After entering the main hall, Scholar Shang didn't ask the three individuals any questions. Instead, he instructed Ah Jiu to fetch the Four Treasures of the Study from the mule cart. He handed each of them a piece of paper, a brush, a bit of ink and said, "Write down what you think you've learned best. Be it calligraphy or an essay, either is fine."
"Ah?" Gu Dewang was confused: "Isn't the scholar supposed to ask questions?"
Mom said that Scholar Shang would only ask a few questions, and that he just needed to answer as he had been taught. But why the change to writing now? What was he supposed to write? He had never attended private school at all.
