He explained earnestly to the two children.
“Is that so?”
Rong’er blinked his big, puzzled eyes and looked at his mother.
“Mother, didn’t you write explanatory notes in the books for us? Can’t we read those?”
An Jiuyue was surprised.
Sending the two children to school was so difficult!
“Of course. Why not? Uncle Jiyun means that you may not understand everything, even with the explanatory notes, because you’re still young. So, you should go to school and listen to the teacher’s lectures. Only then can you learn everything.”
She coughed lightly.
“Since you’ve read these four books, I’ll give you ‘The Analects of Confucius’ and ‘The Mencius’ tomorrow. You don’t have to memorize them. Reading twice will be enough.”
Qian Jiyun and Qian Yiyun were speechless.
This seemed so difficult. Which school should they send these two children to?
Children at this age who were sent to school were either crying and making a fuss or memorizing only ‘Three Character Classic’, ‘The Book of Family Names’, and ‘Thousand Character Classic’, right?
Even other seven- or eight-year-old children were still memorizing the ‘Thousand Character Classic’!
However, An Jiuyue’s children had already started reading the Four Books and Five Classics—they could even memorize a few of them! What kind of education method was this?!
“Sister-in-law, tell Zheng’er and the others this. If other people hear about this, won’t they…” Pounce on you and beat you?
It was simply illogical!
“Ahem.” Qian Jiyun coughed lightly and pulled his sister back to her senses.
“Jiuyue, let’s not talk about things. Let’s decide on their school first. I’ve asked Yan Qin to find out about the schools. We’ll know later.”
Qian Yiyun interrupted, “That’s right, Sister-in-law. Big Brother asked Yan Qin to choose a few more schools. We can select one carefully. If you really can’t choose, we can even visit them tomorrow. There are so many schools in the capital. We can choose the best.”
Would the children of the Prince Zhan Yun Residence struggle to find a good school?
If they sent word, many teachers would be keen to accept Zheng’er and Rong’er into the school. They just did not want to do that.
Meanwhile, they had never considered the National Academy. The students there were all young nobles who fought and caused trouble every day. They did not know anything about studying.
They would not allow Zheng’er and Rong’er to study in such an environment.
“Okay,” An Jiuyue replied.
…
The next day, Qian Yiyun accompanied An Jiuyue out in the morning.
They had spent the entire night last night reading school materials, but none of the schools were satisfactory.
Even when they were not unsatisfactory, the materials were mere descriptions of the schools on paper. They could only confirm if a school was suitable by visiting it.
Hence, An Jiuyue decided to visit a few schools recommended by Yan Qin.
“Sister-in-law, people are selling candied hawthorn sticks there. I’ll buy two sticks for Zheng’er and Rong’er.” Qian Yiyun saw a stall selling candied hawthorn sticks nearby and informed An Jiuyue before bringing the two children to buy them.
An Jiuyue stood where she was and smiled. She glanced at another stall selling breakfast. It was full of customers and seemed to be famous.
“Boss, I want a trayful of steam buns and four bowls of soy milk.”
She went over and found the last remaining seat.
