Where does the phrase "study hard, but be an official" come from?

"Never study, but don't be an official" comes from the drama "The Case of My Beauty".

"Don't be an official if you study." This is a joke, and the upper and lower sentences are "teach your son to learn to read books, and you must not be an official if you study hard." It's from a song by Bao Zheng in the drama "The Case of My Beauty" (Qin Xianglian). The main idea of the plot is: Chen Shimei, a native of Huguang Jingxiang in Song Dynasty, went to Beijing to take the exam and won the top prize, so he abandoned his wife and children and was recruited as a Xu. After his first wife, Qin Xianglian, sent her parents away at home, she took her children and daughters to the capital Bianjing to find a husband. However, Chen Shimei, who was pursuing fame and fortune, refused to recognize his feelings, and killed his heart to cover up his guilt. He even ordered Han Qi to kill Qin Xianglian and his children, and later Han Qi sacrificed her life for justice. Yin Bao Zheng, a great scholar of Longtuge in the Song Dynasty and Kaifeng Prefecture, enforced the law impartially after accepting Qin Xianglian's lawsuit, which made people angry. However, under the shamelessly denial of Master Xu, the interference of Guo Tai and Huang Gu and others, Bao Zheng, who is honest and clean, was in a dilemma in the face of power. While sighing the darkness of officialdom, he had the intention of making concessions to the imperial power in desperation, even if his followers took out three hundred and twenty sycees of salary, they wanted to make peace with this matter, and to muddle through the customs. In current words, it was called "spending money to buy stability". Bao Zheng sang affectionately to Qin Xianglian: "This is three hundred and twenty sycees. Take it home to spend the cold and hunger. Teach your son Nanxue to read books. Don't be an official if you study. " Then he turned to Qin Xianglian's two sons and daughters, Brother Dong and Sister Chun, and sang, "Your father turned to high officials and made your family unhappy ..." Bao Zheng's original intention is to give Qin Xianglian some compensation with money, even if the matter is over. Three hundred ambiguity is not a small sum of money. Bao Zheng is an upright official. This three hundred and twenty sycee is of course his own, and he told Qin Xianglian's children, Brother Chun and Sister Dong, to "study hard and make progress every day", so don't be an official when they learned it. As everyone knows, Qin Xianglian was extremely ungrateful, and he sang helplessly with silver in his hand: "Xiang Lian will not shed tears in the next class, and he will sell his husband for three hundred and twenty pieces of silver, and he will never cry out for his death from now on. Some people say that Bao Gong is tough, but it turns out that officials are involved in protecting each other ... "

According to some modern people's ideas, put yourself in Bao Zheng's shoes. Facing the powerful alliance of imperial power, such as Tai Guo, Princess, Xu Ma, etc., it is reasonable that he was disheartened to retire. However, at the instigation of Qin Xianglian, Bao Zheng finally summoned up the courage to fight, risked being dismissed from office and losing his life, strictly observed the law and discipline, and angered Chen Shimei with the courage to eliminate all evils.

under the feudal system, officials must be ten officials and nine greedy, and most of them are unkind to officials. Bao Zheng, who lives among them, knows this very well, so Bao Zheng, who is honest and upright, sincerely spits out the warning truth of "Teach your son to study and be an official" to Qin Xianglian.