Chapter 5

Every day, the clear sound of recitation drifted out of the courtyard, over the fences and across the rice fields, making passersby stop and look.

That was how word of Three Mountains School spread.

When the village head brought his youngest son, he looked around the school, restored to the way it had been in my father’s day, and said with evident satisfaction, “Ning, you’re a good girl. That fellow was blind not to see it.”

He and my father had been close, which was why he felt able to say such a thing.

I thought he had chosen the one subject best left alone, so I just smiled and said nothing.

Then, to my surprise, he introduced the son and daughter of Master Zhang from the city.

Master Zhang’s family were merchants, well known in the city for their wealth. Ordinarily, a family like his would never have sent their children to a little establishment like mine.

But he was related to the village head. One day, while they were drinking together, Master Zhang mentioned that his children needed a tutor and asked whether he could recommend a good one.

The village head, already drunk, clapped his hands. “Why look any further? The best one’s right on our doorstep!”

The next day, he brought him over.

Apparently, Master Zhang was doubtful at first. Suspecting the village head had duped him over drinks, he stood by the wall and refused to come inside.

As it happened, I was teaching the children the Analects.

“‘To know what you know, and to admit what you do not know: that is knowledge.’ Who can tell me what this means?”

Butcher Ge’s chubby boy raised his hand.

I called on him. “Shunian?”

He stood straight, his hands at his sides. “Yesterday, Teacher said it means that when we know something, we should say we know it, and when we don’t, we should say we don’t. Being truthful is what makes us wise.”

I smiled. “Very good, Shunian. But today I’d like to take that a little further. Knowing what we know and admitting what we don’t is good, certainly, but we mustn’t stop there. If we know how little we understand, yet grow idle and content instead of applying ourselves to learning, that isn’t wise either. There is no end to knowledge. We have to seek it for ourselves. And that goes for everyone, not just Shunian. Do you all understand?”

The classroom answered in perfect unison. “We understand. Thank you for teaching us.”

Looking at that orderly scene, I thought of the children who had once fought and run wild in the fields. To see them so well behaved now filled me with quiet pride. Just then, the village head came in with a smiling older gentleman.

That gentleman was Master Zhang.

“Oh?” asked the village head. “Has little Chubby Ge changed his name?”

Ge Shunian’s name had originally been Ge Xiaopang—Little Chubby Ge—given to him by his father. But after learning how Qingning got her name, he had gone home and begged his father for a new one.

Later, Butcher Ge had brought him to my door and stammered out the request, rubbing his forehead with one large hand in embarrassment.

After some thought, I renamed him Ge Shunian.

I hoped he would be quick-minded and eager to learn, versed in the past and present, and that if he ever rose to greatness, he would still remember his parents’ care in raising him.

Butcher Ge had been overjoyed. Needless to say, the next day he turned up with meat and wine.

Now that the village head had asked, I explained the reason, and both men nodded.

The next day, we had two more pupils: Master Zhang’s youngest son and youngest daughter.

He also recommended us to his neighbors.

I had never expected that.

Gradually, people began talking about Three Mountains School in Willowleaf Village and the teacher known as Sanshan: a woman of exceptional learning and sound judgment. Whether a child came from a village or a great household, every pupil sent to her learned well.

“Three Mountains” was the scholarly name I had chosen for myself.

More and more people came seeking lessons. Even officials in the city began sending their children.

With the school’s reputation established, the old classroom was no longer large enough.

Money was no longer a problem, so I hired people to clear space in the courtyard and build a covered extension adjoining the classroom for us to use temporarily. I also hired a cook and a cleaner to take care of the school’s daily chores.