The next day, that is, the seventh day of the sixth month, that is, the second day when Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, and Meng Sui lived in Zhuangziju.

Just like yesterday afternoon, Meng Zhong carried a bundle of firewood early in the morning, sat at the gate of the courtyard and continued to wait for the rabbit, waiting for Zhuangzi to go out.

But unfortunately, on this day, Zhuangzi did not take a step out of his house until the evening, so that Meng Zhong waited for a day without gain.

On the eighth day of the sixth month, Meng Zhong continued to wait for Zhuangzi near the courtyard gate, and around the end of the day, he finally saw Zhuangzi walking out slowly on crutches.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong hurriedly stood up, as he had done the day before, holding his copy of the "Jianbai Treatise" in both hands, and bowed his head and said respectfully as Zhuangzi passed by: "Master Zhuangzi, boy Meng Zhong, I have all kinds of incomprehensions about Huizi's "Treatise on Jianbai", and I implore Master Zhuangzi to give me some explanations. ”

“……”

Just like last time, Zhuangzi glanced at Meng Zhong, his face did not show any clues, and his footsteps did not stop, and he left by himself.

Seeing this, Xiang Yu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu, who were hiding on the side to watch the show, jumped out again to ridicule and ridicule Meng Zhong's incompetence.

may have been told by Meng Zhong, although Meng Hu showed anger on his face this time, he didn't quarrel with Xiang Yi and the others after all, just stared at them with wide eyes.

Waiting for the evening dusk, Zhuangzi on crutches did not know where to return to the village from outside, at this time Meng Zhong was still at the gate of the courtyard, saw Zhuangzi passing by, and said respectfully for the third time: "Master Zhuangzi, boy Mengzhong, for Huizi's "Treatise on Solid White", there are all kinds of incomprehensions, I implore Master Zhuangzi to give me a solution. ”

However, Zhuangzi turned a blind eye to Meng Zhong's persistent advice and returned to his house on his own, causing Meng Zhong to be ridiculed by Xiang Yu and the others again.

That night, Le Jin came to the house where Meng Zhong and the others lived, and said to Meng Zhong: "Meng Zhong, why don't you listen to the advice? I've told you, it won't work. ”

Meng Zhong said with a smile when he heard this: "What my brother said is extremely true, according to the current situation, Huizi's book theory is afraid that it is not enough to impress Zhuangzi. …… I heard that Zhuangzi had a lot of respect for "Song Rongzi" before, but I wonder if my brother can borrow Song Rongzi's writings? ”

Song Rongzi, also known as "Song Rong (xíng)", studied in the "Jixia School Palace" of Qi when he was young, and was also a Taoist sage who inherited Lao Tzu's thoughts. [PS: Because Song Xuan advocates "advocating frugality" and "non-fighting", some people misunderstand that this is a disciple of the Mo family, but in fact, he is the originator of the Taoist Song Yin school and the Taoist sage of the Huang Lao faction. Huang is the Yellow Emperor, and Lao is Lao Dan (Lao Tzu). 】

All in all, he was a sage who was respected and respected by both the Taoist Zhuangzi and the Confucian Mencius.

"You haven't given up yet, have you?"

Originally, when he heard the first half of Meng Zhong's words, Le Jin was still nodding his head with a teachable expression, but when he heard the second half of Meng Zhong's words, his face immediately stiffened, and he looked at Meng Zhong with an incredulous expression.

Immediately, he shook his head and said, "Whether it is Huizi or Song Zi, the writings of these two are not enough to impress Zhuangzi. …… Don't ask me why I'm so sure, because someone has already tried. ”

Seeing this, Meng Zhonggong arched his hand and said with a smile: "Then Brother Lao will help me find Song Zi's writings." …… There are some things that you have to try yourself before you die. ”

Le Jin looked at Meng Zhong with a strange expression, raised his hand and pointed at the latter's lips moving slightly, probably wanting to say something similar to "If you don't see the Yellow River, you won't die", but in the end, he nodded: "Okay, let you die." ”

