Liu Huai clearly saw this scholar holding a lantern in one hand and blocking his view with the other as his shoulders trembled slightly.
Before leaving, Sun Yin picked up the book that Song Keli had placed on the table and threw it to Li Jifu who was about to leave. He said angrily, "I'll lend you the book. Friendship is friendship, but you have to return it! The shortest is three years, the latest is five years. I'll count the days with my fingers. If you don't return it, I'll carry a bucket of dung to your door and pour it. It's up to you to believe it or not! "
"Don't be so wishy-washy. Get out of here!"
In the night, Li Jifu walked further and further away. Then he walked faster and faster as he strode forward.
In reality, for some reason, this scholar had been borrowing money from his colleagues recently. However, he gritted his teeth and did not ask for Sun Yin's help. It was said that his family had sent a letter to the capital and urgently needed a large sum of money to get through this difficult time. However, most of Li Jifu's family naively thought that Li Jifu, who had brought honor to his ancestors, was fated to have a meteoric rise in Jing. They did not know that it was not easy to climb up the ranks of Great Peace City's officialdom. If Li Jifu had not been the number one in the first rank and had only been a slightly higher ranking Jinshi, perhaps his days would be much better than now. At the very least, he would have more money and more friends. Taking a step back, even if it was a second-class Grand Scholar who was sent out to other places, or a fellow Grand Scholar who was lucky enough to fill the vacancy immediately, the good ones would be the officials who ruled over a region. As for the bad ones, it would be difficult for them to remain uncorrupted. However, Li Jifu was the top scholar and had no family background. Moreover, there were no seniors in the bureaucracy to help him. How could Li Jifu become a dragon in a storm? He should have been suppressed by the seniors in the capital. Therefore, Sun Yin's unintentional words of "suffering" hit the nail on the head.
However, no matter how difficult it was, Li Jifu was still the top scholar. As long as there were not too many twists and turns in his future career, it would be smoother and smoother. Not to mention an extremely high official, with the generosity of the previous emperors of the Liyang Dynasty, there had never been a top scholar who died halfway. At the very least, he had managed to become a fourth rank official.
In that case, after three to five years, Li Jifu would definitely be able to fork out the money for a printed book.
If Li Jifu secretly sold the book, even if he sold it cheaply, he would still be able to get two hundred taels of silver. For Li Jifu's family, this was a huge hurdle. As long as they had this amount of silver, they would definitely be able to cross it.
Mad scholar Sun Yin. Since he was able to become the best scholar in Li Yang, how could he be someone who only knew how to read? Was he really ignorant of the ways of the world?
It was impossible.
Liu Huai returned to the house with mixed feelings. Looking at Sun Yin who was flipping through a book with one leg crossed over the other, Liu Huai said softly, "Even though I know it's unnecessary, I still want to thank you on behalf of Brother Li."
Sun Yin didn't even turn his head as he said indifferently, "You're thanking me on his behalf? Heh, be careful that the blockhead surnamed Li doesn't care about your feelings in the future. "
Liu Huai said calmly, "Brother Li and I are friends of gentlemen. Although the taste is not as good as wine, wine can quench one's cravings and water can quench one's thirst. I don't wish to have any dealings with Brother Li. Since that's the case … "
Sun Yin interrupted Liu Huai's words, "Wrong, very wrong. Do you know why in history, it seems that in the fierce political struggles of the past dynasties, the true gentlemen always lose miserably, while the hypocrites can win again and again?"
Liu Huai was about to speak when he was interrupted by Sun Yin again. This mad scholar stared at the oil lamp and said tirelessly, "You don't know. Even if you think you know now, it's still wrong. Gentlemen like to call themselves friends and not party. The true gentlemen foolishly take it as a standard and really do so. You have to know that on the way to the top, the biggest taboo is to appear to be full of friends, but in reality, be alone and without help. When in trouble, especially when the emperor is annoyed, the assistance of the gentlemen beside you will often backfire. Why? Because they don't know who the biggest donkey in the world is. It's actually the hypocrites who are willing to throw away their face and the true villains who have the guts to bet all their belongings on the gambling table to win big with a small amount that can help turn danger into safety. Speaking of which, don't think that the hypocrites and the true villains are empty scholars. Let me tell you, whether a scholar's moral conduct is noble and unsullied or not, it has a certain relationship with how many books they have read and how much fame they have obtained, but it definitely has nothing to do with it. Let me ask you, Song Keli's father and grandfather, the 'Two Masters of the Song Family' who enjoyed fame overseas during Yonghui's reign, This Old Man Song, how is his handwriting? He's a first-class master. Who knows, maybe several hundred years later, there will still be countless scholars painstakingly copying and practicing. Is Little Master Song's writing good? Of course it can't be better. There's nothing he can't master in poetry, song, and prose alone. I'm guessing that a thousand years later, when there's a ranking of the top ten masters of prose, Song Keli's father will still have a place. But if this father and son pair can't maintain their integrity in their later years and ultimately lose their reputation, it's only because the old Grand Secretary Zhang Julu is dissatisfied with their position as the overlord of the literary world. If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext. Do you, Liu Huai, really believe it? I, Sun Yin, don't believe it, or to be more accurate, I only believe half of it. This matter needs to be discussed in depth, broken down into pieces, you'll have to listen to me until daybreak, because it involves too many secrets of the imperial court. The trend of the imperial examination in Liyang, the rise and fall of the literary vein in the world, the direction of public opinion in Jiangnan, the serious problems of the two departments of civil service and etiquette, and so on and so forth. I reckon you'll have a headache just listening to it. "
Liu Huai stood in place, dumbstruck.
Sun Yin was still crossing his legs, swaying back and forth. He chuckled and said, "As long as you enter the imperial court, there won't be many people who truly share the same ideals, right? But you have to remember one thing: whether you're an official in the capital or a local government, the number of chairs in the officialdom is fixed. Once you sit down, there will definitely be a few people missing. The feud in the officialdom is far greater than in the jianghu. This famous saying was said by a certain great writer … Yes, it was me, Sun Yin. When your position is high enough, there will be fewer and fewer chairs. It's even more so. Scholars with great ambitions, if they don't lose their original aspirations in the ups and downs of the officialdom, will only become more and more painful. This is because if you want to let go of your hands and feet to fulfill your ambitions, you need to have a large group of colleagues and subordinates to work with you. You have to take care of all aspects of interests. To give a simple example, if an opponent in the officialdom splashes dirty water on you, even if the Emperor doesn't care, what if half of the capital follows suit and speaks ill of you? Or perhaps half of the scholarly circles blindly follow suit? What's even more frightening is that when the time comes, even the common people will follow suit and scold you. What will you do? Scold back? You're a gentleman who's well-read and virtuous books, and you're already an official of the imperial court. If you scold someone in front of them, you'll lose all decorum. Furthermore, you'll also ruin the Emperor's impression of you. What do you need to do? Do you want to form a clique or not? Do you want to build a Zhang Hut? Do you want to be the leader of the Green Party? Liu Huai, ask yourself honestly. I can't give you an answer. I just want to tell you that if you want the state affairs to be smooth and the politics to be clear, you will inevitably encounter all kinds of drawbacks that will eventually block the path of the court. And the drawbacks come from the corrupt government. It may also be that the good government is corrupted by the evil, or it may even be that the officials who don't do anything are indifferent. People who talk empty talk are the most carefree. People who do things are the most scolded. The world is bustling with activity, nothing more than profit and gain. Finally, I'll tell you a sad truth. The reason why Zhang Julu sought his own death was because he saw that the sons of the aristocratic families who control the imperial court are used to wealth. No matter how much they value money, if they have the same temperament and character, the former will definitely not be as good as the son of the aristocratic family who rose to the top. I'm not saying that everyone is like this, but it's definitely not a small number. Let's ask the latter, after suddenly becoming rich, even if he can keep his hands clean, will there be people in his family who will ask for too much? Will they use their power to bully others in the local area? Will they become a tyrant who runs amok in the local area? Of all virtues, filial piety is the most important. After becoming an official, how many people dare not recognize their unbenevolent and righteous parents? Brothers are friendly and respectful. The elder brother has helped you all the way to become a talent. If he says he wants to marry a wife and take in a concubine, and wants thousands of acres of fertile land, will you agree? If the husband and wife treat each other with respect, if the wife's family member commits crimes and is exposed, do you dare to let his head roll on the ground? Are you willing to see the wife who shares the same bed as you wash her face with tears every day? You've been studying with the same hometown for many years. If you're rich and he's not famous, he's begging for a small official position. If he's really talented, but his fate is not good, how will you deal with it? If you're rich and prosperous together, and your children marry into a family, but in the future he's corrupt and harms the country, and comes to you to give him a way out, his close friends and dozens of family members, including the scholar you gave his courtesy name to, and the young child who recognized you as his god-grandfather, but all of them are hanging by a thread. What will you do? "
Sun Yin finally stopped talking. Probably because his mouth was dry from talking, he began to rummage through the chests and cabinets to find wine to drink.
Liu Huai was dumbfounded and sweated profusely.
Sun Yin finally found a pot of Green Ant Wine. He raised his head and drank to his heart's content. Then he glanced at Liu Huai and said with a smile, "I'm not afraid of the rich being unbenevolent. If those guys die, so be it. If the tall building collapses, so be it. I, Sun Yin, may even take the initiative to find trouble with them. But the words' poor and evil ',' poor people have low aspirations', are you afraid? I, Sun Yin, am afraid! He, Zhang Julu, is even more afraid! "
Liu Huai did not move or say a word.
Sun Yin walked up to him and waved his arm in front of Liu Huai's eyes. "What's wrong? Scared silly?"
Liu Huai's eyes were red and there were faint tears.
Sun Yin passed the wine pot to the Beiliang scholar and joked, "Don't be afraid. Drink to calm your nerves."
Liu Huai shook his head and smiled bitterly. "I'd better not drink. I've never drunk wine before."
Sun Yin rolled his eyes and withdrew his hand. He went to sit on the threshold and said with a cheeky smile, "Alright, then I'll enjoy the good fortune alone."
Liu Huai sat quietly beside him.
In early spring, when the cold and snow melted, it was the coldest to the bones.
Sun Yin said to himself, "Let's take ten thousand steps back and say that a person who has no relatives or friends, who has no ties, and who finally has a high position one day, is he willing to do small good things, and is he afraid of doing small evil things? In any case, I, Sun Yin, am not willing to do these two things, but I'm also not afraid of doing them. "
Liu Huai sighed.
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