A small county town in the west of Chongyang Kingdom.

The sky above the small city is covered with dark clouds, purple lightning lingers, if a dragon is entrenched here, wantonly release thunder to this place.

After a dazzling lightning bolt slashed from the sea of clouds to the distant mountain, the sky seemed to be torn open, and a light rain poured down on the heads of every house.

At this time, in a dilapidated thatched house in the city, a young man suddenly pushed open the door, looked up at the sky, and his face was quite impatient.

He reached out to catch the gurgling water from the eaves, and let it slip through his fingers.

The young man rubbed his eyebrows and muttered, "It's not easy to travel because of the gloomy clouds and light rain." ”

It was a pleasant day in the middle of spring and a shallow summer, and a light rain was really not a bother, but the boy seemed to find a reason to be at ease, turned around and pushed the door into the house, and gently hooked the door with his toes.

The thatched hut is as poor as washing, with a wooden bed, a square table, and in addition, oil lamps, paper and pens can be sold for a little copper money.

The young man slowly lay on the bed with his head in one hand, subconsciously touched a few copper coins that were pressed down, and then frowned.

"That's all there is left with these copper plates, what are you going to eat tomorrow?" ”

He glanced at a pair of papers hanging on the earthen wall, on which were written the words "Learn and Soar."

The handwriting is flowing smoothly, the force penetrates the back of the paper, and the horizontal and vertical vaguely reveal a chic and free artistic conception.

Although the handwriting was good, the more the young man looked at it, the more angry he became, he immediately got up and took off the white paper, crumpled it in the palm of his hand, threw it on the ground at will, and said angrily: "Mr. is all liar, what book has its own golden house, and there is Yan Ruyu in the book, and in the end, it is not that you can't even get a meal?"

Outside the house, it was drizzling, and water droplets penetrated the roof of the thatched hut from time to time, and the boy kicked off his cloth shoes and got into the thin quilt.

At this moment, there was a rush of footsteps outside the house, and then the door was pushed open in one fell swoop, and the young man lifted the quilt and suddenly looked up, "Which kid dares to come to my house to steal?"

But after seeing who it was, the young man fell down again, turned his back and said nothing.

There was a chubby young man with a somewhat bloated figure standing at the door, closing the oil-paper umbrella and sighing: "Jiang Huai, don't you go to the school yet, you will be late, and Mr. will scold us." ”

The young man waved his hand, covered his head and muttered, "I'm going to go to you, what kind of bullshit Mr., it's just a poor old talent." ”

The chubby young man's name is Pang Yushi, he and Jiang Huai are classmates, and they are also the only friends that the boy is familiar with, but it happens that there is a big silk seller in Qianping County who is also surnamed Pang, so the little fat man can be said to be full of food and warm clothes, compared with Jiang Huai, one is in the sky and the other is on the ground.

Pang Yushi put down the oil-paper umbrella and sat down on the only wooden stool in the room, with a face in his face, and said in a deep voice: "If you don't go, then I won't go either." ”

Jiang Huai lifted the quilt, rolled his eyes, and quipped: "Just your two or two guts? ”

The little fat man suddenly blushed, and hurriedly explained: "That is called the person who knows the times is Junjie, do you understand, besides, I am not small, last time my father didn't let me eat, I still dared to talk back to him, a manly man, he said that he would eat two bowls." ”

Jiang Huai snorted and laughed, and waved his hand again and again, "Okay, okay, just that little goosebump, you are proud, hurry back to class." ”

Pang Yushi touched his head a little embarrassed, and asked a somewhat serious question instead, "Jiang Huai, if I go to the school and tell Mr. that you sleep at home, will you be angry?" ”

The young man in rag linen raised his eyebrows and said angrily: "Of course I'm angry, and I'm angry. ”

Pang Yushi immediately got up, opened the oil-paper umbrella and walked outside the door, turned his head and said, "Then I won't talk about it, you can sleep well at home, it's best to sleep until Mr. comes to you in person." ”

As soon as the words fell, a clear voice immediately came from inside the room, "Bring the door to me." ”

The door was shut.

Some down-and-out teenagers leaned against the head of the bed and sighed, muttering: "I'll be angry with you for this little thing?" Are you a fool, I'm not blind, every time the school is out of class, a few copper coins will fall out of the books, God really wants to reward me, and now I will still look poor and sour?"

The boy shook his head, threw his sorrow outside the door in the wind and rain, closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

It wasn't until noon that the young man opened his eyes in a daze, he touched his moist eyes, and said, "Why are you crying again, Mr. often says that you think about the day and dream at night, is it that God finally felt my prayer and wanted to drop a large sum of money from heaven?"

The boy stretched, got up and poured a cup of tea.

After a while, he really waited for something, but unfortunately it was not silver, but a rickety old man with a full head of white hair.

The old man's surname is Kong, and he is the only gentleman in Suzhou City, he is wearing a wide green shirt, a wooden hairpin is inserted on the top of his head, and he also holds a ring ruler in his hand.

The young man subconsciously took two steps back, put down the teacup, and said, "Jiang Huai has seen Mr. ”

The rickety old man had a serious face, raised the ring ruler and said sharply: "You still know that I am a student, the rules, etiquette, I can't remember anything at all, stretch out your hand!"

Jiang Huai was not timid, stretched out his right hand forward, showed an expression that seemed to be smiling, and said calmly: "If you do something wrong, you will be punished, I agree with this, but can Mr. answer me a few questions after the fight." ”

The old man raised his hand and hit the young man's palm with a ring ruler, and with a crisp sound, the young man immediately gritted his teeth, but his eyes didn't even blink, "Can reading make a person eat well and wear warm clothes!"

The old man's hand rose and fell, and he knocked down again, "I can't"

"Can reading allow me to wander around like an immortal in a book, and walk through the four wildernesses!"

Another slap on the ring ruler, "Can't!"

The young man roared directly, "Then I have a fart for reading, I won't read anymore!"

The old man's right hand, which had been raised high, had not fallen for a long time, and there seemed to be memories in his cloudy eyes.

The old gentleman in a green shirt, who was loved everywhere in the small town, hesitated for a moment, and knocked down the ring ruler again, but it was very light, and slowly fell into the palm of the young man's hand like a caressing.

The old gentleman hesitated for a moment, his tone was flat, and he slowly spoke, "If you don't study, what else can you do?"

The young man didn't care about his red and swollen right hand at all, and said loudly with his head held high: "The youngest age of the Chongyang National Military Branch is fifteen years old, I am fifteen years old and I have two months left, I want to go to the border pass to join the army." ”

The old gentleman shook his head and quipped: "Do you think you can join the army at will when you are old? Except for some cannon fodder who are regarded as cattle and sheep mud and grass, which one does not need knowledge and a strong physique, you are still far behind." ”

The young man's eyes were red, and he subconsciously clenched his right hand, which was already swollen, and it was even more painful, "Then I will find someone to learn martial arts, and in the future, I will be a caravan guard, or a high-ranking guest of a rich merchant, and I will be full of food, warm clothes, and very happy!"

Confucius took back the ring ruler and didn't return to his waist, and said with a smile: "You can be regarded as growing up eating a hundred family meals, you don't know that human affection is as thin as a veil, and you take care of your own family, you think about every time you are hungry and begging for someone, what kind of demeanor are others, what is the tone of your voice, remember, you have to ask yourself more before doing things!"

The young man's eyes were glazed, but he still insisted on: "Anyway, I don't want to study anything, it's useless at all, and I can't even afford to eat a meal every day." ”

Confucius was stunned, but nodded, "If you don't read it, you won't read it, I have nothing to do with you, and the responsibility of being a gentleman is all done, I am at ease in this matter, but I must mention that you are not only talented in doing learning, but also like a round of giant sun, the quality is what I have seen in my life, others need rote memorization of ancient texts, you only need to look at it to firmly remember, others have copied bad fonts for several years, you only need a few days to sweep thousands of troops." ”

"Don't waste what you are born with. ”

The old man slowly walked out of the door with his waist bent, and the young man realized that there was a puddle of water stains left where the old man had stood.

He hurriedly ran to the door and looked out, only to see the white-haired old gentleman walking alone in the rain, his hair and green shirt all wet by the rain.

The young man immediately slapped himself, but his face didn't hurt, and his hand hurt even more, "Jiang Huai, Jiang Huai, how can you talk to Mr. like this, don't you have any conscience at all." ”

It's just that while the boy hesitated, the old man in the green shirt had disappeared at the end of the street.

Jiang Huai sat on the threshold with one buttock, pinched a stone with two fingers and bounced it into the small puddle of potholes, smashing up a splash.

The young man rubbed his palms, a little melancholy, and said to himself in a voice as thin as a mosquito and a fly: "The grace of the Master is too much for you to remember. The study of disease lies in respecting the teacher, and you can't remember it. What else can you do?"

He then got up and walked to the clean desk in the room, which was particularly distinct from the wall, polished it with his left hand, took out a yellowed piece of straw paper from the drawer, and took a pen to write down the six big characters "Don't complain about the sky, don't care about people."

The handwriting is still horizontal, strong and powerful, no matter how you look at it, it is beautiful.

The young man casually smoothed his frowning brows, smiled on his face, and muttered softly, "Why don't you insist on it again?"