Chapter 6 Section 6. Write a notice to refuse to participate in official entertainment

When Zeng Guofan was studying at Yuelu Academy in Changsha, he loved antiques in his spare time, especially calligraphy and painting.For this reason, he worshiped Master Qi, the old shopkeeper of Hunan Hanbaozhai, as his teacher, and specialized in learning the knowledge of appraising antiques.Studying the pen, paper, silk and mounting of ancient calligraphy and painting one by one, he just cultivated a pair of good eyes. Even Master Qi, who has been engaged in antique appraisal all his life, had to praise "Fire Eye Zeng". Hanbaozhai is a time-honored antique shop, run by the Qi family for three generations. There are thousands of authentic ancient calligraphy and paintings in the back hall.This is where Zeng Guofan saw the Tang facsimile of Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, and there are also a small amount of authentic works by Tang Bohu and Song Huizong.

When Zeng Guofan came to Beijing for a test, Antique Qi specially chose a Dou Fang from Song Prime Minister Cai Jing as a gift to him in order to encourage him. On the second day of the Imperial Academy, Zeng Guofan came to Mufu to thank his teacher.When Li Bi looked up, he saw a middle hall hanging on the wall of the teacher, which looked like an ancient calligraphy and painting.In the home of a bachelor, Zeng Guofan, who had just entered the Imperial Academy, did not dare to deviate in the slightest, but he couldn't resist the temptation of the painting. When he was leaving, he finally mustered up the courage to say to the teacher: "Teacher, the student has a request, but I'm also afraid that my mentor will blame me."

Mu Zhang'a was stunned: "Tell me, Zeng Hanlin, it's your first time to come to this old man, how can I blame this old man?" After hearing this, Zeng Guofan pointed to the wall with his hand: "Students want to take a good look at this painting on the wall." When Mu Zhang'a heard this, his eyes widened in surprise.He didn't expect that the young man in front of him had the same hobbies as himself, so he happily agreed: "Okay, come and have a look." Zeng Guofan walked up to the wall boldly, only then did he see clearly that it was a picture of Zhou Fang's ladies from the Tang Dynasty.Judging from the use of pens, paper and silk, they are all in the style of Tang Dynasty.Zeng Guofan had seen Zhou Fang's picture of a lady with a fan at Antique Qi, but this one was a picture of a lady with a drum and piano.

Zeng Guofan looked at it all the way, gradually immersed in the painting, and said while watching, "Bring the magnifying glass quickly." Mu Zhang'a was surprised and astonished, so he had to hand over the magnifying glass on the case.Zeng Guofan took it over and looked at it for a long time before saying, "What a pity!" "What?" Mu Zhang'a asked with wide eyes. Zeng Guofan shook his head while watching and said, "Unfortunately, I can't see the signature." Mu Zhang'a was in a surprisingly good mood at this time, he took the painting stick, took off the painting himself, and carefully put it on the desk.

Zeng Guofan put a magnifying glass on the painting and looked at it repeatedly. After a long time, he straightened up and said to himself: "It's a pity, this is a fake!" "What?" Mu Zhang'a finally couldn't bear it anymore.Zeng Guofan woke up suddenly, knowing that he had caused trouble.He quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "Students should die! Please forgive me, teacher!" Mu Zhang'a gasped and said coldly: "Is this painting a fake? Huh! Is the old man blind?" Zeng Guofan had long heard that Mu Zhongtang was a master at appraising ancient calligraphy and paintings among the disciples of the Eight Banners of the capital, so he just kowtowed and didn't dare to speak.After a long time, Mu Zhang'a breathed a sigh of relief: "Zeng Hanlin, get up, the old man didn't blame you. Come on, tell me about this painting."

After standing up, Zeng Guofan said with a blushing face, "Thank you, teacher, for your kindness. The students are not yet knowledgeable, so don't dare to speak nonsense. Teacher, don't be ashamed of the students anymore!" Mu Zhang's face sank, and he stroked his beard and said to himself Said to himself: "The old man is approaching his sixtieth age, and the most difficult thing to see is that there is no beginning and no end!" Seeing this situation, Zeng Guofan said helplessly: "The students didn't see anything in the whole picture scroll, but the inscription is a bit suspicious. My mentor knows that the rice paper in Tang Dynasty was rough, but the rice paper at the inscription was more delicate. Withdraw the original payment and make up the payment later. Judging by the fineness of the rice paper, it looks like it was done by a wise man, please be careful with your mentor."

