– Confucius taught: “To know it is impossible yet still do it.” The meaning of this maxim, as explained, is that even if you initially know something cannot be done, if you persist, you can still achieve it… Have you all understood?
– Yes, we have!!!
The teacher stroked his silver-streaked beard, a book in hand, as he sat calmly above, expounding on classical teachings to his students. He had been in this profession for nearly 40 years, having taught countless excellent students who went on to serve Dai Viet. He cast a gentle gaze around at the diligent, bright children below, his heart filled with quiet contentment as he mused. With generations of such talent, Dai Viet would find it hard not to prosper. But he suddenly frowned as he looked towards the back corner of the classroom, where a student was drowsily lost in sleep. He sighed with exasperation: “All of them, except for this one.”
The student seemed to sense something amiss; he rubbed his eyes, then glared up at the teacher. Then he slumped his head back down and continued to sleep… Drool trickled in a long stream from his mouth as he occasionally mumbled in his sleep… “Good-for-nothing, truly all useless.”
……………………………….
He stretched and looked around; all the students and the teacher had already left the classroom. He raised a hand to pat his widely yawning mouth, then reached for his satchel and slung it across his back. Another arduous and exhausting day was over; what a damn bore, he thought. Stepping out the door, he was immediately met by the sight of the chubby guy squatting, chin in hands, looking at him with expectant eyes. He walked over and lightly kicked the chubby guy’s leg, grumbling.
– What are you still doing here? Why haven’t you gone home? I don’t have any more money to lend you. You damn fatty, you borrow so much and never pay it back. Truly useless.
Having been kicked, the chubby guy feigned a pained wince, then wobbled to his feet, rubbing his hands together as he spoke in a fawning tone.
– Big Brother Tam, please lend me a little more… Yesterday, my cricket Than Loi almost broke the leg of Tran Than’s Mang Tinh. It was just a tiny bit short of…
– What about your eyes… Do you even know how much you’ve borrowed from me and haven’t paid back? Le Hien, oh Le Hien… if you keep this up, how will you ever accomplish anything great? Tam lectured calmly, walking with a carefree stride, hands clasped behind his back, exuding the air of a young master. Le Hien trotted behind, pouting as he thought, “Hmph, a good-for-nothing like you lecturing me? You can’t even recognize basic characters…” But immediately, a smile reappeared on his face as he scurried forward to argue his case with the youth named Tam. The two youths continued on their way, bantering as they walked down the road…
……………………………..
“So tiring… finally got rid of that damn fatty… *Sigh*…” Chewing on a blade of grass, he ambled along the road home, ignoring the people around him who bowed in greeting… The youth, Tam, seemed lost in thought, walking as if on clouds. Suddenly, with a thud, he tripped and fell flat on his face. Who knew who had randomly driven a bamboo stake as thick as a wrist into the road? He dusted off his clothes… and then inadvertently noticed a salty liquid dripping onto his lips.
– Aaaaaaaah… It’s blood… Help me…
He ran off, clutching his nose, causing the villagers along the road to giggle, point, and gesture, while the children shrieked and chased after him, singing a rhyme. “Listen, listen, listen to the rhyme of Tam the good-for-nothing, of royal lineage, yet so worthless… Doesn’t know a single character, not even the simplest ones… Oh, how terrible… Hahaa.”
Ignoring the children's taunts, he covered his bleeding nose and ran home as fast as he could. His mind was in turmoil… because the nosebleed brought back memories of the past… of his previous life… a life where he was a good son and an excellent student… where his future was truly bright… His vision gradually blurred… Thud!
"Tâm, it's 7 AM, time for school. Are you still stubbornly lying in bed?"
"It's still early, Mom. Just a little more sleep, please…"
The teenager named Tâm ignored his mother's calls, pulled the blanket over his head, and continued his sweet sleep. But eventually, after a struggle with his mother pulling the blanket, he had to get up for school. Holding a sandwich and taking delicious bites, Tâm hummed as he strolled to school. He felt truly refreshed and comfortable inside… because this was his last year of middle school, and in just a few months, he would be going abroad to study in the West. His uncle told him that people there were very relaxed; you didn't have to attend school every day. "Oh, that's heaven, isn't it… I wish time would fly by… I can't contain my joy anymore."
