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Xie Ning took it and opened it to find quite a bit of broken silver. He reached in, took one small piece, then walked over and stuffed the rest back into his father's arms. "We didn't spend any silver. Jinian made me a bathtub. I soak in water every night, and it's gone down quite a bit on its own."

Seeing his son holding a tiny piece of silver and looking utterly unconcerned, Xie Dashu widened his eyes in alarm. "You soak in water every night? Zhou Jinian hasn't held you?"

Xie Ning raised his brows. "He has. Last night, he held me until I got into the water..."

"Whoa, stop! This sort of thing... how can you be so shameless, child?" Xie Dashu called a halt in his gruff voice, his weathered face all creased up as though embarrassed on his second son's behalf.

"Huh?" Xie Ning frowned. Zhou Jinian had not only held him, but carried him around the village on his back, too. He hadn't seen anyone getting embarrassed.

Zhou Jinian and Xie Yao discussed the upcoming prefectural academy examination and shared the preparations they had each made. After their conversation, Zhou Jinian, looking at him from the perspective of an elder who had already lived an entire lifetime, greatly admired Xie Yao.

Xie Yao had a strong grasp of the bigger picture in both his thinking and his conduct, as well as distinctive insights. In his previous life, Zhou Jinian would certainly have taken Xie Yao under his wing. Unfortunately, he had no recollection of Xie Yao from that life. Most likely, Xie Yao's talents had gone unrecognized, leaving him to spend the latter half of his life in obscurity.

Intending to offer him some guidance, Zhou Jinian deliberately spoke modestly. "Your insights into essay writing are truly excellent, Big Brother. You're sure to place highly. Lately, I've been reciting the Four Books and Five Classics once every day, hoping to make my essays skillful and logically sound."

Memorizing the Four Books and Five Classics in their entirety was no easy task. Puzzled, Xie Yao asked, "Our teacher said it was enough to read them thoroughly. Why memorize them?"

"Under our dynasty's examination rules, the topics must be drawn primarily from the Four Books and Five Classics, yet the prompts often give no source. Unless you know the Four Books and Five Classics by heart, you may have nothing to say." Zhou Jinian offered a small hint.

Having first received a round of praise, Xie Yao was feeling pleased and was therefore quite receptive to Zhou Jinian's words. He began to ponder them seriously.

"The scholars of our dynasty, such as Lord Xie Zhimao, who shares your surname, and Academician Lin of the Hanlin Academy, have all immersed themselves in ancient learning. Building upon classical prose, they used the ancients to nurture their own spirit, then gave expression to their talents."

Enlightenment dawned on Xie Yao. "That makes sense." He openly praised it as an excellent insight.

Zhou Jinian poured himself some tea. Seeing that Xie Yao looked as though he had something to say, he asked, "What is it?"

"Our teacher once said that my essays were tightly structured, and that the opening exposition, introduction, and concluding legs were all excellent. Yet when read as a whole, the development of the topic felt somewhat forced. However fine the essay, there was always a flaw. But even our teacher couldn't explain exactly what it was. As for me, I was like someone caught inside the chessboard, not knowing where to place a piece."

Xie Yao lifted his teacup. "I have a direction now. Jinian, let me offer you tea in place of wine. Thank you."

"You're too kind, Big Brother." Zhou Jinian raised his cup in acknowledgment and drained it as well.

Out in the courtyard, Xie Ning soon grew bored and wandered into his elder brother's study. Seeing the two men drinking tea in place of wine, reciting poetry and composing couplets, he walked openly inside to join in the scholars' fun. He and Xie Yao had always been close as brothers.

Resting his chin on his hand, Xie Ning watched Zhou Jinian be so talkative for the first time. Thinking that he would be living with Zhou Jinian for the rest of his life, how could it do for him not to know a single character? He suddenly spoke up. "Jinian, teach me to read, please."

At this, even Xie Yao, who doted on his younger brother, gently scolded him. "Nonsense. What use would learning that be to you?"

"All right. I'll teach you to write the two characters of Xie Ning." Zhou Jinian agreed as he stood.

Scholars' households all had a sand tray for practicing characters when first learning to read and write. Zhou Jinian had Xie Ning sit in front of the tray, then stood behind him and clearly traced the two characters "Xie Ning" in the sand, stroke by stroke.

"This is your name. Try copying it."

Xie Ning held up a slender, pale finger, unsure whether to begin with the dot in the "speech" radical on the left, or work from top to bottom and first write the dot above the "body" component.

Xie Yao looked over curiously and caught the faint curve of a smile at the corners of Zhou Jinian's usually stern, tightly pressed lips...

Zhou Jinian bent down, enclosing Xie Ning in his broad chest, and took his right hand to guide him through writing the characters.

"Write Xie from left to right, and Ning from top to bottom." Zhou Jinian spoke as he wrote. When he finished, he let go. "Now write it yourself."

Xie Ning nervously rubbed his hands together and shifted his bottom, settling into the proper position before carefully tracing the characters.

"Mm. Nicely written. Make this component in the middle a little smaller." Zhou Jinian was generous with his encouragement.

Xie Yao smiled silently and lowered his head to read.

Only when mealtime came and Xie Xiaoyu arrived to call them did the three emerge from the world of books and go to eat together.

When they returned to the Zhou family's little courtyard that afternoon, Xie Ning eagerly urged Zhou Jinian to find the sand tray he had used when first learning his characters, then proudly wrote "Xie Ning" for him to see.

"Mm, clever." Zhou Jinian went over and wrote another neat "Xie Ning," then began copying books by daylight.

Holding the sand tray, Xie Ning copied Zhou Jinian's writing over and over. He managed to make his name look quite respectable; at least the components no longer drifted apart.

In the scorching summer heat, Zhou Dafeng developed a high fever during the day after all. Physician Hu came to examine him again. His injuries were serious and difficult to treat, and the physician told the Zhou family to hurry and take him to a doctor in town.

Grandmother Zhou therefore gave some silver to her eldest daughter-in-law, who took her son Zhou Wenshu along. Escorted by Zhou Sifeng, they hired an ox cart and hurried to town to have the injuries treated.

Because of his leg ailment, Zhou Sanfeng did not have to make the journey. But once Zhou Dafeng and Zhou Sifeng went to town, the work in the fields effectively fell entirely to him. There was still one other grown man at home, Zhou Liufeng, but he never concerned himself with farming.

Fortunately, it was the summer lull in the fields. Grandmother Zhou only assigned Lin Jin to work there, while all the household chores fell to Lin Guihua again. As usual, the sixth daughter-in-law talked her way into the easiest task, weaving, which required her only to sit to one side and direct the younger generation.

With everyone busy inside and outside the house, Xie Ning became a thorn in Grandmother Zhou's side. First, he could not go out: he would have an episode and disgrace the Zhou family. Second, they dared not eat food he cooked, afraid he would pass his illness to the family.

But there was nothing she could do about Xie Ning, so she could only restrict his food, refusing to let him take much rice or eat many dishes.