Chapter 3: Sharpening the Knife and Removing Rust

  Dozens of young girls stared blankly at the rusty chopping knife in their hands, looking somewhat dazed and unsure of what to do next. They were all born into wealthy families, dressed in fine clothes and fed delicacies from a young age, with servants attending to their every need, living a life of luxury where they spent spring reading books and admiring flowers, summer fanning themselves by the pond, autumn composing poetry and watching the red leaves, and winter drinking warm wine and searching for plum blossoms. They were typical sickly rich misses who couldn't even tell grains apart, let alone having done any rough work like sharpening a knife.

  At this time, they all stared blankly at the hatchet in their hands, and were at a loss.

  It's not just the spoiled girls, but also most of the boys who stare blankly at their chopsticks. Many students have never done any manual labor and naturally wouldn't know how to sharpen knives, which is considered a rough task.

  "I... I won't sharpen knives."

  A petite girl, about fourteen or fifteen years old, struggled to hold a hatchet and spoke timidly to a school teacher, her voice soft and weak with a hint of innocence, looking pitiful.

  The teacher was taken aback for a moment, then fixed his gaze on the somewhat timid girl in front of him. The girl's face immediately turned red when the teacher looked at her, and she quickly lowered her head, as if she had done something wrong, her small hands clenched tightly together.

  "Sir, I also don't know how to sharpen knives."

  At this time, many girls also spoke up, and the timid girl heard a slight relief in her heart, and the small hands that were tightly clenched also loosened, not as tense as before.

  Tie Gun looked at these rich young ladies who had been dressed in finery and fed delicacies since childhood, without knowing the meaning of hard work, and couldn't help but furrow his brow, remaining silent for a few breaths before saying to the timid girl: "You don't know how to sharpen knives."

  "Uh-huh." The girl quickly responded, her big eyes revealing some expectation.

  Tie Gun nodded and then asked the other girls: "You won't sharpen knives either?"

  The result was a loud voice that rang out, and everyone present looked at him with their eyes fixed on him, shouting: "How many people don't know how to sharpen knives, raise your hands."

  The students who were in a predicament and didn't know how to sharpen their knives for the time being, upon hearing this, were taken aback for a moment. Although they didn't know what "teach" meant, their eyes were filled with expectation. Seeing someone raise their hand, they also raised theirs, as if afraid of raising them too slowly.

  "Could it be that the instructor sees that everyone is not good at sharpening knives and will reduce the number of sharpening exercises accordingly?"

  Many students have such thoughts in their minds, looking forward to seeing a teacher with a straight and tall body like a spear.

  "Has everyone who can't sharpen knives raised their hands? Is there anyone left?"

  Iron Spear's eyes scanned the entire scene of three hundred students, seeing that there were still fifteen students who had not raised their hands, and he spoke out again.

  "Ji sister, can you sharpen knives?"

  Yin Xiaowei raised her small hand and then saw that Dantai Ji beside her did not raise his hand, and said with a surprised face.

  "I won't."

  Dantai Ji shook his head and did not raise his hand, but instead looked at Li Tu, Ning Zhen and others who also did not raise their hands.

  "Why don't you raise your hand?"

  Xiao Wei muttered inexplicably in her heart.

  Sharpening a knife is no big deal, it can be learned and isn't hard to learn.

  Han Taiji said calmly.

  At this time, seven of the 15 students also raised their hands one after another.

  "Will all of you sharpen knives?"

  Tie Gun raised an eyebrow at Li Tu and Ning Zhen, who had not raised their hands, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

  The students who raised their hands looked at the few people who didn't raise their hands, and saw that they were Mang Zong, Ning Zhen, Chang Fei, and Dan Taiji, and couldn't help but feel a little surprised. Would they sharpen their knives?

  "I won't."

  "Okay."

  Eight people who did not raise their hands gave two answers, causing other students to pause and become puzzled in their hearts. Even if they didn't sharpen knives, why didn't they raise their hands?

  "Li Tu, you said it yourself, if you can't sharpen a knife, why not raise your hand?"

