Chapter 63 1. In order to bring his daughter-in-law home, the old celebrities took great pains

A month later, an edict was sent to the governor's yamen in Youyi Village, Changsha.When Futai Cen Chunling disassembled it and looked at it, what was written in Zhubi was: According to Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai, Yang Du, a native of Xiangtan, Hunan, has studied in Japan for many years and is proficient in the constitution. Kong Ji rewarded Yang Du with the title of fourth-rank Jingtang, and sent him to Beijing to serve as the constitutional editor and inspector at the consultation of the Hunan governor. Cen Chunling is the younger brother of Cen Chunxuan who was defeated by Yikui and Yuan Shikai not long ago. When he saw this decree, he couldn't help being surprised: How could this Yang Du be recommended by Zhang and Yuan because of his extraordinary ability? requisition?Cen Futai has always been indifferent to the activities of the Hunan Constitutional Association and Yang Du himself. He does not believe that they can accomplish anything, but the issuance of this decree is clearly a prelude to Yang Du's prosperity.Cen Futai didn't dare to be negligent, he wanted to convey the decree to Yang Du quickly, and prepared a grand farewell party for it, presenting a rich ceremony, so as to make up for the previous indifference and reserve space for future curry favor.

Yang Du is not in Changsha these days, he presides over the engagement ceremony for his younger brother at Shitangpu.Yang Jun is twenty-six years old this year. Two years ago, his mother told him about the eldest daughter of Mr. Yin and Bai from the same county.Yin and Bai don't like fame and fame, but are good at painting. They are famous in the village for their paintings of flowers, birds, insects and fish.Influenced by her father, the daughter also likes painting and calligraphy.Yang Jun is very satisfied with this marriage. More than three months ago, Mrs. Li heard that her sons were going back to China, so she decided to marry her second son on the Laba Festival, the birthday of the eldest son.I didn't want my uncle to die suddenly. According to the etiquette system, Yang Jun, as a nephew, should observe the funeral for one year, but the planned wedding date can't be changed, so I changed this day to the engagement day.The father of the Yang family is no longer alive, so the engagement ceremony will naturally be presided over by his elder brother Yang Du.

The old father, an elder brother and two cousins ​​came to the Yin family, and many relatives came to the Yang family. The engagement party was lively and lively, and everyone was very happy.Especially Mrs. Li, after accomplishing this important event for her youngest son, her last worry was settled, and she was busy going in and out all day, happily.In the midst of joy, Yang Du found that his younger sister Shuji's face was faintly worried. After the engagement ceremony, Dai Yi went back to Yunhu Bridge alone.Not long after Dai Yi and Uncle Ji got married, Uncle Ji found that the poems and essays written by her husband were not as good as those when they first met. She suspected that her husband had made a fake earlier, and felt a little contemptuous in her heart.Dai Yi spent three years in Japan, attended several schools, and did not graduate from military or law studies.After returning to China, I was looking for work, but I could not achieve high levels and low levels, so I stayed at home all day with nothing to do. I was also very annoyed and my temper became bad.When my uncle was in Japan, she was annoyed by her husband having an affair. When she returned to China, she looked down on him even more when she saw that he was so dishonest.The young couple often quarreled, and my uncle repeatedly expressed that she wanted to divorce Dai Yi, which made the father-in-law complain endlessly: since ancient times, only the husband divorced his wife, and there is no reason for the wife to ask for a divorce. This is the result of staying abroad!But the daughter-in-law is a talented woman, he likes it from the bottom of his heart, and the son is indeed not motivated, so he can't blame the daughter-in-law for not loving him.Whenever his son and daughter-in-law quarreled, the old man always blamed his son, never his daughter-in-law; when his daughter-in-law was crying, he tried to persuade her with a smile on his face.Mother Zhou couldn't help gloating, and often said to people: If a daughter-in-law dares to cock her tail in front of her father-in-law and husband, the world has really changed!

