"Good and evil must be remembered as a warning to others. When you enter my Taishi Mansion, you must practice these eight characters throughout your life and never slacken off. Do you know?"
Good and evil must be remembered to serve as a warning to the master... Zhao Gao recalled this powerful eight-character admonishment with mixed feelings in his heart: Recording it according to the facts, isn't this the integrity and character that many historians have?
The person who lectured was Zuo Shijitan. Because his ancestor specialized in the classics of Zhao State, he was named Jishi. It can be said that he has seniority in the Taishi Mansion of the State of Zhao. Anyone who has been infiltrated back and forth in this Taishi Mansion, who is not a person who is knowledgeable about the past and the present?
The Zuo History and the Right History are under the direct management of the Taishi Order. The Zuo History records words and the Right History records events. The left and right historians were in charge of dozens to hundreds of scribes who were responsible for copying.
Because Taishi Ling managed the palace collection together, the Taishi Mansion was located at the outermost edge of Zhao's treasury [1]. This made it easier to collect and manage books, and the historians could also have some peace and quiet.
Zhao Gao looked at the gray-haired old man in front of him with a tall crown and wide sleeves, and he felt deep respect in his heart.
Zhao Gao was not called Zhao Gao. His real name was Xie Yan. He was a working party member in his late thirties. Three years ago, he accidentally fell into the water. When he woke up, he went to the Zhao country more than two thousand years ago and became ten-year-old Zhao Gao.
In his previous life, he was born into a scholarly family. Because he behaved more calmly than his peers and loved reading to pass the time, some classmates said to him: He should have been born in ancient times.
Unexpectedly, once he fell into the water, the jokes in the past turned into prophecies.
Xie Yanping had a calm temperament, but when he first learned that he had the same name as Zhao Gao, the traitor to the late Qin Dynasty who called deer a horse, and even the environment where they grew up was surprisingly similar, he felt uneasy for a long time.
It's just that because of his personality, he didn't like to feel wronged. After struggling for two days, he finally convinced himself: firstly, it might be the same name; secondly, even if the same person changed his name, he would not end up on the same road. After thinking about this, I finally relaxed and accepted it.
His father in this life, Zhao Wen, was originally a distant relative of Duke Zhao. Now he has no support and can only be a humble grammar official.
Motherhood is even lower. Meng is long. Because she was the eldest daughter in the family, she was now married to Zhao Wen. She took the surname of the eldest daughter in the family and her husband's family [2], and called her Meng Ying.
Zhao Gao also has two younger brothers in his family, the older one is called Zhao Cheng and the younger one is called Zhao Wang.
Originally, Zhao Wen had an official position, and although his family was not well-off, he could still fill his stomach. No one would have thought that Zhao Wen passed away last month, the third year since he came here.
Fortunately, Zhao Wen was kind-hearted in the past and saved a noble man of some status. When the noble man saw that Zhao Wen had passed away and his orphans and widowed mother were very pitiful, he used his connections to get Zhao Gao a job as a sweeper in the Taishi Mansion and fired him. Home dilemma.
In this way, Zhao Gao bid farewell to his mother and brothers in this life and stepped into the Zhao Palace.
Half a month after entering the palace, Ji Tan caught the eye of Ji Tan because of his good calligraphy, so he mentioned it to his superiors and asked him to be a small official who could copy slips and slips.
Speaking of this, he didn't know a single word when he traveled through time. Knowing that knowledge can change his destiny, he had no choice but to ask Zhao Wen to teach him from scratch.
During this period, the princely states were in charge of their own affairs, and the characters of the seven states were different from each other in structure and writing style. It was not enough for Zhao Gao to simply learn the characters of Zhao state. So he, a ten-year-old boy, had nothing to do and would practice hard on the ground with branches all day long.
It’s just that the opportunities to actually pick up a pen are actually very few.
During the Warring States Period, there were no writing tools that were ubiquitous in the previous life. Cheap ink was easy to find, but "paper" was very troublesome. What is used here are wood chips, bamboo chips, animal bones... and even precious objects such as sheepskin, which ordinary people cannot afford.
Fortunately, Zhao's mother was skillful and hard-working. When she saw that her son was willing to study hard, she started making bamboo and wood chips for writing. However, her energy was limited and she could not fully meet Zhao Gao's need for practice.
