Seven thousand and seven

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Master Zhou had just passed the age of forty, with eyes like a red phoenix, eyebrows resembling silkworms resting gently, lips square and mouth well-formed. He wore a blue scholar’s robe and a Confucian headscarf, exuding an air of elegance and refined charm befitting a man of letters.

At this moment, such a distinguished gentleman was locked in a wide-eyed stare-down with Fu Yuzhang.

Master Zhou looked at Fu Yuzhang in puzzlement, making an effort to soften his expression and spoke gently, “Young master, are you reluctant to part with your elder brother? Once I finish examining the heir’s studies, you may come find him.”

Fu Yuzhang shook his head, offering Master Zhou an innocent, sweet smile and obediently replied, “Study.”

Master Zhou: …

Well… it’s good that the child wants to study, but shouldn’t one consider his age? Where is the Marquis of Changping? He is certainly not the marquis’s wet nurse!

Fu Huaian earnestly pleaded on behalf of Fu Yuzhang, “Master, young Sir Zhang is very well-behaved and intelligent. Since birth, he has never cried without reason. Please allow him to listen in.”

Fu Yuzhang also nodded obediently and flashed Master Zhou a sweet smile.

Master Zhou chuckled inwardly, thinking: In front of Fu Huaian, what child wouldn’t be deemed gifted?

Having not seen Fu Huaian for some time, Master Zhou was reluctant to disappoint him, so he relented, “Since the young master wishes to listen, bring him in.”

Fu Huaian happily thanked Master Zhou and took Fu Yuzhang’s hand as they entered the west wing study.

Master Zhou watched Fu Yuzhang’s waddling steps and felt increasing helplessness.

When it came to checking the lessons, Master Zhou abandoned his earlier gentleness, his face turning stern, showing no leniency simply because Fu Huaian was young.

Seated at the desk, Fu Yuzhang listened as Master Zhou questioned Fu Huaian. The earlier questions were about sentences from the Analects, which Fu Yuzhang could understand. But toward the end, what Fu Huaian spoke was beyond Fu Yuzhang’s comprehension.

Fu Yuzhang’s eyes shone brightly, gazing at Fu Huaian with admiration—

His brother really is amazing!

Master Zhou caught this expression from the corner of his eye and almost betrayed his calm exterior, subtly understanding why Fu Huaian was so protective of his younger brother.

Bored, Fu Yuzhang began to survey the room’s furnishings. The most striking were three large bookshelves occupying half the room, filled to the brim with neatly arranged books, categorized meticulously with ivory tags.

Unfortunately, being only two heads tall, Fu Yuzhang strained his neck but still couldn’t see the top shelves and nearly toppled backward.

Better to look at the desk—safer.

His gaze returned to the desktop, where besides the traditional scholar’s tools, there was a stack of square sheets of paper.

Curious, Fu Yuzhang reached out and picked one up. To his surprise, it was a collection of large characters Master Zhou had written to teach Fu Huaian literacy. Like modern flashcards, the paper was cut into equal squares, each with a neatly written character in regular script.

Fu Yuzhang’s first thought: These characters are much neater than his father’s cursive handwriting!

Fortunately, Fu Yuan was unaware of this thought, or he might have stormed off to the training grounds to spar and vent his frustration.

Flipping through Fu Huaian’s literacy cards, Fu Yuzhang noticed Master Zhou’s teaching was very methodical, progressing from simple to complex. At the top were basic characters like “up,” “big,” “person.” Toward the end, the characters became more intricate. Even Fu Yuzhang, who could switch between simplified and traditional forms, was momentarily unsure what some characters were.

Master Zhou’s expression grew increasingly pleased, clearly impressed with Fu Huaian’s progress. A genius scholar never suffers from teacher’s criticism; Fu Yuzhang held great confidence in Fu Huaian.

Sure enough, Master Zhou nodded approvingly, “It seems you have not neglected your studies. Though blessed by Heaven with extraordinary intellect, learning is like rowing upstream; if you do not advance, you will fall behind. If you grow complacent, you will fail to live up to Heaven’s favor.”

Fu Huaian respectfully bowed, “I will heed your advice.”

Fu Yuzhang blinked, a bit confused—why had the atmosphere suddenly turned so serious?

