Chapter 15 rushing for help

Ruan Dacheng's private residence, Shichao Garden, is located in Kusifangli in the south of the city.There is a grand gate building on the street, and the entrance is a spacious patio and a tall hall.The corridor behind the hall is winding and has many doors.It is said that when Ruan Dacheng fled from his hometown in Anhui to Nanjing eight years ago, he spent a lot of money to build this mansion. Therefore, the garden is not only magnificent and deep, but also carved railings and thresholds, embroidered households and windows, everything is very beautiful. The facilities are exquisite, such as Taohuawu, Ruxiang Xiaozhu, Maple Leaf Pavilion, and Meiwu, each with its own name and characteristics.Ruan Dacheng had this gorgeous and comfortable garden, coupled with his family's first-class cooking and first-class theater troupe, he tried every means to lure people from all walks of life to come, sing, dance, feast, talk swords and talk about soldiers, and it was really lively for several years.Later, it was severely criticized by the students of Fushe, and the number of guests who came to Shichao Garden dropped drastically.Although Ruan Dacheng was very annoyed, there was nothing he could do.He was extremely bored, so he had to devote all his thoughts to writing playbooks, such as "Peach Blossom Laughter", "Jingzhongmeng", "Munihe", "Double Gold List" and so on. In recent years, he has really written several.Although it is nothing more than good-looking and lively, and the words are gorgeous, but because it can cater to the fashion, all the major troupes in Nanjing are copying and reproducing it.Ruan Dacheng became complacent again because of this, and proudly said to others: "The Fushe gang worked together to exclude me, how stupid! In fact, in terms of knowledge and talent, I, Ruan Dacheng, can't compare to Qian Muzhai and Zhou Zhongyu! If they are willing to respect me as 'senior', I'm afraid the situation of rehabilitating the society will be far more than today's scale and worth!"

However, although it is easy to say big words, Ruan Dacheng is helpless in the face of this group of fierce and stubborn nerds, so now besides writing operas and songs, another thing he can do is to hide at home and play tricks. Garden.He has both energy and money, and the Stone Nest Garden is not safe all year round, and the master's eccentric brain has to come up with some new tricks - build a short wall here today, and rebuild a gazebo there tomorrow, or Plant 20 or 30 plants of the newly purchased Dali famous camellia in one go.However, within ten days and a half months, the short wall, gazebo, and camellia suddenly disappeared again. The original place may have been towering rocky mountains and winding streams...

This time, when Xu Qingjun and Ji Cheng escaped from Huang Zongxi, Hou Fangyu and others, they rushed into Shichao Garden in a panic, led by a house boy with a lantern, and walked along the winding corridors to the flower hall. When it was time, Xu Qingjun noticed that several arrangements were different.A Zhigui-style courtyard gate also turned into a moon-hole style, which made him suspect once or twice that he had gone the wrong way.If it was normal, Ji Cheng, who was walking beside him, would definitely feel itchy, and couldn't help pointing fingers and saying that this place was improved, but that place was self-defeating, and so on.However, at this moment, Ji Cheng was knowingly silent, and Xu Qingjun had no intention of appreciating it at all.

Tonight, Xu Qingjun was unlucky for eight lifetimes, God knows which evil god he offended, and made him bump into the Fushe gang of pestilence as soon as he went out!It didn't count that he was knocked out of one hundred and fifty taels of silver, and he was teased and insulted by them in public.Xu Qingjun didn't care about money, he usually went to the old courtyard to soak for a day, and he spent more than this amount.He was annoyed and lost face - Xu Qingjun felt that no matter what he could not swallow the anger of the dignified Second Young Master of the Zhongshan Prince's Mansion who suffered such humiliation in front of the common people!That's right, his elder brother Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, is currently on the defense of Nanjing and has the military power in his hands, so he should be able to say this for his younger brother.However, Xu Qingjun knew that although this elder brother was a big official, he was timid, so he might not be willing to go out and provoke Fushe, maybe he would even complain about him.Just now, Xu Qingjun was thinking about it in the sedan chair, and he was so depressed that he suddenly thought of Ruan Dacheng.He knew that Ruan Dacheng had deep grievances with Donglin and Fushe, and when he mentioned Fushe's scholars in private on weekdays, Ruan Dacheng was always so angry that he would pull his beard and get angry.What's more, this person is cunning, quick-witted, and full of ghostly thoughts, so he must be willing to take revenge on his own.Thinking of this, Xu Qingjun immediately ordered to change the way to Kusifang.Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the door just now, the doorman told him that the master had gone out temporarily.Xu Qingjun was not disappointed.Later, I heard that Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng's good friend of the same year, also came, and is now waiting for tea in the flower hall.Xu Qingjun thought that it would be better to listen to Ma Shiying's idea first, so he brought Ji Cheng in.

