Wait until you reach this area dedicated to Western learning.
Bai Guicai had a sense of trance. This was the late Qing Dynasty when new learning and old learning were alternating. Many people were still studying the imperial examination. Some educated people began to become enlightened gentry, learning Western ideas and embracing Western political systems.
Many people abandoned poetry, books, etiquette and music, and learned from the West in order to save the country.
There are also people who are clinging to old knowledge and trying to find a way to become stronger from the pile of old papers.
The desolation of Shanxi merchants was also related to the weakening of the Qing court.
When the nest is overturned, there are no eggs left intact, and losing to a weak country is not a matter of business!
"Yan Fu's Theory of Heavenly Evolution..."
Bai Gui took a deep breath and looked dimly. Other books may be unfamiliar to some people, but people who have studied basic education will definitely not be unfamiliar with this book. There is a famous and shocking sentence in it, "Natural selection.
Survival of the fittest.”
"What a pity. If you want to reform the current ills, you must first reform the political system. Although practical learning is important, the Qing court is not soil..."
He glanced at the brand-new, best-selling "Treasures of Heavenly Evolution" and shifted his gaze to the practical studies of "Chemical Explanation" and "Botany". A thin layer of dust fell on the exquisite cover.
Wiping away the dust with his clean sleeves, he immediately straightened his mind and set his sights on his old studies.
The imperial examination method is what he should consider now.
Only by taking the imperial examination can one have family background!
Taking a step forward and moving, he landed on the "Commentary on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books" written by Zhu Xi. He flipped through it and found that there were many new annotations in it, annotations on Zhu Xi's sentences.
It's a happy story. Zhu Zi annotated the Four Books, and called the annotations in "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" as chapters and sentences. The sayings in "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" were gathered together as a collection of comments, collectively called "Collected Commentary on Chapters and Judgments of the Four Books".
.Then people added additional annotations based on Zhu Xi’s annotations...
"Well, I've chosen this jade pen..."
Bai Xiaowen was willing to spend money on giving gifts to his uncle, and chose a jade pen worth two taels and one qian. It was made of beautiful jade as the barrel and wolf hair as the hair. It was very delicate.
Following Bai Xiaowen's urging, the others no longer hesitated and made difficult choices. They bought an inkstone with a mid-range price or a few ingots of good ink, which cost about three or four dollars.
This is not because they have no money and cannot buy expensive gifts.
They are not Bai Xiaowen, they are neither relatives nor friends of Mr. Zhu.
If the gift is heavy, it will appear that they are flattering.
"Since you have chosen a pen, inkstone, and ink, let me give you a book." Bai Gui smiled.
The four treasures of the study can be given as pens, inks, papers and inkstones except paper.
No matter how precious the paper is, it will be used, and pens, inkstones, and ink can be stored as treasures. A piece of fine ink is worth hundreds of taels of silver, comparable to gold. Some ink-making masters are extremely rich. For example, "Kangxi Huizhou"
"Fu Zhi" records that Wu Quichen "was exquisite in making ink and lacquerware throughout his life, and people competed for it. His ink is worth three times of platinum (silver)."
Bai Gui also has no intention of competing for beauty. When he chooses to give the apprenticeship ceremony, he only needs to be dedicated. He wants to outshine the limelight of his peers and win the favor of others. Once someone with a discerning eye sees it, they will definitely think that he has done something for his own good.
And Mr. Zhu is exactly this discerning person.
He paused, lingered for a moment from his old school, and took out a stone-engraved version of "Compendium of Materia Medica" written by Li Shizhen.
As the ancients said, it's not a good appearance but a good doctor.
If you give the Four Books and the Five Classics as gifts, there will be too many places in your home, and it will appear that you are not dedicated. If you give the practical books, Mr. Zhu will be angry if he is an old master who does not follow the ancient times. At this time, although the Western medicine classics are more enlightened than the traditional Chinese medicine
Quite a lot, but it cannot be compared with modern medicine.
Although sending medical books may not necessarily make Mr. Zhu happy, it does not make him bored either.
…
Mr. Zhu has been very smart since he was a child. At the age of sixteen, he was awarded the title of scholar. At the age of twenty-two, he went to the provincial examination and won the first place in the civil examination, that is, the provincial examination Jieyuan. When he went to Beijing to take the examination the following year, his father died of illness.
I didn't get on the bus to honor my father.
Fang Yun, the governor of Qin Province, loved his talent and came to visit him to entrust him with important tasks, but was rejected. So Mr. Zhu moved into Bailu Academy.
Bailu Academy is located in the northwest of Zishui County, also known as Sulu Temple.
The reason why it is called Silu Temple is because the four sons of a small official named Lu all passed the Jinshi examination in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the emperor of the Song Dynasty ordered them to build a temple to commemorate their merits.
When the group arrived at the gate of the academy, they looked up and saw that on the two-person-high gatehouse was a plaque with the four characters "White Deer Academy", and the auspicious patterns of white deer and white cranes were carved on the panels.
In my ears, I could hear the sound of a man reciting aloud in the academy.
Bai Jiaxuan happily told everyone that this plaque was inscribed by Governor Fang Yun.
His father Bai Bingde and Bai Youde had the same idea. When Mr. Zhu was not famous yet, they made a marriage agreement with Mr. Zhu's father, and the eldest daughter married Mr. Zhu as his wife.
Several of them were family members, so they were not stopped by the concierge. Instead, they were led by the concierge and walked straight through the courtyard to the living room of the inner house in the backyard of the academy.
When Zhu Bai met Bai Jiaxuan, she asked about her mother Bai Zhao's well-being as usual. When she heard that the old man had recently shown off her third son, a calf, in the village, she smiled happily.
Bai Gui and the others lowered their heads, not daring to look around.
However, he still took a look at Zhu Bai's appearance. She was dressed in cloth, an indigo cardigan, green cloth pants, and woven shoes and socks with white ribbons on her feet. She must have bound her feet. Normal women's feet are not that small.
The sharp one looks like a crescent moon.
He has a graceful appearance, and his eyes reveal a sense of solemnity, a kind of gentleness, and a kind of severity that abides by something.
The standard woman who read poetry in the late Qing Dynasty!
Bai Gui mentally labeled Zhu Bai as this kind of woman is easy to get along with, as long as she doesn't offend against taboos.
He had seen many women with bound feet in Bailu Village and Bailu Town. Most of them were daughters of wealthy families. Girls from poor families had to work in the fields, so bound feet were still rare.
Some families who dreamed of sending their daughters to wealthy families as concubines also had their daughters' feet bound.
Because it is impossible for a wealthy family to marry a woman with big feet.
"This is Xiaowen, isn't it? I didn't expect you to grow up so big?" Zhu Bai and the Bai Jiaxuan siblings stopped talking after talking for a while. They didn't want to neglect the young man standing aside, which is the way of tutoring.
Zhu Bai was the first to take a look at Bai Xiaowen.
She has small feet and cannot walk on mountain roads. It is impossible for her to return to her parents' home.
Basically you have to be confined to your home for the rest of your life.
"Yes, aunt! It's Xiaowen."
Bai Xiaowen smiled and called his aunt sweetly. It was impossible to say that he had any feelings for Zhu Bai, but it was also impossible to say that he had no feelings at all. The bond of blood naturally endowed him with feelings.
He jogged a few steps and reached the Kang, where Zhu Bai took a good look at his appearance.
In a family where men farm and women weave, the older women generally have poor eyesight and are short-sighted because they work on weaving every day. Bai Xiaowen knew that his grandma Bai Zhao was inconvenienced, so he thoughtfully stepped in and let Zhu Bai see her.
