Chapter 11 Chapter Ten Brotherly Love

In July of the fourth year of Xining (1071), Su Dongpo and his family left the capital to work in Hangzhou, the Lido on the southeast coast of China.In the following eight or nine years, he served respectively in Hangzhou, Mizhou near Qingdao, and Xuzhou in Jiangsu, and his political achievements were very good.This was the most active period for him to write poetry, and he wrote many beautiful poems, elegy, humorous poems and angry poems.He was naive, free, almost childish, and fully expressed the emotions in his heart. In the end, these lamentations and angry poems attacking the ruling authority brought him great disaster.

His younger brother Ziyou taught in Chenzhou (also called Huaiyang at that time), seventy or eighty miles southeast of the capital, within Su Dongpo's travel range.As usual, he took the opportunity to spend more time with his younger brother and lived there for more than seventy days.His eldest son is twelve years old and has a one-year-old toddler, but his younger brother has a large family of children.Silent Ziyou continued to give birth, giving birth to three sons and seven daughters in total. Su Dongpo once helped him marry off his daughters one by one.His younger brother wanted to keep him for a short stay, Su Dongpo readily agreed and stayed until the Mid-Autumn Festival was over before leaving.Ziyou was very poor, and the whole family lived in a small, low house. Su Dongpo often joked about his younger brother's height: "I often bow my head to recite scriptures and history, but suddenly I stretch out my head to the house."

Their old friend Zhang Fangping retired from old age and returned to his hometown. He also lived in Chenzhou, and they often drank together.Zhang Fangping has a huge capacity for alcohol, and he never gets drunk after a hundred drinks.Su Dongpo himself said that he drank much less, but he felt that there was no need to quit drinking.Ouyang Xiu is also huge - but Zhang Fang usually wins him.Zhang Fangping started to drink, instead of telling the guests how many glasses they wanted to drink, he always told them how many days they would drink.Su Dongpo said: "I don't envy people who drink a lot. I get drunk after one or two drinks, but am I as happy as you?"

The family lived and reunited for more than two months. The brothers often went boating on Liuhu Lake, or took a walk in the suburbs of the city, discussing politics, housework and each other's future.One day, the two of them were walking in the countryside and discussing the political situation of the country. Ziyou advised his elder brother.The biggest shortcoming of Su Dongpo is that he likes to frankly express his thoughts in front of guests or in his works, which is very disadvantageous.Ziyou knew his brother very well.Ziyou put his hand on his mouth and told him to be silent from now on. Later, when Dongpo was released from prison, Ziyou made the same hint.

The two brothers have different tempers and looks. Ziyou is taller, with a rounder face and a lot of fat on his cheeks, while Su Dongpo is stronger, with well-proportioned flesh and bones.We judge from his portrait that he was about five feet seven or five feet eight, with a large face, high cheekbones, a prominent forehead, long bright eyes, a well-proportioned chin, and a beautiful, pointed Chinese beard.The most touching thing is his sensitive, lively and powerful lips.This is a warm and radiant face full of humanity, and the expression quickly turns from enthusiastic laughter to deep thought.

"I know," Su Dongpo said to his younger brother, "I often open my mouth. I think something is wrong, just like finding a fly in the meal, and I have to spit it out." "But first you have to know who you're talking to," his brother said. "Some people are trustworthy, and some people aren't." "That's my weakness," agreed Su Dongpo. "Maybe I'm too trusting by nature. No matter who I talk to, I like to pour out my inner secrets." He told his younger brother that he was really worried for his life when he submitted the form to the emperor.He said a friend was also worried.That is Chao Duanyan, who once came to see him, and both of them passed the Jinshi examination in the same year, and they often called each other "the same year", which means similar to the classmates who graduated in the same year at the university.

"However, I told Chao Tongnian that I had passed the special examination of Emperor Renzong," Su Dongpo said again, "I was immediately regarded as a friend by the high officials, and Emperor Renzong had accepted my admonishment. Now if I don't speak up, who will? ?I told Chao Tongnian that I was really afraid of dying. He didn't speak. His expression was very serious. Then I said, 'It's okay. If the emperor wants to kill me, I will die without regret. But one thing, if you break me, you'll be fine. I'm not doing it'. Both of them laughed." "Did you know?" said his brother, "have you ever noticed that one day of leisure seems to be equal to the usual two days? So a man who lives seventy years to be able to spend all day at leisure has in fact lived one day." One hundred and forty. It's an easy way to live longer."

The two brothers have always had the same political views and positions, but their personalities are completely different.Ziyou is stable by nature, seeking truth from facts, conservative, and doesn't like to talk too much; Dongpo is bold, cheerful, talkative, naive and reckless of all consequences.Friends and companions think that Ziyou is very reliable, and Dongpo is a cheerful genius, but his taunts and pranks are often frightening.Among close friends, Dongpo was complacent, cracked jokes, and used a lot of puns.He made the truth-tellers of the world nervous that any moment he might tell the truth--as if it could be told if it were the truth!

Their writing styles are also different-the difference is like Henry James and William James, Dongpo is like William, and Ziyou is like Henry.Judging from their respective talents, it seems that William James should write novels, and Henry James should write treatises on psychology and philosophy.However, William James injected style and humor into boring psychology and philosophy textbooks, and Henry James injected solid content of human thoughts and observations into the field of fiction, but they have brought great contributions to the world.Ziyou's demeanor is not half as good as his brother's, but his works are rich in content and depth, making him a unique writer.

Dongpo knew that his younger brother's persuasion was correct, and if he had been as silent by nature as his younger brother, he would have followed suit.But it's not a matter of what he thinks, it's a matter of how he feels.When it comes to Su Dongpo's personality, it is difficult to avoid the term "Qi". Every critic who summarizes Su Dongpo's character will inevitably mention the word Mencius. "Qi" means gas, air, atmosphere, spirit, strength, impulse, suppressed anger.Mencius's so-called "qi" is similar to Bergson's philosophical word "vigorous vitality", which is a vivid and compelling force in human character.The difference between a big man and a small man often lies in the difference in energy, drive, impact and liveliness.In the theory of Mencius, the word represents the great moral force, simply put, it is a person's noble spirit of doing good and seeking justice, which is innate and strengthens or weakens with the progress of life.According to Su Dongpo, it is equal to the great spirit, the spirituality that a person ascends to infinite series, big and strong, fierce and fast.Su Dongpo's critics and admirers often mention his great aura, this powerful and heroic force.Mencius felt that his chest was full of this power, so he described that with the support of justice and truth, people are not afraid of anything in the universe.

"What kind of aura is Wei Wei?" Mencius' disciple asked him once. "It's hard to describe," Mencius said, "this kind of integrity is so great and strong. If it is properly cultivated and not harmed, it will fill the universe, but one must strive for justice and truth. Without justice and truth, integrity will shrink." ("To be big and strong, to support directly without harm, it is stuffed between heaven and earth, it is Qi, and it matches Dao and righteousness. ; If you don’t keep your mind in your actions, you will be discouraged.”) Su Dongpo has this kind of typical awe-inspiring integrity, so he constantly encounters ethical contradictions. On the one hand, he wants to maintain his true colors and the natural fearlessness of human beings, and on the other hand, he wants to be wise and protect himself.In certain periods of Su Tungpo's life, this contradiction was particularly acute, but usually he remained a hero.I don't think Su Dongpo has too many conflicts in mind.His great genius constantly demanded unhindered play: