My Wife Is A Sword Immortal
Chapter 251 - 206: Maple Leaves Unaware of Autumn

Chapter 251: Chapter 206: Maple Leaves Unaware of Autumn

Zhao Rong’s heart replayed the awkwardness of Qing Jun on tiptoes to kiss him in the deep bamboo groves of Xizhu Garden yesterday, and the tenderness of her lowering her head afterward.

There were also countless nights on the road to Du You City, where little Qian’er slept in his arms, whether dreaming or waking, confused or delighted, exclaiming the naive words, "Zhao Lang, Zhao Lang, I have my Zhao Lang now."

Zhao Rong’s lips were tightly sealed.

The affection from Qing Jun and little Qian’er was already enough for him to repay in a lifetime.

Right, there was also Qian’er. In fact, Zhao Rong hadn’t thought much about her previously, just that Qing Jun suddenly mentioned her—presumably, she had long considered the idea of him taking Qian’er as his—it was only then that Zhao Rong felt somewhat bewildered, oh, strictly speaking, Qian’er was also considered a maid, and though he was a live-in son-in-law, with Qing Jun’s active arrangement, Zhao Rong could easily take her into his household.

However.

Although Qing Jun was not as rigidly feudal as some women from the dynasties at the foot of the mountain, she was still limited by the worldview of this world, conservative in her thoughts.

While Zhao Rong thought of himself as somewhat domineering and greedy like a typical man, he still could not accept treating a living, breathing woman like a maid or servant as if she were merchandise to be arranged.

He exhaled softly, shook his head, and decided to wait until Qian’er returned to discuss it, the most important thing was to respect her wishes.

Besides Qing Jun, little Qian’er, and Qian’er, as for giving "another woman a home"...

Zhao Rong inwardly cursed himself with a laugh as a scumbag.

If that was the case, he should maintain some distance from other women, keeping interactions within the bounds of propriety, to avoid becoming too entangled, falling in, and not having the heart to "want them all" again...

Next to him.

Yan Jidao glanced at Zhao Rong and saw him gripping the sleeve that had just been stuffed with papers, his eyes narrowed slightly as he was lost in thought, intermittently shaking his head.

"Ziyu, is there a problem with this couplet?"

"Ah, no, Teacher Yan, no problem. The first line of the couplet is one I left behind previously. I assume Teacher Zhu saw it, felt inspired, and kindly completed it for me. The match is very meticulous; Teacher Zhu is indeed a clever person."

Upon hearing this, Yan Jidao nodded slightly, seeing that Zhao Rong’s expression was not what he was worried about, he did not think further about it, but instead said in a deep voice, "There’s another matter."

Yan Jidao took out a small stack of paper drafts along with several books of Confucian Classics annotations that Zhao Rong had not seen before, and handed them to Zhao Rong.

"These are your academic essays from the past few days; previously, the brocaded scripts had been corrected for you, and the corrections were generally fine. I took a closer look."

He stared at Zhao Rong.

"Ziyu, you’ve actually written better than some of your teacher brothers, it seems that you have been listening attentively to the lectures I gave in Taiching Prefecture, gaining much understanding, and you even offered novel interpretations of the words of the Saints, but..."

As Yan Jidao began to praise him, Zhao Rong nodded, but as he listened, he guessed that there would be a twist, and now seeing Teacher Yan looking at him with paused words, Zhao Rong shook his sleeve and bowed.

"I am ignorant, please teach me, Teacher."

Yan Jidao stroked his beard, his expression solemn, and did not help Zhao Rong up, "But it’s still not enough, for you, this is far from enough!"

He pointed at the manuscript in Zhao Rong’s hand.

"Presumably because you are exceptionally talented in poetry and prose, you can write the tedious classic essays with fluency and brilliance, reading them is smooth and delightful, but these are merely gilding the lily, your understanding of some Confucian Classics is still too shallow.

There are two major arts for a Confucian Scholar, poetry and prose, and the Classics, we shall not discuss the former for now.

The study and learning of Scripture Studies should be approached with a calm and meticulous mind, and careful deliberation. Ziyu, in your essays on the Classics, you do use an abundance of quotations, picking them up effortlessly. I reckon you must enjoy reading a wide range of books and have even researched many different schools of thought, but this has resulted in superficial and imprecise understanding, and that is precisely where your current problem lies."

