Chapter Eighteen: Yet, Such a Good Brother

“What if we blacken this room too?” Su Lu asked.

“Foolish!” Su Man scolded him. “A gentleman uses things, a petty man is used by them. Which is more important, the house or the person?”

“Yes.” Su Lu quickly accepted the lesson, but still worried, “This room is usually locked by Aunt…”

“I’ll speak to my mother about it.” Su Man waved his hand and pulled another box of books from the shelf. “These are from our academy, the official edition of ‘Collected Commentaries on the Four Books’. Second Uncle’s handwritten copy may not be accurate. From now on, use this version—so you don’t end up ‘a broken boat meeting a headwind, snow upon snow’.”

“What about my big brother, what will he use?” By now, Su Lu understood well: a set of meticulously proofread ‘Collected Commentaries on the Four Books’ was worth a great deal.

“Dream on. I’m only lending it to you,” Su Man snorted. He had only this one set of official textbooks, hoping to use them until he took the imperial examination. He anxiously reminded, “Wash your hands before using them. No folding pages, no scribbling. Return them in the exact condition they were lent.”

“Yes, little brother will remember. Thank you, big brother.” Su Lu bowed deeply.

“No need to thank me.” Su Man kept his stern face, coldly saying, “I just don’t want you to do too poorly and embarrass me by association, though you’ll certainly embarrass me…”

“Yes, I’ll try to make big brother lose as little face as possible.” Su Lu grinned, now free from any misgivings.

~~

That night, Su Lu began studying in his brother’s room. Su Man explained all remaining parts of ‘The Great Learning’ in one breath.

Originally, ‘The Great Learning’ was a chapter in the ‘Book of Rites’, later singled out as an independent text due to its high esteem. The whole work is merely 2,200 characters, and with Zhu Xi’s commentary, just 8,200, making it the shortest of the Four Books.

Su Lu, who normally would take two days to cover such material, had it all crammed into his head in one night by his brother, nearly exploding his brain.

He could only proceed in a muddled rush, relying on notes where memory failed, barely keeping pace…

A single lesson from big brother was more exhausting than three from his father. Truly, a scholar cannot always be a good teacher.

By the time the battered Su Lu emerged from his brother’s study, it was already deep into the night.

Returning to his room, he flopped onto the bed and immediately began snoring, joining his father in a duet…

~~

Fourth watch of the night, the outer room of the west wing.

Aunt rose early to prepare food and clean clothes for her son to take to school.

“Mother, I can manage myself,” Chun was helpless—his mother still treated him like a child.

“No need, no need, I’m happy to serve you,” she replied, full of energy, unlike when working for the household.

“But you don’t have to stuff bricks into my book chest,” Chun said, increasingly exasperated by her eccentric actions. “Are you afraid I’ll be blown away?”

“No, no, this is a magic item I prayed for you on Guanyin Mountain,” Aunt feared her son’s rejection, not daring to admit the brick was from Su Lu, so she bragged, “When you struggle to memorize your books, lift this, and our ancestor on the wall will bless you—you’ll remember instantly!”

Su Man was speechless—what a jumble.

But scholars have rich inner worlds and vivid imaginations… In a flash, Chun pictured his mother kneeling devoutly before the Guanyin statue, praying for him to pass the scholar exam. The next scene had her being coaxed by the old monk into buying a pricey ‘Dongpo Brick’…

Regardless, the brick was his mother’s heartfelt gift—how could he refuse?

~~

Chun nodded, softly saying, “Thank you, Mother. I’ll make good use of it.”

“Good, good! My good son is so much better than your stubborn father!” Aunt was overjoyed.

Seeing this, Su Man pictured his mother being scolded by his father after bringing home the brick, further confirming his judgment. He got up, shouldered the book chest—which was noticeably heavier now—and prepared to leave.

As he bid farewell to his grandparents and stepped out, he glanced at Second Uncle’s room and said quietly to his mother, “My room is wasted sitting idle—let Qiu use it.”

“That can’t do! What if he takes over?” Aunt naturally objected.

“Listen to me, Mother. First, we’re family. Second, Qiu deserves it. Third, stop letting Father use you as a pawn…”

“Uh, that’s not just one word. All right…” Though she didn’t understand the last two points, Aunt nodded, “I’ll do as you say.”

“Thank you, Mother.” Su Man bowed deeply to her, then hurried down the stilted house with the book chest.

Only, the brick inside clanged noisily as he walked, making him rather embarrassed…

~~

Youth has its advantages. After a night’s sleep, Su Lu was refreshed and full of energy. But recalling last night’s lessons, he found no signs of reinforced memory.

He thought it was due to exhaustion and didn’t dwell on it. No need to linger in bed; he got up to see his big brother off.

But Chun had already gone back to the academy—clearly another energetic soul.

Returning to his room, Su Youcai was already up, leafing through the borrowed books, clicking his tongue, “Chun is really generous to you. I’ve asked him several times, and he never lent them.”

