Man Bao took out the newly bought "Shang Shu" and read the first chapter with stumbling, then spread out the pen and paper and tried to break up the sentences.
Finally, she picked up the pen and the cook said outside the study: "Sir, it's time for lunch."
Man Bao felt that "Shang Shu" was too difficult. After lunch, she held the book and read it again before trying to complete the first sentence.
Bai Erlang had already put away the table and went to take a nap, Zhou Lang had gone somewhere, and Zhou Lijun also went out.
Mr. Zhuang walked behind Man Bao, looked at her, said a few words, and nodded slightly.
He did not disturb Man Bao, but turned around and went back to his room for a lunch break.
Man Bao only leaned on the table for more than a quarter of an hour at noon, then went to the yard to get a basin of cold water to wash his face, and then returned to the study in high spirits.
Mr. Zhuang did not let her study alone, so he brought his copy of "Shang Shu" to the study room in the afternoon. After assigning homework to Bai Erlang and letting him preview it, he began to teach Man Bao correct sentence reading.
Most of the sentences she composed herself were correct, but there were always mistakes.
Mr. Zhuang read the first text once, while Man Bao took a pen and directly drew a sentence on the book to read.
Mr. Zhuang lowered his head and took a look. He had already discovered that the symbols used by Manbao to read sentences were much richer than those currently available.
In addition to the commonly used ".", "," and "?", there are also "," and ":" that he has never seen in other books. When she was younger, it might be because her brain was not strong enough.
He didn't have time to use these sentences when reading, and his favorite was to use slashes to separate them.
Mr. Zhuang has also become accustomed to her sentence reading symbols. He did not object because he himself has his own unique symbols to distinguish sentence reading. However, after seeing it for a long time, it may be because Bai Shan and Bai Er also learned from her.
With such sentence reading symbols, he also felt that her sentence reading symbols were more suitable.
Mr. Zhuang waited for her to finish all the sentences and then said: ""Shang Shu" is different from other books."
Man Bao raised his head and looked at him.
Mr. Zhuang paused and then said: "Actually, "Shang Shu" can also be regarded as a history book. People often say that the current "Shang Shu" is fake."
"Ah?" Man Bao's eyes widened.
When Mr. Zhuang saw it, he smiled and stretched out his hand to pat her on the head. But thinking that his disciple was not young, he retracted his hand and said with a smile: "The Book of Documents is said to be a legacy of the Three Tombs and Five Canons."
It was handed down from Fu Sheng in the Han Dynasty, but later when King Lu Gong demolished a section of the wall of Confucius' former residence, he discovered another "Shangshu"."
Not only Man Bao was dumbfounded, but Bai Erlang who was writing on the side couldn't help but raise his head.
When Mr. Zhuang saw it, a smile flashed in his eyes and he said with a smile: "That's why the world calls the former "Jinwen Shangshu" and the latter "Guwen Shangshu"."
The smile in Mr. Zhuang's eyes slowly disappeared, and he sighed: "It's a pity that after the war, the Empress Wei, and all the modern and ancient "Shang Shu" were lost."
Man Bao couldn't help but look down at the "Shang Shu" in his hand, "Then this..."
Mr. Zhuang was silent for a moment and then said: "This is a re-edited version by later generations after collecting scattered articles."
Man Bao looked at Mr.'s face, blinked doubtfully, and asked, "Sir, don't you believe it?"
Mr. Zhuang was silent for a long time, until Manbao's neck almost became stiff. Then he sighed and said quietly: "I have checked many classics for my teacher and found that some historians suspected that this "Shang Shu" was fabricated by later generations. It is not the real "Shang Shu".
"The Book of Documents" has all been lost. However, I am a teacher with little resources and the books I can read are limited, so it is not difficult to draw a conclusion."
Man Bao looked down at the book in his hand and asked, "Then do we still need to study Shangshu?"
"Of course," Mr. Zhuang said with a smile: "Historical data cannot be judged solely on whether they are true or false, because..."
Mr. Zhuang frowned and found that it was not easy to teach. He paused for a while before he came up with an appropriate example and motioned for her to write down, "Today you write down the words 'Three chickens were flat for breakfast', and then The paper is sealed, and after thousands of years, descendants take it out, is this historical data true?"
Man Bao thought for a while and said: "Forget it, this is not a forgery, it was indeed written by me, an ancient person."
Mr. Zhuang nodded, "So you have eaten three eggs today, and those three eggs are still flat?"
Man Bao shook his head.
"So look, is this historical data true or false?"
Man Bao shook his head and nodded.
Mr. Zhuang then smiled and said: "The same goes for these ancient books. When they are circulated, they will be modified and expanded by later generations, such as "Shui Jing Zhu", which is a very successful expansion and modification; the text will also be changed. , exists in name only..."
"As for this "Shang Shu", due to our limited ability, we have gained very little. No one knows what kind of situation it is in. However, this book has been studied by people, which shows that it has the value of learning." Mr. Zhuang said. : "There are many records recorded in "Shangshu", the most important of which are sixteen characters."
Mr. Zhuang read the words word for word: "The human heart is only dangerous, the Taoist heart is only weak; the essence is only one, and it is allowed to hold on to the center. This is the way to be a king."
Bai Erlang read it twice and found it a little difficult to understand, so he shouted: "Sir, is this a little different from what you said before about the way to be a king?"
Man Bao was just thinking about it. Hearing this, he patted his head with his backhand and said, "How stupid. This gentleman is not that gentleman. This is the way to be an emperor."
Bai Erlang stared, lowered his voice for a moment, looked around and asked in a low voice, "Sir, is it okay for us to learn this?"
Mr. Zhuang's emotion disappeared immediately. He looked at his three disciples wordlessly and said, "What's the problem? Are you going to become the emperor after studying the Book of Documents?"
Man Bao smiled cheerfully and said, "I ask you to study the Book of Documents so that you can regulate the behavior of the emperor and be a good minister."
Mr. Zhuang nodded slightly, thought about it but felt something was wrong. He lowered his head and looked at Man Bao, "You really think so?"
"Yes, and you can learn a lot from reading it. Sir, you can start teaching me."
Mr. Zhuang said: "I haven't learned much about Shangshu as a teacher, so I can only teach you a little bit. Shanbao has come back from studying in the mansion. You can ask him who taught him Shangshu. You guys The two of them learned from each other."
Man Bao responded.
Mr. Zhuang told Man Bao the meaning of the first text, and then let her study by herself. He went out to make tea and eat snacks first.
Bai Erlang quietly took a look outside, poked Manbao with a book and asked, "Is Shanbao being bullied in school?"
"Huh? How do you know?"
Bai Erlang curled his lips and said: "Yesterday morning you were still saying that you would concentrate on medical skills in the afternoon, but today you are holding a copy of "Shang Shu" and chewing on it."
He said: "I've been bullied. What's the use of just reading a book? Let's take Brother Zhou and Daji, put those guys in sacks and beat them up."
"This is not good, after all, they didn't take action." Man Bao said: "At least we have to wait for them to take action first."
"Why wait for others to strike first? Don't you know there is a saying that strikes first to gain the upper hand?"
"I know, but we have a government office above us. What should you do if you hit someone and get caught? So there is a difference between striking first and striking last, you know?"