Chapter 66

(Second place, let's go, narrow the gap with the first place, all the recommendation votes, please!)

Chen Ke's words were sincere, and the feelings of 'shame, guilt, and heartache' were genuinely filled in his heart...

The idea of compiling a dictionary originated eight years ago when he began to study rhyme books. For someone accustomed to pinyin, suddenly returning to the era of using fanqie (a method of phonetic notation) was inevitably uncomfortable and full of complaints.

Fanqie involves combining the initial consonant of one Chinese character with the final vowel of another to annotate the pronunciation of a third character. Naturally, after Chen Ke annotated the pronunciation of each character, he would conveniently mark it with pinyin for future use.

By the time he finished studying the "Guangyun" (a comprehensive rhyme dictionary), he had annotated the pronunciation of all 26,194 characters. However, compiling a dictionary was just the first step. The next task was to rearrange the characters, originally classified into 206 rhymes according to the five tones, in alphabetical order... Only by doing so could the advantages of pinyin annotation be fully demonstrated.

After completing this step, he still needed to create a radical index table to make a usable dictionary. Before starting, Chen Ke knew this would be a massive undertaking, but when he began, he realized he had greatly underestimated the difficulty of the task. To rearrange over 20,000 characters in alphabetical order and then index them by radical and stroke count required an immense amount of effort and time.

Chen Ke only persisted for a little over a month, then worked intermittently for several years without completing even half. Later, when he started attending the academy, his studies became busier, and the project came to a complete halt, with no end in sight.

It was at this time that Su Xiaomei, who was studying poetry with the daughter of the academy's headmaster, came to borrow the "Guangyun." When she took the book home, she found it filled with strange symbols. These symbols seemed to follow a certain pattern and were definitely not just doodles.

Not understanding, she naturally asked her older brother, Chen Ke. Upon learning that these were Chinese phonetic symbols, Xiaomei became very interested and asked Chen Ke to teach her. Chen Ke did not keep his knowledge to himself and taught her everything he knew.

Xiaomei, with her quick wit and intelligence, learned the entire set of pinyin notation in just one day. When she looked at the symbols in the rhyme book again, she found them clear and understandable, like a blind person suddenly regaining sight. She could read the pronunciation of any character, and her joy was almost indescribable!

The next day, on the way to school, Xiaomei, who had been excited all night, asked Chen Ke where this magical method came from.

"Like medical skills, I was born with it," Chen Ke could only dodge the question, laughing and saying, "Maybe I am a genius."

"Not maybe, Third Brother is a genius!" Xiaomei's eyes sparkled as she said, "If everyone in the world learns this 'pinyin annotation method,' it would be a great virtue, comparable to Cang Jie's creation of writing!"

"Is it really that exaggerated!" Chen Ke shook his head and laughed, "But I did think about using this method to compile a dictionary, but I lack the patience. I haven't finished it in years."

Xiaomei was very interested and asked him how he planned to compile it and how much he had completed. After school, she took away his unfinished manuscript.

At first, Chen Ke didn't pay much attention, thinking she would lose interest after a while. However, about seven or eight months later, he saw the initial draft Xiaomei had compiled... He then realized that she had been diligently working on it in her spare time from studies and embroidery.

Xiaomei's method was very clever. She spent two months creating a 'radical index table' based on radicals and stroke counts, then began rearranging the characters in alphabetical order. Each time she arranged a character, she assigned it a number and marked it in the corresponding place in the index table. By arranging two to three hundred characters a day and filling them into the table, she completed the task that Chen Ke had always found daunting in less than half a year.

Chen Ke was so impressed that he lifted Xiaomei up and spun her around several times. To him, this was already excellent and ready for publication. However, Xiaomei pointed out calmly, "There should be simple annotations; otherwise, the effect would be greatly reduced."

"Enough, enough," Chen Ke shook his head, "This arduous task should be left to scholars."

Xiaomei disagreed. She believed that the most creative work had already been done, and the rest was just mechanical filling... Each character in the "Guangyun" had annotations, which could be directly copied, though it would take time... If she didn't do it, someone else would take the credit.

In Xiaomei's view, a dictionary was not like other books; people only cared about its practicality and wouldn't care about the origin of the idea. Whoever compiled it well and made it practical would have their dictionary sell well, and all the credit and praise would go to them.

Xiaomei's foresight saved Chen Ke from the tragedy of doing work for others. However, the mechanical work still required a lot of time... Fortunately, the meticulous Xiaomei had left space for each character in the initial draft, and they just needed to fill it in gradually.

