Ancient Literati in the Scholars —— Thoughts on Reading The Scholars

A History of the Scholars vividly describes the ancient literati under the background of the imperial examination system. It is really an endless vicissitudes of life and an endless world. Mr. Wu Jingzi cut open the "fame" pursued by the world with his life. Scholars are in a variety of ways in front of the fame that the author Wu Jingzi regards as "tasteless". Some are successful in the imperial examination, some have never won fame, some are bent on being an official, some are obsessed with fame, some are committed to seeking wealth, some are absorbed in learning, and some are weak in fame and fortune. More importantly, a group of relatively independent scholars are free from the imperial examination system. It is a group of ordinary literati who can't get on the orthodox table. They entertain themselves and are self-sufficient and shine brilliantly. Generally speaking, there are six types of literati in the Confucian forest.

First, the type of success

Thousands of troops crossed the imperial examination of the wooden bridge, and a few people were fortunate enough to gain the fame of being a juren and a scholar and enter the upper class. For example, Yu Yude of Changshu County was admitted to the Jinshi at the age of 5, and was appointed as Dr. imperial academy of Nanjing. He was charitable and helped many literati, and his reputation spread far and wide. Another example is Zhou Jin, a private school teacher. After years of unemployment, it was difficult to make a living, so he had to follow his relatives to do business. He was depressed and spent money to visit Hiram's Hospital. He suddenly fell to the ground crying and refused to get up. Until several businessmen joined hands to contribute money, helped him donate a Guo-zi-jian diploma and sent him to take an examination of juren, and immediately stopped crying and began to talk and laugh. Later, as expected, he won the gold medal, lived a luxurious life, and was moved by compassion, supporting the old scholar Fan Jin. Fan Jin took the exam every year, missed every year, lived a hard life, and was ridiculed by his relatives. Once a high school juren was awarded, someone immediately sent a room, money and a maid. The reward for winning the prize was too rich, which directly led to Fan Jin's madness after hearing the good news, and he was awakened by the slap of the old father-in-law Hu Butcher. Fan Jin's mother was overjoyed. She probably died suddenly because of a heart attack or a cerebral hemorrhage. It was really "so happy".

second, climbing the dragon and attaching the phoenix type

under the social pattern of "scholar, agriculture, industry and commerce", the "scholar" represented by literati, based on dignity, needs expensive maintenance costs for their personal lives, which leads to the dependence of the literati as a whole, and the literati must be attached to power and wealth, otherwise there will be a crisis of survival, which will be ridiculed by the world and lose their dignity. For a scholar who failed to win a promotion or a scholarship, if his family was not rich, he would have to depend on powerful people to live a good life besides being a private school teacher. Kuang Chaoren was poor since childhood, and he liked reading. Because of the appreciation and admiration of the magistrate, he worshipped the magistrate as a teacher and was admitted to the scholar. Later, because the teacher was dismissed from office and lost his shadow, Kuang Chaoren went to the chief officer Pan Sanye, who specializes in malpractice for personal gain and money. Kuang Chaoren was a dutiful son, and his virtue was obvious. In Mr. Pan's place, he helped to do some illegal activities such as taking exams and forging official documents, and shared some stolen money. Third Master Pan really took care of Kuang Superman and helped him marry his wife. Later, Kuang Chaoren's teacher resumed his official position in Beijing and sent a book to Kuang Chaoren, asking him to go to the capital to pursue his future. Because of his attachment to the teacher, Kuang Chaoren concealed the fact that he was married and married the teacher's niece, while his original wife died in poverty. Kuang Chaoren has a bright future since he went to Beijing to join his teacher. He began to brag and show off everywhere, and he also alienated a group of literary friends. When Mr. Pan, who had helped him, was exposed, Mr. Pan hoped that Mr. Kuang could help him, but Mr. Kuang refused to take a look at Mr. Pan again for fear of being implicated, but Mr. Pan did not give up Mr. Kuang's superman, which finally saved his future.

Third, the down and out type

"Everything is inferior, only reading is high", but these kinds of knowledge are mainly borrowed from the "eight-part essay" said by the sage, which is of no great use except being an official, so scholars study hard at a cold window, and most of them are "powerless" and lack the ability to make a living. For those literati with poor families and no skills, if they are not funded, most of them are poor. Although there is the possibility of "becoming famous all over the world in one fell swoop", but the human feelings are warm and cold, after all, "no one has asked for ten years", even a scholar is just a poor scholar. As "The Scholars" said in the 55th chapter: "Rites and music articles are not paid attention to by those sages. On the source, but what is successful is talent, and what is frustrated is stupidity. With Li and Du's articles and Yan and Zeng's character, no one has asked you. " Before Fan Jin was promoted, the family was too poor to open the pot, leaving only one laying hen. My wife and mother were hungry for several days, and the old mother took Fan in to sell chickens in exchange for some food. As a result, Fan Jin couldn't even sell chickens, but only walked back and forth in the market with the chicken in her arms, and no one even asked. At the age of 2, Dad Ni was a scholar in the examination, and he has been a scholar for 37 years. "The bad thing is that after reading these dead books, he can't take them lightly, but he can't bear them heavily, and his son can't afford them, so he has to sell them to others' homes. In the end, he can only make a living by mending musical instruments. In order to solve the problem of making a living, some literati learn some miscellaneous studies such as measuring characters and fortune telling. Chen Hefu has a lot of research in this field, but he has also made friends with a group of upper-class literati, and his life is still passable. Chen Hefu's son was either a poet or a poet, but he couldn't make a living. He had to set up a stall to measure words, earning money to barely eat by himself, and his wife had to be raised by his father-in-law, which caused his father-in-law's dissatisfaction. Finally, he simply shaved his head and divorced his wife. "Since then, he has no wife, so he bought meat to eat, and when he was full, he sat on the table at Wende Bridge to measure words and read poems."

