Chapter 1 Recognizing the old, moving the base (1)
The Daqing River passed through Luokou, and it only glanced at Jinan City before rushing away. As soon as the gate of the old city opened, several soldiers on tall horses galloped past, and the houses with green tiles and gray bricks on both sides
Many people flashed out of the street, noisily breaking the blue-gray peace and quiet. But the horses showed no sign of looking forward at all. Their eyes were focused on the curved fork in front of the road, leaving only the clatter of their hooves on the stone slabs.
There was a loud noise and dusty wind. They arrived in front of a mansion with green tiles and red roofs. They pulled the bridle on the horse's neck hard, then took off their feet and rolled off the horse neatly, with the head on their sleeves.
He took out a piece of red paper from his pocket, looked at the two characters "Ye Mansion" hanging on the mansion, strode forward to pull the door knocker, and raised his voice and shouted:
"Mr. Ye is promoted! Congratulations to Mr. Ye!"
The door opened immediately, and several people saw a middle-aged man about forty years old who was adjusting his clothes. The man pulled his cuffs, clasped his fists, strode across the threshold, stepped forward and said: "Everyone comes from the capital.
It’s been a rough journey!”
The leader looked at his appearance, he was not too fat, and his square face was highlighted by black gauze - he was sure that this person was Mr. Ye Long, who was in charge of the Ye Mansion.
"You must be very tired. Please come to the studio and talk!"
Ye Long led these people through the main hall and a short corridor before arriving at the place where Ye Long met his friends to study. When he looked up, he saw that a lot of the gold characters on the large plaque in the study room had been removed, but it could still be seen crookedly that it was
Three words: "Living Water House".
But the leader stood still and opened the red paper in his hand. There was an edict stuck inside. Ye Long took a look and immediately knelt down. After reading it once, he stood up, took the edict and stared at the holy relics on it.
, tears couldn't help but burst out of his eyes. "After the death of the previous emperor, Long was extremely sad. He expected that I would be the emperor for the rest of my life and would not ask for repayment from the court. I was not kind to the new emperor, but he rewarded him so generously. God's grace is so great that Long cannot bear it.
Get up!" As he said this, he lowered his head as if ashamed.
"The emperor governs the world with filial piety. He heard that the old gentleman kept filial piety for his elder brother and had not been in office for three years, so he decided to use him. This is also because of the old gentleman's virtue." The leader comforted him and said.
"Alas," Ye Long sighed, "Speaking of my brother's service to the court for many years and his death in service, but he still was not given a posthumous title... Giving my brother a posthumous title was also one of Ye's great wishes, but he did not dare to ask for it.
Posthumous title." He suddenly raised his head and looked at those people.
"My Ye family has lived in this mansion for almost a hundred years, and it has fallen into disrepair. If my late brother gets a posthumous title, this place can be built as his ancestral hall..."
Seeing what Ye Long said, those people responded quickly: "I will definitely give you a word of advice when I return to the court."
Ye Long then sat down and took the handkerchief to wipe his face. Those people were sitting there eating tea. Suddenly, they saw Ye Long frown and become serious. He immediately dropped the handkerchief, turned around and said to a servant.
: "The guests are all here drinking tea, but there is no sign of him! Ask the madam to call the traitor over!"
Those people immediately put tea on the table and said, "Sir, please don't bother me anymore. I'll take my leave soon. I'll take my leave." After bowing, they were about to leave. Ye Long didn't stop him, and just walked away.
Face came back and walked all the way to the living water house. Although he lowered his head, he glanced at his son.
"What are you standing for? The police officers who came in have already left... They called you just now when they knocked on the door. You are even busier than me!" While looking at him, he threw off his clothes and sat down, and saw his wife again.
He just stood aside, looking at him, not daring to say anything. He could only force a smile, "You go first, I'll say a few words to him, it's no big deal."
This was Ye Long's second son, born in Dingyou. The eldest son was named Ye Changwei, and he died when he was about five or six years old. When the second son was born, Ye Long had not yet won the Jinshi, and was preparing to take advantage of the child's birth.
