Chapter 4 Under the Moonlight

  "Sharpening the knife and removing rust is actually removing the rust from oneself."

  "Rust is the vice on everyone's body."

  Upon hearing this, Li Tu stopped sharpening his knife and was slightly stunned. These words were thought-provoking and gave one a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

  The students around heard Tan Taiji's words and showed a ashamed expression, then silently went to sharpen their knives, no longer complaining.

  "Sister Ji, I understand."

  Yin Xiao's face was filled with guilt and shame, as if he had done something wrong, his heart feeling somewhat uneasy.

  Ding Tai nodded calmly and said, "Understood, go ahead and sharpen your knife."

  At this time, there were basically no more complaints by the riverbank, everyone was silently sharpening their knives. Even those pampered rich girls who had never done any labor before were also doing so, holding somewhat heavy firewood knives and imitating others to sharpen them in a clumsy and awkward manner, with no order or sequence.

  But this is a good start, and the teacher standing far away also nodded in agreement.

  "Sharpening a knife is sharpening oneself. However, this knife isn't easy to sharpen."

  Li Tu touched the axe with his hand and felt that the rust spots on the blade had been grinding for half an hour but still couldn't be removed, and he looked a bit helpless.

  "This axe is too problematic, it seems like no matter how much I sharpen it, the rust on it just won't come off."

  In the three-day trial of new birth, each student had to sharpen three knives. At first, the students thought this trial was a bit too easy. But no one expected that these knives would be so difficult to grind, and it took half an hour to grind open just one mouth.

  One day seems to be able to sharpen only one knife.

  He poured some river water on the whetstone and Li Tu began to sharpen it seriously again, his movements becoming more and more skilled.

  Unconsciously, half a time has passed, the trial has been going on for an hour, and now it is exactly noon. Three hundred students are thirsty, hungry and tired at this moment, and most people have stopped to sit aside and rest.

  "I'm so hungry, why isn't it time for dinner yet?"

  A fat man wiped the sweat from his cheeks and said weakly.

  Li Tu had been grinding for a whole time and was both thirsty and tired, his arms were also numb and weak, so he stopped to rest.

  ……

  "What? Lunch is just a bun and a bowl of water?" Fatso exclaimed, his face filled with horror.

  Other students who were resting heard this and looked up at the fat boy with surprise and puzzlement on their faces.

  "Glutton, what are you saying?"

  Wu Qi stopped sharpening his knife and looked up at the fat man's terrified face, saying somewhat doubtfully.

  "Lunch is just a bun and a bowl of water, how can the school be like this?"

  Pangzi Fan exclaimed in a terrified manner, his face contorted in agony.

  "Huh, how did you know?" Wu Qi became somewhat curious.

  "You don't need to worry about this, I know what's going on."

  At noon, as Pangzi said, each student received a steamed bun and a bowl of water.

  Looking at the steamed bun and water in their hands, many students were stunned. No one expected that after sharpening their minds for a whole morning, they would be left with only a steamed bun and a bowl of water to alleviate their hunger and thirst.

  "I... I think it's been a few years since I last had mantou, four or five years maybe?"

  Fat Fan Tong was holding a steamed bun, staring blankly with a bitter expression. Normally, he would eat big fish and meat, accustomed to mountain delicacies and seafood, but now how could he bear to gnaw on the cold steamed bun?

  "This steamed bun is both cold and hard, who can swallow it?"

  Many students are holding their mantou and complaining, without any appetite at all.

  "Is lunch just a bun?"

  A student holding a steamed bun went to question his teacher.

  "There is also a bowl of plain boiled water." The teacher said seriously.

  "This bun is probably from this morning, it's cold and hard, how can I swallow it, how can I continue to fast on an empty stomach?"

  The student heard the teacher say this and felt a bit angry in his heart, saying coldly.

  "This steamed bun is not from this morning."

  "Really?"

  "It's just leftover mantou from a shop in town yesterday."

  Tie Gun held a bun and sniffed it, then said: "You smell carefully, is there still some stale taste?" Then he took a bite, chewed and swallowed, pointing to several people: "I can eat it, she can eat it, he can eat it, why can't you eat it?"

  That student followed the direction of the teaching finger and saw that Hantanji, born in a marquis's family, tore off a small piece of steamed bun and put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. Ningzhen, who was also extraordinary in status, directly took the steamed bun and gnawed at it mouthful by mouthful, without any complaints.

  The students stared blankly at all of this, suddenly speechless.

  "As for how you'll endure hunger, that's your problem."

  The meaning of the expression is very clear, this cold mantou you can't eat it down, but next you can only try to empty your stomach. The students had no choice and could only swallow the mantou bit by bit, otherwise the subsequent trial could not continue, and the task of three firewood knives could not be completed.

  Li Tu silently finished eating his steamed bun, rested for a while, and then continued sharpening his knife.

  "Eating mantou is fine, but at least let people eat their fill, one is simply not enough to fill the belly."

  The fat boy cried with a sad face, finished eating and stared blankly at the steamed buns in other people's hands, his index finger moving greatly.

  ……

  "This whetstone is really hard to grind, why is that? Is it because I'm grinding it wrong?"

  It was almost afternoon when Li Tu finally ground off the rust on one side of the axe blade, but he couldn't help feeling puzzled and fell into deep thought.

  "Huh? Ning Zhen is actually sharpening his second knife." a student exclaimed in surprise.

  Many students saw a snow-bright and sharp axe placed beside Ning Zhen, but he seemed to be unaware of the gaze of others, carefully sharpening the axe in his hand with a focused expression.

  "It really sharpened a knife, but how could he be so fast? It seems that everyone's sharpening skills are not much different. The time is the same, how can it be like this?"

  Some students were puzzled and wondered how he had already started sharpening his second knife while they had only just begun to sharpen one side of their own.

  "In the same amount of time, he ground a whole knife, while I only ground one side. Why is that?"

  Li Tu also became suspicious, could it be that his method of sharpening the knife was wrong? Not long after, he heard that Wen Yan had also sharpened a knife, and he was even more perplexed.

  "She can't sharpen knives, but she has sharpened one."

  "Why is this?"

  ……

  "Another mantou and a bowl of water, the trials of the Academy seem to be quite cruel. The knife is hard to grind, but also can't even eat a full meal."

  The fat boy complained, saying his stomach was rumbling constantly.

  "In the same time, they have sharpened their knife, but I haven't, why is that?"

  Li Tu quietly gnawed on his steamed bun, thinking deeply in his heart.

  As dusk fell, most of the students who had been tired all day chose to rest and leave the riverbank. At this time, there were still dozens of people grinding their knives.

  Night and day made no difference to Li Tu, he rested for a moment then continued sharpening his knife, and he had a special feeling that seemed to help him with the sharpening.

  As night deepens, fewer people are sharpening knives.

  "It seems like this feeling, somewhat strange, but how can sharpening a knife have such a feeling?"

  Under the moonlight, Li Tu was sharpening his knife with meticulous care, focused and serious. The snow-bright sharp hatchet beside him was emitting a cold glow in the moonlight, one, two...

  The night grew deeper, and under the moonlight, only two figures were left, a boy carrying a zither, and a timid girl who was exhausted.

  Every now and then, the girl would look up at the boy in the distance, breathe a sigh of relief when she saw he was still there, and continue sharpening her knife.

  Unconsciously, the girl fell asleep on the stone.

  Under the moonlight, Li Tu was the only one left sharpening his knife.

  In the distant darkness, two middle-aged men were still standing there.

  ;