fourth, dull and pedantic

some scholars, after reading the book of sages, always remember the way of sages, but the world wants to live, but it can't always act according to the way of sages. A person who sticks to these feudal rituals and dogmas is hard to tolerate the secular world and is inevitably ridiculed by the world as pedantic. Wang Yuhui, who has been a scholar for thirty years, dreams of returning to the "era of rites and music" mentioned by Confucius all day, and is bent on writing several "immortal works" to "persuade fools". Wang Xiucai's son-in-law died of illness, and her daughter wants to be a "martyr" who died. Everyone objected, except Wang Xiucai, who "laughed" loudly and said, "This is a glorious achievement that can win the memorial arch and reputation of a" martyr ". The daughter began to hunger strike, and relatives cried to persuade her to put life first. Only Wang Xiucai encouraged her daughter to be martyred. After her daughter died of hunger strike, Wang Xiucai's wife cried her eyes out, and Wang Xiucai looked up at the sky and laughed: "Good death! Good death! " After her daughter starved to death, Wang Xiucai paid homage and immediately went back to the yamen to write a letter to commend her daughter as a "fierce woman". After two months, with the approval of the superior, the Martyrs' Temple was built, and countless people came to pay homage. However, human nature is not lost because of "the way of Confucius and Mencius". Although Wang Xiucai supported her daughter's decision rationally, she still couldn't restrain her inner sadness. In addition, her wife was heartbroken and hurt, so that she couldn't stay at home, so she had to go to other places to travel for fun.

five, free and easy

reading takes time, effort and money, so most of the readers come from rich families. Some literati gave up their efforts in the face of the cruel imperial examination, and turned from fame to learning, turning "studying hard at a cold window" into "indulging in mountains and rivers", "poetry and painting", "singing and dancing lightly", "drinking wine and talking happily" and "meeting friends with literature" The most typical one is Du Shaoqing, who was born in an official family. He is generous and doesn't like being an official. He is good at making friends with literati and is charitable. No matter who he is, he can get a lot of money from him. Even when I was in trouble, I pawned my family's things for friends to eat wine, and abruptly squandered my wealth. Du Shaoqing's generosity and profligacy have even become negative teaching materials for relatives and schools. Fortunately, he is famous enough to make ends meet by selling articles. In Du Shaoqing, we can see the author Wu Jingzi himself. For Du Shaoqing, burdened by wealth and ridiculed, perhaps only by squandering his property can he find the last peace of mind in that society, get rid of the shackles of clan and ethics and become a truly free literati. When Du Shaoqing finally ran out of money, all his contacts were pure literary friends, and there was no hypocrisy to deal with. Of course, extreme people like Du Shaoqing are rare after all. Yu Huaxuan, a scholar, lives in Wuhe County, which is hypocritical and materialistic. His great-grandfather was a minister of history, his grandfather was an academician, and his father was a satrap. Yu Xiucai has been a prodigy since he was a child. Wuhe county people are mercenary and full of ridicule for scholars who have not obtained fame and fortune. Yu Xiucai's father is an honest official, and he doesn't have any money. He scrimps and saves some money, does his own learning, cultivates his temperament, and makes all kinds of friends. Even some snobs, Yu Xiucai can cope with it, but also live comfortably.

Six, the street man

There was a great calligrapher named Ji Xianian, who was homeless and unemployed since childhood and lived in a temple all day. His calligraphy is self-contained, and the pens he uses are all worn-out bald pens. When someone asks him to write, he will fast for one day three days ago, grind ink for one day the next and write on the third day. As the saying goes, if he is unhappy, even if he is a high-ranking official, please don't move him. He will also scold: "I don't want your money, I don't want your power, and I don't borrow your light. How dare you ask me to write?" . If you earn money by writing, you can give it to poor people you don't know when you eat at home. On a snowy day, he wore a pair of rotten shoes to a friend's house and kicked the mud in his study. The friend said, "If you will write a word for me, I will buy you shoes." When he refused in his spare time, his friend hated him for being dirty, so he took out a pair of shoes and gave them to him. At that time, he was annoyed: "What's so important about your home! Can't I sit in your house with these shoes? I'm sitting in your house, and I'm flattering you I don't want your shoes! " Say that finish twist a head and went away. When you are in a good mood, sometimes you have to write to others and don't want their money.

There is also a tailor named Jing Yuan, who is good at playing the piano and writing, and likes to write poems. Being a tailor can bring home the bacon, and spend the rest of his time composing poems and playing the piano, entertaining himself. In his own words, "I don't covet people's wealth, I don't wait on people's color, I don't care if the sky doesn't accept it, and everything is up to me, but I'm not happy?" When you have time, you can also find an old friend, an old man named Yu, to play the piano. When birds hear it, they all live in the branches to eavesdrop. However, Jingyuan's heart is lonely after all, so that the old man can't help crying when he plays to the sadness and tactfulness and to the "deep place".

these six types of literati, to some extent, reflect the author's mental journey. Mr. Wu Jingzi went through the imperial examination in which he pursued fame when he was young. After failing in the examination, he refused to attach himself to others or make friends with dignitaries. He began to gather a group of frustrated literati and spend money like water to find happiness among like-minded friends. When I ran out of money and was down and out, I turned to the pursuit of individual inner peace and happiness, self-sufficiency, and self-entertainment, and returned to the mentality of "a strange man in the market". Only after I realized that "fame and wealth have no evidence, I always miss the time", I left a sigh that "three cups of turbid wine are drunk, and the water is flowing."