To bring joy to himself, he named Yongjia. The so-called Jia means famous on the list. Ye Long thought of another word for him, and he named him Tinglong. When Ye Yongjia was sixteen years old, Ye Long
He hurriedly donated a prison to his son and waited for the next provincial examination.
Two years later, Ye Yongjia has lost his childishness and looks more and more handsome. He has a fair complexion, straight facial features, a high nose, and a pair of clean sword-shaped eyebrows. He originally had a righteous appearance, but unfortunately his eyes were full of righteousness.
It reveals a sense of melancholy, which makes people feel quite dull.
"Kneel down!" Ye Long's face darkened. "You were supposed to come out to meet someone from the imperial court, but you didn't even see him! This etiquette is incomplete. How did I teach you?"
Ye Yongjia knelt on the ground and did not dare to say a word. After a long time, he said hesitantly: "After I handed Qiu my son, I will take the exam. I have to read more..."
"You usually don't read, so why don't you just miss this moment today?" He raised his eyebrows and raised his hands. Ye Yongjia lay on the ground and did not dare to dodge, and said hurriedly: "Father, don't get angry over trivial things. It will hurt your liver. My son will definitely
It won’t happen again!”
Ye Long then put his hands away and stretched out his hands on the chair handle, "What's the use of talking about this? You study there all day long, you should also practice and practice so that you can inherit the family business. Ah, it just so happens that our family wants to
To buy a new house, you go to... Qihe County to help our family look at the house. If you like it, return the picture to me. If there is no picture, you can describe it in writing, and there must be no falsehoods. Do you understand?
?”
"My son will obey his father's orders..."
"Just stand up, it's nothing important." Ye Long said.
Ye Yongjia first stretched his neck to look at his father's face, then hesitantly stood up, but was a little unsteady. He bowed deeply, looked at Ye Long's face again, breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute, you go with your master."
Ye Yongjia only obeyed his orders. He knew that the 'master' his father spoke of was a slave in the family. His surname was Chengming Congyuan and his given name was Yushun. His grandfather was a famous talent in Shandong. He wanted to rebel because of his connection with the royal family of the previous dynasty and was dissatisfied with the new dynasty.
He was killed and all his descendants were demoted as slaves; his father therefore came to the Ye family, and Cheng Congyuan lived with his father. He loved literature and was quite like his grandfather. Although he was also a slave, he was favored by Master Ye because of his knowledge.
Therefore, his status is naturally very different from others. He has stayed in the Ye family for forty years, and his prestige is self-evident. After the Ye family drove away a gentleman, they asked him to serve as Ye Yongjia's teacher, and Mr. Ye also respected him very much.
Like his father, he never treated him as a slave.
Ye Yongjia strode through the corner gate and bumped into Cheng Congyuan at the main entrance. He saw him bent over, looking extremely humble, but it could not hide his thick black long eyebrows and broad forehead that looked like they had been traced by a sutra.
His face was extraordinary. When he raised his head, his eyes suddenly became clear and then became cloudy. You could never guess his thoughts from there.
Cheng Congyuan paused in his throat: "I want to see a house, don't you know how to use a horse?" His voice was long and unhurried.
"Mr. Cheng, use the horse." Ye Yongjia said in a very calm tone.
"Okay." Cheng Congyuan patted his shoulder.
When they arrived at the gate, two low-level servants brought two horses and then stepped aside. Ye Yongjia waved and the two of them said "yes" before they dared to go back. Cheng Congyuan put the bridle on the horses and
He said: "Sir, I'm just your slave. I think I'm quite knowledgeable, so I just found a way to save money. What kind of master do you think I am? After all, I'm still a slave to be commanded!" He said cheerfully.
With a smile, the leader pulled Ye Yongjia onto the horse, jumped on the horse behind him, and danced his whip: "Sir, you are the future master of this family. You have to figure out who is superior and who is inferior, who is the master and who is the slave!" After that, bullshit!
