When the eldest grandson of Lijia Village was worried about the matter of private salt, Master Zhou, who was suspended from school and went away, leisurely rode an inferior horse, hung books, climbed mountains and waded through waters, and appeared on Jinghu North Road hundreds of miles away.

From Shu out of Jinghu, stretching mountains and mountains layer by layer, the road is difficult to go to the extreme, can be called the model of Shu road difficulty, the origin of business travel out of Sichuan, either along the water road along the Yangtze River through Kuimen, into Jinghu two roads, and then turn the road under the two Guangzhou, or east into the south of the Yangtze River, a big river smooth wind.

But Zhou Fuzi is not, he staggered along the rugged mountain road between the mountains, this road belongs to the bird road, connecting Shuzhong Fourth Road and Jinghu two roads, along the way the mountains are so high that you can't see the top of it; The depth of the ditch, you can't see the bottom of it when you look down, the trees are forested, there are no people for dozens of miles, although he has a horse, many times because the road is too difficult, he can only lead the horse to go, walk and walk, can not tell the person riding a horse, or a horse riding a person. Often walking on the road, one side is a cliff, one side is a cliff, the sheep intestine path winds in the meantime, dead wood and weeds accompany the left and right, this kind of road, business travelers naturally can not walk, they have heavy goods, many cars and horses, they would rather detour hundreds of miles, than risk their lives to take this shortcut.

Although the road is difficult, it is hundreds of miles shorter than the bypass waterway, so Zhou Fuzi rode alone, and after about 20 days, he entered the boundary of Jingzhou on Jinghu North Road.

Jingzhou city is not big, the city is built on the edge of Xuefeng Mountain, standing in the city you can see the towering peaks in the distance, surrounded by mountains on all sides, only a flat land on the ground of Jingzhou City, the official road of Changsha in the north and Guilin in the south passes by the edge of the city, spreads silently to both ends, extends into the mountains and disappears into the trees. The rammed city wall is crooked, loose, wearing white cloth heads, wearing sackcloth, leaning on the spears that prove their soldiers' identities, leaning against the city gate, listless, while examining the people who come and go, bragging, lazy and idle, only the occasional rare merchants drive the horse team over, can make them cheer up, shouting to come forward to check, asking for a few pennies for the "city gate fee".

Zhou Fuzi was dressed in a white scarf, dusty, thin and had nothing to look at, and a bad horse was not worth a few dollars, so naturally it would not make the soldiers excited, and after reading the reasons like a business, he was bored and let him enter the city.

A quarter of an hour later, Master Zhou, who had quietly entered the city, sat in an elegant quiet room in a rather spacious mansion in the city.

A cup of tea served by the servant in front of him, steaming hot, Zhou Fuzi looked at the quiet room in the swirling airflow, the quiet room is not big, a huge long case full of the four treasures of the study and many books occupies a small half, three circle chairs, one behind the bookcase, two opposite, Zhou Fuzi sat on one of the two, leaning against the walls on both sides, against the beams of the room are bookshelves, all kinds of dense books are put on the shelves, the whole room is a smell of books, being in it, so that Zhou Fuzi, as a reader, feels very kind.

Behind the long case, a round window, a bamboo curtain half rolled, the verdant bamboo forest outside the window in the breeze "rustle" sound, full of green, with the wind into the room, so that the quiet room added a touch of business.

Retracting his gaze from the window, Zhou Fuzi looked at the long case, where there was a pair of words that seemed to have not been written for a long time, pressed with a white jade paperweight, the paper was an excellent high-grade Sichuan leather paper, the handwriting of the dragon flying and phoenix dancing should be drawn to Zhang Xu's handwriting, "A cloud of smoke and rain Ren Pingsheng" A few cursive scripts were extraordinarily chic, so that Zhou Fuzi couldn't help but stand up.

Just watching, I only heard the sound of footsteps outside the door, and before Master Zhou hurriedly turned around to sort out his clothes, a person had already pushed the door in.

