There's an old saying, "What you do on the first day of the year determines how you spend the rest of the year."
On the first day of the New Year, everything is renewed, carrying significant symbolic meaning.
According to the traditions of the elders, you shouldn't kill, sweep, fetch water, or argue on this day. If something breaks, you need to recite "safe and sound every year" a few times for good luck.
Chen Zhou felt that the outlook of his "year" set on this "first day" was already quite clear—nicely put, it could be called diligent labor; bluntly put, it was just work.
He swung the hammer to test the stone wall, finding very different results.
The adhesive ability of the yellow soil on the sunny slope was about zero, and the stone wall relied entirely on the interlocking of stones for support.
When the middle of the wall was hit, thanks to the pressure from the upper stones, no significant deformation occurred.
