As soon as he opened his eyes, Zhao Rong heard the chirping of insects in summer.
The cool afternoon breeze blew against my face... No, it seemed like Su Xiaoxiao was fanning her.
Zhao Rong turned his head and glanced at Su Xiaoxiao, who was sitting aside. At this time, he was tilting his head and listening to other tourists chatting in the pavilion, while holding the handle of the fan to blow him.
Don't delay either.
Zhao and Rong arrived at Luojing in the morning. Seeing that they had plenty of time, the three of them did not stop and went straight on the road. This was a pavilion named Drunkard's Pavilion a few miles away from Luojing. Seeing the scorching summer heat at noon, the three decided to
After taking a short rest here, Zhao Rong also took a nap.
Zhao Rong sat on the chair in the pavilion, stretched out, leaned lazily on the pillar, and glanced around the pavilion casually.
When I first arrived, there was no one in the Zuiweng Pavilion, but now there were already some tourists.
There are two men in the northwest corner, probably companions, chatting.
One of the men looked quite young, dressed in luxurious brocade clothes, with a face like a crown of jade, and holding a peach-blossom black paper fan with a clump of handsome bamboo painted on it.
The other man is older, with thin cheeks and slightly sunken eye sockets, but his eyes are shining brightly. He wears well-dressed clothes, long hair hanging down casually, holding a crotch in his hand, and looks like a celebrity from Zhongnan.
In the northeast corner sits a fat, middle-aged Taoist priest, dressed in blue and wearing a whisk, closing his eyes to meditate.
Finally, not far from Zhao Rong and the others, there was a slender man with a lyre in front of him, lowering his head to adjust it.
Zhao Rong lazily withdrew his gaze, looked outside the pavilion, and tapped the railing with one hand.
The Drunken Old Man's Pavilion stands on the top of the mountain. From here, you can see the beautiful scenery of the whole south as far as the eye can see.
"Then Lin Wenruo is really not a good person." Su Xiaoxiao whispered.
"Ah? What." Zhao Rong turned around, he had just woken up and was a little confused.
"It's Lin Wenruo who broke off the engagement with the bride on the wedding day and left all her dowry outside the door." Su Xiaoqing said in a huff. "How could there be such a heartless man? Fortunately, he was an academy student who studied poetry and books.
Scholars, bah!”
Zhao Rong suddenly realized that he was talking about this person again.
Passing through Luojing City in the morning, the streets, alleys, teahouses and restaurants were all talking about this matter. Zhao Rong was not very interested in these, but there were too many people talking about it. After hearing the fragmentary words, he almost pieced together the outline of what happened.
What's more, there was a little fox demon who was overflowing with sympathy. As soon as he heard that there was such a negative thing, he pricked up his ears and asked about it. After knowing the general situation, he felt sorry for the bride's experience. Along the way, he murmured that such a scholar is really
Bad, if Xiaoxiao encounters him, Xiaoxiao will beat him to death.
Zhao Rong always felt that something was wrong with these words.
No, I have to find an excuse to reward her with some chestnuts.
Most of the people in Luojing are scolding this scholar named Lin Wenruo. It is said that he is the eldest son of the Lin family of Lanxi. It seems that he broke off the marriage of the woman on the wedding day, turned his back on her, ruined the woman's innocence, and did not know her loyalty.
Impeaching the imperial advisor in front of the monarch is simply treasonous, and they all scolded him for reading into a dog's belly.
This scolding made Zhao Rong feel a little sympathetic to that brother, but why did he feel a little guilty? Ahem, I am different from him, wasn't I giving jade away...
Zhao Rong said nothing and refused to comment.
But someone in the Drunkard Pavilion heard Su Xiaoxiao's words.
"What this little brother said is absolutely true."
In the northwest corner of the pavilion, among the two people who had been talking loudly, the young man in brocade clothes smiled and said loudly to Zhao Rong.
