"Uncle Zhang told him that when he was young, he farmed, but he was no good at it. Later, he went to ask the elders for advice. Some said pest control had to be done well, some said fertilizing had to be done well, some said the soil had to be loosened well, and some said seeds were the most important. In short, he discovered that seemingly anything could increase grain yields, yet the threads were countless and the varieties manifold. He said he was stupid, so he tried things one by one and did them one by one."
"In the end, Uncle Zhang answered: You ask why my harvest is better than everyone else's. The reason is simple. At every step of farming, I do better than others. In spring, starting with loosening the soil, I personally smash every clod of dirt, throw away every hard stone, pull every weed, and do every single thing that can be done with the utmost care and perfection. If this autumn's harvest is poor, I keep doing it next year; if it still fails by autumn, then the year after that. Starting from the sixth autumn, no one in the village grew better crops than I did."
"Chief Minister Zhao told the students of Yuelu Academy that after hearing Uncle Zhang's words, they struck his ears like thunder. He pondered them over and over for three days, even neglecting food and sleep. His family thought he had been possessed by a nightmare and found someone to drive out evil. From then on, he finally understood that his studying had been poor because, like Uncle Zhang, he had failed to do every step of studying well. If Uncle Zhang could bring every part of farming to one, then he himself had only reached