Seeing that the younger sister didn't go home with her husband, Yang Du knew that the young couple had a quarrel again, so he came to the younger sister's room to talk to her. Shuji was not there, and there was a flower note on the black lacquered wooden table by the window.This flower note is cut from white rice paper about eight inches long and five inches wide, with two light ink shrimps drawn on it.Yang Du recognized that it was Qi Baishi's handwriting.Qi Baishi would give a gift to his best teachers, relatives and friends every year during Chinese New Year, that is a stack of homemade letter paper, on which he would draw some flowers or small animals.Although there are only a few strokes, they are vivid and deeply loved by everyone.In the past few years, Qi Baishi's reputation has grown, and his paintings have become more and more valuable, so the letterheads he gave to others have become less and less, and he will not give them to those who are not respected and close to him.He admired Shuji's talent, so Shuji could get thirty or fifty pieces of white stone flower notes from him every year.Shuji didn't have many letters to write, and she mainly used them to transcribe and correct the last poems she wrote.

There is a poem on this flower note.Yang Du picked it up and looked at it. The ink was still wet, so it was obviously written just now. The title was "The Resentment of the Jade Order": After Yang Du saw it, his heart was heavy: Uncle Concubine was not only lonely, but what was even more frightening was that she still remembered the "old sorrows" and missed people far away who were not around.This distant man, only his elder brother knew in his heart that he was Xia Shoutian who worked in the Hanlin Academy. "Uncle!" Peng'er yelled and came into the house, Yang Du hugged him affectionately, and Uncle Ji followed behind his son.

"I haven't read any of your poems for more than a year. Your "Jade Stories Resentment" is much better than before in terms of diction and artistic conception." Yang Du pointed to the flower paper on the table and said to his sister. "Brother, did you see that? I'm planning to ask you to teach me!" Shuji took her son from her brother's arms, and Peng'er couldn't stay in her mother's arms, struggling to get off the ground and go out to play by herself. "Where do you dare to give me advice!" Yang Du said with a smile, "I'm so busy now that sometimes I can't come up with a good line when I want to write poems."

"It's good if you can't recite poems!" Uncle Ji smiled sadly. "In the past, when I was studying, I couldn't understand the ancient sayings that the articles were full of life, and the poems were poor and the workers were poor. Now I understand a lot. Good poems come from the pens of poor people, especially women." "You're talking too much." "Not too much! Look at Xue Tao, Yu Xuanji, Li Qingzhao, Liu Rushi, who have left good poems and words for future generations. Which one is better? The wives of the previous generations may not all have talents, but none of the good poems has been handed down to the world. " Shuji said excitedly, a blush appeared on her thin face.

Yang Du knew that his younger sister was making excuses for her marital misfortune, so she stopped arguing with her. "Uncle Ji, I rarely see you talking to Dai Yi these days, you let him go home alone the day before yesterday, did you talk back again?" "I won't talk back to him!" Shuji closed her mouth and turned her face away. "He passed his, and I took Peng'er to pass mine." Yang Du was also very dissatisfied with Dai Yi and felt wronged for his sister.But as an elder brother, of course, he only has the responsibility to persuasion, and there is no reason to break up.He said to his sister: "Dai Yi stayed abroad for three years. It would be a pity not to do something for the society. Otherwise, I will find him a job in Changsha and try to do it."

Uncle Ji did not speak, and tears flowed down quietly.Yang Du persuaded: "Don't cry, what's the matter, you tell me to Master Xiangqi, Dai Yi still treats you well in his heart, his shortcoming is that he can't endure hardship. It's no wonder, Man Zai, the teacher's wife has been doting on since childhood I'm used to it. There have been many examples of good wives helping their husbands to become talents in ancient times, don't separate them every now and then, this is not the way." Yang Du also wanted to advise his younger sister: Let the past be the past, don't dwell on it all the time, face the reality squarely, and don't have too many fantasies.But I always felt that these words would hurt my sister's heart, so I swallowed them again.

