What qualifications does Jin Shengtan have to be your confidant? !
Haha, if Jin Shengtan is not qualified to be your confidant, then no one in the world can be your confidant.
Zhu Pingan smiled at the greasy fat man and said slowly, "Jin Shengtan, like Brother Hu, has participated in the imperial examinations many times."
"So what? There are so many people who have taken the imperial examination. Can they all be my confidants?! If I follow your logic, then I will have confidants everywhere in the world."
The greasy fat man shook his head.
"I will give you two examples. Brother Hu, you can judge for yourself whether Jin Shengtan is qualified to be your confidant."
Zhu Pingan smiled.
"Haha, tell me now, I want to hear it." The greasy fat man replied nonchalantly.
"Once he took part in the imperial examination, and the topic was 'I am still unmoved at the age of forty.'" Zhu Ping'an said slowly.
"This is what Mencius said. Gongsun Chou asked, 'Master, if you were appointed as the prime minister of Qi, you would be able to practice Taoism there. Even if you were to become a hegemon, would you be tempted?' Mencius said, 'No. I am not tempted at the age of forty.'" The greasy fat man took a sip of tea and said nonchalantly, "This question is easy, nothing new."
Nothing new?!
Well, it is true that such a stereotyped topic is indeed simple and unoriginal to most readers.
However, this also depends on the person.
"Brother Hu, do you know how Jin Shengtan answered?" Zhu Ping'an curled the corner of his mouth and asked the greasy fat man.
"I'm not him, how would I know?" The greasy fat man shrugged and rolled his eyes.
"If it's Brother Hu, how should I answer?" Zhu Ping'an ignored the fat man's rolling eyes and asked calmly.
"Mencius was not tempted at the age of forty. His state of mind was the same as that of Confucius, who was not confused at the age of forty. What does it mean to be free from doubts? It is said in the Yan Yuan chapter of The Analects of Confucius, 'If someone is loved, we want him to live; if someone is hated, we want him to die. If we both want him to live and want him to die, this is confusion.' Do you agree with this angle, little brother?" the greasy fat man said casually.
"That's right." Zhu Ping'an nodded with a smile.
"How did he answer?" asked the greasy fat man.
"Brother Hu, listen carefully." Zhu Ping'an said with a smile, "Jin Shengtan wrote on the first line of the test paper: In the empty mountains and valleys there are ten thousand taels of gold, and outside the reeds covered with dew is a beautiful woman. I would like to ask if the gentleman is moved? Then he wrote on the second line of the test paper: moved, moved, moved, moved, moved, moved, moved, moved... He wrote 39 'moved' in a row."
"What?!"
The greasy fat man was nonchalant at first, but after listening to what Zhu Ping'an said, he seemed to be electrocuted and jumped up from the table.
"Mencius said, 'At forty, I am no longer tempted.' That means in the thirty-nine years before forty, he was tempted by gold and beautiful women. So Jin Shengtan wrote about being tempted thirty-nine times in a row?! Wonderful, wonderful! Jin Shengtan, he really is the best!" The greasy fat man stood up and paced excitedly while talking to himself.
"The one who knows Jin Shengtan is Brother Hu." Zhu Ping'an nodded with a smile, "After the test, the examiner asked Jin Shengtan why he wrote 39 "touchings". Jin Shengtan's explanation was exactly the same as Brother Hu's."
"What's another example?" The greasy fat man was no longer careless and asked excitedly.
"Another example is also an exam. Jin Shengtan was tempted by 39 questions, so naturally he failed. In the next imperial examination, Jin Shengtan took the exam again. This time the topic was 'Here comes Xi Shi.'" Zhu Ping'an said slowly at the urging of the fat man.
"Xi Shi is here?! Comment on Xi Shi's diplomatic mission to the State of Wu..." The greasy fat man quickly got to the point.
"That's right." Zhu Ping'an nodded.
"How would Jin Shengtan answer it?!" The fat man couldn't wait to know how Jin Shengtan answered the question.
"Jin Shengtan wrote on his test paper: If you go out of the east gate, Xizi will not come; if you go out of the south gate, Xizi will not come; if you go out of the north gate, Xizi will not come; if you go out of the west gate, will Xizi come? Will Xizi come? Xizi came. The examiner read Jin Shengtan's test paper and became furious. He commented, "The beauty has come, but it's a pity that you have lost your fame!"
Zhu Ping'an also told the greasy fat man about Jin Shengtan's other great achievement in the imperial examination.
"Hahahaha... What a great Xizi is coming, wonderful, wonderful, it's time to make a big white." The fat man laughed and poured the tea on the ground, picked up the wine pot and poured a full cup of wine, and drank it all.
"Haha, is Jin Shengtan qualified to be Brother Hu's confidant?" Zhu Ping'an asked with a smile.
"Yes, of course he is qualified to be my confidant! But I am not qualified to be his confidant." The greasy fat man sighed, "Jin Shengtan regards fame and fortune as dirt, his heart is clear and his mind is free, I am not as good as him."
Jin Shengtan regarded fame and fortune as dirt, his heart was clear and his mind was free...
You can see these from the two stories, and you are qualified to be Jin Shengtan's confidant.
"There is such a talent in the world, but I didn't know it. I am really ignorant."
The greasy fat man slapped his thighs repeatedly in excitement, then looked at Zhu Ping'an attentively and asked repeatedly, "Little brother, tell me quickly, where is Jin Shengtan from and where does he live?"
"Jin Shengtan, also from Wu County, Suzhou..." Zhu Ping'an replied.
"What?! Wu County, Suzhou?! It's only 400 miles away from Shaoxing. Such a talented person is so close to me, but I didn't know about it! Damn it, damn it." The greasy fat man said and slapped himself twice.
Zhu Ping'an and Liu Dadao, who were standing by, were stunned.
After the greasy fat man slapped himself twice, he clasped his fists towards Zhu Ping'an and Liu Dadao and said, "Thank you for the hospitality. I'll leave now." Then he started to walk out.
"Where are you going, Brother Hu?" Zhu Ping'an quickly grabbed the greasy fat man's sleeve.
"It's not too late to mend the fold after the sheep have been lost. I'm going to visit Jin Shengtan." The greasy fat man said anxiously while pulling his sleeves, "Little brother, don't stop me. I can't wait to meet Jin Shengtan."
Zhu Pingan couldn't help but twitch his mouth when he heard this. "Where can you find Jin Shengtan in Suzhou now? He was born in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and he wasn't even born yet. If you go there now, you can only find his grandfather's grandfather."
"Ahem, Brother Hu, Brother Hu, Mr. Jin Shengtan, he... is no longer alive."
Zhu Ping'an coughed and explained, he couldn't tell him that Jin Shengtan wasn't born yet.
"What?! Dead?!" Upon hearing this, the greasy fat man was like a deflated ball, instantly wilting, and then excitedly slapped himself twice, "Such a person was so close to me, but I missed him. I really deserve to die, and I will never close my eyes in peace!"