Chapter 95

With many trees and lush foliage, the shade was ample, and a gentle breeze blew as the sun shone brightly.

The students from the Hongwen Hall and the Imperial College moved desks and mats to sit on the ground outside, as the classroom was too small to accommodate everyone. At Xia Hongsheng's suggestion, they all sat under the trees. This was the first time the students had a class outdoors and the first time they had a collective lesson, so they were very excited and spirited, which was exactly what Xia Hongsheng wanted to see.

"Junior Brother, these past few days, Master Yan has called you over. Do you know something? The students from the Imperial College have also come. What are we going to do?" Xu Qixian turned his head and saw Xia Hongsheng, then asked. His question drew the attention of the others, who all looked over, hoping to get some information from Xia Hongsheng.

Xia Hongsheng smiled but did not reveal anything, saying, "You'll know soon."

He glanced around and saw Li Gang and Master Yan sitting on the right side of the whiteboard. The left side was the whiteboard, and the right side was the students, indicating that they were not going to intervene but just watch. However, Xia Hongsheng had been listened to many times in the future, at least one class per week, so it was not a source of pressure. Xia Hongsheng felt calm and looked at Master Yan, who was looking back. They met each other's eyes, and Master Yan nodded at him.

Xia Hongsheng nodded in return. Master Yan then raised his hand, and the crowd immediately fell silent, with no one making a sound. Xia Hongsheng stood up.

Everyone was surprised and looked at Xia Hongsheng. They saw him step forward to the front, smile at the students below who were looking at him in surprise, and without a word, pull out a piece of charcoal from his bag and turn to write a sentence on the whiteboard: "This year is truly good, with no misfortune and wealth entering the door."

This was originally a story from the Ming Dynasty about Zhu Zhishan, but Xia Hongsheng had altered it to pique the students' interest.

The students below did not know what he was doing and looked at him in confusion when he wrote something.

Then Xia Hongsheng said, "I once met a scholar who was sitting by the roadside with a bruised nose and swollen face. Thinking he was a fellow scholar, I went up to ask him. The scholar told me that he was poor and had no talent, and had lived a life of mediocrity, unable to even earn a meal. One year, seeing that his neighbor had a celebration, he went over to beg for a meal. The host treated him kindly and gave him enough food to fill his stomach. The scholar felt he couldn't eat for free, so he said, 'I'll write a blessing for you as a gift.' The host was pleased and immediately cut red paper and laid it out. The scholar thought for a moment and wrote a blessing on the red paper. Without me saying more, you can probably guess what he wrote, which is the sentence I just wrote."

Xia Hongsheng spread his hands and stepped aside, pointing to the sentence on the whiteboard.

The students below, though they did not know what Xia Hongsheng was doing, understood the story and someone laughed, "No wonder the scholar was beaten up. The host treated him kindly and gave him a meal, but he wrote a curse. That's really too ungrateful! But, Jing Shi, what are you doing?"

Xia Hongsheng smiled even more, "Oh? Brother, how did you know the scholar was cursing the host?"

"It's obvious, 'This year is truly good, with no misfortune and wealth entering the door'—the scholar is too wicked." Before the student could answer, another student laughed and said, "No wonder the scholar was poor. Such a lack of conscience, it's no one's fault but his own."

The students below immediately echoed in agreement.

Xia Hongsheng smiled even more brightly, "You all thought the same as me. I was very angry when I heard it and said to the scholar, 'The host treated you kindly and gave you a meal, but you wrote a curse on red paper. You deserve the beating!' But who would have thought the scholar had an even bigger temper. He slapped the stone beside him and cried out, 'I was clearly writing a blessing with good intentions. Even though my writing isn't great, can't you tell the difference between a blessing and a curse? Besides, even though I haven't achieved much, I haven't read the sages' books in vain. How could I be so low as to curse someone after receiving their kindness?'"

"But he clearly wrote a curse!" A student below was dissatisfied, "Is he trying to argue?"

At this, the surrounding students immediately agreed.

Xia Hongsheng clapped his hands, "I said the same thing! But who would have thought the scholar read it to me, and I was immediately dumbfounded and had to apologize to him."

"Ah?"

"How can this be?"

"What happened?"

The students below were shocked and asked one after another.

"Ha ha..." Xia Hongsheng shook his head and smiled, "The scholar read to me: 'This year is truly good, with no misfortune, and wealth entering the door.' Then he clapped his hands and asked me, 'Do you think this is a curse? I am truly wronged!'"

Xia Hongsheng finished speaking and smiled at the students below, saying no more.

The students below were greatly surprised, looking at the sentence Xia Hongsheng had written on the whiteboard, muttering it to themselves. It turned into a curse one moment and a blessing the next. After a few repetitions, they understood and burst into laughter.