Zhao Gao did not want his mother to work hard day and night. He spent most of the day practicing on the ground with branches and pebbles, and finally he was willing to take out the wood chips made by his mother and write seriously.
Even so, those wood chips are often written on and then scraped off with a copper chip [3]. Write and scratch again. Sometimes the copper blade used for scraping wood chips becomes dull, so they are sharpened with a grindstone before using it again. The wood chips are used until they are too thin and can no longer be used before they dare to replace them with new ones.
After three years of meticulous perseverance, his calligraphy has become quite good.
Zhao Gao stood outside the treasury courtyard with neither humility nor arrogance, listening to Ji Tan's lectures. Now he was speaking only insignificant words of encouragement. Zhao Gao unconsciously thought of other things in his mind.
He has been a man in two lives, and he is much more mature and stable than his peers in his previous life. He knows that if he wants to gain a foothold in troubled times, he must become strong, otherwise he will only be at the mercy of others.
Due to the conditions in the first three years, what my father taught me was limited after all. But now that he has entered the Taishi Mansion, it is another story.
He is still young, so he doesn't need to think too much. The right way is to learn some useful things down-to-earth. Although this job may be insignificant to others, it is a God-given opportunity to him.
After the conversation was over, he was led to the house where he lived.
"Where are you from, brother?"
"..."
"Brother, how long have you been here?"
"..."
"What do you call brother?"
The person who sent him over was a young man of seventeen or eighteen years old. Although he was not that big, he looked mature and steady. Zhao Gao saw that he had no expression since just now, so he looked for an opportunity to talk to him. Unexpectedly, he didn't answer even after asking him several times.
Finally, the other party turned around and glanced at him impatiently, then turned back and spat out two words: "Xian Zhang."
Zhao Gao felt funny in his heart: He really cherished words like gold. Zhao Gao didn't care about the young man's reaction. He could see that although Zhang Xian looked a little cold, it was due to his character and was not directed at him, a newcomer. He wanted to tease the young man, so he imitated him and replied: "Zhao Gao."
Sure enough, the other party turned to look at him again, his expression still a little hesitant, and after a moment he said lightly "Yeah".
By chance, they arrived at the place at this time. Zhang Xian opened the door and walked in. Zhao Gao also raised his legs to follow.
Although the house is not big and the conditions are very simple, it is much better than sleeping with a dozen people when cleaning, and Zhao Gao has nothing to be picky about.
"Thanks for the guidance. I'm new here... Please give me more advice in the future." Zhao Gao's tone seemed a little awkward and embarrassed when he spoke, but after he finished speaking, he revealed a sincere smile.
That smile made Zhang Xian stunned on the spot, and the word "good-looking" popped into his head. Don't blame Mr. Zhang for losing his composure. In terms of appearance, Zhao Gao is actually just a bit more delicate and can't be described as "beautiful." However, he laughed so unexpectedly that it made people feel like the sun was shining through the clouds, and it made Mr. Zhang shake for a while. Dazzling.
When it comes to demeanor, he has both the youthful elegance and a certain composure that belies his age. Zhang Xian, who always disliked inquiring into people's private affairs, couldn't help but wonder: What kind of environment could give birth to such a person?
It seemed to Zhang Xian that the two parties were not familiar with each other when they first met, but the other party kept calling him "brother", which made him feel disgusted, so he never had a good look towards him.
Seeing him showing such a harmless smile now, I couldn't help but blame myself: it was obvious that the child was just timid and hoped that I could help him, but I thought of the young man as being too worldly.
At this moment, Zhang Xian was full of apologies, unaware that he had lost his temper twice today, and in terms of age, he was only four or five years older than the other person. In a daze, he blurted out: "Naturally."
Seeing his relaxed expression, Zhao Gao felt helpless: It was Zhang Xian who had been silent from the beginning. He had no choice but to take the initiative to break the awkward atmosphere. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xian was a straight-tempered person, and those "brothers" not only failed to bring the two of them closer. The distance made him extremely uncomfortable, so he changed his strategy to show weakness to him. The euphemistic name is "treating sincerely", but in reality it is "selling one's appearance".
Zhang sent the person there first, said he had something to do, and left, leaving Zhao Gao alone to sort out his things. Zhao Gao's family was not well-off. Apart from a change of clothes and a few bean cakes sent by his mother a few days ago, he had nothing else on him, so he quickly packed up and settled down.
(The annotations for this article will be placed where the author has something to say. Readers, please remember to check it out.
