A Scholar from a Humble Family in the Zhu Household

Name: A Scholar from a Humble Family in the Zhu Household
Author: Catch Turtles and Embrace the Moon

朱门寒士

by Catch Turtles and Embrace the Moon (捉鳖揽月)

Status: Completed
Length: 317k Words
Genre: Historical
Subgenre: Historical & Ancient
Updated: 8mo ago
Source: Fanqie

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Synopsis

A family of scholars, but who deserves a bowl of chicken soup?

Climbing out of poverty: how many can fit on that narrow path?

During the Jiajing reign of the Great Ming, the Zhu family hall in Zhuhe Village hosted a silent contest every night. The chicken soup's oily sheen floated only in the bowl of the eldest grandson, Zhu Yawen. The whole family tightened their belts to support a promising young scholar who had struggled for more than a decade without even passing the county-level examination. In a forgotten corner, five-year-old Zhu Tao lowered his eyes and drank the thin gruel in his bowl, so watery he could see his reflection in it. But inside that small body lived the soul of a modern postgraduate in Classical Chinese, unable to find a job.

Having transmigrated into a poor household, he faced more than hunger and cold. He also had to contend with rigid rites and rules that were everywhere. Steal a book and you would be tied up and made to kneel in the ancestral hall. The slightest difference in word or deed could get you branded a monster. All Zhu Tao could do was hide his talents to the utmost: secretly practicing characters with a stick in the dirt, while burying an adult's thoughts deep beneath the innocent facade of a child.

He watched his uncle Zhu Yawen enjoy the whole family's support as he headed to town to prepare for the examinations, while whispers from a literary gathering at a tavern drifted back to the village. He saw his father silently crouching on the doorstep, his mother's fingers trembling as she mended clothes late at night, and the family's despair as his sister coughed and they had no money for medicine. Within the Zhu family's walls, honor and livelihood, dignity and mere survival, were torn apart until they bled.

A turning point came outside the village schoolhouse window. Once, while listening intently, Zhu Tao's focused expression caught the teacher's eye. The impoverished old licentiate said nothing. From then on, however, he made sure his lectures carried clearly beyond the window, and left sheets covered in writing by the sill for a little longer. An unspoken understanding took root in the wind...

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125Chapters

242Reads

5.9Score

57Listens

11.7kReads · all time

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