  Tie Gun looked at the young man carrying a guqin and thought of the blind teenager who had performed a blind shot with a hidden arrow during the archery test, feeling somewhat unexpected.

  "Although I won't, but I can learn, and sharpening a knife isn't anything difficult, I think it's unnecessary to raise hands."

  Li Tu fell silent for a few breaths before speaking out the reason in his heart.

  Tie Gun nodded, then took out the roster, looked at the names on it, and glanced at the eight of them. His previously furrowed brow relaxed, and he smiled: "Since you won't sharpen knives, just sharpen more, and after sharpening a lot, you'll naturally get the hang of it. Every student who raised their hand earlier will add one more knife to sharpen."

  All the students were shocked by the words and couldn't believe that it would end up with this result.

  ……

  "Why did I raise my hand just now? It would be better if I didn't. This teacher is too deceitful, since we don't know how to do it, why not let us practice more? And this whetstone is also too weird, after grinding for half a day, only one edge was sharpened, probably can't even sharpen one knife in a day. Originally we had to sharpen three knives, now there's an additional one, how can we finish them in three days?"

  A fat man cried with a sad face, weakly grinding the axe in his hand.

  "It's too pitiful."

  All the students who raised their hands cast accusing glances at the girl, and some of those with bad tempers even glared at her. At this moment, the girl became even more timid, lowering her head as if she had done something wrong, tightly clutching the hatchet in her hand.

  "Why are these people always finding fault in others but never looking for their own mistakes?"

  Chang Fei saw everyone complaining about the girl and shook his head, then continued sharpening the hatchet in his hand.

  "This whetstone is really strange, it took half an hour to sharpen just one edge, and probably can't even sharpen a whole knife in a day."

  Li Tu stroked the blade of his sword, a puzzled look on his face, and began to think deeply.

  "The freshman trial has always been a tradition of the school, with a significance that is not ordinary. The school lets freshmen hone their skills, which shouldn't be taken at face value, perhaps there's a deeper meaning hidden within."

  ……

  "Ji sister, you didn't raise your hand just now, did you know that the teacher would be like this?"

  Yin Xiaowei raised a question to Langtai Ji.

  "I don't know."

  Dantai Ji slightly shook his head, holding a rusty and worn-out chopping knife in his hand, slowly sharpening it on the whetstone. His movements were stiff, but his expression was very serious. He looked at the puzzled Xiao Wei and asked: "Xiao Wei, what kind of knife are you holding?"

  "Rusty axe."

  Xiao Wei was taken aback for a moment, unsure why Ji sister would ask such a question.

  "Can it chop wood?"

  "This axe is all rusty and the blade has dulled, I'm afraid it can't be used to chop wood anymore."

  "What is sharpening for?"

  "Nature is rusting and re-sharpening."

  "Can the axe chop firewood now that it's been sharpened and de-rusted?"

  "That's possible of course, but Sister Ji, why are you getting stranger and stranger?"

  At this time, Xiao Wei looked at Tiantai Ji with a puzzled face.

  Sharpening a knife is to remove rust and open its edge, so that it can chop firewood. The trials of the academy are like sharpening a knife, but in fact, they are not just about sharpening the knife, but also about understanding the principle of sharpening the knife. When the rust on the knife is ground away, it becomes a sharp axe.

  Dantai Ji raised the axe halfway, saying: "This is a rusty and dull-edged axe that can't chop wood. In fact, aren't we like this too? From childhood, we've been pampered and indulged in luxury, unaware of hard work and hardship, and our bodies have more or less developed bad habits. The academy lets us sharpen the knife to remove rust, but actually, it's letting us remove the rust from ourselves."

  "Xiao Wei, can you now understand the profound meaning of the academy letting us hone our skills?"

  The students around heard Tan Taiji's words and were all stunned, their faces showing a hint of shame, then they silently sharpened their knives.

  Li Tu was also stunned by his words and couldn't believe that a man born into the noble family of Houyue would have such insights, which were truly not simple.

  ;