He shouted loudly, the whip cracked twice more, and the two horses started running at the same time.
…
"Uu, uh." Cheng Congyuan got off his horse and pulled the bridle with his left hand. The master and servant entered Qihe in less than half a day. This place is not rich, and the streets along the way are all earth-colored short houses. Ye Yongjia
He couldn't even look at it. Cheng Congyuan saw that there was really nothing to see in this poor place, and when he looked up, he saw the fierce sun, so he said to Ye Yongjia: "It's not interesting for me to look here. Let's go to the square to rest for a while."
, if we find out about a good house, it won’t be too late for us to go there.”
Ye Yongjia nodded and prepared to stop by a teahouse to rest. This teahouse was already dilapidated, and there were a few idlers with fans inside, drinking tea and chatting. Suddenly, he felt that people were crowded together and it was very noisy, but he could barely sit down.
Cheng Congyuan took out a few slings of money from his pocket, pulled out more than a dozen yellowed old copper plates from one sling, dropped them into his palm, blew on them, and stood up to pay for the tea.
Ye Yongjia had nothing to do. He turned sideways and listened to the idle talk:
"When did that book school start up in front of you?"
"What happened a few days ago. It is said that a Nanjing man in his mid-twenties came to build this place. He also talked some crazy things all day long, and the things he taught were nondescript, such as theories from hundreds of schools of thought, poems and songs, and modern essays.
The ancient method is all-encompassing. He claimed that "the right mind and the right path are the foundation of Confucianism, and the key points of reform are stated in every word and deed." He also listed more than a dozen of the bad policies of the dynasty and eight strategies for reform, hoping to spread his principles.
Each province can move the world..."
"Dream! In my opinion, it's better to do your duty and teach something that is beneficial to the scientific examination. If you study other things, you won't be able to become an official, you won't make money, and people will look down upon you."
"The so-called 'scholars, farmers, industry and merchants' cannot be scholar-bureaucrats, nor can they operate hoes like us. They are really useless people."
"Nanjing people..." When Ye Yongjia heard what the idlers said, he immediately thought of something and was thinking to himself. When he turned around, Cheng Congyuanzao gently placed two small cups of tea on the table and pushed them to Ye Yongjia's side.
Ye Yongjia picked up the tea and took a few sips, but it was bland and tasteless.
He whispered to Mr. Cheng: "I'll go to the school in front to take a look. You can drink slowly." After saying that, he pointed his finger. Cheng Congyuan looked confused and asked him: "What school? It's okay."
This sentence came out." Ye Yongjia laughed and said: "Those people said that there was a school built in front of it and it was run by a Nanjing man. From what they said, it sounded like Mr. Wei who taught me."
Cheng Congyuan frowned: "I don't have any friendship with him. He still taught those nonsense, and he was scolded and kicked out by me. I don't see this kind of person anymore..."
"Master Cheng, you can't say that. Although Mr. Wei has a bad temper, he is polite and has the demeanor of a gentleman. Besides, he is a Confucian, so it is not useless to reminisce about the past."
"I don't want to say anything if I want to go. I just remind you: The master asked us to see the house. We should leave after drinking tea. It shows that the master can do things quickly. It took a lot of effort for the master to let me come. If he doesn't do it properly,
The servants will definitely dissatisfied with this master. Thanks to our small family, we can still control him; if you have a family of 100 people and everyone is dissatisfied, won't they punish you?"
Cheng Congyuan's words were serious, but Ye Yongjia was a little annoyed: "Mr. Cheng is right. But if Mr. Wei is here, it would be a pity not to be sincere." Cheng Congyuan knew that he could not persuade him, so he had to wave his hand and let him go. Ye Yongjia went.
Pulling the horse outside the house, Cheng Congyuan was holding tea and shouted outside: "I'm looking at your horse, you can just go." When Ye Yongjia heard this, he let go of his hand and walked from the tea house to the main road.
