“This humble woman, Ye Qingqing, pays her respects to the Divine Lady.”
The Divine Lady did not speak, merely nodding slightly.
Ye Qingqing looked up at Her. “The Divine Lady asks what it means to teach and educate. This humble woman is of dull intellect and dare not claim to fully understand. However, lately, I have constantly wondered if I can be a good teacher. I have also leafed through many ancient texts and gained some insights.”
Perhaps weighing her words, she paused for a moment.
“I believe that teaching and educating is not about how many virtuous talents one teaches, nor is it about how many high officials and noblemen one cultivates.”
Her voice was neither fast nor slow, like a stream gently washing over pebbles, carrying an indescribable tenderness.
“Compared to mere knowledge, students should first know good from evil, distinguish right from wrong, keep a ruler in their hearts, and act with propriety. No matter where they find themselves in the future, they must first and foremost be an upright person.”
“As for everything else, that is a matter of their own destiny.”
After her words fell, a dead silence enveloped the surroundings.
The final segment of ash from the stick of incense fell silently.
The single stick of incense had just finished burning.
Ye Qingqing stood there. Having said what needed to be said, she spoke no more, quietly waiting in place.
At this moment, she was like a student who had finished answering an exam, laid down her brush, and was quietly waiting for the teacher's evaluation.
No one knew how the Divine Lady would judge her.
The entire city of Yecheng was as quiet as a painting. Within the painting were thousands of faces and thousands of eyes, all staring eagerly at the misty purple figure standing at the very front of the crowd.
Then, the Divine Lady spoke.
“Good.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Qingqing's eyes instantly turned red, and she slowly released her clenched fists hidden beneath her sleeves.
She bowed deeply once more.
As she straightened up, a smile rose at the corners of her lips, as if she had finally laid down a heavy burden.
Behind her, the eyes of the crowd were filled with deep admiration.
Standing in the crowd and gazing at his wife's back, Cheng Ji beamed with immense pride.
His wife had always been pure of heart and exceptionally intelligent. To have Qingqing as his companion in this life, what more could a man ask for!
In midair, the Divine Lady raised Her right hand, palm upward, as a wisp of pale purple mist coalesced in Her palm.
The next second.
The mist flew toward the wisteria gate.
“You may enter this gate.”
As Her voice fell, the wisteria gate swung open with a rumble, revealing an unknown, dark vortex.
Ye Qingqing looked at the gate, then turned back.
Her gaze swept over the crowd and landed on Cheng Ji.
As husband and wife for many years, they had no need for words. With just a single glance, she understood what was written in Cheng Ji's eyes—
“Go with a peaceful mind,” and “I will wait for your return.”
Ye Qingqing nodded to Cheng Ji, then turned and resolutely stepped into the gate.
The wisteria gate trembled slightly. Amidst the shifting light and shadows, Ye Qingqing's figure vanished.
Stepping out of the gate, Ye Qingqing found herself in a completely unfamiliar place.
There were no jade pavilions, nor was there a sea of clouds.
Before her was a low-ceilinged room with peeling walls and bright, transparent windows. It bore some resemblance to the cement buildings she had seen in Xindu City.
The only difference was.
This room was exceptionally bright.
Inside the room, several wooden benches were arranged, and a strange, pitch-black object hung on the wall.
The strange object was covered in various colorful words. Although these words shared the same roots as the characters she was familiar with, they looked as if they were missing limbs and torso, making them very difficult to read.
She could only barely make out a few words.
Prosperity, Democracy, Freedom...
“If the youth are strong, the nation will be strong.”
Individually, she recognized these characters, but put together, she only half-understood them.
“Auntie, who are you looking for?”
A crisp voice sounded from behind her.
Ye Qingqing turned her head and saw a seven- or eight-year-old boy running in from the doorway. He was small and thin, dressed strangely, with a neatly folded red cloth tied around his neck.
Could this be the ancestor with whom she shared a destined affinity?
Just a seven- or eight-year-old child?
Not a sage or a great scholar.
This child might not even know all his characters.
She could not help but feel a trace of disappointment.
Yet she did not look down on the child before her. She bent slightly and said softly, “This humble woman, Ye Qingqing, greets you, Little Teacher. May I ask your esteemed name?”
At the same moment, high above Yecheng, the Sky Curtain materialized.
The citizens of the entire city looked up at the Sky Curtain.
First there was silence, then the crowd erupted.
“Look, everyone, it's Madam Ye!”
“What... what kind of place is that? How very strange!”
“Could it be some sort of blessed land or grotto-heaven?”
An old Confucian scholar stroked his gray beard. “This old man has studied books for a lifetime and can speak of ancient and modern texts alike, yet I actually have no idea what those characters on the wall mean...”
Just as everyone was discussing animatedly.
A tender child's voice echoed from the Sky Curtain once more. “Auntie Ye, I'm not called Little Teacher. My name is Xiaoming.”
Looking at the boy's dark, bright eyes, Ye Qingqing's heart instantly softened. Even the trace of disappointment in her heart from not meeting a great sage gradually vanished.
She was fortunate enough to receive the Divine Lady's blessing and traverse past and present. No matter whom she met, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Having realized this, she squatted down. “Xiaoming, could you clear this humble woman's confusion? What place is this?”
“This is a school.” Xiaoming tilted his small head, wearing an expression that said, “How can you not know this?”
Ye Qingqing was slightly taken aback.
Pondering the word “school” and figuring it must mean a study hall, she pressed further. “Here, how much stipend do children have to pay to study?”
“What's a stipend?” Xiaoming looked completely blank.
“It's... money?”
Xiaoming blinked, seemingly understanding but not quite. “Auntie Ye, are you asking if we have to pay money to go to school?”
Ye Qingqing nodded.
“The school doesn't take money from students,” Xiaoming said. “Teacher Wang said this is called compulsory education. It's mandated by the state. All children must go to school. Not going to school is against the law.”
Ye Qingqing's pupils dilated in sheer shock.
No money required?
Mandated by the state?
Not going to school is against the law!
Her nose suddenly prickled.
Yecheng Academy upheld the principle of teaching without discrimination. As long as a student came to seek knowledge, regardless of status or gender, the academy would never turn them away.
Yet even so, there were still countless children who could never step over the academy's threshold.
It was not that they did not want to study, but they could barely even feed and clothe themselves. Where would they get the money to pay a stipend?
“Auntie, please don't cry.” Xiaoming panicked slightly, frantically rummaging through his old backpack. “Is it because you don't have money to buy textbooks? Here, these are the new math and pinyin workbooks my mom just bought me. I'll give them all to you...”
He handed the two booklets to Ye Qingqing.
Ye Qingqing took the booklets and opened the first page. Inside, neat boxes were printed, arranging “one times one is one” all the way to “nine times nine is eighty-one” in perfect order, clear at a glance.
This... this seemed to be arithmetic!
Such simple and neat arithmetic could be easily memorized even by a child of a few years!
Her hands could not stop trembling.
She opened the other booklet. The pages were filled with strange symbols she did not recognize, yet they were arranged in an extremely orderly pattern.
“This is a pinyin workbook,” Xiaoming chimed in, leaning closer. “Once you learn pinyin, you can recognize characters on your own without a teacher's help. You can spell out every single word in books. It's super convenient!”
Squatting on the ground, Ye Qingqing held the math and pinyin workbooks as if they were priceless treasures, her eyes as red as a rabbit's.
“Thank you for your guidance, Little Teacher.”
Facing Xiaoming, she bowed deeply and solemnly.
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