Li Feng made the rounds of the entire stockade, buying some fish and then some pork offal as well.
Once the first lunar month arrived, it would be time for New Year visits, and he would keep his brothers at home to drink and feast.
Signature dishes like fish-bone greens, mixed fish offal, and mixed pork offal were indispensable. It was the season to compare whose wife or husband was the biggest “leaky ladle.”
Last year, Lu Liu had been a notorious penny-pincher. This year, he hadn’t even finished his confinement month and couldn’t take charge of the ladle, so Shun’er was itching to try.
On New Year’s Eve, they pasted up the couplets and window cutouts, and the whole family stayed up together in the house to see in the year.
Chen Guizhi wrapped red envelopes for all five children. Zhuang Zhuang and Xiao Mai had them too.
The three older children each returned a red envelope to her. Feeling the lump inside, she said, “I made a profit.”
She sent out copper coins and got back silver.
Late at night, Lu Liu couldn’t hold on anymore. Nestled beside the two babies, he slept soundly.
There were fewer firecrackers in the stockade, not as lively as the new village. Each household would bang on basins instead.
Li Feng stuffed cotton into Lu Liu’s ears, then carefully covered the two children’s ears as well, so they wouldn’t be frightened.
Chen Guizhi discussed the New Year banquet dishes with Shun’er. The signature dishes had to be there—every family did it this way. New Year just wasn’t New Year without those few plates.
But their family had made money this year, so for good luck, besides those dishes and peanuts, they would also stir-fry an extra meat dish.
Shun’er agreed. Over the next few days, whenever guests came, he did exactly that. Then, when he put on his new clothes and went out to play, he heard others calling him a “big leaky ladle,” and he ran off crying, feeling utterly wronged.
How could this be?!
He stormed back home in a huff. The family all laughed when they heard.
Shun’er couldn’t laugh at all. He wanted to be a penny-pincher—just like his eldest sister-in-law, a real penny-pincher!
Lu Liu’s smile froze on his face.
He’d actually become a model penny-pincher?
Penny-pinching Lu Liu took two dog hairs, pasted them onto a small wooden stick with starch glue, and said to Shun’er, “This is the brush I’m giving you. A dog-hair brush. Very precious.”
Shun’er took the brush and went to complain to Li Feng. “Eldest Sister-in-law is bullying me!”
Li Feng looked at the brush and laughed uncontrollably. “So what? He used two whole dog hairs. And you’re still not satisfied?”
Shun’er shot him a glare and left. He went to the doghouse to look for dog hair, wanting to make a fluffy brush himself.
Before he’d even sorted out the hairs, Li Feng came to him again and handed him a feather shuttlecock.
“Your eldest sister-in-law saved these chicken feathers. He specially picked the prettiest ones and made this shuttlecock for you. Take it and play.”
The feathers had clearly been selected: short in the center, long on the outside, evenly spaced, blooming outward like a flower—full and rounded. The colors were bright, the feel soft. Three copper coins were sewn into the base, giving it a nice weight.
This shuttlecock could easily rank as the prettiest in the entire stockade.
Shun’er immediately tossed aside the dog hair, completely forgetting about the dog-hair brush. Clutching his new shuttlecock, he ran out to show it off. He didn’t care anymore whether people called him a big leaky ladle.
Lu Liu watched from the window, then turned back to look at the two little babies.
Children were so fun. He hoped his babies would grow up quickly—he couldn’t wait to play with them!
………………………………………………….
Before the New Year, Lu Yang and Xie Yan made a special trip to the Wu family home, mainly to have a meal with Wu Pingzhi and talk about studying in the coming year.
That day, it was just the three young men eating together. Old Master Wu didn’t join in; he simply had tea and snacks set out in Wu Pingzhi’s room.
Wu Pingzhi had grown much thinner. This past year, he had tasted the full bitterness of studying. They used to see him often, and even then he looked worn down. Now, after not seeing him for a long time, bundled up in padded winter clothes that made him look bulky, he somehow seemed even more gaunt—so thin he looked almost ill.
When they asked, they learned that for the past two months, Wu Pingzhi had been rushing to catch up. The essays and notes Xie Yan had brought back from the prefectural academy—he always felt he could understand them, vaguely. He was just missing that final layer, like paper over a window, and he couldn’t pierce it. The more he couldn’t break through, the more anxious he became. He dreamed about it every night and couldn’t sleep.
Xie Yan had also left him assignments. He attended classes, had coursework, and in private he would also ponder other things, writing the assignments Xie Yan gave him. He was practically wearing himself down to nothing.
Xie Yan frowned, clearly disapproving of this way of studying.
“The harder you push yourself, the more likely you are to get stuck in a dead end. You’ll end up overlooking details. If you overlook them, how are you supposed to pierce that window paper?”
