The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Shopkeeper Zhen walked back to the Jixiang Restaurant. It was lunch time. On normal days, the restaurant would be packed with customers and bustling. But now, there were only two tables of people in the huge lobby, and there was no scholar, not to mention those wearing student robes or even scholar robes.

Only one day had passed.

At this time, a waiter hurried over and said anxiously, "Shopkeeper, it's bad. Mr. Su has already said that no one from the Su family is allowed to eat in our restaurant, and no Su family property is allowed to have any dealings with us. The other two prominent families have also followed suit. You should think of a solution. I heard from a friend in the county government that today, Magistrate Cai also said that the county government would no longer choose our Jixiang Restaurant to receive guests. In this case, those yamen officials and their relatives will not come."

Shopkeeper Zhen looked at the empty lobby blankly for a long time, and then sat on the doorstep and cried loudly.

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

Unlike the usual lunch, the Fang family's lunch today had meat and vegetables, and Yang Yuhuan was no longer reluctant to eat, but ate whatever she wanted with Fang Yun.

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

After the meal, Fang Yun wrote some simple letters to reply to those who invited him, first expressing his gratitude, and finally saying that he would go to Cai County Magistrate's house to study the classics, and hoped for your understanding.

After a short nap, Fang Yun recuperated and then ground ink and spread paper.

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

"First, I must practice calligraphy. As a literati, calligraphy is very important. In Shengyuan Continent, a good handwriting is more important than a good face."

"Second, I must recite and understand the classics of all saints. The world of strange books can help me understand everything, but it cannot make me omnipotent. What I learn from books is always shallow. This world of strange books is my stepping stone, not the key to my holy path! The key to the holy path is only me! If everything depends on the world of strange books, I will never be able to walk out of my own holy path. It is impossible to be canonized as a saint!"

"Third, you must read the "Wen Bao" published every ten days. It reports all the information about the current affairs, culture, economy, technology, etc. of the ten countries in the entire Shengyuan Continent in the past week. It is the best way for me to understand this world. The monthly magazine "Sheng Dao" is also indispensable. The poems and essays on it are the essence of the ten countries, representing the development trend and ideological foundation of the entire world. You must also read all the "Wen Bao" and "Sheng Dao" over the years. "

Fang Yun took a deep breath, and his mind moved. Calligraphy copybooks emerged one by one. Fang Yun finally chose "Liu Style", which is the regular script style of the great calligrapher Liu Gongquan in the Tang Dynasty. There is no Liu style in Shengyuan Continent.

Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan are two great calligraphers in the Tang Dynasty. Their attainments in regular script are not inferior to those of the calligrapher Wang Xizhi, but their running script is naturally far inferior to Wang Xizhi.

Yan style is too square and strong, and it is not suitable for Fang Yun to learn now. Liu style is stable and symmetrical, upright and agile, and has a rigorous structure, which is more in line with Fang Yun's personality and age.

In the imperial examination, the status of regular script is higher than that of running script, but in calligraphy, the two are equal, and in the military, cursive script is popular.

Fang Yun first closed his eyes and silently memorized a copy of Liu Gongquan's famous work "Shen Ce Army Stele", so that it was deeply imprinted in his mind, and then he picked up the pen to copy it.

"The emperor visited the left Shen Ce Army..."

Fang Yun wrote one stroke at a time, one, two, three...

He wrote a full ten pages without any improvement, but he was not discouraged and continued to write.

After writing the twentieth page, Fang Yun stopped writing and looked at it carefully, with a smile on his face. This character has made a small improvement.

"It is worthy of being a world of talent. Now I have talent. Not only has my body become stronger and I can "see at night with bright eyes", but my mind is also flexible. I can learn anything faster than before."

Fang Yun has confidence and writes more fluently.

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

After practicing calligraphy, Fang Yun burned all the copybooks. The "Shen Ce Army Monument" recorded an incident in the Tang Dynasty when various countries came to surrender, which could not be seen by others.

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

The original text of the book did not have any punctuation marks, and even the paragraphs were very messy, but there were some marks made by Fang Yun himself with a brush, which were similar to periods, which were called punctuation.

Fang Yun began to recite the "Book of Changes". 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 undergone many times of talent initiation, and his body and brain are extraordinary, so he can remember everything he sees. I didn't expect that I was just a mere student, but I could also remember everything I saw. Could it be the power of the strange book?"

Fang Yun was happy, and then continued to recite this chapter "Qian" from the beginning.

Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will emerge.

When reading for the third time, Fang Yun found that his mind was becoming clearer and clearer, and the words in front of him seemed to come alive. Pieces of perceptible but inexpressible information appeared in his mind, helping him understand the Book of Changes.

Fang Yun immediately guessed that this was another function of the Wonderful Book World, helping to digest knowledge, turning the knowledge in the Wonderful Book World and the books into his own, and turning the dead into the living.

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

After reading it ten times, Fang Yun had a slight feeling of fullness, 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 feeling of fullness in Fang Yun's abdomen disappeared, and his writing this time was much improved than before. Every word tended to be 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 mark, 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 then he can mobilize the vitality of heaven and earth and fully master 'talking on paper'. 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. 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 dark, 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, which was extremely thorough. Although Fang Yun memorized everything, he did not understand many parts due to lack of experience.

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

Fang Yun's expression remained unchanged and he replied calmly: "The question you talked about first is the 'full 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 your place in the two ranks of the court one day! Even if you have a place in the 'Holy Tower', I will I won’t be surprised! It’s a pity that I’m afraid you 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 a good test and 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 academy 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 Wei Yuanjun of the Fu Wen Academy, took out Liu Zizhi's letter, and bribed this fifth-rank official of Liushan.

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

"I won't kill you, but I will tarnish your literary reputation, cut off your literary career, and ruin your future! Not only will you not be able to enter this Fu Wen Academy, but I will also humiliate you in front of everyone on the day you enter the academy, and make you kneel in front of me and beg for mercy like a dog, to wash away the humiliation that old dog Fang Shouye has inflicted on me!"