Tang Garden Notes

"Achoo!" Su Ziji, sitting on the ox cart, sneezed. Unaware that the two girls he had chanced upon were thinking of him, he rode an ox cart passing through temporarily and entered the city a little later, braving the wind and snow.

Snowflakes drifted down. To shield themselves from the snow, many passersby wore straw raincoats or held thick oiled-paper umbrellas. After getting off the cart, Su Ziji headed straight for an inn.

It was an old establishment with three street-facing storefronts, bearing the sign "Cai Family Old Inn." Two watermelon-gauze lanterns still glowed. Su Ziji folded up his oiled-paper umbrella, stamped his feet, shook the snow from his shoulders, and headed inside. The wave of warmth that rushed at him made his whole body come alive again.

A waiter was wiping down the tables and chairs in the main hall. As one of Linhua County's finer inns, its second floor held private rooms, its first floor served simple meals, and behind it were seven or eight guest rooms lined up one after another. Seeing a young man approach, the waiter glanced over and was about to step forward to ask.

"Su Ziji!"

"Brother Su!"

Two greetings rang out as two young men who were clearly scholars emerged from the rear guest rooms and headed straight toward the youth who had just entered.

Seeing that they knew one another, the waiter did not crowd forward. If they wanted rooms, they would naturally ask; if they were visiting friends, stepping in would only be annoying.

Su Ziji hurriedly returned their greetings. "Brother Yu, Brother Zhang."

These two were Su Ziji's friends in the county seat: Yu Lü and Zhang Sheng. Both came from comparatively well-off households, but their homes were rather far from the county seat, so with the County Examination approaching, they could only stay temporarily at an inn.

"Ziji, you finally came." Zhang Sheng let out a long sigh. "You have no idea how terrifying Brother Yu has been. With you gone, he kept dragging me off to study!"

Su Ziji took one look and secretly shook his head.

Zhang Sheng had a good family background and decent talent, but unfortunately, he loved looking at spring palace pictures. Worst of all, his teacher had caught him at it, and the gossip had spread.

Yu Lü had a gentle temperament and was not much of a talker. He carried himself with great grace in dealing with people and things, and possessed both cultivation and learning. Many people could not understand how he had become such close friends with Zhang Sheng.

Still, Su Ziji did not dislike either of them. One was flamboyant and one reserved, but neither was a bad person, and he found them quite comfortable to be around.

Seeing Yu Lü shake his head helplessly at Zhang Sheng's words, Su Ziji could not help advising him, "The County Examination is close at hand. You should still read more books."

Zhang Sheng howled inwardly. He did not like reading more books at all. But seeing that Su Ziji's face was somewhat haggard, as if he had not rested well the previous night, he said, "This is a passageway, not convenient. Let's go back to the room and order some breakfast. The breakfast here is quite good."

Su Ziji felt a warmth in his heart and followed them over.

"Ziji, the County Examination is about to begin. Do you have confidence?" Yu Lü asked.

"Do you hope I say yes or no?" Su Ziji smiled, pulling a thin volume from his robes and preparing to flip through it.

Zhang Sheng glanced at it with disdain. "There's no use reading that stuff. Those model essays were written by old Examination Students who could not even pass the Cultivated Talent examination. A piece costs only ten coins. They're steeped in the stink of pedantic scholars—the more you read, the more they lead you into a pit!"

Yu Lü kicked Zhang Sheng and said, "Zhang Sheng means that most of these model essays are cobbled together and rarely contain any true meaning."

"I understand. That is indeed the case." Su Ziji agreed with their judgment. Even truth had to change with the times, and examination knowledge was even more time-sensitive. Reading more did not necessarily mean it would be useful.

But for a poor student like himself, it was not easy to obtain more useful books. With the County Examination drawing near, he could only rummage through bookshops for a few barely useful volumes to read.

Yu Lü handled matters with more order than Zhang Sheng. He directly handed Su Ziji a notebook. "If you want to benefit, you still need to read a Provincial Graduate's notes."

Su Ziji hurriedly accepted it with both hands. Looking carefully, he saw that the notes were not printed but entirely handwritten, the neat writing all composed in dignified small regular script.

"When I came, I carried little wine. The garden was secluded too, and there was nowhere nearby to buy any. Fortunately, Noon Bridge lay only half a li away; after passing several homes where green lodging could be found, one would arrive with the withered at hand."

Su Ziji was thrilled. They truly were good friends. He had been thinking of finding some experience to draw upon, and Yu Lü had delivered it right to his door. He immediately turned to a page and began reading softly.

It had been an unconscious action, but after he finished reading, the half Rosewood Pendant showed no reaction.

That shouldn't be. It hadn't reacted like this when I read those earlier ones.

Could it be because I don't have ownership? The thought flashed through Su Ziji's mind, and he immediately asked Yu Lü, "The author of this piece—is he an elder or relative of yours? No, he should be your teacher?"

"Eh?" Yu Lü looked surprised. Seeing the certainty in Su Ziji's tone, he smiled and nodded. "He is the teacher who instructed me. How did Brother Su know?"

"Remembering your insight, I found that it had much in common with the thinking in this piece. I assumed there must be some connection." Su Ziji spoke seriously. "The sages said, when three walk together, one must be my teacher. There are three of us now as well. Come, let us take turns reading and learn from one another. How about it?"

Zhang Sheng thought he was joking, but Yu Lü felt that the words had struck straight to his heart and nodded. "Excellent!"

"Hey, no way. Yu Lü is one thing, but Ziji, why are you learning from him too?" Zhang Sheng's face fell at once. Yet under the joint pressure of his two friends, an arm could not twist a thigh, and he could only obey.

Su Ziji read through it once first, while Yu Lü and Zhang Sheng listened. At first Zhang Sheng was somewhat impatient, but as he listened on, he found that listening to someone read really was rather interesting—at the very least, far more interesting than reading by himself.

Resting his chin on his hand, he listened in thought. "It seems I really did take something in."

After Su Ziji finished reading once, he looked toward Yu Lü.

Yu Lü took the notes and began reading aloud. "The bright moon floated overhead, petals and leaves lay scattered in sheets; when flowers bloomed, every evening filled the cups, and all were drunk!"

Yu Lü's voice was like the man himself—warm and gentle, unhurried. He was better suited to recitation than Su Ziji, as could be seen from how much more engrossed Zhang Sheng had become.

By now, guests in the inn were eating and talking, many of them students as well. Some were speaking in lofty terms, while others were reading. Amid it all, they felt at ease, finding stillness within the clamor.

"Yu Lü is imparting [Tang Garden Notes] to you. Learn it?"

When Su Ziji finally received the message, relief washed over him. Sure enough, notes whose ownership did not belong to him could be acquired this way. He immediately answered, "Yes!"

"Yes!"

A dizzy spell came over him, and a flood of information rushed in at once. Pale blue notifications surfaced in his vision: "[Tang Garden Notes] learned. [Experience +5], [Experience +3], [Experience +5]..."

With every sentence read aloud, notifications drifted continuously before his eyes. Along with them, knowledge poured in, engraving itself upon Su Ziji's heart and recombining in new ways.

Now that the Four Books and Five Classics had become a skill, he could recite all 450,000 characters as smoothly as flowing water. But being able to recite did not necessarily mean being able to write or apply them flexibly. Yet at this moment, he seemed to understand at once how to use them, with a particular rhythm and insight woven into it.

"So this is part of a Provincial Graduate's insight."

By the time Su Ziji emerged from his joy, Yu Lü had already finished reading the notes and was preparing to read the orthodox classics.