Chapter 3 This is the Great Tang

  "Qing'er, you're better now, go learn characters from Mr. Wang tomorrow."

  Hearing his mother speak, Wu Qing responded with a sound, thinking to himself that this poor place actually still had a private school, it seemed that this era still attached great importance to education.

  Seeing Wu Qing not being very pleased, the lady of the Wu family's tone became stern and she said: "Thinking that our Wu family has been loyal ministers and good generals for generations, although we are not a scholarly family, we can still be considered an official family. You should study hard. Nowadays, the imperial court selects scholars through the civil service examination, and treats scholars from humble backgrounds equally. If you don't become a jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest level of the imperial examination), even if you just pass the mingjing (a lower level of the imperial examination), I will also have face, and it won't be in vain for me to raise you. After my death, I can also be considered to have fulfilled my duty to our ancestors."

  When Wu Qing heard his mother say this, he was shocked and inexplicably moved. It turned out that his own family had also been an official family in the past, but unfortunately, it seemed to have declined. However, the imperial examination was indeed a difficult hurdle for him to overcome. As a chemistry major, the Four Books and Five Classics were really a headache-inducing problem.

  Just looking at his mother's serious expression, Wu Qing nodded and said: "Mother wants me to learn characters, I'll go then. But seeing Mother working so hard, my heart aches, I'd rather follow Mother into the mountains to dig wild vegetables, work in the fields."

  The lady of the Wu family was stunned, could it be that this child had gone crazy? Such a reasonable thing was said from her child's mouth? However, the lady of the Wu family was still very pleased in her heart, it seemed that her child had really grown up and understood things more. But she was stopped by Wu Qing's next sentence.

  "Mother, where is Father?"

  "Ah...... your father...... he died a few years ago when he fled in desperation." The daughter of the Wu family was clearly not speaking from her heart.

  Although Wu Qing is a bit of an airhead, after several years of social experience, she can also tell that this girl isn't telling the truth. But thinking about it, there must be some difficulties in her situation, who doesn't have some secrets?

  On the second day, Wu Qing was sent to a private school in the village by Wu Dangniang. The so-called private school was just three or five rooms with green tiles, but the environment was quiet and secluded, with ancient cypress trees shading the sun and birds chirping softly. Teacher Wang Baishi was quite knowledgeable and had participated in the imperial examination several times before starting a private school in Xubei Village to teach village children literacy.

  Of course, Wang Baishi was also a landlord without discount. Some people in the village were his tenants. This private school was also one of Wang Baishi's properties. On the principle of doing good things for fellow villagers, Wang Baishi became a teacher.

  Wu Qing wanted to know the dynasty, he could only find out through Wang Baishi. So he was very calm and serious. Although he didn't know what Wang Baishi was talking about with his head shaking, that serious and intoxicated expression couldn't help but make Wu Qing sincerely admire him in his heart. This is a pure teacher, a very typical ancient gentleman.

  This morning, Professor Wang taught several ancient characters. Wu Qing basically recognized all of them, which still has to thank the strict requirements of the language teacher in junior high school for students to imitate Tang Dynasty Liu's style and Ou's style.

  "Loyalty, Filial Piety, Benevolence, Righteousness" - the four characters. Wu Qing glanced at them, then recalled them after a moment, and suddenly realized that he had memorized them so quickly, which was something he had never experienced before.

  Wang Baishi explained how to write the four characters, and then interpreted their meaning. As he spoke with great enthusiasm, he always cited classics and canons. Between the lines, Wu Qing finally knew what dynasty it was now, and Wu Qing, who had never learned classical Chinese well, also quickly entered a state of infinite reverie.

  In the third year of Linde, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian ascended Mount Tai for the Fengshan ceremony. The prestige of Empress Wu reached a new height, and her hometown of Wenxi County in Bingzhou also benefited from some of the glory, with one year's worth of taxes being exempted. The people of Wenxi were even more grateful to Empress Wu, and this also gave some opportunistic officials an opportunity.

  Wu Zetian knew that at this time, the world was peaceful and the people's lives were not rich, except for encountering droughts and floods, there were not many worries about life. However, in the more than 20 years that followed, Wu Zetian, in order to ascend to the throne of emperor, used cruel officials to eliminate dissidents, which was a ruthless move. The killings resulted in rivers of blood, rolling heads, and various forms of framing and persecution, including brutal punishments such as being ground into a millstone, being made into a human pig, and being sliced into pieces. As a result, Wu Zetian completely destroyed the Guanlong aristocracy. The sons and younger brothers of noble families, as well as members of the imperial Li family, were almost exterminated, and even more ruthlessly, she also killed and exiled her own natal family, the Wu family, leaving later historians to sigh in amazement.

  Empress Wu is a ruthless person!

  Wu Qing let out a sigh, and suddenly remembered that he also had the surname Wu. Moreover, in Wen Shui County's Xu Bei Village, could it be that he was also a clansman of Empress Wu? He shook his head fiercely, this was really beyond his understanding.

  "Awesome!"

  "Arrived!"

  Wu Qing blurted out in a hurry, his voice loud and clear, attracting the attention of other children who were learning Wang Bai's poem with nods and shakes.

  Wang Baishi was taken aback, but quickly regained his composure, furrowing his brow and pondering for a moment before speaking with a serious expression: "Wu Qing, why did you shake your head, and then stand up to answer?"

  Wu Qing came to his senses at this time and realized that his words and actions just now did not conform to the standards of this era. He immediately sat down and said, "Sir, you quoted classics and explained them wonderfully, but I'm a foolish student who didn't quite understand. So I was thinking and shaking my head, when I suddenly heard Sir calling me, so I couldn't help but shout out loud. I hope Sir won't blame me for being rude."

  This answer, however, caught Wang Baishi's attention. He had been lecturing in a way that was beyond the children's understanding, simply trying to instill a certain way of thinking into them, hoping they would absorb it and apply it to their future growth. But he didn't expect any of these children to actually think about what he said. It seemed this child was worth cultivating, maybe one day he'd become a high-ranking official or even a prime minister.

  After a moment's thought, Wang Baishi had an idea and asked, "Wu Qing, did you learn the four characters I taught you today?"

  Wu Qing replied seriously: "I only remembered the form, but I didn't quite understand the meaning."

  Wu Qing felt a wave of disgust in his heart towards his own mixed speech, wondering when he had become so pretentious. However, to avoid being treated like a freak, he continued to put on the act.

  In ancient times, men liked to grow beards, considering it a symbol of masculinity. Guan Gong was even called "Beautiful Beard". From an aesthetic point of view, Wang Baishi is a handsome man, and he's only about 40 years old, which is the golden age for men in later generations.

  Wang Baishi stroked his beard, as if he had discovered gold, his eyes gleaming brightly. He was ready to test him and said, "Hmmm, Wu Qing, write down these four characters silently and let me take a look."

  Wu Qing was taken aback, and had no choice but to pick up the brush. He recalled the brush holding techniques his middle school language teacher had taught him, then recalled the Ou and Liu calligraphy styles. After that, he calmly picked up the brush, not knowing how to grind the ink, saw that there was no ink in the inkstone, and was stunned.

  "I'm grinding ink for my elder brother!"