"...disrespect, disrespect."
Faced with the politeness of the impressive young county magistrate in front of him, Yuan Xiangshan nodded while stroking his beard, his expression softening slightly.
He replied equally politely:
"I've heard of you. Mr. Su and Mrs. Su have praised you in front of me. Dalang also praised you a few days ago, saying that you have met a good teacher and friend... but that's all."
Yuan Xiangshan shook his head, said nothing more, and glanced at Ouyang Rong very obviously.
As if to give the younger generation face, some words were left unsaid and he was allowed to go back and figure it out for himself.
Ouyang Rong seemed not to notice, he nodded without blushing:
"I don't dare to take it seriously. I don't dare to take it seriously. It's Dalang and the others who have praised me. Old gentleman, you don't have to take it completely seriously."
"..."
Which eye sees me seriously?
Yuan Xiangshan couldn't help but take another look at Ouyang Rong, and said directly:
"There are some things that I, as an old-timer, don't know whether to say or not..."
When Ouyang Rong heard this hand gesture, he turned his head and looked at Su Dalang, who was bending down to serve tea with respect to Yuan Xiangshan who was sitting next to him.
The latter shook his head at him with apologetic eyes.
As the two exchanged glances, Yuan Xiangshan took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, and continued with a straight face:
"Let's talk about it. It's easy for young people like you to say that you are relying on your old age. But if you don't talk about it, it will harm you again. We seniors will not be happy in our hearts. We can't just watch you juniors take detours, right?"
Ouyang Rongzheng turned around, shook his head sincerely at Yuan Xiangshan, who was about to start singing, and said:
"You shouldn't talk about it. Old gentleman, you should drink more tea and save your words for teaching and educating people in the classroom."
Yuan Xiangshan frowned and waved his old hand:
"It's okay. Dalang happens to be here now. Let's give a good lecture. It can also be regarded as an extracurricular teaching and education."
The old man sighed:
"Actually, if it were an outsider, I wouldn't want to talk about it, but since Da Lang treats you as a good friend, I naturally have to fulfill some of my responsibilities as an elder."
Ouyang Rong couldn't help but interjected: "Actually, it's okay for the old gentleman to treat me as an outsider. It's quite good."
Su Dalang advised: "Teacher, let's go back..."
Unfortunately, I don’t know whether I didn’t hear it or why, but these words did not interrupt Yuan Xiangshan’s earnest singing:
"I have heard of your deeds. In the imperial court of the capital city, you were forthright in your admonitions and angered the Holy Emperor. You were so unyielding that scholars from both north and south praised you and called you a good man and a true gentleman.
"This old man appreciates this very much. Although there may be some young people's impulsiveness in it, this style of speaking out and admonishing ministers does not disgrace the senior officials of your Yushitai.
"Well, I'm reminded of the past when I was still in the Court of Ceremonies and I dared to speak out... You still have some of the demeanor of the old man."
Yuan Xiangshan nodded slightly, changed the subject, and said with a serious face:
"But now, are you disheartened by being demoted from Beijing or something? Are you a little lax? Let's not mention the matter of leading Da Lang to evil for the time being, and let's talk about your job.
"What you did in Longcheng County, those large-scale water conservancy projects, I have heard about it from people in the government. At that time, I thought you did a good job in disaster relief and flood control, and you were working hard for the people.
"But two days ago, I went out to a bookstore to buy books. Guess what, I saw beggars and people begging along the street. Is this how you provide relief?
"Before the food and clothing problem of the people of this county has been solved, we turn to water control and rush to mobilize manpower and material resources to build water conservancy projects. Is this putting the cart before the horse? Well, as a county official, how can you be so negligent?"
There were only two "dong dong" sounds, and Yuan Xiangshan's crutches hit the ground. His face covered with age spots showed a sigh of regret, and he was sternly alert.
Behind the water pavilion, Yan Liulang, who was bored and was listening, thought it was just Su Dalang who was unlucky enough to find a "master" who relied on his elders and acted like an old man. This 80-year-old man was just babbling about being a teacher, but he didn't expect that this old Mr. Yuan actually said This statement.
I'm not afraid of you talking nonsense, I'm afraid of being nosy and pointing fingers.
Yan Liulang was speechless and quickly looked at the young county magistrate in front of him.
Seeing that the back of his Ming Mansion was silent at this moment, his sleeves stood quietly without saying a word.
Yan Liulang secretly thought something was wrong.
On the other side, Su Dalang saw his friend's face and quickly turned around to persuade him:
"Teacher, stop talking. We are laymen after all. Lianghan..."
Yuan Xiangshan shook his head and interrupted:
"It may not sound nice, but telling the truth is for his own good."
The old man raised his hand to stroke his long beard and looked at the pond outside the waterside pavilion. His face was filled with sadness and he sighed:
"Moreover, I saw the scene of people begging two days ago. I was deeply moved. I didn't want to go to the book store anymore. I returned halfway and wrote a parallel essay "Preface to the Disaster People".
"I originally thought of using it to teach Da Lang and let him study it. What a coincidence. Today, you, the magistrate of Longcheng County, are here, and you can be regarded as the rightful owner. I don't mean to offend my parents. It's just a shabby building. You can refer to it. one time."
After Yuan Xiangshan finished stroking his beard, he turned around and ordered:
"Dalang, go and take out my teacher's "Preface to the Disasters" and give it to the county magistrate to have a look and correct it."
Su Dalang looked embarrassed and did not move.
The book boy on the side received Yuan Xiangshan's look and turned around to get a scroll.
The waterside pavilion outside the Juxian Garden seems to have often been used as a place for Su Dalang to give lectures and study. There are pens, inks, papers, inkstones and other calligraphy treasures on the stone table. Several bookboys quickly tidied them up, cleared the space, and laid the scrolls flat in the center of the waterside pavilion. on the stone table.
Parallel prose, the whole text is mainly composed of two sentences, pays attention to neat antitheses and sonorous rhythm, and pays attention to decoration and allusion in rhetoric.
It is a very popular literary style in the current literary world. In fact, it has been popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties before Wei Zhou and Li Qian. Even the imperial examination that Ouyang Rong participated in originally required writing corresponding essays to be selected as a scholar.
Inside the water pavilion, when he saw his disciple Su Dalang's face turned red, Yuan Xiangshan waved his sleeves and added with a righteous look:
"I'm just a straight-laced person. There are some things I don't like to say, but I do them for the sake of the people and the good of the county government. I hope the county magistrate won't take offense."
"Of course I won't be surprised."
Ouyang Rong, who had been silent since Yuan Xiangshan raised his opinion, suddenly spoke.
Yuan Xiangshan nodded with a satisfied expression, glanced at Su Dalang who was stunned next to him, and opened his mouth to say a few words.
Ouyang Rong said without stopping:
"But I'm also a straight person, and I don't like to say anything out loud, but it's all for the good of the old man. I'll just say a few words, and I hope the old man won't take offense."
Everyone was stunned, and Yuan Xiangshan also frowned, "What do you want to say..."
Ouyang Rong asked curiously:
"How old did the old man get married?"
"Why ask this?"
"Old-timers just answer."
"When I was fourteen, my father decided on the marriage."
“Then what were the old-timers doing when they were twenty-three or fourteen years old?”
Yuan Xiangshan sounded quite proud: "Humph, I have already been admitted to the high school and am waiting to be elected as an official. Two years later, I entered the Ministry of Rites as an official."
"When I was waiting for the selection of officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, when I was twenty-three or four years old, I was hanging out in Luoyang Shilin, occasionally calling friends, treating close friends, and going to brothels and restaurants to have fun and get drunk, and write and write...
"When I was preparing for the exam in Luoyang before, all the senior Jinshi students I saw were like this. Are the seniors also like this?"
"It's not the same. They're not as debauched as you young people nowadays... No, why are you asking?"
Ouyang Rong asked calmly:
"Then do you know how old Dalang is now?"
"Twenty-four years old..."
Yuan Xiangshan paused for a moment, but without waiting for his reaction, Ouyang Rong pointed directly at Su Dalang, and then pointed in the direction of the Juxian Garden study room behind him and said loudly:
"Senior, please take a closer look at the life of the twenty-four-year-old Dalang, who has already reached his prime age.
"Not to mention whether we drank some health tea when we went out this time. The old man kept saying it was for Dalang's good, but he never took into account Dalang's situation.
"You were married and started a family at the age of fourteen, so you don't have to worry about being energetic. At the age of twenty-three or four, you passed the imperial examination and enjoyed the youth of the city of God. But as for Da Lang, just when he was full of energy, he was locked up all day long. In this deep courtyard, there are mountains of books and seas of books in front of you. You stay up late at night and study hard. During the day, you have a full schedule of homework. However, the young and black-haired people are faced with white-headed old Confucians.
"For a month, even half-day vacation has been usurped by the teacher. Have seniors ever considered Dalang's feelings?"
In the pavilion on the terrace, the young man's words were sonorous and powerful. The elder man of the Su family standing beside him stood stunned, while the white-haired old man with a cane had a blank expression on his face. He was choked and speechless and hurriedly defended:
"This old man is doing it for his own good..."
"Don't persuade others to be kind without going through their suffering." Ouyang Rong took a step forward and interrupted:
"I don't expect seniors to feel the same way, but I can just use the majesty of my teacher to suppress Dalang's nature, and in the name of Dalang's parents' expectations, do the greenhouse flower cultivation thing, isn't it too selfish?!"
"You...you...I haven't..."
"What am I? What the old man has done before is not like this. The so-called doing things for me and the people of Dragon City is also the same."
Ouyang Rong didn't even raise his eyelids:
"The old man just said that he had a good impression of me because of other people's comments about me. Later, he became disappointed with me because he so-called witnessed a beggar begging for money on the street. He even wrote about me halfway home because of his feelings. A masterpiece of criticism...
"Oh, did the old man ever ask the beggars on the street about their origins?
“Obviously, the old-timers didn’t, and the old-timers didn’t know that these beggars actually came from other disaster-stricken counties!
“It is precisely because the people of Longcheng County, which is also a disaster-stricken county, are living well and enjoying a good reputation that it attracts victims from several surrounding counties to come in an endless stream.
"Old seniors don't know that these victims who come every day will be sent to the disaster relief camps on the outskirts of the city before sunset.
"Even the old-timers don't even know how many disaster relief camps there are outside the city, and how much food these disaster relief camps consume just by distributing free rice every day. They don't even know, or they don't care, or don't care.
“Old seniors only care about what they feel after just one look outside, and whether the masterpieces they write when they go home have good syntax and harmonious pronunciation.
"Well, seeing is believing. Should we regard it as reality if we only see the appearance? Then this is no different from the blind man touching the elephant. It is just that he has no eyesight. It is not even as good as the blind man touching the elephant. At least the latter knows to experience it personally. It's just a partial generalization, and the old-timers can't even get the point right.
"Is this what the old master did, Master Da Lang?"
Ouyang Rong chuckled lightly. He didn't know when he got up, but he had already walked to the stone table. While talking, he lowered his eyes and read the so-called "Preface to the Disaster People" on the table.
"Junior, you..." Yuan Xiangshan stood up unsteadily, leaning on his crutches, his lips trembling.
The young county magistrate shook his head and said:
"Old seniors are used to being blind, standing from a superior perspective, ignoring the facts, talking, and making long speeches. I am not used to this. I have to confirm something repeatedly before saying something.
"It was the same when I was reluctant to talk just now and wanted to carefully identify someone's quality. It's the same now when I'm appreciating this senior's masterpiece that was inspired by his feelings."
As he spoke, Ouyang Rong pointed his index finger downward at the parallel prose on the table. With a sincere look on his face, he imitated what someone had just said and said:
"It may not sound good, but telling the truth is for the sake of the old man. The article written by the old man... is not very good, and I am a bit disappointed."
He said lightly: "Too much admiration for parallel people, ornaments and paintings, despicable literary style, just moaning for no reason."
Ouyang Rong was right. After reading it carefully several times, he was indeed speaking truthfully.
There are currently no Eight Great Masters and Classical Prose Movements in this part of the world. The style of parallel prose that was popular in the literary circles of the Great Zhou Dynasty was passed down from the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
This style of writing emphasizes antithesis and rhythm. Due to the need to adapt to the sentence structure, it can easily evolve into a pile of rhetoric, with less meaning and more words, which greatly affects the expression of the content. In other words, it is just a show of writing style, and the content is empty...
At this moment, in the waterside pavilion, Yuan Xiangshan was speechless and seemed a little anxious. His face turned red and he coughed.
"Teacher, calm down..." Su Dalang hurriedly stepped forward and patted the teacher's stooped back.
Looking at the pair of master and disciple in front of him, and thinking of what he encountered today, a certain ancient article with deep memory suddenly flashed in Ouyang Rong's mind.
Ouyang Rong shook his head and said:
"Did the old man use this kind of article to teach Da Lang? If I am not talented, I would like to give Da Lang an article. Instead of writing parallel prose, write something meaningful. This was a gift from a senior who I met by chance. Mine, I changed it a bit, it’s embarrassing.”
Ouyang Rong stood at the table, laying out paper, grinding ink, and rolling up his sleeves.
He casually filled in the pen and wrote a eloquent article in one stroke.
"Liaogai Dalang. Liulang, Ashan, let's go. Let's not stand in the eyes of a certain Master here anymore."
After putting down the pen, without waiting for the ink to dry, Ouyang Rong turned around and walked out of the waterside pavilion.
Yan Liulang, Liu Ashan and others quickly followed.
Seeing this, Yuan Xiangshan pushed away Su Dalang and the book boy who were supporting him, and jumped up. For some reason at this moment, his skills seemed to be a little stronger. The old man chased out of the waterside pavilion and stabbed Ouyang Rong in the back with his crutch:
"Don't leave, Zhuzi. I'm so angry. What do you mean?"
"What's the meaning?"
Ouyang Rong said without replying:
"Don't understand yet? The meaning is very simple. Students are good students, but teachers are not necessarily good teachers.
"Da Lang is too respectful to his teachers. Seniors are used to bullying him, but don't think of bullying him to the point of bullying. You don't understand the situation in Longcheng County, so I won't bother you to point fingers."
Just as Mr. Yuan was stamping his feet angrily, there was a figure standing quietly on the corridor not far from the waterside pavilion and had been listening for a long time.
"Miss, do you want to persuade her..." Behind Qianying, a little maid with a bun face couldn't help but ask.
"Shh." Su Bao'er squinted at the tall back.
In the waterside pavilion, Su Dalang, who was a step behind, couldn't help but stop slowly when passing by the stone table. He looked down at the still-dry article on the table and murmured in a daze: "Yu Jiaqi can practice the ancient way... The master said that he can follow it..."
Su Dalang couldn't help but raise his head. At this moment, like his sister on the corridor, he silently looked at the back of the young county magistrate who was striding away.