Xu Qingjun and Jicheng arrived at the flower hall, but Ma Shiying was nowhere to be seen.A servant replied, "Master Ma went to Yonghuai Hall to watch a rehearsal." Xu Qingjun didn't stop, and rushed back to Yonghuai Hall with Ji Cheng. Yonghuai hall is brightly lit.A group of little girls are gathering on the red pole in the center of the lobby, some are sitting on the side playing the piano and flute, and some are walking and singing.Zang Yijia, an opera instructor, personally holds the drums.He was about forty years old, pale and handsome, with no beard on his chin.He concentrated on mastering the rehearsal. Whenever he found that someone played the wrong key or sang wrongly, he would squint one eye painfully, and at the same time beat the drum board harder, as if to This is a reminder to those who make mistakes.

However, Xu Qingjun didn't pay attention to these.When he saw Ma Shiying sitting behind a rosewood table with a raised head, watching a play while pouring himself a drink, he yelled angrily: "Ah, old Yao! It's unreasonable, I'm so angry. !" The performance on the red pole was disrupted.The actors stopped their movements one by one, and turned their heads in surprise. Ma Shiying was taken aback for a moment, and after seeing clearly that it was Xu Qingjun, his expression returned to calm. "Oh, brother Qingjun." He said lightly, supported the table, and stood up slowly.

Ma Shiying is a skinny old man with a goatee. He looks about sixty years old. He has a large forehead, a pointed chin, and a bony nose in the middle. He has a gloomy and stern expression. wrinkle.He was a Jinshi in the forty-seventh year of Wanli. He once served as the censor of Youqian Capital and the governor of Xuanfu.In the fifth year of Chongzhen, he was impeached for embezzling money from the public treasury and bribing the dignitaries. He was sentenced to death. It was only because Ruan Dacheng spent a lot of money for him that he was changed to "exempt from death and banished".After the expiration, he went to Nanjing to work as an apartment.Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng originally had a "same year" friendship, and thanks to Ruan Dacheng's hard work to save them, and the fact that both of them had lost their jobs and fell in love with each other, they hit it off and soon became buddies, drinking and having fun together all day long, cursing The ground blames the sky.Naturally, they secretly did not relax their active activities towards those in power in the court, hoping that one day they will be restored to power and make a comeback...

"Old Yao, give me an idea, I want to teach those plague students in Fushe a lesson!" Xu Qingjun walked up to Ma Shiying, clasped his hands and shouted again. Ma Shiying glanced at him suspiciously, bowed back, and then made a salute together.He didn't speak, and gestured to give up his seat to an empty flat-top desk next to him, and sat down on his original seat. Xu Qingjun sat down on the chair involuntarily, and Ji Cheng sat down afterward.The little servant boy who was serving at the side immediately brought some exquisite snacks, placed wine cups, and poured wine for them.

Xu Qingjun grabbed the chopsticks and threw them on the table. "Old Yao—" He eagerly turned his face to Ma Shiying. Ma Shiying raised one hand, made a "wait a moment" gesture, and then said to the hall in a calm voice: "Continue to act!" So the interrupted music started playing again.The dan horns on the red 氍毹 are also swaying their waists, walking on the stage, and singing.Only then did Ma Shiying turn his face away, and asked calmly: "Well, brother Qingjun just said—" Xu Qingjun blinked, feeling quite displeased with Ma Shiying's arrogance and indifference, but had to lower his voice.

