Siheyuan: Pushing Huairu, the Prime Minister admits defeat

Ji Xiaotao's tiptoeing behavior seemed very timid, but in fact she was bold and careful. She deliberately used slight movements to create a lot of noise in order to attract Li Weijun's attention.

But at this moment Li Weijun was like an old monk in meditation, constantly thinking about all the matters of the day in his mind, checking for omissions and filling in the gaps, and his mind was not on Ji Xiaotao at all.

So even though Ji Xiaotao pouted and looked angry and confused, Li Weijun had no idea about the complicated thoughts of this unruly little girl and was just immersed in his own world of thought.

Ji Xiaotao was helpless because of Li Weijun's wooden-lump behavior. She gently kicked the instep of her foot, then returned to the bed in a huff and continued reading.

Li Weijun was completely confused. He thought that this unruly girl was throwing a tantrum again. He shook his head helplessly but did not investigate further.

Just as Li Weijun closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Then Yi Lei's familiar hoarse voice came, and he said anxiously: "Comrade Li Weijun, there is a message from above, and they handed over a brown paper envelope, saying that it must be given to you immediately. You must read it carefully."

"A little note from an old man?"

Hearing this, the sleepy Li Weijun jumped up instantly, opened the door hurriedly and took the brown paper envelope. After confirming again and again that it was the old man's signature, he held his breath and tried his best to calm his excitement.

He turned on the light solemnly and opened the brown paper envelope carefully, only to find that it contained a thick stack of rare handwritten copies.

The booklet is palm-sized, 3 to 4 centimeters thick, with a thread-bound hardcover cover and the words "Biography of Lou Shide" written in bold and powerful strokes in large characters.

After Li Weijun took out the handwritten biography of Lou Shide, he discovered that there was a thin piece of hard paper in the kraft paper envelope, on which was also a handwritten biography of Gan Luo.

"This is?"

Li Weijun looked at the two unique handwritten copies and felt dazed for a moment.

It is common knowledge that old people like to have people read to them, and it is not surprising at all.

For example, Xiao Wang is often asked to read the biography of Liu Penzi as a form of encouragement, so that Comrade Yongyuan Jiankang can also learn from history and have an earnest hope and a teaching.

The biography of Liu Penzi is easy to understand. As a hardcore fan, Li Weijun is very familiar with the name Liu Penzi, which most people find extremely unfamiliar.

At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the country was in chaos. After the Red Eyebrows and the Green Forest Army became powerful, in order to justify their status, they raised the banner of the Han Dynasty's orphans and made Liu Penzi, a cowherd who only knew how to pick up cow dung, was skinny and often hungry, become the emperor.

Later, because of Liu Penzi's lack of prestige, his young age, his lack of diligence in learning and improving his abilities, and his lack of ability to restrain the civil and military officials, it didn't take long for him to end in a situation where he couldn't have a good ending. In short, he was like a child carrying gold through a busy market and was unable to convince the public.

When Xiao Wang read the biography of Liu Penzi, it was in line with the actual situation. At the same time, the old man also had in-depth considerations. He wanted Xiao Wang to use Liu Penzi as a negative example and try to recognize his own position. Although Xiao Wang was confused after all, and his misstep led to eternal regret, and when he looked back, he was already a hundred years old, but at least the old man was not wrong.

Now the old man specially sent someone to hand-copy the Biography of Lou Shide, which was also selected from the Book of Tang, and the Deeds of Gan Luo from the Records of the Grand Historian. Li Weijun couldn't help but ponder the charm of these works.

Gan Luo's deeds are quite easy to understand. He is a typical example of a young man who became famous at a young age. He was appointed prime minister at a young age and enjoyed great glory. However, in the second half of his life, he ended up with a miserable ending because of a woman.

It's funny to say that when Gan Luo was playing chess with Queen Dowager Xuan one time, he took advantage of the moment when the chess piece fell on the board and secretly touched Queen Dowager Xuan's foot with his hand. In order to hide her embarrassment, Queen Dowager Xuan explained that it was a misunderstanding and wanted to get away with it.