"Ziyu, although you are still young now, it is precisely for this reason that you must correct this tendency of broad but shallow learning, so as not to repeat the mistakes of those before you."

Zhao Rong listened with a serious demeanor, silent.

In fact, he had already vaguely become aware of this issue.

Before Zhao Rong’s previous life’s memories awakened, his memory was exceptionally good, but unfortunately, his comprehension was somewhat lacking. Using the words of Teacher Fang from before, the former him was simply obtuse, reading rigidly without lively thought.

After Zhao Rong’s memory of his previous life awakened and his personality merged, he began to think swiftly and unconventionally, compensating for his shortcomings and, coupled with his love of reading and already exceptional memory, this made him extremely talented in the area of reading.

This was in stark contrast to his innate talent for cultivation.

When discussing scholastics previously in Zhongnan Country with Lin Wenruo, she had more than once marveled at him being a rare "reading seed."

Still, a genius is just a genius and cannot attain immediate enlightenment without any accumulation of knowledge.

Among all the scholars, even those with excellent talents must diligently accumulate knowledge, study deeply, and solidly lay the groundwork to have the opportunity for achievement.

Moreover, Zhao Rong in his past life was not some old pedant, just a young graduate studying ancient literature in the humanities. Therefore, even with the integration of memories from two lifetimes, he was still unable to compare with Yan Jidao in many aspects of Confucianism.

The latter is a Great Scholar in the Golden Core Realm who is proficient in the Classics and Confucianism, having deeply cultivated his field of expertise for more years than the combined ages of Zhao Rong’s two lifetimes.

However, according to Zhao Rong’s understanding of the current Confucian system in the Xuanhuang Realm, Teacher Yan is still only a scholastic, or rather, like most of the teachers from the seventy-two Academies of Confucianism, including Linlu Academy.

This is not to say that they are weak or their knowledge isn’t solid—they are almost all Great Scholars, capable leadership figures in academia in any nation below the mountains, let alone their Confucian cultivation—it’s because the title of ’Gentleman’ is incredibly difficult to obtain, with the Central Continent Confucian Temple setting extremely stringent conditions for its bestowment.

It is not about your level of Confucian cultivation, nor the depth of your knowledge of Confucian teachings.

It’s about whether your scholarship expands upon and innovates the paths of those before you, or whether... you blaze a new trail, creating a new school of thought within the sect, and carve out a brand-new path for the people of later generations.

However, the latter scenario is nearly impossible. There might be some chance to carve out a "lesser path," but for the "Great Dao," one shouldn’t even think about it, for that is the way of Saints.

Anyone who achieves it has attained sainthood.

And among the various schools of thought in the Xuanhuang Realm, such occurrences have been extinct for ten thousand years. Within each school, Saints are almost invariably few, and that is for major houses like Confucianism, Daoism, and Mohism. As for smaller houses, aside from the founding patriarch, no one else establishes their doctrine or proves themselves a Saint.

Of course, achieving the title of "Gentleman" certainly does not require one to exhibit such exaggerated scholarship.

For a Confucian Scholar, it is only necessary to accumulate a certain amount of new knowledge in one of the Six Arts of Gentlemen.

In doing so, the Central Continent Confucian Temple can confer the title at their discretion.

If one can further expand upon this by putting forth new theories in the three domains of heaven, earth, and humanity, where the hundreds of pre-Qin philosophers compete, then one can aspire to the even rarer title, "Virtuous Person."

The "Unity of Body and Function Theory" that Zhao Rong previously proposed in the Confucian debate in Zhongnan Country may roughly fall into this category. Although it has not yet met the standards for the Confucian titles of "Gentleman" or "Virtuous Person," it was sufficient to make Yan Jidao exhale in admiration upon hearing it.

Zhao Rong also realized that the system of these various pre-Qin philosophers in the Xuanhuang Realm somewhat resembled the academic circles of his previous life.

Individuals such as Yan Jidao and other Academy Teachers were like those deeply knowledgeable professors at the university Zhao Rong attended in his previous life, who had yet to publish in top journals.

Zhao Rong also saw the advantages he held from his foreknowledge from his previous life.

At the same time, there were deficiencies as well.

