Before long, Qin Jingwen arrived, carrying a small stack of books along with brushes and ink boxes. The children quickly fell silent, their eyes gleaming with curiosity.
With a gentle smile, she stood beside the wooden blackboard and announced, “Today, we begin with the foundation of writing Yulian.”
She carefully handed each child a notebook, a brush, and an ink box.
“These are your writing tools,” she explained. “Treat them with care, for they will shape the words you learn. Keep them safe, and do not lose them.”
The children nodded eagerly, gripping their brushes as if they held something sacred.
Wuji ran his fingers over the notebook’s rough surface. Unlike the smooth, refined paper of his past life, this was coarse and fibrous, a stark reminder of how far this world was from the technological advancements of Earth. Everything here resembled a medieval era—functional, but lacking the polish of true innovation.
Qin Jingwen clapped her hands lightly, drawing their attention.
“Yesterday, we explored the origins of Yulian. Today, we take our first step in mastering it—starting with the sounds that shape our words.”
The children leaned in, their excitement palpable as the lesson began.
She picked up a piece of chalk and wrote the first few Yulian syllables on the blackboard, her strokes smooth and precise. “Yulian has 36 basic sounds—these are the building blocks of all words. Let’s start with the first few.”
The children leaned forward, ready to begin their journey into the world of writing.
Qin Jingwen tapped the blackboard gently with her chalk, drawing the children's attention to the first few symbols she had written.
"Yulian is a logophonetic script," she began, writing another set of characters beneath the first. "This means each character represents both a sound and a meaning. Some characters are simple and stand alone, while others combine smaller parts—called radicals—to form new words."
She pointed at the first symbol. "This is ‘Mu (木)’—it means 'tree.' Can everyone say 'Mu'?"
The children repeated after her, their voices overlapping. Wuji, however, was already analyzing it with a different perspective.
"A logophonetic script? So, it’s similar to Chinese Hanzi or Kanji from my past life." He narrowed his eyes, carefully observing the strokes.
Qin Jingwen continued, drawing a second symbol next to the first. "Now, if we add another 'Mu' (木) beside it, we get 'Lin (林),' which means 'forest.' See how meaning is built?"
Some children gasped in realization, while others nodded slowly, trying to grasp the concept. Wuji, however, was thinking deeper.
"This is just like radicals forming compounds. It follows a structural logic—single characters form a root meaning, and when combined, they create a more complex idea." He found this fascinating, as it confirmed that Yulian was not purely pictographic but had an underlying system of semantic-phonetic composition.
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Qin Jingwen smiled at their expressions and moved on. "Now, let's look at the strokes. Each character follows a specific order. Watch carefully."
She lifted her brush and demonstrated:
- Top to bottom
- Left to right
- Horizontal before vertical
She then gestured toward their notebooks. "Now, it’s your turn. Let’s start with 'Mu' (木). Try to follow the stroke order carefully."
As the lesson progressed, Wuji dipped his brush into the ink, carefully tracing the strokes of ‘Mu (木)’ in his notebook. Though calligraphy had never been part of his past life, he was no stranger to intricate characters—his fascination with Japanese culture, sparked by anime during his college years, had led him to study Japanese.
Now, as he observed the structure of Yulian characters, he couldn't help but draw parallels to Chinese Hanzi, which shared many similarities with Kanji. The familiar strokes and balanced forms stirred a sense of nostalgia, bridging the gap between his past world and this new one.
"The stroke order, radicals, and phonetic components... This feels a lot like how Kanji works in Japanese," he thought, his hand moving naturally despite his lack of formal practice.
Qin Jingwen walked around the courtyard, glancing at everyone’s progress. When she reached Wuji, she paused. His characters were surprisingly well-formed for a beginner.
"Wuji, have you seen these characters before?" she asked curiously.
Wuji hesitated for a moment before answering, "No, but I think I understand the structure. If I recognize the parts, it makes it easier to remember."
Qin Jingwen smiled, nodding in approval. "That’s a sharp observation. Yulian characters often follow patterns. Once you grasp those, learning new words becomes much easier."
She then turned back to the board, writing another set of characters. "Now, let’s move on to basic phonetics. Yulian has 36 base sounds, which are the foundation of all words. If you understand these, you can pronounce and write any character."
Wuji listened carefully, comparing them to the Japanese syllabary in his mind. While the system was different, the logic of syllables forming words felt somewhat familiar.
"If I approach this like learning new Kanji readings, I should be able to pick it up quickly."
Excited by this realization, Wuji continued practicing, eager to see how far he could push his understanding of this new world's language.
The lesson continued with Qin Jingwen patiently introducing new characters and syllables, guiding the children through each stroke and pronunciation. It was a challenge for many, but they persisted, their small hands gripping brushes tightly as they traced the unfamiliar symbols.
Among them, Wuji stood out. His ability to grasp the characters and their meanings almost instantly made him seem exceptionally intelligent in the eyes of the others. As he practiced, he became more aware of how his sharpened memory was aiding him—allowing him to learn the characters swiftly and grasp their essence with ease. This realization reinforced just how valuable this advantage was in understanding the world around him.
While Wuji’s rapid progress was noticeable, he wasn’t the only one making strides. Beside him, Zhen, who was the same age, was also advancing well. Though a quiet boy who rarely spoke, there was a bright light in his eyes whenever he focused on learning Yulian. He was the type to silently absorb knowledge, letting his work speak for itself.
On the other hand, Mei was putting in all her effort, her tiny brows furrowing as she struggled with certain characters. Whenever she got stuck, she would immediately turn to Mother Qin for help, her determination shining through despite her difficulties. Watching her pout in frustration before breaking into a grin when she finally understood something was oddly endearing to Wuji.
Then there was Jinwei, a boy a year older than Wuji, who had a large, broad-shouldered frame—far bigger than the other children his age. His size, however, didn’t help him when it came to writing. Wuji found it amusing to watch him scratch his head in confusion, his brush hovering hesitantly over the page as he struggled with the basic strokes.
Lastly, Li and Yuan, two sharp-minded children, sat attentively in front, hanging onto Qin Jingwen’s every word. Whenever something didn’t make sense, they didn’t hesitate to raise their hands and ask questions, their curiosity pushing them forward.
As the class continued, the atmosphere was filled with a mixture of determination, frustration, and moments of quiet joy. Some grasped the lesson quickly, others stumbled, but in the end, they were all learning, step by step, the foundation of the language that connected their world.
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