Our clever Gan Luo even said shamelessly and fearlessly: "There is no misunderstanding. I touched the Queen Mother Xuan's feet on purpose..."

After hearing this, all the doctors present admired Gan Luo's courage and thought that the child prodigy was indeed an extraordinary person. He even looked down on the Queen Dowager Xuan, the most powerful woman in the world. He is truly a role model for our generation.

Afterwards, Gan Luo was executed...

As for the biography of Lou Shide, which has more words, this one is a little bit obscure. It is an excerpt from the Book of Tang, which talks about the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty who was kind and generous, and was gentle and polite even when dealing with ministers with different opinions.

Once during a debate in the imperial court, the other party was so emotional that he spat a mouthful of thick phlegm at the prime minister, Lou Shide, which caused an uproar among the people.

But Lou Shide acted as if nothing had happened. He didn't even wipe it off and let it dry naturally. He still didn't take the incident to heart. He even said that he would tell this incident to his family as an interesting story after leaving court.

When his son was filled with righteous indignation and wanted to seek revenge on the other party, Lou Shide said that wise saying, which gave rise to a famous idiom, "to swallow one's own spit"...

It means that a prime minister has a big heart, a general has a big heart, and a great man is magnanimous and does not argue with ordinary people.

Now that the old man had sent him these two handwritten books, Li Weijun understood the meaning of it very well.

You can say that old people are old people. Even if they are busy with all kinds of things, they still understand some small things very thoroughly. The two books sent to me, which I have read carefully, are both very meaningful.

After taking the book, Li Weijun frowned and flipped through the contents.

Ji Xiaotao, who was also reading a book nearby, came over in confusion, wanting to take a look at the contents of the book. However, when she saw that it was all ancient Chinese, she felt overwhelmed and asked in confusion.

"Li Weijun, who told you to read this kind of book? This kind of book is so boring, it's just like showing off one's knowledge. We have long advocated vernacular Chinese. In my opinion, the improvement of literature is still not enough. If we use vernacular Chinese, how much better it will be..."

"Okay, auntie, just read your Jin Ping Mei honestly. Once you understand all these worldly jokes, go to sleep. I have to think carefully about what the old lady means."

When she heard that this was the old man's intention, Ji Xiaotao, who was originally quite jumpy, instantly calmed down.

He grumbled, "Oh, it turned out to be the old man. That's normal. Reading more and better books is useful. Always reading vernacular Chinese is a bit unambitious. The old man is indeed far-sighted and has a profound knowledge..."

Li Weijun had anticipated the extent of Ji Xiaotao's expression change, so he did not take this crazy girl to heart. Instead, he frowned and carefully thought about the information contained in it.

Lou Shide is a positive example, while Gan Luo is a negative example. It seems to be either black or white, that is, to emulate Lou Shide, but the trouble lies with Gan Luo.

Logically speaking, the handwritten copy must have been excerpts of relevant events from the Records of the Grand Historian, and at the very least, it should have completed Gan Luo's experiences in the second half of his life, that is, it should have recorded what happened between Gan Luo and the Queen Dowager Xuan when he grew up.

What puzzled Li Weijun was that there was no record of Gan Luo's arrogant and unruly side in this book, but only recorded Gan Luo's glory of becoming famous at a young age.

Could it be that the old man is testing his own abilities?

This idea suddenly popped up in Li Weijun's mind, but he quickly suppressed it. Although there were no search engines and the Internet was not as developed as in later generations, there were still many knowledgeable scholars.

If you randomly pick any educated person, even the third uncle, he would probably be able to talk with great interest about the second half of Gan Luo's story. It would be too boring for the old man to simply test his knowledge.

Naturally, the reason why only half of the biography of Gan Luo was copied must be that there must be some special meaning hidden in it, but it has not been discovered yet.

Could it be that he is emphasizing that he is a low-key person?

To be honest, people these days laugh at the poor rather than at prostitutes, hate those who have and laugh at those who don't, especially in the big melting pot of courtyard houses and steel mills.

Don't be fooled by their usual smiling, idle looks, amiable and approachable appearances. On the surface, they are real brothers and comrades who are in the same boat with everyone, but you never know when they will expose someone's wrongdoings without any mercy.