The two of them all looked towards Zhao Rong, especially the old man holding the pawn, who finally had the opportunity to look at him openly. At this time, he was staring at Su Xiaoxiao with stern eyes, looking up and down, and smiled knowingly.
.
In fact, he noticed these three people as soon as he entered the Drunken Old Man's Pavilion. To be precise, he noticed the handsome scholar among them, with a face as thick as gel and eyes as bright as lacquer, and the other two, an ordinary Confucian scholar and a rather scary-looking man.
, in his opinion, they are all common people, and he, Mr. Qingxi, has always regarded himself as a famous scholar in Zhongnan, so he will not pay attention to it.
The longer he looked at it, the more surprised he became.
Mr. Jinyi glanced at Mr. Qingxi next to him with a strange look on his face, but he looked at the other side again.
The handsome scholar was fanning the ordinary Confucian scholar, and when he spoke just now, he inadvertently revealed some of the anger of a little girl.
Mr. Jin Yi understood clearly.
It seems that Mr. Qingxi has met a companion.
Zhao Rong didn't know that he and Su Xiaoxiao, who was disguised as a man, had been misunderstood.
He glanced at the little fox demon in front of him with her little head hanging down, pretending to be deaf and mute. She was now turning her back to the two people who had just spoken, burying her little head in the soil like an ostrich.
"Hey, they're talking to you."
"Well, it's obviously with you."
"Why are you so timid?"
"You're not young, but my grandma said you shouldn't pay attention to men who take the initiative to talk to you. They are not a good thing."
"Well, your grandma is right." Zhao Rong nodded this time, agreeing very much. "All men are not good, except me."
Su Xiaoxiao: "..."
Young Master Jinyi saw Zhao Rong and Su Xiaoxiao whispering to each other and ignored him, feeling a little embarrassed. However, after receiving the look from Mr. Qingxi next to him, he coughed lightly and continued loudly:
"Thankfully, Lin Wenruo is still a scholar at Siqi Academy. Does the academy now teach such ruthless and unrighteous people, who have no king, no country, no father, no family, and ignorant people?"
The words resounded in the Drunkard Pavilion.
Zhao Rong and Su Xiaoxiao stopped whispering.
The fat Taoist priest who was sitting quietly nodded.
"Zheng!" The luthier who had been adjusting the guqin also completed the work at hand and started playing the qin.
Mr. Jinyi was quite satisfied when he saw that everyone responded to him and paid attention to him.
"Lan Xiangu is the daughter of the Imperial Preceptor. She is very fond of him. She is committed to marrying him. She has taken care of his house for a long time and has been waiting for her return. However, on the wedding day, he broke the contract and abandoned the engagement, ruining the woman's reputation throughout her life. What will happen to Xiangu in the future?
Where are you? This is heartless."
"The Imperial Master regarded him as his son, and tried his best to support and support him. However, when the monarch was offering sacrifices in the spring, in front of hundreds of thousands of people in Luojing, he wrote a letter impeaching the Imperial Master's 'Ten Sins and Five Traitors', fabricating unnecessary charges.
, this is meaningless."
"The monarch had high hopes for him, providing food and clothing, delegating power and assigning tasks. However, he promulgated laws that harmed the country and the people. He exploited the farmers with the spring seedling method and made profits for the Lin family of Lanxi. He destroyed Zhongnan's national religion with the retreat law and deceived the people's wisdom.
The art of war is to resort to violence and provoke provocations on the border. There are countless ways to destroy our country and end up in the south. This is no king and no country."
"On a major matter of marriage, his parents broke the contract without any reason, which is unfilial. This is a man without a father and a family."
"As for ignorance... He, Lin Wenruo, dares to coerce the monarch, settle the debate between Confucianism and Taoism, and argue for the Zhongnan National Religion? Oh, he is just trying to shake a tree, he is not overestimating his own capabilities!"
Mr. Jinyi sneered.
