Huaiyuan Post in Bianjing was the place where envoys from Qiuci and Jiaozhou were received. Now the two brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe live in the post.
The two brothers returned to Bianjing with their father last year. After passing the three tests of Liu Neiquan, Su Shi was appointed as the chief registrar of Fuchang County, while Su Che was appointed the chief registrar of Mianchi County.
The two brothers wanted to take up the post, but Ouyang Xiu and Yang Tianju went to the Da Ke in July.
Therefore, the two brothers have been studying in Huaiyuanyi.
In the apartment in Huaiyuanyi, the two brothers sat together at the table, with a thick collection of books placed on the table.
Sometimes the two brothers sit side by side reading, sometimes one is walking outside and the other is hunkering down at his desk.
Others would think that reading so hard every day would be a chore, but the two brothers enjoyed it, and the more they read, the more enjoyable they became.
Soon the postman from Huaiyuan Station came with a food table.
Su Shi put down his book and greeted with a smile: "Jiu Sanlang, it's time to eat."
Su Che's face looked a little gloomy, and he put down his book after hearing his brother's greeting.
Su Shi skillfully cleared the table, put the books aside, and asked the post official about the foreign envoys in the post.
Su Che opened the food box and waited until his brother sent the postman away and returned to the case before he sat down.
Su Shi saw a pinch of salt, a white radish, and a bowl of white rice placed on each of their tables and immediately smiled and said: "Very good, very good."
Su Zhe gave the chopsticks to his brother and asked, "What's so good about eating this every day?"
Su Shi said seriously: "Jiu Sanlang, you don't know the origin of this meal. The salt is white, the radish is white, and the rice is white. This is called rice. The ancients enjoyed this food every day without knowing the taste of the eight delicacies."
Su Che laughed when he heard this. He immediately took the rice and ate the white radish and said with a smile: "Brother, this radish is very crispy."
Su Shi smiled and said, "Jiusanlang, I'll just say okay."
After the two of them had eaten most of it, Su Che said: "Brother, I have never been able to understand this Han Dynasty book. I always feel that there are so many clues that I can't understand."
Su Shi didn't answer when he heard this and continued to eat.
"elder brother?"
Su Shi put down his rice bowl and said with a smile: "I didn't answer you just now because I remembered that when my father took you and I to meet Mr. Zhang (Zhang Fangping)."
"When my father met Mr. Zhang, he asked me what book I was reading. My father said proudly that Quan Zi was re-reading the Han Dynasty. When Mr. Zhang heard this, he asked in surprise, "You can read the book once, why bother reading it a second time."
Su Che said with a smile: "I remember that Mr. Zhang was extremely intelligent and had a photographic memory of what he read, so he never read it a second time. I remember my brother said at that time, I'm afraid Mr. Zhang doesn't know, and I have to read it a third time.
"
Talking about the past, the two brothers laughed together.
Su Shi recalled: "If it hadn't been for the appreciation and promotion of lay people, the three of us, father and son, would still be trapped in Shu."
Su Che said: "Brother, if you don't leave Shuzhong, you won't know how big the world is and how abundant the products are. So, brother, do you want to read more of this book of Han, or just read it once?"
Su Shi said with a smile: "Every time I read it, I get new ideas, but now I think it makes sense to read it to Mr. Zhang. This is just a rough idea."
Su Che nodded and said, "Mr. Zhang is indeed a person like Kong Ming."
Su Che still remembers that when Zhang Fangping gave a question to test two people, Su Che didn't know the origin of one question. Su Shi stood up the pen tube and blew air into it. Su Zhe knew that it came from a pipe.
Su Shi picked up the Hanshu and said to Su Zhe: "I was like you when I tried to read the Hanshu. I read it several times before I understood it. For example, the one hundred and twenty volumes of the Hanshu include governance, characters, geography, and official systems.
, The Art of War, Treasures, etc., each time you read it, you focus on one thing. It won’t take a few years, but everything in the book will be mastered.”
