While Master Qin expressed some regret over Ning Yi's decision to marry into a merchant family, seeing it as a sign of lost ambition, Ning Yi had already begun his morning at Yushan Academy, preparing to spend the entire morning teaching a group of children The Analects of Confucius.

Yushan Academy wasn't actually located on a mountain named Yushan. Instead, it was a private school founded by the Su family, which occasionally admitted outsiders with connections. However, the academy wasn't particularly large, mainly because there weren’t many students. Yushan was the name of a mountain where the Su family originated.

The academy was situated on a quiet street, not far from the Su family’s main residence. It was a secluded spot away from the busy commercial streets. Surrounded by grey-tiled white walls and a small bamboo grove, the academy's entrance featured a plaque inscribed with the characters "Yushan Academy," written by a renowned Confucian scholar, giving the place a scholarly air.

At present, the academy had 49 students and seven teachers, including the headmaster, Su Chonghua. Considering the student-teacher ratio, one could say the academy had ample staff. Su Chonghua himself was a member of the Su family, having passed the imperial examination at the provincial level in his younger years, though his official career had been uneventful. There were even rumors that he had made mistakes while serving as an official. Additionally, two of the teachers were elderly men who had previously served in the government and were now hired at a high salary.

Although the Su family had invested heavily in this academy, it hadn’t produced any notable students. Most of the students who realized they had no hope in the imperial examination eventually took up positions in the Su family’s businesses. Thus, the academy seemed more like a technical school than a traditional Confucian academy. Families that truly hoped for their children to pursue official careers through the imperial exams usually transferred them to better schools before the age of twelve.

Ning Yi had been teaching here for three days. Su Chonghua treated him well and didn’t look down on him for being a son-in-law in a merchant family. After all, a man who had spent years navigating society wouldn’t bother with petty arrogance. Since Ning Yi supposedly had little academic talent — or so people said — he was assigned to teach a group of sixteen children who were just starting their education. These children ranged in age from six to twelve, including two young girls with braided hair, who were relatives of the Su family and were there to learn how to read. The previous teacher had finished teaching The Classic of Filial Piety and had begun The Analects of Confucius. Ning Yi was responsible for teaching them every morning, while the afternoons were more flexible, covering subjects like ritual, music, archery, charioteering, and mathematics — with a primary focus on mathematics. The rest depended on the teacher’s mood and ability.

In more prestigious schools, these subjects would be more standardized and divided into specialized areas, but Yushan Academy clearly lacked such resources. As for Ning Yi, teaching The Analects was a simple task. He couldn’t recite it from memory or tell you exactly where each passage was, but reading it aloud and providing basic explanations were well within his abilities. Any modern person with a high school education could probably do the same, especially using simple language.

In ancient times, true scholars conducted deep research on the Four Books and Five Classics, and their understanding was profound. Even a courtesan's writing might humble modern professors. However, most scholars didn’t have access to advanced education. They might read The Analects but couldn’t find a copy of Mencius. The minimum requirement for a teacher was simply to teach literacy, and Ning Yi’s predecessor did just that. He would have the children read aloud, give basic explanations, and occasionally test them by having them memorize or write passages. Those who failed would get their hands slapped.

It was a simple job! Ning Yi didn’t intend to change much. For the first hour, he had the children recite The Analects aloud, which he found tedious, but the children were used to it. During the second hour, he would explain a passage, then casually digress into stories or current events, giving the children a bit of a break.

These children were easy to teach. Although Ning Yi had only been there for three days, he could already feel the absolute respect and obedience in the classroom. The children had no individuality, which made them ideal students. They cherished the opportunity to study, didn’t misbehave, and even if you spanked them for minor infractions, they considered it justified — a teacher’s paradise. Ning Yi enjoyed teaching them and didn’t even need to prepare lesson plans. He could just wing it.

One day, Ning Yi began by explaining the passage from The Analects: "Wealth and rank are what men desire..." From there, he transitioned to a discussion about the proper ways to acquire wealth and the principles of commerce, mixing in phrases like "A gentleman loves wealth, but takes it with integrity" and offering explanations. Ning Yi had spent his previous life in this field, and even without focusing on ancient texts, he could have delivered a lecture worthy of modern graduate students.

But seeing that his audience consisted of children no older than twelve, he kept things light, offering a few examples and amusing anecdotes. This naturally led him to talk about the Pu Garden Poetry Gathering, which involved six boats tied together, and from there, he smoothly transitioned to the Battle of Red Cliff, recounting the famous tale of Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows with straw boats and the burning of Cao Cao's chained ships.

Ning Yi recounted the famous events from the Battle of Red Cliff (赤壁之战), which took place during the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Cao, leading an army of over 800,000 men, attempted to invade the southern warlords, but was met with the clever strategies of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu. The famous incidents of the burning of the chained ships, Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows with straw boats, and Zhou Yu's "hurting himself to deceive Cao Cao" deeply fascinated the children, as these were some of the most legendary stories in Chinese history. Although these children had never heard such thrilling tales before, they were completely captivated by Ning Yi's animated storytelling.

The Battle of Red Cliff marked a significant turning point in the history of the Three Kingdoms. It was one of the largest naval battles in history and ended in a decisive victory for the alliance of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, ensuring the division of the empire into three parts. Annotation: The Battle of Red Cliff (208-209 AD) was a key event in the Three Kingdoms period and is considered one of the most famous military campaigns in Chinese history, immortalized in works like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms (三国志) by Chen Shou.

As he narrated the events, Ning Yi noticed that the children’s faces were full of excitement, their eyes wide open in awe. They had never heard stories told like this in their lessons. They whispered among themselves and occasionally called out, "Mr. Ning, Mr. Ning! What happens next?"

Just as the story reached a critical moment, where Zhou Yu’s strategy of burning the chained ships was about to succeed, the excitement in the classroom was interrupted by a sudden hush. All the children noticed that the headmaster, Su Chonghua, had appeared outside the door, standing with his hands behind his back and his face expressionless. Even though his presence quieted the students, their excitement lingered on their faces.

Ning Yi didn’t let this distraction affect him. He continued with the story, finishing the tale of the burning ships and concluding with the famous downfall of Cao Cao’s fleet. By the time he finished, it was nearly noon, and Su Chonghua had been standing there the whole time, silently listening. It was hard to tell from his expression what he thought of Ning Yi’s lesson.

After concluding the story, Ning Yi picked up a brush and wrote a favorite poem by the Tang dynasty poet Du Mu on a piece of rice paper. The poem, titled Red Cliff (赤壁), encapsulated the mood of the ancient battle:

Red Cliff
The wrecked spear has sunk in the sands, its iron not yet worn away;
I wash it and recognize the weapon of the former dynasty.
Had the east wind not favored the young Zhou Yu,
The two Qiao sisters would have been locked away in the deep towers of Bronze Bird Terrace.

Annotation: Du Mu (803–852 AD), a celebrated Tang dynasty poet, is known for his reflective and often melancholic poems. His poem Red Cliff contrasts the fleeting glories of Zhou Yu’s victory with the somber reality of passing time and unfulfilled desires. The reference to "Bronze Bird Terrace" is a nod to Cao Cao’s palace, where the Qiao sisters, famed beauties, would have been taken as spoils of war had the battle gone differently.

Ning Yi wrote this poem for the students to copy, thinking to himself how inconvenient it was to teach without a blackboard. As he wrote, he mused about the possibility of “inventing” something like a whiteboard, which would be more practical than using a sand table. While he finished writing, the students busily copied the poem onto their own sheets of paper.