Duan as the center in making any decision.
He might not be unaware that his second son and his family felt wronged, but he comforted himself that these grievances were only temporary. When Yan Duan became Xiucai56Xiucaia person who has passed the county-level imperial exam, then Juren57Jurena successful candidate in the imperial provincial examination, all his efforts over the years would be rewarded.
Now he heard that his five-year-old second grandson could recite the Thousand Character Classic and the Three Character Classic at a very young age, so he was excited. He looked at the chubby second grandson and wished that the other party would recite for him now.
“My wife and I didn’t know that every time Duan’er came back from the county, he would teach him to learn to read and to repeat a lesson. In just half a year, he has learned hundreds of new characters and could recite the Three-Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic. Although he wasn’t very proficient in reciting, he was ahead of Duan’er at that time in terms of progress.”
Yan Changxue was very happy. He was most proud of two things in his life. One of them was that he climbed from an apprentice to a tavern shopkeeper with his skills, which was a little worse than those of the family who became Xiucai and Juren. But it was much better than the vast majority of people who were still living at home like his second younger brother.
His second proudest thing was that he gave birth to two promising sons and a wonderfully beautiful daughter. Whether it was the eldest son or the second son, it was his glory that any one of them made a success. Therefore, Yan Changxue was bound to persuade his two elders to send his son to school.
“Tao’er, give your grandparents a paragraph.” He touched his little son’s head next to him. When at home these days, he kept focusing on his son’s back every day. He would not make a fool of himself by an ignorant blunder this time.
When Yan Tao was born, the main branch’s family moved to the town long ago. He grew up in a tavern and was not short of meat and fish. At the same age, Yan Tao was half a head taller than Yan Chu. He was white and fat, just like a meatball. Of course, this image was the symbol of good fortune and more popular with the elders in current people’s eyes.
After listening to his father’s encouragement, he took a deep breath, put his hands behind his back, and began to recite the Thousand Character Classic.
“Heaven is dark, earth golden; the cosmos is vast and diffuse. Relatives and old friends; the old and the young like different food. The concubines run the chores; they do the laundry and tidy rooms. White, white-“
The main branch family unmistakably spent a lot of effort on Yan Tao. The Thousand Character Classic could be regarded as an enlightenment book for children. However, Yan Tao was only five years old now, and he could recite most of the Thousand Character Classic skillfully. It was amazing.
Yan Tao carried more than half. Not knowing whether he was too panicked or really could not remember, when he was in the second half, he suddenly got stuck. He really could not remember what was after “they do the laundry and tidy rooms.” His white and fat face turned red. He looked at his father with sullen eyes and wanted him to give some hints.
He actually could recite most of the front skillfully, which has already given Oldman Yan and Yan née Jiang enough surprise. The old couple looked at the intelligent little grandson with a flush on their faces and felt honored.
“White silk fans round and unblemished; silver light of brilliant candles. For snoozing at noon and sleeping at night; blue bamboo mats and ivory framed beds. Fools and numbskulls; dunderheads and the absurd may deride you. At last, these will help: that’s it, all done, finito, the end.”
Just as Oldman Yan was about to let his second grandson stop to recite, suddenly a tender and crisp child’s voice came in and recited all the following content of the Thousand Character Classic instead of Yan Tao.
“Little Treasure, did you recite it just now?”
Everyone in the room looked at the handsome child standing next to Yan Meihua. The other’s mouth was closed, and his Thousand Character Classic reciting was not wrong.
Oldman Yan was quite surprised. It was not surprising to say that his second grandson would be taught the Thousand Character Classic and the Three Character Classic. After all, there was his eldest grandson in his eldest son’s family, who was studying in the county. His eldest grandson was a Tongsheng. It was not very difficult to teach a four or five years old child enlightenment.
But Yan Chu was different. He grew up with the old couple. The girls in the family had learned to do housework since childhood. Sometimes they had to go to the fields to help during the busy farming season. But this five-year-old grandson did not need to do these things. Even though he was young and willing to do it, no one would ask him to do it.
On weekdays, he did not play with the children of the same age in the village. In Oldman Yan’s opinion, this was a relatively quiet and silent child, but he did not know where the other party was and learned these things.
The ugliest expressions present were probably Yan Changxue, his wife, and Yan Mudan.
They just used Yan Chu’s lack of intelligence as an excuse and wanted their family to offer Yan Tao to study. In front of the whole family now, Yan Chu had recited the Thousand Character Classic that Yan Tao could not memorize wholly. Was it not apparent at a glance who was stupid and was intelligent under the circumstance that the educational environment they received from childhood was very different?
“Little Treasure, tell Grandpa, who did you learn this article from?”
Oldman Yan dreamed that there would be a scholar in his family. Regardless of if the scholar belonged to the eldest son’s or the second son’s family, it was his grandson anyway.
If Yan Tao’s performance just made Oldman Yan happy, Yan Chu’s performance could only get described as surprise and amazement.
After all, it was reasonable that Yan Tao could study. No matter how beautiful Yan Changxue said, as long as he was not truly stupid, he could see how much effort his eldest son’s family had put into making their family provide for his other son.
Yan Chu, on the other hand, stayed under Oldman Yan’s nose every day. He did not think that the second son’s family had such a plan. If they had, they would have been quarreling about splitting up. How could they have been willing to work hard for the eldest son’s family?
“Third Uncle had taught Brother Qingsong and the others to study in the school. I also wanted to study, so I secretly stood outside Uncle’s class and listened. If I listen many times, I would naturally recite them.”
Yan Chu had a confused expression. He did not seem to know why his family was excited.
“Grandpa, I’m not interrupting Third Uncle’s teaching. Can you not spanking me?”
Yan Chu put his hands behind his butt. The neighbor’s ugly son disturbed Third Uncle by playing with his little companion beside the school and was beaten by his parents for a long time. His butt had swollen for a long time, and he could not sit down.
The said third uncle was the patriarch’s son, and he was also close to Yan Chu’s family. The other party was the patriarch’s son and the honorable Xiucai. If he came to complain, the accused child would never be able to get away with it.
Once before, the school got treated as the great scourges by all the unlearned children in the village. They were afraid that if they got closer, they would end up like that ugly child.
“Just by eavesdropping, you can recite these articles?”
Oldman Yan’s breath became erratic. When he was old enough, except for the busy farming season, this little grandson stopped going to the farm and stayed at home most of the day. Only at noon would he go out for some time, but not more than one hour. With such a little effort, he could recite a thousand words better than Yan Tao. What kind of talent was this?
Oldman Yan, who already a little anxious because his eldest grandson was unable to become Xiucai for a long time, suddenly had confidence again.
“Can you recite other things for Grandpa?”
Oldman Yan barely restrained his excitement, in case this little grandson could recite only the Thousand Character Classic.
“I can do the Three Character Classic, the Book of Family Names, and the Thousands of Poems. Third Uncle doesn’t speak much of the Analects of Confucius, so I can only recite a few of them.” It seemed that Yan Chu was a little embarrassed because he thought he knew a few things.
As he reported the names of those children’s enlightenment readings one by one, Oldman Yan’s face changed from the slight red at the beginning to the flush now.
Liu Fuchun was unhappy seeing that the limelight got snatched by the second child and wanted to interrupt the conversation between Yan Chu and her old father.