After walking only a few miles, he strolled to the entrance of the academy and saw two poems hanging on both sides of the door. The ten characters in small regular script were very eye-catching, and they read:
The generous autumn wind stirs up tragic songs but is not a perch
There is also a line of small print below:
Recording the poems of Wang Jiefu in Linchuan
When he saw this poem, he remembered Mr. Wei's demeanor and felt respect for him. He walked next to the wall and gradually recalled the face of "Mr. Wei"; while casually looking into the wall, he saw a crooked plant inside.
The green willows were so green that they stretched straight out of the wall, shining like a streak of green smoke in the sun. Ye Yongjia stared blankly for a while. But the smoke gradually became thinner, and a thin man on crutches appeared.
The scholar was blocking his sight, and the green smoke became almost invisible in Ye Yongjia's peripheral vision, which made him come back to his senses. Ye Yongjia glanced up and saw the vine he was leaning on and the
His body was slightly stooped, and he returned the greeting in a panic:
"Mr. Wei..."
This time, the two eyes could be seen clearly: the man's eyes were bright and heroic, his eyebrows were light but sharp, and except for his waist shape and crutches, which were an eyesore, he showed a heroic appearance.
Ye Yongjia knew a little bit about his family background. He was named Wei Huai after the famous Confucian scholar of the Wei family in Nanjing, with the courtesy name Jimin and the name Jingshan. He also had an older brother... As for how to use crutches, Wei Huai himself had no idea.
It is taboo to talk to him, the young master of the Ye family, but he fell out of a carriage accidentally when he was a child. He dodged a horse's hoof, but was run over by the wooden wheel of the carriage. His father, Wei Dehui, made him lie in bed for three months.
, was not allowed to go out; although the injury recovered later, it seemed that a rib was broken at that time, so that he would break out in sweat after walking for a while, so he had to use a cane. Wei Huai thought that this cane would accompany him for a lifetime, but in the end
He only followed Wei Huai for sixty-three years and was forgotten in front of the Nanjing Council Hall.
"I can't afford to be... Mr. Thirty-Six Days. Your Ye family really gives you face."
Ye Yongjia suddenly raised his head and was stunned.
"What? Master Ye sent you here and you want to invite me back?" Wei Huai turned the vine to the ground and turned around slowly.
"I have never offended sir, why should you complain..." Ye Yongjia was a little anxious, and Wei Huai only turned around and glanced at him lightly: "When I first came here, your family kindly invited me to teach you;
After I got there, you used some words to ridicule me. You came here to ask me to say something nice and get back together with your family, so don’t bother."
"Students don't know these things, so Mr. Wei, please don't blame me."
Wei Huai sighed, then turned around and asked, "Why are you looking for me?"
Ye Yongjia's face gradually turned around, and he smiled and said, "I'm here to hear how Mr.
When Wei Huai saw that he was sincerely listening to his teachings, he got rid of his cold and disdainful expression and said: "How about saving the disadvantages! I am just doing a little bit of my duty as a scholar to let the world see that Confucian scholars are not only capable of researching. "
Ye Yongjia nodded in praise, but Wei Huai ignored it. Gu Zi said: "I was born in a famous Confucian family, and some things can be seen; some things cannot be seen, but most people are aware of it. My proposal is divided into eight reforms. The summary: Change the salt law, limit the name of the land, expand the subjects, save redundant expenses, abolish the traditional culture, suppress the powerful, relax the prohibitions and establish an academy. The focus is on the "establishing an academy", which is Xu Academy's political participation memorial. If there are mistakes in government affairs, there must be people in the academies who will discuss it. This is to limit the power of the monarch in the world. However, if the academies are all empty talk and useless people, then it will be useless to the country to allow them to submit letters. Only by strict selection in the academies can they fulfill their responsibilities. "
He took a few more steps, and the creaking sound of the canes continued. "I know that if one of these methods works, there will definitely be trouble; but if we don't find a trick, how can the world be stable?"
At this time, Ye Yongjia stood up and said, "But Mr. Wei is helpless here. He can't try a new method. What's the difference between empty talk?"