"'If literature does not come out, what will happen to the people?'? The people of the country were looking forward to him so eagerly, but who would have thought that what came back was a ruthless and unrighteous man, without a king, a country, a father, a family, and an ignorant and ignorant man."
"The scholars in Confucian academies are just mediocre."
Young Master Jinyi spread out the folding fan in his hand, fanned the air gently, and smiled slightly. He felt that these words were so heartfelt that if they were in Luojing City, they would surely win the applause of the Chinese people.
The sound of the piano in the pavilion calmed down and then became louder.
"The donor is right." The fat Taoist priest, who had been closing his eyes to meditate, opened his eyes and bowed to the scholar in gilded clothes.
"This thief Lin is very evil. The master of the temple valued him so much before. I have never failed the Lin family of Lanxi in Chongxu Temple. However, he is ungrateful and bites people like a mad dog. He even tries to use the Taoist-Confucian argument to take away me from Chongxu."
The position of Guan Guojiao? Just because of his yellow-haired brat and a bunch of rabble behind him?"
"I rushed to the Taoist temple for thousands of years, and built the temple here before Zhongnan Kingdom was established. How dare he dare to think like this? Humph, although Pindao is just an ordinary Taoist priest in the temple, he also has a pure heart. Ruona
If the little Lin thief dares to appear in front of Pindao, I will definitely scold him until he can't hold his head high!"
After saying that, the fat Taoist priest waved his fly whisk, and his body was shaken. His originally fat body suddenly took on a generous and heroic attitude.
The young master in Jinyi and the fat Taoist priest looked at each other with admiration in their eyes. At this moment, accompanied by the high-spirited sound of the piano, their hearts were full of ups and downs. They felt that it was too late to meet each other. Both of them were knowledgeable people and heroes of Zhongnan.
.
"This is Li Shiqian."
"The poor Taoist Chen Hongyuan."
"I have admired you for a long time."
"Disrespect, disrespect."
Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows and couldn't help laughing when he saw the scene in front of him that seemed to be the next step of sworn friendship.
Mr. Qingxi on the side was not interested in this scene, and he was not even interested in the great changes that had happened in Luojing in the past few months and the things that the people of the country were talking about.
It doesn’t matter what the Lin family of Lanxi and Chongxuguan want to argue about, or how many treasonous and unethical things Lin Wenruo has done, you are still too far away from me.
He felt that he was indulging in the mountains and rivers of Zhongnan, regardless of the elegant celebrities in the world. They may not be famous temporarily and cannot be compared with the famous celebrities in Luojing, but as long as they attend a few more elegant gatherings, take more medicine and do some elegant things
, maybe he will become famous in Zhongnan and be promoted to a celebrity.
For example, this is the case right now.
Mr. Qingxi glanced at the young man named Li Shiqian.
Li Shiqian realized that he had to do business. After all, he still relied on Mr. Qingxi to bring him into Luo Jing's celebrity circle. This was something he had managed to get. So he coughed lightly.
"It is also fate that I can meet you brothers in this Drunken Old Man's Pavilion today. We all have the same spirit and have a very happy conversation, which is very rare. The elegant scholar next to me is Mr. Qingxi, who is well-known in Luojing. He will meet tonight
We are holding an elegant cultural gathering, and seeing that you all like it, can you please go to the meeting as a favor?"
After saying this, he looked around, but his eyes mainly glanced at Zhao Rong.
Liu Sanbian was distracted looking at the scenery outside. Su Xiaoxiao was holding her chin in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking. Neither of them paid attention to Li Shiqian.
When Zhao Rong saw Li Shiqian's gaze, the corner of his mouth twitched.
We have similar minds and have a great conversation? Weren't you two the only ones talking just now?
But don’t reach out and hit the smiling person.
Zhao Rong smiled and responded: "Sorry, we are not locals. We were passing by here in a hurry. Time is tight, so I won't bother you."
Li Shiqian's smile froze.
Mr. Qingxi urged again, and Li Shiqian refused to give up and asked several more times.