While happily thinking about the future, he suddenly looked to his right and saw everything go dark. Something heavy slammed directly into his face. Tâm felt his nose bleeding profusely; he wanted to scream, but before he could react, he seemed to be thrown into the air… And then… there was no "and then" anymore… A passing car had caused him to permanently leave this world. It all started when a phone snatching thief was being chased by people. Because there were many people ahead, he accidentally pushed his hand into the face of the student walking by the roadside. But perhaps due to the excessive force of the push, the student stumbled into the road and….
Startled, he opened his eyes… The teenager Tâm felt sweat pouring off him as if he'd just had a bath. His eyes were still dazed, and he hung his head, panting heavily… tears just kept flowing… he felt scared… truly very scared… But a gentle arm embraced Tâm, patting his back and kindly saying:
"It's okay, son. You just lost some blood and fainted because you were mentally exhausted. I told you not to stay up too late; you should read books slowly…"
After getting his bearings, he rubbed his head against the shoulder of the woman who called herself his mother. He knew "he had died" and then, thanks to some miracle, he had been reborn in another world. He remembered how he used to mock his friends for constantly burying their faces in those useless "Cultivation" novels; now, perhaps, he was the protagonist of a new story, one he himself had written, and he was also the main character.
He transmigrated to a place called Đại Việt. At first, he wondered if he had transmigrated into history. Not exactly; this place had many similarities to history, such as an Emperor with the surname Lê, and neighboring countries like the Ming Dynasty, Myanmar, and Champa… but there were also many differences. For example, something that in modern times people would laugh at you like an idiot for discussing "Cultivation" actually existed here. Not to mention, last year during a drought, the Emperor prayed to the immortals for blessings, and eventually, it rained. At first, he used his modern worldview to speculate whether it was some kind of trick… But once, twice, and then many, many times… his modern worldview was completely shattered. There really were immortals, there really were deities… And he wanted to become an immortal too.
The background of the body he transmigrated into was no ordinary one. The boy's father, Lê Sâm, was the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor – no joke – and his mother was Emperor Thánh Tông's younger sister, Nhược Lan. What's more, he was the legitimate eldest grandson and the only grandson in the family. Before him, there were five older sisters, all of whom had already settled down. Thus, when the boy was born, the entire family treated him like a golden egg, cherishing and protecting him immensely. I remember when he was three years old, he fell and scraped his skin, bleeding a little, because he snatched candy from his older sister... But his grandfather – who had once been the Grand Tutor to the Former Emperor – bristled with anger, spanked his sister, and confined her for over a week. From then on, no one in the family dared to hit him or speak harshly to him. Because he had a mighty patron backing him.
Although he came from an aristocratic family, with both his grandfather and father being great scholars holding high positions at court, he inherited none of their refinement. Instead, he was playful, lazy, and especially cunning. Many times, when his grandfather tried to teach him a lesson, he would resort to tears and snot, wailing, "Grandpa doesn't love me!" And so, time passed. Even though he was now fifteen, he still hadn't learned many characters, and couldn't absorb anything when studying. Even if his father hired the best tutor in Thăng Long, it was like water off a duck's back for him. From then on, people called him "Tâm the Incompetent." It seemed he had accepted his fate and didn't care anymore.
That was the past of the original boy, and Tâm in the present was still just as incompetent. In this era, people valued Confucianism and paid little attention to mathematics, so the knowledge he applied from his previous life was only useful for tricks in calculations; when it came to poetry and literature, he was completely clueless. Who said schools in the future didn't teach Chữ Nôm?
Everything flashed through his mind like a dream, from a middle school student to a privileged young man in some other world. He had been in this world for nearly three months. At first, he resisted, but eventually, he learned to accept it. He wanted to forge a new path for himself. Man's destiny lies with Heaven... He would start step by step... Look forward to him in the future...