Although he has returned to his hometown of Anning, Meng Zhong still insists on exercising every day.

When he got up early in the morning, Le Yan was often still asleep, and he didn't disturb him, quietly put on his clothes and walked out of the east house, and ran slowly around Mengyi in the morning light, jogging while silently reciting the classics of Taoism or Confucianism.

During the period after returning to Mengyi, when Meng Zhong was running in the morning, he would sometimes meet Meng Sui and Meng Hu, who were also running in the morning.

Sometimes, even Meng Zhong's guards will join their morning run.

Regarding Rong Zhi, in fact, some time ago, when the crown prince Dai Wu and the military Sima Dai Busheng came to Mengyi to celebrate the marriage of Meng Zhong, Meng Zhong privately asked Rong Yi if he wanted to return to the army and return to the command of the military Sima Dai Busheng.

After all, in Meng Zhong's opinion, Rong Yi is also a brave man who can write and fight, although it is because of the order of the crown prince Dai Wu, but it is really a bit condescending to follow him.

Unexpectedly, Rong Yan smiled and said: "If it weren't for Le Yi Zuo Sima, he would be just an inconspicuous pawn under the command of Dai Busheng Army Sima, and no one would take care of him above, so it would be better to follow Meng Sima than to be out of the crowd......

"Do you want to do farm work with me?" Meng Zhong joked with a smile at the time.

After all, during the period of spring ploughing in the clan, Rong Yan and the fifty Song soldiers under his leadership also helped Meng Zhong's family to be busy in the fields.

To be honest, letting these veterans who have experienced the battlefield work in the fields, Meng Zhong really feels a little uncomfortable.

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Rong Yi said with a smile: "How can Meng Sima stay in Mengyi for the rest of his life to farm?" ”

Meng Zhong was stunned, and then thought that Rong Worm was a very smart person.

After returning home from the morning's run, his mother Ge Shi and his sister Meng Yan, including his new wife Le Yan, had almost gotten up, and Meng Yan was feeding the poultry she had kept at home, while Le Yan was helping her mother-in-law prepare breakfast.

Then, the family had breakfast in a friendly manner.

After breakfast, the family continued to count the gifts.

Speaking of the congratulatory gifts given by the guests this time, the number is really large, only Song Wangyan, the crown prince Dai Wu, Dai Busheng, Fei You, and Hui Ang gave congratulatory gifts full of twelve carriages, not including the congratulatory gifts given by other guests, so that the courtyard of Meng Zhong's house could not be placed, so he had to temporarily park it on the side of the ancestral temple.

On the third day after the crown prince Dai Wu, Tian Zhang, Dai Busheng, Hui Ang and others left Mengyi, Meng Zhong, his mother, sister, and wife began to count these congratulatory gifts, and it took them a whole day to complete the inventory of the congratulatory gifts of a total of five carriages presented by Song Wangyan and the crown prince Dai Wu.

I have to say that the congratulatory gifts given by the king's father and son are all quite valuable and large, such as a half-human-high bronze tripod, Meng Zhong really can't think of what use this thing has for his family?

In the end, instead of getting in the way in his own yard, Meng Zhong simply let Meng Hu and Meng Sui transport them to the ancestral temple in the clan in a chariot and give them to the clan.

Not to mention, the old patriarch Meng Qi was quite happy about this, and quickly found a piece of silk to cover it, looking at his posture, I was afraid that when people from other families came to visit in the future, he would take it out from time to time to show off - after all, it was a gift from Song Wangyan.

As for the relatively small pieces, such as the well-decorated copper stove, Meng Zhong left two, one in the main house and one in the east room, so that he could keep warm in the house in the winter in the future—of course, he would tell Ge, Le Yan, and Meng Yan in advance to pay attention to the ventilation.

In addition to bronze ware, there are also many lacquerware.

I have to say that in this era, lacquerware is really a valuable thing, from furniture, beds, to small wooden cabinets and boxes containing jewelry, which can generally only be seen by aristocratic families, as for Mengyi, even in the family of the patriarch Mengqi and Menghu father and son, it is extremely rare.

In addition to bronze and lacquerware, there are quite valuable ornaments carved from jade, such as jade horses and ruyi; The workmanship is of the highest quality armor and weapons; There are all kinds of cloth that you can see at a glance that are worth a lot; There are also the most attractive jewelry for women, and so on.

In comparison, the Song knife coin, which filled two large wooden boxes, seemed to be the most inconspicuous.