"Of course I understand. Tomorrow I will leave Shandong and go back to my hometown in Nanjing. It just so happens that the Nanjing magistrate Lu Fangxuan has appointed me as the secretary in charge, and I intend to vote for him. From now on, I will do my thing and you can test your performance." After that, he straightened his back vigorously and walked towards the distance, but he did not dare to go fast and walked step by step with his crutches.
Ye Yongjia followed closely and said, "You think you don't have to see me anymore! If I take office and go to Nanjing, sir, there will be hope for this matter! You won't still remember my family's grudge by then, right?"
After hearing this, Wei Huai just sneered and walked away. Ye Yongjia felt very unhappy and did not dare to get angry. In the end, he just glared at Wei Huai and left angrily.
"Sir!" As soon as Ye Yongjia came down from the road, he saw Cheng Congyuan holding two horses and bowing respectfully. Ye Yongjia hurriedly tried to help him, but he pulled him back onto the horse, "Sir, you are not like that Wei Huai." We had such a good time, but I can't wait to die! The sun is setting, let's go and do important things quickly." Ye Yongjia didn't say anything, and hurriedly followed Cheng Congyuan to see the house.
Time was tight, and there weren't many houses to look forward to. They only found three houses, which was okay. Unfortunately, there was no plan, and Ye Yongjia just became really anxious. Thanks to Youcheng Congyuan's guidance, in less than an hour, three houses were built. The note came out. Cheng Congyuan was pacing in the yard, looking up at the sunlight. Only a golden-red glow came out in the west. He was so anxious that he spat on the ground, raised his head, and Ye Yongjia finally came out of the room. Ye Yongjia came out and pulled him away without saying a word. Ye Yongjia's pace gradually increased, he raised his hips and suddenly jumped on the horse. The two looked at each other, neither of them said a word. Sweat broke out on their foreheads, and the two horses headed south. Open your hooves and run.
"Master!" Ye Yongjia stepped on the threshold, slipped his feet, and staggered through several concierges. When he looked at the study, he knelt down. Ye Long was still sitting upright, holding a book in his hand, lost in thought. For a long time, Then he stood up, looked around, and saw the surprised expressions of the servants beside him. Surprise, anger, and shame also flashed on his own face, and he shouted softly:
"You...you go down."
Cheng Congyuan was still standing behind the door. Ye Long ignored him and said through gritted teeth: "You've been doing this until nightfall. When your provincial examination is about to take place, I'm afraid you won't be able to finish it even if I give you ten days! I really hate Tie. It's not like steel... It's best to start from tomorrow and let Cheng Congyuan lock you here and learn how to be careful!" He didn't look at Ye Yongjia and walked out of the room. Cheng Congyuan came out to greet him. Ye Long was still angry. Confused, he faced Cheng Congyuan and pointed at Ye Yongjia, who was kneeling in the room: "Cong Yuan, I'll give you the key. You lock the doors on all sides, don't forget to lock the corner door as well. Tell him to study hard. ." Ye Yongjia did not hear any plea from Cheng Congyuan. There was only the sound of footsteps, and it seemed that Ye Long had gone out.
Ye Yongjia breathed a long sigh of relief and got up slowly. He heard the door knock again, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, trembling. Then he glanced at the door, swallowed the saliva in his throat, got up hesitantly, and ran to find it.
Cheng Congyuan saw Mr. Cheng locking the corner door and hurriedly stepped forward to pull him. Cheng Congyuan raised his left hand and quickly locked the door with his right hand. He turned around with a stern expression.
"Sir..." They looked at each other and he smiled helplessly at Cheng Congyuan.
Cheng Congyuan said: "I don't say anything to you either. I can only listen to my advice and start studying when I get up tomorrow. This is also called my leisure time."
"Yes, yes..." Ye Yongjia looked a little ashamed, turned around and ran to the study room.
Mr. Cheng was still locking the door when he heard a "dong" sound, followed by a "swish" sound of turning paper.
He looked in the window again and finally smiled with peace of mind.