The Path of the Sage

Chapter 20: Crisis in the city

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Shopkeeper Zhen walked back to Jixiang Restaurant. It happened to be lunch time. Normally at this time, the door would be crowded with customers and bustling. But now there were only two tables of people in the huge lobby, and there was not a single scholar, let alone those wearing children's robes or even scholar robes. people.

It's only been a day.

At this time, a waiter hurried over and said anxiously: "Shopkeeper, it's bad, Mr. Su has already issued a message that people from the Su family are not allowed to come to our store to eat, and the Su family's property is not allowed to have any dealings with us. The two prominent families have also followed suit. You can think of a way. I heard from my friends in the county government that Magistrate Cai also announced today that in the future, the county government will no longer choose our Jixiang Restaurant to receive guests. In this case, those government officials and their relatives. They won’t come.”

Shopkeeper Zhen stared blankly at the empty lobby. He stayed there for a long time and then sat on the threshold and cried.

"I shouldn't look down on others..."

Different from the usual lunch, the Fang family's lunch today included meat and vegetables. Yang Yuhuan was no longer reluctant to eat it, but could eat whatever he wanted with Fang Yun.

Yang Yuhuan talked about some trivial matters while eating, such as someone else came to give gifts, and several wealthy families sent invitations to invite Fang Yun to attend the dinner.

After the meal, Fang Yun wrote some short letters to reply to those who invited him. First, he expressed his gratitude, and finally said that he would go to Cai County magistrate's house to study the classics and its meaning, and to see Haihan.

Take a short nap to recharge your batteries, then grind ink and lay paper.

"The holy path of Confucianism is long and arduous, and we must move forward step by step. Even if I have the world of extraordinary books, I still need to work hard. In other words, in order to live up to the world of extraordinary books, I should work harder!"

"The first thing is to practice calligraphy. As a scholar, calligraphy is very important. In the Holy Yuan Continent, a good calligraphy is more important than a good face."

"Secondly, I must memorize and understand the classics of the saints. The world of strange books can help me understand everything, but it cannot give me omnipotence. After reading it on paper, I will feel shallow. This world of strange books is my step, not that I can open the holy way. The key to the holy way is only me! If everything depends on Qishu Tiandi, I will never be able to walk out of my own holy way, and I will never be able to become a saint!"

"Third, read the weekly "Wenbao", which reports all the current affairs, culture, economy, technology and other information of the ten countries in the Holy Yuan Continent in the past week. This is the best way for me to understand the world. " The monthly magazine "The Holy Way" is also indispensable. The poems and articles on it are the essence of the ten countries and represent the development trends and ideological foundations of the entire world. You must also read all the "Wen Bao" and "The Holy Way" over the years."

Fang Yun took a deep breath, and with a thought, a calligraphy copybook appeared. Fang Yun finally chose "Liu style", which is the regular script style of Liu Gongquan, a great calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty. Shengyuan Continent did not have Liu style yet.

Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan were the two great calligraphers of the Tang Dynasty. Their attainments in regular script were not inferior to those of Wang Xizhi, the sage of calligraphy, but naturally they were far inferior to Wang Xizhi in running script.

The face and body are too square and strong, which is not suitable for Fang Yun to study now, while the Liu body is smooth and well-proportioned, tall and agile, and rigorous in structure, which is more in line with Fang Yun's personality and age.

In the imperial examination, regular script had a higher status than running script, but in terms of calligraphy, the two were equally ranked. However, in the military, cursive script was very popular.

Fang Yun first closed his eyes and silently memorized a copy of Liu Gongquan's famous work "The Monument of Shence's Army", making it deeply imprinted in his mind, and then picked up his pen to copy it.

"The emperor visited Zuo Shence's army..."

Fang Yun wrote one stroke after another, one, two, three...

After writing ten pages, there was no improvement, but he was not discouraged and continued writing.

After writing the twentieth piece, Fang Yun stopped writing and looked carefully. A smile appeared on his face. This word had made small progress.

"It is indeed a world of talents. Now that I have talents, not only my body has become stronger and I can have 'bright eyes and night vision', but my mind is also flexible and I can learn anything faster than before."

Fang Yun gained confidence and wrote more smoothly.

