By rights, this shouldn’t be a big deal. As for the alluvial plains, the density of ancient tombs and buildings is certainly much lower than that of the Central Plains. Still, during construction works, they sometimes unearth the graves of some ancient small landlords or temples or such.
However, under special historical circumstances, archeological excavation and preservation inevitably have to make way for engineering projects. Anything that stands in the way of construction gets dug up and pushed aside.
Of course, it is also because these small landlords don’t hold much sway, not significant enough to garner attention from relevant parties—it would have to be at least a minor noble.
Yet, if it were in places like Xi’an or Luoyang, even minor nobles would have to step aside during construction because they aren’t considered rare.
However, the temple unearthed this time was somewhat unusual; there were rumors that it enshrined a female Bodhisattva, who was bound with chains, and the other ends of these chains were nailed to various corners of the temple.
The people found this setup somewhat sinister and dared not approach to handle it.
It was finally two students from Haihe University who broke the chains with hammers and knocked down the statue of the Bodhisattva.
This allowed the construction work to continue.
By dusk, practically every team had already far exceeded their tasks for the day. Everyone was experienced—finishing early meant they could go home early after passing the inspection, and they could arrange their sleeping spots earlier.
This is when the Li family’s four sons had their advantage.
They didn’t have to pitch tents or sleep on grass mats next to the river; they managed to occupy a civilian house that had been requisitioned next to the construction site.
Though the yard was not enclosed by walls, having a piece of flat ground, a well nearby, and a toilet made for pretty good camping conditions.
The four uncles each took responsibility for heating water, collecting dry rations, and gathering straw for bedding, while Li Weihan rested on-site with Li Zhiyuan, Panzi, and Leizi.
Several big bulbs were connected above the yard, serving not only to illuminate the area below but also as a signpost. This was also a hot water supply point and there were barefoot doctors here.
Li Zhiyuan again saw Xue Liangliang and Zhao Hequan; they were in a group of about twenty university students led by a teacher, and they too were staying here tonight.
However, their conditions were better; they could stay inside the house.
Several uncles sat on the beds that had been laid out and lectured Li Zhiyuan, Panzi, and Leizi:
"Look carefully, boys, this is the advantage of being educated. You must study hard."
Li Weihan, who was smoking a water pipe nearby, choked on his own cough. Weren’t these the same words he used to say to these four lads?
Almost the same scenario, the same circumstances, the same solemn emphasis.
But alas, it’s all in vain.
Li Weihan seemed to understand and came to terms with it: teaching by words doesn’t work; teaching by real-life experiences does, even if it’s just once.
As for some previous pitfalls, no matter how much others preach, it’s useless. One must stumble into them themselves to understand the lesson, but by then, what’s the point?
After patiently listening to the lectures from their father and uncles for a while, Panzi and Leizi couldn’t bear it anymore. They stood up, calling over some kids nearby, and started playing a game of throwing paper packets.
Each child had made their own paper packet, gathering them together and taking turns to play. Whoever managed to flip over another’s packet got to claim it.
The older children were gathered there, intensely engaged, with constant "snap, snap!" sounds, while a group of kids solemnly watched from the sidelines, learning the techniques.
Li Weihan turned his head and noticed that his own Little Yuanhou hadn’t joined in the game. Instead, he was sitting there with a book on his lap, reading intently.
Li Weihan leaned over and glanced at the book, only to see the densely packed, tadpole-like characters and couldn’t help but ask worriedly:
"Little Yuanhou, can you see clearly?"
"Grandpa, I couldn’t see clearly at first, but now I can."
Li Zhiyuan didn’t bring a magnifying glass because he had now gotten used to the small font. That is, after getting used to it, he didn’t need to focus on the fine details of each character; instead, he could get an overall feel and clearly understand the words.
He also realized something afterward; the author wrote the characters so small intentionally.
This was to specifically train the reader’s "eye strength"—not the visual type, but the ability to perceive, to transform segmented details into a whole image.
Li Zhiyuan vaguely found the breakthrough point, the critical discovery in the eighth volume of "Yin Yang Face Reading": the transition from concrete to conceptual. Through rote memorization and extensive calculation, he could thoroughly understand these concepts and their applications; then, he could fuse them collectively, using the accumulation of these quantitative changes to create a qualitative transformation, achieving the elevation from science to mysticism.
He could now feel the countless eyebrows, eyes, mouths, noses, ears, and the various faces made up of these features that he had memorized in his mind starting to gradually distort and merge.
Though still superficial, he was on the right track. Eventually, there would be only one face in his mind, and when he then sees the face on someone he needs to read in reality, he would simply imprint that person’s face directly into his brain for a match.
"Mm, be careful not to strain your eyes," Li Weihan advised before leaving his grandson to his reading.