18. Night Watchman

Classics generally refers to the Thirteen Classics of Confucianism. Read 520 official website

If you study the classics, you usually start with the Four Books.

"The Great Learning" is the 42nd chapter in "The Book of Rites of Xiao Dai" and is said to have been written by Zeng Shen. Later, after the Second Cheng Dynasty in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was highly respected. Zhu Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty wrote the "Great Learning Chapters", which became independent from the "Book of Rites" and eventually became the Four Books together with "The Doctrine of the Mean", "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius".

The so-called Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism means that to study Confucian classics, you must first study "The Great Learning".

Since the Song Dynasty, "Great Learning" has become an imperial examination subject.

"The way of a university lies in being virtuous, being close to the people, and striving for perfection..."

Bai Gui watched and began to recite the university. The opening chapter of the university was a famous aphorism that he was very familiar with. Many universities in later generations used this sentence as their school motto.

"Da, the old pronunciation is Tai, but now it sounds like a Chinese character."

"Zi Chengzi said: 'The Great University is the legacy of Confucius, and it is also the door for beginners to enter virtue.' Now it can be seen that the ancients, who ranked the order of learning, relied solely on the existence of this chapter, and discussed and Mencius. Scholars must learn from this. "Yan, then it's not bad."

"Chengzi said: 'Dear, treat it as new.' A great scholar is also a master of learning..."

Xu Xiucai began to explain the first sentence of the university.

After hearing this, Bai Gui suddenly understood why the ancients called Mount Taishan and regarded it as the first of the five mountains. It turned out that the ancient people's word "Tai" was the big character, and Mount Tai was the big mountain.

Tai also means supreme.

The "Great Learning" alone has only more than 2,000 words, so it is not difficult to learn. You can memorize it in an hour or two. But Zhu Xi's "Great Learning Chapters" is much more, with more than 3,000 words.

After the evening class, Xu Xiucai explained "The Great Learning" to Bai Gui for more than two hours. It was already late at night. One person was talking and the other was listening. When the sound of a lame old man hitting the clock came from outside the window, he was already shouting. At midnight, Xu Xiucai closed the book with unfinished thoughts.

The lame old man is a widower in the village. He is old and has no children around him, so the lame old man is responsible for keeping watch in the village. He is also the porter of the ancestral hall. During the day, he is responsible for ringing the bell after classes in the morning, afternoon and evening classes.

Bai Gui realized that this was the end of the lecture, so he immediately stood up respectfully and thanked: "Thank you for your hard work, sir."

Xu Xiucai hummed softly and handed the book to Bai Gui, "After all, you can't borrow books often. If you do it often, you will lose your temper. Although your calligraphy is not very good now, But I can barely take a look at it. If you want to borrow a book in the future, come to me. But the book can be borrowed and must be returned after half a month. "

As if remembering something, he frowned slightly and said, "Remember, the scriptures are the words of saints and should not be tainted."

A ten-day period is ten days, and a half-ten day period is five days.

It is not difficult to copy a book in five days. On the contrary, there is a lot of time.

Bai Gui's heart felt sour and he felt a lot of gratitude, but he choked in his mouth and did not say it out. He just bowed three times to Xu Xiucai respectfully and made a big gift. He promised: "Don't worry, sir, the students will pay attention..." "

Because the villagers had built the fort, which was about one foot high, even if there were wolves outside the village, they could not get up. Therefore, the village was no longer as vigilant as before and was much safer.

Otherwise, Xu Xiucai would not dare to have the courage to leave Bai Gui to teach.

When I walked out of the ancestral hall, I met the watchman who was walking through the streets.

"What's wrong, your dear? Are you being left to give lectures by the scholar again?" The lame old man was holding a clapper, and he was wearing a tattered cotton jacket. There were holes exposed in some places, and the dirty cotton collapsed, and there were thick braid circles three fingers wide. On his forehead, he protected his ears, and his dark face showed a friendly smile.

"Uncle Gouwa is making a joke. I'm still in the early stages of my studies, so I missed too much homework. I need help from Mr. Lao to help me."

Bai Gui said hello and smiled.

Neither close nor indifferent.

Country people, apart from being scholars, don’t have much of a reputation.

For example, Bai Jiaxuan's two sons, Bai Xiaowen and Bai Xiaowu, are nicknamed Ma Ju and Mule Ju respectively. They are easy to make a living with. After entering the school, they changed their names to Bai Xiaowen and Bai Xiaowu. The same goes for Hei Wa, the son of Lu San, the long-term worker of the Bai family. After entering school, he changed his name to Lu Zhaoqian, and he was of the same generation as Lu Zhaopeng and Lu Zhaohai.

After changing the scientific name, in addition to being close to the elders, peers also call the person by the scientific name.

only……

Even though Lu Zhaoqian changed his academic name, his peers still called him Hei Wa. Because the son of a long-time worker had such a nice name, which was somewhat inappropriate.

In the same way, Bai Gui did not have any educated close elders, so no one gave him a scientific name. They taught him Gui Wa Zi.

Guiwazi is his nickname.

Speaking of which, he and Zhou Yuan were cooking on the concierge's stove, and they also used the lame old man's stove. It's just that the lame old man is like most villagers. He can't be said to hate the poor and love the rich, but he is always easier to flatter Zhou Yuan, who is rich...

This comparison shows the difference.

"Your uncle's tricks are not in vain." The lame old man glared at Bai Gui, then showed an unquestionable look on his face, and thrust the lantern he was holding into Bai Gui's hand, "It's dark today , if you get bumped again, it will be a big deal. You can light the lantern first and return it tomorrow."

"Uncle Gouwa, what about you?" Bai Gui raised his eyebrows and handed the lantern to the lame old man again.

Who would have thought that the lame old man, who had always been clumsy with his limbs, could dodge with such quickness.

"Your uncle can walk through the alleys of Bailu Village eight or ten times a day! He can even walk through them with his eyes closed. You are different, but I cannot let you suffer any loss as a future scholar..."

The lame old man has lived in the ancestral hall since it was built, guarding the ancestral hall as a doorman and begging for food. He is not familiar with Xu Xiucai, but he is the person who knows Xu Xiucai best in Bailu Village.

Xu Xiucai teaches students conscientiously and seriously, and never slacks off.

But...there are very few students who stay to continue teaching in the late school. Bai Gui has been to the east building several times in the past ten days. He has also heard about Bai Gui. This kid is definitely not stupid...

"Then...since you said so, I will accept it. I will send you the lantern tomorrow."

Bai Gui nodded and took the lantern.

The lantern was an old-fashioned big red lantern, covered with red gauze, and the handle was a dark jujube wood stick. The candle inside was wax made of animal fat, yellow-white, different from the red wax of later generations.

"It's the middle of the night, the wind is dry, be careful of candles..."

The lame old man continued to knock on the clapper, and in the dim moonlight, he could vaguely see the end of the alley, and then disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"Let's go..."

"Scholar? I will definitely!"

Bai Gui shook his head, retracted his gaze, and turned away.

He had a hunch that the lame old man might not live long. He was about fifty or sixty years old now. He didn't eat or drink well on weekdays. It was a profit to live a few years. What's the point of currying favor with him?