About a quarter of an hour later, Le went in and returned, handed one of the bamboo slips in his hand to Meng Zhong, and said with a blank face: "Song Rongzi's book, that is, "Song Zi", there are eighteen of them in Zhuang Fuzi's library, and this volume is one of them, which records that when Song Rongzi was studying in the Qi Guoji Academy, he discussed the anecdote of "heaven", "man", and "heaven and man" with a confidant named "Yin (yǐn) Wen", so it is called "Heaven and Man Chapter", you can take it. [PS: Yin Wen was Song Rongzi's classmate and confidant when he was under Jixia, and their ideas are the "Song Yin School". 】

"Thank you." Meng Zhong thanked him.

That night, Meng Zhong copied the "Heavenly and Human Chapters" of "Song Tzu" overnight, and then in the early morning of the next day, holding this volume of "Heavenly and Human Chapters", he sat near the courtyard gate and waited for Zhuangzi.

However, Zhuangzi's travels have always been irregular, sometimes in the morning, sometimes at noon, sometimes in the evening, which is really difficult to grasp - this is still after Zhuangzi is old, it is said that when Zhuangzi was young, sometimes he buried himself at home for months to revise his works, and sometimes once he traveled for several months, it was even more irregular.

After learning of these things, Meng Zhong could only secretly rejoice that Zhuangzi no longer had the energy of his youth.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, Zhuangzi finally went out for a break.

At that time, Meng Zhong saw Zhuangzi coming from a distance, so he hurriedly held the "Heavenly and Human Chapters" copied by himself in both hands, and bowed his head and said respectfully when Zhuangzi passed by: "Master Zhuangzi, boy Meng Zhong, there are all kinds of incomprehensions about Song Rongzi's "Heavenly and Human Chapters", and I implore Zhuangfuzi to give me some explanations. ”

The same tone, the same statement, just a few words, but the result was the same: Zhuangzi glanced at him lightly, and then left on his own.

In the following three months, after Meng Zhong finished his daily chores, he stood at the gate of the courtyard, holding his own copy of the writings of the sages and sages waiting for Zhuangzi to travel and return, and tirelessly asked Zhuangzi for advice again and again.

During this period, Meng Zhong consulted Zhuangzi on his works, ranging from "Song Tzu" to Zhuangzi's own writings "The Theory of Qi Things", "De Chong Fu", "Heaven and Earth", "Mountains and Trees", and "Xuan Zheng", to the "Book of Laws" written by the Wei "Li Kui (kuī)", and Wu Qi's "Wu Zi's Art of War", etc.

It's a pity that Zhuangzi has always ignored it.

It is worth mentioning that due to Meng Zhong's perseverance in asking for advice, Zhuangzi has changed from "glancing at it" to frowning when he sees Meng Zhong open his mouth to ask for advice - obviously, whether Zhuangzi is willing to replace Meng Zhong or not, at least Meng Zhong has been remembered by him.

Although the impression is probably not so good.

During this period, Xiang Yi, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu witnessed Meng Zhong asking Zhuangzi for advice again and again but was refused, and they would laugh at Meng Zhong at first for not being able to do anything about himself, but when Meng Zhong was ignored more times, the three of them gradually became accustomed to it, and they no longer laughed at Meng Zhong, after all, every time Meng Zhong was ridiculed by them, he was not angry, unmoved, and they also felt that it was not interesting.

Even, I don't know if it's because Meng Zhong has been ignored by Zhuangzi too many times, Xiang Yi, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu have gradually become close to Meng Zhong, maybe they feel that Meng Zhong, who has been ignored by Zhuangzi many times at this time, can be regarded as their 'fellow practitioners'.

After getting acquainted with each other, I found out that in fact, whether it was Xiang Yi, Hua Hu or Mu Wu, in fact, they were also good people, but they had encountered a lot of walls on Zhuangzi's side, and their mood was already depressed.

And now that they saw Meng Zhong's tragic situation, which was even worse than theirs, the discomfort in their hearts naturally disappeared, and in its place, it was a kind of sympathy.

