The Daqing River passes through Luokou, and only glances at Jinan City and rushes away. As soon as the gates of the old city opened, several soldiers on tall horses galloped past, and many people flashed out of the blue-tiled and gray-brick houses on both sides, breaking the peace and quiet of the blue-gray with a commotion. But the horses showed no sign of hope, and their eyes were engrossed in the crooked fork in the road ahead, leaving only the clattering hooves and the wind blowing up on the stone slabs. When they reached the front of a Biwa Zhuyong mansion, they pulled the bridle on the horse's neck hard, then kicked off their feet, rolled off the horse neatly, took out a piece of red paper for the head in the sleeve, looked at the two big characters "Ye Fu" hanging in the mansion, and strode forward to pull the door knocker, raised his voice and shouted:

"Mr. Ye is promoted! Congratulations to Mr. Ye! ”

The door opened, and several people saw a middle-aged man in his mid-forties getting dressed. The man pulled his cuffs, clasped his hands into fists, strode over the threshold, stepped forward and said, "You have come from the Beijing Division, all the way!" ”

Looking at his appearance for the head, his figure is not fat, and the black gauze is lined with a square face - he believes that this person is Lord Ye Long, who is in charge of the Ye Mansion.

"You must be very tired. Please come to the fast! ”

Ye Long led these people through the main hall, walked through a short section of Yongdao, and then went to the place where Ye Long picked up his friends to study, and looked up to see that the big plaque in the study had been sold a lot, but it could still be seen crookedly that it was the three words "Living Water Zhai".

The one with the head stood still, opened the red paper in his hand, and there was a book pasted inside, Ye Long saw it, and immediately knelt down, and after reading it again, he got up and took the book, staring at the holy miracles on it, and couldn't help but tear up in his eyes. "After the collapse of the first emperor, Long was extremely sad, and he expected that I would be the emperor for the first time, and he would not ask the court to repay him; I have no grace to the new emperor, and I have rewarded him so generously. The grace of heaven is vast, and Long can't afford it! As he spoke, he bowed his head in shame.

"The emperor rules the world with filial piety, and Mr. Wen is filial piety for his brother, but he has not been in office for three years before he decides to use it. This is also because of the old gentleman's virtue. He said for the relief of the head.

"Alas," Ye Long sighed, "Speaking of my brother, who has been an official of the imperial court for many years, he died on the job, but he still has no gifts...... Give my brother a nickname, this is also a big wish of Ye, but I don't dare to ask for it. He suddenly looked up at the men.

"This mansion has been lived in by my Ye family for almost a hundred years, and it has fallen into disrepair. If the deceased brother gets a nickname, he can build this place as the ancestral hall of the deceased brother......"

Seeing Ye Long say this, those people hurriedly responded: "I'll wait for you to return to the court, and I will definitely help you say something." ”

Ye Long sat down and took a handkerchief to wipe his face. Those few people were sitting there eating tea, and suddenly saw Ye Long frowning, becoming serious, and then threw down the handkerchief, turned around and said to a subordinate: "The guests are drinking tea here, and he has no one!" You ask Madame to call that rebel over! ”

The people immediately put the tea, "Boss, don't bother the son anymore, I'll say goodbye, farewell." "After making a gesture, I am leaving. Ye Long didn't stop him, he gave it a ride, came back with a straight face, and walked to the front of the living water Zhai, although he lowered his head, he saw his son with a sweep of his eyes.

"What are you standing for? The messenger who came from Asri left early...... They called you when they knocked on the door just now, and you can't be busier than me! While looking at him, he threw off his clothes and sat down, and when he saw his wife standing on the side, she looked at him and did not dare to say anything. He had to smile reluctantly, "You go first, I'll say a few words to him, it's not a big deal." ”

This is Ye Long's second son, born in Ding You. The eldest son was called Ye Changwei, and he died when he was about five or six years old; When the second son was born, Ye Long had not yet been a jinshi, and he was about to take advantage of the birth of this child to bring joy to himself, so he took Yongjia as his name. The so-called A person means to be on the list. Ye Long thought of a word for him again, and called him Tinglong. When Ye Yongjia was sixteen years old, Ye Long was busy donating prison to his son, waiting for the next township test.

