Before Xiao Xian arrived, Little Hai had told her about this nameless temple without even a plaque. Its operation and daily maintenance depended entirely on the head monk standing before her.
The monk had a tricky name that people in the village found difficult to recall, as his dharma name simply was Shanyin, so the villagers just called him Master Shan Yin.
Master Shan Yin was a bona fide graduate of Emei Mountain Buddhist College, holding qualifications far exceeding those of everyone in Ge Village and the surrounding areas combined.
Although he lived in the temple all year round, the monk rarely touched upon the content of Buddhist scriptures when teaching.
Every new student was entitled to receive a complementary textbook from Shanyin Monk, which was said to be the same as those used by the children in the town schools.
At that time, compulsory education had not yet been universally implemented across the country, and Master Shan Yin was not willing to charge tuition fees. To save on expenses, all the textbooks were transcribed by the head monk himself.
Since there was no ready-made blackboard in the classroom, Shanyin Monk painted the temple’s mud-brick wall white, placed a bucket of white lime water next to it, and used charcoal to write on the wall during lessons. At the end of the day, he would repaint the wall with white lime water, and once it was dry the next day, it was ready to use again.
The head monk had been in the temple for over ten years. On average, he repainted the wall once or twice a day, so it accumulated a thick layer of lime that alternated between wet and dry states.
As the bucket of limewater also turned from white to gray and back to white over time, groups of children came and went.
The morning classes were divided into three separate sessions, 45 minutes each. The first session was for children under nine with poor foundations. The second session was for children over nine with some basic knowledge. The studies covered a range of topics, from writing to arithmetic, to sentence formation and recitations. The third session was for practicing calligraphy, where Master Shan Yin exhibited his fine handwriting.
Master Shan Yin’s teaching was never rigidly limited to the textbooks; he incorporated local customs and stories into his lessons, which made the children very engaged and maintained good classroom discipline.
The textbook Xiao Xian received had frayed edges, indicating it had been used before, but the handwriting inside was excellent and gracefully crafted by the head monk.
Sitting at the back, Little Hai told Xiao Xian that the textbooks were all recycled; the older children would pass them down to the younger ones. The further one advanced in grades, the fewer students there were, and thus, the newer the textbooks.
Xiao Xian had been taught some characters and read some children’s books by Zhu Shijun back at home. After glancing through the textbooks, she recognized most of the characters, so she soon went to exchange hers for one suitable for higher grades after class ended.
"You’re new here, right?" The monk’s slender face held a pleasant smile. Hearing that Xiao Xian wanted to exchange her textbook, he brought out several books, ranging from first to fifth grade. First, he pulled out a second-grade one, but Xiao Xian glanced at it and took a third-grade book instead.
After flipping through the third-grade book, she went on to look at the fourth-grade one, and ultimately the fifth-grade one.
The monk found it curious; the level of education was generally poor among mountain children. Judging from Xiao Xian’s age and her literacy level, she was far ahead of most kids.
"Zhu Xiaoxian, are you sure you can understand the fifth-grade book?" Yezi approached skeptically, eyeing the textbook.
"No, I only recognize the content of the fourth-grade textbook, and I don’t want to sit in the same row as you," Xiao Xian said as she picked up the fourth-grade textbook and walked back. She had learned the rules of the classroom after observing for a morning.
For teaching convenience, students of similar levels were seated together; the front rows did homework while the back started their classes. Xiao Xian didn’t want to sit with Li Ye, preferring to opt for the fourth-grade class. However, there was only one row separating the fourth and fifth grades, and the curriculum pace was pretty similar.
After just half a day of school, Xiao Xian moved from the first row to the fourth row, sitting with a group of children two to three years older.
In the afternoon reading class, Shanyin wrote longer texts on the blackboard, first reciting it himself, then having the students read in turns.
"Chishui River is a tributary of the Yangtze River, originating from..." Coincidentally, the reading class for the older students was talking about Chishui River today, and Xiao Xian compared how Zhu Shijun and Shanyin Monk described Chishui River, only to suddenly feel a tightness in her hair and a slight pain on her scalp.
A burst of laughter came from the back row of desks. There weren’t many seats in the back, and when Xiao Xian sat down, she had deliberately chosen a spot as far from Li Ye as possible. However, that boy deliberately changed seats to sit behind her. He behaved during the class, but as soon as Shanyin turned to write on the blackboard, he started to tamper with Xiao Xian’s braids.