Chapter 281: The Ancient People First Learned About Characters

Nan Qinghuan didn't know why they were preparing the stools, so she went to find Ying; soon, in an open part of the forest within the tribe, Ying was having people line up all the stools neatly, and many children stood there watching him.

"Clan Leader, are we here to pick fruit?"

Little A Tu didn't know why they were brought, thinking they were to have these kids pick fruit, but Ying only shook his head, stretched out his large hand and gently patted A Tu's head, "No more labor; from now on follow me to learn character recognition."

"Character recognition?"

A Tu didn't know what a character was. "Clan Leader, can characters be eaten?"

Ying's gaze darkened as he stared deeply at the children; he recalled that man's words—illiterate—and wondered if illiterate meant unable to read characters. For the first time he realized the huge distance between him and Qinghuan, and also recognized that his tribe's development had to begin with these kids.

So today he had the adults bring all these kids over, intending for them to learn literacy.

What is literacy? He wanted to know that too.

"You foolish kids, characters can't be eaten; they should be a powerful weapon, and you must learn them from childhood, so no one will call you illiterate."

Innocently, A Tu blinked his eyes at him, "What is illiterate, and isn't it fine that we are all illiterate?"

"Of course it's not good."

From behind, Nan Qinghuan and Axi arrived, and seeing Ying gather the children together, she was quite pleased; the man wanting to learn character recognition was indeed clever.

He also knew to start with the children.

"Qinghuan"

Seeing Nan Qinghuan arrive, Ying hurried forward to support her, even though her belly hadn't shown yet, he was already being careful.

He tended to everything about her very carefully.

"Ying"

Thinking that this wild man went out at midnight to pick sour fruit for her, she felt moved and even a pang of sadness.

She looked at him, saw he was uninjured, and breathed a sigh of relief; nevertheless she gently pounded his chest, "From now on don't go out at midnight to pick fruit; I'll be angry."

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Look, I brought all these harmless kids. Will you teach us literacy together?"

He saw Nan Qinghuan looking in good spirits, so teaching them literacy should be fine.

Now he doesn't want Nan Qinghuan to leave the tribe even a step, because she is pregnant and must be well cared for.

Hearing Ying's words, Nan Qinghuan smiled, "Alright, I'll teach you literacy; everyone sit down for me, but…"

"Qinghuan, what do we need, where are the characters?"

Ying also didn't know what a character was, but he understood a bit; when he was at Jiuchongshan he had seen those ancient scripts, yet he didn't recognize any of them.

And also… that place he never wanted to go.

Nan Qinghuan thought the man's words were truly cute, "The characters are in my mind, but I need to prepare something like a blackboard to teach everyone. Ying, do you have one?"

"A black board?"

Ying was clever and quickly fetched a wooden board, "Qinghuan, is this okay?"

Though it was just a wooden board, Nan Qinghuan was satisfied; this place lacked teaching facilities, so having the board was good enough.

She nodded, "Alright, find something to tie it with; I'll go find a charred tree branch."

That day, the oldest Forest Academy opened its class, and Nan Qinghuan taught these Ancient People literacy for the first time.

They started with Heaven Earth Yin Yang, then male and female.

"Heaven is two horizontal strokes, Earth is soil…"

"This is the way to write Heaven and Earth."

She wrote earnestly, the little kids learned earnestly as well, and Ying stood beside her watching her teach.

When he saw that huge symbol, Ying finally realized.

So this is a character.

"Qinghuan, how do I write my name, how do I write Ying?"

Nan Qinghuan saw his anxiety, "It's fine, I'll teach you later; first let the children learn the simplest characters so everyone gets a grasp of them."

"Alright, I follow your lead."

This Ancient Tribe now had a literacy civilization; the children could even recite the Three Character Classic, "At the beginning of man, nature is inherently good; nature is similar, habit is distant…"

That day, the murmuring voices of children reading echoed through the mountains of Ying's tribe, drifting far away.

The elders were working in the fields, yet they didn't understand what literacy meant; but thinking that the kids at home were more accomplished made them happy.

They were also glad to let them study.

News of Nan Qinghuan teaching literacy in the tribe quickly reached Rongdi, and after hearing this, Rongdi sneered and stood up.

"Literacy? Back then Ying burned the Divine Diagram Chamber to the ground; didn't he not want to learn?"

The lone wolf and Xuan Feng exchanged a glance, "We aren't clear either; now Ying has these kids learning with Nan Qinghuan, and Ying himself is also learning."

"Hmph, a waste of effort; what's the use of learning that thing? Winter is only a few months away, and he doesn't hurry to stock food and plant rice, yet he has the mind to study literacy—how ridiculous."

Hearing Rongdi's words, Li Xiang, who had just returned from the fields nearby, hurried forward, "Chief, what did you say? That wild man is learning character recognition?"

"The priest just came back, perfect timing; let me tell you something amusing: Ying is learning character recognition—what kind of ghost thing is more important than farming?"

Hearing this, Li Xiang's brows tightened, then he sneered, "Seems that wild man also has pride; after I scolded him, he wants to learn character recognition—too late. Even if he learns forever, he won't match my junior sister."

Indeed, Rongdi guessed correctly that Li Xiang was behind it. But what is literacy? How much power does it hold? Must one be literate to match Nan Qinghuan? He immediately stood and faced Li Xiang, "Tell me, what exactly is your relationship with Nan Qinghuan?"

Li Xiang, seeing he had learned something, set a condition, "Chief, if you don't give me those females, I'll tell you."

Those words made Rongdi squint slightly, "You don't like Duoluo?"