In the evening of the same day, because Zhuangzi's crutches were swept away by the current when he fell into the river, Meng Zhong helped him back to Zhuangziju.

Seeing Zhuangzi and Meng Zhong returning to the house from a distance, Uncle Zhuang took Wu Ying, Xiang Yi, Le Jin, Meng Sui and other sons of the house out to greet him.

When Zhuangzi and Meng Zhong approached, Zhuang Bo was stunned to find that the cane in Zhuangzi's hand was missing, so after saluting Zhuangzi, he asked Meng Zhong in confusion: "Meng Zhong, where is Master's cane?" ”

Meng Zhong had no choice but to explain with a sneering face: "Because of my negligence, the master accidentally fell into the muddy water, and the master's cane was also washed away by the current......

Hearing this, Wu Ying, Xiang Yi, Le Jin, Meng Sui and others were all dumbfounded, while Zhuang Bo was stunned for a moment, his face turned red with anger, and he reprimanded angrily: "I call the master to serve, how dare you ......?"

As soon as he said this, Zhuang Bo's voice stopped abruptly, because he saw Zhuangzi stretch out his hand to stop him, and at the same time patted Meng Zhong's hands holding him, and motioned for the latter to help him to go to the house.

Seeing that Zhuangzi intended to defend Meng Zhong, Uncle Zhuang's face froze with anger, and he guessed that there must be something he didn't know about it.

What is the truth in it, Uncle Zhuang didn't have time to inquire for the time being, and when he saw Meng Zhong helping Zhuangzi to walk towards the house, he instructed the princes: "Meng Sui, Wu Ying, Hua Hu, the three of you immediately go to the city of Meng, and ask the doctor in the city to go to the house to diagnose the master." Xiang Yi, Le Jin, and Le Xu, the three of you immediately boiled a pot of water and cooked a pot of fish soup for the master to ward off the cold. ”

"Yes!" The sons surrendered their orders.

After the instructions were completed, Zhuang Bo returned to the main house where Zhuangzi lived and asked Meng Zhong what had happened.

After listening to Meng Zhong's story, Zhuang Bo had to admit that Meng Zhong really couldn't be blamed for this incident - if you want to blame Zhuangzi for his own idleness, you said that even if you want to let go of the fish in the fish basket net, you have to consider that you are over seventy years old.

Obviously, Mengzhong's disciple - although Zhuangzi does not admit it for the time being - is next to him, why should he do it himself?

Of course, these complaining Zhuang Bo naturally did not dare to speak out, he could only blame Meng Zhong, and warned Meng Zhong that he must be optimistic about Zhuangzi in the future, so as not to have similar accidents again.

Of course, Meng Zhong accepted this with an open mind.

It is no exaggeration to say that when he saw Zhuangzi fall into the river today, he was also frightened - a few days ago, he confronted Zhuangzi, and he did not have as much emotional swings as today.

About half an hour later, Xiang Yi, Le Jin, Le Xu and others boiled the fish soup and brought it to Zhuangzi's couch.

Zhuangzi drank the fish soup and continued to recuperate.

In the evening, the elders of the Mengshi clan came to visit Zhuangzi in a carriage carrying famous doctors in Jingbo City.

It turned out that when Meng Sui, Wu Ying, and Hua Hu arrived in the Jingbo area, because it was late at that time, Jing Bo City had closed the city gate, so Meng Sui took Wu Ying and Hua Hu to ask his grandfather for help.

After hearing the reason, Meng Jian immediately used the influence of his Meng clan in Jingbo to ask the city gate guards to open the city gate, and then found a well-known healer in the city, and drove the latter to come non-stop in a carriage.

As for why Meng Jian followed, I thought I also wanted to understand the situation - after all, Meng Sui, Wu Ying, and Hua Hu didn't know why Zhuangzi fell into the water, and Meng Jian was worried that this matter involved Meng Zhong.

However, when he arrived at Zhuangziju and learned the truth of the matter, he was recommended to know that there was a false alarm.

After the diagnosis, the doctor said to Zhuang Bo, Meng Jian, Meng Zhong and the other sons, "Master is fine, but he is a little frightened and a little weak...... The master is old, and it is normal for him to be weak, so he prescribed a medicine list for the master to nourish qi and replenish blood, and the master drank the medicine, and he will be fine after a few days of rest. ”

When everyone heard this, they were relieved.

But then the doctor admonished: "In addition, the master is finally old, and there is a false alarm today, and it may not be the same in the future, so I hope that the people around me will be more vigilant in the future, and no similar accidents will happen again." ”

When Meng Zhong nodded with an embarrassed face, Zhuang Bo was thoughtful.

In fact, Uncle Zhuang also knew that Meng Zhong was not to blame for today's events, in the final analysis, it was just because Meng Zhong was the only person who followed Zhuangzi at that time, so when Meng Zhong was busy with other things, he inevitably couldn't take care of Zhuangzi's side.

Therefore, Zhuang Bo felt that in the future, in addition to Meng Zhong following Zhuangzi on his trip, it was best to send a few more people to watch Zhuangzi anytime and anywhere, so as not to happen again - of course, this matter must be allowed by Zhuangzi, after all, Zhuangzi's mentality is different from that of twenty years ago, and he doesn't like too many people to follow him.

As it was late at night, Uncle Zhuang invited the doctor to stay in the house.

During this period, the elder Meng recommended Meng Zhong and Meng Sui to come to him, and asked with a smile, "So, you two have become disciples of Zhuangzi?" ”

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "The master still doesn't recognize us as disciples, but just teaches. ”

"Haha, that's enough." Meng Jian stroked his beard with a look of relief.

