Chapter 9 Chapter Nine

As soon as he heard the word "Bizhong", Zhu Xi suddenly woke up. He propped up his hands, tried to raise his body, looked around, and found that he was in the wild.The surrounding land is flat and wide, and the wells and fields are connected to each other. There are more than a dozen thatched huts scattered between the wells. Occasionally, you can hear the crowing of chickens and the barking of dogs.In that piece of village, there is a three-story attic standing in it, which looks very elegant. And I was lying in a peach forest, there were peach trees everywhere, and bursts of fragrance came from those peach blossoms.Lu You patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said, "Old Zhu, you saved your life this time."

Zhu Xi ignored him, turned his head, trying to find out the source of the voice just now.At this time, the voice sounded again: "I have been paying attention to Mr. Hui'an for a long time, but unfortunately I have always been stingy, and now I just got what I wanted. It is really happy." "Honorable... but the owner of the pen mound?" Zhu Xi hesitated for a moment and asked cautiously. The voice "hehe" smiled, and replied a little shyly, "It's right here." Zhu Xi looked around and said, "So? This is the pen mound?" He suddenly thought of something, and couldn't help being surprised: "Could it be that this is..."

Lu You said proudly, "When I first entered this place, my reaction was exactly the same as that of you, Lao Zhu. You guessed right, this is the Peach Blossom Spring that Mr. Wuliu has always yearned for." Tao Yuanming's Zhu Xi has been read many times, but it is only a fable.Even when Lu You said to go to Changde, he didn't think much about it.Thinking back carefully now, Changde Mansion is where the old Wuling County is located. "Unexpectedly, what Tao Yuanming wrote is actually true." Zhu Xi murmured, feeling his throat a little dry.Lu You didn't bother him, let him digest this fact slowly.Since Tao Yuanming, many people have dreamed of this paradise, but who would have thought that it is actually the location of Bizhong?

"When Mr. Wuliu came to visit, I told him that he should not be an outsider, but I didn't expect him to write a half-truth and half-false article after he left, which not only let the world know the name of this place, but also did not violate the oath to me. , What a wonderful person." The voice of the owner of the pen mound was full of nostalgia and emotion. "So the Peach Blossom Spring is the Pen Tomb." Zhu Xi pondered. Lu You corrected him and said, "No, no, it should be said that the tomb of the pen is in the Peach Blossom Spring. It's just that the owner of the tomb of the pen is in seclusion now, so we have no chance to see it."

At this time, the land in the depths of the peach forest suddenly arched high, and the soil seemed to be grabbed by an invisible big hand, and it was gathered into a small round stone table and three stone benches in an instant.A gust of mountain wind blew quietly, and the peach blossoms scattered all over the place. Those peach blossoms that fell on the stone table turned into a jug of wine and three wine glasses. The shape of a peach tree beside the table suddenly changed into a man with a jade face and a green robe, looking at Lu You and Zhu Xi with a smile.Standing beside him was a boy with a double bun. When the boy suddenly saw a stranger, he flinched and quickly hid behind the man.

The man suddenly opened his mouth and said: "I can't go out of retreat, I can't greet you in person, I can only borrow a peach tree as my body, and prepare a little thin wine, Mr. Hui'an, please forgive me." Zhu Xi carefully looked at the peach tree incarnation of the owner of the tomb, with long eyebrows and thin eyes, about thirty years old, except for some bark textures on the skin, the expression and demeanor were no different from real human beings, he couldn't help secretly marveling.When the owner of the pen mound made a sound, the lips of the avatar moved accordingly, as if it was speaking.That little boy was born with red lips and white teeth, and delicate features, so I don't know if he is a real person.

Zhu Xi took two steps forward, and suddenly found that the pen spirits floating in mid-air were buzzing. Only then did he realize that those pen spirits were still connected to his body, sending power to him. Seeing his dazed expression, Lu You smiled, and said with gestures: "You suddenly fainted in the boat, but you scared me out of my body, tsk tsk. Fortunately, we were not far from Peach Blossom Spring at that time. , I ran all the way, used up three or four pen caddy, and then arrived at the pen mound." "Thank you, Brother Lu." Zhu Xi cupped his hands in thanks. Lu You snorted, and said disdainfully, "I have nothing to thank. If you want to thank, you can thank the master of Bizhong. You can get this life back, it depends on him."

