Pei Gonggui

"Snapped."

With a crisp sound of bamboo knots, Pei Jun stood under the eaves in front of the Zhongyihou's mansion, closed his hands and closed his umbrella.

At the end of dusk, at this time, he raised his arms to shake off the rain from an umbrella. He looked down at the bamboo umbrella in his hand against the filaments outside the corridor, and saw purple clouds and flying swallows on the umbrella, embroidered with silver threads, and osmanthus in the dark lines. The moon is faint, and the handle is engraved with a light boat to float the water. The water converges into a waterfall, and the indigo tassels hang down. Its shape is clear and elegant, and every knife and line is full of ingenuity.

He didn't notice it at first, but after thinking about it now, he seemed to remember that such an umbrella was made by the palace judges as a gift to the royal family since the reign of Emperor Yongshun. In the rainy moon, it will also be bestowed on high-ranking officials in Beijing.The patterns of each umbrella are different, and although the embroidery and painting grades are different, they are all very exquisite. It is considered an honor of the heavenly family to appreciate it, and it is also very elegant to carry around.

As a matter of fact, two of these umbrellas can be found in Pei Jun's residence. He regarded them as common in the early years and never cared about them. Later, his memory became even more blurred.Only because in the 11th year of Yuanguang, Xue and Zhang changed their ways and the disadvantages gradually became apparent. After two years of inflated taxation, the internal tax suddenly fell, the treasury declined even more, and the palace expenses were also reduced. Done.And the Yongshun prosperous age, which had been glorious for more than twenty years, its style and spirit, seemed to be condensed in the floating needles and flying threads of this flashy embroidered umbrella, witnessed by him, a commoner who was born in a military household in the most prosperous period of the prosperous age. In the No. 20 years after the return of Emperor Yongshun, he was gone and never returned.

Since then, the world has gradually stepped into turmoil, and it seems that even the singing and dancing in the market has lost its color year by year.By the 14th year of Yuanguang, the only real power in Pei Jun's hands was no longer able to restrain the spread of civil strife.

He encouraged Jiang Zhan to simply depose the cabinet and implement the administrative law, asserting that as long as everything is reorganized, there is still hope for the country to turn around.However, Jiang Zhan appeases and hesitates. It seems that he still has luck with Xue and Zhang. It is more likely that he dare not let go because he is afraid that Pei Jun will monopolize the power. Finally, he missed the best time to save the overall situation, so that Pei Jun's predictions were finally fulfilled.

The New Deal still failed.Yanhu and military households are frequently in chaos, people are being recruited from all over the world, government orders are changing, the government and the people are in dire straits, corruption is rampant, and injustice is suppressed. For two years in a row, the total amount of taxes paid to Beijing from all over the country was less than 600 million taels , and the balance in the warehouse is less than one million tons.But when the government was stretched, the barbarians outside the Great Wall were staring at each other, and the officials inside the universe were helpless.King Jin's re-expedition was scolded as an act of gathering troops to think about change. Zhang Ling suddenly fell down on the palace road and fell ill. Taifu Xue also asked himself to commit serious crimes and take the blame for his official position. Cai was more willing to put the responsibility on the former two. There is no one from the top and bottom to pick up the turmoil. They go to the hall all day long, only to argue and shirk.

Because of this, Jiang Zhan was so worried that he fell ill and was tired of working hard. He was suffering from ailments and was deep in the palace. One day he woke up from a dream and asked Pei Jun in panic what to do.

At that time, the positions of the Six Ministries and the Five Temples were strictly monitored by the cabinet. Even if the Pei party proposed to overthrow the New Deal or reform again, it was absolutely impossible to get the cabinet's vote.Under this situation, Pei Jun couldn't help but look at Jiang Zhan in silence. After a long time, he stared at the weak Jiang Zhan in the warm quilt under the dim carved lamp in Chongning Hall, and raised his hand to wipe away the tears on Jiang Zhan's face. , After thinking about it again and again, I just calmly went to Xue Taifu's old post.

