When Zhao Zhi was fourteen years old, he finally got a chance to go to Luoyang. His uneducated and chatty mother always liked to tell him that his family had been literate for generations. But what's the use? In his father's generation, he farmed and farmed, dealt with ploughing cattle and land every day, and carried a "soldier certificate" on his body, waiting for the country to recruit him into the army. Zhao Zhi often thought in frustration that he might never be able to be as personable and eloquent as those who read books, and he was admired. In order to fulfill a dream that he may never achieve, he traveled to a majestic official building on the north bank of Luoshui, Taixue, the highest national academy of scripture at that time.

He stood at the door, pondering how to get in, and suddenly saw a strange person, facing the row of stone tablets standing in unison outside the door, copying the inscriptions. He had heard that it was in the second year of Zhengshi, and the imperial court had carved a stone tablet with official scripts, small seals, and ancient texts after the contents of the Confucian "Shangshu" and "Spring and Autumn" were calibrated.

This strange person has a kind of light that people can't take their eyes off, obviously doing a weird thing, but it makes people feel that they are naturally chic. He was tall, dressed very ordinarily, and even a little unkempt, but he had a special charm. Later people said that he was "beautiful and graceful", that he was "a dragon and a phoenix, and that he was natural in nature", and that he was "as independent as a lone pine, like a jade mountain about to collapse", which was all true, but they could not accurately describe the appearance of him standing there at that time.

Therefore, Zhao Zhi stepped forward and asked his name very eagerly and abruptly.

The man laughed: "You little child, what do you do when you ask my name?" ”

Zhao Zhi was very honest at that time and replied: "I see that you have an extraordinary bearing, so I asked." Others, I'm not uncommon to ask. ”

The man smiled again, nodded his head, and said that it made sense, and then he told Zhao Zhi his name. The name of the young man who illuminated Zhao Zhi's life like light, and also illuminated the same enthusiastic young man of that era-

Ji kang.

Zhao Zhi told Ji Kang that he wanted to become a cultural person, but his father always told him not to think about it and farm well, and he was very distressed. Ji Kang laughed and said that his father died very young, so he could do whatever he liked. He also welcomed Zhao Zhi to his home in Shanyang. That is the place where Ji Kang lived in seclusion, he married Cao Wei's clan, the lord of Changle Pavilion, became a relative of the emperor, and built a large manor in the Baijiayan area of Jiaozuo, Henan Province by the fief of the princess, Jishan Villa. He and his good friends Lu An and Xiang Xiu often worked there, drank, played the piano, and debated. Ji Kang said that in the political ecology at that time, people with status bullied their superiors and subordinates, and arrogant courtiers acted recklessly and supported the army and abused power. The monarch is suspicious of the minister, the minister calculates the monarch, in the past, people engaged in politics for the world, and now people engage in politics for themselves. Ji Kang also described his ideals to Zhao Zhi: Luoyang was a place with too many cumbersome manners, strict hierarchies, and hypocrisy and boring, and he wanted a simple and natural society. He can prove to the world that he can be happy if he gets rid of that set of hypocritical etiquette, is natural and simple.

After that, Ji Kang's appearance often appeared in Zhao Zhi's mind, confident, simple, full of idealism, and a kind of fascinating, rebellion against authority. In the second year, Zhao Zhi finally couldn't stand the joyless and hopeless farming life day after day, and was conscripted for military service, so he pretended to be crazy and fled, and walked a long and long way barefoot to find Ji Kang in Shanyang. He finally saw the Shanyang Farewell that Ji Kang had described to him with great interest, but Ji Kang was gone.

Zhao Zhi didn't know that in the days when he was running away from madness for freedom and ideals, Ji Kang's fate was not as calm and confident as he appeared.

In the first ten years, Gao Pingling coup d'état, Sima Shi killed the auxiliary minister Cao Shuang, which completely angered the local forces that were not used to seeing the Sima family, and there was a storm for a while. Originally, Ji Kang couldn't get used to Cao Shuang, but Sima Shi's behavior completely angered him - the moral bottom line of society was destroyed, it was bad before, and now it is even worse. The Sima brothers attacked everywhere and forced a little famous intellectuals to express their position, and those who supported them were high-ranking officials; and those who oppose them shall be punished severely. For Ji Kang, who has never been beaten for not being convinced, remaining silent is acquiescing to this "hooliganism", so Ji Kang jumped up in a rare and angry way. When a man named Wuqiu Jian launched an armed attack against Sima Shi in Shouchun, Ji Kang thought it was time for the world to attack Sima Shi. Ji Kang, who is already 32 years old, called on hundreds of people to carry his own hoe and shovel to the front line. He excitedly found the leader of the county, Shantao. Shantao immediately poured him a basin of cold water: No.

Shantao is a very pragmatic person, starting from the director of the county office, he is a person who understands: how can this kind of rabble work? At that time, hundreds of thousands of people in the Yellow Turban Uprising were wiped out by Cao Cao with a few thousand people. The disordered majority is forever enslaved by an organized minority. Before Ji Kang could say anything about moving the mountains, the head of Biqiu Jian was sent to Luoyang.

