The little girl hadn’t stopped fidgeting since she sat down, a torrent of questions pouring from her small mouth one after another, making Louis Thompson both amused and helpless. However, despite her mischievousness, the little girl was very well-mannered, and finally, she closed her incessantly chattering mouth.

Philip Thompson had inquired and found out that the old scholar teaching above was surnamed Kong, named Samuel King, a member of the Kong family from Qufu, Shandong. He was a cousin of one of the Eighteen Scholars, Samuel King. Although not as famous as Samuel King, he was also a highly learned old scholar.

The elementary school curriculum was very simple: reading in the morning and practicing calligraphy in the afternoon. New students started with the Thousand Character Classic, then moved on to Sima Xiangru’s “Fanjiang Pian,” Cai Yong’s “Quanxue Pian,” and so on, until graduation at age ten, after which they would transfer to the Chongwen Hall or Hongwen Hall for secondary and higher education.

Schools or private academies of this era did not divide students into classes; all students studied together, each progressing at their own pace. This meant that the number of students a teacher could handle was limited, and Mark Thompson’s group was just such a case.

Master King first checked each student’s academic progress, then decided on the day’s lesson content. He let them familiarize themselves with it first, planning to explain it to each of them later. When he saw Little Harold and Louis Thompson, the old master’s brows furrowed. The emperor had already informed him about these two “special” students, and now he was troubled about how to teach them.

“Both of Your Highnesses can read, correct?” Master King walked over to Brian Thompson with a stern face, holding a ruler in his hand. That ruler was not just for show—no matter that the students here were all nobles, anyone who made a mistake would be punished without exception, and there was nowhere to complain.

“Yes, yes! Little Harold already knows…” The little girl counted on her fingers, found she didn’t have enough, so she spread both hands and said crisply, “Little Harold knows so many, many characters, even Father Emperor praises Little Harold for being smart!” She looked very proud. Children of royal and noble families learned to read with their mothers before starting school, so by the time they arrived at elementary school, they could already read and write. However, little Little Harold was only three years old, and Steven Thompson was even younger, so Master King had to ask if they could read.

“Ahem, Master, you know I have amnesia, so I don’t recognize most characters now, so…” Steven Thompson said awkwardly. Even a three-year-old knew more characters than he did—no matter how thick-skinned he was, he couldn’t stand it!

“Hmm, both of Your Highnesses have some foundation, so let’s start with the Thousand Character Classic and learn to recognize characters as we go. Now, repeat after me, one line at a time.” Master King thought for a moment, then made up his mind.

The Thousand Character Classic has four characters per line and is very rhythmic, making it easy to recite. Along with the Hundred Family Surnames and the Three Character Classic, it is known as the “Three, Hundred, Thousand,” the standard enlightenment reading for children in ancient times.

Perhaps worried that Brian Thompson and the others would get bored, Master King only taught four lines, sixteen characters in total, instructing them to memorize and then copy them several times. As for the literal meaning, he didn’t insist—they could learn that later when he had time to explain. This left Louis Thompson speechless; it seemed the old master really was treating him like a three-year-old.

As for the others like Charles Thompson, the Thousand Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Three Character Classic were books he had read countless times since childhood. To say he could recite them backward might be an exaggeration, but reciting them forward was no problem at all, all thanks to his grandfather in his previous life. In his past life, George Thompson’s family was a scholarly one; he’d heard that an ancestor had even passed the imperial exam, and his grandfather had received a traditional feudal private school education as a child.

The old man usually lived in the countryside. Once, George Thompson’s mother took him to visit, and at that time Frank Thompson was idle at home. Seeing his eldest grandson, the old man was very happy and asked if he had started school and what he was learning. When he heard that Thomas Thompson’s school didn’t teach the “Three, Hundred, Thousand,” he was furious. In the old man’s view, how could a child go to school and not learn the classics left by the ancestors? This was the most authentic enlightenment education, and he even scolded George Thompson’s mother for it.

The old man made a decision on the spot: since the school didn’t teach it, he would teach it himself. Despite his age, he rummaged through boxes to find a few tattered books and started teaching from the Three Character Classic. As a result, David Thompson spent almost his entire summer vacation at his grandfather’s house in the countryside. Unfortunately, just after finishing the Thousand Character Classic, the old man’s health failed. Before passing, he made George Thompson promise to always remember these teachings. The old man passed away to the sound of his grandson’s recitation, and every time Thomas Thompson thought of this, his heart ached with grief.

After the old man died, George Thompson’s studies gradually fell behind, and he neglected his classical studies. However, he never forgot the Thousand Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Three Character Classic. Whenever he missed his grandfather, he would recite a few passages, and every year during Qingming, he would recite them at his grandfather’s grave—a small act of filial piety.

If only he had learned calligraphy from his grandfather back then, even just the basics! Charles Thompson sighed. At the time, the old man was afraid of delaying Edward Thompson’s studies, so apart from requiring him to recite and understand the texts, he didn’t teach anything else. As for traditional characters and calligraphy, Scott Thompson never learned them. If only he had learned a bit back then, he wouldn’t be in such a predicament now.