The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Fang Yun asked with a smile: "Brother Daniu, who told you to call me Young Master?"

"My parents said that you are different now. I can no longer call you brother. Now I call you young master. When you win the imperial examination, I will have to call you master." Fang Daniu said.

"We are all family members, there is no need to be so open to outsiders."

"That's not okay. I can't embarrass our Fang family. You can call me whatever you want. Otherwise, how can I be your long-term follower? My mother said, it's not easy for the Fang family in Ji County to give birth to a golden phoenix like you. Let me take good care of you. You will definitely benefit from it in the future.”

Fang Yun didn't say anything, his eyes fell on the three letters in his hand. Fang Daniu was right, his status was indeed different now.

As the sun rose and the weather warmed up, Fang Yun opened the curtains, took out a book of "Book of Rites" from the bookcase, and began to read in a low voice.

Yang Yuhuan looked at Fang Yun quietly, occasionally curling up the corners of his mouth and Xia Fei's cheeks, not knowing what he was thinking.

As the carriage moved forward, Fang Yun closed his eyes and took a rest when he got tired of reading. After a short rest, he continued to recite in a low voice.

I don't know how long it took, but the carriage was getting closer and closer to Dayuan Mansion. Fang Yun was reading "The gentleman is far away from the kitchen" when suddenly a white shadow came in from the window.

Fang Yun was unprepared and was startled. A snow-white fox jumped on his lap, carrying a scent and a faint smell of blood, without any animal odor.

Yang Yuhuan looked at the fox curiously, showing pity, but Mrs. Jiang's expression changed drastically and she shouted: "Mr. Fang, be careful, it may be a monster!"

Fang Yun was startled and was about to throw the fox out, but the fox suddenly raised its head and looked at him with its dark eyes, showing a pleading look. Then it closed its eyes, screamed softly, and passed out.

Normally, Fang Yun would have just thrown it away, but when he read "A gentleman is far away from the chef", he hesitated.

The saying "a gentleman is far away from the kitchen" also appears in "Mencius". This sentence does not mean that he looks down on those who work in the kitchen, but that everyone has a heart of compassion. If he is not a chef, he will always feel unbearable when he encounters people killing animals in the kitchen. , so it is best not to see that scene or hear the screams of living creatures before they die, so gentlemen should stay away from the kitchen.

However, in an era when scholars went into battle to kill enemies, the original meaning of this statement was somewhat inappropriate, so it was extended and interpreted to mean that everyone has the right to eat meat, but they cannot take pleasure in killing living creatures, and they must not kill them cruelly.

Yang Yuhuan whispered: "This should be an ordinary fox. Even the monster has never killed anyone. If a monster kills a person, its eye circles will turn red and there will be a fishy smell on its body, similar to rotten fish. I have smelled it. ”

Fang Yun thought for a moment and looked down at the little fox's wound. It seemed that it was scratched by an animal's claws. The blood near the wound had dried up and the wound had become scarred. This meant that the battle had been at least several hours, and there was a high possibility of being followed by the enemy. It's small, so there's no danger in keeping it.

Fang Yun did not take it lightly and stuck his head out of the window. There was no movement in the forest on the roadside. There was another carriage a few dozen feet away. He looked towards the direction of Dayuan City and could already see the outline of the city wall of Dayuan Mansion. No matter how bold he was, No monsters dare to run wild here, because the holy temple in the liberal arts college is on guard at all times.

"Xiaoyun, what should I do with this fox?" Yang Yuhuan asked.

Fang Yun said: "Ask the guards when you pass the city gate. If they think it is not a harmful monster, bring it in. If it is, let the soldiers deal with it."

"Oh." Yang Yuhuan wanted to save the little fox, but Fang Yun's attitude was more important, so she said nothing.

Fang Yun sniffed it gently again. This fox was particularly fragrant.

Fang Yun immediately used Qishu Tiandi to search, and soon found a travel note written by the semi-sage Chen Guanhai, which mentioned the most precious fragrant fox of the fox clan, and only wrote "the whole body has a strange fragrance" and "rare in the world".

Fang Yun suspected that this fox was a priceless fragrant fox, and the fur of this fox could be used as a fragrant fox pen.

A fragrant fox pen can be sold for more than ten thousand taels, because using the fragrant fox pen to write war poems can increase the power by at least 10%. If combined with ink made from the blood of monsters, the power can be increased by more than 20%. The bigger the fragrant fox, the better the effect.

Fragrant foxes are extremely rare, and it is said that there are only a dozen or so in existence.

This fox was too small. Its tail was as long as its body, and the tail was only as long as Fang Yun's hand. It looked like a little squirrel.

Fang Yun carefully looked at the little fox's wounds and found that they were already scarred and did not require special treatment.

Arriving in front of the city gate, Fang Yun asked Fang Daniu to park, and then he got out of the car with the little fox in his arms.

The city wall of Dayuan Mansion is four feet high, with stacks of bluestones that are impregnable. It looks very safe. It is said that a great scholar presided over the construction.

There are five armored soldiers on each side of the city gate. They do not check passing vehicles and do not collect city taxes.

Fang Yun walked up to a soldier and asked: "I picked up a fox on the road and want to raise it myself, but I don't know if it is a monster. I would like to know if there is any way to test it."

The soldier saw that Fang Yun was wearing a child's robe and replied: "This place is shrouded by the power of the temple. If there is a problem with this fox, the temple will suppress it immediately. You can bring it in at any time."

"Thank you." Fang Yun thanked the soldier and returned to the car.

Fang Daniu continued to drive the carriage to the residence Liang Yuan had chosen.

Fang Yun had never been to Dayuan Mansion, but no matter how prosperous it was, it couldn't compare to the world where commerce was highly prosperous, so he was not interested. He was thinking about how to open a bookstore and what books to sell first.

Yang Yuhuan was different. She opened the curtains and looked at Dayuan Mansion curiously. This place was much larger than Ji County, and there was a constant flow of people coming and going.

Dayuanfu is the capital of Jiangzhou and the political center of Jiangzhou. However, the military center and commercial center of Jiangzhou are not Dayuanfu, but Yuhaifu, five hundred miles away. It is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, just outside the city. The East China Sea was the place where Jingguo and Haimin traded, and it was extremely prosperous.

Liang Yuan had arrived in Dayuan Mansion five days ago and sent a letter to Fang Yun yesterday, helping Fang Yun choose a cheap private courtyard to rent for three months at five taels of silver per month. At the same time, he also chose a bookstore that was ready to exchange the money. He just waited for the money to arrive before going to the government to go through the formalities.

According to the location on the letter, the carriage arrived at Laoshi Alley, where Liang Yuan was waiting.

Fang Yun got off the carriage and exchanged greetings with Liang Yuan, talking in detail about his residence and bookstore while walking.

The house is a bit smaller than Fang Yun's house. It is a very ordinary small house, but Fang Yun doesn't care. When the bookstore makes a profit in the future, he will just buy a larger courtyard to live in.

After a little tidying up, after lunch, Fang Yun left with Yang Yuhuan and Liang Yuan, first to sign the rental contract, and then to Dayuan Fang's house. He agreed to give the Dayuan Fang family 10% of his shares, and he wanted to use the Dayuan Fang family's name to prevent others from making trouble, especially the Liu family.

The car stopped at the door of Fang's house. The door was open and the word "Fang Mansion" was written on the plaque on the door.

Fang Yun looked inside and saw that it was not a large courtyard with several entrances and exits, but a garden.

Behind the door is a cobblestone road with gardens on both sides. The cobblestone road separates when it reaches the rockery. Behind the rockery should be the main garden.

There were two servants in black standing at the door, but one had no left arm and the other had a blindfold covering his right eye. The two looked resolute and looked like they had been soldiers.

Fang Yun respected Fang Shouye even more in his heart. No wonder everyone said that Fang Shouye was the number one hero in Dayuan Mansion.

Fang Yun cupped his hands and said, "Hello, I am Fang Yun from Ji County. I am the nephew of Uncle Fang Shouye. I have made an agreement with my uncle to discuss buying shares in the bookstore."

A servant immediately said: "The general received an urgent report yesterday and has returned to Yuhai City. The eldest lady has told me to take the plan leader to see her directly when he comes. Please come with me."

Fang Yun smiled and said: "Thank you." Then he motioned for Yang Yuhuan and Liang Yuan to follow.

The servant led the three people around the rockery and came to the second yard. However, there were no houses in the second yard. It was still rockery, flowing water, flowers, plants and trees. Except for the door when they came, there were three circles in the east, west and north directions. Arches lead to three courtyards.

Moreover, there are two courtyards in the east and west, and there are doors and courtyards in the east and west.

"The legendary rich man deserves to be from a famous family." Fang Yun thought to himself.

Walking to the third courtyard, Fang Yun finally saw the main hall of Fang Mansion. That main hall was larger than the courtyard and house of Fang Yun's family.

In the innermost part of the main hall are two Taishi chairs. There are six square tables on the left and right sides, and there are chairs on both sides of the square table.

But there was no one in the main hall.

The servant asked Fang Yun to sit in the main hall, and then said to go in and find the eldest lady.

Liang Yuan secretly looked around and whispered excitedly: "Fang Yun, it seems that the Fang family attaches great importance to you and will take you directly to the main hall. If others would have to wait in the side hall. This is a famous family. Ordinary people can enter the party." Everyone has to go to the side hall.”

Yang Yuhuan nodded involuntarily and put his hands on his legs, looking very restrained.

Fang Yun looked at the main hall openly. It was indeed a famous and scholarly family of two generations. There were ancient vases, calligraphy treasures, potted plants, and landscapes in the main hall. It was elegant and simple, without a trace of luxury.

There is a couplet on the wall:

The Cangshan Mountain is like dusk, still leaning against the red sun and proud of the wind and clouds.

The setting sun is dripping with blood, and it still makes Honghong look towards the green heart.

Fang Yun couldn't help but nodded.

"Have you had some good luck? Your uncle praised you a lot and asked your aunt to take a look at our Fang family's Qilin'er."

The voice came first before anyone arrived, and the tone was full of surprise and enthusiasm.

The three of them stood up immediately and heard the jingle of rings. The bead curtain on the east side of the main hall was opened by two little maids, and a graceful middle-aged woman walked in.

This woman was wearing a long red dress. She was not very beautiful, but she had beautiful eyes, richness, and a very kind smile.

Behind this man was a younger, middle-aged woman in a green dress, who was also smiling, but her smile was much faker.

Fang Yun was not sure who the person behind the eldest lady was, so he held up his hands and said, "My nephew has met my aunt."

Yang Yuhuan and Liang Yuan also saluted hurriedly, but neither spoke.

The eldest lady smiled and said: "What a handsome young man, no wonder Shouye is full of praise for you. Come, let aunt take a good look. By the way, this is your second aunt, we were talking about you just now."

Fang Yun knew that Fang Shouye had a younger brother. He was just a scholar, but he had a bad reputation and hung around in the brothel all day long. This should be the second wife of the Fang family, and the concubine can only be called aunt, not wife.