107: The Master's Last Teaching
The master's last teaching at the small wooden table began at the noon of the first day of the fifth moon of the fourteenth year.
By the small specific accumulating reading at the past month — Lao Wen had, at the small wooden stool, taken up the small bound *Daxue* and had, in the small specific accumulating careful even motion of an old scholar at sixty-three and a half, said in the small low voice: *lad. By the small specific reading at this morning — the master will, in the next moons, lay the small accumulating *last reading* of the lad's accumulating apprenticeship.*
He paused.
"By the small specific reading I am giving — the *Daxue* and the *Mencius* the lad has read at the past seven years are, at this morning, at the small accumulating *internalized* shape. The lad has — by the small specific reading at the past three pieces' accumulating writing — laid them in his accumulating reading at the small specific accumulating *real* shape. By the small specific reading I am giving — the master will not, at this morning, lay any new small accumulating book at the lad's reading."
He paused once more.
"By the small specific reading I am giving — the master will, at the next moons, lay the small accumulating *last teaching* at the small specific accumulating *spoken transmission* of an old scholar's accumulating *real* reading. The teaching is — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years of an old scholar's accumulating careful holding of his own accumulating reading — the small accumulating *small specific old saying-of-the-eight-things-an-old-scholar-tells-his-apprentice-at-the-end*."
He paused.
"By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the master will lay the small accumulating *eight* over the next four moons, at perhaps two per moon. By the small specific reading I am giving — the *eight* are not at the small accumulating *new* knowledge. They are at the small accumulating *what-the-old-scholar-has-learned-at-his-own-life* of his accumulating private reading at the past nineteen years and four months at this hut."
He looked at Heizi.
"The lad will, by the small specific reading I am giving, lay them in his accumulating reading at the small specific accumulating *real* shape of an apprentice at the small accumulating *moment of an old scholar's last teaching*. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, write nothing of the *eight* at any small accumulating piece of paper. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, lay them in his accumulating head only."
Heizi nodded.
He said in the small low voice: *yes, master.*
The master laid the first of the eight that noon.
The first was: *the small accumulating *Mandate of Heaven* is, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years of the master's accumulating watching, not at the small accumulating *gift* shape and not at the small accumulating *condition* shape. It is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, at the small accumulating *running* shape: a small accumulating *thing the country's accumulating lives are running through* at every small accumulating moment of every small accumulating reign. The Mandate is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, the small accumulating *flow*. It is not, by the small specific reading I am giving, at the small accumulating *standing* of any small accumulating ruler at any small accumulating year. The ruler — by the small specific reading I am giving — is, at most, at the small accumulating *brief shape* of a small accumulating *standing* in the *running*. The Mandate's accumulating *withdrawing* from a ruler is, by the small specific reading I am giving, the small accumulating *real* shape of the country at the *running* exceeding the ruler's accumulating *standing's accumulating capacity*. By the small specific reading I am giving, lad — the Mandate is not at the small accumulating *gift the country owes to a virtuous ruler* and not at the small accumulating *condition the country places on a ruler's accumulating reading of his accumulating duty*. It is, by the small specific reading I am giving, *the country itself*.*
Heizi laid it in his head.
He filed.
The second came at the noon of the seventh day of the fifth moon. The third at the noon of the twenty-fourth day. The fourth at the noon of the eleventh day of the sixth moon. The fifth at the second moon's eighth day's noon. The sixth at the seventh moon's second day's noon. The seventh at the seventh moon's twentieth day's noon. The eighth at the eighth moon's fifth day's noon.
The second was about the small accumulating *holding* of a young head's accumulating *one-mark-knowing*: by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the *one-mark-knowing* the lad has been laying at the past four years is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, the small accumulating *real* basis of any small accumulating leadership the lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the next ten years, take up. The small accumulating *one-mark-knowing* will, by the small specific reading I am giving, become at the small accumulating *thousand-mark-knowing* of an accumulating *real* leader of an accumulating real military. By the small specific reading I am giving — keep doing it, even when the small accumulating *one* becomes the small accumulating *thousand*.*
The third was about the small accumulating *not-yet*: *the *not-yet* is, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years' watching, the small accumulating *real* discipline of a young man whose accumulating *political eye* sees the small accumulating *country's accumulating shape* faster than the small accumulating *country's accumulating moment* can. The lad has, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past four months at Liyang and at the present at this hut, laid the small accumulating *not-yet* at the small accumulating *correct* shape. By the small specific reading I am giving — keep laying it. The small accumulating *yet*, when it comes, will be at the small accumulating *unmistakable* shape.*
The fourth was about the small accumulating *cost*: *every accumulating leadership the lad will take up will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years, have its accumulating *cost*. The lad's accumulating *cost-of-three* at the first command was, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past three years' accumulating reading, the small accumulating *first* of the small accumulating *real* costs the lad will accumulate. By the small specific reading I am giving — the lad will, in the next ten years, accumulate small specific *cost-of-tens* and *cost-of-hundreds* and perhaps *cost-of-thousands*. By the small specific reading I am giving — file each of them. Do not, by the small specific reading I am giving, count them at the accumulating *running sum*. Count them, by the small specific reading I am giving, at the accumulating *names*. The names will, by the small specific reading I am giving, hold the lad against the small accumulating *running sum*'s accumulating shape.*
