An Shi

The days passed.Before you know it, summer has already entered the Northeast.

In the afternoon of June, the weather was excellent.The warm and pleasant sunlight shines into the room through the lines of the window lattice, printing trivial light and shadow on the ground and on the table.

Sima Yan sat at the table, resting his chin on his hand, listening to Pei Xiu's lecture absently.On this day, Pei Xiu wore an old silk gown; the gown was washed very clean, fresh and refreshing, with a faint smell of soap locust.At this time, he was holding a Chinese textbook that Sima Yan hadn't touched for a long time, and he was reading the text word by word:

"...Now we pass through the middle ridge and the top of the mountain. The cliffs are restricted to those who are in charge of the road. The world calls it the cloud of Tianmen. The fog and ice in the road are slippery, and the steps are almost impossible to climb. As soon as we go up, the Cangshan Mountain is covered with snow, and the sky is brightly lit in the south; look at the evening sun. The city walls, Wenshui, and Culai are picturesque, while the mid-mountain is surrounded by fog..."

The day before, he assigned an article to Sima Yan, which was Yao Nai's "Climbing Mount Tai".However, Sima Yan got a headache when he saw classical Chinese, so he just flipped through it hastily, and didn't study it seriously; now, listening to Pei Xiu reading and retelling it verse by verse, he just feels confused.

He couldn't understand, so he simply went off on his errands openly, while playing with the small script in his hand, while thinking about where to play after class.

Pei Xiu saw that he looked like he was wandering away from the sky, so she put down the book and asked: "I just said, do you have any questions, young master?"

Hearing his voice, Sima Yan immediately came back to his senses.He subconsciously shook his head, but he heard Pei Xiu say again: "Then, I have a few questions for the young master."

"Sir, please speak."

"What is the meaning of the word 'candle' in 'Cangshan bears snow, and the sky is brightly lit in the south'?"

Sima Yan was tongue-tied. "Um...candles?"

"The word 'candle' in 'candle' is correct," Pei Xiu nodded, and said again: "However, here, its meaning is not candle, but...?"

He dragged out his questioning tone, as if waiting for Sima Yan to give a correct answer.

"Uh……"

Sima Yan couldn't answer at all.In the past in the school, it was not that he had never encountered a situation where he was asked a question but couldn't answer it; at that time, he just laughed and passed away, and the master had nothing to do with him.

But Pei Xiu was different.For some reason, Sima Yan kept thinking about that day when Sima Zhao said in front of Pei Xiu that he "didn't like to go to school" and that his homework was so-so, and every time he thought about it, it felt like a thorn in his heart.On the one hand, he blamed his father for expressing his dissatisfaction mercilessly in front of Pei Xiu, who was a stranger at that time; on the other hand, he didn't want Pei Xiu to look down on him for studying for no reason.

So he barely made a guess: "The 'negative' in the previous sentence 'Cangshan bears snow' is a verb, and there should be a verb corresponding to it in the latter sentence, which is the 'candle'. Candles are generally used as light sources to illuminate a room, so The 'candle' here can be understood as the word 'zhao'..."

The corners of Pei Xiu's lips were slightly curved, and she said with a smile: "That's right. 'Zhu' was originally a noun, but because of its position, it has been transformed into a verb. This is the case in classical Chinese, where the position and collocation of a word are different, and the meaning will also change. Changes. So when we read and write, we must pay special attention.”

Sima Yan, who consciously got away with it, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.He asked expectantly: "Mr. Pei, I have answered your question, so can I leave get out of class early?"

Pei Xiu smiled, and closed the book with a "snap": "You can't." He reached for the pen holder, took out the pens inside one by one, laid them side by side, then turned the pen holder upside down, and slapped it hard.

A fat spider quickly crawled out of the pen holder, brought out a few spider threads, and rubbed them on the rice paper in front of Sima Yan.

Sima Yan slammed back and almost flipped over the stool.He watched the spider he deliberately threw into the pen holder gradually disappear, and then looked at Pei Xiu who had a calm expression, his face turned blue.

Pei Xiu slowly put a pen back into the pen holder, and said slowly: "Now we can finish class....Young Master and Young Master You, let's go out to play, don't disappoint the rare good weather."

He raised his head, his smile deepened, and Sima Yan immediately felt that his little tricks had been seen through by the quiet and gentle gentleman in front of him.

So he threw away the Langhao Xiaokai in his hand and fled.

It was evening when Sima Yan took Sima You home.Small vendors in the city closed their stalls one after another and went home to eat; those who had finished their meal moved a bench and sat in the courtyard, placed a plate of melon seeds or groundnuts, and chatted with fans to watch the sunset.The sunset glow in this small town is very beautiful, and the locals call it "Huoshaoyun". The faces of the two boys were red.

When approaching the door, Sima You suddenly tugged Sima Yan's sleeve lightly, hesitant to speak.

"Huh? Is Tao Fu okay?"

Sima You hesitantly stretched out his right hand, which he had been holding tightly, with the palm facing up, and showed him the object in his hand.

"I picked this up near the study... It looks like something belonging to Mr. Pei. When my brother is in class with him tomorrow, can you help him return it?"

A small blue kit lay quietly in Sima You's palm.Sima Yan stared at it for a long time, then suddenly raised the corners of his mouth.

"Okay." He took the kit and rubbed his younger brother's hair, "Don't worry about Tao Fu, I will definitely hand it over to him tomorrow."

Sima You was itchy from being rubbed by him, giggled, and rubbed against him affectionately.Seeing him laughing happily, Sima Yan couldn't help letting go of his little thoughts that he couldn't explain clearly, and laughed out loud.

"Let's go, we're home."