In this way, he took up the mess left by Xue Zhang, and in the name of the chaotic but defeated "New Deal" of the cabinet, he started the road of changing the country in the last five years of his life. Despite the ups and downs of the mountains and rivers, those who were once full of vigor, were defeated because of his death, fell short of their achievements, and finally dissipated in the precarious wind and rain.

And until his death, he never saw the embroidered umbrella in the palace reappear in the world.

Thinking of this, he turned around with a sigh while holding the umbrella handle upside down, and knocked on the door of his own house.

As soon as the door opened, Liu Jin poked his head out, saluted Pei Jun, and said, "Sir, a large group of people just came, and they said it was your new nursing home, and they have all gone in. Uncle Dong was afraid that the neighbors would see him." Feeling suspicious and gossiping, he ordered the door to be closed first, and now brother Siqi is registering their names."

As soon as Pei Jun heard it, he knew that Jiang Yue had transferred him, and he didn't explain anything, so he just lifted his robe and went to the mansion to look.Liu Jin hurriedly wanted to take the wet umbrella from his hand, but he didn't give it to him. He just changed his hand and still held it.

When I arrived in the courtyard, I saw forty or fifty civilian men gathered under the eaves, each of them strong, powerful, tall and mighty, so crowded that the originally spacious corridor looked cramped.Seeing Pei Jun coming at this time, four or fifty people shouted in unison: "I have seen Mr. Pei!" Soldiers from the ranks.And if these people were ordered by Jiang Yue himself, they would probably be the elite of the army.

Pei Jun couldn't help smiling, for a moment he felt that Jiang Yue protected this fierce tiger into a domestic cat, but he was not ashamed, as if he was picking up honey in his heart, he only pointed out Liu Jin, and Dong Shu rewarded the soldiers with silver .In a blink of an eye, seeing that Qian Haiqing was still busy counting the head, net worth, and nursing home money, he was not in a hurry, and only told Qian Haiqing to look for him in the study as soon as he was done.

After a while, Qian Haiqing ran out of the study with the roster and account book in his hands and knocked on the door. He answered with a quick reply, and carefully pushed the door in. Seeing Pei Jun looking at the embroidered bamboo umbrella in his hand, he seemed to be Concentrate on something.

He coughed lightly, and wanted to report to the nurse's supervisor as usual, but at this moment, Pei Jun suddenly said in a deep and cold voice:

"You kneel down."

Qian Haiqing was taken aback for a moment, and immediately couldn't help saying that he knelt down on the ground with his robe in his hand, not daring to say anything for a while.He secretly raised his eyes and glanced at the hall, but saw that Pei Jun's expression was still not smiling, his heart was pounding, and his mind was spinning several times, but he really couldn't think of what he had done wrong.

At this time, Pei Jun's stern voice came from above his head again: "Do you know what happened today?"

Qian Haiqing spent the whole day teaching Jiang Xuan to read in Fuzhong, and his head was about to crack after being made a fuss by the children all day, how could he know what was going on outside?Hearing Pei Jun's stern tone at this time, he couldn't help becoming more nervous: "Students and students don't know, I hope Mr. Pei will make it clear."

Pei Jun put the umbrella in his hand by the table and said: "Early this morning, the Li Cunzhi you asked Mr. Cao to pick up suddenly came to Beijing without any news. Not only that, he even rushed to the imperial city of the horse, beat the drums and complained. The incident of suing the Tang family is well known. If I hadn't happened to see him on Nancheng Avenue, he would have come out sideways once he entered the palace. Look at what you are doing!"

Qian Haiqing was shocked: "Why, how could this happen! The student clearly told Li Zhizhou that everything needs to be discussed in the long term, slowly—"

"You student, tsk, you really can't even do small things well." Pei Jun interrupted him, sighed coolly, turned around and took a blank folder with a plain cloth cover from the bookshelf, and raised his hand to pick it up. He opened a few booklets of Jiang Xuan's poems on the desk, picked up the soft brush that was still on the pen holder, thought for a while, raised his wrist, and quickly wrote in the paper.