"Hahaha, there are friends from afar, don't you talk about it!" The person who came was dressed in a cyan placket, wearing a free scarf, large sleeves of cloth shoes, a fairy style, and a hearty smile: "Zhou Yushi has always been good?" ”

"The blessing of the warden, no illness and no disaster, and a comfortable body." Master Zhou bowed and bowed, bowed his head and said: "The supervisor doesn't have to call me yesterday's official name, the yellow flower is gone, there is nothing to be nostalgic, just call the table." ”

"Okay, Shang Qing has a lot of tolerance, it's not about some gains and losses, it's really enviable." The man known as the Warden laughed again, and while stretching out his hand to signal Master Zhou to take a seat, he sat down on the circle chair opposite him.

"The warden smiled, compared to the warden, what did I gain or lose? The position of the end of the micro, don't mention it. Master Zhou sat down and said with a smile: "But the prison officer's voice is like a bell, walking like the wind, and the way of cultivating the spirit has been refined." ”

The prisoner has an old face, broad skin and broad face, a righteous face, a pair of eyes under thick eyebrows, a deep gaze, a long beard fluttering like a fairy, although the forehead is wrinkled, but there is a kind of temperament that is not angry and self-imposing, the shoulders do not move, and he sits as straight as a green pine, and at a glance he knows that this is a superior who has retired from a high position.

"You asked me not to call you an official position, but you kept shouting at the prison officials and prison officials, this is not good, Shang Qing, I am more than ten years older than you, you can call me Wei Weng, so it is fair." The warden laughed and patted his knees.

"Dare to disobey." Master Zhou also laughed and obeyed.

After taking a sip of tea, Wei Weng put down the teacup and asked, "Shang Qing came from Tongchuan Road, he worked hard, and the road was safe, right?" ”

"The road is uneven, I have encountered a few bandits and bandits, but I have no long things, one person and one horse, and a few books to protect myself, the bandits saw it, and knew that I was a scholar, but it was back to meet the evil and turn into good fortune, but it made the bandits stupid." Zhou Fuzi replied indifferently, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him: "This is thanks to the kindness planted by Wei Weng in Shu a few years ago, opening schools and teaching people to be kind, and now even bandits know the value of scholars, and they will not harm my life."

"Oh? Is Shang Qing taking the dry road? Wei Weng was surprised and said solemnly: "The dry road is not peaceful, why don't you take the waterway?" ”

"I heard that Wei Weng was demoted, living here and abroad, I am in Hezhou, but my heart is burning like a fire, I can't wait to come with wings, where are I willing to take a long detour to take the waterway?" Master Zhou said angrily: "Seeing Wei Weng as safe as in the past today, I was relieved. ”

"Shang Qing, you have a heart!" Wei Weng was moved, bowed to Master Zhou, and said: "But above the temple, ups and downs are a common thing. You can rest assured, in my opinion, the official hat comes and goes, but it is just a trivial matter, and there is no reluctance to give up. ”

Master Zhou hurriedly returned the salute, but sighed in his mouth: "Wei Weng is open-minded, but it's a pity that there is no Wei Weng in the court, and the traitor is in charge, and he has lost the eyes of the officials. ”

Wei Weng's face darkened, he lost his mind slightly, and shook his head again for a moment and said: "Shang Qing can't say this, now Shi Miyuan is quite political, and the court is full of talents, and there is a Wei Liaoweng, and there are tens of millions of people on top, what is the pity?" ”

He laughed again, pointed at Master Zhou and said: "You risked death to play for the Northern Expedition, prepared a coffin at home, broke the cauldron and sunk the boat, and didn't even want your life. ”

"Kaixi Northern Expedition, now it seems, it is indeed a haste to happen, I was young and ignorant, hot-blooded, ruined the major affairs of the court, and even caused Han Xiang to be ruined, every time I think of it, I am still ashamed, Wei Weng doesn't need to mention it again." Master Zhou's face turned red, waved his hand again and again, and said ashamedly: "At that time, I regretted not listening to Wei Weng's reasonable words, and insisted on going my own way, harming others, and sighing in vain!" ”

"Nope! Shang Qing, although the Kaixi Northern Expedition was defeated, it made me see the later of the court, all the officials were busy, the corpse was vegetarian, no one was available, only Shang Qing was warm in the ancient way, a blood was for the community, and the loyalty to the monarch was for the country, which was really rare. Wei Weng shook his head and said: "The mistake of the Northern Expedition twenty years ago was to send the generals to the non-people, not the fault of the Northern Expedition itself, Shang Qing, you are not wrong, the fault is Han Yuxuan, the fault is Wu Xi's rebellion, and the fault is the imperial court!" ”