[1 year ago]

Shi Zi came here to teach for a while and found that there were only four teachers in the entire academy plus him. And Kong Shen, who received him at that time, was like an idle man all day long, either tidying up his books every day, or serving his pots of flowers, or drinking tea in the study, and living like a young master of an official eunuch and a wealthy businessman.

What's even more puzzling is that every day at noon, the hottest hour, Kong Shen must fetch a bucket of water from the hexagonal gossip well in the backyard with the coolest water.

"Kong Gongzi ......" Shi Zi always thought that Kong Shen must be the son of a certain family, and in order to avoid the family struggle, he came to this academy to do this idle job, "How many years have you been in this academy?"

"It's really not been calculated. Kong Shen was concentrating on watering the ginseng plant, and replied with or without a match, "It's been more than ten years." ”

Shi Zi was shocked when he heard this, this Kong Shen looked like he was only twenty years old, could it be that he stayed in this academy when he was babbling?

"Are you still comfortable here?" Kong Shen asked casually, but he couldn't help but think in his heart, since Fan Xiwen's kid passed away, this academy has become a mess, if he hadn't been maintaining it here, this house would have been able to herd sheep for the Jin people a long time ago.

"I heard that this academy was built under the auspices of Prime Minister Fan Zhongyan back then. Saying that, Shi Zi showed a look of fascination, all of them in their generation of scholars thought that Fan Zhongyan was regarded as a guide, and most of them were all impressed by the integrity of Wen Zhenggong.

"You said that little ...... Uh, no...... Fan Zhongyan...... "Kong Shen finally came back to his senses, and said in his heart, he almost leaked his mouth, Fan Zhongyan also called me Kong Gongzi back then, and I have seen a lot of good officials who ask for the people's lives, and I don't know what this kid in front of me is excited about."

"Wen Zhenggong annoyed the emperor because of his admonitions. Because of his straightforward personality, he was ostracized by other officials in the court, so he was demoted here and became a county guard. Kong Shen put down the flower hoe in his hand, raised his hand and gently flicked the dust on his pants, and sat down at the table beside him.

"Sit down," Kong Shen said, glancing at Shizi.

"Oh, thank you, sir. Shi Zi hurriedly sat down in fear, for some reason, he obviously looked much older than him, but in front of him, he felt an invisible pressure, a bit like the feeling when facing his father's elders, and in front of Kong Shen, this feeling was even stronger I don't know how many times.

"Gongzi Kong, you are young, you know a lot, I see that you record official documents, all the books are official books, that penmanship is the same as that of the Han Dynasty, I don't know who you are learning from?" Shizi said this, looking at each other expectantly, this may be able to find a great folk calligrapher!

"This ......" Kong Shen hesitated and didn't know what to say, this is not who he was taught by, he just turned into a human form and learned to write, he learned from a doctor who studied diagrams in the late Western Han Dynasty, what is that kid's name?

"You don't need to say it if it's inconvenient, hahaha......" Shizi smiled awkwardly, but said in his heart, isn't it just a lishu, don't you dare to tell me your name, I don't think it's a big deal.

Damn, I remember, that kid's name is Liu Xin, when I was looking for him to learn words, this kid was compiling a book called "The Classic of Mountains and Seas", and there were a lot of things that Lao Tzu told him. Wait, what does this kid's mocking expression mean in front of you?

"It's nothing, sir, you can go first. Kong Shen's implication is, hurry up and get out of Lao Tzu!

Shi Zi didn't know that he was wrong in what he said, so he the other party, so he also quit with interest.

Not long after he came to the academy, in order to be more familiar with the environment here, Shizi did not return home for the first few days, but asked someone to carry a message back, and in the evening, he spent the night in the cubicle of the library pavilion.

It's just been out of the bush for a few days, and the weather is still very hot, and it will rain from time to time. No, that night, as soon as Shi Zi finished reading and lay down, there was thunder in the distance, followed by a heavy rain.

"Whoa—" Shizi, who had just been a little sleepy in the cubicle, heard the sound of running water outside, at first he thought it was just the cause of the heavy rain, until he heard the sound of running water getting closer and closer to him, and he realized that something was wrong.

He got up and lit the lamp, and when he looked down, it was broken, and the ground was already flooded with water.

It's not good, it's leaking rain in the library!

Shizi was not familiar with the structure of this house, so he could only get out of bed immediately, brave the heavy rain and run to Kong Shen's study to ask what to do.

"Gongzi Kong, are you resting?" Shizi went in and found that the door outside the study was hidden, so he pushed the door in, but when he entered, he found that the candle on the table had long been extinguished.

Did Kong Gongzi already fall asleep? Shizi couldn't help but say to himself, he looked in again, and saw that the bedroom door there had a small seal open, revealing a dim light from the inside.

Shi Zi was curious, so he tiptoed over again and knocked lightly on the door.

"Gongzi Kong, have you rested?" Shi Zi asked with a look, but no one answered, he accidentally pushed the door open with a force in his hand.

The bed was empty, and the quilt was neatly folded, as if it had never been unfolded.

"With such a heavy rain, where did Kong Gongzi go?" Shizi couldn't help but muttered to himself, subconsciously watching in the room, and suddenly saw the source of the dim light.

I saw a chopstick-thick hemp rope hanging down from the beam of the house, and a huge gourd was tied at the bottom, and the upper end of the gourd was open, and it was here that the dim light came out.

Shi Zi subconsciously reached out to touch the mouth of the gourd, and when his hand approached, the whole person was sucked in with a "whoosh......

【Now • Longju】

When I left Dengzhou, it was almost midnight, and after a few more people tossed around, it was already midnight. At this time, the weather became colder and colder, and Mu Hibiscus and Shijing were really too cold to bear.

"Hey, surnamed Kong, you brought us here, let's not talk about how to go back, you have to find a place to rest first, Lao Tzu is about to freeze to death." Shi Jing's mouth turned a little purple from the cold, and he kept jumping on the spot as he spoke.

"Brother Kong, let's go find an inn, are you familiar with this place?" Mu Hibiscus leaned against Kong Shen's side, and gently grabbed his coat with both hands.

"It's familiar, I remember there were a lot of inns in that area. Kong Shen only relied on the memories of hundreds of years ago and walked in the southwest direction.

......

The group walked for about half an hour, and finally saw the crowd, which is located in the north, naturally not as prosperous as the Great Song Dynasty, and when they arrived, only a few inns were still lit with lights.

"Zhenquan Inn, it's been so long, it's still there. Kong Shen saw this signboard and felt quite kind. The brother and sister naturally didn't know that Kong Shen had been talking about this for a long time, but it was three or four hundred years.

"Shopkeeper Liu, I want three rooms. Kong Shen went in and talked to the boss, and looked at the interior of the inn again. Alas, with the protection of the Tang Dynasty back then, this inn was also prosperous, but now it has been stirred up by these barbarians, and it is gradually decaying.

"Okay, guest officer, you still know what my surname is, aren't you the first time you've come back?" The shopkeeper took out a booklet and registered it for the three of them, this person was burly, with big shoulders and round waist, with a golden man's feather, and he didn't look like a Han at all.

"yes, it's not the first time I've come back, but the last time I came back was a long time ago. Kong Shen looked at this person's dress, and his heart was sour, and he didn't know what to say. He still remembers that when he first came to this inn, the shopkeeper at that time was called Liu Zhenquan, who was an authentic Han man, although he was a trader, but his home was full of calligraphy and paintings, and he also sent his son to study, wearing a skirt and deep clothes, and learning the Four Books and Five Classics.

"Brother Kong, do you know the shopkeeper here, have you been here before?" Mu Hibiscus was really nervous, and now she had forgotten that Kong Shen had brought her here in an inexplicable way. Now I am curious about when Kong Shen came to Longzhou.

"Hey, it's been a long time, I can't remember clearly, let's rest tonight, I'll take you out for a walk tomorrow, aren't you going to Yunzhou next month to buy medicinal herbs, let's start from here, and we can get there next month." Kong Shen looked at the hibiscus leaning against him with a doting face, this untrained girl really looked like the person who lit herself back then.

Shi Jing had already come back to his senses at this time, and his heart was already full of questions at this moment.

Kong Shen, who are you?