Chapter Five: The Pursuit of Knowledge

“Little one, what do you think of this newborn morning sun?”
The old man did not look at Li Zisheng, fixing all his attention entirely on the rising sun. Li Zisheng could not fathom the intent behind the old man’s words.

“It’s beautiful.” At the end of the day, Li Zisheng was still a seven-year-old child. If he were too clever and composed, it would seem unnatural; such simple words suited him far better.

“After darkness breaks, dawn appears; with the first light, all nations are bathed in red. Truly, a glorious sight—such prosperity.”
The old man gazed first at Li Zisheng, then at the magnificent sunrise, and sighed softly.

“Little one, remember to restrain your brilliance in the future. Do not reveal your sharpness too much. If fate allows, we shall meet again.” Without further ado, the old man left abruptly, not sparing Li Zisheng another glance.

Li Zisheng was left completely bewildered. He thought carefully—whether in his village or the neighboring ones, he had never seen this old man before. The final words, though on the surface advice about conduct, were in truth a lesson in survival. Who exactly was this old man?

However, since the old man clearly had no intention of further conversation, there was no sense in dwelling on it. Li Zisheng bowed deeply in the old man’s direction, then turned back to take deep breaths and lose himself once more in the beauty of the sunrise.

“Zhuangzhuang! Zhuangzhuang! Come back for breakfast now!” his mother’s voice echoed across the back hills.

“Mother, I’m coming!” Li Zisheng replied, noticing his pants were already damp with morning dew.

“You naughty child! You deserve a spanking—coming up here to the hills every morning, with the dew so heavy at this hour. Be careful not to catch a chill and worry the whole family. Hurry home and change your pants!” his mother scolded him half-jokingly, urging him along.

The farming households were busy with the autumn harvest, so breakfasts were eaten early. In the Li family, each household ate separately. The grandfather and all the men had long finished their meal and gone to the fields to work. The women were tidying up the courtyard and granary to make room for the freshly harvested grain.

This year, the weather had been favorable, resulting in a bountiful harvest. Even after paying taxes, there was still plenty of surplus grain. Therefore, the empty granaries needed to be cleaned out as soon as possible.

“Grandmother, have you seen where Brother Xiu went?”

Seeing Li Zisheng, his grandmother’s eyes narrowed happily into slits.
“Your brother Xiu? He’s not going to school today—who knows how late he’ll sleep. Go check the east courtyard, but don’t run around.”

“Brother Xiu, Brother Xiu!” Sure enough, just as his grandmother had said, his cousin was still asleep. Entering the room and seeing him buried under the covers, Li Zisheng couldn’t help but feel exasperated.

“What is it, cousin?” Li Zixiu blinked sleepily at him.

Li Zisheng couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, lamenting that his cousin was truly lazy. Outstanding people like himself were getting rarer these days.

“Didn’t you say you borrowed an ancient text from your teacher yesterday? Let me have a look at it.”

Thanks to his cousin, Li Zisheng had already learned that the village school teacher had copied out a manuscript of the Erya—the very book he needed. Times had changed, and the era he was living in was not quite the same as the Tang Dynasty; the Erya could fill in many gaps in his knowledge.

“Cousin, the teacher said that’s his treasure and refused to let me have it.”

Li Zisheng wasn’t discouraged—after all, even a handwritten copy of such an ancient book was extremely precious in this village. Who would dare entrust it to a child?

“But the teacher said that although I was the one who asked, I wasn’t the one who wanted to read it. He won’t lend it out, but if I tell him who wants to read it, you can go to his house and read it there—he won’t let it leave his home.”

Li Zisheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but kept a knowing look on his face. The Erya might not be the rarest of books, but in the village school it was a treasured possession. Naturally, the teacher wouldn’t lend it out to a mischievous child. Still, reading it at the teacher’s house was another matter. This way, the teacher would know exactly who wanted to read it. If it turned out to be a bright young child, he could cultivate a connection. But if it were an adult, the teacher would immediately decline—after all, it was children who generally borrowed books from him, and he could recognize the village’s adult scholars himself.

“All right, Brother Xiu, I understand. Hurry up and get dressed—Sister Jiang from next door is here.”

“What? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Upon hearing this, Li Zixiu scrambled to put on his clothes.

Sister Jiang from next door had been betrothed to Brother Xiu ever since childhood, with a promise that they would marry at sixteen. She often came over to help his aunt, who was very fond of her. Although Brother Xiu was still young, he knew how to please his future in-laws, occasionally bringing them some of the family’s share of meat.

With all this back and forth, the two only grew fonder of each other, though both were too shy to speak of it.

Watching his cousin’s flustered haste, Li Zisheng couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Cousin, where’s that thing of yours that makes you smell nice? Let me use some too.” Li Zixiu blushed as he asked.

Li Zisheng was speechless. That “nice-smelling thing” was nothing but a makeshift air freshener he’d concocted to mask the smell of the manure stockpiled during the spring plowing. He remembered how sickened he’d been by the odor when he first arrived, and his grandmother and mother had thought he’d been possessed.

The air freshener was made from old tea leaves his grandfather had collected on his travels, mixed with wild orchids from the mountain stream, powdered mugwort left over from the Dragon Boat Festival, and some rice yeast from their stores. Once burned, it gave off a fresh scent and dispelled foul odors. Looking at his cousin nervously twisting his clothes, Li Zisheng never imagined Brother Xiu would try to use this to impress Sister Jiang. He had to admit, her charm was indeed formidable.

“There’s some left, but even if you use it now, it’s too late—the scent only sticks to clothes after a while. Why not just wear my new clothes? Mother already aired them for me.”

“All right, all right!” Li Zixiu nodded hurriedly.

“But there’s a condition—you have to let me see that travelogue your father’s been keeping.”

“Ah, cousin, that’s my father’s treasure! If I sneak it out, he’ll kill me.”

“Just bring it out for me to look at, and I’ll return it right away. Your father is so busy with the harvest, he won’t notice. Or do you want to miss seeing Sister Jiang?”

“No, no, you win. But bring it back as soon as you’re done, or my father will have my hide. Thanks for the new clothes, cousin—heh.”

Li Zisheng could only shake his head at his cousin’s antics. Without another word, he went back to the west courtyard to fetch the new clothes for him.

Returning to his room, Li Zisheng took out a book whose cover was already worn, the title “Travelogue” barely legible. He didn’t mind—so long as the contents were intact.

Li Zisheng was well aware that this was the flourishing Kaiyuan period of the Tang dynasty, a time of renewal and prosperity. The scholars and talents from all walks of life contended with one another, yet even so, it remained true that all other paths were beneath the pursuit of learning. Gaining a degree as a presented scholar was still the dream cherished by every student across the empire.