Zhao Rong loved classical literature in his previous life, read through official and unofficial histories, enjoyed miscellaneous writings, and even delved into obscure knowledge, such as ancient shop and bank notes or ancient herbal remedies, though he was more conversant in his own field of expertise.

Zhao Rong’s memory from his previous life was interrupted while he was up late writing his thesis, which he had painstakingly prepared for over half a year, titled "A Fragmentary Discussion of the Contending Thoughts of Pre-Qin Philosophers."

For this, Zhao Rong had consulted all the available materials he could find on the philosophies of the pre-Qin thinkers, and had come to understand many of their main ideas.

Now, Zhao Rong, benefiting from his good memory, still recalled quite a few of these philosophers’ theories.

After awakening his memories, Zhao Rong often read miscellaneous books and explored the works of various philosophers in the Xuanhuang Realm, also intending to understand the differences between this world and the history of his former life.

Indeed, he had discovered quite a few "forgotten treasures."

But as Yan Jidao had said, because Zhao Rong’s understanding of this knowledge was superficial and not profound, he was unable to unearth these treasures.

It was like having inspiration but being unable to realize it oneself, like guarding a treasure chest without a key to open it.

The situation was exactly opposite to that of Academy Teachers like Yan Jidao, who delved deep into their studies but lacked a touch of inspiration.

This was also one of the reasons why Zhao Rong chose to enter Linlu Academy.

Here, he felt he could gain the growth he needed...

With this thought, Zhao Rong straightened his expression and once again bowed to Teacher Yan, who had been watching him, saying, "Teacher, please enlighten me."

Yan Jidao fell silent, then suddenly turned around and walked back to the lush maple tree with pruning shears in hand, "Come over here and give me a hand."

Zhao Rong was slightly stunned for a moment, then stepped forward, picked up a pair of pruning shears from the stone table, and made his way to the tree.

However, being unfamiliar with such horticultural tasks, Zhao Rong was somewhat afraid of harming the maple tree, so he stood to one side and observed Yan Jidao for a while.

He saw that Yan Jidao’s movements were skilled and orderly, and the once lush leaves were now pruned to a scattered array.

Yan Jidao, with his back to Zhao Rong, suddenly said, "Ziyu, do you know why the leaves of this maple still aren’t red, even though it’s autumn?"

Zhao Rong glanced at it and realized that this maple tree was indeed a bit peculiar, and he casually responded, "Could it be lacking fertilizer?"

Yan Jidao shook his head, "The land where the Taiching Four Mansions are situated is an Immortal Blessed Land, fertile and rich. How could there be any lack of fertilizer here?"

Zhao Rong thought for a moment; he wanted to suggest that it might be due to insufficient sunlight, but upon carefully inspecting the maple tree with unred leaves, he noticed that the courtyard was open and no buildings were blocking the sunlight.

After a pause, Zhao Rong mused, "Could it be due to lack of water? I’ve heard that red maples have high demands for pure water."

Yan Jidao shook his head again, pointing his hand towards the corner of the courtyard with a well, "There is a water source underground; the roots of the red maple go deep. Where is the question of lacking water?"

Zhao Rong frowned slightly, looking up at the red maple, which was in great condition, yet its leaves weren’t red.

Yan Jidao looked up with him.

Both of them fell into a moment of silence.

Zhao Rong’s brow was furrowed in thought.

Yan Jidao’s expression was calm.

In a moment,

Yan Jidao softly said, "This red maple, because the soil is too fertile and it lacks neither water nor sunlight, has been growing recklessly without restraint, resulting in the overly luxuriant appearance you see now."

He withdrew his gaze, looking at Zhao Rong.

"It appears healthy and robust, but because of the disorderly growth of its branches and leaves, most of its foliage fails to receive sunlight, and there is poor air circulation internally. How can the leaves turn red?"

Yan Jidao spoke in a deep voice, "A maple tree should be most beautiful in autumn. Yet now, the red maple isn’t red and worsens each year, forgetting even autumn."

With a wave of his hand, he said, "Take a look at this vast Taiching Four Mansions, be it trees or people, how many are like this?"

He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing up at the red maple that had forgotten autumn, whispering to himself.

"If it were planted in our Linlu Academy, it would never be like this, never."

Zhao Rong was silent, then turned to bow with his fists clasped.

"Disciple Zhao Ziyu, is grateful for the Teacher’s guidance."