The rain kept falling, and the umbrellas among the pedestrians in the alley were open like a few poor flowers.
Fan Xian glanced at this reckless young man with a smile, and found that the other party was already wet, so he didn't say anything. If the other party was really a villain, at the previous moment, Fan Xian had at least five ways to make the other party immediately Loss of mobility.
Obviously, this is just a poor scholar who bought roast chicken for the banquet. So Fan Xian didn't stop, he raised his umbrella and walked forward. He walked gracefully, and the young man who squeezed into the umbrella was also graceful, and without saying a word, he stood on Fan Xian's right, borrowed his cloth umbrella to block the sky above his head, and followed with a calm demeanor.
Walking for dozens of steps under the same umbrella like this, Fan Xian felt that the young man's temperament was a little cute. If it was an ordinary scholar, how could he sneak under someone else's umbrella so recklessly, and walk for dozens of steps in silence. There was not even a trace of discomfort. So he tilted his head slightly, took a closer look, and found that the young man looked ordinary, but the two eyebrows were very thick, as if they had been thickly painted with a brush.
Fujiko Kyo followed two steps behind.
The two people under the umbrella still walked forward in silence. They didn't know if they were competing for patience or what. In the end, it was Fan Xian who asked with a smile, "I didn't know what was wrong with what I said earlier."
Seeing the owner of the umbrella speak, the young scholar smiled very politely and said: "If an official is corrupt, he will naturally not put his mind on political affairs, so if you want to be corrupt and capable, it may be a problem in itself. Ridiculous thing."
Fan Xian smiled, and realized that there was no room for two people under the umbrella, and the right shoulder of the young scholar beside him was already wet, so he quietly moved the umbrella to that side, and replied: "Even if a corrupt official is negligent in political affairs, But it’s better than someone who doesn’t know anything and becomes an official and messes around.”
The young scholar raised his eyebrows, seemingly puzzled: "As long as you are willing to do things, it is better than neglecting political affairs."
Fan Xian tightened his grip on the handle of the umbrella, shook his head and said, "If a river bank is not repaired, it will be repaired every few years. If an upright official who doesn't know how to do river work spends a while on the river bank, maybe every year You will say it several times, do you think those people living along the river want the county to be an incompetent, diligent and honest official, or an incompetent, lazy and corrupt official?"
The young scholar was at a loss for words for a moment, and after a long while he laughed and said, "I'm afraid this is a special case. There are always some things that a parent official must do, such as measuring the land to distribute food, eliminating disasters and helping the people, and settling lawsuits. I'm afraid it will be messed up next time."
Fan Xian smiled and said, "So the key lies in ability, not in cleanliness or greed."
In fact, his view may not be correct, and he was influenced by those officialdom novels in his previous life, but this kind of argument is quite new among the people of Qing Kingdom today. The young scholar who shared the umbrella with him couldn't help being interested, and asked: "If an official is capable but very corrupt, will the court just let him go?"
For some reason, Fan Xian thought of his old father-in-law, Lin Ruofu, the famous treacherous Prime Minister of the Qing Kingdom. Everyone knew that he was greedy, but His Majesty knew that he was capable, so he has been appointed until now. Responding to the question asked by the young scholar, I had to shake my head and said: "The administration of officials is a difficult and complicated matter. There is no simple and effective way. However, if you only want the supervision of the court and self-cultivation, then you expect a clear and bright officialdom, which is a bit whimsical." .”
"If the imperial court strengthens supervision, can't it prevent corruption?" The young scholar frowned, and his thick eyebrows huddled together like a rafter. Ordinarily, how could the ethos of the examination hall deteriorate into what it is today."
In fact, Fan Xian didn't have any great opinions on politics, but in his bones he had some muddleheadedness that he was not afraid of harming the country when he talked about it. When he got interested, he continued: "If Director Chen of the Overwatch Council bribes Guo Youzhi, his nephew will be admitted to the first class. Among them, who do you say will supervise this matter?"
The young scholar said disapprovingly: "Naturally, His Majesty still has lightning-like eyes."
Fan Xian replied even more disapprovingly: "How can it be so easy to rule the world with one person?" In fact, he knew that the emperor must have secret means to check and balance the dominant Overwatch Council. However, due to some youthful political ideas in the previous life, Fan Xian always sneered at the work of the emperor. He never thought that the emperor who regards the world as a bowl of fat would have such spirit and the leisure to care about officialdom above all injustices.
Talking casually, the two under the umbrella came outside an inn, and the young scholar smiled gently and said, "Thank you for your gift, my lord, I have arrived."
Fan Xian turned the umbrella to one side, glanced at the shop name on the inn, and found that it was a coincidence that it was also the place he was looking for, and said with a smile, "I'll go in with you, I'm going to the inn to find someone."
The name of the inn is very vulgar, very blessed and popular—Tongfu Inn.
When I entered the inn with the young scholar, I knew that the other party was called Shi Chanli, and he was also an old student who came to Beijing this time. It's just that it's not convenient for Fan Xian to say his name at this time, so he just told the other party that his surname is Fan.