Su Zhe thought about it carefully and said, "Brother, this method seems unheard of."
Su Shi smiled and said: "Jiusanlang, this is my own method of reading. First it is Chinese books, and then it is extended to other books."
"You are as rich as the ocean in reading books. They are available in all department stores. You can't read them all with one person's energy. Therefore, when you read, you first ask yourself what do you want in reading?"
"Therefore, every time I read a book, I will make one intention to seek for it. If I want to seek for the rise and fall of ancient and modern times, the control of chaos, and the role of saints and sages, I should only use this intention to seek it in the book, and do not have any other thoughts."
"Read it again, looking for the facts of deeds, and the same is true for laws and cultural relics. Every book imitates this. Although this method is stupid, I will learn it later. I will be attacked from all sides. I will use it inexhaustibly. I will try it briefly with each book.
Those who have just stopped can’t be compared to each other.”
Su Zhe thought about his brother's words again and again, and felt that it seemed feasible, so he said: "I still like to take a rough look, but what my brother said seems to be useful in medicine, so let's give it a try."
Su Shi smiled and said nothing.
After the two brothers finished eating, Su Che cleared the table. The two of them started reading again, immersed in the sea of books.
The sky outside the post is covered with white clouds and the leaves in the garden are swaying gently. It is a good weather for reading.
At this moment, outside the Nanxun Gate of Bianjing, Zhang Yue looked at the tall city gate building before his eyes and almost said, "I, Zhang Yue, am back again."
But Zhang Yue couldn't help but wonder why Ouyang Xiu asked him to return to Beijing.
When Zhang Yue's car entered the south gate, he collided with someone. Seeing that there were so many people here, the other party was ready to calm down the matter.
Zhang Yue was worried that he might be bullying the younger ones, so he asked Tang Jiuhaosheng to persuade him. However, he looked polite.
Zhang Yue saw that the other party was so sensible, so he opened the car curtain and said, "Brother, please forgive me for any offence."
When the other party was about to answer, he couldn't help but wonder: "Isn't this Duke Zhuangyuan? Why are you here?"
Zhang Yue knew that he had met an acquaintance. He looked familiar, but he didn't explain much.
Immediately, Zhang Yue's car drove away, and the other party said with a surprised look on his face: "I saw our Zhuang Yuan Gong in the suburbs of Bianjing the day before yesterday. Why is it that I am dazzled today?"
Zhang Yue arrived at Ouyang Xiu's house in a carriage.
It was already dusk at this time, Ouyang Xiu had not yet gone to court, and Ouyang Fa was not in the house, so Zhang Yue simply sat and waited.
The servants served noodle soup, and Zhang Yue took a hot towel to wash his face. At this moment, Ouyang Xiu returned home.
Ouyang Xiu looked hurriedly when he saw Zhang Yue coming out to greet him and asked, "Has Duzhi eaten?"
Zhang Yue said: "When I learned that my uncle was destined, my nephew rushed back from sixty miles away from the capital. He entered the city and had not yet eaten."
Ouyang Xiu was very satisfied when he heard this and said, "Duzhi will accompany me to dinner, and we will talk while eating."
So Zhang Yue was entertained by Ouyang Xiu.
The servants of Ouyang's house brought the food to the table. Ouyang Xiu ate for a few mouthfuls before saying, "Just now Mr. Han came to discuss matters with me, and now it's too late."
Ouyang Xiu talked about some political affairs in the court, which was telling him some of the situation in the court. Zhang Yue listened carefully and did not dare to interrupt.
Ouyang Xiu wiped his face with a towel and said, "What do you know about calling you back this time?"
Zhang Yue replied: "My nephew, don't you know?"
Ouyang Xiu smiled and said, "It's for the major in July. Are you willing to give it a try?"
"Dake?" Zhang Yue didn't expect it at all.
