Zhao Ce lifted his eyes slightly and glanced at Liu Xiucai before quickly lowering his gaze. Liu Xiucai was a young scholar who had passed the elementary scholar examination at a young age but had failed the subsequent provincial and metropolitan examinations repeatedly.
He only passed the scholar examination when he was middle-aged, and after failing the Imperial examination twice in a row, he decided not to take the Imperial examination again and opened a school in the city, where he had many students and good teaching results. He even received compliments from many scholars, and he became somewhat arrogant. He claimed to have read many sayings of sages and did not like students with bad behavior.
Previously, he had ignored Zhao Ce because of his poor academic performance, but now he could not tolerate his bad character.
Zhao Ce's reputation had been tarnished by a recent incident where he had trespassed into a woman's chamber.
Despite Zhao Youcai's attempts to explain the situation, Liu Xiucai refused to listen and criticized Zhao Ce's academic ability.
"Reading the sayings of sages is to follow the path of a gentleman. Your nephew, Zhao Ce, as a scholar, actually trespassed into a woman's chamber. Such a heinous act cannot be tolerated, and I cannot teach him anymore," Liu Xiucai said.
Zhao Youcai was anxious when he heard this and tried to defend his nephew. "But he's still young and easily influenced. He was led astray by someone else," he said.
Liu Xiucai was dismissive. "He's already 19 years old and still hasn't fully read the Four Books. Even if he studies for another two years, he'll likely fail the examination. He's not talented, and his reputation is already ruined. You should focus on a legitimate career instead of wasting money on his education," he said.
Zhao Youcai was hesitant but eventually relented. He presented Liu Xiucai with gifts and begged him to change his mind, but Liu Xiucai remained firm in his decision.
"He won't be able to study under any teacher in this city unless there is any imperial scholar to vouch for him," Liu Xiucai said sarcastically.
Zhao Youcai felt embarrassed by his words. He also knew that his nephew wasn't a good student, but he didn't expect him to be as bad as Liu Xiucai had said.
He glanced at Zhao Ce, who returned his gaze without any expression of dissatisfaction.
Zhao Youcai sighed softly. Although Liu Xiucai had said that, he still wanted to try and persuade him. Liu Xiucai seemed to understand his thoughts and said directly, "Zhao Youcai, don't think that I haven't taught your nephew seriously."
"Of course not," Zhao Youcai replied hastily.
Liu Xiucai continued, "Just the other day, I reviewed 'Confucius' Analects' with him."
"Right?" Liu Xiucai's words were directed at Zhao Ce.
Zhao Ce raised his eyebrows and said, "Yes."
"After finishing the lesson, I instructed everyone to go home and study," Liu Xiucai said. "Let me test you on a couple of questions and see if you've been reviewing diligently at home."
Liu Xiucai's actions were not really about testing Zhao Ce's knowledge, but rather letting Zhao Youcai know that he had not treated his student unfairly.
It was only July, and they had paid for a full year of tuition. Although there were still about six months left before he stopped teaching, the tuition fee was non-refundable. After all, he had done his best as a teacher, hadn't he?
Zhao Youcai had thought that there was hope, but when he heard that Liu Xiucai wanted to test whether Zhao Ce had been reviewing diligently at home, his hope dwindled. He knew exactly what Zhao Ce had been doing these past two days, and he probably hadn't been studying much.
He thought to himself that there was no way around it. If things didn't work out here, he would have to look for another school that was still accepting students.
As he was thinking this, he heard Liu Xiucai reciting a passage from Confucius' Analects.
"Confucius said, 'A horse is not judged by its strength but by its virtues.'"
After finishing the passage, Liu Xiucai looked at Zhao Ce and gestured for him to recite the rest. Liu Xiucai knew this student very well. His academic ability was really poor, and his true evaluation was "lacking in intelligence."
It took him a long time to master even one lesson. Unfortunately, Liu Xiucai had not thoroughly examined him before taking him on as a student.
When he thought about Zhao Ce's reputation, Liu Xiucai felt unlucky. It was really dragging down his teaching ability. Zhao Youcai furrowed his brow deeply and sighed inwardly. Zhao Ce, on the other hand, recited the rest of the passage calmly.
"Ji is the name of a good horse. Virtue means that it has been properly trained."
After Zhao Ce finished reciting, Liu Xiucai exclaimed, "Hm?"
Zhao Youcai was anxious and asked, "Sir, did my nephew recite it correctly?"
Liu Xiucai didn't answer him but looked at Zhao Ce again and recited another passage from Mencius.
"Zi Lu asked about serving a ruler. Confucius said, 'If you can cultivate the ability of Zang Wu Zhong, and avoid the desires of Gong Shuo...'"
Liu Xiucai had switched from the Analects to Mencius. Zhao Youcai didn't know that, but Zhao Ce apparently did. He calmly recited the rest of the passage, and Liu Xiucai furrowed his brow.
"As for serving the Duke of Qi, it is merely a matter of reversing one's hand."
Here's another passage: "When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again."," What does it mean?" Liu Xiucai said.
"This passage is about the importance of both knowledge and virtue. Mencius believed that knowledge alone was not enough to be truly successful in life. One also needed to have a strong moral character and the ability to hold onto what one had gained." Zhao Ce answered.
Liu Xiucai furrowed his brow even more. Liu Xiucai was surprised that Zhao Ce was able to recite all passages correctly and answer all of his questions. He couldn't believe it. This was the same student he had thought of as "lacking in intelligence" and who had taken a long time to master even one lesson. He had blindly accepted him without thoroughly examining him. Liu Xiucai was starting to feel like he had made a mistake.