After hearing what Yang Xu said, everyone felt puzzled, especially Cui Niubi.
"Are you the Sheep Governor?" Cui Niupi asked in surprise.
"Uncle Yang, why are you doing this?" Zhou Yuanfu's question proved this point.
Cui Niupi looked at Yangxu carefully and said disdainfully: "It must be that the prefect has been promoted. He has a new love and is ashamed to see his old one."
Cui Niupi said so frivolously that Yang Xu's energy and blood rushed to his heart and he almost fainted. He pointed at Cui Niupi and was trembling and speechless. Zhou Yuanfu quickly went over and patted his back and apologized: "My brother has always been a talker."
You are so unscrupulous, you old man, don’t be as knowledgeable as him.”
Yang Xu calmed down and said, "You can take a look at where I live. I can barely survive, but how can I have the extra money to support my wife, children, and children?"
Cui Niupi turned around and clicked his tongue and said: "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that the richest governor of Nanyang County in the world was so poor. Brother, how about we help?"
Cui Niupi has always been stingy, but this was the first time he took the initiative to offer money.
Zhou Yuanfu straightened his clothes and said, "Let's go out and take a look first."
Coming out of the small gate of the backyard, a man was waiting respectfully beside the carriage. When he saw Cui Niupi and others coming out, he hurriedly stepped forward and asked: "Brother, have you informed me that my father is in the house?"
"
Zhou Yuanfu looked the man up and down. Although he was dressed simply, he didn't think he came from a particularly poor family. So he stepped forward and saluted and said, "May I ask who you are, the son of the prefect?"
The man returned the greeting and said, "I am the eldest son, Yang Mi. The second and third brothers are staying at home. I am coming with my mother to visit my father this time. Please let me know."
Zhou Yuanfu nodded secretly. This man was well-educated and well-educated. The average young master was already so arrogant that he didn't know how to walk. So he asked again: "I wonder which young master Uncle Cai's eldest daughter is married to?"
When Yang Mi saw what Zhou Yuanfu said, he felt very strange. He originally thought that this person was a military general under his father, but it seemed that this person also knew Cai Yong, so he handed over his hands and said: "The Cai family's daughter is the second wife of my second brother. I don't know the general."
How to call it?"
Resuming the string? Zhou Yuanfu understood. Ancient people compared the harmony between husband and wife to the harmony of the piano and the harp. If one is widowed and remarries, it is called the continuation of the string. It turns out that Cai Zhenji married for a second time, which is really a pity.
Zhou Yuanfu was stunned, and Cui Niubi introduced him: "This is General Zhou, the Marquis of Duting. Please come and see me soon."
Yang Mi politely raised his hands and said, "It turns out that it's General Zhou who has been looking up to him for a long time. I wonder if my father is in the courtyard. Can we go in?"
When Zhou Yuanfu saw his expression, he must have never heard of him, so he didn't want to cause trouble. He looked at the accompanying carriage and asked, "Are you here to visit relatives this time or are you here to stay permanently?"
Yang Mi was a little annoyed. The general had indeed had a lot of questions this week, but seeing the large number of people on the other side, he had to patiently say: "I have brought all my family members with me. I came this time just to fulfill my filial piety by my father's side."
Zhou Yuanfu nodded, saying that he wanted to stay permanently. Yang Xu was so upright, so he must help him, so that the relationship between father and son could be restored. After making up his mind, he let Yang Mi into the mansion and ordered Guan Yu and others to help settle the family.
, and settled the fare to the driver.
When Yang Xu saw Zhou Yuanfu actually leading people in, he couldn't help but get angry and said sternly: "What are you doing here!"
Yang Mi fell to his knees, "My father is old and my son is worried about me, so I came here to serve him."
Yangxu waved his hand and said, "No, I'm fine. You can go back quickly."
Zhou Yuanfu came up to smooth things over and said, "People have traveled thousands of miles to visit you. You can't turn them away. Let's find a solution together about the money."
Yang Mi looked at Zhou Yuanfu gratefully, and Yang shook his sleeves angrily and entered the room.
Zhou Yuanfu quickly helped Yang Mi up and walked toward the house together.
When Yang Xu saw Yang Mi also coming in, he couldn't help but snorted, and Yang Mi was so frightened that he knelt down again.
"Come and take a look!" Yang Xu beckoned, "I only have this old quilt and a few grains, how can I support our family?"
Yang Mi felt embarrassed after seeing it and was hesitating whether to go back.
"What's so difficult about this? I appreciate your honesty and I'm willing to offer you a hundred gold to keep your father and son in harmony. How about that?" Zhou Yuanfu said with some pride.
"Without merit and without reward, how can I, Yangxu, receive favors from others for nothing?" Yangxu refused without hesitation.
Now Zhou Yuanfu was in a dilemma. He thought for a moment and asked again, "How much is the monthly salary of the prefect?"
Yang Xu remained silent, and Yang Mi whispered: "My father is the prefect of a large county, and his monthly salary is six thousand five hundred, and thirty-six hu of rice."
"That's quite a lot!" Zhou Yuanfu exclaimed in admiration, "According to this, the prefect's monthly salary should be at least two thousand kilograms of grain. How can there be only this little grain left?"
"Let me guess correctly. The prefect must have found Mrs. Ru in Nanyang, so the monthly salary is not enough to cover expenses, haha." Cui Niubi watched the excitement and did not mind the matter, and laughed beside him.
When Yang Xu saw Cui Niupi talking nonsense again, his face turned black with anger. Seeing this, Zhou Yuanfu hurriedly asked Cui Niupi to prepare meals and help the old lady. Cui Niupi curled his lips and left reluctantly.
After Cui Niubi left, the room suddenly became deserted. Yang Mi lowered his eyes and did not dare to look at his father, but Zhou Yuanfu looked at Yang Xu with a smile, and Yang Xu was trembling and breathing heavily.
"Ignorant kid!" Yang Xu said after his breathing subsided a little, "Although Nanyang is rich, it has been plagued by bandits frequently. Many people in the city have no food to eat, so I donated all the food. You should understand now, right?"
When Zhou Yuanfu heard this, he bowed deeply and said, "My noble character is really admirable. His wife, children and children can't afford to eat, but he donates his salary to the poor people. He is really a role model for scholars!"
Yang Xu couldn't help but feel proud after hearing this, stroking his beard and smiling, but Yang Mi's eyes dimmed. Looking at it like this, he and his mother still had to travel thousands of miles back to their home in Mount Tai.
"When Taiwei Chen Fan was young, he lived in a house that was very messy. His father's friends saw this and criticized him, saying, "Son, why don't you clean the house and see the guests?" Chen Fan said: "A real man handles things.
You should wipe out the world and make the whole house peaceful!" Zhou Yuanfu continued, "What does Uncle Yang think of this person?"
Hearing this, Yang Xu looked at Zhou Yuanfu and wondered what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd, so he said perfunctorily: "Chen Taiwei is a role model for our generation. He was only fifteen years old when he said this. He has great ambitions at such a young age.
It’s really admirable!”
"But my friend also said: If you don't sweep one house, how can you sweep the whole world!" Zhou Yuanfu continued.
Yangxu stroked his beard and said, "What does Yuan Fu mean by this?"
"Isn't it ridiculous that the prefect can't even support his wife, children, and children, but he goes to support the whole city's elders?!" Zhou Yuanfu laughed loudly and continued, "I heard that the old and the old are like the old, and the young and the young are like the young.
If the prefect does not treat his own wife, children and children well, how can he treat other people's wives, children and children well?"
Yang Xu got angry when he heard the preface, but couldn't get angry when he heard the postscript, and finally let out a long sigh!