Qian Haiqing saw that his expression was absolutely disappointed, and he was still writing a notebook without saying a word, as if he wanted to write a recommendation letter to drive him out of the house, so he was frightened and begged desperately: "Pei , Mr. Pei, don’t, don’t! Mr. Pei calm down! Learn, the student made a mistake, and the student knows his mistake! It’s because the student is seldom familiar with the world and doesn’t know how to adapt. I didn’t expect this lawsuit to be so terrible... But, but "Book of Jin" There is a saying, this... this is "to make up for the past with merit, and to make up for the future". The students are also fledglings, which ruined Mr. Pei's affairs. Mr. Pei treats the students as arrogant and ignorant, forgive the students! The students must change their minds Mistakes have been made before! Master Pei, students and students don’t want to go anywhere. The student’s long-cherished wish in this life is to worship at Master Pei’s feet as a disciple. I beg Master Pei not to recommend the student away! Students will definitely be alone with Master Pei in the future. I follow, only Master Pei is respected, and must be a ring to repay Master Pei's kindness, and serve Master Pei as an ox or a horse until the end of his old age, begging Master Pei—"

"It's finished, you can see if it fits, and I'll change it if it doesn't fit."

After Pei Jun finished speaking this sentence indifferently, he got up and handed the written booklet to Qian Haiqing. After Qian Haiqing took it with a weeping face and trembling hands, he sat back in the chair again, still holding it with no joy or anger. Picking up the scented tea in hand, he took a sip.

Holding the text in his hands, Qian Haiqing felt cold, and thought sadly, this is Mr. Pei who wrote a post, and he was going to recommend him to another place.The moment he opened the paper with trembling fingertips, the tip of his nose was sore and his eyes filled with tears, thinking that he had been beaten and worked hard, and finally realized that Mr. Pei was approaching, who would have thought that someone would be careless? , All previous efforts were wasted!

With tears in his eyes, he glanced miserably at the fold, and saw Pei Jun's thin and pale handwriting in the middle:

"... There is a good student in the house, Qian's Haiqing, who is sensitive and studious, good-natured and respectful, subtle and well-informed. Today, I am grateful for his sincerity, and Turner is a disciple. In the future, as long as you study official affairs, you should take the suffering and happiness of all people in the world as your responsibility. , look at the original heart forever, good thoughts will last forever, don't be proud of wealth, don't belittle it because of lowliness, don't go against your heart, don't do harm, cultivate the righteousness of benevolence and sages, benefit from the teachings of sages, and learn from gentlemen Virtue, to vibrate the wind of the troubled world. Immediately, the ceremony will be completed. Pei Jun's hand will be solemn."

Qian Haiqing blinked his eyes suddenly, and a big teardrop fell on the back of his hand. At this moment, he knew that Pei Jun was only joking with him, but actually wanted to take him as his disciple.He stared at Pei Jun incredulously, and walked half a step forward with unconcealed excitement, opened his mouth for a while but coughed out loudly, and suddenly burst into tears, mumbled again and again, but finally couldn't say a word.

Seeing him like this, Pei Jun held his teacup and laughed: "Oh, I really cried. Hey, if I knew it earlier, I wouldn't tease you."

Qian Haiqing cried incoherently: "Master Pei clearly...why, Li Zhizhou...student originally..."

"Okay, just wipe your nose." Pei Jun sighed softly, "If you hadn't let go of your prejudices and found out that Li Cunzhi was wronged, I would probably just treat him as a stupid official who protects his children and perverts the law. How would I know? There are many injustices and bloody crimes in the south? Today in the palace, Li Cunzhi’s blood book in his hand was linked to thousands of people’s names. It was dripping and dazzling, scarlet and shocking, even in the past... I have never seen it. If you hadn’t invited him to Beijing If you complain, the Tang family may have covered up this case, and it will not only be his son Li Si who will be wronged, but also countless victims of the disaster."

