"The gentleman says: Learning must never cease."
In the simple, elegant schoolhouse...
Little White was listening to the Teacher lecture. He did not know why he had to listen, just as he did not know why he was called Little White.
There was only a voice in his heart that kept telling him, from time to time, that this was his name.
On Learning was their schoolhouse's morning reading text, but for children like them, who had only just entered the schoolhouse, On Learning was their very first lesson.
The schoolhouse was the only schoolhouse in town, and the Teacher was the only Teacher in town. Rumor had it that anyone who came out of this schoolhouse knew everything there was to know.
To get him into this schoolhouse, Little White's grandpa had spent a great deal.
Because of that, Little White listened very carefully to every word the Teacher said. From the Teacher, he learned all kinds of knowledge about Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism.
The Teacher also took them to chop firewood, plant trees, and transplant rice seedlings. They swam in spring and fished in summer. They calculated weights and measures, and explored flowers, plants, leaves, and branches.
Not every student was willing to do these things. They often said they had come to build their foundation in magic, not to waste their time.
Little White did not know what magic was. Grandpa never let him go outside, and the schoolhouse was the place where he had spent the second-longest time in his life. But the Teacher did not allow them to leave the schoolhouse, so he did not know what it was like outside, either.
He only knew that the Teacher paid no attention to what those students said. He would use the stick in his hand to