Noticing the paper in Fu Yuzhang’s hand, Fu Huaian’s expression shifted slightly. He glanced at Master Zhou, then smiled and extended his hand, “These are the literacy cards Master wrote when I first began learning characters. Brother Zhang, would you like to learn too?”

Fu Yuzhang obediently handed the paper to Fu Huaian, glanced at Master Zhou, and replied loudly, “Yes, I want to learn characters!”

He wanted to leave a good impression on Master Zhou—so that in future, it would be easy to tag along and listen to stories.

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Fu Yuzhang’s little scheme was working perfectly; his expression grew more innocent and obedient as he looked up at Fu Huaian, waiting for lessons.

Master Zhou saw that Fu Yuzhang sat quietly at the desk, not making a fuss or tearing anything apart. When Fu Huaian reached out, Fu Yuzhang readily handed things over, convincing Master Zhou that Fu Yuzhang was indeed a rare, well-behaved child.

As for intelligence, those bright eyes were full of spirit, though his true talent remained to be seen. With Fu Huaian as the older brother and shining example, no matter how clever Fu Yuzhang was, surpassing Fu Huaian would be difficult.

Knowing the two young masters of the marquisate were born of different mothers, Master Zhou sighed quietly. He hoped that neither the young master nor his mother harbored excessive ambition; otherwise, this little disciple might be heartbroken.

Unaware of Master Zhou’s thoughts, Fu Yuzhang and Fu Huaian spent a brief moment before Master Zhou’s mind had already conjured a grand drama.

Fu Huaian took the top card, pointed at the character, and taught Fu Yuzhang, “Up.”

Fu Yuzhang cooperated fully, “Up.”

“Person.”

“Person.”

They recited about ten characters before Fu Huaian suddenly stopped, pulling out a card with the character “person,” and asked, “Brother Zhang, what is this character?”

Fu Yuzhang opened his mouth to answer but quickly swallowed the words, his mind blank: Should I recognize this character or not?

To Master Zhou and Fu Huaian, it appeared Fu Yuzhang had forgotten the character and stood there dazed.

Master Zhou was not surprised; Fu Huaian looked a bit disappointed and gently encouraged him, “It’s okay if you didn’t remember after one look. Brother will try another method.”

Fu Huaian’s resourcefulness was remarkable. Before Fu Yuzhang could react, he selected some simple characters from the cards, grabbed a small wolf hair brush from the brush holder, and began drawing carefully on paper.

Fu Yuzhang leaned in curiously. Good heavens, these were simple line drawings! Fu Huaian had seemingly mastered the essence of sketching without a teacher.

Geniuses often defy logic—some skills come naturally.

Noticing Fu Yuzhang’s interest, Fu Huaian stopped drawing and pointed at a newly sketched fish, continuing, “Fish.”

Fu Huaian repeated the word.

He then drew simple sketches for about ten more characters—flower, bird, insect, tree—and used these to aid Fu Yuzhang’s literacy.

Fu Yuzhang was deeply touched, reciting each character with great care.

At first, Master Zhou watched with interest, arms folded, enjoying the scene. But as Fu Yuzhang recited earnestly, his small face serious for each character, the smile faded from Master Zhou’s face.

Suddenly, a serious question struck him: Could a child under one year old truly understand all that adults said?

As a father of three, Master Zhou recalled his own children at that age and despairingly realized that compared to Fu Yuzhang, his own were practically fools!

So what Fu Huaian said was true—this younger brother was also “exceptionally gifted”!

Master Zhou’s feelings were complicated beyond words.

Fu Huaian and Fu Yuzhang were oblivious to Master Zhou’s inner turmoil. The brothers learned quickly—Fu Huaian could hold up any one of the ten cards they had studied, and Fu Yuzhang would rapidly recite the character.

Fu Huaian was overjoyed, “Master, look! Brother Zhang is truly very clever!”

Master Zhou nodded expressionlessly, watching Fu Huaian lavish praise on Fu Yuzhang without restraint, his mood growing even more complex.

Fu Yuzhang was having a blast playing the literacy game, with Fu Huaian pulling out cards and Fu Yuzhang reading them. Fu Huaian felt highly satisfied: clinging to a big brother is the way to go! Look now, the male lead himself is personally teaching this novice!

It should be noted that in the original story, Fu Huaian later served as an imperial tutor. In a way, Fu Yuzhang was enjoying a taste of imperial favor.