After practicing calligraphy for an hour, Fang Yun took a walk in the yard for half an hour, and then returned to the house to continue practicing calligraphy.

After practicing calligraphy, Fang Yun burned all the copybooks. The "Shengcejun Monument" recorded a visit from various countries in the Tang Dynasty and other events, which could not be seen by others.

Fang Yun took a break and took out a slightly worn "Book of Changes" on the bookshelf to read.

The original text of the book does not have any punctuation marks, and even the paragraphs are messy, but there are some marks made by Fang Yun himself with a brush, which are similar to periods, which is the so-called sentence reading.

Fang Yun began to recite the "Book of Changes", and after reciting the first chapter "Qian", Fang Yun was surprised to find that he had completely remembered it, which was not clear in his previous memory.

"This is photographic memory. Jinshi has a photographic memory because he has undergone many talent initiations and his body and brain are unusual. It is unbelievable that I, a mere child, can also have photographic memory. Could it be the power that comes with the world of strange books? "

Fang Yun felt happy and continued to read the chapter "Qian" from the beginning.

Read the book a hundred times, and its meaning will appear by itself.

When he read it for the third time, Fang Yun found that his mind was getting clearer and clearer, and the text in front of him seemed to come alive. Pieces of perceptible but unexplainable information appeared in his mind, which helped to understand the "Book of Changes".

Fang Yun immediately guessed that this was another function of Qishu Tiandi, helping to digest knowledge, turning what was in Qishu Tiandi and books into his own, and turning the dead into life.

Fang Yun continued to read, and the most essential meaning hidden in the words slipped through Fang Yun's mind, and was gradually understood and absorbed by him.

After reading it ten times, Fang Yun felt slightly full, as if he had just eaten.

"No wonder Confucius said that you don't know the taste of meat for three months. I'm afraid it's because you've 'eaten' the most original thing in the world, so you naturally don't care about the taste of meat."

Fang Yun did not recite the next volume of the "Book of Changes", but picked up his pen and wrote what he had just read.

After writing the first chapter "Qian", the fullness in Fang Yun's abdomen disappeared, and his writing this time was much improved than before. Every word was perfect, and every word seemed to contain true meaning.

Fang Yun picked up the page and found that the paper was ten times heavier than the copybook he had written on before, and the ink was not loose and did not dry for a long time.

Fang Yun reached out and touched the ink, which was as smooth and round as touching glass.

The ink does not stick to the skin.

"The ink that sticks to the skin is a sign of integrating talent into words. Even a scholar needs to practice for three to five months. The next step is to 'resonate with words', and only then can the vitality of the world be mobilized and fully master the 'paper talk'. If I were in Tongsheng When you are young, you can keep the ink on your skin. I am afraid that when you first become a scholar, you can "talk on paper". It is not surprising that the paper becomes heavy, and it is even more terrifying when the words of the legendary saint are like mountains. "

Fang Yun didn't expect that he would make such rapid progress. He was happy and motivated, so he continued to study and practice. He recited it ten times and then wrote it with pen and ink.

As he wrote and studied the Book of Changes, the talents within the Wen Palace gradually grew, and the entire Wen Palace became stronger and stronger.

Unknowingly, the sun set and the room became dim, but Fang Yun seemed to be unaware and continued to read and write.

At night, his eyes are brighter than usual. As a child, he has the ability of "bright eye night vision". Even in the dark night, it is like being in daylight, and everything is clearly visible.

Fang Yun finished writing another word and was reading it when Yang Yuhuan's voice came from outside.

"Xiao Luck, it's time to eat."

"Okay, I'll be out right away."

Fang Yun ate as usual, but Yang Yuhuan changed slightly. She used to chat with Fang Yun but said very little, but in the past two days, she told Fang Yun everything in detail, saying that she was looking for a maid. During the process, she talked about her neighbors. Every time she talked about others praising her luck, she was very happy and beaming. Her face seemed to glow, making her even more beautiful.

Fang Yun listened quietly, occasionally interjecting a few words. He felt very warm, and Yang Yuhuan had obviously become dependent on him.

After dinner, Fang Yun left with some paper, bought some fruit and went to the county government office. Magistrate Cai lived in the backyard of the county government office.