"Old Yao, my younger brother was bullied by the people from Fushe!" He said bitterly, and then he recounted everything that happened on the road just now.However, he concealed two points: first, he did not say that out of the one hundred and fifty taels of silver that was fraudulently taken, fifty taels were added by himself to show off his wealth and overwhelm the other party; second, he did not say that Hou Fangyu and others It has been publicly announced that the money will be used to relieve the hungry. Ma Shiying listened absent-mindedly while watching the performance.But soon he turned his face away, and his eyes gradually widened.Finally, he slapped the table and said angrily:

"How unreasonable! How can they be so nonsense in the dignified place where the capital is left!" "My little brother doesn't feel sorry for Yinzi!" Xu Qingjun said angrily, "It's just that they bullied people too much! I can't swallow this tone no matter what!" The group of actors who had resumed the rehearsal was startled by Ma Shiying's angry shout, and stopped again inexplicably.Later, I found out that the anger of the gentlemen was not aimed at them, nor did they mean to stop the show, so I continued to play hesitantly.However, after these two times of interference, they all seemed uneasy, and one after another, they made wrong steps and sang out of tune, which made Zang Yijia frown and sigh continuously. "Hmph, such coercion and extortion is no different from robbery in the street!" Ma Shiying was furious. "Yes, yes, they robbed and robbed me in the street!" Xu Qingjun shouted under his breath.Seeing that the cold and gloomy old man was really angry, he was overjoyed, turned his head and exchanged a wink with Ji Cheng, then leaned towards Ma Shiying, looking eagerly at the other's face, expecting him to say something unusual. However, after Ma Shiying said those two sentences, he leaned on the back of the chair, lowered his eyelids, remained motionless, and did not speak anymore. Xu Qingjun waited eagerly for a while, and gradually became impatient, and was about to press for questions.Suddenly, Ma Shiying spoke again. "Well, a few years ago," he said slowly, without raising his eyes, "I remember that a man named Xu Huaidan wrote an article denouncing the restoration of the society, in which he listed the top ten crimes of the society, such as usurping the king of heaven, Claiming to be sages, inciting cronies, envying the virtuous and establishing power, recruiting bandits, corrupting public morals, slandering and insulting, corrupting morals... um, and, and..." "There are also 'stealing positions and losing integrity' and 'inviting bandits to cause disasters'!" Ji Cheng reminded.This proclamation was posted everywhere in Nanjing and outside the city at that time, and many people copied it. It was quite a sensation for a while. Ji Cheng also read it, so I remember it. "En!" Ma Shiying nodded, still drooping eyelids, "After reading it at the time, I felt that his words were too much to be believed. No matter how bad the scholars in Fushe were, they were still scholars. I have been familiar with the teachings since childhood, and many of them are the children of officials and heirs of poetry and rites. There may be some dirty behaviors, but if it is said that all of them are like this, and they are intended to seek rebellion, it makes people feel that this is too strange and difficult Believe..." Ma Shiying paused at this point, as if thinking.But Xu Qingjun became confused when he heard it, and said quickly: "Ah, old Yao——" But Ma Shiying stopped him immediately with a wave of his hand. "As far as the first crime is concerned, the so-called 'impersonating the king of heaven', I think there must be no such thing!" He said decisively, opening his eyes, "Xu Huaidan's article lists this as the first crime, and its basis is the Zhang Pu expressed the word "Tianru"—"Tianru", "Rutian", is he not comparing himself to the king of heaven? In fact, it is absurd, it is not true! "Tianru" is just a broad and universal meaning. Although it is unavoidable and arrogant, it is not. As for comparing yourself to the Heavenly King, if "Tianru" is the comparison to the Heavenly King, then the word "Qingjun" is not comparing yourself to the Eastern Emperor? Will you really agree to it? It can be seen that Xu Huaidan's article is obviously a trap of catching wind and tricks! That's it for the first crime, and the rest is self-evident. Therefore, this article is pure nonsense, without reason, and totally unbelievable!" After Ma Shiying categorically made these three four-character comments in succession, he shut his mouth tightly and kept silent. Xu Qingjun agreed that you look at me and I look at you, but he was confused by Ma Shiying's words.They really don't understand that Ma Shiying just scolded Fushe for "it's no different from robbery in the street", so why did he try his best to fight for Fushe's injustice while talking? Ji Cheng