"There is no question about the Tao, but people are confused, the ancient sages learned from heaven and earth and accessed, but there are only a few ancient and modern sages? Most of them are to confuse sentient beings. …… The boy once heard that in the past, there was a person in the country of Qi who passed by "Mount Tai" and reached the peak on a whim, and when he saw a sea of clouds under his feet, he mistakenly thought that he had reached the peak, so he went down the mountain satisfied. He never thought that after returning to the bottom of the mountain, he looked back at Yishan and found that the peak he had climbed was just one of the small peaks of Huangshan. …… The kid thinks that confusing sentient beings, or it is inevitable to be blinded by confusion, and it is difficult to see the true face of Mount Tai, so at this time, it is necessary for sages to preach and solve the confusion of sentient beings. ”

After a pause, Meng Zhong said again: "If you are confused and can't solve it, it is inevitable that someone will misinterpret the meaning of the chapter, or even take it out of context. In the past, Zheng Guo had the power of the ministers to "sacrifice Zhong", and Zheng Ligong thought it was a disaster, so he called the son-in-law of the sacrifice Zhong "Yongjie" to kill him. After Yongjie got the order, he plotted about it, but he didn't want to be known to his wife "Yongji". Yong Ji was in a dilemma, so she asked her mother, "Which is closer to her husband or father", and her mother replied that any man can be a woman's husband, but there is only one father, how can the two be compared? So, Yongji told her father about her husband's plot to murder him, and he immediately sent someone to kill his son-in-law. Upon learning of the incident, Zheng Ligong fled to Cai State, and then sacrificed Zhong to welcome Zheng Zhaogong into the country. …… This is the allusion to "everyone can do their best". However, later on, some people misunderstood the meaning and used the phrase "as good as a man" to criticize the promiscuous woman, distorting the original meaning, and the boy thought that this was an example of confusion that could not be relieved and allowed to develop. ”

Meng Zhong arched his hand towards Zhuangzi.

In fact, when I heard the first half, Zhuangzi's face was actually much better.

Previously, he had a bad impression of Meng Zhong, not only because of Meng Zhong's perseverance in asking for advice, but mainly because the latter asked for advice at every turn.

Confucianism pays attention to teaching by word and deed, and admonishes students to learn more and ask more questions, but Taoism is different, and the Taoist way of learning is to ponder by yourself, and ask not to die reading, to see more about the operation of all things in the world, to see which ones can be learned from heaven and earth.

Therefore, Meng Zhong's perseverance in asking for advice before actually did not win Zhuangzi's favor, but made Zhuangzi very unhappy - thinking that Meng Zhong's move was just to attract his attention, and his utilitarianism was too strong.

This is also the reason why Zhuangzi has always turned a blind eye to Meng Zhong before, and even frowned when he saw Meng Zhong come to ask for advice.

However, after listening to Meng Zhong's words, Zhuangzi suddenly found that this kid was not unlearned, and even a little smart.

Of course, more importantly, Meng Zhong showed kindness to Zhuangzi in his words, saying that a sage like Zhuangzi should solve the world's doubts.

I have to say that this sentence simply goes up to Zhuangzi's heart.

Because Zhuangzi was a small official in the lacquer garden when he was young, it is not without reason that Ma Qian, the later Taishi company, called him "the proud official of the lacquer garden" in the historical records.

Although Zhuang Zhou is a Taoist sage, he is extremely arrogant, although he can not say that his eyes are empty, but there is a kind of "the world is drunk and I am awake", he believes that the world is the world of "Tao loss", the world is to confuse sentient beings, is the "lost Tao", and he is the only "enlightened person" in the world, so he should "solve the confusion of the world with no confusion", so that the current troubled world returns to the world of virtue. [PS: During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, etiquette collapsed, princes attacked each other, fathers killed sons, sons killed fathers, uncles and brothers killed each other, and there were attacks by various countries, and the people were not able to make a living, so it was considered by Zhuangzi to be an era of "Taoist loss". 】

But unfortunately, just as Zhuangzi's close friend Huizi once made fun of him, Zhuangzi's ideas were not really accepted by the world, so Zhuangzi's later seclusion was not necessarily cynical.

But to be honest, there is no reason why Zhuangzi's ideas are not accepted by the world, and the mere fact that he is staunchly opposed to monarchy is already destined to be difficult to disseminate widely. [PS: Interestingly, Zhuangzi, who resolutely opposes the monarchy, his works have been regarded as must-read books by many monarchs in the past dynasties, and in the Song Dynasty, he was also named "Nanhua Zhenren", calling "Zhuangzi" "Nanhua Zhenjing", but few people care about it among the people, and most of them are the remarks of Confucianism. 】

Therefore, when Meng Zhong said that Zhuangzi should shoulder the responsibility of "solving the doubts of the world", Zhuangzi was still very useful in his heart, and his impression of Meng Zhong also improved a lot.

So he nodded, agreeing with Meng Zhong's statement that "if you are confused, you should ask", after all, Meng Zhong had already explained the reason why "confusion should be explained clearly in time".

In this case, Meng Zhong immediately threw out the "reason" he held in his hand, and Zhengse said to Zhuangzi: "In these days, I was confused by the writings of Huizi, so I consulted Zhuangzi, and asked three times in a row, but the master should not; I also consulted Song Tzu's writings, and three times in a row, the master should not; Then I asked the Master about the writing, and I read it three times in a row, but the Master should not. After that, Li Kui's "Book of Law", Wu Qi's "Wu Zi's Art of War", etc., the boy sincerely asked the master for advice, but the master never responded. As the saying goes, again and again, the boy thinks that he has done it sincerely, but the master never responds, keeps his words shut, hides his knowledge, and ignores the boy. Let's ask, is it the boy who is in charge, or the master who is in charge? ”

"This ......"

