The matters of the village school were not few, but the village head had basically handled them all.
There were no brushes, ink, paper, or inkstones in the village, so the village head used tree bark and charcoal instead, a method taught by the old Scholar, who had used these materials in his early years.
Yet, the village head was still fixated on this, and he thought about it even in his sleep, talking about it to anyone he met.
"You were quite fortunate back then," he said, "Tongwen helped resolve most of the issues with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, otherwise, you would also have had to use charcoal for writing, which these children are unlucky enough not to have access to.
But using charcoal is ultimately inadequate; how can one study without practicing calligraphy? I'll go and check Tongwen's books to see if there's a solution!"
