Chapter 210 - 96 [The Young Instructor of the Academy] (8800 words)_2
He wasn’t lacking money. When the old monk left the monastery back then, he left him two thousand yuan. And before heading down the mountain to leave with Chen Yan, the two demonesses at home also gave him two thousand yuan each—he didn’t even know where they got that money from.
But upon arriving here, he didn’t spend a single penny—not leaving the academy meant there was nowhere to spend money anyway.
Over a few days, he got familiar with the others in the same Zen meditation class. Though their statuses were far superior, they were wealthy people in Chuyi’s eyes. But once they learned he was a disciple of "Elder Zi," they treated him politely and would occasionally chat with him.
Chuyi, however, was the most inarticulate, often falling silent after saying just a couple of sentences, causing them to lose interest in deep conversations with him.
After lunch on this day, Chuyi returned to his room to read for a while. Before 2 p.m., he walked to the front courtyard of the academy and sat in the last row of the auditorium, preparing for the afternoon class.
He arrived quite early, and there weren’t many people in the lecture hall. Chuyi was repeatedly looking at the notes he took from yesterday’s class—he was truly diligent. Even though he didn’t understand, he wrote down as much as he could with his pen, wishing to transcribe every word the teacher spoke, and read through it slowly at night.
But even so, he realized his helplessness—not only couldn’t he understand, but he also couldn’t even take notes on what the teacher said.
There were some characters he didn’t even recognize!
For example, the teacher mentioned "preserve heavenly principles and eliminate human desires," quoting a passage from Zhou Yi.
When it came to "If not plowed and sown, then profits will come..." Chuyi’s eyes widened in bewilderment—he had no idea what those characters meant, scratching his head in confusion, and could only write down the pinyin [zi she].
Now, as he sat there looking through his notes from yesterday, there were many parts where he didn’t know what words the teacher had said, so he could only write down the pinyin...
Even now, reviewing his notes felt like reading an alien script.
Looking at his notes, Chuyi was filled with worry, letting out a sigh of frustration: When can I ever learn this well, and achieve the state of enlightenment the two demonesses spoke of?
When can I return and reunite with the two demonesses at home?
As he sighed repeatedly, a familiar voice sounded from behind.
"Chuyi, what’s wrong?"
Chuyi turned around and immediately his face lit up with joy: "Brother Xiao Yan!"
Chen Yan had somehow ended up standing behind Chuyi.
He was wearing a plain robe similar to the students in the Zen meditation class, and a pair of white cloth socks—almost the standard attire for all the class members.
Following traditional customs, everyone removed their shoes before entering the lecture hall, and the floors were cleaned daily by students on a rotating schedule.
Seeing Brother Xiao Yan’s arrival, Chuyi could hardly contain his happiness.
Chen Yan patted Chuyi on the shoulder, then sat beside him, glancing at the notebook filled with sloppy writing and phonetic notations...
After skimming a page, Chen Yan recognized the content—fortunate enough, he had graduated with a major in philosophy.
He had studied and read some Pre-Qin literature and the works of Zhu Zi during his university days.
Seeing Chuyi’s scribbled notes, Chen Yan thought for a moment and roughly grasped the source of Chuyi’s confusion.
"It’s not that the previous teacher couldn’t teach; they just overestimated the students’ foundational knowledge. Instead of making complex things simple, they chose to reference Zhou Yi, something advanced, which made it difficult for you to understand."
Chen Yan spoke gently with a smile, then flipped through the notebook, pointing to a line: "Did the lecture cover this yesterday?"
Chen Yan pointed to the line "preserve heavenly principles and eliminate human desires."
Chuyi nodded repeatedly, with a troubled expression: "Brother, I just don’t understand. How are human desires in conflict with heavenly principles? Is it wrong for people to want to eat, sleep, get married, and have children?"
"Your teacher enjoys showing off his knowledge, making simple matters complicated." Chen Yan shook his head: "This idea is actually quite simple.
Eliminating human desires does not mean eradicating normal human desires. It refers to excessive and overly greedy desires.
Zhu Zi’s idea is that wanting food is normal and should be respected as ’heavenly principles.’ But if you want luxurious meals every day, then it becomes ’human desires,’ excessive greed that should be eliminated.
For example, if a man wants to marry... hmm..."
At this point, Chen Yan suddenly stopped talking.
Because in Zhu Zi’s philosophy, it also stated that while it is normal for a man to want a wife, wanting multiple wives is excessive greed.
This was a bit sensitive to say to Chuyi.
This guy had two demonesses waiting for him on the mountain—according to Zhu Zi’s reasoning, such desires should be eliminated.
Chuyi suddenly realized, slapping his thigh: "It’s that simple!! The teacher just means we shouldn’t be too greedy, to mind our own business, and advocate for a simple life, right?
He spoke for an entire afternoon, referencing Zhou Yi and talking for two full hours about things I didn’t understand..."