Hearing Meng Zhong's well-founded words, Uncle Zhuang was speechless, and couldn't help but sneak his eyes at Zhuangzi.

At this time, Zhuangzi no longer had anger in his eyes, but was replaced by abruptness and deep thought.

Obviously, at this moment, Zhuangzi also understood: the feeling of this kid came to ask for advice with perseverance before, not at all to win his attention, but to occupy a rational word first, so that he could use these words to gag his mouth at this moment.

But unfortunately, at this time, it was too late for him to understand, because the truth was on Meng Zhong's side - it was because he 'didn't teach' one after another and ignored Meng Zhong that this kid 'generated' the idea that "Taoism is going to die, all because Zhuang Zhou is not a tree", which is logically fine.

As for the truth, it's nothing more than that this kid dug a pit from the beginning and waited for him Zhuang Zhou to fall into the pit.

"This son is young, but his scheming is very heavy."

Zhuang Zhou looked at Meng Zhong and thought to himself.

During this period, Zhuang Bo carefully observed Zhuangzi's expression, and saw that there was no anger on the latter's face, but he did not prompt him to refute again, so he understood that Zhuangzi had admitted it - from the perspective of reason, I am afraid that he could not say that the kid called Meng Zhong.

However, at this moment, Zhuang Bo noticed that Zhuang Zi reached out and stroked his beard, looking at him meaningfully.

"Is this what I want to do with this son again?"

Zhuang Bo was greatly surprised.

You must know that as far as he knows, Zhuangzi's evaluation of Confucianism is very poor, and he even wrote several articles such as "Xuan Zheng" and "Thief Foot" to criticize Confucianism, criticizing Confucianism for 'aiding and abusive' and helping monarchs, nobles and other high-ranking rulers to oppress the common people.

But since Zhuangzi wanted to continue to debate with this son himself, Uncle Zhuang would not be able to disobey him, so after thinking about it, he said: "You can make sense, but the master is a few decades older than you, and he is an elder that you should respect. ”

Meng Zhong arched his hand when he heard this, and asked rhetorically: "Uncle Zhuang, do you mean that you want the kid to respect Master Zhuang for the sake of being much older than me?" ”

This is a rhetorical question with a trap, and if Uncle Zhuang admits it, doesn't that mean that Zhuangzi has only lived a long time in vain?

But it's a pity that this kind of little trick can't even be hidden from Uncle Zhuang, let alone Zhuangzi.

No, Uncle Zhuang immediately corrected: "Meng Zhong, your words are very rude! …… Is the Master alone older than you? As we all know, Master is a Taoist sage who is respected by the world! ”

"Just because the master is a Taoist sage respected by the world, the boy must respect the master?"

Meng Zhong shook his head and continued: "In the past, there was a person in Dingtao who was rich in wealth, or the head of the Song State, and one day he met a Wei man and thought that the Wei people were disrespectful to him, so the rich man said, I am Dingtao is very rich, you should respect me. I never thought that the Wei people asked rhetorically, did you give me your family wealth? The rich man shook his head and vetoed, so the Wei man said, Since your wealth will not be given, that is, it will not benefit me, why should I respect you? …… Nowadays, although the Master is a famous sage in the world, but the boy has repeatedly asked for sincere advice but has been ignored, the Master is no different from the Master, so why should the Master still respect the Master? …… Unless it's for the sake of the Master, who is older than the Son. ”

"You ......"

Zhuang Bo was speechless.

He must admit that he has seen a lot of sharp juniors in his life, but there are really not many people like Meng Zhong who are well-founded and can be convinced by expounding the truth without sophistry.

He secretly glanced at Zhuangzi next to him, and was surprised to find that Zhuangzi actually looked at Meng Zhong with a thoughtful look, which was very rare in Uncle Zhuang's impression.

"Perhaps, this son can really become a disciple of the master."

Recalling the words of Elder Meng's Elder Meng Xianna, Uncle Zhuang's heart moved slightly, and he suddenly asked, "That...... What if the rich man was willing to give his wealth to the Wei man? ”

Meng Zhong looked at Uncle Zhuang in surprise, he could hear that Uncle Zhuang wanted to help him, if he knew each other, he should use the mouth of the Wei man to show favor to Zhuangzi at this time.

But the question is that this will not work, what kind of character Zhuang Zhou is, Meng Zhong now has a general understanding, and ordinary flattery, instead of arousing Zhuangzi's favor, will arouse disgust.

Yes, it must be as unique as standing out from the crowd to arouse Zhuangzi's interest.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong arched his hand and said solemnly: "As Uncle Zhuang said, in fact, the rich man also asked the same thing to the Wei people, "If I give you the family property, will you respect me?" Then the Wei people said, if you give me the family property, then I will be a huge rich man in Dingtao, and you should respect me. ”

This result was contrary to common reason, coupled with Meng Zhong's serious expression, so that the children of the various families who were eavesdropping on the side couldn't help but laugh.

Even Uncle Zhuang couldn't laugh or cry.

Suddenly, Zhuang Bo was stunned, he slowly turned his head to look at Zhuangzi beside him, and immediately found in surprise and disbelief that a smile rose on the corner of Zhuangzi's mouth.

It seems that even Zhuangzi was amused by the incredible ending in Meng Zhong's story.

Seeing this smile, Meng Zhong secretly exhaled.

Bet right!