"Before, I only heard from my uncle that Yuan Fu was a great talent, but when I saw it today, it turned out to be true! To be honest with Yuan Fu, our Taiyang family also has ancestral property, so we will not be deprived of food. But I went to Nanyang for an unannounced visit and found that extravagance has become common among the wealthy families.
, don’t you hear that ‘a rich man has one meal, and a poor man has ten years of food’? That’s why I am so poor and self-sufficient. I only hope that these aristocratic families can imitate me, and the common people can suffer less.”
Zhou Yuanfu clapped his hands and said: "If I were a poor commoner, I would burst into tears when I saw that the prefect was so honest. But if I were a wealthy family, I could only treat you as a joke. The wine and meat in the rich family are stinky, and there are people who freeze to death on the road. This has been the case in all ages.
, how could a wealthy family be moved by what you did?"
"The wine and meat in the Zhumen are stinky, and there are bones frozen to death on the road! Good, good!" Yang Xu praised, "Yuanfu really spoke the truth. How could I not know what Yuanfu said. But if I don't set an example, I'm afraid the atmosphere will get worse.
corrupt!"
Zhou Yuanfu also felt helpless. This old man had an eccentric temper and was a man who accepted death. "The governor's abandonment of his wife and children may be mistakenly reported as a good story a thousand years later, but in my opinion, he is really not the son of a man! How can we ignore ordinary human ethics?"
Talk about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism?
I read ancient books and found out that there was an official who everyone respected, known as Hai Qingtian, who was almost like you. He didn’t accept gifts or bribes, he was upright and self-reliant, and he lived an extremely poor life. He lived in green vegetables and tofu, and his mother only gritted her teeth and bought two kilograms for her birthday.
Pigs, meat, even the passing officials dared not hit him. Even so, he served his mother with great filial piety, and would never do such a stupid thing as abandoning his wife and children. Wherever he was an official, he took his wife and children with him.
This did not affect his reputation, but fulfilled his reputation of loyalty and filial piety! A good official or a bad official depends on whether he serves the people and how many practical and good things he does for the people. If you only use your salary to support the people, you cannot let them
If you use your labor to get corresponding rewards, then what you do as an official is really a failure! It doesn't matter if you don't do such an official. If the officials all over the world take you as a model, it will be the tragedy of the officials all over the world! If you are an upright official, you will starve to death or be unable to feed yourself.
Wives, children, children, who will be an upright official in the future? It will be more comfortable to be a corrupt official."
Zhou Yuanfu said this rudely, but Yang Xu was not annoyed when he heard this. He thought for a long time and said, "Since Yuanfu begs for mercy, you can stay. But you will also live a hard life with me, so don't think about enjoying happiness."
Yang Mi was overjoyed when he heard this. He bowed and said, "My son is here to serve his father. As long as he is by his side, we can live a miserable life." After saying this, he quickly thanked Zhou Yuanfu.
Zhou Yuanfu felt comfortable both physically and mentally at this time, and laughed loudly: "I offended you so much just now, please don't blame Uncle Sheep!"
Yang Xu waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Yuanfu woke up the dreamer with his words. What he said makes sense! But what is the name of Hai Qingtian? Why haven't I heard of it?"
Zhou Yuanfu was about to say something to stop him when he saw Cui Niupi walking in. "Brother, the meal is ready. The old lady has sent it over. Do you want to eat it here?"
Seeing the opportunity, Zhou Yuanfu said: "Okay, we will eat in the house, you can have someone bring it in."
Cui Niupi acted mischievously again, imitating the waiter's behavior and bringing in several plates of food from outside, shouting as he walked: "A bowl of pork stewed with salted fish, a bowl of steamed salted fish..."
As he spoke, the food was placed on the tables one by one, and everyone knelt down in front of the tables.
Yang Xu frowned and looked at the food in the bowl, and shouted in shock: "This is the salted fish hanging in my courtyard!"