Liang Qu was in no hurry. He patiently finished copying the rest of his calligraphy model sheet and respectfully handed it to the instructor.
According to the information received through the spiritual link, what Cannot Move had found this time was not a treasure fish, but a treasure plant—or rather, a peculiar terrain.
Neither would grow legs and run away, so there was no need to rush.
The instructor, Si Hengyi, was a young man in his late twenties. Sitting behind the long desk, he reached out, took the practice sheet, and flipped through it. "Not bad, not bad at all. Marked progress—you can already write full sentences. I have been teaching for several years, and you learn characters faster than anyone. It is just your handwriting..."
Liang Qu lowered his head in embarrassment. Unlike many of his fellow transmigrator predecessors who were adept with both pen and sword, he had never studied calligraphy. Never mind calligraphy, his ordinary handwriting was mediocre at best; when he first took up the brush, his strokes truly resembled chicken scratch.
Si Hengyi chuckled. "Pay it no mind. Everyone's characters look ugly when they start out. Later on, you might even feel your writing gets uglier the more you practice. It is completely normal. Besides, you martial artists do not pore over the sages' classics; being able to read and write is quite enough."
"Why would it look uglier the more one writes?" Liang Qu asked in confusion.
"Practicing calligraphy rapidly sharpens your aesthetic appreciation of the characters, yet your hand cannot keep up in the short term. As a result, you will feel your handwriting is worsening, even succumbing to the illusion that you no longer know how to write. The key lies in perseverance. Once you reach the point where you feel your characters are no longer so unsightly, you will discover that what you write is actually quite handsome."
So it was only subjectively ugly. Liang Qu nodded. "This student has learned much."
Si Hengyi glanced at the clepsydra. The indicator arrow in the bronze reservoir had floated up nearly to the Hour of the Rooster. He rose and called out to the assembled boys, "Very well, hand in your practice sheets. If there is nothing else, that will be all for today. Class dismissed!"
The boys stood up and cheered. They dropped off their papers on the long desk and dashed out of the academy, where many maidservants, pages, and parents were already waiting by the gates, taking their respective young charges by the hand.
In no time, only Si Hengyi and Liang Qu remained in the room.
Si Hengyi straightened the papers. "Do you have something else, Liang Qu? If you still want to practice writing, the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are all here—you may use them as you like, provided you do not waste them. Or you can go to the archives to read. If you do not plan to practice, head home early. The mountain ghost affair has stirred up quite a fuss; it is best not to travel by night."
"To tell the truth, Teacher, I do indeed have a matter to attend to."
"Oh? What is it?"
"I would like to ask Teacher to take a look at this. It is a method for learning characters that I have summarized and developed over recent days. I feel it might be somewhat better than the direct sound and fanqie methods, so I would like to seek your guidance."
Dashun offered an invention reward: as long as one could invent something useful, one could receive a prize. It could be silver coin, tax exemption privileges, or perhaps even a low-ranking noble title.
Liang Qu had entertained ideas early on. He dared not dream of noble titles, but earning some silver or getting tax exemptions would be significant benefits. Yet the productive capacity of this world was by no means primitive; after much thought, he had failed to come up with anything suitable—until his recent days of reading sparked a great idea. Over the past two days, whenever he returned home, this was all he worked on besides his martial training.
Hearing this, Si Hengyi grew rather curious.
Better than the direct sound and fanqie methods?
The direct sound method simply used homophones to indicate pronunciation. The fanqie method, on the other hand, used multiple characters to phonetically spell another: the initial character supplied the onset, while the following character supplied the rime and tone. Both methods had histories spanning hundreds of years and were recognized as the best approaches. Could a fisherman who had only been studying characters for a few days really work out a superior system?
Si Hengyi was skeptical, though disbelief did not mean he was unwilling to look. Indeed, certain methods worked better than direct sound and fanqie for specific individuals, but those were unsuitable for widespread use. He could simply look it over and offer some encouraging words to motivate the student.
Liang Qu withdrew several thin sheets of paper from his robes and smoothed them out.
Si Hengyi leaned closer and discovered that the first sheet was covered with strange symbols resembling modified character radicals. The sheets that followed contained rows of characters, above which were annotations made of combinations of those symbols from the first page.
"Teacher, the method I devised is called the pinyin method."
"Pinyin method?"
"Indeed—a method of piecing together pronunciations. I took the characters used in fanqie to mark sounds, turned them into a set of dedicated symbols, and slightly adjusted the phonetic values so that they stand completely independent of the characters."