With Chen Ke's insistence, the two took turns filling in the annotations, one day each. When they encountered obvious errors or unclear parts in the "Guangyun," they would refer to authoritative books like the "Erya" and the "Thirteen Classics with Commentaries" for corrections. The Su brothers and Song Duanping also participated, not only giving suggestions but also taking turns writing to give them time to rest.

Unexpectedly, this work took them two years, and it wasn't until last winter that they finally completed the extensive annotation work. The final review and revision were entirely handled by Xiaomei, who said that girls were more meticulous and suited for this task.

The revision also took a long time, and Chen Ke originally thought it would take at least a year—yet, by March, Xiaomei had already placed the final draft in front of him.

Thinking about the months of neglect and disinterest he had shown towards Xiaomei's work, Chen Ke felt deeply ashamed and full of affection for the young girl. But when he tried to thank her, it turned into a scolding: "How many nights of sleep have you lost, and how much effort have you put in? No wonder you've been looking thinner this year. Are you trying to kill yourself?!"

"I was just worried..." Xiaomei, who had been waiting for praise, was unexpectedly scolded and was on the verge of tears. "Third Brother isn't as skilled in poetry as my second brother. I thought this dictionary could help you gain the admiration of high officials."

In that moment, a strong sense of gratitude filled Chen Ke's heart, both shocking and warming him.

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Chen Ke finally understood that Xiaomei was worried about him. Her last words could be summarized in two words—dry petitioning. This had to be traced back to the last imperial examination, where Chen Xiliang passed, but Su Xun failed again. After several setbacks, Su Laoquan felt disheartened and no longer wanted to enter the examination field. After traveling for a while, he returned to Qingshen County and devoted all his energy to cultivating his two sons.

In terms of studies, the two Sus had already surpassed their teacher and did not need his concern. Su Xun focused all his energy on paving the way for their imperial examinations, and his method was to petition high officials and celebrities.

Petitioning involved scholars actively visiting famous officials and nobles to showcase their talents. Once they obtained a recommendation letter from a prominent figure, a poor scholar could immediately gain fame and even be guaranteed a place in the imperial examinations before they were held.

Although from the first year of Qingli, all levels of imperial examinations adopted the 'blinding and copying' system, greatly curbing the practice of petitioning, submitting works to famous officials and nobles remained an important way for lower-level scholars to enter the scholarly community. Otherwise, even if they were full of knowledge and talent, they would remain unknown and unrecognized, as Su Laoquan himself was the best example.

On the other hand, these high officials and nobles often had the identity of 'literary masters and Confucian teachers,' and their surroundings were filled with 'disciples and virtuous scholars.' Being able to frequently interact with them and learn from them was a shortcut for scholars to improve their studies.

Su Xun firmly believed that with his sons' genuine talent, if the petitioning was successful, they would certainly gain the admiration of famous officials and nobles, thereby gaining fame and furthering their studies. So for the past two years, he had been petitioning everywhere, and indeed, he had some success... According to him, he had already befriended the governor of neighboring Yazhou, Lei Jianfu, who promised to recommend them to higher officials when the time was right.

Chen Ke knew that Su Xun would not leave him out, so he was also making careful preparations... But he never expected that a girl was quietly worrying about him and working hard for him.

"Xiaomei, I don't know how to thank you..." Chen Ke, usually a tough person, had to struggle to hold back his tears.

"No need to thank me," Xiaomei, seeing that Chen Ke was deeply moved, felt that everything was worth it. She put her hands behind her back and said with a sense of relief, "Compared to saving my life, this is nothing."

"Xiaomei..." Chen Ke took a deep breath and said seriously, "Don't do such foolish things in the future. If you get sick, I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life."

"I don't want to be so tired either," Xiaomei pouted, "But why can't Third Brother write good poems?"

"Xiaomei, actually..." Chen Ke hesitated for a moment and decided to be honest with her, "You don't need to worry about this anymore. I actually have some good stuff."

"Good stuff, what good stuff?"

"Those poems that can blind people's eyes," Chen Ke said boastfully. "I'm a hidden talent, you know?"

"But why have I never heard you recite any good poems?" Xiaomei didn't believe him and covered her mouth, laughing, "I've only heard a lot of bad ones."

"Well..." Chen Ke scratched his head, embarrassed, "Good steel should be used on the blade. I'm afraid I won't have any left for later." This was the truth.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－分割－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

The writing was very heartfelt, even exhausting, so please vote to support. We're second on the rankings again, everyone who still has votes, we can't always be second!

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