Chapter 272: You sure know how to sweet talk!
Translator: Stardu5t Editor: Kurisu
When Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman learned Chinese characters, pinyin didn’t even exist. Therefore, when he taught the natives how to read and write Chinese characters, he merely taught them whatever he learned back then.
From the start, he never thought of something like pinyin—and the natives were fortunate enough not to be taught traditional Chinese characters instead.
"However… now that I think about teaching pinyin to these natives, I feel very fidgety. I’ll try first, and if it’s not working out, then I’ll wait for Drunken Sun, no, I mean, fellow daoist Drunken Moon to send a language teacher over," said Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman.
After finis.h.i.+ng his sentence, he seemed to have suddenly recalled something. He added, "Right, if he can’t find a language teacher, send yourself over to me, little friend Shuhang. Bring the Blood G.o.d Crystal along with you when you come. Like that, we will be able to complete our deal, and you can also help me teach pinyin to these natives, isn’t that great?"
Song Shuhang was speechless.
Did I say something wrong? Why does it feel as though I dug a hole for myself for some reason?
But from beginning to the end, I was only kindly suggesting to Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman to use pinyin to teach the natives Chinese characters, right?
Not good, I must save myself.
What if ‘Senior Drunken Star’ couldn’t find a suitable language teacher? For all he knew, Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman might really fly for several days without stopping just to find him and wrap him up in a blanket before taking him to an isolated island in the middle of the vast ocean to teach Chinese to the natives.
As for Senior White who was next to him, he did not expect or hope for his helping hand… for all he knew, he might end up thinking that it was fun and ultimately tag along with him to the isolated island.
Song Shuhang felt that this possibility was too great, and just the thought of it was scary enough.
Especially when he accidentally turned his head to look at Senior White, it might have been his misperception, but when Senior White saw the words ‘isolated island’ and ‘natives’, his eyes seemed to be beaming with interest.
No way, I must save myself!
Song Shuhang racked his brains in a frenzy, and suddenly, an idea flashed into his mind. "Senior Seven Lives, I have an ingenious trick to teach pinyin. You can search it on the Internet… you should be able to find the ‘Hanyu Pinyin Alphabet Song’!
At that time, you just have to keep playing the song on repeat—in the morning, at night, at mealtime, even when they go to the bathroom. Do this for about one to two weeks, and the natives should be able to master hanyu pinyin by then!
Not only that, I remember that people who lead a primitive tribal lifestyle like dancing a lot! Senior Seven Lives, you can search for some dance ch.o.r.eography online that is easy to learn and turn the ‘Hanyu Pinyin Alphabet Song’ into a dance and get them to sing and dance every morning. Since it requires them to jump about, it can pique their interest more easily!"
After he finished typing the words above at one go, Song Shuhang secretly sighed.
I apologize, my native brothers… but brainwas.h.i.+ng songs are not exactly bad, if you hear more of it, it can increase your knowledge. Plus accompanying it with a dance, you can even do a ma.s.s dance in the public square, how advanced! It’s very popular amongst elderly women in the whole of China.
Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman’s eyes immediately lit up. "Ooooh, there’s even such a trick! ? Awesome! Compared to rote learning, songs are much more catchy, it makes it easier for people to remember!"
Song Shuhang wanted to strike while the iron was hot and said, "After senior has taught the natives pinyin, learning Chinese characters would be an easy feat. Also, I feel that when teaching these natives, you should not blindly use strict methods of disciplining such as. .h.i.tting their palms or hanging them and then beating them. We need to draw a distinction between reward and punishment. There has to be both punishments as well as rewards. That would be the best way to motivate these natives to learn!"
Actually, Shuhang felt that calling them ‘natives’ was not quite suitable, but at the same time, he could not think of a better term to subst.i.tute it.
"Drawing a clear distinction between reward and punishment? You have a point! Little friend Shuhang is indeed a young man, your way of thinking is so flexible." Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman was deeply impressed by Song Shuhang’s words and felt that his idea was extremely great. At the same time, he asked, "As for how to draw a distinction between reward and punishment, little friend Shuhang, could you elaborate and explain it clearer?"
"Let me give you an a.n.a.logy. For example, you can reward the few students who mastered pinyin or Chinese characters the fastest with some of the things that the natives like. Perhaps decent weapons? Items for fis.h.i.+ng? Maybe a couple of modern objects such as a lighter?" Song Shuhang continued, "And for those who are slower or are lagging behind, you can consider other punishment methods, such as starving them for a meal or something. Compared to being hung and beaten up, perhaps being starved is something that’s even scarier to these natives? Don’t blindly stick to beating their palms or hanging and beating them; if you use the same old punishment methods for too long, its effectiveness will become lower and lower."
Since I have never met any native people before… this is the most I can do to help. I hope that my suggestion can help you guys reduce physical sufferings in future.
If you compare being starved to being hung and beaten, being starved should be easier to tolerate, right?
"You’ve made a valid point; I can try it." Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman secretly nodded. At the same time, he deduced many things from that example. "Additionally, I can give them exam papers—a small test every three days, and an exam on the fifth day. The ones who did badly would get starved, and the ones who did well would receive all kinds of rewards. In the future, I can even get them to write essays; the ones who do badly will get hung and beaten up. Tsk tsk, how awesome!"