After two years of flicking his fingers, now Ye Yongjia has lost his childishness and looks more and more handsome. I saw that he had a white complexion, upright facial features, a high nose bridge, and a pair of clean sword eyebrows.

"Kneel!" Ye Long's face sank, "There are people in the court, you should have come out to see it, but you didn't even have a shadow!" This is not complete, how did I teach you? ”

Ye Yongjia knelt on the ground and didn't dare to say a word, and it took a long time to say: "After handing over Qiu's son, I have to take the exam, and I have to study more ......."

"You don't usually read it, so that's all you need for a while today!" As he spoke, he raised his eyebrows and raised his hands; Ye Yongjia lay on the ground and didn't dare to dodge, and hurriedly said: "Father, don't be angry because of trivial things, hurt your liver qi, and your son will not be an example!" ”

Ye Long then put his hands away, and his two hands turned to the chair handle, "What's the use of saying this?" You study all day long, and you should also go through the experience and experience, so that you can inherit the family business. Ah, it just so happens that our family is going to buy a new house, you go ...... Qihe County will help our family look at the house, and if you can see it, return the picture to me; If you don't have a picture, you can't have half of the falsehood, do you understand? ”

"The son obeys the father's command......"

"You stand up, it's not a big deal." Ye Long Road.

Ye Yongjia first stretched his neck to look at his father's face, and then stood up hesitantly, but he was a little unsteady. Shen made two gestures, looked at Ye Long's face again, then breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

"Wait, you go with your master."

Ye Yongjia only obeyed orders, he knew that the 'master' in his father's mouth was a slave in the family, his surname was Congyuan, and his name was Yu Shun. His grandfather was a well-known genius in Shandong, who was killed because of his connection with the royal family of the previous dynasty, intended to rebel, and disobeyed the new dynasty, and all his descendants were reduced to slaves; Because of this, his father came to the Ye family, and Cheng Congyuan lived with his father, loved literature, and had the style of his grandfather. Although he is also a slave, he is favored by Master Ye because of the knowledge in his belly, so his status is naturally very different from others. He has been in the Ye family for forty years, and his prestige is naturally self-evident. After the Ye family drove away a gentleman, they asked him to be Ye Yongjia's teacher, and Ye Gongzi also respected him very much, and like his father, he never treated him as a slave.

Ye Yongjia strode past the corner gate, bumped into Cheng Congyuan at the main gate, and saw him bent over, looking extremely humble, but he couldn't hide his thick black eyebrows and broad forehead like a scripture stroke, which looked extraordinary. When he raised his head, a pair of eyes were clear and cloudy, and he could not guess his mind from there.

Cheng Congyuan paused his throat: "Master is going to see the house, don't you know how to use a horse?" He said in a long, unhurried voice.

"Mr. Cheng, use a horse." Ye Yongjia's tone was extremely calm.

"Okay." Cheng Congyuan patted him on the shoulder blade.

When they arrived at the gate, after two inferior minions brought two horses, they retreated to the side, Ye Yongjia beckoned, and the two said 'yes' before they dared to go back. Cheng Congyuan said while putting a hanger on the horse: "Master, I'm just a slave of your family, and the master sees that I have a decent amount of knowledge in my stomach, so I just made a way to save money." What kind of master are you and me? After all, he is still a servant of the call! He smiled heartily, pulled Ye Yongjia onto the horse with one hand, jumped on the horse behind him, and danced the whip: "Master, you are the future master of this family, you have to understand who respects and who is inferior, who is the master and who is the slave!" With that, he tore his throat and shouted, and the whip rang out twice, and the two horses ran at the same time.