"Who is Mr. Fan looking for?" Shi Chanli realized from the clothes on this young man that he must be a son of a powerful man, so he did not speak as freely as before under the umbrella, but rather reserved, "I am Visiting friends, it is inconvenient to talk more, see you in the future."
After saying this, he bowed to Fan Xian and walked to the corner of the front hall of the inn. There is a wine table there, beside the table are two students who look like students are fighting wine, and the one next to him is already drunk and unconscious, sleeping on the table, seeing that there are no dishes on the table of these people, it seems that they are Wait for Shi Chanli's roast chicken.
Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and saw that the drunk person on the table was Yang Wanli whom he was looking for. He smiled slightly and followed Shi Chanli to the wine table.
But Shi Chanli didn't know that he was still following behind him, put the roast chicken wrapped in oil paper on the table, smiled and cursed at the two who had stopped to drink together: "Okay, Hou Jichang, call me to bring the food , but did not leave me some wine."
Hou Jichang said with a smile: "My wine is also a bad wine that I just ordered from the alley. Although the taste is not good, but the quantity is sufficient. Let me introduce you, this is Cheng Jialin, a talented man from Shandong Road." He just stretched out his hand in the direction of Cheng Jialin, but he was surprised to find that standing behind Shi Chanli was a very handsome young man with a smile on his face, but this young man seemed familiar.
"Brother Shi, who is this?" Hou Jichang asked doubtfully.
Shi Chanli was startled, and turned around to find that Fan Xian had followed him to the wine table, and said with a wry smile, "Young Master Fan, you only borrowed half an umbrella, so you don't need to collect rain money."
Fan Xian could see that the other party seemed to be a little jealous of him, presumably he guessed that he came from a wealthy family, and he didn't dare to get too close. So he smiled and said: "I dare not accept money, but I am a little greedy for the roast chicken brought by Mr. Shi."
Shi Chanli said helplessly, "Didn't Mr. Fan come to look for someone?"
"There is no place to find when you break through the iron shoes. It doesn't take much effort to get here." Fan Xian smiled and said these two words when he first saw Shengyan by the Liujing River, but he didn't respond at all, but today he used As expected in these scholars, Hou Jichang and others immediately understood what it meant, and they were very amused, and asked, "Mr. Fan is actually looking for us?"
Fan Xian pointed to Yang Wanli who was drunk and said, "I have a relationship with Mr. Yang, so I came here to visit today."
Hou Jichang laughed and said, "I've never heard of Wanli having such a generous friend in Beijing. Come on, Mr. Fan, please sit down and cook chicken with light wine. Just don't dislike it." Shi Chanli liked Fan chatting a little. Spit, now that he is a friend of a friend, he no longer puts on airs, and gives up his seat with a smile.
Over there, Cheng Jialin pushed for a long time and Yang Wanli didn't wake up, so he couldn't help smiling at Fan Xian. Fan Xian was curious about another matter, bowed his hands to Hou Jichang and said, "I don't know what to call this brother?"
"Hou Jichang."
"Why does Mr. Hou think that I am a rich and generous son?" Fan Xian couldn't help laughing when he heard the word Ji Chang, and asked: "I think that I am not born fat and big-eared, but I just look at it all day long." A man who is full and has nothing to do."
Hou Jichang apologized with a smile, and said: "Young master, this clothes are worth a lot of money, which is not affordable for ordinary scholars. As for the word "bold and broad", we are just used to joking around, so please don't mind .” At this time, he always felt that this young man was familiar, but he was a little dazzled after drinking, so he couldn’t remember it all the time.
"Where is it?" Fan Xian smiled gently, and sat down at the table. Scholars are free and unrestrained, and they don't care too much about having an unexpected visitor. Anyway, Yang Wanli won't be able to wake up for a while, so apart from Cheng Jialin who persuaded Fan Xian to have a few drinks, Hou Jichang and Shi Chanli were the two of them. As if no one else was around, they started drinking. When the wine was not enough and the desire was full, he began to sit and talk about the Tao again.
This way is not the mysterious way, but the way of national economy and people's livelihood. Fan Xian took a chicken leg and gnawed it slowly, and listened to the debate between the two with his ears pricked up. He found that Hou Jichang's thinking was somewhat legalist, with a heavy focus on the law, while Shi Chanli was an emotional person, very heavy on the law. enlightenment.
Just to put it bluntly, those who are partial to legalism are not blindly demanding, and those who are pedagogical are not blindly persuading, but they are really two scholars who see things very clearly. Occasionally when it comes to political affairs in various counties, it is also carefully analyzed, not blindly talking about it, and it is not like ordinary scholars who always focus on the word "world", but they don't know that the word "world" is more important than most people in the world. People's eyelids are too wide.
The more Fan Xian listened, the more complacent he became. Hou Jichang's name was one of the people he had dubbed. It seemed that he had a good eye. It's just that this Shi Chanli had a gentle and free-spirited personality, so why didn't he have any impression in the examination
While he was complacent, he suddenly heard Shi Chanli, who had a gentle temperament, slap the wine table and scolded angrily: "After all, it's all because of Mr. Fan!"
Fan Xian was not surprised.