The corner of Song Shuhang’s mouth twitched, and his mind was filled with the image of a group of Black uncles wearing clothes made from animal skin, resting their upper body on the table, tackling a ❮Primary One End of Term Exam Paper❯ which Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman took and copied from the internet, or the essay topic ❮If I were a green onion❯, while looking anxious and writing at a fast speed.
He never expected Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman to even think about things such as ‘exam papers’ or homework. Did I unintentionally increase the natives’ level of suffering?
Don’t tell me I did something bad out of goodwill again?
Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman said, "It feels pretty awesome; I will immediately test it out on the natives. I’ll let them hear ten days worth of Hanyu Pinyin Alphabet Songs first. Little friend Shuhang, when there are some results, I will contact you again! ??"
After finis.h.i.+ng his sentence, he went offline in a hurry.
After waiting for Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman to go offline, Northern River’s Loose Cultivator popped up and said, "? Nowadays, you can’t be happy even in a place far away from the turmoil of the world."
Fairy Lychee said, "Additionally, there is another big problem… the last time, did you guys receive the letter that fellow daoist Seven Lives sent? His profession is a ‘Talisman Master’, he is used to writing words using an indecipherable handwriting. At that time, when I tried identifying the words he wrote in the letter, I had a very hard time. If he were to teach the aboriginals how to read, and at the same time use such a handwriting to write for them… think about the psychological trauma they would be subjected to?"
Medicine Master: "It is indeed not easy for the aboriginals!"
Dharma King Creation said, "Scholar Sober Star, you must find a good language teacher for the aboriginals!"
"Sober Star? …It’s not Sober Star; it’s Drunken Moon! The last time you only got one word wrong, now you remembered both words incorrectly! ?"
"I apologize, Fellow Daoist Drunken Moon. Actually, I have a suggestion, why don’t you change your dao name—how about calling yourself Drunken Sun? I believe everyone would definitely be able to remember," replied Dharma King Creation feebly.
"Able to remember Drunken Sun + 1," said Fairy Lychee.
"Able to remember Drunken Sun + 2," said Medicine Master—if it was just copy pasting, Medicine Master’s speed was still rather fast.
"Able to remember Drunken Sun + 3," said True Monarch Yellow Mountain.
Below, a line of seniors within the chat group followed suit.
Scholar Drunken Moon sighed softly. He really wanted to tie 10,000 tons of metal to all the people in the chat group and sink them into the Pacific Ocean!
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The corners of Song Shuhang’s mouth twitched, and he closed the Nine Provinces Number One Group.
Thereafter, he secretly sighed and said, "Hopefully the method I taught Senior Seven Lives would be effective."
On the side, Venerable White laughed happily and said, "Whether it’s effective or not, there isn’t a problem. Actually, I wanna take a look at how Seven Lives teaches Chinese characters to the natives. I am quite interested in that isolated island too."
Senior White indeed developed some kind of strange interest!
"Senior White! I have a place in mind that is much more fun. Two days later… I have a friend who invited us on a trip to an island resort in the East China Sea, there is even a luxury 5-day cruise! Senior, are you interested?" Song Shuhang provided Venerable White with a new target.
Otherwise, he was very afraid that Senior White would take him along and ride on the flying sword to Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman’s place tonight!
Indeed, when Senior White heard the words "resort island" and "luxurious cruise", his interest was piqued.
"If it’s an island resort, are there roller coaster rides? With ten or so inversions? Turbo Drop? Pirate s.h.i.+p? Ferris Wheel? Top Buzz?" Senior White started listing several exciting rides.
Why did the rides that Senior White listed were those that could cause a person to get weak in the knees?
"Yes, they have it there! They have it all!" Song Shuhang raised his hand to his chest and a.s.sured him; they must have it!
"Then let’s go immediately!" Senior White narrowed his eyes.
"Senior White, there’s no need to rush. Let’s set out two days later… besides, we also have to wait for Doudou and the small monk to come back first," answered Song Shuhang.
"Doudou and the small monk?" asked Senior White before saying, "Oh, you mentioned before that Doudou ran away from home again."
"Yeah." Song Shuhang sighed.
"Alright then, let’s wait for two days." Venerable White reluctantly agreed.
"So that’s agreed on, Senior White. Let’s have breakfast first. And then, since we have time today, I will bring you to Mountain Yuyu, which is near Wenzhou City. This period of time should still be the harvesting season for bayberries, there’s a campaign going on where you can go in to pick and eat at the same time, you can eat your fill," recommended Song Shuhang.
"Alright!" Venerable White’s eyes became bright and sparkly.
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Song Shuhang and Venerable White were chatting while walking towards the kitchen. They wanted to see if Mama Song had prepared any breakfast for them.
In the kitchen.
Mama Song was just wrapping dumplings when she heard footsteps behind her. Hence, she turned her head around.
"Good morning, Mom. We are eating dumplings in the morning?" said Song Shuhang.
"Yeah, I just wrapped them. I didn’t know what time both of you are waking up so I haven’t started cooking them yet. Song Bai, you’re awake too. You woke up so early today? How rare," teased Mama Song.
Venerable White nodded slightly and replied, "Yeah, good morning, young lady. You must be little friend Shuhang’s mother. I indeed woke up really early today!"
Young lady?
What did he call me?! Mama Song was initially dumbstruck, and then she smiled slightly and said, "Shuhang, your friend became so good at sweet talking after one night."
Song Shuhang remained silent.
Venerable White’s face looked perplexed, "?"
Did I say something wrong earlier? Venerable White questioned himself.