Zhao Rong declined several times. Seeing that he still refused to give up, he turned his attention to the beautiful scenery and ignored him.
When Li Shiqian and Li Shiqian saw this, their expressions darkened.
"It's okay if they don't go. As a poor Taoist, I just have time. Hahahahaha, I haven't seen what the banquet hosted by you scribes looks like. Today I want to go and broaden my horizons." The fat Taoist priest Chen Hongyuan laughed.
Mr. Qingxi's eyelids twitched, who cares whether you come or not? Your body could probably crush me to death.
"Zhao Rong, can you stop studying?" Su Xiaoxiao, who had been in a daze just now, suddenly tugged at the corner of Zhao Rong's clothes.
"Um?"
"Okay?" The corner of his clothes was tugged again.
"not good."
Zhao Rong's lips curved. "As expected of you, Su Xiaoxiao, you easily said something I didn't expect."
"Go ahead and be bad, Xiaoxiao doesn't care about you anymore."
"You think reading too much will make you bad, right?" Zhao Rong said leisurely.
Su Xiaoxiao was so angry that she didn't want to pay attention to him, but after a while, she still hummed softly.
"Who told you that reading too much will make you bad?"
"Isn't that what they said about Lin Wenruo? After reading so many books, the more he read, the worse he became. He did so many bad things, it would be better not to read."
Zhao Rong's smile subsided, his eyes narrowed slightly, he looked down at the black and white eyes in front of him, and said with a rare serious look: "You have to believe whatever the world says."
His voice was not loud, but in the Drunkard Pavilion, where there was only the faint sound of the piano, it floated into everyone's ears along with the sound of the piano.
“To judge a person, you don’t judge him by his reputation in the public eye, not by his appearance, or even by his heart, but by his behavior and what he has done.”
"Tch." Li Shiqian curled his lips.
Mr. Qingxi and Chen Hongyuan also looked disdainful.
He is another "Confucianist" who talks nonsense and teaches people principles after reading a few books.
"But, he really did something sorry for that Lan Fairy." Su Xiaoxiao said doubtfully.
"Regardless of whether there is any inside story about this matter, this is just his personal morality and not the main basis for judging him." Zhao Rong said softly. "Because Lin Wenruo, as a Confucian scholar who joins the world and governs the country, should be favored and judged most.
The standard should be his public morality, that is, what he did to Zhongnan Kingdom."
Su Xiaoxiao seemed to understand but not quite.
"Isn't what he is doing just promulgating evil laws and harming the Zhongnan Kingdom?" Li Shiqian couldn't help it and interjected: "You are such a boring scholar. I sincerely invite you to participate in the cultural gathering, but you don't know what to do and don't know etiquette.
, and now he is talking nonsense again, and he even started to speak for Lin Wenruo, is this a Confucian scholar? They are like minks, they share the same odor!"
"I'm not speaking for Lin Wenruo alone, I'm speaking for my generation of Confucian scholars." Zhao Rong said calmly. "When you deal with our generation of Confucian scholars, don't you mean to first destroy their private morals and make people hate them, and then everyone will criticize them and downgrade them?
Public morality makes it difficult to distinguish between true and false, ruining the reputation of Confucian scholars like us and confusing merit and demerit?"
Zhao Rong's tone was cold. "Just like what you are doing now, you are obviously just arguing about the truth, but in the end you are ruining my personal morality by not attending the meeting."
"you!"
Li Shiqian was speechless.
Chen Hongyuan said sharply: "Then how do you explain his methods of causing harm to the country and the people?"
Zhao Rong suddenly looked strange. "Do you really understand the specific contents of Spring Miao Technique, Retreat and View Technique, and General Art of War?"
Chen Hongyuan suddenly felt guilty. Didn't people in Luojing always say that they wasted money and wasted people?
