Lu Guo, Qufu.

When Chen Ziyou walked into this city, the capital of Lu and the hometown of Confucianism in the world, he was immediately enveloped in a bookish atmosphere. Walking in the streets and alleys, you can hear the sound of reading aloud everywhere, and Confucian schools can be found in almost every corner of the city.

Chen Ziyou saw that even the children who could be seen everywhere on the road could export chapters, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: it is worthy of being the hometown of Confucianism in the world.

More than 100 years ago, the head of Confucianism, Meng Ke, who stood out in the controversy of a hundred schools, was born here. This man, who was respected as Mengfuzi in later generations, had a rough experience in his early years.

Meng Ke lost his father since he was a child, and he was raised by his mother, and since he was a child, he seems to have less brains than his peers, and he is slow to respond. Mother Meng was worried about the future of this Meng family's only seedling for a long time, and asked around for ways to cure her head. But after visiting famous doctors, he still found nothing, and Xiao Meng Ke, who was already thirteen years old, still stumbled when he spoke. The people around persuaded Meng's mother to give up treatment, and to be a worry-free rich man in the future, and the old man Meng left a lot of inheritance on his deathbed, which was enough for Meng Ke to live a rich life in the future. However, Meng's mother did not believe in evil and continued to insist on seeking a doctor, and the originally wealthy family gradually consumed seventy-seven eighty-eight in order to cure Xiao Mengke's illness. Meng's mother was helpless, and she really couldn't afford to spend such a big expense, so she could only take little Meng Ke back to her hometown. But on their way back to their hometown, they passed by a private school. At that time, private schools were not prevalent in the world, and there were very few places in the countryside to open private schools. Unexpectedly, Xiao Meng Ke suddenly stopped, listened to the sound of reading aloud from the private school, and then chanted by himself. Such a recitation startled Meng Mu, and Xiao Meng Ke memorized the book very smoothly, contrary to the previous style of stumbling even speaking. And since then, Meng Ke seems to have opened his mind, and he has traveled a thousand miles a day on the way to learning.

There is another allusion in this, which is called Meng's mother to seek medical treatment, and books can cure diseases. Someone else said, "In the end, the Master opened his mind, but wisdom came late." ”

In any case, the enlightened Mengfuzi was already very remarkable in learning when he was crowned, and he founded a sect, put forward the earliest Confucian idea of "benevolent government", and advocated that "the people are more important than the king". In the minds of people at that time, the Son of Heaven was the master of the world, and he was naturally the most important person in the world, but such a young descendant dared to say that the Son of Heaven was not as important as the people. Therefore, at that time, this idea was not accepted by the various vassal states for a long time. Meng Ke traveled around the world for twenty years, instilling his ideas in the monarchs, but he was swept away. At that time, the vassal states wanted to achieve hegemony by force, so the idea of military was prevalent for a while. Meng Ke, who traveled around the world for 20 years and found nothing, finally returned to his hometown - Lu country, 20 years of travel, the wind, frost, rain and snow blew so that this young man who was still fresh and angry when he traveled smoothed the edges and corners, and the white horse passed through the gap, and he was nearly forty years old when he returned. At that time, although Meng Ke's Confucianism had not been promoted, it was passed on as a joke by the vassal states, and when people talked about Meng Ke, they laughed at him as miserable and panicked like a lost dog. When Meng Ke met Lu Guogong for the second time, the lord of Lu at this time had changed from Lu Pinggong to Lu Rengong, and the newly enthroned Lu Rengong was immediately deeply attracted when he heard the Confucianism proposed by Meng Ke, and Meng Ke was finally reused. In just ten years, the state of Lu, which promoted Confucianism, did not use swords and soldiers, rested with the people, implemented benevolent government, and achieved tremendous economic development. After the controversy of a hundred schools, Meng Ke's Confucianism overcame all the families, and the supporter of the military family - Pang Ling of the Jin State sent troops to attack the Lu State, and the Lu State was only a pre-war mobilization, and hundreds of thousands of men in the country took the initiative to join the army, and the four vassal states sent troops to help, and the army of benevolence and righteousness was promoted. The two armies faced each other, the soldiers of the Jin State defected, and the army of the Lu State was defeated by Pang Ling. This battle also established the status of Confucianism, the so-called soldier who surrendered without a fight.

Meng Ke retired from the temple in his later years, and greatly promoted education, only Qufu opened 72 academies, with 3,000 disciples, and 36 of them are the most famous.