“Big brother is only lending them to me,” Su Lu explained. “He said the academy exams use this edition—it’s more reliable.”

“Of course.” Su Youcai pointed to his own handwritten copy. “Help me cross-check and correct any errors, so I don’t mislead students.”

“Alright.” Su Lu couldn’t help but feel concerned for his cousins preparing for exams.

That morning, he reviewed the textbooks against each other. Luckily, differences were minor—just a few characters—so he marked the discrepancies.

Seeing his handwriting finally resemble something respectable, he was quite pleased.

But the pleasure faded when he tackled ‘The Great Learning’. To be precise, it was the commentaries that stumped him.

The original text is concise and elegant, easy to recite, but Zhu Xi’s notes are intricate and argumentative, making memorization much tougher.

For example, the opening sixteen characters, “The Way of the Great Learning lies in clarifying virtue, loving people, and reaching utmost goodness,” are straightforward.

Zhu Xi’s commentary, however, runs to 223 characters, explaining each word: “Great Learning: the study of the great man. Clarify: to make clear. Clarified virtue: that which man receives from heaven, pure and undimmed, containing all principles and responding to all matters…”

Then comes lengthy exposition: “Yet, constrained by temperament and obscured by desires, it sometimes dims; but its fundamental brightness never ceases. Thus, the student must follow its manifestation and clarify it, returning to the original…”

After each point, there’s a summary. These 200+ characters are harder to memorize than the thousand before!

Until Su Lu remembered—he could use mind maps to organize the text and commentaries. Suddenly, everything became clear—a structure easy to memorize at a glance.

He wrote the original text on the front of a banana leaf paper, drew the mind map, and wrote Zhu Xi’s annotations on the back.

Then, memorizing the commentaries by referring to the mind map, everything became much easier and more solid.

Because the human brain doesn’t process information in a straight line, but uses a nonlinear, associative method. Memorizing sequentially word by word is inefficient.

Mind maps are designed to fit the brain’s natural organization, using images, keywords, and nodes, presenting information in a way closer to human memory mechanisms—thus achieving twice the result with half the effort.

~~

With this powerful tool, Su Lu completed his study plan for the day.

That evening, when Su Youcai checked his homework, Su Lu recited smoothly up to “Thus the reality of goodness lies within and manifests outward; so it is said again to conclude.”

‘Astonished Father’ was stunned yet again. Though long used to his son’s good memory, the commentaries were far harder to memorize than the elementary texts!

Especially the convoluted “As the poem says” section—his brightest students needed days to memorize it. Su Lu had no gift for instant recall; how did he memorize it so quickly and accurately?

Hearing his father’s doubts, Su Lu didn’t keep his method secret. He took a banana leaf paper and explained the mind map:

“…Through this tree-like structure and keywords, complex information is simplified and visualized. This stimulates deep memory and helps us build a clear, structured recall.”

“It seems it can help students understand as well?” Su Youcai mused.

“Of course.” Su Lu nodded. “It’s all about grasping the key points and essence, understanding the inner connections.”

“My son’s method is truly ingenious!” Su Youcai applauded. “Now I believe you really were inspired by an immortal. But your talent lies not in writing, but in studying.”

“Heh, that’s actually more practical…” Su Lu could only let him believe as he wished.

“After your exam, could you visit the clan school and teach the children?” Su Youcai asked.

“Of course, but only after I pass.” Su Lu was naturally eager to teach, and had no intention of keeping his method secret—especially since his pupils would be kin. “If I don’t pass, no one will listen to me anyway.”

“That’s true.” Su Youcai agreed.

That night, their lesson incorporated mind maps. Su Youcai helped Su Lu reorganize the ‘Commentaries on the Great Learning’, and found the method truly miraculous—even he learned something new.

“Live and learn, it seems I should study it all over again.” When he went to bed, he muttered to himself.

“Father, you’re still young; with effort, perhaps you’ll pass next time,” Su Lu encouraged him.

“We’ll see in the future…” Su Youcai fell silent after speaking, perhaps already asleep.

Su Lu extinguished the lamp, went to his brother’s room for some bedtime review. Aunt hadn’t locked the door as expected—his brother’s word was more effective with her than anyone’s.

After finishing his revision, he hurriedly turned off the light and returned to his room, did nothing else, lay straight on the bed, trying to clear his mind and activate his sleep-memory method.

However, after a quarter hour, his mind remained chaotic—he couldn’t calm himself. Even hugging the bamboo wife didn’t help…

He didn’t know when he eventually fell asleep, but by the next morning, he realized the sleep-memory method hadn’t worked again.

This made him anxious—the method was crucial; much of his knowledge had been engraved in his mind this way.

If it stopped working, it wouldn’t just halve his ability—it would surely cause major setbacks…

That night, Su Lu was extremely uneasy, but successfully cleared his mind and entered the right state—the sleep-memory method worked again!

During a break at school the next day, he pondered what caused this. Could it be that the bamboo wife wasn’t the real ‘anchor’?

ps. It’s the weekend—keep those monthly votes and recommendations coming!!!