Mu Zhang'a picked up the magnifying glass and looked at it seriously.After a while, Mu Zhang'a raised his head and shouted outside: "Come on, hurry up and serve wine, this old man wants to get drunk with Zeng Hanlin!" Hearing this, Zeng Guofan's heart dropped to the ground, and the distance between the two of them suddenly shortened.Facing the "Ping Fu Tie" now, Zeng Guofan did not dare to neglect in the slightest. With a magnifying glass in his hand, he looked at the "Ping Fu Tie" bit by bit. Mu Zhang'a and the two priests held their breaths waiting for the result.

"Ping Fu Tie" is a letter written by Lu Ji, a writer and calligrapher in the Western Jin Dynasty. The content is a comment on three friends, He Xun, Wu Ziyang and Xia Borong.The "Ping Fu Tie" that Zeng Guofan saw was written on hemp paper with a bald pen. . After the scrutiny, Zeng Guofan straightened his waist and let out a sigh of relief, and said happily: "Congratulations to my mentor, this is indeed the "Ping Fu Tie" written by Lu Ji of the Western Jin Dynasty!" "Hahaha..." Mu Zhang'a's laughter echoed in the living room.Everyone in the Mu family knew that this was the laughter that Xiang Ye made when he was extremely happy.It's just that in recent years, Mr. Mu laughed like this more and more.

After returning from the prime minister's mansion, Zeng Guofan saw a post addressed to himself by the concierge at a glance. When he opened it, it turned out that it was Zhan Shi, the young man of Zhan Shi's mansion, and Jin Zhengbi, a fourth-rank full official, sincerely invited all Beijing officials to come to celebrate his old aunt's birthday. banquet post. Zhan Shifang was originally an institution specially set up to counsel the prince, and later it was also adapted to compile national history. It was two separate yamen established under the same institution as the Imperial Academy.People from the two places have relatively close contacts, and Kim Jong-bi and Zhao Ji are the closest friends.

As soon as Zeng Guofan saw the post, his wrists became sore, and a feeling of disgust gushed out all of a sudden. He knew that since Zhao Ji didn't attend the banquet, Lord Jin's old aunt's birthday banquet also couldn't be attended.By analogy, from now on, all types of banquets held by Beijing officials will naturally be even more inaccessible.It is a taboo among officials to treat each other favorably.Whoever wants to occupy this line will not be allowed to stay in the capital.Perhaps, if everyone is offended, no one will be offended. Having made up his mind, Zeng Guofan casually put the post aside, as if letting go of a concern.He went to the tea room and asked for half a basin of hot water. He wanted to use the hot water to rub Lao Gao's swollen right wrist due to excessive copying.If the right wrist does not activate blood circulation and remove stasis in time, it will not be possible to hold the pen steadily within a few days.He doesn't do business, so it's no wonder Zhao Ji didn't report him to Wen Qing!

Unexpectedly, without hot water rubbing, the pain in the wrist can still be tolerated, but after hot rubbing, it may be due to the dispersion of the blood, and the pain will become excruciating.Zeng Guofan had no choice but to light the lantern in the waiter, and went to the pharmacy opposite to buy a pain-relieving plaster and put it on, which relieved him a little. The more Zeng Guofan thought about it, the more angry he became. He had already lay down on the bed to rest, and got up again with his clothes on.He simply kept doing nothing, picked up a pen and wrote a notice on a piece of eight-line paper: "Zeng Guofan was born in poverty, looks ugly, and has no silver in the box. Although he is a reviewer, he is a junior official. The salary is limited, and there is no surplus except for food, clothing, housing and transportation. From now on, no one will participate in the affairs of Beijing officials who go to the constitution, and colleagues will sit at the table to accompany wine and socialize, and the invitations will not be kept. Forgive me." The next morning, he sent this notice to Fang Stick it squarely on the pillar of the guild hall. Not long after, Zeng Guofan was imprisoned by the censor because of his "confused and perfunctory handling of errands", and was sent to the Imperial Academy by Dao Guangge for review.Although I went to the Hanlin Academy every day to do some work, I had no practical errands, no salary, and my situation was not as good as that of a good scholar.When Yili paid greetings to Zhao Ji and other Shangxian, and when they were tired of saying goodbye, these people not only raised their faces high, but also said a few words of ridicule and ridicule from their mouths from time to time.Zeng Guofan was embarrassed several times. Some of his former colleagues and fellow countrymen were very good with him. At this time, he didn't know whether he was afraid of losing the black hat on his head, or whether he was afraid that the Shangxian would blame him and affect his future, so they also started to avoid him.He sometimes wants to go over and say something, these people are either evading their work, or they are looking for a reason to walk away, obviously they don't want to pay attention to him. In depression and loneliness, Zeng Guofan wrote such a poem: