Fan Guan has already made a name for himself at a young age, relying on articles and arrogance.

There is nothing to say about the article, every article is completed, it will be circulated in the hands of many readers, thousands of miles away, and there are also people who read and comment on it, some praise it, and even more criticize.

At the age of sixteen, Fan Guan was recommended by the local chief officer, but he clearly refused, neither pretending to be sick nor modestly claiming to be incompetent, only replying with the sentence "The village husband in the mountains has no intention of being a eunuch", put on his back the bookcase, and wandered around.

With the increasing fame, there are more and more people who want to recommend him as an official, usually not related to "cherishing talents", but Fan Shu's reputation is outside, who can invite him out of the mountain, and he will naturally shine and have the praise of "virtuous".

Fan Shu refused again and again, just say it if it makes sense, and leave if it doesn't make sense, anyway, there are people everywhere who are willing to receive him, and he doesn't have to worry about having no place to stay.

The dynasty is set and the world is unified, and everyone thinks that there is no reason for Fan Shu to refuse to be a celebrity, and he probably thinks so himself, so he finds an "excuse" for himself, which is the most commonly used and the easiest - sick.

The emperor sent someone to visit, and despite his apparent weakness, he was carried to the eastern capital.

In front of the emperor, Fan Shu could only reluctantly salute and ask questions, obviously sick and confused.

The emperor was a little embarrassed, and he was very angry, angry that his subordinates would not do things, and brought a terminally ill celebrity to him, he had to see it, and after seeing it, he gained nothing, but fell into a reputation that was difficult for a strong man.

Emperor Zhang Xi was a smart man, and he sent a sigh to the ministers, thinking that Tiandao was dissatisfied, but let Fan Mingshi get seriously ill when the world was stable, and then gave a heavy reward and sent it back to his hometown, and never asked again.

Fan Guan is even more famous, because of this illness, he also got several nicknames, "couch celebrity", "lying down to worship the Son of Heaven", "sick sage", "dying man" and so on.

As a result, he lived longer than Emperor Zhang Xi, and even survived Emperor Zhang Xi's son, Emperor Wanwu, but his body never returned to normal, and he became weaker day by day.

Many years later, Fan Guan sighed to his cronies: "If the fake becomes true, it is me." This is God's punishment for me, I have refused at least fifty recommendations, and I have never made excuses, whether the other party is a prominent civil servant or a ruthless general, but only refuse. Only that time, Emperor Zhang Xi took the power of dominating the world and sent people to conquer, I was timid and found an excuse for myself, who would have thought that pretending to come true would come true. ”

Fan Guan obeyed the sages, only talked about personnel, and rarely talked about the way of heaven, but attributed his illness to "God's punishment", which inevitably surprised his disciples.

Fan Shu also explained this: "Heaven is also a person, why did I make a fake come true and not recover from a long illness? In fact, I felt guilty in my heart, I didn't want to take on the name of 'pretending to be sick', I was bent on getting really sick, and I really got what I wanted, but I couldn't get rid of it. People must not lie to themselves, because they suffer their own sins for success or failure. ”

The disease dragged on for more than 20 years, and countless famous doctors came to diagnose it, and in the end, all of them came to the conclusion that the celebrity had a heart disease and there was no cure.

After all, celebrities are celebrities, Fan Guan gradually accepted his illness, the heart is transparent, take this opportunity, do your pride, no longer write essays and books, and the number of disciples is getting fewer and fewer, living in the barren valley outside the city all the year round, watching the sunrise in the morning, watching the moon change in the evening, the biggest hobby is to meet guests, see any guest, even if it is an illiterate peddler pawn, as long as he comes to the door, he has to meet and chat a few words.

The disciples did not understand why the Master was wasting his energy on such a trivial matter, and after each meeting, he seemed even weaker, and he had to see the next visitor before he could rest.

Xu Ji's entourage stopped outside and entered the valley alone, what he saw in his eyes was even more depressed than last time, the house was still there, but the disciples with wide robes and big sleeves were nowhere to be seen, and he stood in the courtyard for a long time before he saw a man in his thirties come out.

The man obviously recognized the guest, and a smile appeared on his face, "Mr. said that Xu Gongzi might come, and he has been refusing to sleep." ”

"Is Mr. Fan okay?"

"Compared to yesterday, there is almost no change, compared to last year, I am a little thinner, compared to when I first apprenticed more than 20 years ago, it is like two people."

"Your Excellency was envied by a famous teacher when he was young. What do you call it? ”

"I'm sorry, I just talked about it, but I haven't reported myself yet. Under the surname Song, the name takes bamboo, and the Xiangyang people's name. ”

"Your Excellency, but Xiangyang Song Qianshou?"

"The name 'Thousand Hands' is a nickname jokingly given by friends, and I dare not take it seriously."

Xu Ji was quite surprised, Song Zhuzhu was not a literati, but a hero of Xiangyang, known as "Thousand Hands", which means that he can take anything and protect any refuge, and his reputation is loud, and many people in Dongdu have heard of it.

Xu Ji had heard a lot of deeds about this person, and he had the impression that Song Zhuzhu should be a thief with thousands of followers and a hero who helped the poor, but he never expected that he would be an elegant-looking scholar, let alone a disciple of Fan Shu, a famous man.

"I have long admired Your Excellency's name."

Song Zhuzhu smiled slightly, "Please Xu Gongzi come in, Mr. is waiting for you." ”

Xu Ji walked towards the house, stopped halfway and asked, "How can Your Excellency recognize me?" ”

"I came here to serve Mr. in May of the year before last, and I didn't leave for a day, I saw you when Xu Gongzi came last year, but there were many people here at that time, and Xu Gongzi didn't remember me."

