When you marry, you should marry Du Shaoqing!

Read "The Scholars" again and relive the sadness and helplessness of Yan Jiansheng. Looking at the two fingers he stretched out when he was dying, he sighed because he was frugal and ended up losing thousands of pieces of furniture to other people's hands. He is a thrifty, kind and humble man. Although he is stingy with himself, he is not stingy with his wife, concubines, children, relatives and friends. If Yan Jiansheng can be ranked first among Chinese misers and receive a bonus, then who knows? How many real misers are there in the world to attack him? Yan Jiansheng's frugal behavior is a true portrayal of the life of ordinary people in the old society when materials were scarce.

In the book "The Scholars", although Yan Jiansheng's character cannot be regarded as top-notch, he can at least be ranked in the middle. He is many times better than those who swindle and deceive and think they are romantic.

Speaking of romance, I have been reading "The Scholars" these days, and I particularly like Du Shaoqing. Tianchang Du Yi is a young man from a wealthy family. He has a chivalrous heart, is willing to do good, has his own opinions on reading, dislikes the redundant officialdom, and is obsessed with spring flowers and autumn moon.

"In less than ten years, sixty or seventy thousand silver was wiped out." The son of a wealthy family was not engaged in production, but he relied on ancient ways to sell land as clothes to help others regardless of the reason. He soon became poor. Come down.

Chinese society is deeply influenced by Confucian culture. "Kill to be benevolent, sacrifice one's life for righteousness." Scholars should serve as officials, help the world, and realize the ambition of serving the country. But Shaoqing not only did not take the initiative to take the imperial examination, but even if he was recruited to serve as an official, he would pretend to be ill and not go.

In Chapter 34 of "The Scholars", there is Shaoqing's exposition on chapters such as "Kaifeng", "Nv Yue Rooster Crow", "Qin Wei", etc., probably speaking for the author Mr. Wu Jingzi, even today's point of view Still accessible. Only those who study for no utilitarian reasons deserve to be called scholars. Shaoqing really studies.

Who doesn’t want to make friends with Shaoqing?

Yes, Shaoqing spent money like water and lost all his wealth. In the end, he had to rent a house to make a living. But no matter rich or poor, Mrs. Du will always be Shaoqing's Mrs. Du. Although Mrs. Du's name cannot be found in the book, looking at the whole book, which woman can receive such courtesy from her husband? It was really horrifying to read about the experiences of the poor women in the book. Some newlyweds died inexplicably, some had husbands gone forever, and some were forced to be concubines. In that era, women had no status at all.

And Shaoqing said to Mrs. Du, "In spring and autumn, I will go out with you to see the flowers and have wine. How happy it is!" "Shaoqing was so drunk that he took his wife's hand and walked out of the garden gate. Holding the golden cup, I walked for more than a mile on the Qingliang Mountain with a big smile. "... That feeling of being like no one else, everything in the world comes from my heart."

If you are married to a husband like this, why do you need so much money?

Didn’t Du Shenqing, who is also a brother of the Du family, say that "I can smell his stench three rooms away from my wife", but at the same time he is busy taking concubines. When Ji Weixiao got one hundred and twenty taels of silver, he said to himself, "We romantic people, as long as the talented and beautiful are together, we can live in one room and two rooms. What's the big deal?" How can Shaoqing be compared to them?

Women in ancient times were contradictory. On the one hand, we hope that the husband will be noble and the wife will be prosperous, but often the wife will change after the husband becomes noble. Shaoqing was originally a wealthy son, and he still had the opportunity to make a fortune even after he became poor. However, Shaoqing looked down on officialdom, loved beautiful natural scenery, and was fascinated by the lakes and mountains. Ji Weixiao laughed at his old wife and asked him to marry someone as beautiful as a king. He replied by quoting Yan Zi, "Although she is old and ugly now, I will never see her as beautiful as a good one." In that era, someone who had such views and actions was truly the most worthy man to marry!

It would be much happier to marry Du Shaoqing than to marry Shen Fu, who wrote "Six Chapters of a Floating Life". Wealth and honor are just passing clouds. It is enough to hold your hand and grow old together with your son.

? September 7, 2020