"This is Qingzhou City? The courtyard wall is so high!" Wei Xiaozhuang stood in front of Qingzhou City, looked up at the towering city wall, and exclaimed in awe.
Li Ye laughed beside him and said, "This is called the city wall."
"The city wall, I know, I heard from Master." Wei Xiaozhuang said seriously with an expression that I just slipped the tongue: "But it is not as exaggerated as what Master said. He said that there is a city wall that is as high as a mountain. Huh ,boast."
Li Ye smiled, as Pinglu governs the state, Qingzhou City is high and deep, but it is incomparable with Chang'an, so Li Ye has no feeling.
When they entered the city with the carriage, the sergeant guarding the city gate searched the carriage thoroughly. It wasn't that Qingzhou was under martial law, but Li Ye and the three of them walked with an empty carriage, which seemed unreasonable.
The sergeant didn't find anything, and gave Li Ye and the others a strange look, his eyes lingering on Su Emei for a long time, and finally waved his hand to let them enter the city.
Passing through the city gate corridor, the eyes suddenly opened up, looking at the bustling people on the wide long street and the dense and tall houses on both sides of the street. Eyes are straight.
"Don't be in a daze, let's go." Su Emei walked past him and reminded in a low voice.
Wei Xiaozhuang hurriedly followed, and accidentally bumped into a big man in brocade clothes, causing the other party to glare at him. He hurriedly smiled and nodded, and ran to Su Emei's side. Wei Xiaozhuang looked around in awe, and said in a low voice: " Senior Sister, there are so many people here, and the houses are all so big, and they all look similar, how can we find the Cui family?"
Su E's eyebrows were also pounding in her heart, she glanced at Li Ye's back, and tried to calm down: "Why are you panicking, isn't there still Mr. Li? It seems that he often goes to the city, so he must know the way."
"It makes sense." Wei Xiaozhuang nodded, with a look of rejoicing, "Fortunately, I met Brother Li, otherwise this time's errand would be really difficult." He quickly followed Li Ye in two steps.
"Go and sell the carriage first." Li Ye said to Wei Xiaozhuang and Su Emei, "Go to the market to find a carriage dealer, and then we will go to Cui's house."
Wei Xiaozhuang was dizzy, he didn't know what the market and car dealerships were, so he nodded his head in agreement: "Listen to Brother Li."
Li Ye turned around and glanced at Su Emei. The other party still looked as usual, not like Wei Xiaozhuang. In the words of the previous life, the goddess Faner was still the goddess Faner, but Li Ye still keenly discovered that Su Emei held her hand. The fingers of the sword tensed a little.
After all, passers-by on the street, regardless of men, women and children, will turn their heads to look at Su Emei when they see Su Emei. Ye's robe.
No woman ever wears long robes, and this is not a Taoist robe. Although Su Emei has long legs and tall, she is still worse than Li Ye, and this robe does not fit her well.
Accepting the attention of almost everyone on the street, Su Emei, who was walking the rivers and lakes and entering the city for the first time, could not be nervous at all. Li Ye thought, before going to Cui's house, she still had to change her clothes. She felt uncomfortable about what the Cui family thought.
When selling the carriage at the chariot and horse shop, the other party gave Li Ye a large bag of copper coins, about ten catties. Buying and selling goods in this era is like this. When a big family buys valuables, they often let their servants go out with a few big bags of copper coins. It is full of momentum, and of course it is inconvenient. .
"So much?" Su Emei couldn't help but be amazed. When she paid Li Ye back the carriage money, she just gave it a...
"Are these copper coins different from the ones we brought?" Wei Xiaozhuang leaned over, glanced at the money bag, and then looked at Li Ye in confusion: "It's the same!"
"It's not the same, the copper coins brought by your Taoist temple are relatively rare." Li Ye was afraid that Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang would be embarrassed, so he laughed openly.
Su Emei blushed all of a sudden, and she glared at Li Ye in embarrassment: "Do you think I'm stupid?"
Now she has realized that she owes Li Ye a lot of money. Looking at the merchant at that time, he ran away without a trace with the gold, and reckoned that the lump of gold was more valuable.
But Li Ye didn't mention this, which made Su Emei have a good impression of Li Ye's generosity, but felt guilty.
"Money and wealth are things outside the body. Walking in the rivers and lakes, righteousness is the first thing, saying that these are not vulgar?" Li Ye immediately put on a straight face, and in the tone of a senior in the rivers and lakes, he taught a serious lesson, and handed the money bag to Wei Xiaozhuang, "Come on, Take your money!"
Su E frowned, looked at Li Ye, and blinked her big suspicious eyes.
Wei Xiaozhuang was holding a big bag of money, at a loss.
"Let's go, go change your clothes." Li Ye waved his hand, "If you don't want to be stared at all the time."
Su E's eyebrows were slightly embarrassed. It was indeed uncomfortable to be stared at by others, but it cost money to change clothes. Her delicate brows were knit together, appearing to be very conflicted.
Li Ye showed his masculinity at the right time, without further ado, he took the two of them to find a magnificent silk and satin shop, and picked out ready-made clothes for Su Emei. The small silk and satin shop probably only sold cloth and had no ready-made clothes.
When choosing clothes, Su Emei was stumped. She couldn't wear all kinds of light shirts and skirts, because the colors were too bright and the decorations were too gorgeous, which didn't meet her aesthetics at all. In her opinion , These clothes are unwearable.
The more clothes she looked at, the more precious the shopkeeper introduced her, the lower her head became, the more cramped her ears became, and her ears became redder and redder. In the end, Li Ye couldn't stand it anymore and had to go to Get her a robe.
After working for a long time, Li Ye finally brought two Taoists to Cui's mansion.
"Cui Keli?" Li Ye heard Su Emei say this name, and an image of a majestic old man with white beard appeared in his mind.
The concierge of the Cui family heard that everyone was going to see Cui Keli, his eyes were a little weird, as if looking at a fool. Looking at him, if it weren't for the sake of Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang, who are Taoists, they would not have gone in to report.
"Have you seen this Cui Keli?" Li Ye asked Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang.
The two shook their heads, and Su Emei explained: "Although the master said that the Taoist temple is often supported by the other party, he has never been to the Taoist temple."
Currently used, it is the most complete and best-used app for listening to books. It integrates 4 major speech synthesis engines, over 100 kinds of timbres, and is an artifact that supports offline reading. huanyuanapp.org
Li Ye didn't ask any more questions. He had heard of Cui Keli. The memory of this life told him that before Cui's death, he often chanted this name, as if it was her brother or something.
Everyone waited for a long time at the concierge, and when Wei Xiaozhuang was getting impatient, a middle-aged servant finally came out from behind the screen wall, wearing a linen blue shirt, the corners of which had been washed white, and cloth shoes on his feet, and spoke to Li Ye and others saluted: "Everyone has come from a long way and worked hard all the way, please follow me."
Seeing the servant's attire, Li Ye was thoughtful. Since the person Cui Keli sent to greet him, he should be a close friend, but judging by his attire, it was too shabby. As a servant in the inner courtyard, the treatment should be It's not bad, but Cui's family members are all dressed more glamorously than him, it seems that Cui Keli's situation in Cui's family is not good.
A few people followed the middle-aged servant, turning around in Cui's mansion, passing through countless pavilions and attics, the more remote they walked, and the people they met on the road did not take the initiative to greet the middle-aged servant, which became more and more serious. Li Ye's judgment was confirmed.
After walking for a full two minutes, there were no buildings around. They passed through a small earth mountain, passed a bamboo forest, and saw a small stream. There were one or two acres of farmland on the other side of the stream, which was full of seasonal crops, and there was a vegetable field next to it. , the crops and vegetables are growing quite well, and the farmland is well groomed, and the stream is irrigated. It can be seen that the farmers are very hardworking.
There are two houses in front of the farmland, with a total of five or six rooms, and another thatched hut, which has a nest of chickens and ducks. Besides, there is a big yellow dog. It was lying lazily basking in the sun in the yard, but when it saw Li Ye and the others, it stood up and barked, then whimpered, then lay still on its stomach, squinting its eyes and continuing to bask in the sun, comfortably like an old woman.
"Little man is lazy, but he is very human. He just said hello to me. You came with me. He won't make things difficult for you." The middle-aged servant said warmly.
"Xiaoman?" Wei Xiaozhuang pointed at the big yellow dog and looked at the middle-aged servant, feeling inconceivable, "You said the yellow dog's name is Xiaoman?"
The middle-aged servant nodded: "Xiaoman is a female."
Wei Xiaozhuang shook his head, but in the end he still couldn't get the words out of his mouth. He didn't ask the yellow dog's gender, but he thought that Xiaoman was clearly a personal name.
The middle-aged servant brought Li Ye and others into the door, and invited everyone to sit down. There was no one else in the room, "The humble house is simple, and there are many negligences. I hope you will be tolerant. Sit down for a while, and I will prepare tea."
Then go out again.
Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang sat down neatly and looked around. There were no furnishings in the room, only four sets of high tables and chairs, which looked new, and the dry mud floor had fresh scratches. There are several rows of bookshelves, filled with all kinds of classics, and a lot of manuscript paper is piled up on the desk, full of words. The sun shines in from the window, the manuscript paper rustles softly in the breeze, and the room is filled with the fragrance of books and ink.
Li Ye walked over to the book case for a few glances, and was immediately attracted by the strong fonts on the manuscript paper. He couldn't help picking it up to read, but the manuscript paper was of average material, the most common kind.
After reading a page of manuscript, Li Ye frowned slightly. Looking at the content of the manuscript, it is obvious that it was written by scholars, with unique insights and profound understanding, it should be written by Cui Keli. But the material of the paper is too bad. Scholars and scholars like romance and style, and they have particularly high requirements for the four treasures of the study. They will try their best to improve the quality if they have the slightest conditions. It seems that these things are not good enough to carry their literary spirit.
The middle-aged servant came in with a tray and served tea to Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang. Seeing Li Ye standing in front of the desk, his expression was slightly surprised: "The priest also reads Confucianism?"
Li Ye smiled: "I am not a Taoist, but a friend of these two priests. I have also read some Confucian words, and I am quite interested. When I saw Mr. Cui's manuscripts, I admired them very much."
A gleam flashed in the eyes of the middle-aged servant, the kind of brilliance that makes friends come from afar.
Wei Xiaozhuang coughed twice, looked at the middle-aged servant, and said seriously: "Well, we are here to find Mr. Cui, I wonder if Mr. Cui is here?"
The middle-aged servant was startled: "I am."
Li Ye was taken aback, Su Emei also found it incredible, Wei Xiaozhuang was even more surprised and said: "I'm talking about Mr. Cui Keli!"
"I am Cui Keli." The middle-aged servant said seriously, "Only the next person lives here."
The three of them looked at each other, feeling incredible, isn't this guy a servant
Cui Keli is a well-known figure, and he is a direct descendant of the Cui family. How could he be dressed so shabby? Moreover, looking at his face, he was too ordinary, and he couldn't recognize him when he was thrown in a sea of people. Didn't everyone say that he had a poetic and literary spirit in his belly, and I didn't see how unusual this guy's temperament was.
Now everyone finally realized why Menzi had such an expression when he heard that they were looking for Cui Keli.
Li Ye caught Cui Keli's last words, and he asked: "The crops outside the yard are all grown by Mr.?"
Cui Keli nodded, seeing that Li Ye was quite surprised, he explained: "Scholars cultivate and read family traditions, and they need to do everything by themselves. Confucian scholars even think that it is their duty to seek the well-being of the common people. If you don't work hard, you can't even experience the suffering of the people, so how can you talk about benefiting the people?"
This was the first time Li Ye had heard such remarks.
In Chang'an, he had met many scholars, which of them didn't regard the music and water flowing, the poetry singing, the romance of brothels as elegant things, and the peddling of pawns as a humble occupation? Isn't Wei Baoheng's younger brother Wei Jiangnan like this
Scholars who entered the officialdom with Jinshi in high school can't tell the difference between leeks and garlic all their lives. Isn't there a lot of them? Acquiring literary and martial arts, and buying them in the emperor's family, is this the pursuit of a scholar, right? Aren't they the ones who rule the country and issue orders to determine the happiness and misfortune of the people in the world
Li Ye couldn't help admiring this scholar who dressed simply and farmed and raised ducks by himself. He cupped his hands and said sincerely: "Mr.
Cui Keli, however, shook his head seriously, sighed, and replied ashamedly: "My lord, don't be like this. Cui is disgusted. Cui has been studying for dozens of years, but he only guards a few huts and two acres of Susukida; he has never traveled all over the world, to the mountains and fields I have seen the hardships and hardships of the people with my own eyes; I am full of ink, but I just wrote some self-comforting words, and I have never really done anything useful for the people. Cui, thanks to the teachings of the sages, dare not call himself student."
Don't dare call yourself a scholar!
Hearing this sentence, Li Ye was speechless.
Some memories suddenly popped up in his mind.
Li Xian has also mentioned before that there are not many serious scholars in the world. They forget their original aspirations when they get into the officialdom, and they think they are superior when they have cultivation.
But Cui Keli in Qingzhou can be called a serious Confucian scholar.
When Li Xian said this, there was a look of admiration and fascination between his brows, but in Li Ye's memory, in the whole world, there are people who can make Li Xian show such a look, and he can count on one hand.