The magistrate Qi had not touched the "Four Books" for many years. He was afraid that he might have missed something when comparing him, so he asked the book boy who was serving him to bring the book, flipped a page, and read: "The Master said: ' Ji does not call it strength, but calls it virtue.'"
This is from "Xian Wen XIV", not far from where he just recited, Cui Xie continued without hesitation: "Ji, the name of a good horse. Virtue, it is also called goodness..."
Qi Sheng interrupted him, flipped back for a while, stopped at random, scratched the book with his fingers and asked, "'This statement is the nature of temperament. It is not the essence of language.' Which sentence is it explaining?"
Cui Xie replied: "This sentence is what Cheng Zi said, and the original text explained is from "The Seventeenth of Yang Huo".
"Zilu asks an adult."
"The Master said: 'If Zang Wuzhong knew it, Gongchuo didn't want it..."
"Guan Zhongxiang, Duke Huan—"
"Guan Zhongxiang, Duke Huan, dominates the feudal feudal lords, and the people of the world are now receiving his gifts. Wei Guan Zhong..."
The county magistrate hurriedly turned over dozens of pages, interrupted him suddenly with a loud voice, and asked, "Why did Shun marry without telling me?"
But this sentence jumps from the Analects to Mencius. Anyway, Cui Xie just read the four books yesterday with the attitude of reviewing for the exam, and he was still a little impressed, so he hurriedly turned down a few lines, found the original text, and read: "Mencius said: "If you tell me, you can't marry. Men's and women's rooms are a great relationship between people..."
Qi County magistrate's question was as urgent as one question, and Cui Xie was very nervous. He stared at the page and kept looking for it. When he found a few sentences, he was interrupted. After the half-day examination, he was looking at the whole chapter of "Four Books and Chapters" over and over again - just like reading a book, he can look at the whole page at a glance, and look for the words the other party read in it.
In reality, the human eye cannot see so many words at once, but in the brain there is no such limitation. After reading it over a dozen times, he already has a considerable impression of this book.
The county magistrate Qi didn't know this, but he was quicker than one sentence and one sentence faster than the other. "Pan Ming" said: Gou Rixin, daily new, and daily new', what's the explanation?"
Cui Xie began to recite the word "plate, the plate of bathing", and went on to read it correctly. This time, the county magistrate didn't interrupt him, and let him read the entire "University" until "the reader can't get close to it and ignore it."
The county magistrate closed the book, interrupted his fluent chanting, looked at him and asked, "You have only read the "Four Books" all these years? How much effort did it take to memorize the book so fluently?"
Cui Xie slowly exhaled, opened his eyes, and said respectfully and modestly, "The student was raised by his grandmother since he was a child, and then the second elder became ill, and the student served the sick in the hall. When he had time, he just read the "Book of Filial Piety". , read a few sentences of the "Four Books" with your husband. But if adults want to compare, just pick up any book, and after reading it once, students can remember it with confidence."
Qixian magistrate's eyes were slightly stagnant, and he asked in disbelief, "You said you can remember it?"
Cui Xie lowered his eyes and replied with a smile, "It's just rote memorization, it's just not in the mind."
Qi Sheng took a deep look at him and ordered, "Bring the "Reconstruction of Confucianism in the County" that I made a few days ago!" Shutong Xu brought an article, Qi Sheng read it without error, and handed it to him. , said: "I'll give you a stick of incense, and take it down."
The book boy put on a new incense, and the white tobacco wafted up. Cui Xie took the article and read it carefully, closed his eyes to confirm that there were no misspellings, and read sentence by sentence: "There is a school in Qian'an County, which was created in the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. Zhaojun County ordered a new school. Only the county magistrate Xiao Yi built it... because of his ambition. His years are on the left of the Pan Palace."
This miscellaneous note was recently written by Qi County magistrate, and it was revised several times with careful consideration, so it was all recorded in his mind. He didn't need to look at the book like he did when he took the "Four Books" test, but looked at Cui Xie's expression when he endorsed it.
Calm and calm, the speech is smooth, and it is pleasing to the eye.
He finished memorizing the article successfully, but the county magistrate Qi was not happy, instead he showed a look of pity, and sighed in his heart: How can such a talent come to Qian'an only now! If he comes a year earlier, no, half a year earlier, as long as he can catch up with this year's county examination, I will definitely appoint him as the case leader—a 14-year-old county case leader and a 14-year-old student can also be called a prodigy. !
Pity!
It's a pity that this year's subject examination has passed, and next year will be the year of the autumn village examination, and there will be no student examination. And Cui Xie will be sixteen by the time of the next year's test. Fourteen-year-old students are precious, and sixteen-year-olds are not very valuable.
Qi County magistrate felt pity for Caicai for a while, and wanted to go to the Cui Mansion in the capital to ask how his father delayed such a good boy and didn't let him study and study seriously. But then I think about it, Cui Xie didn't have a good time to study before because he had to take care of his grandparents.
Stop it, you can make up for it in the future. Loyalty and filial piety are the major festivals. If he hadn't had a heart of benevolence and filial piety since he was a child, how could he have become such a loyal and righteous person with the grace and grace of the emperor.
He sighed and said, "Since you live in the county, you can study with peace of mind in the future. Don't let down the gift that God has given you. Unfortunately, I am a student, so if I teach you, it will delay you. Find a gentleman to lay a solid foundation, and after the test in the next year, I want to push you into the government school, the gentleman over there is better."