scratched his head, and tentatively said: "Old Yao, according to my younger brother, Xu Huaidan's proclamation has some details, but it doesn't seem to be completely useless..." "No!" Ma Shiying's tone was extremely resolute, and there was no doubt that there was no room for debate. "A man must act with a sense of justice. It seems that this kind of person harbors personal grievances, is deeply thoughtful, treats a deer as a horse, and wants to succeed. Okay, there is absolutely nothing to do!" Xu Qingjun was dumbfounded.His complexion gradually became ugly, and he finally asked angrily: "As Mr. Yao said, are the people in Fushe really honest and gentlemen?" Ma Shiying shook his head: "That's not the case. Just now I heard from Brother Qingjun that they gather people to blackmail and rob in the street. They are really like bandits. How can there be any gentleman or gentleman? This is something that can be done, and why can't it be done?" It is probably not false to say that they impersonate heavenly kings, falsely claim to be sages, incite cronies, envy the virtuous and establish power, etc." He suddenly criticized Fushe again, but Xu Qingjun and Ji Cheng were even more confused.But Ma Shiying didn't pay attention to their bewildered expressions at all. "Fushe didn't scold me, and I have no old grievances with them," he said lightly, and paused, "I said they' pretended to be the king of heaven', not based on the word 'like heaven', but based on Its original intention. Since they dare to rob in the street, it can be seen that they have a thief nature. But if a person has a thief heart, then all the thief words and deeds can happen from it. , it’s not surprising. First, he said to Mr. Yangming: ‘Punish the thief in your heart.’ That’s what it means!” It wasn't until now that Ji Cheng somewhat understood.He couldn't help smiling: "This old Ma is so stubborn and conceited. He tried to belittle Xu Huaidan's call just now, so he wanted to show his fairness and magnanimity!" Xu Qingjun obviously still doesn't understand.He worriedly asked: "So Fushe is not a gentleman after all?" Ma Shiying gave him a cold look, "Of course he's not a gentleman!" he said.As if feeling impatient because Xu Qingjun still didn't understand the gist of his conversation, he raised his voice: "They are the thieves of the gentleman, um, the thieves of the gentleman!" Xu Qingjun understood now.He breathed a sigh of relief, immediately cheered up, nodded again and again, picked up the wine glass: "Yes, yes, the thief of the gentleman, the thief of the gentleman! Haha, Mr. Yao, to tell you the truth, just now, my little brother listened to you all the way down, I really have doubts in my heart, why did Lao Yao defend those boys from Fushe? I didn’t expect such a high-level theory to be hidden in the end!" Ji Cheng also picked up the wine glass: "Old Yao just strongly denounced Xu Huaidan's wrongdoing, but to distinguish between the root cause and the source, and to distinguish between public and private, evil and right. This is called not forgiving his heart just because he holds the same opinion. Can't make it!" After hearing the compliments from these two people, Ma Shiying did not express any joy.He probably thinks that what he said is the common truth that leads people to be good; there is no need to compliment the common truth. "Old Yao, Brother Qingjun suffered such humiliation today, what do you think we should do about it?" Ji Cheng asked after everyone drank a glass of wine. Ma Shiying's gaze had already returned to the performance in the hall.He didn't speak immediately.It wasn't until Ji Cheng suspected that he hadn't heard, and was going to repeat it, that Ma Shiying asked: "Brother Qingjun, what are your plans?" "Are you planning..." Xu Qingjun rolled his eyes, "Hmph, little brother, little brother wants to punish him, the thief in his heart!" "Oh?" Ma Shiying turned his face and looked at Xu Qingjun, "I want to learn!" "This, this..." Xu Qingjun stammered suddenly.He just had an idea just now, and talked along with Ma Shiying's words, but he didn't really understand the meaning of that sentence.He got up in a hurry, while faltering, while secretly tugging at Ji Cheng's sleeve. Ji Cheng coughed, arched his hands towards Ma Shiying and said, "Old Yao, punishing thieves in one's heart is a great plan to upright people's hearts and uphold customs, and it cannot be effective in a short period of time. The meaning of what Brother Qingjun said just now is also for the long-term. In terms of calculation. As for the present, it is enough to punish those who have returned to the society, and the anger in Xue's heart. I hope Lao Yao will advise me on this matter!" Xu Qingjun quickly said: "Exactly, such unsuccessful people must be severely punished!" Ma Shiying let out a long "oh", as if quite disappointed.He said lightly: "The way of punishment is not my specialty. When Elder Yuan comes back later, you two should go and ask him for advice!"