On that day, when Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, and Meng Sui looked at the weapons and armor in the congratulatory gifts, Ge Shi, Meng Yan, and Le Yan gathered around the boxes full of jewelry, happily choosing their favorite jewelry.

Here, Meng Hu held a sharp sword and cut off a piece of wood used to test the sword, and laughed and shouted under Meng Sui's dissatisfied gaze: "This sword is good, it belongs to me!" …… I'll start with that! ”

Over there, Le Yan and Meng Yan were trying on jewelry with joyful faces, and evaluating each other, so that there were words such as "This hairpin is beautiful" and "I think this is better".

The two sides are really incompatible.

All in all, Meng Zhong's family of four, as well as Menghu, Menghu, Rong and the forty-nine Song soldiers who came to help, were busy for five days before they counted all the congratulatory gifts for all the guests, and then spent another three days to present most of the congratulatory gifts to the Mengshi and Le clans, including Wuying, Huahu, Mu Wu, Xiang Yi and other small partners.

Even the fifty Song soldiers under the command of Rong Yan were each given a few pieces of cloth and a large number of Song knife coins, and happily asked the Meng clan to find a way to send these things to their homes and hand them over to their relatives.

After a few times, the original mountain of congratulatory gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, and gifts were almost given in a blink of an eye, and even the carriages that originally carried congratulatory gifts were also given to the elders of the Mengshi and Le clans to give them a substitute, which made Meng Zhong increase a lot of fame in the Mengshi and Le clans, including among the fifty Song soldiers such as Rong Yi.

Even many children of the Montessori and Le's have told Meng Zhong that when Meng Zhong has the opportunity to go to the battlefield in the future, he must bring them with him, so that they can take care of each other.

In this regard, the patriarchs and elders of the Montessori and Le clans also agreed.

It is no exaggeration to say that if Meng Zhong really goes out on the battlefield in the future, the clansmen of the Meng and Le clans are his most trusted brothers, and their loyalty and cohesion are far from being comparable to the soldiers recruited by ordinary soldiers.

Again, as long as you are not greedy for money and are willing to share the benefits with the people under your hands, there will be a steady stream of people willing to serve you, the most direct example is Rong Yi and his forty-nine Song soldiers, these are all veterans who have experienced the battlefield, at first when they were sent by the prince Dai Wu to protect Meng Zhong, it was inevitable that there were some complaints in their hearts, but now that they have all kinds of benefits on Meng Zhong's side, who do you think is still dissatisfied?

After counting the congratulatory gifts, I wrote a letter of thanks to the guests who sent the congratulatory gifts one by one, and the nearest ones gave some Mengyi specialties as return gifts, and the congratulatory gifts were successfully concluded.

Although there were not many things left by Meng Zhong's family in the end, most of them were given to their neighbors, but in exchange for a reputation that everyone praised - the nearby villagers felt that Meng Zhong's family was kind and would behave in the world.

After the congratulatory gift was processed, it was already the beginning of July, and Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Meng Sui, Rong Yi and others went to Zhuangziju to visit Zhuangzi and Mencius.

Yes, that's right, a few days after Mengzhong's marriage, Mencius took the initiative to move to Zhuangziju.

Regarding the arrival of Mencius, although Zhuangzi repeatedly said that he did not welcome it, it can be clearly seen from the old man's actions that he was actually quite happy about Mencius's arrival.

From late June to the end of August, Mencius and his disciples lived in Zhuangziju for more than two months.

In the past two months, the two great sages, Zhuangzi and Mencius, sometimes talked about Taoism in front of each other's disciples, sometimes Mencius told Daoist disciples such as Mengzhong, Mengsui, Wuying, Xiang Yi, Huahu, and Mu Wu about Confucianism and his ideas of Meng Ke, and sometimes Zhuangzi at the invitation of Mencius told Confucian disciples such as Wanzhang, Gongsun Chou, Gongdu, and Le Zheng about the essence of Taoist thought and the ideas advocated by Zhuang Zhou.

What's more, under the observation and guidance of the two sages of Zhuangzi and Mencius, the disciples of the two schools of Taoism and Confucianism often engaged in academic debates.

It cannot be denied that the two months of more than one month have benefited the disciples on both sides a lot.

The most worth mentioning is that I don't know what method Mencius used, but in short, Zhuangzi finally relaxed a little in terms of Mengzhong's mentorship and allowed Mencius to accept Mengzhong as a disciple, which made Mengzhong a disciple of the three schools of Taoism, Mingming, and Confucianism.