Happy!

However, Master Zhou noticed something amiss. Quietly, while Fu Huaian enthusiastically taught his brother, Master Zhou folded down the simple sketches, leaving only the characters on the cards. Fully engrossed in the game, neither Fu Huaian nor Fu Yuzhang noticed this subtle move.

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Fu Yuzhang didn’t detect anything wrong. He read the characters without relying on the pictures. Even though the drawings were gone, he didn’t notice and confidently said, “Bird.”

Another card: “Tree.”

Another: “Up.”

Huh?

Both brothers stopped in unison, their similar almond-shaped eyes showing the same confusion: Had they drawn a sketch for this character “Up”?

Fu Huaian exclaimed, “Brother Zhang, you still remember this character ‘Up’!”

Fu Yuzhang was shocked: I just didn’t react in time! When did this card get mixed in? The cards with drawings were not stored together with the others, so there should be no confusion!

Then his eyes landed on Master Zhou, standing calmly behind Fu Huaian with folded arms. Fu Yuzhang immediately understood: Master Zhou, with his thick eyebrows and upright demeanor, secretly swapped the children’s literacy cards!

Shocked—so this is the true Master Zhou!

Unbeknownst to them, Master Zhou’s feelings were already on the brink of explosion.

Master Zhou’s full name was Zhou Zhan, courtesy name Zijing. Talented from a young age, he passed the provincial imperial exam at eighteen but failed the metropolitan exam five times. Disheartened, he abandoned the civil service path to travel, reading extensively and journeying far. A man of vast knowledge, he drank with Taoist priests discussing the I Ching and cultivation, debated scripture with monks while composing verses, and gave alms with them. He mingled with nobles and commoners alike, mastering all arts and sciences, renowned among scholars.

Such a man, unshaken even if Mount Tai collapsed, known for his carefree nature and strong character.

Yet facing these two children barely old enough to count on one hand, Master Zhou felt his Taoist spirit waver.

Is there still justice in this world? Master Zhou’s path nearly shattered! He longed to ask Fu Yuan: Pray, dear marquis, where lies your ancestral tomb? In what auspicious land must one be buried for descendants to be prodigies, sprouting like chives from the field, generation after generation?

Master Zhou, nearly broken-hearted, wanted to grab Fu Yuan by the collar and shout: Do you realize how cruel it is for a scholar who failed repeatedly and bore several fools to be dealt a double blow of prodigies?

Fu Yuzhang had no idea his inadvertent actions nearly shattered Master Zhou’s spirit. He was still stunned by Master Zhou’s teasing, his wide eyes silently speaking volumes—

“Come see! The naughty Master is tricking the child!”

Master Zhou couldn’t help but smile, calming his mood. He reached out and patted Fu Yuzhang’s head, voice tinged with complexity, “If you wish to study in the future, just come here.”

No matter how mischievous Master Zhou was, he would never force an infant under one year old to adhere strictly to rules. Had Fu Yuzhang’s performance not been so astonishing, Master Zhou had intended only to gently remind Fu Yuan about spoiling the child.

In the end… Master Zhou closed his eyes slightly. The fool was himself—he had brought shame upon himself.

When Fu Yuan returned home, the steward reported that Master Zhou requested an audience.

Recalling that he had allowed Fu Yuzhang to join Fu Huaian in the west wing study today, Fu Yuan felt a pang of guilt: Could it be that Fu Yuzhang caused trouble?

The steward, having served Fu Yuan many years, understood his meaning without being told and respectfully replied, “The young master was very well-behaved and did not cry.”

Fu Yuan’s confidence immediately grew. Since it wasn’t Fu Yuzhang causing trouble, all was well. Fu Huaian was always the praised one—surely Master Zhou’s visit was to commend Fu Huaian again.

The joy of having a prodigy son was this simple and unadorned.

In high spirits, Fu Yuan arrived at the west wing, prepared to listen to Master Zhou’s lengthy praise of Fu Huaian.

Unexpectedly, Master Zhou’s expression was complicated as he quietly asked Fu Yuan, “I heard the young master’s first birthday is the day after tomorrow. Might I have the honor of attending the child’s ‘Zhua Zhou’ ceremony?”

Fu Yuan: ???

Since when did Master Zhou suddenly care about Fu Yuzhang’s first birthday ceremony?