In his opinion, since he has learned from Zhuangzi, he is a disciple of Zhuangzi, and as for whether Zhuangzi himself admits it, he thinks it is only a matter of time - they have begun to teach, will they not admit it?

So he told Meng Zhong and Meng Sui: "It seems that the old man has not yet recognized you as his disciple, but you have not learned anything for the time being, as long as you sincerely ask the master, the master will eventually admit it in the future." …… Zhong'er, Sui'er, the old man is very much looking forward to the two of you, among my contemporary Montessori juniors, the old man is the only one who is optimistic about the two of you, and Mengqing's son "Menghu......"

"Menghu?"

Meng Sui had a rather exaggerated expression on his face.

Although they are all friends with each other, if Meng Zhong is more talented than him, he admits it, but if Meng Hu is also more talented than him, then he will never accept Meng Sui - that guy is not serious all day long, what can he do?

Meng Jian smiled but did not speak.

Among the contemporary Montessori juniors, he is most optimistic about Meng Zhong in terms of smart posture, followed by his grandson Meng Sui, as for Meng Hu, a junior who can live with his father Meng Qing in his teens for several tricks, can he be an ordinary person in the future?

"I'm afraid the future of my Montessori clan will fall on these three boys."

Meng Jian stroked his beard and thought to himself.

Afterwards, the three of them chatted for a while, from the matter of Zhuangzi to the "summer festival" and "feast" held by the Mengshi clan a while ago.

According to Meng Xuan, Meng Zhong's mother, Ge Shi, took a fancy to a young Hua woman named "Hua Yu (yú)" during the summer festival and feast, and hoped that the former would marry her eldest son, Meng Bo.

The trouble is that it is not only the Ge family who fell in love with Hua Yu, the latter has a good appearance and his mother's status in the Hua family, so there are many admirers, both within the Montessori family and other families.

This kind of thing is not uncommon, such as Meng Zhong's mother Ge Shi, she had other admirers in addition to Meng Qu back then, but in the end Meng Qu won and married Ge Shi.

Yes, it's to win, not to marry.

In the case of intermarriages, if "a woman is favored by several men at the same time", then the families will jointly hold a similar contest for the young men to compete and the final winner will marry the woman.

As for what to test, it seems to be a test of martial arts, but it is actually a test of morality.

Yes, this competition-like format is called "archery".

Archery is a kind of ritual inherited from the Zhou ceremony, which is divided into four types: "big shooting", "bin shooting", "swallow shooting", and "village shooting". Among them, Zhou Tianzi used "big shot", the princes of various countries used "bin shot", the banquet used "swallow shot", and the Qing doctor used "village shot" - Montessori, Ge, Hua and other families, and their heads were the titles of scholars.

Although the specifications and etiquette may be different, the essence of "archery" is the same, according to records, the shooter, advance and retreat week must also be in the salute. The inner body is straight, and then the bow and arrow are solid. Holding a bow and arrow, and then you can say it, which can be seen as virtuous.

To put it simply, the character of a person is judged by "his posture and emotions when he raises his bow and shoots an arrow" and "whether he can hit the target" - the world believes that as long as a person has a good heart, the bow and arrow he shoots will definitely hit the target, otherwise, he will not be able to hit.

In the past, the Zhou royal family used archery to test and exhort the princes, and later archery gradually became a common etiquette in the world.

Confucianism, in particular, also defines archery as one of the 'gentleman's etiquette'. [PS: If the heart is not right, you can't be hit, this is right, and if you have distractions, you can't be sure; But if you can't shoot, it must be 'bad morality', no matter how you look at it, it feels too idealistic. 】

All in all, in order to win over the woman named Hua Yu, Meng Zhong's brother Meng Bo is now asked by the brothers' mother Ge Shi to give Meng Hu's father "Meng Qing" strict training, hoping that his son can achieve excellent results in the "shooting ceremony" held by various families after the autumn harvest in October, and marry Ge's favorite eldest daughter-in-law Hua Yu.

Oh, Meng Hu's father, Meng Qing, is Meng Jin's eldest son, that is, the current Sima of the Meng family, in terms of weapons and bow horses, he can be called the best in the Meng family.

"Uncle Meng Qing, ......"

Glancing at Meng Sui, Meng Zhong couldn't help but secretly pray for his brother.

You must know that Meng Hu's father, Meng Qing, is a very serious and stern man, not to mention Meng Zhong and Meng Sui, even if Meng Qing's own son Meng Hu sees his father, it is like a mouse is afraid of a cat, and even trembles.

Now that his mother has entrusted Meng Bo to Meng Qing, it goes without saying that Meng Qing will teach Meng Bo extremely strictly, and Meng Bo will have to shed his skin.

Of course, if Meng Bo can win the salute in the future and marry Hua's daughter Hua Yu, then the current grinding is worth it.

"Other than that, there is no major matter in the clan, and you two don't need to worry, just serve Zhuangzi here with peace of mind and ask him for advice." Meng Jian stroked his beard and admonished.

Meng Zhong and Meng Sui nodded.

Before going to sleep at night, Meng Sui asked Meng Zhong, "Ah Zhong, is your brother good at archery?" ”

Meng Zhong shook his head.

In fact, after the Montessori children reach the age of ten, the family Sima will be responsible for teaching these clansmen the most basic martial arts, and archery is also included.

However, due to his father's aftermath, his brother Meng Bo had already undertaken most of the agricultural work for his mother Ge, so he didn't have much time to exercise in this area, even if Ge asked Sima Mengqing to teach him alone, Meng Zhong didn't dare to guarantee what kind of results his brother Meng Bo could achieve in the end.

"I hope my brother will win the salute and nothing will happen."

Meng Zhong prayed secretly.