In this troubled world, Ji Kang is in a hurry, but he has principles: he needs a good society. But I don't know that maybe a society is good, just because it never existed.

In the second year of Biqiujian's rebellion, Sima Shi died on the way to suppress the rebellion. Sima Shi's younger brother Sima Zhao inherited his career after coming to power and continued to unite all forces that could be united. Now, it was finally Ji Kang's turn to make a statement.

Before Zhao Zhi went to Shanyang to look for Ji Kang, it was the time when Sima Zhao frequently sent people to show favor to Ji Kang. As for Ji Kang, he sneered, shouted that he wanted to be a hermit, and went to Hedong to find the Great Dao Scholar Sun Deng to play. One hiding, that's three years.

Three years later, the world has been turned upside down. The original good friends, Ruan Ji and Shan Tao all went to be officials. Although it is very obscure, it is soft in the end. Sima Zhao was in full swing carrying out the trick of "Zen Rang", and made a final sprint to become the emperor. Ji Kang became popular again when he saw it: why didn't anyone jump out and say "I am against it"? He was originally non-party and non-factional, and he didn't like anyone, but when the world was silent, he jumped out and became a "banner".

What can Ji Kang do? It's nothing more than talking and writing articles. To put it simply, what Sima Zhao advocates, he opposes.

At that time, there was a scholar named Zhang Miao, who wrote a "Theory of Natural Learning", saying that it is human nature to be studious. It was originally a very good article, but it was used by Sima Zhao as a material to call on everyone to go to school and read the Bible, and then he was politically brainwashed. Ji Kang was naturally unwilling, so he wrote a large article "Difficult Nature and Good Learning". He said that people are born to be lazy and lazy, afraid of hardship, tired and even more afraid of death, how can there be natural studiousness? It was this article that Ji Kang completely stood on the opposite side of Sima Zhao.

For Ji Kang to be a little indiscriminate, Sima Zhao endured it again and again.

Sima Zhao wanted to ask Ji Kang to come out as an official, and let the little brother Zhong Hui go to find out. In addition to being a powerful minister, Zhong Hui is also very famous in the cultural circle. His masterpiece "Four Treatises" explores the question of talent, both thoughtful and organized. However, it is such a character, when he wanted to go to Ji Kang for a preface with his new book, he only dared to throw the book into the wall, for fear that Ji Kang, who had never been tactful, would say that his book was useless.

This time, the powerful minister Zhonghui, who has become fat and light, still wants to be close to Ji Kang in the way of a cultural person, but Ji Kang is striking iron, striking iron without squinting. Zhong, who was already a little afraid of Ji Kang, was embarrassed and at a loss. Xiang Xiu was helping Ji Kang pull the bellows, on one side was Ai Ai's Zhong Hui, and on the other hand was Ji Kang who was like no one around, and Xiang Xiu's sweat was dripping down even harder. Ji Kang probably felt that Xiang Xiu was sitting on pins and needles, so he asked Zhong Hui in the air, what are you listening to and watching?

As soon as Zhong Hui heard Ji Kang talking to him, he was full of excitement, and after thinking about it for a while, he replied very proudly in an ambiguous but seemingly advanced way, Look at what I see, listen to what I hear.

These two sentences are quite sharp and sharp in later Zen Buddhism. He thought that as soon as this remark came out, Ji Kang would definitely have a good eye for him, but he didn't expect Ji Kang to snort and continue to strike iron. Although Zhong Hui's face was free, his heart was full of frustration. When he reported to Sima Zhao, he finally failed to maintain the image of a cultural person who was humble and simple, and his calm face was torn. Annoyed and angry, Zhong Hui said to Sima Zhao that Ji Kang is indeed a very powerful character, at the same level as Zhuge Liang. But he's disobedient, and you're going to have to kill him.

Sima Zhao remained silent about this, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, which was quite subtle. He was still waiting for Ji Kang to take a stand and give him one last chance. Ji Kang's fate is already on the edge of the cliff, and it is at a critical point. His good friend Shan Tao was the first to keenly discover this, and it happened that Sima Zhao wanted Shan Tao to be a minister, and Shan Tao immediately recommended Ji Kang, threw him a life-saving straw, and painstakingly persuaded him - after all, he still had two children who were not yet minors. Shantao probably knew that Ji Kang would definitely scoff at him, and maybe he would scold him back, but Shantao still had luck and hoped that Ji Kang would accept this position for the sake of the child.

Ji Kang is angry, but not stunned, he also knows what the situation is, so he neither refused nor accepted Shantao's recommendation. He was ready to drag it until something more important appeared and Sima Zhao forgot about it. Unexpectedly, two years later, the "Noble Township Incident" suddenly broke out - the young and weak little emperor Cao Chao was still able to raise his arms and scold, "Sima Zhao's heart is known to passers-by", and no longer sit and wait to be deposed and insulted. The eighteen-year-old boy emperor took a few of his henchmen to crusade against Sima Zhao, but was ordered by Sima Zhao's henchman Jia Chong to stab a sword in the chest.

Ji Kang was mad: Sima Zhao seriously challenged his psychological bottom line about social order. Even an eighteen-year-old child knows good and evil, and is he still a turtle with a shrunken head at home while bearing the worship of young people in vain? So Ji Kang searched everywhere for reasons why he could scold Sima Zhao fiercely, and he thought that Shantao was still waiting for him to be an official.

Zhao Zhi was excited and sad, he held the copy of "Breaking Friendship with Shan Juyuan", which was transcribed over and over again, circulated by students, and the ink was not dry, he knew that this article would be passed down through the ages with Ji Kang's backbone and demeanor, but he also knew that Ji Kang might not survive. Shantao must have sighed when he saw the publicly released letter of renunciation, and even regretted a little: with such a talented man, their friendship was about to end. Not because of the breakdown, but because that person will die soon.

There is a sentence in Ji Kang's severance book that stung Sima Zhao fiercely, saying that he was "not Tang and Wu, but Bo Zhou and Kong". Confucianism is the mace of the rulers, and Sima Zhao spent a lot of effort to create public opinion at that time, picking up the Confucian doctrine of etiquette, righteousness, benevolence, harmony and hierarchical order, especially emphasizing that "Zen Rang" was the governing model advocated by the ancient sages, and their Sima family's replacement of Cao Wei's regime was also in accordance with the mandate of heaven. Unexpectedly, at such a critical moment, Ji Kang came to dismantle the stage again, this time Sima Zhao was not lightly stung, and new hatreds and old hatreds came to his heart together, this person must be eliminated.

So there was the famous "Lu An case". Lu An's brother Lu Xun occupied Lu An's wife, and he was afraid that the East Window incident would happen, so he took the lead and sued Lu An for being unfilial. This incident was a shock at the time—unfilial piety was the greatest contempt for etiquette and Confucian traditions. But Ji Kang knew that this was just a dog meat peddling desires with a sheep's head hanging on the etiquette, so he was indignant and went to the court to prove Lu An's virtue in the name of a friend, but he was sentenced to death together with Lu An. It's just a bureau to lure the king into the urn, but Ji Kang, who cherishes friendship, jumped in without hesitation.

People always have to die, and it is not in vain to die generously and wonderfully in the world, and it is better to die happily than to wagging their tails and begging to survive in the turbid world. This is Ji Kang's logic.

On the day of his death, the Book of Jin said that he "looked at the shadow of the sun and played the qin". Many years later, this scene still haunts Xiang Xiu's soul and cannot be forgotten.

That day, there had just been a torrential rain in Luoyang City, which washed the sun in the sky a little bleak, and it was as pale as the middle-aged man who stood calmly on the torture platform. His expression looked a little vicissitudes, and his eyes looked indifferently at the students in the audience who were either angry or confused, as if he saw the familiar but distant self.

They came to his rescue and asked him to be their teacher. He may feel a little noisy, because at the moment he just wants to quietly come to a song and a wine, and make a review of this life. Memories are a quiet thing that doesn't require the involvement of others. Only need wine, enter chaos, and melt heaven and earth; Need a piano, a golden emblem and a jade, and be in your heart.

Zhao Zhi stood in the middle of the students, looked at Ji Kang, watched him calmly look at the shadow of the sun reflected on the sundial, sat down, and played the song "Guangling San". Swing the strings with your hands, and fly unrestrainedly. Although Zhao Zhi had been praised by Ji Kang, he didn't dare to say that he really understood him. But Zhao Zhi thought that in the world, few people can follow their wishes and live consistently and so chic all their lives, and Ji Kang did it, which is Ji Kang's pride.

This song "Guangling San" is a shock, and it will remain in the hearts of those who heard it that day for a long time. After a long time, when Zhao Zhi read Ji Kang's "Theory of Music Without Sorrow", he would still think of that scene. Ji Kang is right, good music will shock the true feelings that have long been ignored in our hearts. So I cried, I sighed, generation after generation, as if melted into blood. Zhao Zhi thought that many years later, there will always be people like him who are disappointed and stuck, and they will remember Ji Kang playing "Guangling San" that day.

Zhao Zhi later became famous, served as an official in Jiangxia and Liaoxi, and rose all the way to Luoyang. But he didn't know that his mother had died in the process of his transfer. And his father, in order not to interrupt his career, did not tell him the news. The grass house he wanted to escape from the most when he was young became a place he couldn't go back to. Life is like a glass ball on the flat ground, rolling slowly, and even if you try your best to chase the place where you stop, it is always covered with dust, which makes people regret and lose. He returned to the gate of Taixue on the north bank of Luoshui, and the stone tablet of the Seven Classics of Confucianism was still there, but there was no longer the tall and unkempt scribe. He thought, Ji Kang's life, I'm afraid he has no regrets.