Zhu Xi couldn't see the real body of the owner of the pen mound, so he had to pay respects from a distance.The incarnation of the owner of the pen tomb smiled and said: "Why is this so? It is you, Mr. Hui'an, who is very kind to my pen tomb! I have heard Lu You talk about the Confucian Temple. If you hadn't acted out of righteousness, those few pens and Lu You This daredevil will inevitably be devoured. Sir, I was injured on the pen grave, and I tried my best to treat it, that is my duty." Lu You interrupted: "The two good descendants you trained were either greedy for life and afraid of death, or stupid, but they have dragged us down a lot and squandered so many good works." With a wave of his hand, Cong Rong, Ling Yun , Linjiao and Changshi four pens were thrown to the master of the pen mound.The owner of the pen mound waved slightly, and they disappeared.

The owner of the pen mound said with a bit of regret: "How did Ling Yun and Lin Jiao get hurt so badly... Hey, even Cong Rong is not angry anymore. It will not be hundreds of years, I am afraid they will not be able to recover." Lu You said, "Hmph, it's not that you entrusted me with injustice!" The owner of the pen mound said indifferently: "It seems that I gave Lingyun to the Wei family and Linjiao to the Zhuge family. It was a mistake. Maybe it will be much better if they are exchanged." After he finished speaking, he turned to Zhu Xi and said solemnly: "I just laughed I was looking forward to Mr. Hui'an's visit, but I didn't expect it to be this way. It's all because of my incompetence that led to this disaster."

Lu You pursed his lips, snorted coldly, and dragged Zhu Xi to sit on the stone bench.The little boy hid back in fright, and Lu You stared: "What are you afraid of? Could it be that I will eat you? Where did you get this doll from? Why haven't you seen it before?" The little boy muttered for a long time, not daring to make a sound.The master of the pen mound said: "Don't bully the children." Immediately, Zhu Xi stretched out his right hand, felt his pulse, and said, "It's much better now. Mr. Hui'an, when you were just sent here, your spiritual power The consumption is too great, and the original source is lost, and there is nothing to replenish, so that the true energy will not continue. If it is a few hours later, the vitality of the entire physical body will be exhausted."