To tell the truth, Zhuangzi has always had a prejudice against Confucianism, and Zhuangzi once explained this to Meng Zhong, because in Zhuangzi's view, Confucianism always likes to steal his Taoist ideas and ideas, but he can learn but not learn thoroughly, and even sometimes distorts the original meaning of Taoism, which makes Zhuangzi hate it very much.

But for Mencius, from the heart of Zhuangzi is still quite appreciative, one is that Mencius is also quite strong and courageous, at least when Zhuangzi angrily lifted the cane, Mencius also raised the cane one after another unequivocally, although the actions of these two made the disciples on both sides frightened almost away, but Zhuangzi just appreciated Mencius's straightforwardness.

Yes, what Zhuangzi hates the most is the kind of hypocrite who has a set of hearts and lips, although Mencius once had a stain, but as he said, this is to "inherit Confucianism as a last resort", after all, in contemporary times, Taoism or Confucianism is not a mainstream thought.

Nowadays, in addition to Mohist thought and Legalist thought, the main thing in the world is still the misinterpreted "Yang Zhu Thought", so that many people feel that "selfishness" is a natural thing, but they do not know that the essence of "Yang Zhu Thought" is actually "no harm to oneself and no harm to others".

Although it is not expected that Meng Zhong alone will be able to reverse the entire world that Zhuangzi called "Tao loss", it is undeniable that both Zhuangzi and Mencius have great hopes for Meng Zhong, hoping that he can carry forward the ideas of Taoism and Confucianism in the future.

Around the end of August, Mencius finally made his resignation and prepared to return to Zou with his disciples.

After all, according to their itinerary, they set off to return to Zou at this time, and when they returned to Zou they could just in time for winter, otherwise they would have to wait until the next year to return to Zou.

"Master Meng, can't you and your brothers stay for a while?"

Because Zhuangzi had already allowed Meng Zhong to worship under Mencius at the same time, Meng Zhong changed his name to Mencius.

Hearing Meng Zhong's words, Mencius stroked his beard and said with a smile: "No, this time as a teacher......" He deliberately glanced at Zhuangzi, and while amused at Zhuangzi's pretended murderous appearance with staring at the beads in his eyes, he continued: "In short, this time the old man only brought you Wanzhang, Gongsun Chou, Le Zheng and other senior brothers to Mengyi, but in Zou State, there are still more than 200 disciples waiting for the old man to go back to teach me the Confucian classics, how can the old man ignore them? What's more, this time the old man came to Mengyi, the purpose has been achieved, and he also talked with Master Zhuang a few times, and he came to return with pleasure, which is really beautiful, and he can't ask for more, otherwise he will be abandoned by God. ”

Hearing this, although Meng Zhong was a little reluctant, it was not good to keep him, after all, Mencius still had more than 200 disciples in the Zou State who were looking forward to the return of their teacher.

When Mencius left, Meng Zhong went to see off Meng Sui, Meng Hu and others, and even Zhuangzi was in the farewell procession at that time.

Although Zhuangzi kept saying things like "leave quickly", Meng Zhong could see that the teacher was still a little reluctant to leave Mencius.

After all, after the death of Keiko, Zhuangzi really had no confidant to talk about on an equal footing.

As if seeing Zhuangzi's loneliness, Mencius said with a smile: "Although I have no choice but to return to the Zou Kingdom, I can still discuss scholarship with Zhuangzi through letters. ”

"Who is going to communicate with you in letters? Hurry up, hurry up, go away! Zhuangzi snorted coldly.

Hearing this, everyone around couldn't help but laugh secretly: they have been writing to each other for three or four years, and they still say this?

Mencius deliberately said: "In this case, when the old man has a letter in the future, Master Zhuang can read it, and do not reply." ”

Hearing this, Zhuangzi glared and said, "I don't reply, I have my own judgment, and I don't need you to make the decision for me!" ”

All in all, because of the quarrels between Zhuangzi and Mencius from time to time, the farewell on the day was generally quite joyful.

After Mencius and his disciples left, the house in Zhuangzi's house was vacant again, so Mengsui, Wuying, Huahu, Mu Wu, Xiang Yi, Le Jin, Le Xu and other disciples all moved back to the house.

Only Meng Zhong was a little troublesome, after all, he had not been married for a long time, and Zhuangzi was also considerate of this disciple, and offered to ask Meng Zhong to live at home, even if he went to Zhuangzi's residence the next day, he would allow it.

Therefore, Meng Zhong drove the chariot back and forth between Zhuangziju and Mengyi the next day.