These 36 sages came out of various countries, so Confucianism prevailed in the Great Zhou. Confucianism has been inherited to this day and has not declined, and many people attribute it to Yan Ziyuan, the second generation of the master. Yan Ziyuan was a closed disciple accepted by Meng Ke in his later years, ranking last among the disciples accepted by Meng Ke, but he inherited Meng Ke's Confucianism.

The only surviving of the thirty-six sages is now teaching in Qufu.

Chen Ziyou came to Qufu, in addition to implementing the policy of cooperation and longitudinalism, he also very much wanted to meet this contemporary Confucianism. Lu is known as the hometown of Confucianism in the world, from the temples of kings to the countryside of the people, and the only one who admires Confucianism is Confucianism. Chen Ziyou entered the palace as a Zongheng family, and it was not easy to persuade Lu Guogong to implement the policy of cooperation and indulgence. And in this process, it is particularly important to find out Yan Ziyuan's attitude.

Chen Ziyou was thinking about things, and accidentally bumped into a small flag, Chen Ziyou rubbed his head, and when he saw the words on the flag in front of him, he was stunned for a moment.

This small flag has eight big characters written on it: "The world has no appearance, and each other is born from the heart".

An old physiognomy saw Chen Ziyou knock over the flagpole, but he was not annoyed, but began to take a closer look at Chen Ziyou's face.

Chen Ziyou felt a little curious, curious and a little funny.

Seeing Chen Ziyou's face, the old master smiled and said, "What are you laughing at?" ”

Chen Ziyou said curiously: "I laughed at what the old gentleman said. ”

The old master stroked his white beard, fluttering and fluttering, and said, "What's so ridiculous about this." ”

Chen Ziyou said with a smile: "I have never heard of a person who has a face, and he persuades people that there is no appearance in the world, and they are born from the heart." Isn't this a sign for smashing yourself? ”

The old phase master was stunned, and then patted his head: "No wonder the business is bleak!" ”

Chen Ziyou felt more and more funny, the old physiognomy looked over the age of six, but behaved like a naughty child, Chen Ziyou continued: "The old gentleman has been looking at my face, you might as well tell me how my face is." ”

The old phase master stroked his beard again, and said with a straight face: "Does Childe really want to know?" ”

Chen Ziyou smiled and threw a silver ingot and said, "But it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

The old phase master took the silver thrown by Chen Ziyou, smiled happily, and after repeatedly confirming that it was real silver, he looked around and carefully put the silver into his sleeve.

After doing these actions, the old physiognomy raised his head, carefully looked at Chen Ziyou's face again, and only said four words after a long time: "Ghosts and gods are difficult to face." ”

Chen Ziyou frowned, a little displeased, and said in a deep voice: "What is the difficulty of ghosts and gods? ”

The old master continued: "The upper stop is long, and the ambition is less; Stop for a long time, be a gentleman; The next stop is long, the old is auspicious, but the three stops of the son are similar. Look at the wisdom in the forehead, the son is full of heaven; Look at the expensive eyes, the son is sharp and divine; Look at the rich in the nose, the son is rich and straight; Look at the longevity in the chin, the son is broad and round; Look at the fame in the eyebrows, the son is beautiful and famous; Look at the blessing in the ear, the son has thick ears to attract blessings; Look at Lu in the ear, the son has plump red lips. ”

Chen Ziyou pursed his lips: "According to what you said, shouldn't I be rich and noble?" ”

The old master shook his head and said, "No, prosperity is decline." Childe's life is peculiar, and the ghosts and gods are unpredictable. ”

Chen Ziyou sneered in his heart, his face became more and more disdainful, and he didn't want to entangle with this phase master anymore, he wanted to have some fun, but he didn't expect this phase master to say such words. I think it's a charlatan, and the next thing is to sell a way to break the disaster. Thinking of this, Chen Ziyou didn't pay attention to it anymore and chuckled: "Zi Bu is silent. "Turn around and leave.

This little episode made Chen Ziyou's good mood for the day a little bad, but he soon put this matter behind him.

After Chen Ziyou walked away, the old physiognomist looked at Chen Ziyou's back and was a little distracted.

"I've only met this kind of face three times in my life." The old physiognomist muttered to himself.

Several young people dressed as scholars ran over, and when they saw the old phase master bowing their heads and closing the stall, they hurriedly came over to help, and said while helping: "Senior brother, the master is looking for you!" Why did you sneak out and set up a stall by yourself again. ”

The old master scratched his head, looked at these junior disciples who were not much younger than him, and said with a smile: "Aren't you going back?" ”

After tidying up the stall, the old master carried the flag with eight big characters written on it, and left under the urging of several junior disciples.