Chapter 93: 87 Unveiled (Second Update)
It seemed to be the sound of a man reading, intermittent, always stumbling at the same place, then starting all over again.
Xiao Jingkong, with his obsessive-compulsive disorder, was a little bit bothered. Walking with a click-clack sound, he spotted Gu Dashun under a large tree outside the Gu family residence, his eyebrows furrowed.
Xiao Jingkong knew Gu Dashun, but he had not spoken to him, and he did not understand why Gu Dashun had to read under the tree instead of at home.
The family was quarreling horribly over the matter of tea leaves and old hens. The second house blamed the main house for coming up with a bad idea, while the main house accused Gu Xiaoshun of the second house of messing up everything…
Unable to concentrate, Gu Dashun fled to the tranquility under the tree. Unexpectedly, as he read, he realized there were a few characters he didn’t recognize.
“The character is read as ‘Duo’!” Xiao Jingkong stood behind him and read the character in the book.
The sudden childish voice startled Gu Dashun. He turned his head and looked at Xiao Jingkong in surprise.
Xiao Jingkong has been in the village for so long. He had seen and heard of him from afar, but they had never interacted.
Seeing his confusion, Xiao Jingkong read it again thinking he didn’t understand, “Duo, pronounced the same as in ‘hide’!
Gu Dashun refused to believe a three-year-old child, and nonchalantly turned away his face, “Don’t talk nonsense if you don’t understand.”
Xiao Jingkong put his hands on his hips, “I am not! I’ve learned this!”
Gu Dashun retorted, “How could you have possibly learned this?”
Xiao Jingkong responded, “The ‘Vajrasattva Mantra’, I can recite it by heart!”
Gu Dashun looked at him skeptically and pointed at another character, asking, “What about this one?”
“‘Nou’! ‘All the Buddhas of the three times, by the power of prajna paramita, attain perfect and complete enlightenment!’ The ‘Heart Sutra’!” He chirped out the phrase smoothly, without even a minor hiccup.
Even though Gu Dashun was unfamiliar with Buddhist scriptures, he understood that such a complex sentence could not be possibly made up by a three-and-a-half-year-old child.
So, he really knew it.
Afterwards, Gu Dashun pointed out a few more characters to Xiao Jingkong. Some of them he knew, and some he didn’t. To his surprise, Xiao Jingkong knew them all and could accurately quote their sources.
Xiao Jingkong looked at Gu Dashun with dismay, “How do you study? I heard that you are a scholar, are scholars generally this bad?”
Xiao Jingkong suddenly remembered his brother-in-law has also just became a scholar, and he wondered if he was this bad too.
How can support the family this way?
Would they still be able to keep going until he is grown up?
Concerned about his home’s difficulties, Xiao Jingkong suddenly didn’t feel like herding the chicks anymore and brought all of them from Xiao Yi to Xiao Qi back home.
After putting the chicks back in their coop, he immediately went to the west chamber.
He still hadn’t mastered writing yet, mainly because of his lack of strength to hold a brush. But he had scripture books.
He took out a few scripture books from his small box and came to Xiao Liulang. Opening a page arbitrarily, he pointed at an unusual character, “How to read this?”
Xiao Liulang gave him a glance and read it out flatly.
Xiao Jingkong frowned seriously, nodding secretly in his mind.
He didn’t misread it.
Xiao Jingkong then pointed at another character, it was the first character that Gu Dashun did not understand earlier.
Xiao Liulang easily read it out.
“Hmm.” Xiao Jingkong seemed satisfied.
He then sequentially tested Xiao Liulang on many other characters. Xiao Liulang read all of them correctly.
He also tested Xiao Liulang’s comprehension. Xiao Liulang’s explanations were almost the same as those of the master, even more concise and clear.
Well, it seemed like brother-in-law had been studying hard, Xiao Jingkong was slightly relieved.
But how would Xiao Liulang know about his little scheme? He thought Xiao Jingkong was suddenly interested in learning characters.
Children in the town begin to learn at the age of seven. Perhaps the little monk, being smarter than average children and having a little foundation from living in the temple, could start early.
Better than sticking to Gu Jiao all day long.
Xiao Liulang secretly noted down the matter of early starting for Xiao Jingkong.
On the other hand, Marquis Gu’s injuries had basically healed.
He did not admit that he ended up in this condition because of being kicked by his own daughter, and simply reported that he accidentally fell. All the servants were forced to believe his version.
Huang Zhong received a family letter from the Capital City.
After reading the letter, Marquis Gu’s brows gradually wrinkled into a frown.
Huang Zhong asked, “What happened, Marquis? Did something happen at the Marquis Residence?”
Marquis Gu sighed, “No, it’s a letter from the Noble Consort.”
Huang Zhong was puzzled, “From the Noble Consort? Has she summoned you for something?”
Marquis Gu helplessly folded the letter back into the envelope, “Her birthday is coming. Jin Yu’s birthday is in the same month as hers. She asked me when I was going to bring Jin Yu back to the Capital City. This year is Jin Yu’s hairpin ceremony and she insisted that I must not forget it.”