Chapter Seventy-Seven: Leveled Up

When Su Lu returned home, his family had been waiting for him for quite some time.

"Third Pot's back, we can eat now!" Little Jinbao gleefully bounced onto Su Lu.

"I told you, if I'm back late, just eat first and leave me a bite, didn't I?" Su Lu asked, holding Jinbao in his arms.

Aunt gave a disgruntled reply as she brought out the reheated dishes, "The whole family has to wait for you—what can I do?"

"It was my mother who said we should wait for Third Pot to eat together," little Jinbao whispered in Su Lu's ear, "She said that since you didn’t come home yesterday because of the rain, if there was only leftover food for you today, you’d secretly resent her."

Jinbao was already four years old, and his tongue had grown much sharper—he was no longer the silly child he used to be.

"That could never be. I have nothing but respect and affection for Aunt," Su Lu replied with a grin.

"You come home late like this again and there won’t even be leftovers for you!" Aunt snorted.

"Alright, alright." Su Lu quickly apologized with a smile, "Something came up today, I’ll try to be home earlier from now on."

He set down his bookcase inside, fished out the box of caramel slices his teacher had given him, and presented them to Jinbao like a treasure. "Look what your third brother brought back for you."

"Wow, food!" Jinbao’s eyes went wide as saucers, and he threw his arms around Su Lu’s head, planting a big kiss. "Thank you, Third Pot!"

He reached out with his plump little hand, picked up a rather unremarkable-looking slice, and tasted it with a frown. Immediately, his face lit up in a sweet smile. "Crispy and sweet—so delicious!"

He picked up another to stuff into Su Lu’s mouth, chirping, "One for Third Pot, one for me."

"What about your mother?" Aunt asked, feigning jealousy.

"One for mother, one for me," Jinbao replied, popping another slice into his mother’s mouth.

"And your grandmother?" At this moment, the old lady’s hearing was impeccable—she never missed a bite.

"One for grandma, one for me."

"One for grandpa, one for me…"

In the end, everyone got a slice, while Jinbao herself claimed more than half the box.

Aunt couldn’t help but scold Su Lu a little, "Why do you keep wasting money?"

"Aunt, I didn’t buy this, it was a reward from my teacher," Su Lu boasted. "If I do well on the next exam, there’ll be more."

"If you do well on the next exam, there’ll be more…" Aunt mimicked his tone with a roll of her eyes. "Hurry and eat your dinner."

Isn’t he just asking for a smack, honestly?

~~

That night’s meal was steamed sorghum bread with wild amaranth. The blanched greens were tender and silky, offsetting the roughness of the sorghum, and topped with garlic paste, it was surprisingly tasty.

As they ate, Su Lu said to his second brother, "I talked things over with Godmother yesterday. She’s very supportive. She wants you to stop by the shop and have a proper discussion with her."

"Alright," Su Tai nodded, "Aren’t you coming along, Qiu?"

"No, I didn’t do well in the exams again this time. I need to focus on my studies. You can work things out with Godmother." Su Lu shook his head. He didn’t understand winemaking, nor did he have the energy to get involved.

"Not again? How did you actually do?" Aunt pressed.

"Don’t bring it up!" Fortunately, Grandpa stepped in to rescue Su Lu.

Su Youcai, however, kept up the act, "What’s this about?"

"It’s a secret between us women, father, please don’t ask," Su Lu played along.

"Fine, I won’t ask, but you should be sensible and not cause trouble for your godmother," Su Youcai said, reaping what he’d sown himself. After all, he’d told the old man he’d found a job as a bookkeeper in town, when in fact he was working at Sweetwater Records, and still hadn’t confessed.

"Alright," Su Lu answered perfunctorily. After finishing the last bite of sorghum bread, he announced, "I’m full," and headed to the study to do his homework.

---

He had just gotten up when Aunt grumbled, "Your eldest brother will be home in a couple of days. Don’t use his room for studying anymore."

"Okay," Su Lu replied, "I’ll move my things back to my room."

Luckily, summer was approaching and he could study by the window again…

But Aunt took a deep breath and said, "No need, I’ve made you a study of your own."

Grandpa shot Aunt a helpless look—her mouth really was a sieve.

"Thank you, Aunt!" Su Lu was long accustomed to her blunt and unvarnished ways. He no longer cared what she said, only what she did.

He was both surprised and puzzled, "Do we still have a spare room?"

Their house had seven rooms in all. Of the three main rooms, one was the hall, one for the old couple, and one for Uncle and Aunt. There were four side rooms—the smaller inner east room was Spring’s study, now used by Su Lu. The outer east room was for Su Lu and his two brothers. The inner west room was his little aunt’s, and the outer was for his younger uncle and aunt. So all seven rooms were occupied, and even the storage and kitchen had been tacked on later, looking like two makeshift outhouses jammed into the corners of the courtyard—ugly as sin.

As for the real outhouse? There’s a word for it—“up at the fence”—draw your own conclusions…

~~

Su Lu thought they’d build him a shed, but Aunt said, "Your uncle and aunt won’t be back for a year or two, so I’ve decided you can use their room for now!"

"Is that really okay?" Su Lu was thrilled but worried about causing discord among the women.

"What’s not okay? Can’t have a room sitting empty while someone has nowhere to study, right?" Aunt waved a hand, settling the matter on the spot. "Don’t worry, I’ll deal with your uncle when he comes back!"

