Chapter 6: The First Day at School

The Zhang family’s ancestral school was quite famous, as it had produced a top scholar in past examinations. Although being a top scholar was not the same as being the number one, it should be noted that Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, after starting imperial examinations in the fifth year of the Hongwu era, believed that all those selected were merely young men. As a result, he did not hold any more examinations for thirteen years, until the eighteenth year of Hongwu when exams were held again. Thus, even a top scholar in local examinations was highly esteemed. Now, that top scholar from the Xiangfu Zhang family had risen to great heights in the court—how could anyone not envy him?
Indeed, that top scholar was Zhang Xin, the eldest son of the Zhang family from Xiangfu and the legitimate son of the Gu family. He was now a vice minister of the Ministry of Works at the third rank.
Zhang Yue had studied for over a decade in his previous life, yet now he was forced to go back to studying with a group of children. He felt somewhat sentimental. However, his companions, Zhang Chao and Zhang Qi, showed no sense of duty toward attending school. They kept arguing as they walked, still preoccupied with the competition from the previous day, completely ignoring the importance of studying.
After a long time, unable to reach an agreement, they simply pulled Zhang Yue along, insisting that he decide who was better in martial arts. Their loud arguments almost deafened him. After much persuasion, he finally got them to stop arguing. But when they came within sight of the school with its blue bricks and red tiles, the two brothers grabbed him from both sides again.
Zhang Qi, being impatient, spoke up first: “Third brother, go and attend class. Just tell the teacher that we’re both sick!”
Zhang Chao, being older, spoke in a more serious tone: “It was our fault that you fell from the tree last time. But it’s useless for you to come with us; it’s better for you to focus on studying. Anyway, cover for us at school, and we’ll share any benefits we get with you.”
These two… they were so brazen at skipping class! Zhang Yue didn’t know what to say. Upon closer inspection, the six others who were attending class with them were all strong young men in their twenties, with muscular faces. They certainly didn’t look like they were going to school but rather like they were going to fight. Seeing the two thin page boys behind him, he was speechless.
Seeing that Zhang Yue just stood there silently, Zhang Chao didn’t say much more. He chuckled, patted him on the shoulder, and led his companions away. Even when they encountered some classmates from the ancestral school, he just joked with his brother about where to go and have fun that day, showing no concern.

Originally, the Zhang family had been working in the Secretariat since the end of the Yuan dynasty, always aiming to rise through military achievements, with studying being merely an incidental matter. Besides, no matter how much one studied, how many could actually earn a title? It wasn’t until those two brothers disappeared from sight that Zhang Yue pinched his fingers and realized he had only been here a handful of times. Even when Zhang Chao and Zhang Qi used to study with him, they would often vanish from the classroom after a short while. Of course, he himself wasn’t much better—his memories of school didn’t include anything like the Four Books, Five Classics, or The Analects; it seemed he had just been daydreaming throughout his studies. The Zhang family’s school had fifty or sixty students of varying ages, so those under twelve studied in the eastern courtyard, while those over twelve had classes in the western courtyard. The person in charge was a cousin of the Zhang family named Zhang You, who was technically Zhang Yue’s uncle. Standing at the door, he heard Zhang Yue say that Zhang Chao and Zhang Qi were sick and couldn’t come, nodded without a word, and let Zhang Yue in without asking a single question. “That dumb Zhang Xiaosan is here again!” “Let’s bet on how many days he’ll stay in school this time.” “Three days!” “He lasted a month last time—can’t he lose if it’s only three days? I bet half a month!” Hearing these chaotic voices, Zhang Yue thought he had returned to a third-rate school in modern times. Remembering that he sat in the second seat from the left in the first row, he glanced around and found that not only were the seats next to him, belonging to Zhang Chao and Zhang Qi, empty, but the row behind them was also vacant. The seats in the rows further back were filled about seventy or eighty percent, but aside from a few who sat upright, the rest were talking and chatting loudly. At that moment, he had only one thought in mind—through the ages, people are all the same! Soon, Mr. Du, the teacher, arrived on time, his footsteps echoing as he flipped through his book and began explaining the “Shu Er” chapter of The Analects. While listening, Zhang Yue couldn’t help but glance around and saw that only those few well-behaved boys were paying attention; the rest were either sleeping or drawing, with two especially loud ones chatting at volumes even louder than the teacher above.

After briefly diverting his attention, Zhang Yue began to listen intently. Since he was in this era, he likely had to try taking the imperial examinations, so he had to study hard now. Upon listening carefully, he realized that Mr. Du was quite skilled—he didn’t rely on textbooks at all during his lectures, could quote allusions effortlessly, and occasionally added comments from both ancient and modern times. The only downside was that, just like his plain face, his voice was flat and monotonous, making it easy to fall asleep while listening.

As he listened, he unconsciously followed his old habit of taking notes on a stack of paper while listening. But since he hadn’t used a writing brush in years since middle school, and although he could recognize traditional characters but not write them, the characters he wrote were barely legible, mixed with many scribbled-looking simplified characters. By the end of the class, he had filled a whole stack of paper with notes, his wrists aching as if beaten.

Only after rubbing his wrists did he look up and see Mr. Du standing in front of him, his expression still flat. As he wondered what Mr. Du wanted, he was surprised to find that the stack of papers covered in ink had been taken away. Watching Mr. Du frown as he examined each page made his scalp tingle.

Good heavens—more than half of the characters were simplified ones!

He waited anxiously for a long time, but Mr. Du finally put down the stack of papers and said calmly, “It’s not bad that you managed to write this much down. However, even if you can’t write everything, don’t replace proper characters with these scribbles. Characters are the foundation of learning—don’t neglect them.”

Zhang Yue felt as if he’d been pardoned and quickly stood up to respond. It wasn’t until Mr. Du left with his hands behind his back that he finally breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment, since it was break time, a group of servants and page boys rushed in. Some brought tea for their masters, some brought snacks, and some massaged their arms and legs. The noise was almost enough to topple the room.

In this era, there were no watches or clocks, so Zhang Yue couldn’t tell what time it was. He felt extremely thirsty, so he gulped down a lot of tea and ate a piece of jujube paste to fill his stomach, then sent the two page boys away. But as soon as those annoying ones disappeared, three more people appeared in front of him. One of them boldly reached over and took a piece of paper from his desk, glanced at it pretentiously, and then burst into laughter.

“I thought Zhang Xiaosan had improved, but look—full of mistakes! Hahaha!”