Ouyang Xiudao: "It is true that there are very few number one scholars who go to major universities, but after careful investigation, I found that there is no precedent for this."
"Zhang Ledao even admitted to the matriculation system twice. Do you have any concerns?"
Zhang Yue said: "I do have concerns. I originally planned to become a local official, but now I am taking the exam for the system. There is nothing wrong with it. But if I refuse to take the post and fail to take the exam, won't I lose face? What's more, the major exam will be held in July.
It’s been less than three months now, and I’m really not sure.”
Ouyang Xiu laughed and said: "You are also afraid of missing. This is not your temperament."
Zhang Yue remained silent. The most important thing was that Er Su was there. What kind of person was Su Shi?
Scholars, some people are good at writing articles, some people are good at poetry, and some people are good at strategies. As long as they can achieve the ultimate in one of them, they can all be included in Chinese textbooks.
But Su Shi was an all-rounder.
Zhang Yue really lamented that this era is really a fight between gods and gods.
As for the academic examination, it is a person's erudition. Don't think that after reading Su Shi's poems, you will think that people spend all their time traveling around and making friends. They don't seem to be the kind of scholars who spend all their time reading the classics.
In fact, Su Shi studied more diligently than anyone else. He had a poem, knew all the characters in the world, and read all the books in the world.
A man who admired Su Shi once went to visit him, but he waited for Su Shi for a long time. When he finally met, the man asked Su Shi what he was doing.
Su Shi said he was late for the day class and he was really sorry.
The man asked what the daily lesson was?
Su Shi said he was copying Han books.
The other party asked Mr. Dacai that he had a photographic memory of reading, so how could he copy it by hand?
Su Shi said no, I rely on diligence to study. I have copied the Chinese book for the third time.
After speaking, Su Shi showed him what he had copied and said that I copied three words for each story the first time, two words for the second time, and now I just copy one word.
The other party raised a random word, and Su Shi recited the following story. Each of the hundreds of words was good.
The man was so impressed that he went home and said to his son, "A genius like Su Shi is so diligent. How dare we ordinary people not work hard?"
Zhang Yue could still abuse Wang Kui by himself, but he had little chance of winning against Er Su. Before, he was secretly happy that Wang Kui and Er Su were in the same place, but now is it his turn to slap him in the face? He can't afford to offend me, but he still hides
Can't afford it?
I won’t go, I won’t go, I won’t go.
Zhang Yue said: "The Prime Minister knew that I had nothing to eat on the way, so he specially called me back to Beijing to treat me to a meal. I am really grateful. Now that I have a good meal, I will go to Chuzhou to take up my post."
After saying this, Zhang Yue stood up and thanked her, then turned around and left.
Unexpectedly, I heard Ouyang Xiu shouting loudly from behind him: "Stop for me."
Zhang Yue had no choice but to look back.
Ouyang Xiudao: "Actually, this is not Xiu Renren's idea, but the intention of Mr. Fu and Mr. Han."
Zhang Yue thought to himself as soon as he heard this, what?
Ouyang Xiu smiled and said, "Why do you want to recommend you to go to Da Ke?"
"I don't know."
Ouyang Xiuxian said: "The imperial examinations in this dynasty have always been criticized. Now that I think about it, the reason why I am not talented is because I have regular laws but not regular rules."
"Today, the Holy Lord is seeking heroes from the world, so he can restore the Holy cause and work together. Since the Holy Lord started the system, he has obtained eleven sages, which means using extraordinary methods to acquire extraordinary talents."
"Now that the country is in dire straits, the two husbands and ministers of Fu and Han are also considerate of the holy will and select talents from among the common people for the purpose of protecting the country in the future."
"Since you are first in the ordinary subjects and first in the extraordinary subjects, you can abide by the ordinary laws and cope with the extraordinary laws. Then in the future, the court will definitely have you among the good ministers."
"This matter cannot be shunned for both national and private reasons. Xiu has already agreed to it for you, Fu and Han."