Xia Hongsheng waved his hand and said, "Speaking of this, I remember another story. It's about two countries at war. One army was ambushed, waiting for the other country's army to pass by to launch a surprise attack. After the ambush, a scout reported that the enemy was spotted. The deputy general suggested sending someone to check the enemy's numbers. So, they sent a literate young officer to climb a hill, write down the information, and shoot it down with an arrow, which was faster and wouldn't lose the advantage. The young officer climbed the hill and saw a large enemy force. There were too many, and an ambush was impossible. So, he quickly wrote it down and shot it down with an arrow. Before he could come down, he heard a battle cry. His own troops had charged forward, and the young officer was shocked. Of course, the army suffered heavy casualties and was captured. In the enemy camp, the young officer asked the general, 'I clearly told you there were too many enemies and an ambush was impossible. Why did you still charge?' The general, hearing this, was furious and said, 'Nonsense! The note clearly said, "The enemy's large army is not capable"! They stopped in the valley, and now is the time to ambush them!' The young officer was stunned: 'I meant, "The enemy's large army, not capable," there were too many enemies, and an ambush was impossible. We should retreat. The note was too short to write more...' The two men then burst into tears, and that was it; both were beheaded."

Xia Hongsheng shrugged and said, "You see, these two men misunderstood a sentence, not only costing their own lives but also the lives of many soldiers."

The students below burst into laughter again.

Xia Hongsheng said nothing, standing there calmly watching the students laugh and mutter to themselves.

Master Yan, seeing the students laughing too much, wanted to help Xia Hongsheng control the situation. He looked at Xia Hongsheng, who understood his intention and shook his head slightly. Master Yan was taken aback and smiled, continuing to watch. Xia Hongsheng's teaching style was quite novel to Master Yan.

Xia Hongsheng, ignoring the laughter below, turned and wrote a few more sentences on the whiteboard, leaving a space at the punctuation points. The same sentence now had two completely different meanings.

Xia Hongsheng finished writing, stepped aside, and quietly watched the students below. They looked at what Xia Hongsheng had written, and a few of them stopped laughing, showing a thoughtful expression. Xia Hongsheng continued to wait, and the laughter gradually subsided, turning into a thoughtful silence. The few who had already understood were now clearly enlightened.

"Jing Shi, you previously mentioned the error in the punctuation of 'The people can be made to follow, but not to know.' Today's sentence also has different meanings due to different punctuation," Wei Shuyu stood up, bowed to Xia Hongsheng, and asked, "Is today's lesson related to punctuation?"

Xia Hongsheng nodded and scanned the students below, saying, "Throughout history, many sages have left wise words and classics to guide and teach us. But these words are not directly taught to us. Some have been passed down for a thousand years. Over a thousand years, countless people have interpreted them. Who can guarantee that the interpreters won't make the same mistake as the host in the story I told? Due to incorrect punctuation, a 'blessing' becomes a 'curse,' misinterpreting the sages' intentions and leading us astray. We also write articles and poems, and some of us may become great scholars, respected as sages by future generations. But future generations won't hear our words directly. Some will punctuate one way, others another. A thousand years later, who knows how our writings will be interpreted? Do we have to be like the scholar, misunderstood and wronged? Can we find a way to avoid such misunderstandings? For example, if the scholar had a method to ensure his meaning wouldn't be misunderstood, would he still have been wronged and beaten? If we write a sentence like 'This year is truly good, with no misfortune and wealth entering the door' and send it to a friend, intending to bless them, but it becomes a curse, the friendship would be ruined. Is there a way to ensure the friend won't misinterpret our good intentions?"

"This... we can't send someone with the letter to tell them how to punctuate it, right?" a student pondered.

"Right! We can also leave spaces like Jing Shi did just now," the student was very clever.

Xia Hongsheng nodded and smiled, "We can leave spaces, but what if it's not a letter but a book? What if what we write is not simple but complex? How can we ensure that others won't misinterpret us and clearly understand what we mean and the mindset we had when writing?"

"This..."

"Jing Shi, since you've brought it up today, you must have a solution, right?" Li Ke stood up and asked.

Xia Hongsheng nodded and smiled, "Yes, today I will teach you a set of punctuation rules. Using these rules, your writing will not be misunderstood. If the scholar had this method, he wouldn't have been beaten, and if the soldier had this method, he wouldn't have lost the battle due to a misunderstanding... Ha ha, are you willing to learn?"

"Of course!" The students below were enthusiastic, and Li Yexu was scratching his head, "Jing Shi, hurry up and tell us the method!"

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