The fifth was about the small accumulating *common-people eye*: *the lad has, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past two years' walking-scout, laid in the small accumulating *common-people eye*. The eye is, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, the small accumulating *small specific real* eye of a leader whose accumulating *political reading* is at the small accumulating *useful* shape. By the small specific reading I am giving — never lose it. When the lad becomes — in some accumulating year ahead — the small accumulating *real* leader of small accumulating *thousands*, the lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, be at the small accumulating *risk* of losing the small accumulating *common-people eye* at the accumulating distance. By the small specific reading I am giving — go down to the small accumulating villages. Always. Do not, by the small specific reading I am giving, lay only the small accumulating *staff-officer's accumulating distance*.*
The sixth was about the small accumulating *brothers*: *the lad's accumulating brothers — by the small specific accumulating reading at the past nine years and ten months — are, at the small specific accumulating *real* shape of the lad's accumulating *life*, the small accumulating *one* small specific accumulating thing the lad has that no small accumulating leadership and no small accumulating reading and no small accumulating *political eye* can replace. By the small specific reading I am giving — the brothers are, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past nine years and ten months, the lad's accumulating *real* country. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the next ten years, take up the small accumulating *real* leadership of larger accumulating shapes. The brothers will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, hold the lad's accumulating *real* center against the small accumulating *larger shapes' accumulating distance*. By the small specific reading I am giving — never lay them aside.*
The seventh was about the small accumulating *not-killing-when-it-is-the-correct-answer*: *the lad has, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past nine years and ten months, the small accumulating *small specific weakness* of an accumulating *not-killing* at the small specific accumulating *correct* moments. The lad has — by the small specific accumulating reading at the gully of Yan Liu-er's accumulating contemporary and at the small specific accumulating *first chosen kill* at the master's clear ground and at the small accumulating *first command* engagement and the small accumulating *Yang Yichen* engagement and at the recent fifty-strong patrol — laid in the small accumulating *killing-when-required*. By the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — the lad will, in the next ten years, fail at the small accumulating *killing-when-required* at certain small accumulating moments. The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving, fail because the lad's accumulating *not-yet-able-to-kill* is, by the small specific reading I am giving, the small accumulating *true* shape of the lad's accumulating heart. By the small specific reading I am giving — do not try to remove it. By the small specific reading I am giving — live with it. The small accumulating *cost* of the failing will accumulate. Live with the cost. Do not, by the small specific reading I am giving, try to become the kind of leader who does not have the small accumulating *true* shape of his own accumulating heart.*
The eighth was the master's last.
He laid it at the noon of the fifth day of the eighth moon of the fourteenth year, at the small wooden stool, after the small accumulating noon meal.
He said in the small low voice: *lad. The eighth.*
"Yes, master."
"By the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years' watching — the small accumulating *eighth* is the small specific accumulating *one* the master has not, in the past forty years, laid at any small accumulating apprentice or small accumulating saying. The small accumulating *eighth* is the master's accumulating *own* reading."
He paused.
"By the small specific reading I am giving — the master had, in the past forty years, laid the small accumulating *seven* at three accumulating apprentices: a small accumulating *young magistrate's-son* in the master's accumulating thirty-third year, who died at the canal in Da-ye three; a small accumulating *son of a clerk* in the master's accumulating fortieth year, who died at the small accumulating Da-ye seven canal-conscription; and the small accumulating *first apprentice the master had laid the seven at* in his accumulating twenty-eighth year, who was the master's accumulating elder son. He died at the small accumulating *reprisal* at the master's accumulating thirty-third year, with his accumulating mother and his accumulating brother."
He paused once more.
"By the small specific reading I am giving — the master had not, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years, laid the *eighth* at any of the small accumulating three. The master had — by the small specific reading I am giving — not laid it because the small accumulating *eighth* was, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years' careful holding, the master's accumulating *own*."
He paused.
"The eighth is, lad — by the small specific accumulating reading I am giving — *don't avenge me. Outlive me. The first is easy.*"
He looked at Heizi.
"The lad will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the next moons, hear it again. By the small specific reading I am giving — when the lad hears it again, the lad will know that the *eighth* has, by the small specific accumulating reading at the past forty years, been laid."
Heizi looked at him.
He filed it.
He said in the small low voice: *yes, master.*
He could not — at the small wooden table — say more.
That night Heizi at his watch sat at the small banked fire of the *staff-officer's small specific accumulating new position*.
He listened.
The shape of the silence on this watch was — by the small specific reading at this evening — the shape of a small specific apprentice whose accumulating master had, at the noon, laid the eighth and last of the *eight things an old scholar tells his apprentice at the end*.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific noon of the master's accumulating first teaching of the eight, he set: *the small specific noon of the fifth day of the eighth moon of the fourteenth year, when the master laid the eighth — *don't avenge me. Outlive me. The first is easy.**
The lighter catalog stood at perhaps ninety-six items (the eight teachings each laid as a small accumulating moment of the lighter catalog).
The dark catalog stood at twenty-three named names plus the *unnamed thousand+*.
He sat his watch through.