Chapter 39: The Sacred Sound of the Desolate Mountain

  "Master Yunlang, my young master has invited you to go on a spring outing three days from now. He specially instructed me to inform you." The servant in green clothes and hat saw that Yun Zong was wearing an apron, and a hint of disdain flashed across his eyes as he explained the purpose of his visit to Yun Zong, who was standing at the door of the bamboo building.

  Yun Zheng wiped the grease from his hands on his apron, smiled at the servant and said: "Xiao Gongzi has invited me, Yun Mou will definitely go." After finishing speaking, he took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket without even looking at them and threw them to the servant standing on the upper floor. Then he went inside, where there was still a piece of leek box in the pot, and two hungry guests were waiting for him, who had time to quarrel with the servant.

  The servant in the green robe and small hat looked at the copper coins on the ground, struggled for a long time before picking them up one by one and putting them into his pocket. He glared fiercely at the closed bamboo door and said in a low voice: "Three days later, see how I'll deal with you."

  Yun Zheng entered the house and immediately shooed Yun Er, who was squatting beside the pot, to one side. The delicate skin had been scalded and was no longer good.

  "Big brother, someone has invited you to go on a spring outing, take me along too. I heard that when going on a spring outing, one should bring their family members. Now your family members are just me and the cured meat. Let's go together." The freshly steamed leek box was too hot, Yún èr blew air onto it while expressing his wishes to Yún Dà.

  "It's okay, but we're going just to set off Xiao Da Gongzi's nobility, so Yun Er, don't get angry and don't pretend. Do whatever you want, it's like watching a monkey show. I humiliated that servant earlier, maybe when we go, we can't even find food, so let's prepare early."

  "Who wants to eat their crappy stuff? Last time at his place, the crappy dim sum was disgusting, it's like biting into a piece of fatty pork. Can't we just not go?"

  Yun Er heard that she was going to be teased and immediately didn't want to go anymore.

  "If you don't want to go, then stay home with the cured meat. Remember to open all the doors and windows of the new house downstairs. The sun has been good these days, so let's dry out the house as soon as possible and move in early."

  "I don't like seeing you being bullied!" Yun Er put down the scallion pancake box and stopped eating, huffing and puffing as he said to Yun Da.

  "As long as I don't want to, no one can bully me. The reason we need to accompany this young master is that we owe him a favor, and when you owe someone a favor, you have to repay it. This is the principle of being a person and doing things, and it must be followed. Just don't provoke him later, okay? In this unlucky era, you have to think carefully before doing something. If you push things too far, it's not just one person who will suffer the consequences. If we anger this young master, our whole village won't know peace, and that would be too costly."

  "I'm going!" Yun Er said bluntly and began devouring the leek box in her plate.

  "Don't go too far, I found that the life of a servant is very fragile." Yun Zheng handed over to Yun Er, and started eating his own food. The cured meat couldn't understand what the two brothers were talking about, but she had already lost track, as the two pigs at the bottom of the building had begun to cry out for food.

  Afternoon as usual was Yun Zheng's class time, on the sunny slope under the bamboo building, a blackboard was hung up, each child had a sandbox, filled with river sand, when they were young, children practiced writing with it.

  Phonetics generally divides it into five categories: lips, tongue, teeth, teeth, and throat. This is roughly the place of articulation, but there are also some other phonemes in it. Why divide it into five categories? This is because phonologists must associate it with the five tones of Shang, Gong, Jue, Zhi, and Yu, and later all sorts of unrelated things were dragged in, such as the Five Elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, the four directions of east, west, south, north, and center, and the five internal organs of liver, spleen, heart, lungs, and kidneys. This is also one of the reasons why phonetics is respected but kept at a distance.

  This subject was almost a lost art in the Song Dynasty, and there were questions about it when taking the imperial examination. Yun Zheng taught it together with Bai Jia Xing because of the children's pronunciation problems.

  Words are meant to be heard, but due to differences in pronunciation, various dialects emerge and misunderstandings can arise. Yun Zheng listened very carefully when speaking with Lin County Magistrate, and his words carried a hint of Kansai accent, which was clearly related to his lineage. What he spoke was Mandarin, the correct tone used by scholars for conversation.

  Minister Kou Zhun and Ding Wei were in the government hall, "casually discussing which place has the correct pronunciation of the world". Kou Zhun said: "Only the people of Western Luoyang have the correct pronunciation of the world." Ding Wei said: "Not so, each of the four distant regions has its own dialect, only scholars who read books have the correct pronunciation." The difference between the pronunciation of scholars during the Song Dynasty and the Luoyang dialect is similar to the difference between Mandarin Chinese and Beijing dialect today.

  Yun Zheng had some exposure to these things when he was in school, and the rhyming of the Song Dynasty was based on the evolution of Luoyang dialect and Kaifeng dialect. He studied this twisted pronunciation, so he also required his students to pronounce it that way.

  Teach children naturally, starting with the "Three Character Classic". As long as they understand the Xiaojing, are familiar with the Four Books, and have a basic understanding of the Six Classics, then they can start reading. That is to say, there are books like the Xiaojing, Daxue, Zhongyong, Lunyu, Mengzi, Shijing, Shangshu, Yili, Yuejing, Zhouyi, and Chunqiu that can be read.

  It's a pity that "Three Character Classic" has not appeared yet, but " Hundred Family Surnames" is no problem. Anyway, nobody knows who compiled this thing, it already appeared in the early Northern Song Dynasty, and it should be no problem to use it to teach children.

  Yun Zheng's teaching is actually a re-learning process. When he was in school, he didn't do well in classical Chinese literature analysis and was about to fail, but the old professor took pity on him because Yun Zheng was alone and had no one to rely on, so he let him pass. Five years after graduation, when Yun Zheng saw the white-haired old professor again, the old man's first words were: "Have you reviewed this subject again?"

  Things in the world are always changing, white clouds and black dogs. I unexpectedly missed the most important subject, thinking that I was lucky, but this luck is actually the heaviest punishment.

  "Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng, Wang, Feng, Chen, Chu, Wei, Jiang, Shen, Han, Yang... As Cloud Ridge slowly recited the ancient text that filled him with emotion, the children behind him also followed along, reciting one word at a time. Cloud Two sat on a small stool, also reciting along. For a moment, the usually noisy and chaotic village was left with only the sound of clear reading voices."

  The old village chief stood far, far away, afraid of disturbing the children's reading. The people in the village also stood far, far away, watching their own children following the teacher to read books word by word, with their necks stretched very long.

  The gossipy women shut their mouths, the ones who loved to wag their tongues also closed their mouths tightly. Even the old ox that was usually treated like a family member would be whipped if it let out just one snort...

  In a poor and desolate mountain valley, for the first time there was the sound of a sage, so all things hushed their voices.

  If everyone thinks this book is okay, I beg you to give it a three-star vote. Thank you. Sincerely, He Jianqiang.