What? Choi Xie glanced at him in surprise. This is to be sure that he can be admitted to the scholar in the next year? Is the county magistrate Qi too convinced of his unforgettable talent, or is he planning to help him... Missing question
The county magistrate was full of worries and didn't pay much attention to his expression. After thinking for a while, he noticed that he was still sitting beside him, so he gathered up the miscellaneous notes on the table and said, "You have such a good memory, you can use it to memorize it like this. It’s a waste of time. I have a set of Zou Yangzi’s “Six Master’s Collected Works” in my study. You can take it back and play with it, and come to Japan to write eight-part essays.
Cui Xie hurriedly stood up to thank him, and reported to him again: "The student has received the holy grace and wants to return to his hometown to pay tribute to his ancestors. I wonder if there is any obstacle in the case of the student's family. How long will it take to leave the county?"
case? Well, even a prodigy has passed his age, so what is the case!
Qi county magistrate held back the sigh that was about to blurt out, and said calmly, "Go if you want to go. This case is iron-clad, and the government won't bring you to court. The driver is fine. When the file arrives at the Criminal Department, they will investigate it. , it is more convenient to obtain evidence from your home."
He asked Shutong to pick up an old box of "Wenji", and put it on the carriage, together with the reward money and fabric, and let Cui Xie's master and servant go home in disappointment.
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After returning from the government office, Cui Xie asked the coachman to carry letters back to Cui's house for them.
The Cui family was a wealthy family who was moved by the imperial court to enrich the north during the Yongle period. Their ancestral home should be in the Xiangfan area. At the beginning, after being driven by the army, they migrated over tens of thousands of miles. At the same time, some relatives who migrated died on the road, and some were assigned to other villages. Only the Cui family Gaozu and his wife moved to Dongjiaxiang Village, Qian'an County.
The children of the Cui family are not prosperous, and the graves of some deceased children and unmarried daughters cannot be erected. The small graves are surrounded by a few tall tombstones. So far, there is only Cui Ju.
Cui Yuan bought three sacrificial wine gifts, lighted the fragrance, and offered them in front of the cemetery. Cui Xie picked up the water himself, wiped the stele piece by piece with a rag, and had a panoramic view of the names engraved on the stele.
The tombstone of his great-grandfather is the most conspicuous, with the inscription "First Examination Master Cui Taboo" in the center, and "Unworthy Son Cui Yun Weeping" inscribed in the lower left corner. Probably because Cui's father had already passed the examination when the monument was erected, and there was an epitaph on the monument, which should have been written by Cui Ju, recording the good deeds and deeds of the ancestor of the Cui family, his wife, concubines and children.
Cui Xie silently wrote down the names of his great-grandfather and grandfather, and then went around the grave to find a low tomb full of weeds beside his great-grandmother Fang's grave. Sacrifice Cui Juli". This tomb is shorter than the others, and the stone is old and cracked, so it can be seen that no one has taken good care of it for many years.
He knelt silently for the original body for a while in front of the grave, and Cui Yuan snorted and persuaded: "Our master is busy with business, and I don't have time to come back to sweep the tomb. I think it's because the servants who looked at the grave were not attentive..."
Next to the tomb hill is a tomb keeper's hut. The house is empty, but the people inside are not there. The entire ancestral tomb was not cleaned often, and the stone monument was full of dust. Because the owner moved into the capital and did not come back often to take care of it, the guards would naturally only perfunctory one or two when someone came.
Cui Xie knelt before the gentle grave, took out the imperial decree and read it word by word, then took out a pen and paper to trace a few copies, set it on fire and burned it in front of the Cui family's ancestral tomb, and congratulated them that the real Cui Xie was his biological father. The news of being killed, I hope they will take care of this child under Jiuquan—if there is Jiuquan.
After the sacrifice, Cui Yuan and his son helped him up one by one and persuaded: "Let's go now?"
Cui Xie shook his head: "It's rare for us to come back, and the guards here are not attentive, so let's take advantage of this time to rebuild the mother's cemetery and go back."
He is the eldest son and grandson, and it is his duty to repair the tombs.
Near the cemetery, there are masons who carve steles for people and workers who repair the tomb soil. Cui Yuan invited people to come, and asked the mason to copy the words on the tombstone and go back to re-carve a new one. Cui Xie discussed with the workers how to re-pave the tomb.
The foreman said: "It's a simple repair, just dig up the earth nearby and lay it on the grave, and it will last for a year if it is compacted. But it won't work if there is wind. It is lime soil, mixed with lime that has been burned in the kiln. After plastering it, it is firm and not afraid of wind and rain; the best is naturally Sanhe soil, but it is expensive. It is better to mix loess and sand with lime. , smashed out the glue."
He looked at Cui Xie's body covered with dust but still showed a soft luster, and said dryly, "Young master must not be stingy with so much money, right?"
Cui Xie looked at the low grave and the dilapidated stone tablet, showing a sad and mocking smile, and said lightly: "Don't be stingy, it's the best. You invite a Mr. Yin and Yang to come and see when it's repaired, we'll just do it. Live here, come and fill the first shovel."
When you build a grave for yourself, you naturally want to build the best one.
He couldn't give little Cui Xie a tomb. He could only take the opportunity of repairing his mother's tomb to bury the old things of the original body in it, so that their mother and son could live together quietly from then on.
The author has something to say: Qian'an Confucianism is copied from "Reconstruction of Temples in Laoting County" Ming Feng Qi
Zou Yangzi is Zhu You, self-named Zou Yangzi, and was born in the early Ming Dynasty. "Liu Master's Anthology" is "Liu Jia Wenheng in Tang and Song Dynasties", which includes the anthology of the eight masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the three Sus are regarded as one family.