When the two arrived at the Confucian Temple, the porter saw that it was Li Keding, so they greeted him warmly, and said that Mr. Puyun was meeting guests at this time, and it was a consul named John from Beijing. Li Keding said to the porter: "Don't worry, I'll go inside first, and wait for the master's reception to end by the way." As he spoke, he led Lu Wan into the door.

About 20 meters ahead, a stone statue of the Confucian saint stands tall. Behind the stone statue is a large hall with two layers of eaves, a vertical plaque between the eaves, which reads "Dacheng Palace", and a horizontal plaque on the door reads "Wanshi Table". Lu Wan came here for the first time, Pepsi was fresh and full of interest. Follow Li Keding into the hall to see, see Confucius in the center, four with the side, the twelve philosophers are arranged on the east and west sides. Lu Wan memorized the Four Books when she was a child, and later the school also offered courses on the Five Classics, especially her father often supervised her, so she could not abandon the study of the classics. Today, when I went to the Temple of Literature, I looked at the various ritual utensils inside, and I still felt that I knew very little. After turning around, Lu Wan said to Li Keding: "I'll test you a question." Li Keding thought to himself, I have been studying here since I was a child, and she can ask any advanced questions, and said casually: "You can take the test." Lu Wan asked Li Keding: "Tell me, why is Confucius a saint?" This seemingly simple question, but to the point, difficult to answer, Li Keding thought for a while, before slowly saying: "First of all, we have to understand, what is a saint?" Mencius said that "the great and the transformed is holy", which means that the heart is full of goodness and can use goodness to nurture sentient beings, so that such a person can be called a saint. Confucius's heart was full of goodness, and he used goodness to educate everyone, so he said that Confucius was a saint. After speaking, Li Keding was quite satisfied with his answer, and looked at Lu Wan proudly. Lu Wan thought for a while, and then asked Li Keding: "Jesus, who is full of great love, and uses great love to influence and educate people, according to Mencius, Jesus should also be a saint?" God loves the world, Li Keding knows a little, but when he says that Jesus is a saint, he can't accept it for a while, so he said to Lu Wan: "At least there is a little difference, Confucius never talks about strange forces and gods, whether there is a soul, and whether he goes to heaven or hell after death; He doesn't talk about God, he doesn't talk about who created the universe, he only talks about doing his own thing. Lu Wan listened, smiled and said, "Okay, in fact, I think a person, if he can do his own thing, is already very remarkable." ”

Li Keding has always been a person who doesn't talk about God, and he has never thought about how this world came to be, thinking that those things are all illusory. Since heaven and earth already exist, we know the condition of their existence, and it is necessary to conform to this condition; As for who created the heavens and the earth, why bother? Besides, even if you think about it, it is just speculation or hypothesis. Although there are many myths in China, such as Pangu opening the sky, Nuwa creating man, and Kuafu chasing the sun, Li Keding does not believe any of them, thinking that they are just stories made up by the ancients. Thinking of this, he looked at Lu Wan and said, "You're right, be yourself, I really want to be yourself!" If we can do everything well in every encounter, we will not live in vain in this life. Lu Wan asked, "Then what do you think is the most important thing to do?" Li Keding still looked at Lu Wan and said: "My father often said that he has two long-cherished wishes, one is to raise his eyebrows, and the other is to serve the country. I guess that's what I've been hoping for. ”

Everyone will be deeply influenced by their parents, in childhood and adolescence, often feel that their father is omnipotent, they will unconsciously produce worship, often in their hearts to their father's example, over time, imperceptibly formed in the mode of thought and behavior, is to inject the father's shadow into the subconscious. This is also the time when many people live and live, and when they look back, they suddenly realize that they have lived like their parents unconsciously. Only at this time will people understand that the rebellion against their parents in their youth is nothing more than their own subconscious, and to put it bluntly, they are dissatisfied with themselves, because the traits have already been formed in the subconscious, branded with the imprint of our parents, which determines our character and sets the trajectory of our life.

After listening to Li Keding's two long-cherished wishes, Lu Wan couldn't help laughing out loud and asked him: "Raise your eyebrows, what you think is quite beautiful, who are you going to raise your eyebrows with?" Li Keding saw that she also looked at herself, her eyes were pure and flawless, so he said, "Of course it's with you, can it be someone else?" Lu Wan couldn't help but feel like a deer, turned his head shyly, and said coquettishly: "You always talk nonsense, ignore you." ”

Li Keding felt that although he was a little abrupt in acting like this, after saying it, his heart was very happy. Although Lu Wan didn't say anything, he could see that at least Lu Wan liked it. In order to avoid embarrassment and temporarily divert her attention, she said, "Let's go to my master quickly." Lu Wan also realized that she had to hurry up, because before noon, she had to rush back to eat with her grandmother, just when she was thinking about things and her attention was distracted, her hand had been held by Li Keding, and she hurriedly pulled it back, and a warm current rippled in her heart.

The two of them walked through the main hall to the courtyard of the third entrance, where there were three wings on the east and west sides, and Mr. Puyun lived in the east wing. On a winter morning, the sun shines from the southeast to the northwest, and from the east wing to the west, because the sun is shining in the courtyard, and the scenery is very clear.

Mr. Puyun had just sent off the guests from Beijing, smoking a hookah at the window, and seeing that Li Keding had brought a girl, slender and standing in the courtyard, he said loudly: "Keding is here, come in." As he spoke, he pinched his cigarette and set the cigarette stick aside.

When Lu Wan came to the door, Pu Yun looked at it and said with a smile: "I don't want any distinguished guests to come to the door today, please take a seat." ”

Li Keding introduced Lu Wan to the master, helped the chair next to her, asked her to sit down, turned around and said, "I'll serve tea." ”

Pu Yun's face showed satisfaction, and he stroked his beard with his hand and said, "No need, you can sit down too." Then he pointed to an apprentice beside him and said, "Let him go." The apprentice withdrew and closed the door gently.

Li Keding sat next to Lu Wan according to his master's instructions, first told the master about his trip to Tianjin, and then talked about how he met Lu Wan in Mingren, and also introduced that Lu Wan had been studying in Tianjin Church School before.

Pu Yun looked at their expressions, pondered slightly, and then said, "Since you are here today, you have to gain something, and I will tell you two old things." Then the apprentice knocked at the door, brought tea, put it for everyone, and quietly withdrew.

Pu Yun took a sip slowly, nodded with a retrospective taste, and then said to the two: "The first thing happened fifty years ago, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in trouble, and the Twist Army took advantage of the chaos to fight in the area of Tianjin. At that time, the imperial court lacked money and was unable to quell the rebellion. At this time, two people stepped forward and donated most of their wealth as military salaries. These two people, one surnamed Lu and the other surnamed Li. ”