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34. Thirty-Four Treasures ?

"What?" Xu Zhen didn't understand and halted her steps, unwilling to follow.

The young man urged, "Just come with me!"

Xu Zhen protested, "You need to explain first!!"

With no other choice, the young man lowered his voice and said, "My brother doesn't like studying! You should persuade him!"

Xu Zhen still didn't quite understand, responding, "I'm just-" She paused and added, "By your definitions, I'm just a temporary worker!"

"But you managed to convince us to study arithmetic!" The young man couldn't help but feel a bit excited. After saying this, he added, "If you persuade my brother to study, I'll give you some money."

Money? And getting paid for doing a good deed? That sounded great!

Xu Zhen's interest was piqued, and she was about to agree.

Suddenly, she remembered she was now an Assistant Minister; she should maintain a certain decorum and not be so easily swayed by money!

Attempting to keep up her image, Xu Zhen cleared her throat and said, "Wealth is like floating clouds to me. By the way, why doesn't your brother like studying?"

Seeing Xu Zhen's curiosity, the young man felt she must have some knowledge, so he pulled her aside, away from the other two brothers who were talking, to prevent being overheard.

They walked to the edge of a small patch of grass.

The young man whispered, "Daoism!"

Xu Zhen asked, "What?"

He explained, "It's because my brother's family practices Daoism! They believe in 'wu wei' (non-action). Since he was young, he has been influenced by this, so he never studied or practiced martial arts; he just developed some strength from playing cuju."

Xu Zhen inquired, "How do you know each other then?"

The young man replied, "Our fathers both serve in the government."

Xu Zhen understood; they were the sons of colleagues and would naturally cross paths at banquets.

The young man continued, "My brother spends all day reading Laozi and Zhuangzi. When we try to persuade him to study for the examinations, he says that a tree that grows too well is easily cut down, while useless wood is left alone to grow into a big tree. The same goes for people; if they learn too much and know too much, they may draw attention to themselves and risk being silenced, so it's better not to study."

Xu Zhen listened and nodded, somewhat agreeing. "That makes quite a bit of sense."

The young man stared at Xu Zhen with wide eyes and scolded softly, "I'm asking you to persuade him to study, not to stop him from studying!"

Thinking about this well-meaning young man who was willing to spend money to help his brother improve, Xu Zhen quickly said, "I'll think about it."

She took her responsibility seriously and pondered deeply.

The earlier Daoist student's mention of the 'useless tree' came from the "Zhuangzi"; there was actually more to the story.

It spoke of Zhuangzi encountering a farmer slaughtering chickens, specifically those that did not crow, meaning the 'useless' chickens. The student found this strange and asked Zhuangzi why the useless tree was allowed to live while the useless chicken lost its life.

Zhuangzi replied that while the concepts of useful and useless seem contradictory for trees and chickens, they aren't contradictory for people, as humans can change based on circumstances.