……

"Phew, phew." Cheng Congyuan got off his horse, pulled the bridle with his left hand, and the master and servant entered the Qi River in less than half a day. This place is not rich, and the districts and squares along the way are all earth-colored low houses, which Ye Yongjia can't even look down on. Cheng Congyuan saw that there was indeed nothing to see in this poor place, and he looked up at the vicious sun, so he said to Ye Yongjia: "It's not interesting to see here, go to the shop to rest for a while, if you inquire about a good house, let's go again." ”

Ye Yongjia nodded, and prepared to go to a tea shop to rest. This tea shop is dilapidated, and there are a few idlers with fans drinking tea and talking nonsense, and suddenly feel that people are crowded into a heap, very noisy, but they can barely sit open, and they can barely hear what they are talking about. Cheng Congyuan took out a few hangs of money from his pocket, took down more than a dozen yellowed old copper plates from a hang, blew them in the palm of his hand, stood up and went to pay for the tea. Ye Yongjia had nothing to do, turned sideways, and listened to the idlers:

"When did that school get up?"

"The other day. It is said that a Nanjing man who was twenty-five or sixteen years old came to build here. He also said some crazy things all day long, and the things he taught were nondescript, such as a hundred schools of thought, poetry and songs, modern and ancient laws, and everything. He also listed more than a dozen maladministrations and eight reform strategies of the dynasty, thinking that his principles would be spread to all provinces and moving the world ......"

"Dream! In my opinion, it is good to be honest and teach some things that are beneficial to scientific examinations, and if you go to learn something else, you will not be able to become an official, you will not be able to make money, and people will look down on you. ”

"The so-called 'Shinong Industry and Commerce', they can't be scholars, and they can't operate hoes like us, and they really become useless people."

"Nanjing people ......" Ye Yongjia listened to what the idler said, as if he remembered something, and thought to himself. When he turned around, Cheng Congyuan had already gently placed two small cups of tea on the table and pushed them to Ye Yongjia's side. Ye Yongjia picked up the tea and took a few sips, but it was faint and tasteless.

He whispered to Mr. Cheng, "I'll go to the front school to have a look, and you can drink slowly." After saying that, he pointed to it. Cheng Congyuan looked dazed and asked him, "What school?" It's okay to pop up this sentence. Ye Yongjia said with a smile: "Those people said that there was a school in front of them, and it was run by a Nanjing person; Listening to them is like Mr. Nawei who taught me. ”

Cheng Congyuan frowned: "The master has no friendship with him, he still teaches those, and he was scolded by the master and driven out; This kind of person can't see ......."

"Master Cheng, you can't say that. Although Mr. Wei has a big temper, he is polite and courteous, and has the demeanor of a gentleman. Besides, after he is a Confucian, it is not useless to recount the past. ”

"I won't say anything if you want to go. Just reminded the master: The master let us come to see the house, and we should leave after drinking tea. This lord finally let the master come, if it is not done properly, the people will definitely not obey the master. Thanks to the small number of our families, we can still hold on; If you want to settle a family of 100 people, all of them are not convinced, won't they fix you all at once? ”

Cheng Congyuan spoke earnestly, but Ye Yongjia was a little annoyed: "What Mr. Cheng said is right. But if Mr. Wei is here, it would be a pity not to see sincerity. Cheng Congyuan knew that he couldn't be persuaded, so he had to wave his hand and let him go. Ye Yongjia went outside the house to pull a horse, Cheng Congyuan took the tea, and shouted outside: "I look at the master's horse, you can go." When Ye Yongjia heard this, he let go of his hand and walked on the road from the tea house.

After walking for a few miles, he walked to the gate of the academy, and saw two lines of poetry hanging on both sides of the door, and the ten small italics were extremely eye-catching, and they read:

The generous autumn wind is not a perch

There's also a line of small print underneath:

Recorded the poems of Linchuan Wang Jiefu

When he saw this poem, he remembered Mr. Wei's demeanor, and he didn't feel respectful. As he walked against the wall, he gradually remembered the face of 'Mr. Wei', and when he looked casually into the wall, he saw that there was a green willow planted in it, but it was so green that it was shining, and the branches and leaves reached out of the wall, shining in the sunlight like a green smoke. Ye Yongjia watched for a while. But the smoke gradually thinned, and a thin literati on crutches blocked his line of sight, and the green smoke became almost invisible in Ye Yongjia's afterglow, which brought him back to his senses. Ye Yongjia's eyes swept up, and as soon as he saw the vine crutch and the slightly rickety body bones of his cane, he panicked and returned the salute:

"Mr. Wei......"

This time, the two eyes saw clearly: the man's eyes were blazing and heroic, his eyebrows were light but still sharp, except for the waist shape and the crutches, the rest could show the appearance of a hero.

Ye Yongjia knows a little about his family background, this person is a famous Confucian of the Wei family in Nanjing, named Wei Huai, the word and the people, the number Jingshan, and another brother...... As for how to get on crutches, Wei Huai himself did not shy away from talking to him, the son of the Ye family, but because he accidentally fell off the carriage when he was a child, he avoided the horse's hooves, but was run over by the wooden wheels of the car; His father, Wei Dehui, let him lie in bed for three months and was not allowed to go out; Although the injury was healed later, it seemed that a rib had been crushed at that time, so that he sweated after walking for a while on weekdays, and had to take a cane crutch. Wei Huai thought that this rattan crutch needed to accompany him for a lifetime, but after all, he was forgotten in front of the Nanjing Council Hall after only 63 years with Wei Huai.

"I can't afford it...... Mr. Thirty-six Days, your Ye family really gives face. ”

Ye Yongjia raised his head suddenly, stunned.

"What? Lord Ye sent you here and want to invite me back? Wei Huai threw the vine to the ground and turned around slowly.

"I haven't offended Mr. either, why should Mr. complain to him......" Ye Yongjia was a little anxious, Wei Huai only glanced back at him lightly: "When I first came, your family was kind enough to invite me to teach you; After driving me out, they mocked me with some words. You are here to say something nice about me and reconcile with your family, so don't bother. ”

"Students don't know these things, so don't blame Mr. Wei."

Wei Huai sighed, then turned around and asked, "What are you looking for me for?" ”

Ye Yongjia's face gradually turned around, and he said with a smile: "I'll listen to how Mr. saved the cheats." ”

Wei Huai saw that he was really listening, and he got rid of that cold and disdainful look for a while, and said, "How to talk about saving the evil!" I'm just doing a little bit of my duty as a scholar, so that people all over the world can see that Confucian scholars will not only be bored. ”

Ye Yongjia nodded in admiration, Wei Huai ignored it, and Gu Zi said: "I was born in a family of famous Confucians, and some things can be seen; Some things don't see, but most people know them. My proposal is divided into eight reform strategies: changing the salt law, limiting the name of the field, expanding the subjects, saving redundant fees, abolishing the time and literature, suppressing the strong and strong, relaxing the prohibition and establishing academies. The focus is on the article of "establishing a college", which is the discussion of Xu Academy's participation in politics, if there is a mistake in the government, the academy must have a speaker, which is to limit the monarch's power to the world. However, if the academy is all useless people, it will not be beneficial to the country to allow them to write; The selection of the academy must be strict in order to fulfill its responsibilities. ”

He took a few more steps, and the creaking of the vines continued. "I know that if one of the methods is done, there will be other troubles; But if you don't find a solution, how can the world be stable? ”

At this time, Ye Yongjia stood up suddenly, "Mr. Kewei has no help here, and he can't try the new method, how is it different from empty talk?" ”

"Of course I do. Tomorrow, I will leave Shandong and return to my hometown in Nanjing: it just so happens that Lu Fangxuan, the prefect of Nanjing, has recruited me as the secretary, and I intend to vote for it. From now on, I'll do my thing, and you can test your actions. With that, he straightened his waist vigorously and walked into the distance, but he did not dare to go fast, and walked step by step.