Wu Pingzhi rubbed his brow and said he knew.
“I can’t control it. As soon as I close my eyes, I’m thinking.”
Lu Yang asked him, “What is it exactly? Don’t tell me you’re also stuck on what makes a good essay?”
Wu Pingzhi wasn’t thinking about that. His composition skills were unstable; obsessing over that would be a dead end.
What he was thinking about was how to conceal his own thoughts and stance. Especially after Xie Yan reminded him that he could pay more attention to public notices and the implementation of policies—whenever he thought about it, he ended up thinking like a merchant. He simply couldn’t turn the corner.
Some of the essays and notes Xie Yan brought back recorded debates. Wu Pingzhi could see different viewpoints and had tried to think from other angles. He could think that way, but not deeply. Just when he managed to go a bit further, he couldn’t write more than a few lines.
He had been stuck here for a while. Even Teacher Mei said there was no way to teach him further—he had to walk out of this on his own. No matter how much others tried to guide him, if he didn’t break through himself, what he heard would just be words and phrases, and he would never truly grasp the meaning.
Seeing Xie Yan today, Wu Pingzhi wanted to ask whether he had found a way to hide his own thoughts and stance.
Xie Yan said, “I’m different from you. It’s easier for me to hide. I just write less of the overly idealistic things. I remember all the precedents from the past. I look at the prompt and pick appropriate material to fill in—it’s enough.”
He seriously helped Wu Pingzhi think through a solution. “Actually, this shift in thinking isn’t that complicated. Consider the interests of all parties. If you were an official, how would you act to maximize benefits and accomplish a task? You need balance, but you also need gains. When you put it that way, it’s the same as doing business. I’ve said before—the provincial exam won’t be very hard for you. Even though you’re not in officialdom, your family has dealt with all kinds of forces. When you plan an essay, you can think more broadly and address the topic more deeply. Pingzhi, think about it—are you unable to write, or are you unwilling to be ruthless?”
When Xie Yan talked about scholarship, he had a lot to say.
He continued, “If you truly can’t write, then stop thinking about this for now. Finish reading my notes, read more essays, and during the holidays, go out and socialize. Don’t think about your studies—clear your head. I often say that studying requires changing your mindset. You can’t just bury yourself in books. You’re always afraid of wasting time, but that’s not the case. Change your mindset, and you’ll learn better. After this period passes, write essays as usual. Relax a bit. After you finish writing, go back and find the flaws, then revise next time. Take it slowly. This method is clumsy, but steady. Don’t dislike it for being slow—slow is fast. You have to take this step first.”
“If you’re unwilling to be ruthless, then I need to advise you. Hiding your thoughts doesn’t mean treating a person or a faction as an imaginary enemy to be eliminated at all costs. It’s actually a game of strategy. In an essay prompt, you put forward an opinion, then offer counterexamples or supporting examples—quoting classics to explain. You know what stance you need to defend, and then you persuade yourself and persuade the examiner. Don’t be reluctant. If an essay is too harsh, you can’t convince yourself. When you write it, you’ll naturally soften it.”
Lu Yang sat to the side, eating a piece of jujube cake, staring straight at Xie Yan.
His top scholar at home had really grown. In the past, when he talked about essays, he focused on paragraph structure, analyzing the purpose of each section—mainly teaching how to structure an essay, breaking it down and then filling it in like blanks, writing sentences that matched the intended argument. That would produce an essay that could at least scrape past the passing line.
He would then explain what a higher-level essay looked like, but he rarely stepped outside pure scholarship to talk about real-world application.
Wu Pingzhi, on the other hand, was calm. Reading Xie Yan’s notes, he had already noticed Xie Yan’s progress.
He said, “It’s a pity my ranking was too low. I didn’t make it into the prefectural academy.”
Xie Yan didn’t think it was a problem. “You’re studying every day. It’s the same no matter where you are. As long as your days aren’t wasted, it’s fine. The prefectural academy has a lot of books, but also a lot of miscellany. When I see good ones, I’ll copy them for you. Don’t rush—take it slowly.”
Wu Pingzhi sighed. “I’m just afraid of waiting another three years.”
He rarely talked about family matters. It was rare for him to speak up today, and all he said was that he wanted to make something of himself.
“We can’t let people look down on us anymore. We can’t keep getting bullied. Some time ago, my father even tried to persuade me. He said everywhere is the same—official positions have ranks, and once there are ranks, there are real and nominal powers. Once you divide real and nominal, there are capital officials and local officials. Once you divide local officials, there are wealthy regions and poor ones. If you keep competing, there will never be an end. A person should learn contentment. I’ve only just begun to compete, and he’s already saying such discouraging things.”
