The afternoon was quite leisurely. I played with Li Shu and fed the fat pigs. Before I knew it, the sun was setting.
When it was almost time to cook dinner, Li Shu, the scheming woman, went to show off to her mother Chen again. As a spoiled young lady, she rushed to pick, wash and cut vegetables, working diligently and efficiently, which made Chen praise her again and again. As for Zhu Ping'an, who went to the kitchen to carry two buckets of water and carried two loads of firewood, Chen ignored them...
Mom, do you only have eyes for Li Shu? My son fetched water and carried firewood. He used to be praised for doing these things.
Is it so difficult to get a compliment
In order to save face in front of Chen, Zhu Ping'an picked up some firewood and sat in front of the stove to start a fire, but he still failed.
"What are you doing here, little brat? Get out now." When Chen saw Zhu Ping'an preparing to start a fire, she kicked him out without saying a word.
"A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. You should study hard." Li Shu, with a linen apron around her neck and washed vegetables in her hands, stood at the door of the kitchen, watching Zhu Ping'an being driven out of the kitchen by her mother Chen. She squinted her big watery eyes and stretched out her voice, full of pride.
A gentleman stays away from the kitchen?!
Seeing Li Shu's smug look, Zhu Pingan couldn't help but shook his head and said slowly, "You are wrong..."
"What's wrong?" Li Shu pouted her lips, "A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen."
"A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. This sentence does not mean that a gentleman who does great things should stay away from the kitchen. You have misunderstood what Mencius meant." Zhu Ping'an looked at Li Shu and shook his head.
In fact, it is estimated that most people have misunderstood Mencius's words "A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen" just like Li Shu. In fact, Mencius did not mean that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen or that the kitchen is a woman's world. It is not like that at all.
"Why not?" Li Shu expressed her doubt about what Zhu Ping'an said. She had heard the saying "A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen" for a long time, so how could it be wrong
"Mencius's words should be read in full, 'When a gentleman sees animals alive, he cannot bear to see them die; when he hears their cries, he cannot bear to eat their meat. Therefore, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen.' When a gentleman sees animals alive, he cannot bear to see them die; when he hears their cries, he cannot bear to eat their meat. Therefore, a gentleman always stays away from the kitchen."
"To put it simply, the saying that a gentleman stays away from the kitchen simply means that God has a benevolent nature and a gentleman cannot bear to kill. It does not mean that a gentleman does not enter the kitchen..."
When Zhu Ping'an said these words, his eyes were always looking at Li Shu. It didn't seem like anything special, but the look in his eyes was like a teacher looking at an uneducated and naughty child, which made Li Shu feel very angry.
"You..." Li Shu puffed up her lips, a little speechless.
Seeing that Li Shu had suffered a loss, her mother Chen stood up for her good daughter-in-law. She looked at Zhu Ping'an with amusement, holding a rolling pin in her hand as if she was going to give him a beating, and asked, "Mencius' words don't count, so does what mother said just now count?"
"Calculate... ... "
Zhu Ping'an was defeated immediately after Chen asked the question, which made Li Shu cover her mouth and laugh.
Unable to help in the kitchen, Zhu Ping'an returned to his room, took out the two brushes his father had made, scalded the hair with hot water, and then put one of them away. He took out a piece of rice paper and spread it on the table, ground the ink, dipped the brush into the ink, and wrote eight words on the rice paper: The thief combs the soldier's comb, and kills the innocent to take credit.
When entertaining the Huaining County Magistrate in the morning, the Huaining County Magistrate told Zhu Ping'an about the recent events in the court, and mentioned the memorial Zhu Ping'an submitted before leaving. Zhu Ping'an did not expect that his memorial would cause such a big stir. It was a coincidence that it happened to be submitted at the same time as the two memorials impeaching Yan Song. In addition, he did not expect that the centurion Zhao Daying who killed innocent people and took credit for it was actually promoted by Yan Song. It is said that he had already joined Yan Shifan and became a disciple of the Yan family.
Of course, even if he knew about his relationship with Yan Song at that time, he would have impeached him. If such a person is dealt with one day later, the people will suffer one more day. If an official does not serve the people, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes. Therefore, Zhu Ping'an did not regret it at all.
At the banquet, the Huaining County Magistrate showed Zhu Ping'an a report from the capital city. The report mentioned that Zhu Ping'an should go to the Ministry of Justice to petition.
The Huaining County Magistrate was probably a neutral party, neither a member of the Yan Party nor an anti-Yan Party, and just wanted to finish his term in office safely and without any problems. Zhu Ping'an was from Huaining, and he won the top prize in the imperial examination, which was a great achievement for the Huaining County Magistrate, so he had a good impression of Zhu Ping'an.
The Huaining County Magistrate even suggested to Zhu Pingan that he might as well use Zhao Wenhua's relationship. Zhao Wenhua had briefly served as the education official of Nanzhili, and it happened to be when Zhu Pingan was a juren. Zhao Wenhua could be considered Zhu Pingan's teacher. With this relationship, it was not surprising for Zhu Pingan to use Zhao Wenhua's relationship.
In addition, Zhao Wenhua's reputation for greed was not a secret in Nanzhili or the political circles of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the most important point is the relationship between Zhao Wenhua and Yan Song. Yan Song is Zhao Wenhua's adoptive father, and this relationship is much more solid than that of Zhao Daying. If Zhao Wenhua is willing to say a few words for Zhu Ping'an in front of Yan Song, this matter will not be a big deal. It can be solved anyway.
It was for this reason that the Huaining County Magistrate suggested that Zhu Ping'an try to build Zhao Wenhua's connections.
However, Zhu Ping'an was not prepared to use connections. He believed that if he was upright, he had nothing to fear. He had not done anything wrong, so why should he worry about going to the Ministry of Justice to plead his case? Moreover, he was well prepared. He did not impeach Zhao Daying on impulse. He had also thought it through and made preparations.
Killing innocent people to claim credit is not uncommon in history, and it was most common in the late Ming Dynasty. Many cases were reported to the Ministry of Justice or even to the emperor. Zhu Ping'an has seen many such examples in modern times, and he has learned a lot from them on how to deal with such things.
Therefore, Zhu Ping'an is not worried about today's situation.
Do you have connections? Do you like kneeling in front of the Ministry of Justice to appeal for justice? Do you feel confident? Do you want me to speak for you in the Ministry of Justice
Haha, let’s wait and see.
Zhu Ping'an sat at the table, slowly going over the examples of killing innocent people and claiming credit that he had seen in his mind, and wrote down some of the key points on manuscript paper. Especially those cases during the Chongzhen period, which were somewhat similar to the current situation and were very instructive. Zhu Ping'an focused on analyzing and recording them.
By the time dinner was ready, Zhu Ping'an had already filled three pages of rice paper with his thoughts, and was ready to go to the Ministry of Justice to make his case. (To be continued.)