"Brother, sister, Master Xiangqi is here!" Yang Jun happily entered the room to report.He was very excited when the teacher came to congratulate him. Brother and sister Yang Du hurriedly went out to greet them, and Wang Kaiyun was walking into the main room.The old man wore brand-new clothes and was smiling. Unlike in the past, Mother Zhou did not follow behind today.Mrs. Li greeted her with a smile all over her face: "Mr. Wang, I really don't dare to be the one. The mistress is engaged, so I didn't dare to disturb your elder brother." Wang Kaiyun laughed loudly and said: "Mother-in-law, it's your fault, why don't you invite me, I want to have two glasses of wine too!"

Mrs. Li smiled even more happily when she heard this: "Okay, okay, Mr. Wang, you are really giving Xiaosan face by always raising Xiaosan like this. Please sit down, I'm going to sift the wine!" Yang Du stepped forward to help the teacher, and Shu Ji said from the side, "Father, you are here too!" Wang Kaiyun looked at his daughter-in-law, smiled and said, "Your brother is engaged, can I not come? I was supposed to come two days ago, but I'm used to being quiet and can't stand the bustle. Will you mind!" Uncle Ji said: "Look at what you keep saying, why would we mind!" "Where's Penger?" Wang Kaiyun glanced around, "I haven't seen you for a few days, grandpa misses him very much!" The uncle replied: "I went to play with the neighbor's kid, and I will call him to see grandpa later." Yang Jun came in shyly, called "Sir", and was embarrassed to say more. "Chongzi, congratulations!" Wang Kaiyun said with a red smile, "I've seen your guest who hasn't passed the door. She is good-looking and quiet. She also learned a few strokes of plum blossom from her father. I went to her that year. At home, Yin and Bai even asked her to draw a branch for me face to face. It’s really good, you really are a perfect match and fly like wings.” Yang Jun was so happy that he didn't know what to say. Wang Kaiyun took out a red paper package from his pocket, and handed it over: "Chongzi, these twenty silver coins are my congratulatory gift. The gift is too light to handle, so you just look at my thin face and accept it!" Mrs. Li hurriedly said: "Mr. Wang, how dare you do this? You always put it away first, and you always give it to him when you officially worship next year!" Yang Jun was also embarrassed to reach out to take it. Wang Kaiyun said: "Mother-in-law, this is only twenty silver dollars. I congratulate him on his engagement. I will pay homage next year. No matter how poor my old man is, he can't afford a hundred dollars less!" Li said emotionally: "Mr. Wang, the more you talk, the more polite you are." Uncle Ji also said: "Father, don't spend money when you are old." Wang Kaiyun said: "Uncle Ji, you are the daughter-in-law of our Wang family. If you want to speak on the side of the Wang family, you should be as polite as your mother!" As he said that, he forced himself on Yang Jun. Yang Du said to his younger brother: "Master Xiangqi is kind, so you can accept it!" Yang Jun had no choice but to say "thank you" and accepted it, and said to the teacher, "It's noisy here, so why don't you come to my study for a while!" "Well, I was just about to see your study." The Yang Du brothers supported the teacher one by one and walked to the back row of houses.There are four rooms here: Yang Du's family lives in the two rooms on the east side, Yang Jun's two rooms on the west side, one is used as a bedroom and the other is used as a study.When I came to the door, I saw a pair of couplets pasted on the pillars: saints can promote the way, but gentlemen don't need merit. Wang Kaiyun smiled and said, "This couplet seems to have been written by Chongzi himself, not by Xizi." Yang Du asked, "How can you see it?" Wang Kaiyun said: "If you write it, the second couplet must be 'a gentleman must make merit', how about it?" Yang Du laughed and said, "Sir, what you said is true." "It's really interesting that you were born of the same brother and one mother, but your personalities are very different." Wang Kaiyun entered the room while talking, saw a stele post on the desk, picked it up and said, "I wonder why the clerical script of Zhongzi's couplets is so beautifully written. It turns out that the post is written every day. This "Shimen post" has been read several times. ?” Yang Jun replied, "Seven or eight times." "What other posts are coming?" Yang Jun took out a stack of copybooks from the bookcase, Wang Kaiyun flipped through them, and asked, "Have you all been here?" "I've been there, more than a dozen times, and at least two or three times." "Chongzi has worked hard!" Wang Kaiyun closed the copybook and said seriously, "When learning official script, you should learn from the inscriptions of the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, but you should not be blind. You must be good at recognizing its strengths and distinguishing its weaknesses." Yang Jun hurriedly said: "Sir, what you said is very good, I just don't have this vision, you can always give me some pointers!" "My handwriting is not good, but I have worked hard to read the posts." Wang Kaiyun picked up the stack of calligraphy and posts again, flipping through them one by one. "I have thought about these posts carefully when I was young. For example, "Shimen Tie" has its strengths in being easy to accept and change, but its disadvantage is that it is not strict enough; "Zhang Qianbei" has a handsome font, but its style is short and can not be developed; "Hengfangbei" is solid in structure, but it seems clumsy and a little ethereal; "Yinzhoubei" is beautiful but not flashy; Stele of Shichen is just the opposite, it is reserved but not opened. Stele of Baishi Shenjun has more strength but lacks style, while Stele of Huashan has style but lacks strength. In my opinion, learning official script should be based on Stele of Kongxian "The Monument of Kong Xian" can be closed or released, can be real or empty, its structure inherits the pure and quiet of Xijing, and its strokes inspire the strength of the Northern Dynasty. This stele was engraved at the turn of the Han and Wei Dynasties. The author of the book is extremely conceived, and it is a peerless masterpiece. If you read "The Stele of Confucius Xian", Chongzi's official script should be a step forward." Yang Du said: "Sir, you have never heard of this high-level inscription on the inscription in Dongzhou before." Wang Kaiyun smiled and said, "You don't think I'm a calligrapher, and you never ask me, where did the high theory come from?" Everyone laughed. Yang Du thought of Uncle Ji’s newly chanted "The Resentment of Jade Stairs", so why not take this opportunity to ask your husband to enlighten him: "Sir, Uncle Ji has made a Wulu poem in the past two days. The poem is good, but her mood is a little low. Tell me!" It turned out that when Wang Kaiyun came to Shitangpu, it was secondary to congratulate Yang Jun, and the main thing was to bring his wife home.The day before yesterday, Dai Yi came home alone with a gloomy face, the old man knew that the young couple had another quarrel, and the daughter-in-law must be angry and stay at her mother's house and not come back.He asked his son a few words and taught him a lesson.Dai Yi said with a sad face, "Father, my uncle always ignores me. I can't do anything about her. Please help me, go to Yang's house and bring my uncle back!" "Hey!" Wang Kaiyun sighed heavily.You should be like Sun Zhongmou when you have a child, why did I give birth to Liu Adou!He really wanted to scold his son a few words of "asshole" and "useless", but seeing his son's pitiful look, his heart softened again.I also blamed myself for loving talents too much, and married such a talented and high-minded daughter-in-law for Dai Yi, Dai Yi was indeed not a good match for her.If he had known this, it would be better to find him an ordinary woman, so that he would not suffer from such uselessness.Can you blame your son?A father should know what his son is like. In the final analysis, he still blames himself!Wang Kaiyun became ruthless, and for the sake of the dead wife, he came to help his son again! Hearing what Yang Du said, Wang Kaiyun hurriedly said, "Ask Uncle Ji to show me the manuscript." After a while, Uncle Ji came in with her son in one hand and a poem in the other. Wang Kaiyun stretched out his hands and lovingly said to his grandson, "Come here, let Grandpa kiss you!" Peng'er went over, Wang Kaiyun hugged him on his lap, touched his grandson's face: "I haven't seen grandpa for a few days, do you want to?" "I think!" Penger replied