Nineteen years ago.

The outer layer of Jinling City is stacked on top of each other, and a mountain village lies quietly in the depths of green mountains and green waters.

An ordinary-looking woman, combing the bride's bun, became the daughter-in-law of the Si family.

She is very satisfied with her married life.

Although the farm work is hard, when she sees the posture of the husband reading at the window, she feels that all the hard work is worth it.

Her father-in-law is different from the men in Shili and Eight Villages, he will teach her to draw and write in the window, and he will find plum blossom seedlings from the deep mountains and plant them in the corner of the courtyard with his own hands.

In the winter of the second year of her passing, it happened that Xianggong was going to Beijing to participate in the Spring Examination.

Before leaving, she shyly took Xianggong's hand and gently covered her bulging belly, "The mothers-in-law in the village said that it must be a male fetus...... Xianggong, my son and I are waiting for you to return from high school. ”

The man kissed his good wife, who was pregnant with the fetus, and left an ancestral jade pendant, so he took the scholar with the bookcase on his back and went out of the mountain.

The woman stood under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village, and her eyes were sent and sent, but she could not send a heavy mountain or a heavy water.

Unexpectedly, two days later, the hunters in the village found a corpse that had been broken into mud in a mountain stream.

The woman wept and went to claim it, but fortunately the body belonged to the scholar, and she should be all right.

A few months later, she finally gave birth to a big fat boy.

But year after year, the man never returned.

In the third year, the man sent a letter.

"Precious, don't wait", four small block letters, she is very familiar.

The woman did not complain.

But as the years passed, the toddler could finally speak, think, and pester her to ask why he didn't have a father.

The woman sat on a chair and put her arms around him, and pointed out the plum tree to him, "Ah Shu's father rushed to Chang'an to participate in the scientific expedition in order to gain fame, but he accidentally fell from the high mountain and probably won't come back." This is the tree planted by your father, if Ah Shu misses his father, take a look at this plum tree. ”

She thinks that such a lie should be easier for her son to accept, right?

"Mother, what is the fame, why does my father want to test the fame?"

"Fame is to be a great official and be the master of the people. Your father often said that those who read should establish their hearts for heaven and earth, establish their lives for the people, continue their studies for the saints, and open peace for all generations. When Ah Shu grows up, he must also gain fame and be a good official who loves the people! ”

The woman's smile was kind, but there was a deep sadness in her eyes.

Xiao Dushu obediently stood on tiptoe and kissed the woman's face, "Mother, Ah Shu will definitely be a good official!" ”

He didn't understand the words, but he kept them in his heart.

Because that's what his dad said.

Little Dushu gradually grew up, and finally became a teenager.

The private school in the mountain village could not teach him more knowledge, so this winter, he hugged two geese, trekked through mountains and rivers, walked for a whole day and night, and finally came to the gate of Jinling Academy.

The archway is very high, and it is a majestic and magnificent that this poor boy has never seen.

He squatted outside the door for a long, long time, until the snow covered his whole body, and finally saw a man wearing a red shirt with a serious face coming out of the academy.

He hurriedly hugged the goose to meet him, nodded and said, "Master, I, I'm here to study!" My name is Si Dushu, and I want to go to the academy to study! ”

The man glanced at him.

The young man was dressed in an old blue and brown jacket with patches, looking poor and conservative, accompanied by a smiling face, and he really had no backbone at all as a scholar.

He said lightly: "When you enter the academy, you have to be bound." ”

The young man smiled innocently, "I brought it!" Master, you see, these two big fat geese, my mother has been raising them for a whole year, and they are worth a lot of money! ”

The man smiled sarcastically, "Jinling is quite expensive, and two geese are not enough." ”

"Huh?"

The boy scratched his head, his face full of sorrow, not knowing what to do.

He thought for a moment, and was about to take out the jade pendant hanging around his neck, wanting to use it as a binding, and redeem it after earning silver in the future, but he saw the jade hanging from the man's waist.

Emerald green and flawless, warm and delicate, the pattern on it, and their necks are exactly a pair.

The boy stared at the man's face in disbelief as if he had been struck by lightning.

This face......

The portrait hanging in the ancestral hall with his mother is exactly the same!

Holding the hands of the big fat goose, I couldn't help but tighten and tighten again......

After a long time, the young man suddenly smiled gently, "In that case, I won't bother." ”

He turned to leave.

At this moment, an old man with an umbrella came out of the academy.

He called Si Dushu, asked what he meant, and smiled extraordinarily kindly, "In ancient times, there was Chengmen Lixue, and now you are studying in the snow, if my Jinling Academy turns you away, it will be a waste of this pure heart." These two geese look white and clean, and it would be a pity to kill them, so they will be kept in the academy pond. A look at it in your spare time is also elegant. ”

Si Dushu hurriedly thanked the old man, but Yu Guang couldn't help but look at the master with the jade on his waist again.

My mother once said that my father's ambition is to make a life for all the people, and now this mercenary man, is it really his father?

……

During his years in the academy, he also tried to talk to Vice President Zhong.

But the other party is always impatient.

That day, he went down the mountain to help in the restaurant, and happened to see that on the mountain road, the second young man of the Xie family and the son of the Xu Zhizhou family had a big fight, so he panicked and wanted to go back to the academy to call more people to help, but unexpectedly met the man halfway.

He hesitated and told him about the fight.

He was furious on the spot and hurried towards the mountainside.

Si Dushu followed behind him, looked at his still tall back, and said tentatively: "Master, what are we scholars for?" ”

"For a poor child like you, if you don't study for high-ranking officials, what is it for?" The man replied, his steps did not stop, "What kind of family and country are all jokes!" When you really stand in the officialdom, you will find that the great harmony that the sage said is clearly impossible to achieve. ”

It was the twilight of spring, and the sound of the subrules in the mountains and fields.

Si Dushu smiled and didn't say anything more.

Later, there was a matter of the Begonia Pavilion.

He didn't think about it, so he opened the carved door of the elegant seat and escaped with his classmates.

He is also afraid of death, but what he is even more afraid of is that he can't bear the responsibility on his shoulders.

He, never become a person like Zhong Youxue!

Snowing overnight, a few degrees of plum blossoms.

The boy in a blue and brown shirt with patches was covered in blood and his eyes were blurred.

The rough palm of the brush is used to holding the doorframe, and with all the strength of his life, he must stand up!

Is a gentleman alive for power? For the rich?

But ask for a clear conscience.

Man is inherently dead, or heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather.

Die for the cause,

Gentleman, no regrets!