Si Hengyi chuckled. "Isn't that still just the fanqie cut-syllable method?"
"Not quite."
Pinyin!
For a Siniform writing system, it was an epochal learning tool. The crucial element lay in the independence of the system! It used a simple system to explain a complex one, rather than using a complex system to explain another complex system. Once a learner mastered the pronunciation of twenty-odd symbols, the problem of reading and writing hundreds or thousands of characters would unravel naturally.
Of course, the pinyin system before him was not the one from his past life. Dashun's script differed from Chinese characters, and the pronunciations varied as well. Liang Qu had made modifications, and the symbols he used were altered forms of character radicals. At first, he had expected making the adjustments would be exceedingly difficult, but in practice it proved surprisingly straightforward. The pinyin method was intrinsically close to fanqie, which already contained initial consonants, compound vowels, and tones; it was simply that one used characters to spell, while the other used symbols.
Many things were not as hard as one imagined; everything hinged on an initial spark of inspiration. No one had ever tried stepping outside the framework of the characters to adopt a simple, limited set of symbols purely for phonetic notation. Was it truly impossible? Of course not. Before noodles and pastries were invented, no one imagined that grinding wheat into flour and rolling it out would taste so delicious. Before stirrups were invented, no one imagined that two foot loops would have such a massive impact.
Naturally, apart from coveting Dashun's invention rewards, Liang Qu had another motive: he needed to showcase his brilliance.
In little over a month, he had successfully broken through the barrier to become a genuine martial practitioner—ostensibly without having ever used a medicinal bath. Such speed was astonishing. If he wanted to avoid suspicion, hiding his abilities was out of the question. Unless he spent his entire life avoiding social contact, never picking quarrels, and never leveraging his strength to secure advantages, it would eventually come to light.
Liang Qu still clearly remembered the days of his weakness, when Scabby-Head Zhang had seized his boat and the Wang brothers had extorted his silver. A few ruffians and scoundrels had been able to treat him like fish on a chopping block.
Dashun was a peaceful realm, but it was also a man-eating realm.
He had not taken up martial arts to live as a timid turtle hiding in its shell. He had to display his worth, attain higher status, and live a better life. To that end, the best way to hide was not to hide at all! He would show his talents to the fullest and become an acknowledged "genius" in the open! Comprehension and creativity were equally forms of martial talent!
Though a tree that towered above the forest was bound to be ravaged by the wind, the master and elder disciples around Liang Qu were all towering ancient trees that could shield him from wind and rain. A little "tall shoot" like him hardly counted for much.
After Liang Qu explained the concept and usage of pinyin, Si Hengyi raised his eyebrows. It was truly different from what he had imagined; this so-called pinyin method appeared to have genuine merit.
"Rather interesting. Say that a few more times."
"Very well. This symbol..."
"Once more."
"This sound..."
After a long while, Si Hengyi's expression grew solemn.
"It seems almost identical to the cut-syllable method, yet your approach is genuinely much simpler. Using a separate set of symbols to annotate characters... should I say only a beginner would think of such a thing?"
It completely started afresh on a new hearth, avoiding the trap of using characters to annotate characters, and crucially, it was already taking proper shape! Aside from a beginner's fanciful leap of imagination, Si Hengyi could think of no other explanation.
Class was supposed to have ended at the close of the Hour of the Monkey, but because of the pinyin affair, Liang Qu was kept back all the way until the end of the Hour of the Rooster, by which time the sky had turned pitch black.
"There are still many errors and flaws, but the broad framework is indeed simple. The hour is late; I shall write down the sounds of your symbols, take them back to study thoroughly tonight, and discuss them with you again tomorrow."
"I trouble you, Teacher Si."
Liang Qu bowed. There were still slight discrepancies in the pronunciations of the characters, and there were areas he had deliberately left unresolved without making revisions. Leaving it in such a state made it appear authentically rough-hewn by his own hands. If he provided the bulk of the foundation and let the academy instructor help supply the finer details, they could jointly craft a refined whole. This would share both the fame and the benefits, make the accomplishment seem more plausible, and above all, save him a great deal of trouble.
Fortunately, Si Hengyi was still young, quick to learn, and not yet set in his ways, which allowed him to listen with an open mind. Had it been some pedantic old scholar in his forties or fifties, that might not have been the case.
As for whether the pinyin method might be stolen or embezzled, Liang Qu had no concerns. Every instructor in the academy knew he was the one Yang Dongxiong had arranged to send here for study.
Chapter 60