Hey, the Yangzhou caravan is setting up the "Sweet Little Schoolhouse" today! An old pedant from the Silla Imperial College leans on his cane and complains loudly, "Miss Xiao! Our classical Chinese texts have gotten the little scholars high on sweetness! The character for 'benevolence' has been licked right down into an 'enclosure'!" Huwa squats behind a desk with a chuckle, and a drop of honey falls with a plop from his brush onto the bamboo strips of the *Analects*—he fills the carved grooves of the Chinese characters with a spoonful of Literal-Chewing Syrup, and with a gentle tap, a puff of sweet, ink-scented mist clicks out. Every character turns into a dancing sugar elf, and the character for "benevolence" twists at the waist and sings, "The benevolent find joy in mountains, the sweet find joy in rivers~" Startled, the old pedant's glasses fall right onto the character for "rites," coating his mouth in sesame brittle.
"Huwa! Go fetch the 'Classical Chinese on the Tip of the Tongue'!" Manager Jin booms. Huwa immediately stuffs a handful of Three Character Classic sugar beans into the loom, and the woven Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum Brocade rustles as it recites tongue twisters: "At humanity's birth, its nature is sweet! Natures are close, sweetness far off!" The little scholars follow along by licking the bamboo patterns, tasting mint in "To learn and time and again practice what one has learned," and honey in "Friends coming from distant places." Even the nau…
Chapter 424