In the backyard of the county government office, Fang Yun met Mrs. Cai. Mrs. Cai was very polite. After greetings, Magistrate Cai took him to the study and taught him how to do the scriptures.

"There are many structures in the meaning of the scriptures, including breaking the topic, continuing the topic, small lecture, ending, original topic, major lecture, remaining meaning, original sutra and ending. You don't have to stick to this structure, but you must understand all the structures."

Fang Yun himself has a certain understanding of the classics and meanings. After all, even if Kaotong students do not learn how to do the classics and meanings, they still need to learn from the classics and their meanings to gain insights and lay the foundation for the future.

While Fang Yun listened, he wrote down all the important points with flying pen.

Magistrate Cai nodded.

"The most important thing is to break the meaning of the scriptures. The so-called breaking the questions means to break the questions and use your own words to explain the words of the saints. If you even make mistakes in breaking the questions, won't you make the same mistake again and again? Whenever the examiner marks the paper, if there is a mistake in breaking the questions, he will immediately abandon it. It’s a waste volume.”

After that, County Magistrate Cai gave several ways to pose questions and analyzed the pitfalls in the questions, explaining it in simple and easy-to-understand terms.

Generally speaking, the teachers who teach children are just scholars, and no matter how powerful the scholar is, they are not as good as a Jinshi. What's more, these Jinshi will continue to study the meaning of the scriptures and pay attention to the annual examination questions, because the meaning of the scriptures is most helpful in understanding the way of the saints. .

Magistrate Cai spent an hour and a half explaining the structure of the scriptures in an extremely thorough manner. Although Fang Yun memorized everything, he did not understand many parts due to lack of experience.

After the lecture, Fang Yun was about to leave, but Magistrate Cai suddenly asked: "What types of questions have I just talked about? Come on one by one, and you are not allowed to look at the notes."

Fang Yun's expression remained unchanged and he calmly replied: "The question you talked about first is the 'chapter question', which uses the content of a chapter as the test question. The second is the 'cut question', which only takes the first four words in a sentence. The third is the extremely controversial 'intersection and matching issue'..."

Fang Yun answered all the questions accurately and added his own understanding.

Magistrate Cai was stunned, and then his face glowed brightly, and he said: "Okay! You are worthy of being a double-armored saint. You will definitely have a place in the hall one day! Even if you have a place in the 'Holy Tower', I will I won’t be surprised! But I’m afraid I won’t be able to understand it if I talk too much, otherwise I will talk until dawn!”

"Thank you Master Cai." Fang Yun solemnly bowed and thanked him.

"You give me an exam to pass the exam, and you give me a poem for leaving the county. It's nothing if I teach you some scriptures and meanings."

The two of them walked out while talking.

After sending Fang Yun away, Magistrate Cai stood in the courtyard and sighed to the moon: "This son is very good, but it is a pity that he is not my son!"

Back home, Fang Yun continued to read classics and practice calligraphy. Before going to bed, he repeatedly recalled what he had learned at Magistrate Cai's house.

This night, Fang Yun came into contact with Jingyi for the first time.

That night, a pawnshop in the Liu family of Dayuan Prefecture was burned down, resulting in a loss of more than 30,000 taels of silver.

That night, Fang Shouye visited the Liu family mansion and slapped Liu Zicheng away, forcing Liu Zicheng to bow his head and admit his mistake. Before leaving, he said cruel words, if Fang Yun was killed, the next day would be Liu Zicheng's death anniversary!

That night, Liu Zicheng used Hongyan's letter from the liberal arts college to contact his brother Liu Zizhi who was far away in the capital and got his reply.

That night, Liu Zicheng brought all his savings to visit the Lord of Weiyuan of Fuwenyuan, took out Liu Zizhi's letter, and bribed this fifth-rank official of the Liushan family.

That night, Liu Zicheng looked in the direction of Ji County and swore.

"I won't kill you, but I will stain your literary name, cut off your literary career, and destroy your future! Not only will you not be able to enter this academy, I will also humiliate you in front of everyone on the day you are admitted to the academy. , let you kneel in front of me and beg for mercy like a dog, to wash away the humiliation of that old dog Fang Shouye!"