They may have misunderstood something, thinking that since Meng Zhi, the elder of the Meng clan, had already said something like that, then Meng Zhong had to become Zhuang Zhou's disciple, otherwise he would be taught a lesson by his family.

Thinking about it this way, they began to sympathize with Meng Zhong.

Of course, in addition to sympathy, there is another reason why they are embarrassed to target Meng Zhong again, that is, the fish caught by Meng Zhong and a few others.

It turned out that after moving to Zhuangziju for half a month, Meng Hu couldn't stand the coarse tea and light rice in the house, so he and Meng Zhong and Meng Sui weaved a few fish basket nets with bamboo, twine and other things, and put them in the muddy river, through which they caught a lot of fresh fish in the river.

In fact, it was Hua Hu who was in charge of fishing at that time, but it is clear that Hua Hu did not catch as many fish as Meng Zhong and his colleagues caught with fish basket nets.

As soon as the fish were caught, the dishes on the table were naturally rich.

At first, Xiang Yi, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu were afraid of face, and refused to move chopsticks against the fish caught by Meng Zhong and the others, but after a long time, they couldn't maintain the principles in their hearts, so they surrendered like delicious fish.

As the so-called people are soft-handed and eat people's mouths short, Xiang Yu and a few people ate the river fish caught by Meng Zhong and others, and naturally it was not good to show nothing, so after eating one day, Xiang Yu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu shouted to Meng Zhong and asked the latter: "Meng Zhong, will you continue to insist?" …… I mean, insist on asking Zhuangzi for advice. ”

"Of course." Meng Zhong nodded, a little confused about the intention of asking Xiang Yu.

Seeing this, Xiang Yu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu glanced at each other, and then said to Yu Yu: "I have eaten the fish you caught in the past few days, and in exchange, the three of us are willing to take turns to watch the courtyard gate for you." If Master Zhuang travels or returns, he will let you know immediately, so that you don't need to be exposed to the sun in the courtyard. …… There is no need to be grateful, you know that the three of us live in the house on the east side of the courtyard, Hua Hu and Mu Wu can see Zhuangzi return in the house, and I, as long as I sit at the window, can notice Zhuangzi going out. ”

This is of course goodwill, after all, it was July and August, and Meng Zhong was exposed to the scorching sun at the gate of the courtyard every day, which could not but be said to be a very hard thing.

And now, since he has released his goodwill to the people, of course Meng Zhong will not refuse.

So the two sides agreed on a code: as soon as Zhuangzi traveled or returned, the person who was 'on the sentry' would immediately recite Zhuangzi's "Theory of Things" aloud to remind Meng Zhong.

After this negotiation, the two sides gradually turned hostility into friendship, and soon became acquainted.

Seeing that Meng Zhong and Meng Sui had been accepted by the children of the various families in the courtyard, Meng Hu finally couldn't bear the bitterness of Zhuangzi's residence, and fled back to the family's hometown amid everyone's kindness and ridicule.

In this regard, Meng Zhong and Meng Sui were unmoved, after all, Meng Hu just came over to make up the numbers anyway, and he didn't expect him to help much.

As for the matter of Zhuangzi, Meng Zhong is already ready for everything.

On the first day of September, Zhuangzi went on another trip, and Meng Zhong, who had been warned in advance, hurriedly ran out of the house, holding Zhuangzi's writings and asking the latter for advice.

As a result, Zhuangzi still turned a blind eye.

The others who were watching from the corner of the courtyard at that time secretly felt sorry for Meng Zhong.

But at this moment, he saw Meng Zhong staring at Zhuangzi's back a few steps away, and said loudly: "Taoism is going to die, all because Zhuang Zhou is not a tree!" ”

"Shhhh

Everyone in the courtyard gasped in shock, and their eyes widened in shock.

"Is this guy crazy?"

The sons in the courtyard exclaimed in their hearts.

However, in the next moment, everyone was stunned.

Because they found that Zhuangzi, who heard this, stopped his steps unprecedentedly at this time, and immediately turned around slowly, looking at Meng Zhong with a suspicious and stern gaze.

Look at this guy who dares to speak in front of him.