"Forgive me for being clumsy. What about the others? ”

"They were all sent away by Mr., leaving me alone." When Song Zhuzhu said this, he showed a little arrogance and pride, and immediately added: "Actually, I refused to leave, and I wanted to send my husband on the last ride." ”

Xu Ji bowed his hand, expressed his admiration, and stepped into the house.

The room was dark, there was a faint unknown aroma, and Fan sat on the seat, his body even thinner, shrunk together, like a child who had made a mistake and was waiting to be punished.

He sat down and fell asleep again.

Xu Ji took off his boots, sat lightly opposite Fan Guan, waited silently, began to feel anxious, slowly became peaceful, no longer smelled the fragrance in his nose, his eyes could see the furnishings in the house clearly, he only felt that everything was simple and clean, and the longer he stayed, the more comfortable his body and mind became.

I don't know how long it has been, Fan Shu has not woken up, and he is sitting there without moving, Xu Ji felt that something was wrong, walked to the old gentleman, called softly, and stretched out his hand to try his nose, and couldn't help but sigh.

Song Zhuzhu is chopping firewood, dressed as a scribe, but the cuffs are rolled up, revealing his thick arms, holding an axe in his right hand and standing firewood in his left hand.

"Brother Song, ......" Xu Ji stood in the distance and shouted.

"Yes." Song Zhuzhu answered, turned around and looked at it for a while, also sighed, put down the axe, stretched his sleeves, sorted out his clothes, and then walked over, bowed his hand to Xu Ji, and entered the house to check.

It didn't take long for Song to come out, "Mr. expected that there would be this day, everything has been prepared, can Xu Gongzi help?" ”

"Of course, there are some of my retinues outside the valley......"

"Don't bother anyone else, the two of us are enough, Mr. often says that everything should be simple, and you should follow its wishes."

"It's fine."

A thin coffin, placed in the next room, a set of shrouds, is Fan Guan's usual change of clothes, and the funeral things are all designated by him before his death: a notched teacup, not with a teapot; The three wooden crutches are all long-term things, and they are not precious wood, and there are many defects; Privately printed three chapters, one moment "Hui Ji Fan closed", one moment "Famous Fan Mou", one moment "Sick Man Lao Fan"; A jade pendant, among all things, only it seems to be more valuable, but the meaning is not clear.

"Mr. said that when I was alive, I was trapped in pen and ink, and I must stay away after I died, so I didn't bring any articles, books and other things, and let me burn them."

"Mr. Fan's writings are equal, wouldn't it be a pity to burn them? It's better to stay, I'll keep it, I haven't been bequeathed, it's not against Mr. Fan's wishes. ”

Song Zhuzhu said with a smile: "Mr. expected this moment, so when he was still sober, he supervised me to burn the book, and there was no piece of paper left." ”

Xu Ji sighed: "Mr. Fan, why bother? ”

Mr. Fan has been extremely dissatisfied with his writing over the years, and often says that he must rewrite it all so as not to delay the world, but after he started writing, he is even more dissatisfied. Alas, people like me simply don't dare to touch the pen. ”

The two brought clean water, wiped Fan Guan's body, changed into a shroud, and gently carried it into the coffin, according to the rules, the coffin should be parked for a period of time, and it can only be buried after relatives and friends mourn, but Fan Guan was very anxious, and told Song Zhuzhu again and again before his death: "Immediately after death, don't leave me outside, I'm afraid of the cold." ”

Song took the bamboo to dig the tomb the day before yesterday, in the depths of the valley, in the middle of two large trees.

"I chose the place, my husband likes grass and trees, and when the weather is warm, he often comes here to walk around the trees."

"There is quite an aura here, Brother Song has picked it well."

"Hehe, if Mr. hears the word 'Reiki', he will never agree to be buried here."

The two of them worked together to send the coffin into the cave and fill it with soil, which was just a small hill.

Fan Guan had long been downset about life and death, and Song Zhuzhu had no sadness, put down the shovel, and said with a smile: "Just now I was thinking about cooking some rice porridge for my husband in the evening, and going to the back mountain to barbecue a strip of meat and fight tooth sacrifices." I didn't expect my husband to stop me from eating meat in this way. ”

"Mr. Fan doesn't like to eat meat?"

"That's not it, my husband has bad teeth these years, he can't eat meat, and occasionally swallows some meat porridge. He didn't like to see me eat meat, and said that I had no moderation and ate meat like a wolf. ”

"Alas, I thought I would see Mr. Fan for the last time."

"Xu Gongzi did see it."

"I saw him, but he didn't see me, and he didn't have the opportunity to listen to the teachings."

"Xu Gongzi is really lucky."

"Huh?"

"Mr. heard that Xu Gongzi removed the king's title, he was quite excited, and told me that Xu Gongzi would come to visit, and he would have doubts, and he was worried that he would not be able to persevere, so he said something to me and asked me to tell Xu Gongzi."

Xu Ji was shocked, "Mr. Fan expected that I would come to visit, it was already magical, did he even expect me to have any doubts?" ”

Song Zhuzhu said with a smile: "Actually, it's not so magical, Mr. said, when you go to the butcher shop, you naturally have to buy meat, and when you go to the cloth village, you naturally have to buy cloth. People like Xu Gongzi always have the word 'world' in their hearts, and whether they have the king name on their heads or not, they are all the same. ”

Xu Ji also smiled, looked at the small mound, and arched his hand: "Mr. Fan has simplified the complex, and he has become more and more transparent in seeing people and things. He said to Song Zhuzhu: "Dare to ask Mr. Fan what he left behind?" ”

"The gentleman said, 'Wait.'"