Chapter 883: Scumbag Brother and Scumbag Father, Get Lost (29)

Chapter 883: Chapter 883: Scumbag Brother and Scumbag Father, Get Lost (29)

Jiao Rongchang originally just wanted to check on Yaan Huai’s progress, actually not holding out hope for Yaan Huai to pass the exam to become a Scholar this time.

Even though he allowed Yaan Huai to listen to lessons from outside the window, the latter couldn’t come every day, usually only once every two or three days, and couldn’t hear everything. To reach the level of a Scholar, Yaan Huai probably needs a few more years of listening.

Seeing Yaan Huai holding a book, he planned to pick two articles for Yaan Huai to recite to him, and then to talk about his understanding and insights on these articles.

If he remembered correctly, when studying this book, Yaan Huai hadn’t attended much, perhaps listening to just one or two articles.

The result, however, was beyond Jiao Rongchang’s expectations. Yaan Huai could recite fluently, which was not surprising, but when he heard Yaan Huai’s understanding and insights on the articles, he was a bit astonished. The general idea of the article was similar to what he had taught, but the final insights were evidently different.

Jiao Rongchang picked another article, and Yaan Huai indicated that he hadn’t memorized this one yet, but he was in the process of memorizing it and already understood the article.

Jiao Rongchang, surprised, asked him to explain.

After hearing Yaan Huai’s response, Jiao Rongchang was truly shocked. Yaan Huai’s answer was straightforward, but with this kind of understanding, memorizing the article indeed became very simple.

At this moment, he also noticed some small symbols on the book, and upon closer inspection, weren’t those the punctuation marks?

"What is this?" Jiao Rongchang pointed to the punctuation, a small symbol, and asked.

Under Qiann Yan’s advisement, Yaan Huai naturally answered honestly: "Comma."

"Comma? What is it?"

It was the first time Jiao Rongchang had seen this symbol; the difficulty in reading a book partly lay in the tough punctuation. A wrong punctuation, and the book would be read incorrectly, which necessitated a teacher for instruction. Once attaining a certain level of knowledge, punctuating passages in articles would no longer be problematic.

Yaan Huai patiently explained. Actually, he was quite surprised upon seeing these in the morning. After getting an explanation from the teacher and himself, he found it rather ingenious. The teacher said he learned this from someone else, who then disappeared.

He thought that whoever came up with this punctuation symbol idea was indeed a genius.

After learning these punctuation symbols, Jiao Rongchang exclaimed how brilliant it was, quickly asking Yaan Huai: "Who created these brilliant punctuation symbols?"

"I don’t know. Mr. Meng taught me, and Mr. Meng said he once encountered a passerby who, upon seeing her misread punctuation while reading, taught her this."

Mr. Meng?

Jiao Rongchang quickly realized it must be the little girl named Meng Qianyan in the study room. Remembering what the other mentioned about having an eidetic memory, it was no longer surprising why Yaan Huai addressed her as such.

"It seems we still need to ask Miss Meng."

Jiao Rongchang calmed his excitement, having never thought of secretly using these symbols. Being one who imparted knowledge, he wouldn’t stoop to plagiaristic deeds.

Jiao Rongchang further inquired if Yaan Huai had become Qiann Yan’s student, to which Yaan Huai truthfully replied, also stating that this method of memorizing articles was taught by her.

Having anticipated this, Jiao Rongchang was still astonished—the girl was merely in her teens.

"Does she intend to teach you to study, aiding you in passing the exams for official ranks?"

Yaan Huai nodded: "Yes."

"Not simple, not simple at all..." Jiao Rongchang shook his head, "It’s a pity she’s a daughter and can’t take the imperial exams..."

Yaan Huai couldn’t help but recount what Qiann Yan had said yesterday, leaving Jiao Rongchang extremely shaken, who promptly said: "It appears my knowledge is superficial, falling short of a young girl."

...

When Qiann Yan had been reading for a while, Jiao Rongchang had someone send her food.