The Meandering Corridor lay in the cool evening air of early autumn.
Li Jingxuan and Chen Qiming walked side by side along a secluded path in the Prince's Residence. Their steps were heavy, each burdened with his own thoughts, and neither spoke much along the way. Occasionally, fallen leaves rustled beneath their shoes, faintly answering the distant sounds from deep within the residence and lending the night an even greater, indescribable loneliness.
As they neared the side gate, Chen Qiming remarked sourly:
"It really is better to be born into a great family! All the learning you could need is prepared from birth, with countless renowned teachers and worthy tutors hovering around you, writing policy questions and essay answers for you to memorize-"
Li Jingxuan did not join Chen Qiming in his grumbling. Instead, he said calmly:
"You couldn't achieve that through memorization."
"Oh, even if he didn't memorize it, they still taught him hand over hand. Otherwise, how could someone who studies Classical Studies possibly know so much?!" Chen Qiming was thoroughly indignant.
With his hands behind his back, Li Jingxuan kept walking. As he pondered something that had struck him as wrong, he casually borrowed Wang Yang's words:
"'Master one thing, and you master a hundred; apply one thing, and you can apply a hundred.' Once you truly understand what you read, comprehension follows naturally."
Chen Qiming gave a scornful chuckle:
"Those are just words he used to mystify people. You believe them too? Brother Li, you have always been exceptionally intelligent. Did one fright from a young master of a great clan turn you into a fool?"
Li Jingxuan's voice remained neutral:
"A man who has never known water, upon hearing of the usefulness of boats and oars, will surely call it nonsense;
one who has never