In Cao Cao's view, Yuan Shao had some shortcomings, such as being suspicious of others and not liking his mind to be understood too clearly.
Therefore, although Cao Cao saw through Yuan Shao's thoughts early on, he could only pretend not to see through it against his will.
In his early years, he followed the family's request and approached Yuan Shao, trying to take the route of understanding Yuan Shao's intention and doing things for him, but the effect was not good. Later, under the guidance of the family elders, Cao Cao began to learn to hide his clumsiness, so he successfully stood under Yuan Shao. Steady footing.
Yuan Shao was inferior to Yuan Ji and Yuan Shu in terms of status, and could not win the support of many high-quality resources. For this reason, although Cao Cao was born in a eunuch family, Yuan Shao somewhat looked down on Cao Cao's origin, but he could not ignore the political energy of the Cao family in the court.
Therefore, Yuan Shao, the concubine who was born in the Yuan family with a flexible moral bottom line, chose to accept Cao Cao.
Although Cao Cao's identity is mostly criticized by people around Yuan Shao in daily interactions, and Yuan Shao himself is often ridiculed. Only a few people such as Zhang Miao are friendly to him, but there is one thing that Cao Cao admires about Yuan Shao.
It is the spirit that remains high despite adversity.
Everyone has their own adversity, and every level of society also has its own chain of contempt.
Cao Cao is at the bottom of the contempt chain of the upper class, while Yuan Shao is at the bottom of the contempt chain of the top society.
There are not many people who can despise Yuan Shao, but there are still some.
Cao Cao had never seen Yuan Shao's experience in the Yuan family when he was a child, but he had heard people talk about it.
It is true that Cao Cao was despised by others, but Yuan Shao was also despised by others. Cao Cao, who knew that his status was unpopular when he was young, was surprised to find that Yuan Shao, whom he envied so much, was also despised by others. He lived an unhappy life and felt really balanced in his heart. Quite a few.
So Cao Cao decided to follow his family's wishes, join Yuan Shao's family, follow Yuan Shao, become his younger brother, endure criticism, and wait for the situation to change.
Although Yuan Shao's status in the Yuan family is not high, he has the qualifications and possibility to become the third prince after all. Follow Yuan Shao, and when he suddenly breaks out and rockets up one day, he, Cao Mengde, will naturally ascend to heaven and gain the status and power he dreams of.
Later, Cao Cao left Yuan Mansion. On the way home, it started to rain lightly.
Opening the curtain and looking at the falling rain outside, Cao Cao suddenly remembered Liu Bei's poem for some reason.
[The light rain on the sky street is as moist as crisp, the color of grass looks far away but there is no grass up close. The best thing about spring is that it is better than the smoke and willows all over the imperial capital. 】
What a beautiful artistic conception, what a beautiful poem.
Why could that person write such romantic and magnificent poems, and why could he arrange and combine the words in such a beautiful and admirable way?
I heard that this man came from a rough background and made a living by weaving mats and selling shoes when he was young. How did he come from such an insignificant background and make a comeback?
Cao Cao couldn't figure this out, but he wanted to know.
A few days later, taking advantage of the most beautiful spring scenery, Cao Cao personally invited Liu Bei and his family to the Sunset Pavilion outside Luoyang City for an outing.
This was a very formal invitation. Cao Cao brought his wife, Mrs. Ding, and his eldest son, Cao Ang, and asked Liu Bei to bring his wife, Han Ning. The two families chose a beautiful place in the Sunset Pavilion, sat on the ground, set up a rack and began to barbecue. .
This form of barbecue is similar to the modern BBQ form that Liu Bei is familiar with.
There is an iron plate with a charcoal fire burning underneath. The raw meat is cut into small pieces or slices. The pieces are grilled on the iron plate one by one, and then eaten with dipping sauces.
Or throw the meat into an iron plate, stir-fry it in a stir-fry manner, then sprinkle with salt and other spices, and wait until the meat is fully cooked before eating it.
This form of barbecue made Liu Bei feel very familiar, although he did not come into contact with this kind of barbecue for the first time until he was fourteen years old.
Because he was very poor before and struggled to make ends meet with his mother, high-end cuisine like barbecue was simply not something he could afford, let alone spices that were as expensive as gold.
Even though he later became a famous local landowner, he was not given the freedom to barbecue, because the spices that could make the barbecue less fishy and increase the aroma were really difficult to come by.
However, this barbecue was hosted by Cao Cao. Cao Cao provided everything, including spices, and freedom of barbecue was not a problem at all in Cao Cao's eyes.
He has had most of the freedoms in the world since he was born.
It would be strange if he got the few remaining freedoms.
Looking at Cao Cao's skillful operation techniques and his unconcerned use of spices, Liu Bei knew the gap between a local tycoon like him and a powerful man like Cao Cao who had been an official for generations.
When you think about Cao Cao being treated like a bug by the old Yue family, it becomes even more difficult to imagine how particular the aristocratic life of Yuan Shao and others is.
The gap is really a gap.
A generation rose up to study politics and military affairs.
The second generation connects with industry and science.
It takes three generations to relax and study music and art.
It takes at least three generations of accumulation before a family can break through the realm of nouveau riche from a rough family and evolve into a noble family.
Yuan Shao is already the fifth generation after the Yuan family officially became prosperous, not counting the accumulation in the previous period of ordinary nobles.
And Cao Cao happened to be the third generation of the Cao family after they became famous, so he obviously fell behind.
Where is this Mr. Liu who comes from out of town to beg for food in Luoyang?
Without a doubt, the first generation.
It seems that this life has nothing to do with aristocratic temperament, this life has nothing to do with nobility and elegance, and this life will never touch that realm.
What a pity, hahahahaha...he~tui!
Cao Cao was very proud. Since he was the host, he naturally took charge of the cooking. He showed off his barbecue skills. Liu Bei's mouth was filled with delicious barbecue, and Han Ning also ate a lot, which was quite enjoyable.
After the meal, Han Ning, who was very maternal, looked at Cao Ang, who was just over three years old and was very cute, and was unwilling to let go, so he and Mrs. Ding got together to play with Cao Ang, who was like a small toy.
Liu Bei and Cao Cao looked at this scene with smiles and sat chatting.
"This child has a hard life. Just after he was born, Cao's concubine died of dystocia. Cao was busy with official duties and had no time to raise him, so she could only leave him to the royal family to raise him. She had not had any income for many years and was always in a difficult situation. Jia, it’s quite appropriate to have this child.”
Cao Cao was full of wine and food. He leaned his upper body on the table and secretly looked at the mother and son, with a hint of tenderness in his eyes unconsciously.
"It's good. We men are working hard outside, so we can't treat our families badly. After all, everyone wants to have children and grandchildren."
Liu Bei smiled and took a piece of meat to his mouth, chewing it slowly, enjoying the delicious taste of the barbecue.
Cao Cao turned his head and stared at Liu Bei.
"Xuande, I have a question that I really want to ask you."
"Excuse me."
"Does Xuande know Cao Zhi's background?"
"Well, of course I do."
"Then Xuande doesn't seem to care at all?"
"Um?"
Liu Bei blinked and asked with a smile, "Why should I care?"
"Xuande doesn't care?"
Cao Cao was a little surprised: "Is Xuande a scholar, or a disciple of Lu Gong, who is famous in Luoyang, but he doesn't care about Cao Cao's background?"
"What does Meng De mean by this? What is Meng De's background and what is his relationship with Bei?"
Liu Bei smiled and pointed at the table of barbecue: "Will this affect you and me eating meat at the same table?"
"Of course you can, but Xuande seems to be completely different from ordinary people."
Cao Cao leaned forward and looked at Liu Bei carefully: "Since Cao Cao saw Xuande for the first time, he had a strange feeling, a feeling that he had never had before. When all the scholars saw Cao Cao, they knew his origin. My future reactions will be different from Xuande’s, completely different.”
Liu Bei immediately understood what Cao Cao meant.
Could this guy be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
Do you get pleasure from being looked down upon?
So it's rare to meet a scholar who doesn't mind his family background, so he feels uncomfortable all over?
"Meng De's words are a little hard to understand."
"Then make it clearer."
Cao Cao seemed to want to know this very much and said to Liu Bei: "Cao was born in a eunuch family. After knowing this, all the scholars treated Cao with cold eyebrows and some even insulted him. However, Xuande did not do this. The attitude, that was it from the beginning, was fucking weird.”
Liu Bei suddenly couldn't laugh or cry.
"Meng De, you are just from a poor family in a border area. You were poor when you were young. You even had to weave mats and sell shoes to make ends meet. How do you have the right to look down on others?"
"Does Xuande know how envious Cao is of Xuande's innocent background?"
Cao Cao sighed with emotion: "Being from a eunuch family, Cao Cao suffered a lot and was looked down upon when he was young. Although the family was high-ranking officials, a mere country official could speak without pretense, just because he was a scholar. People, and Cao is the queen of eunuchs."
Liu Bei was quite emotional.
"Has Mengde suffered a lot of misunderstandings?"
Cao Cao nodded.
"Of course, I've almost gotten used to it since I was little..."
"Then Yuan Benchu..."
Cao Cao knew what Liu Bei meant and smiled.
"Although Benchu is a scholar, he is a bastard in the family, so... the more prestigious the family, the stricter the rules. As a bastard, Benchu's journey is not easy."
Liu Bei also understood what Cao Cao meant.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that Yuan Shao can withstand blows better than Yuan Shu, is more tolerant, and has a slightly higher level in life.
Stringed together.
Liu Bei felt that many things that were difficult to understand in the past could be understood.
However, Cao Cao's question obviously has not been answered.
"Xuande hasn't told Cao yet, why does Xuande, as a scholar, have no prejudice against Cao?"
Liu Bei cannot say that he comes from an era that experienced liberation and revolution. The turmoil of that era swept away all the stale atmosphere of thousands of years.
With infinite nostalgia for that era, he thought about it and gave his own answer.
"If you don't think that being a scholar means you are superior to others, you can look down on all living beings from a high place, and you can treat people as ants, bugs, cows and horses at will. You don't see them as human beings, and you even feel uncomfortable being in the same room with them. This is not a scholar. The proper conduct.”
Cao Cao was greatly surprised.
"Xuande's remarks have never been heard by Cao."
Liu Bei sighed.
"That's how it is. They all have the same body, one nose, two eyes, one mouth and two ears. Who is not a human being? Why should we force people to treat people as non-human beings? Who is not clean after taking a bath? Put on a new one Who doesn’t have smart clothes?
They think that farmers and craftsmen who do menial and heavy work are dirty, they think that actors and musicians are humble, and they feel that they are superior, but they think that it is not farmers and craftsmen who are dirty, nor musicians and dancers, but those who are dirty and low. human heart. "