Qian Haiqing raised his hand and wiped his face, sobbing, "No, no, it's all...It's because Mr. Pei inspired the students to find a new way, so the students were lucky enough to find out about this case. Students and students would never dare to take credit for themselves. Li Zhizhou This case is now clear to the sky, no matter whether it is cleared up or not, it is a change of fate from the heavens, with great mercy, his life and safety are all the result of Mr. Pei's kind thoughts. Now the student has not fulfilled the promise as promised, Mr. Pei Unexpectedly, I also gave students Nasheng Posts, learning...students are really..."

As he spoke, he started to cry again. Pei Jun quickly put down the teacup in his hand and sat up straight, comforting him in a long voice: "Okay, okay, little Siqi, don't cry, call Master first."

Qian Haiqing's lips trembled, and tears welled up in his eyes because of Pei Jun's words. Finally, he folded his hands over his head and slammed his head down. He shouted: "Master, please be respected by the students!"

"That's the end?" Pei Jun smiled, "What you said just now is like a cow instead of a horse? Why don't you say it?"

Qian Haiqing fell on the ground and couldn't get up, and immediately said sonorously after hearing the words: "Students will only obey the master in the future! Only the master will be respected! You must be a ring to repay the master's kindness, and serve the master like an ox or a horse until the end—"

"Stop, stop, who wants you to take care of the elderly." Pei Jun couldn't listen anymore, and felt his teeth sore, "Why are you so serious, teasing? You are too stubborn, and you will suffer if you enter the officialdom. If you want to change .”

"Master said I will change it." Qian Haiqing folded his hands in front of him and kowtowed twice, "From now on, what Master says will be what it is."

Only then was Pei Jun satisfied: "Okay, let's get up."

Qian Haiqing got up from the ground, his forehead was still red, seeing Pei Jun take off a turquoise jade pendant from his waist and beckoning to him, sobbing and crying, he slowly stood beside Pei Jun.

Seeing that he was standing far away, Pei Jun couldn't help but pull him a little closer, and tied the jade pendant on his belt with his hands, and tied a knot, saying in a deep voice, "I give you jade for my master, do you know Why?"

Qian Haiqing's red eyes choked up and said: "My master said that jade has the virtue of a gentleman, but the "Five Classics Tongyi" said that jade is "warm and moist, which is similar to wisdom; sharp but not harmful, which is similar to benevolence; restrained but not harmful." Scratching, it is similar to righteousness; Seeing the outside of flaws, it is similar to faith; Hanging it like a pendant, it is similar to etiquette. I wonder if the master teaches students this way?"

"That's right." Pei Jun tied the jade pendant and put away his hand, looked at Qian Haiqing and nodded with a smile, "Qian Siqi, there are enough dirty people in this world, and there are few clean ones. In the future, I only hope that you will use jade as your teacher." Then, take virtue as your mind, and never change your original mind, do you understand?"

Qian Haiqing held back tears and nodded her head: "Yes, the student will keep it in mind." After speaking, he knelt and kowtowed, "Thank you, Master!"

"It's done." Pei Jun clapped his hands on his shoulder and said with a gratified smile, "There are a lot of things to do recently, so let's prepare the Nasheng Banquet later. It's best to catch up with your title on the gold list, so that Master can give you some momentum."

"Students will live up to the high expectations of the master." Qian Haiqing patted his knees and stood up, standing beside him and said, "Since ancient times, there has been a ceremony of confinement to apprentices, and students will do it day by day. When the time comes... I will still look forward to the master." Don't be disgusted."

"Okay, good boy." Pei Jun got up and drank the last sip of scented tea, "Dinner should be ready, go and bring Xuan'er out, let's have dinner together."