In the blink of an eye, it was September, and it had been more than two months since Le Yan married to Meng Zhong's family, and gradually, they got along more harmoniously with each other.

For Meng Zhong's son, Ge Shi is still very satisfied, there is no need to tell more, what she cares about most at the moment is the two daughters of Le Yan and Meng Yan.

For Le Yan, the daughter-in-law, Ge Shi had no other requirements, but just urged the young couple to hurry up and inherit the family for his old Meng Qu, so that she could have an explanation for her husband, Meng Zhong's late father Meng Qu.

After repeated admonitions, Le Yan was always said to be red-faced.

In fact, she also wondered why Meng Zhong had been working her body these days, why didn't her stomach move? [Author's note: Don't think about it for the time being, I haven't figured out when to let the protagonist have a child. 】

As for Meng Yan, considering that Meng Yan is also 16 years old, Ge Shi also mentioned this matter at a dinner table.

At first, Meng Yan lowered her head and was silent, Ge Shi was still shy about her, so she continued to tell what she knew, such as who in this family is the right age, who in that family has excellent moral character, in the end, Meng Yan really couldn't help it, and said in a low voice: "Mother, I don't want to get married, I want to accompany you for the rest of my life." ”

"How can there be a daughter who will not marry for the rest of her life?" Ge Shi still told Meng Yan well at first, but he couldn't stand Meng Yan insisting on his opinion, and finally Ge couldn't help but scold a few words.

This may be the first time Ge Shi scolded Meng Yan, only to see Meng Yan glance at Meng Zhong, who was also a little overwhelmed at the time, dropped his chopsticks and cried and ran to the inner room.

"This kid!"

Although Ge was angry, he still felt sorry for this adopted daughter who had been raised for eight years, and hesitated whether he should go into the house to persuade him.

At this time, Le Yan took the initiative to speak: "Mother-in-law, why don't you let your daughter-in-law persuade Xiao Yan?" Her name is Yan, and her daughter-in-law is also called Yan, maybe they will get along well? ”

"This ......"

Ge Shi hesitated for a moment, and then sighed: "That child is a hard-working child, it is the old concubine and Zhong'er who spoiled her no matter what happened in the past, and she never thought of ......" Speaking of this, she nodded and said: "Ah Yan, then you can go and see her, and ask her what is going on." ”

"Hmm."

Le Yan nodded, got up and walked into the house, I don't know what to say to Meng Yan, in short, the crying from the inner room gradually stopped.

Then, Le Yan walked out of the inner room and said to Ge Shi: "Mother-in-law, Xiao Yan'er has calmed down, you go and talk to her, don't scold her again." ”

"Huh." Ge shook his head and got up and walked to the inner room.

"What did you say to Xiao Yan?" Meng Zhong asked curiously.

In order to distinguish the two daughters of Le Yan and Meng Yan, since Le Yan married into the Meng family, Ge and Meng Zhong called Le Yan as Le Yan and Ah Yan, and called Meng Yan as Xiao Yan and Xiao Yan'er, after all, Le Yan was three years older than Meng Yan.

"What are you talking about?"

Hearing this, Le Yan raised her head and said with a smile: "It's just a few words between aunts and sisters-in-law, and my husband doesn't have to care about it for the time being." ”

"Don't worry about it yet?"

Meng Zhong glanced at Le Yan suspiciously, but saw that the latter blinked, and did not mean to explain.

Not long after, Ge Shi finally took Meng Yan's hand and returned to the dining table, Meng Zhong looked at Meng Yan carefully, and saw that his sister's eyes were red from crying, and her cheeks were also a little red, even after sitting back at the dining table, she was still sucking one by one.

"Let's eat first, don't break chopsticks in the future, when did you become so rude?" Ge Shi scolded on the side, saying that Meng Yan lowered his head and did not dare to reply.

All in all, with Le Yan's intervention, Ge finally did not urge Meng Yan to choose someone to marry for the time being.

And the strange thing is that since then, the relationship between Meng Yan and Le Yan has suddenly improved, and every day the sister-in-law is long and the sister-in-law is short, sticking behind Le Yan, which is so close that even Ge Shi is a little jealous - after all, Meng Yan once liked to stick to her the most.

In this regard, Ge Shi and Meng Zhong were a little puzzled by Meng Yan, after all, Meng Yan loved to ignore Le Yan.

