Chapter 29: The Spirit Medium Who Teaches Literacy

The next day, Li Family Village.

"..."

Li Boyang watched the drizzling rain outside the window and could not help but fall into silence.

Not far from Li Boyang, on the wall, the *Nine Chapters of Divination Secrets* was spread out flat and hung up.

This was what Chen Yun had done last night after she and the eldest girl returned and heard about the two's experiences.

Not only that, but Chen Yun had also deliberately read through the general contents of the *Nine Chapters of Divination Secrets* right in front of Li Boyang.

It was at that moment that Li Boyang realized with surprise that Chen Yun was actually literate.

Although, like the eldest girl, Chen Yun did not know many characters.

Still, it was better than Li Boyang fumbling through it all by himself.

Afterwards, when Li Yu returned, he also stumbled through adding a few new characters.

He, however, did not ask too many questions about what had happened to Li Boyang and the eldest girl.

Unknowingly, the couple Li Yu and Chen Yun seemed to have completely accepted the peculiarities of their child, and they displayed an attitude of "let it be."

Before going to sleep last night, Li Boyang even heard Li Yu and Chen Yun discussing whether they should consider sending him to school.

Unfortunately, intellectuals in this era were truly rare.

Looking back at all the years Li Yu and Chen Yun had lived, the only literate teacher they truly knew was the eldest girl's father.

Instead, it was Li Boyang, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, who had an unexpected gain.

That was that in a small town about a hundred kilometers away, there was a spirit medium who specialized in teaching people how to read.

Although the spirit medium did not know many characters herself, and there might even be some incorrect ones,

she only charged a small amount of grain and held classes almost every day, making her much easier to get to know than those real literate teachers.

Of course, Li Boyang did not intend to run off and become the spirit medium's disciple.

After all, although his parents had accepted his supernatural nature, Li Boyang was not foolish enough to go around proclaiming it.

Letting a newborn child follow a spirit medium to learn how to read—

whoever heard of such a thing would likely not just treat it as a joke or a rumor.

So, Li Boyang's approach was to quietly open his Heavenly Eye and secretly learn along the side while the spirit medium taught other children.

Fortunately, by comparing the descriptions from the couple Li Yu and Chen Yun, Li Boyang did not spend much effort finding the spirit medium's residence.

Then, Li Boyang discovered a difficulty he had not anticipated before.

[I can't hear the pronunciation, so how am I supposed to learn to read?]

Scratching his head in distress, Li Boyang could only try his best to observe the lip movements of the spirit medium and the children, attempting to discern the correct pronunciation.

[I have a feeling that after I learn to read, I'll have to teach myself lip-reading as well.]

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gao Village Town, in a crude courtyard behind the Tudimiao.

A few children were sitting on the ground, using twigs to trace characters in the sand before them.

And directly in front of these children, an old woman with a hunched back and only a few teeth left was teaching them pronunciation with a smile on her face.

Even though her own pronunciation was crooked beyond measure, the old woman was extremely strict in correcting the children's pronunciation.

"Grandma! We just learned this character yesterday! Why do we have to learn it again today?"

Raising her hand high, a little girl with braided hair asked, full of reluctance.

"Just because we learned it yesterday doesn't mean we can't learn it today."

"There are always new little ones who haven't learned it yet; I can't just let you be the only one who knows it, can I?"

"Read it with me again: this is 'one,' the 'one' of quantity, the 'one' of a single copper coin!"

Reaching out to pat the little girl's head, the old woman continued her nagging, her smile undiminished.

"Huh? But aren't I the newest little one?"

"Even I have learned it, so could there be anyone who hasn't?"

Looking around, the little girl saw that everyone present was a few years older than her, and she muttered, quite puzzled.

"Grandma, you haven't gone senile again, have you?"

"Everyone clearly already knows it, right? I know it too, right?"

The little girl was telling the truth.

Because the few older children next to her had already begun to boredly draw doodles in the sand.

"You child, where do you get so much nonsense from?"

"Learn it if I tell you to; this is to build your foundation."

"Don't wait until you actually need to use it and forget how to write it."

Due to the rain, the spirit medium's lesson lasted for a full two hours.

And he didn't know if it was Li Boyang's imagination,

but he always felt that when she announced the end of class, the spirit medium had intentionally or unintentionally glanced in his direction.

[Are these all simple, basic characters taught today? Or does she teach these same characters every day?]

Suspiciously recalling those most basic of characters, Li Boyang discovered that the characters the spirit medium taught today were all entry-level.

Even a secret learner like himself, who could only "see," could easily correct the pronunciation of these characters through lip movements and meaning.

What was important was that the spirit medium did not just make the children memorize by rote.

Many times, Li Boyang could see the spirit medium listing a series of characters with the same pronunciation.

From easy to difficult, from simple to complex...

In this era without pinyin, Li Boyang even felt that those real literate teachers might not necessarily teach as well as the spirit medium.

After all, enlightenment and teaching were two different things.

The former did not require profound knowledge; being easy to understand and simple and clear was the most critical part.

Thinking of the catchy *Three Character Classic* and *Hundred Family Surnames* from his past life, he knew what the standard for enlightenment was.

[Actually, if you look at it this way, those 'wrong' characters might not necessarily be wrong...]

Raising his head again to look at the *Nine Chapters of Divination Secrets* on the wall,

Li Boyang saw those few "wrong characters" written by the eldest girl and his mother.

Perhaps it was the difference between the language of a thousand years ago and a thousand years later...

Or perhaps those characters simply had different ways of being written in different regions...

[So, why are other transmigrators able to get familiar with the language and characters after transmigration so easily?]

[Have they never encountered this kind of linguistic evolution?]

Thinking of the complex writing system before the Qin Dynasty unified China, Li Boyang felt a headache coming on.

If this world also lacked a unified central script,

then the characters from the *Nine Chapters of Divination Secrets* were most likely regional characters from near the Huaijiang a thousand years ago.

This meant that the difficulty for Li Boyang to correctly read the *Nine Chapters of Divination Secrets* had increased by a few notches.

The principle of "a miss is as good as a mile."

It was never more apparent than in the field of language translation.

[To have a secret manual in my hands but be blocked at the door because of language issues—I suppose this is something only a transmigrator like me could encounter.]

Monthly Ticket / Recommendation Ticket

(End of Chapter)