Grandpa had no objection—after all, both his youngest son and third grandson were dear to him. Whoever was present got priority.

"Listen to your aunt," Su Youcai added. "Otherwise, if you light the pine torch, your second brother and I won’t get any sleep."

"Thank you, Aunt." Su Lu accepted joyfully.

"I’ve already cleared out the room. You can move in tonight," Aunt said, her hands always faster than her mind.

All Aunt had to do was stash the wedding quilts in the wardrobe, and the room was bare. Over the past half-year, his uncle had come back a few times and taken what he needed. All that remained was a single bed, a small square table, and two chairs—the entirety of Su Lu’s “study.”

But Su Lu was grateful just to have a private space and wouldn’t ask for more.

Still, since it was his uncle and aunt’s bridal chamber, he decided to treat it with care, and resolved to light an oil lamp at night instead of the smoky pine torch.

Of course, now that his circumstances had improved a little, he could afford to treat himself better.

With his second brother’s help, Su Lu quickly moved his study materials into his uncle’s room. He sat upright at the table and started on his homework at once.

After chatting with the mountain master after school, running into Sanwan on the way, and "moving house" when he got home, he’d wasted enough time and had to make every minute count.

He spent half an hour finishing his regular assignments, then hurried to ask his father to oversee rhyme practice, so as not to delay his rest.

Su Youcai had already gone back to work. His schedule was later than Su Lu’s in the morning and earlier in the evening, so they rarely crossed paths.

By mid-April, rhyme lessons had moved into the stage of antithetical couplets—not the simple kind, but requiring Su Lu to match words from the same rhyme group in the Hongwu Rhyme Dictionary, with matching parts of speech and ending sounds.

For instance, Su Youcai would propose "morning tilling."

Su Lu answered with "evening weeding"—which was fine in terms of part of speech, but Su Youcai shook his head.

"In the Hongwu Rhyme Dictionary, 'tilling' is in the level tone 'geng' rhyme, cut as gu-heng; 'weeding' is in the level tone 'zhen' rhyme, cut as wang-fen. Since their rhyme endings differ, they cannot match—this is called 'out of rhyme.'"

Su Lu pondered a moment and corrected himself: "Evening reading."

"And why?" Su Youcai asked.

"Because both 'tilling' and 'reading' are verbs, and both belong to the 'geng-qing' rhyme group in the Hongwu Rhyme Dictionary," Su Lu explained. "It also sounds more resonant."

"Exactly." Su Youcai nodded. "From now on, all antitheses must follow the rhyme dictionary—no mismatched rhymes."

"I’ll do my best," Su Lu replied. He only feared pretentious tricks; with clear direction, he wasn’t worried.

It was just a matter of practice.

Su Youcai then quoted Lu You’s lines: "River boats in night snow at Guazhou ferry, iron steeds in autumn wind at Dasan Pass," analyzing how "night snow" and "autumn wind," "Guazhou ferry" and "Dasan Pass" worked together with substance and void, then had Su Lu compose a matching five-character couplet.

Su Lu thought to himself, his father’s teaching wasn’t so different from the master’s after all.

After much effort, he finally produced two lines: "Pear blossoms fall on the post road, wine flags hang askew in mountain villages."

"Trite," Su Youcai critiqued.

"Then let’s hear a less trite couplet from you, father," Su Lu asked humbly.

"…" Su Youcai struggled for a while before grumbling, "Poetry must come from the heart; if you force it out, it’s just flatulence."

"…" Su Lu threw up his hands—see?

"Ahem," Su Youcai coughed, quickly changing the topic, "Remember, if the first line ends with an oblique tone, the second must end with a level tone for the rhyme to work."

"Yes," Su Lu agreed, having heard that before.

~~

After his father went to bed, Su Lu started on the extra assignments from Mr. Zhang—memorizing three essays to warm up, then practicing parallel opening sentences modeled after "As for the benevolent man…", working on his rhetorical skills.

His test results were encouraging, and he worked through ten sets of openings before stopping. He looked at his last piece:

"A benevolent man is the heart of heaven and earth; governance is the backbone of a nation; to rule with benevolence is like rain and dew nourishing transformation—then all things flourish…"

Su Lu nodded in satisfaction—it felt much smoother than during the exam; his writing was growing more natural.

By then, all of Erlang Shoal was dark save for his solitary lamp. But Su Lu wasn’t the least bit sleepy, already planning the next assignment from his teacher.

When he finished his "triple extracurricular strike" and stepped out of his little study, the moon had already tilted west—it was well into the night.

He tiptoed back to bed, slept less than three hours, and then it was time to get up again.

Su Lu rose, splashed cold water on his face, and felt refreshed—a true hero once more!

From that day on, he was no longer the only one walking to school with Su Dan—Sanwan and his brothers joined too.

The three decided not to board at school, but to walk back and forth together. After all, room and board were paid monthly—no waste there.

This arrangement suited Su Lu, too. The route between the commandant’s office and the centurion’s post was considered a safe zone, rarely frequented by outsiders. But one can never be too careful—there’s safety in numbers.

Five of them strode down the road, reciting essays with grave intensity, looking rather fierce.

Villagers working in the fields glanced over and whispered, "Why do those scholars look like a gang of young bandits?"

"From Erlang Shoal."

"Ah, that explains it…"

PS: Wrote four chapters today. Exhausted as a hen, checked the new chapter just now and fell asleep. More updates coming—please wait a bit…