articulately. "You are so good, you are really grandpa's sweetheart!" Wang Kaiyun was very happy, kissed his grandson twice, and said, "Peng'er, will you go home with grandpa?" The little guy looked at his mother silently. Wang Kaiyun understood, and said to Brother Yang Du: "Look, Peng'er looks more and more like his mother, and he doesn't have Dai Yi's stupidity at all. He will fight for the face of our Wangmen from now on. I want to enlighten him myself." When Uncle Ji heard this, she was both happy and sad, and the corners of her eyes were slightly red. "Uncle Ji, is that a new poem in your hand? Show me." Uncle Ji handed it over, and said softly: "Write a few words casually, please give me advice." Then she said to her son, "Grandpa has something to do, let's go down and play!" Wang Kaiyun let go of his hand, and Peng'er got off his knees.The poet took the paper and read it in a drawn-out tone. "Okay!" He put down the pad, looked at his wife and said, "This poem is very well written. If it is placed in the poems of Huai people in the Han and Wei dynasties, it can be confused with the real one. Especially "The night is long and the dew is heavy, and the lamp is warm and the hall feels secluded." These two sentences can be traced back to the artistic conception of Liang people in the Southern Dynasties that "the noise of the cicadas makes the forest more quiet, and the mountains of birdsong are more secluded." "Father praised you!" After hearing the father-in-law's evaluation, my uncle was very comforted. "Uncle Concubine has a root of wisdom in reciting poems." Wang Kaiyun glanced at his three apprentices and said, "You three brothers and sisters can be called the Three Yangs of Xiangtan, and there are differences among the three Yangs. Xizi is good at writing essays and analyzing things. Soliciting extensively and citing widely, there is an aura that makes people have to be convinced, so I always think that Xizi can be in politics. The talent of Zhongzi is in gold and stone calligraphy and painting, and his temperament is honest and indifferent, and he is expected to become a great artist. Uncle Ji Linghui, Rich in emotion and deep in poetry. Poetry does not win with knowledge, it is an expression of talent." A little girl brought a cup of fragrant tea, the uncle took it, and handed it to the father-in-law herself.Wang Kaiyun was very satisfied with this little act of his daughter-in-law. After taking a sip, he said, "I am very happy to read Uncle Ji's five character poem today. I would like to say a few more words about poetry." The three brothers and sisters sat down around the husband and listened attentively. "I have carefully compared poetry and prose, and I can see that there are no families of literature, but there are times. Poetry has not only times, but also the number of families. The division of writings into generations is like the division of languages ​​into regions. Qiantang dialect is not like Fuyang, and Xiangtan dialect is not like Hengyang. .Poetry is the voice of the heart, and each person speaks. Therefore, apart from the age, there are different schools of poetry. To learn poetry, you should learn from everyone." Uncle Ji was careful, and saw that her father-in-law hadn't smoked since entering the house, so she found a copper hookah from the main room, packed the cigarettes and handed it to her father-in-law herself.Wang Kaiyun was thinking about smoking, so he took the cigarette bottle and took a deep breath, and his energy really improved.Chongzi's study room became his classroom. "There are two schools of poetry, one with five characters, and one with seven characters. Uncle Ji likes five-character poems, and I have also worked hard on five-character poems. The thirty chapters of "Lonely Ballad" took me a hundred days of work. Today I will talk about five-character poems for you. Word." Wang Kaiyun took another sip, and became more interested. "Five words originated in Yu Ting, and flourished in the Su and Li families in the early Han Dynasty. Su's poems are Kuanhe, and Li's poems are Qingjin. Cao Zhi, Lu Ji, Pan Yue, Yan Yanzhi and others inherited the Kuanhe school in later generations, and Liu Zhen inherited the Qingjin school. , Zuo Si, Ruan Ji, Xie Lingyun, etc. In the Tang Dynasty, five-character poems integrated the strengths of Su and Li and formed a style of their own. Chen Ziang, Zhang Jiuling, Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Wei Yingwu, Meng Jiao, etc. were all great masters. Poems are beautiful, but the Ming Dynasty was devoted to imitation. The five-character poems in modern times are well done, and Wei Moshen and Deng Mizhi, two talents in Shaoyang, should be promoted." Wang Kaiyun's impromptu talk made the Yang family brothers and sisters admire them all, especially the uncle who loves poetry, thinking silently in her heart: If she really divorces Dai Yi, where can she find such a good teacher?Wouldn't it be a dream to make further progress in poetry without the guidance of a great poet like my father-in-law?Thinking of this, the thought of leaving the Wang family suddenly faded a lot. "Uncle Ji learns five-character poems, but he still needs to recite the works of Su, Li, Cao, and Ruan, and he will make progress day by day. Take "Yujieyuan" as an example. Although the artistic conception is good, there is still room for discretion in the use of words." Uncle Ji got up, picked up the poem paper and went to the father-in-law, and said, "Please help me to correct it." Wang Kaiyun took it, read it again with breathless concentration, and said: "For example, the second sentence, 'My girlfriend has old worries', the word 'old' is worth scrutinizing. Old worries, what is there to worry about in the old days? It is puzzling. .” Uncle Ji's face turned red all of a sudden.The word "old" is exactly the poetic eye of her poem.The whole poem, in the final analysis, is written for this "old" character.Of course she couldn't argue, but she also admired her father-in-law's vision from the bottom of her heart. "Father, what word should I change?" "I think it would be better to change the word 'far'. This poem says that the boudoir misses her husband who is far away. Changing 'old sorrow' to 'far sorrow' is more in harmony with the atmosphere of the whole poem." Uncle Concubine was still hesitating, but Yang Du, who knew the situation well, hurriedly said, "It's exactly what Mr. said, old sorrows should not reappear, and my girlfriend's heart can only be distant sorrows." Yang Jun didn't understand the meaning behind the poem, and said: "'Yuanchou' is good, but it's too heavy for the following 'Yuanjin'. There are only forty characters in a Wulu. It's not good if it's too heavy." "It's not difficult, just change it." Wang Kaiyun thought for a moment, and said, "How about this, "Thinking without distance" is changed to "Thinking without day and night". For good." "The 'day' of 'Day and Night' is heavier than the 'day' of the following 'Zhengqi Day Youyou'." Yang Jun seemed to be deliberately embarrassed, and found another problem. "It doesn't matter, just change it to the end!" This small difficulty is nothing to this master of poetry, he said without thinking, "'Zhengqi Riyoyo' is changed to 'Zhengqi Suiyoyo'." "It's really a good change!" Yang Du clapped his hands and praised, "Mr. Jing has made such a change, so it can be said that there is no regret at all!" After speaking, looking at her sister, Shu Ji stared at Shi Jian with a blushing face, and remained silent all the time.Taking advantage of this atmosphere, Wang Kaiyun lost no time in revealing his real intention of coming to Yang's house: "My uncle didn't make a sound, and she still has a different opinion. I don't think I can force it. The ancients said that one word can break several roots. A few words can be reconsidered. Shuji, bring Penger back with me tomorrow, and we can discuss it again. What do you think?" Uncle Ji finally understood how much pains her father-in-law spent on her.Even with my father-in-law's poetic remarks today, the old man's meaning could not be ignored, so she nodded slightly.Wang Kaiyun was relieved. At this time, there was a sudden sound of "嘡嘡" gong outside the door, followed by another burst of deafening firecrackers.Wang Kaiyun said to Yang Jun: "Someone must have congratulated you again, go and have a look!" After a while, Yang Jun came in excitedly, and said to Yang Du: "Brother, you go out quickly, three or four people who announced the good news came from the Futai Yamen, saying that the emperor issued an imperial decree to take brother to Beijing as a high official! "