It is worth mentioning that later, when Ge Shi raised the question of marriage to Meng Yan again, Meng Yan no longer resisted, she just put forward a request that made Ge Shi feel very headache: that is, her future husband must be as good as his brother Meng Zhong.

Where can I find this?

Ge Shi was immediately blocked and speechless.

It's not that she's boasting, it's not easy to find a young man within a hundred miles to compare with her son.

So the daughter's marriage was put on hold for the time being.

In this way, until the end of September, the crops in the fields were harvested.

This year, because of the help of Rong Yi and the forty-nine Song soldiers, there was no need for Ge Shi, Le Yan, and Meng Yan to come forward, so Meng Zhong and Rong Yan and others harvested all the rice in the field, and after scooping the rice, they selected some plump rice from it and sent it to Zhuangziju to honor Meng Zhong's teacher Zhuangzi.

In a blink of an eye, it was October, and his brother Hui'an, who had been absent for several months, came to Mengyi in a carriage again.

Seeing his brother coming, Meng Zhong immediately guessed that there must be something about the Wei State.

On the same day, Ge's, Le Yan, and Meng Yan prepared wine and food, and let Meng Zhong entertain Meng Zhong alone.

"Brother, this time, is it because the affairs of the Wei State have taken a turn for the better?"

While pouring wine for Hui An, Meng Zhong asked curiously.

"Not bad!" Hui Ang picked up the wine bowl and drank a bowl with Meng Zhong, and then asked with a smile: "Does the virtuous brother know about the 'Tianjia Robbing King' of the Qi Kingdom?" ”

Meng Zhong nodded and said: "I have heard a little, it seems that a nobleman named Tian Jia is dissatisfied with the harsh treatment of his subordinates in the fields of King Qi, and wants to cause trouble and rob the King of Qi?" ”

"Exactly!"

Hui Ang stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "The current monarch of Qi is mean and unkind, and treats his subordinates very harshly, so his courtiers are more or less resentful, and Tian Jia is not the only one...... Tian Jia's robbery of the king caused a stir in the Qi country, and afterwards the king of Qi thoroughly investigated his subordinates, and because of the involvement of Xue Gong Tianwen, Tian Wen was so frightened that he did not dare to return to the Qi country. …… In the spring of this year, rumors spread in the State of Qi that Xue Gongtian Wen had participated in the rebellion with Tian Jia, and the king of Qi Tiandi was furious and once again ordered a thorough investigation of the matter. Just a month ago, the edict of Qi Wang Tian removed Tian Wen from his position as Qi Xiang and deprived Tian Wen of his title. ”

Hearing this, a thought suddenly surged in Meng Zhong's heart, and he couldn't help but ask: "Brother Yi, the clever plan you said at the beginning is ......?"

"Yes!" Hui Ang didn't deny it, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "But I want to explain, although I also thought about using this matter to separate King Qi Tiandi and Xue Gongtian Wen, but before I sent someone, rumors spread in Qi State, hehe, it seems that there are indeed people in Qi who don't want Tian Wen to return to Qi State." So, Brother Wei added fuel to the fire and ordered people to spread this rumor more fiercely, so that it finally reached the ears of King Qi Tiandi. ”

"I see!"

Meng Zhong nodded, and then said with emotion: "In other words, my Song Kingdom finally has the opportunity to befriend Tian Wen?" ”

"Yes!"

Hui Ang nodded, and Zhengse said: "After learning of this, the king immediately sent someone to inform Li Shi, the envoy who was still in Wei, and ordered the latter to invite Tian Wen to see Tian Wen on the condition of "returning Xue Yi", and implored Tian Wen to come forward to persuade the king of Wei to make Wei form an alliance with our Song State. I think that after learning about what happened in the Qi State, Tian Wen will definitely hate the land of the King of Qi and refuse to serve the Qi State anymore, in this case, if we give Xue Yi this generous gift, he will naturally not hinder my Song State again. ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Meng Zhong with a smile: "Although you just got married, considering that you told you to be a brother before, Brother Wei still decided to ask you." How about it, do you want to take this opportunity to go to Wei to increase your knowledge? As far as I know, Wei and Han are currently at war with Qin, and if you are good at using your troops, you may be able to take this opportunity to become the general of Wei. ”

"Brother laughed......"

Meng Zhong smiled bitterly and shook his head.

After all, he and Xue Gongtian Wen have a personal vendetta.

Even if Tian Wen will not embarrass Song Guo this time, this does not mean that Tian Wen will not embarrass him.

"Are you going?"

Holding the wine bowl, Meng Zhong thought to himself.