I must admit I had a Jia Xu esque smirk when I was reading some of the Master's banter. The line of minds and blank sheets of bamboo made me chuckle.

The last line made me especially excited. How will he prove himself? I eagerly await your answer to that question.

*Clap clap clap

And thus Cao Ren begins trudging up that slope to become a genuine leader of renown.

The story's starting to get rather exciting now... I wonder if more noted characters (like Guo Jia or "playable" like Cao Mengde himself) will show, or if you'll end this tale before then. To be honest there are very few stories focusing on this great leader, and it would be a shame for you to cease his tale just before it really began.

How exciting! So the plot begins to thicken. Well, let's see how Ren slis out of this one.

Have you read any part of the Chunqiu? I've been looking for an English translation for some time (my Chinese skills are nothing close to that level yet...)

As a student, I can relate to Ren. Even in the subjects one may love, one finds boredom during some of the lectures. Several instructors work with the passion to teach, but unfortunately some fail to pass that passion on to their students. Eh, such is life.

Thanks for the update... I eagerly await your next one.

And so Ren begins to tread on the way of the Stone, or is he more like Water? Both are steadfast and can easily continue unchecked. Both are insanely stubborn and cannot easily be stopped when they are in full force, but one can shatter and the other cannot. I eagerly await your next installment.

(Unfortunately, this one seemed rather short. And as a fast reader I just flew through it. Quite well written, however. I need to take notes on your style.)

Heh, in a fic dedicated to being historically accurate, I sense the essence of modern American speech in there.

But, hey, I'm a thousand times more guilty of that, so meh.

The things is, though, he seems more cut out to be a civil officer rather than a battle hardened commander somehow, or maybe you're just trying to emphasize on his comprehensive ability. At any rate, the rage of war will have to come eventually and slam into this fic, otherwise your readers may feel bored or your subject's consistency might be questioned.

But that's all just an attempt by me to advise you. To be honest this fic is very well done, and all I'm asking is for you to continue it whenever you can.

Thanks for the chapter(s) (I had to backtrack to 8), and I look forward to seeing more!

*Smiles* I like how the tone was philosophical and later shifted to a more serious and yet, somehow, slightly friendly sense of camaraderie. Now Ren's leading a few youths under his own wing, even if he hasn't had that many achievements under his belt. You've read Confucian philosophy to some degree, and thus you keep everyone in character with those times. Granted, this loses the playful effect that many fics on this site tend to follow, but it also makes the entire work more historically accurate and realistic. Good work.

Your writing style is awesome. I love how you sneak humor in instead of smacking people in the face with it; subtle humor, I think it's called?

Anyway, once again another great chapter :D

I'm starting to see how the unruly teenager becomes the Cao Ren we know. Excellent job so far, definitely keep up the good work, I'm interested to see what Ren does next. :)

I can definitely tell Cao Ren's beginning to get wiser--without the books, note, he's getting wiser with experience, seeing his friends and Haoqiang and everyone else and drawing conclusions. Hooray. I've never been a fan of learning life lessons from books.

Cao Hong makes me laugh. :D

I like seeing the brothers interact, it makes Chun seem less like an ass. But then again, siblings do that, so it's all good.

Cao Ren is starting to remind me of myself, but that's a good thing :D Or so I like to think.

I like Mama Ren. She seems like a tough old lady, hard on her sons but still vulnerable when it comes to her late husband.

And sheesh, harsh, poor Cao Ren. But once again, you made him very relatable, so woohoo~

I gotta say, I'm also liking the brief details of the culture back then; the food served, the things Cao Ren does in his spare time, ect. All very educational. :)

Cao Ren, for me, has always been one of those DW characters I /want/ to like, but really doesn't give me any reason to (other than his badass moveset and the fact that I find him strangely adorable, I blame San and the Hello Kitty thing).

I like this story, a lot; it's got a historical scholarly feel, which usually scares me, but I love how you mix humor in there (nice going leaving your brother hanging, Chun!) and make Cao Ren seem like the typical bored teenager in class (heck, I can relate!).

:D Great job!

And slowly he sees a greater path in the horizon, doesn't he? But it would seem that this fic is taking the outlook of a fine wine. Then again, perhaps I'm just not paying attention to the genre you intended it to be. Ah, well.

And so Cao Ren slowly grows more wise with time. A disturbing, but very possible/realistic outlook on a particular "family" unit. Nice work.