Ye Yongjia followed closely and said, "Do you think you don't have to see me again!" If I go to Nanjing, there will be hope for this matter! When the time comes, you won't remember my family's hatred, right? ”

Wei Huai listened, only sneered, and walked away; Ye Yongjia was very unhappy in his heart, and he didn't dare to be angry, so he just glared at Wei Huai in the end, and left angrily.

"Oh yes!" As soon as Ye Yongjia came down from the road, he saw Cheng Congyuan holding two horses and bending down respectfully; Ye Yongjia was busy trying to support him, but he pulled him on the horse with his backhand, "Master, you have a good time with that Wei Huai, I can wait for death!" The sun is setting, let's go to do something big. Ye Yongjia didn't speak, so he hurriedly followed Cheng Congyuan to see the house.

Time is urgent, but there are not many houses to consider, only three squares can be found, and they can make do; Coincidentally, there was no picture, Ye Yongjia was really anxious, and thanks to Youcheng from Yuanyuan to guide him, in less than an hour, the inscription of Sanjianfang came out. Cheng Congyuan paced in the courtyard, looking up at the daylight, only the golden red glow was revealed in the west. He was so anxious that he spit on the ground, and as soon as he raised his head, Ye Yongjia finally came out of the room, without saying a word, he dragged him away, Ye Yongjia's steps gradually tended, and he suddenly jumped on the horse as soon as he raised his hips, the two looked at each other, no one spoke, sweat overflowed on their foreheads, and the two horses ran away with their hooves towards the south.

"Sir!" Ye Yongjia stepped forward, kicked on the threshold, slipped on his feet, staggered through several gatehouses, and knelt in the study, Ye Long was still sitting dangerously, holding the book in his hand. After a long time, he stood up, looked around, and caught a glimpse of the suspicious looks of the people beside him, and his face flashed with surprise, anger, and shame, and he shouted softly:

"You...... Go down. ”

Cheng Congyuan was still standing behind the door. Ye Long ignored him, gritted his teeth and said: "You have done this until night, when you have to take the township exam, I'm afraid you won't be able to finish it in ten days!" I really hate that iron doesn't make steel...... It's best to start from tomorrow, let Cheng Congyuan lock you here, and learn how to be attentive! He didn't look at Ye Yongjia, he walked out of the fast, Cheng Congyuan came out to greet him, Ye Long was still angry, facing Cheng Congyuan, and pointed to Ye Yongjia who was kneeling in the house: "Congyuan, I'll give you the key, you lock the doors on all sides, don't forget to lock the corner doors." Tell him to read well. Ye Yongjia didn't hear any pleading from Cheng Congyuan in his ears, only the sound of footsteps, and Ye Long seemed to have gone out.

Ye Yongjia breathed a long sigh of relief, got up slowly, heard the door knock again, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, trembling. Then, he glanced at the door, swallowed saliva into his throat, got up hesitantly, ran to find Cheng Congyuan, saw that Mr. Cheng was locked at the corner door, and hurriedly stepped forward and pulled him, Cheng Congyuan raised his left hand, and quickly plugged in the door with his right hand, turned around, and his expression was cold.

"Sir......" looked at each other, and he smiled helplessly at Cheng Congyuan.

Cheng Congyuan said: "I don't say the master, the master only listens to the master's words, and reads books when he gets up in the morning, which is also called the master's leisure." ”

"Yes, yes......" Ye Yongjia was a little ashamed on his face, and ran to the study as soon as he turned his face.

Mr. Cheng was still locking the door, only to hear a "bang", followed by the sound of "swish" turning paper.

He looked into the window again, and finally smiled reassuringly.