Xu Jie, his mentor, was selling bath buckets to help him pay the fine. How could Zhu Pingan not be "horrified" and "cry with gratitude"...
"Once a teacher, always a father. Speaking of which, you can be considered half of my younger brother. Why are you so polite to our old man?" Xu Zilai patted Zhu Pingan's shoulder familiarly, as if he regarded himself as an elder brother.
Ahem...
You really can't stop talking without surprising...
After Zhu Ping'an heard Xu's words, he almost missed a somersault. Why did he become half your brother in a blink of an eye? The slope was too fast and he couldn't keep up...
"Zi Hou is here. Sit down first and wait until I finish writing this."
When Zhu Pingan visited Xu Jie in the study, Xu Jie was writing. He was wearing a set of off-white gauze uniforms and a black square soft hat, a common attire for Confucian scholars and virgins. After seeing Zhu Pingan come in, Xu Jie nodded to Zhu Pingan
Sit down, then lower your head and continue writing.
"Teacher, you are busy."
Zhu Ping'an bowed his hands and sat down.
"Dad, your handwriting is really good. You have the style of Wang Xiyan." Xu saw Xu Jie like a mouse seeing a cat. He stepped forward to help him grind the ink and glanced at Xu Jie.
As soon as I wrote the words, I started to flatter him.
Xu Jie stopped writing and glanced at Xu. Xu smiled and shrank his neck angrily.
In just three to five minutes, Xu Jie finished writing, put the brush on the pen holder, and waved to Zhu Ping'an to come closer.
Zhu Pingan came closer and saw that Xu Jie had just written a couplet:
When one is upright, the world is at peace;
The breeze on my sleeves makes me sleep peacefully.
Xu Jie is written in regular script. The regular script is neat and fits the couplets. Xu Jie's regular script is very good and his calligraphy is no less than that of Yan Song. As Xu said, Xu Jie's calligraphy has the feel of Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing, and the bones of Yan Zhenqing's regular script are
, the god of Wang Xizhi’s regular script.
"What do you think of this couplet, Mr. Zi Houjue?" Xu Jie waited for Zhu Pingan to approach and asked Zhu Pingan to comment on the couplet he had written.
"Lian is like a man, he is full of righteousness. His words are full of aura and his face is full of spirit." Zhu Ping'an said seriously.
Zhu Ping'an's comments are very consistent with the couplets and are not just flattery. The content of Xu Jie's couplets is about integrity and honesty, and the regular script font has the style of Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing. To be precise, it is the bones of Yan Zhenqing and the spirit of Wang Xizhi. The whole thing has a sense of integrity.
The stock is so upright.
After Zhu Pingan finished his comments, Xu Jie shook his head with a smile.
"Dad, look, Zihou said the same thing." Xu Que was overjoyed when he heard this. The Yan Guxishen Zhu Ping'an said was similar to the flattery he just flattered, so he excitedly said to Xu Jie, "That's not the case just now.
My son is talking nonsense."
"If you were half as rich, I would be relieved." Xu Jie glared at Xu with a look of disgust on his face.
"Ahem, my teacher said this, and the student is so ashamed." Zhu Pingan said with an embarrassed look.
"It should be him who is ashamed." Xu Jie smiled slightly.
Xu looked indifferent, probably because he was used to being beaten by Xu Jie.
All right.
Hitting means kissing and scolding means loving.
Zhu Ping'an finally understood. Although Xu Jie looked disgusted with Xu, he must be very satisfied with the eldest son in his heart.
Next, Zhu Pingan commented on the couplet again, this time more carefully. However, Xu Jie still smiled and shook his head.
"Students are stupid, so please ask your teacher for advice." Zhu Pingan looked at it for a moment, shook his head, and said frankly with a frustrated look on his face.
"Oh, I discovered, Ping An, the couplet ends with the word 'Ping An'." Xu suddenly's eyes lit up, as if he had discovered a new world, he pointed to the ends of the first and second lines and said loudly.
When one is upright, the world is at peace;
The breeze on my sleeves makes me sleep peacefully.
Only then did Zhu Pingan notice that the first line of the couplet written by Xu Jie ended with "ping" and the second line ended with "an". It was really the word "ping" that implied his own name. Is this a couplet written by Xu Jie to himself?
Zhu Pingan raised his head and looked at Xu Jie.
"You did a very good job in Taicang. You are ahead of the curve, which brings glory to my face. I wrote this couplet for you. I wanted someone to send it to your house. Since you are here, it will save you trouble. I will go directly to you later.
Take it back." Xu Jie smiled and nodded, looking at Zhu Pingan with satisfaction and said.
"Ashamed of me, student, I don't deserve this couplet from my teacher." Zhu Ping'an cupped his hands and said.
"You have done a good job. Taicang has been suffering for many years, and it is the time when it needs to be scraped to cure the poison. With your inspection of the treasury, you have hit the mark and brought the disease-ridden finances of the Ming Dynasty back to life." Xu Jie stroked his beard and said to
Zhu Ping'an appreciated the job of checking the library very much.
"The student is ashamed. This time it just happened to happen, and he also caused his teacher to be fined 6,000 taels of silver. The student really has no face to meet his teacher." Zhu Pingan apologized.
"Money is something external to the body, let alone six thousand taels, so what if it is my entire net worth. If you take it from me, it will benefit the world. This is a shameless thing." Xu Jie waved his hand indifferently.
"Besides, it is an indisputable fact that treasury officials and censors took bribes and enriched their own pockets. I also heard about it back then. But when I was doing a routine inspection of the treasury, there was a flood in the south of the Yangtze River and people were in distress everywhere. I was seconded to the south of the Yangtze River by my mentor Xia Gong to provide relief.
I was unable to participate in the inspection of the treasury. By the time I came back from the disaster relief work, the treasury had already been inspected. Even so, I was guilty of negligence and should have been fined, so what does it have to do with you." Xu Jie continued.
This is indeed the case. Xu Jie also served as the Chaku envoy back then. However, before Xu Jie took office, serious floods occurred in the south of the Yangtze River. The hometown of Xu Jie's teacher, Xia Yan, who was the chief assistant at the time, was in Jiangxi.
Affected by the flood. There was a flood in his hometown, so he must take special care, so Xia Yan transferred his most trusted student Xu Jie to his hometown to provide disaster relief.
So, before Xu Jie, who was supposed to be checking the treasury, took up his post in Taicang, he was transferred to Jiangnan for disaster relief by an official document. By the time Xu Jie came back from the disaster relief, the other treasury inspectors had already finished checking the treasury.
Therefore, to be honest, Xu Jie's fine this time was really a mistake.
"Oh, by the way, Zihou, you were also fined more than one hundred taels of silver, can you collect it all?" Xu Jie looked at Zhu Pingan with concern and asked. Before Zhu Pingan could reply, Xu Jie turned to Xu Jie and said
, "Son, go and pay one hundred taels of silver into your account, and let Zi Hou take it back with you later."
"Thank you very much, teacher. I am very grateful. However, I don't dare to worry about my teacher any more. Ping An has already been prepared." Zhu Ping'an thanked Xu Jie.
"Well, just get it all together." Xu Jie nodded, "You have made a great contribution this time, but you are still fined silver. I know you were wronged, but you should not blame the Lord. This is also for the sake of the overall situation.
Once a precedent is set, it will be difficult to implement the fine collection."