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

The Scholars vividly describes the ancient literati under the background of the imperial examination system. It's an endless vicissitudes, an endless world. Mr. Wu cut open the "name" pursued by the world with his life. Scholars face a variety of fame that writer Wu regards as "tasteless". Some imperial examinations were successful, some never achieved fame, some devoted themselves to being an official, some obsessed with fame, some devoted themselves to seeking wealth, some devoted themselves to studying, and some were indifferent to fame and fortune. More importantly, a group of relatively independent scholars were freed from the imperial examination system. Is a group of ordinary literati who can't get on the orthodox table. They entertain themselves, are self-sufficient and shine brilliantly. Generally speaking, there are six types of literati in the Confucian forest.

First, make yourself famous.

Thousands of troops crossed the wooden bridge imperial examination, and a few people were lucky enough to get the fame of being a juren and a scholar and enter the upper class. For example, Yu Yide of Changshu County, who was admitted as a scholar at the age of 50, was appointed as Dr. imperial academy. He was charitable and helped many literati, and his reputation spread far and wide. Another example is Zhou Jin, a teacher in a private school. Unemployed for many years, making a living is difficult, so I have to do business with my relatives. He was depressed and spent money on a hospital in hiram. He suddenly fell to the ground crying and refused to get up. Until several businessmen joined hands to donate money, helped him donate a Guo-zi-jian diploma, sent him to take an examination of juren, and immediately stopped crying and began to talk and laugh. Later, as expected, he won a gold medal, lived a luxurious life, and was moved by sympathy and supported the old scholar Jin Fan. Jin Fan takes exams every year, misses exams every year, leads a hard life and is laughed at by his relatives. Once a high school juren won an award, someone immediately sent a room, money and a maid. The prize was too generous, which directly led to Jin Fan's madness after hearing the good news and was awakened by the slap of the old father-in-law Hu Butcher. Jin Fan's mother was overjoyed. She may have died suddenly because of a heart attack or cerebral hemorrhage. It is really "too happy".

Second, climbing the dragon and attaching the phoenix style

Under the social pattern of "scholars, agriculture, industry and commerce", scholars, represented by scholars, need expensive maintenance costs for their personal lives, which leads to the overall dependence of scholars and must be attached to power and wealth, otherwise there will be a crisis of survival, which will be laughed at by the world and lose their dignity. For a scholar who fails to get a promotion or scholarship, if his family is not rich, he has to rely on powerful people to live a good life besides being a private school teacher. Kuang grew up from a poor family, but he likes 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 went to the first mate Pan, who specializes in graft and making money. Kuang is a dutiful son, and his virtue is obvious. In Mr. Pan's place, he helped to do some illegal activities such as taking exams and forging official documents, and also distributed some stolen money. Master Pan really took care of Superman Kuang and helped him get a wife. Later, Kuang's teacher restored his official position in Beijing and sent a book to Kuang, asking him to go to the capital to pursue his future. Due to his attachment to the teacher, Kuang Renchao concealed the fact that he was married and married the teacher's niece, while his original wife died in poverty. After Kuang went to Beijing to learn from his teacher, his future was bright. He began to brag and show off everywhere, and alienated a group of friends in the literary and art circles. When Mr. Pan, who had helped him, was exposed, Mr. Pan hoped that Mr. Kuang could help him, but Mr. Kuang refused to look at Mr. Pan again for fear of being implicated, but Mr. Pan did not give up Mr. Kuang's superman and finally saved his future.

Third, the down-and-out type

"Everything is inferior, only reading is high", but this knowledge is mainly borrowed from the "eight-part essay" said by the sage, which is of little use except being an official. Therefore, scholars study hard at a cold window, and most of them are "overwhelmed" and lack the ability to make a living. For those literati with poor families and no skills, most of them are poor if they are not funded. Although there is the possibility of "becoming famous in one fell swoop", 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 Chapter 55: "Rites and music are not valued by the sages. On the source, but success is talent, frustration is stupidity. With Li and Du's articles and Yan and Zeng's character, no one asked you. " Before Jin Fan was promoted, the family was too poor to open the pot, leaving only a hen laying eggs. The wife and mother were hungry for several days, and the old mother took Fan in to sell chickens for something to eat. As a result, Jin Fan couldn't even sell the chicken, so he had to walk back and forth in the market with the chicken in his arms, and no one even asked. At the age of 20, Dad Ni became a scholar, which has been 37 years. "The bad thing is that he can't take these dead books lightly, but he can't bear the burden, and his son can't afford them, so he has to sell them to others. In the end, he can only make a living by repairing musical instruments. In order to solve the problem of making a living, some scholars learn some miscellaneous studies such as measuring characters and fortune telling. Chen 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 passable. Chen's son is either a poet or a poet, but he cannot make a living. He had to set up a stall to measure words, earn money and barely feed 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. "From then on, he had no wife, so he bought meat to eat. When he was full, he sat on the table of Wendeqiao and measured words and read poems."

Fourth, dull and pedantic.

Some scholars, after reading the books of sages, always remember the way of sages, but if the world wants to live, it can't always act according to the way of sages. A person who sticks to these feudal ethics and dogmas can hardly tolerate secularism and will inevitably be ridiculed by the world as pedantic. Wang Yuhui, who has been a scholar for 30 years, dreams of returning to the "era of rites and music" as Confucius said, and is bent on writing several "immortal works" to "persuade fools". Wang Xiucai's son-in-law died of illness, and her daughter wanted to be a "martyr" who died. Everyone objected, except Wang Xiucai, who "laughed" loudly and said, "This is a glorious achievement that can win a memorial arch of martyrs and reputation. My daughter started a hunger strike, and her relatives cried and advised her to put life first. Only Wang Xiucai encouraged her daughter to die. After her daughter died of hunger strike, Wang Xiucai's wife cried her eyes out. Wang Xiucai looked up and laughed: "Good death! Good death! "After her daughter starved to death, Wang Xiucai immediately returned to the yamen to write a letter praising her daughter as a" fierce woman ". Two months later, with the approval of the superior, the Martyrs Temple was built and countless people came to pay homage. However, human nature has not been lost because of "Confucius and Mencius". Although Wang Xiucai supported her daughter's decision rationally, she could not restrain her inner sadness. In addition, my wife was heartbroken and broke her heart, so that she couldn't stay at home and had to travel to other places for fun.

Fifth, free and easy.

Reading takes time, energy and money, so most students come from wealthy families. Some literati gave up their efforts in the face of the cruel imperial examination, and turned their "hard study at a cold window" into "indulging in mountains and rivers", "poetic and picturesque", "singing and dancing lightly", "drinking and talking freely" and "making friends with literature". The most typical one is Du, who was born in an official family. He is generous and dislikes 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 to my friends for drinking, which abruptly squandered my wealth. Du's generosity and profligacy have even become negative teaching materials for relatives and schools. Fortunately, he is famous enough to make a living by selling articles. In Du, we can see the author Wu himself. For Du, who is burdened with wealth and ridiculed, perhaps only by squandering his own property can he find the final peace of mind in that society, get rid of the shackles of clan and ethics and become a truly free literati. When Du finally ran out of money, all his contacts were purely literary friends, and there was nothing hypocritical to deal with. Of course, extreme people, Du Like Shao Qing, are in the minority after all. Yu Huaxuan, a scholar, lives in Wuhe County, where hypocrisy and materialism are rampant. His great-grandfather was Shangshu, his grandfather was Hanlin and his father was Taishou. Yu Xiucai was a child prodigy. Wuhe county people are mercenary and full of ridicule for scholars who have not gained fame and fortune. Yu Xiucai's father is an honest official, and he has little money. He scrimped and saved some money, learned by himself, cultivated his temperament and made all kinds of friends. Even some snobs, Yu Xiucai can handle it and live comfortably.

6. Types of street men

There was a great calligrapher named Ji, who was homeless and unemployed since he was a child and lived in a temple all day. His calligraphy is self-contained, and all the pens he uses are worn-out bald ones. When someone asked him to write, he fasted for one day three days ago, grinded ink for one day the next and wrote on the third day. As the saying goes, if he is unhappy, even if he is a senior official, please don't touch him. He will also scold: "I don't want your money, your power and your light." How dare you let me write? " . If you earn money by writing, you can give money to poor people you don't know when you eat at home. One snowy day, he wore a pair of rotten shoes to his friend's house and kicked mud in his study. My friend said, "If you are willing to write a word for me, I will buy you shoes." When he refused in his spare time, his friend thought he was dirty, so he took out a pair of shoes for him. At that time, he was annoyed: "What's so important about your family! Can't I sit at your house in these shoes? I am sitting in your house, I am 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 without their money.

There is also a tailor named Yuan Jing, who is good at playing the piano and writing, and likes writing poems. Being a tailor can bring home the bacon, and the rest of the time is spent writing poems and playing the piano, entertaining myself. In his own words, "I don't covet other people's wealth, I don't wait on their colors, I don't care whether the sky is closed or not, everything is up to me, but I'm not happy?" You can also find an old friend, an old man named Yu, to play the piano when you are free. The birds heard it, and they all lived in the branches to eavesdrop. But the heart of Jingyuan is lonely after all, so that the old man can't help crying when he plays sad and smooth, and when he plays "deep place"

These six types of literati, to some extent, reflect the author's mental journey. When Mr. Wu was young, he took the imperial examination in pursuit of fame. After failing the exam, he refused to cling to others or make friends with dignitaries. He began to gather a group of frustrated literati, spend money like water, and seek happiness among like-minded friends. When I was down and out, I turned to the pursuit of individual inner peace and happiness, self-sufficiency, self-entertainment, and returned to the mentality of "street wonder". It was only after I realized that "fame and fortune are unfounded and always delayed" that I left a sigh of "three cups of turbid wine are exhausted and water is flowing".