How could he, a Taoist priest, bother to understand those new laws in detail? The only closely related retreat method, he knew better. Isn't it just to demolish the magnificent Taoist temples and turn them into fields, and distribute them to those farmers who have no money to cultivate?
It was a retrograde step in education and extremely ridiculous. He remembered clearly this new law that harmed his vital interests.
But at this time, he had already fired his bow and had no intention of turning back, so he could only nod his head.
Zhao Rong thought about what he had seen and heard in Zhongnan Kingdom during this period, and couldn't help but express his feelings with emotion.
"The spring seedling method helps farmers, which can increase production and enrich the people, enrich the court's revenue, and kill two birds with one stone; the retreat method, returning farmers' fields, can alleviate the food crisis of Zhongnan Kingdom, and there is no need to waste effort and money on consigning food from other places; the art of war focuses on
The armaments can be replenished to supplement the border garrison and guard against the enemy's foreign invasion."
"Looking at his public morality, these three methods are enough!"
"The law is a good law, but the reason why the implementation process is so difficult and makes people angry and resentful is due to the decay of the Southern Kingdom system and the inability of people to implement it. Why should all the fault be put on the new law itself and the people who promulgated and implemented it?"
Li Shiqian, Chen Hongyuan and Mr. Qingxi looked at each other in confusion.
"And these three methods are aimed at the people at the bottom of the Zhongnan Kingdom and are beneficial to the country and the country. I think most people in Luojing live a prosperous life, are in the middle class, and do not belong to the bottom of the people. These three methods cannot bring them much benefit, or even
It has also harmed the interests of the upper-class dignitaries, including Chongxuguan. Therefore, there are people hiding behind the scenes to control public opinion. And you, either as a member of the interest group, are short-sighted, or you are led by local gossips to follow others' opinions, and you are all being manipulated.
When you are a spearman, you don’t even know it!”
Li Shiqian opened his mouth, but he didn't know how to refute him and stopped talking.
Zhao Rong said slowly: "The Chen Dynasty to your south has been reformed by the ambitious Legalist reforms. It may go north to swallow up the fat meat of Zhongnan Mountain at any time. The Taoist model of governing the country as a 'small country with few people' is no longer suitable for Zhongnan Mountain."
The situation in the South is such that it is not easy for someone to stand up and reform the law for you, but you are ignorant, using your words to make money, and destroying people's moral character."
Zhao Rong said word by word: "Why do you bully my generation of Confucian scholars like this?"
One of the only Confucian scholars in the pavilion pursed his lips.
"In the huge Zhongnan Kingdom, the leader of the country makes elixirs, the national teachers practice Taoism, the people are ignorant, the Taoist priests are inactive, the hermits hide from the world, and the famous people are dissolute, but they all do nothing."
"Only a group of Confucian scholars are thinking deeply about state affairs and patching up the gaps everywhere."
"You are all partial to private morality, but public morality is completely lacking."
"How can Zhongnan be in decline today? There are too many good people with few faults. They enjoy their rights but do not fulfill their obligations. Everyone regards them as if they were nothing. Although there are many people, they once did not fulfill their obligations.
If you do not benefit the group, but instead become a burden to the group, your husband will be miserable every day!"
Zhao Rong's words were resounding, every word was sonorous and powerful, and every sentence was precise and reverberated in the Drunken Old Man's Pavilion.
Everyone was silent.
The three of them, Li Shiqian, had different expressions. Some were pale-white, some were angry and fluttered their sleeves, or some had their eyes downcast, but none of them dared to look at the Confucian scholar again.
"Zheng!"
The sound of the piano is loud.
I don’t know if the song is finished or the person is cut off.
Sudden.
Blessing to the soul.
Zhao Rong turned his head to look at the place where the sound of the piano suddenly stopped.
Lin Wenruo left his hands on the strings and raised his head. He ignored everyone in the pavilion and only looked at the Confucian scholar who was looking back.
Smiling like a spring breeze.
"I am Lin Qingchi, a well-written man. May I ask you your surname?"