"Lost his origin? Could it be that his Ziyang brush is gone?" Lu You said in surprise, this was the first time he heard the owner of the pen mound talking about it.As soon as he turned his head, he saw Zhu Xi's white hair on the temples, and he understood a little, and felt sad for a while.On the contrary, Zhu Xi looked calm, it seems that he already knew this fact. The master of the pen mound ordered the little boy to fill a glass of peach blossom wine for all three of them, and continued: "Fortunately, you are a pure Confucian body with a superb will. I will bring these Confucian brushes and instill them directly with you." He pointed At the same time, those pen spirits that were originally hanging in the air flew to Zhu Xi and lined up in a row. "These brush spirits were refined from Ma Rong, Xu Zunming, Kong Yingda, Han Yu and others. They are all great Confucians of the past dynasties. They are quite similar to your physique and will not be repulsive. You have already possessed the strengths of all families in your body now. , full of Confucianism, even if the spirit of the pen is lost, the life should be safe.” Hearing this, Zhu Xi left his seat awe-inspiringly and paid respects to each brush for three times, then knelt down and kowtowed three times, meticulously. The owner of the pen tomb asked in surprise, "Mr. Hui'an, why did you perform the ceremony for the disciples first, and then the ceremony for the funeral?" Zhu Xi said solemnly: "I have been familiar with the works of these former teachers since I was a child, and I have been deeply educated. This time, I was saved by them with all their strength, and I was lucky to survive. Naturally, I must thank you with the disciple ceremony; but I saw The souls of these sages are not dispersed in all things, but they are imprisoned in the spirit of the pen, driven by people like a horse and cattle, and reduced to a puppet path, so the ceremony of offering sacrifices is performed again, so as to mourn and sentimental.” The owner of the pen mound was startled when he heard the words, and immediately laughed, and praised: "Mr. Hui'an is really a straightforward person." Then he squinted at Lu You, and jokingly said: "Old Lu, you usually pretend to be chic and straightforward, but why are you restrained now? Get up? Not as good as Mr. Hui'an." Lu You widened his eyes and said, "Where am I restrained?" The owner of the pen mound said: "If you can see clearly, why did you kick Mr. Hui'an's calf under the table?" Lu You was told by the owner of the pen mound, his face turned red, he grabbed the wine glass on the table and drank angrily.The owner of the pen mound turned to Zhu Xi and offered him a toast.Zhu Xi picked up the cup in a regular manner and drank it down. He only felt a stream of nectar flow into his throat and spread to his limbs and bones, making him feel indescribably comfortable.Those pen spirits flew into the boy's body as usual, and disappeared. The owner of the pen mound held the empty cup and said thoughtfully: "What is the significance of the existence of the pen spirit? This is a matter of opinion. To be honest, Mr. Hui'an, since I started refining pens at the end of Qin Dynasty, there have been disputes. I Among those refined, some people readily agreed, thinking that although the body is destroyed, the spirit of the pen can last for thousands of years, which is the way of longevity; Just as the master thought, he regards the pen spirit as a cage, and would rather lose his soul than be put into the pen grave." Zhu Xi raised his brows, feeling a little surprised by the openness of the owner of the pen mound.The owner of the pen mound paused for a moment, and suddenly said with emotion: "In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, there once was a poet fairy. I have already obtained my approval to refine his talent into a pen spirit. But that pen spirit is born unruly and refined into a After that, it directly broke free from my shackles and disappeared into the sky. I have never seen a pen spirit who is so persistent in freedom like it." Lu You slapped his thigh fiercely: "That's the stupidest thing you've ever done, what an excellent pen! Every time you mention it, I feel uncomfortable." Both of them had regretful expressions, and they fucked each other again a cup. The owner of the pen mound said again: "There is also Tang Wan'er's branch, even if it is refined into a pen spirit, it is still full of resentment." Lu You's expression darkened, and he said in a low voice, "I thought I could see her from time to time... If I knew she was in such pain, I might as well let her go." Zhu Xi didn't expect Lu You, who has always been bold and unrestrained, to have such a love affair, so he couldn't help but take another look at him.The little boy walked over with the wine jug, and looked at him curiously. Zhu Xi waved his hand and said, "Go and pour it for them." The little boy grinned, and went to the owner of the pen mound.After the other two drank two more cups, Zhu Xi asked slowly: "What does Mr. Dong think about the matter of the pen grave? Is he willing to become a pen slave for others to drive around? When Tianren wrote, he must have communicated with him.” When the two of them heard Dong Zhongshu's name, they both stopped drinking.They all knew that with Zhu Xi's temperament, he would ask this question sooner or later. "Oh... Celestial Pen!" The owner of the pen mound showed a strange look in his eyes. Although it was just an incarnation of a peach tree, the expression of this avatar could be described as extremely rich, "...that was a story from a long time ago. .The relationship between Tianrenbi and my pen grave is very deep, would you like to start from the beginning?" Zhu Xi immediately said: "I would like to hear the details." The owner of the pen mound nodded, waved his sleeves, and asked the boy to take away all the wine utensils on the table, and then said: "Mr. Hui'an has made great contributions to my pen mound, so he is naturally qualified to know these things." Lu You said excitedly: "I only knew a rough idea before, and I never heard you explain it in detail. I won't leave this time, I want to hear it clearly." The owner of the pen mound smiled and said, "It's up to you." He turned his wrist, and a fish book tube engraved with cold plums appeared in his hand. This fish book tube is exactly the spiritual weapon that Zhu Xi used to collect the heavenly and human pens.At this time, it was held by the owner of the pen mound and played with it repeatedly. The spirit of the pen inside seemed to have not given up, and the sound of beeping could be faintly heard.Seeing this, Zhu Xi frowned slightly.The owner of the pen mound noticed his expression, and stopped playing with it, and put the fish book tube on the stone table, allowing it to stand there by itself. "If you talk about Master Dong, you have to start with the Confucian catastrophe in the Qin Dynasty..." The incarnation of the master of the pen mound turned into a peach tree again, but voices sounded from all directions.Lu You and Zhu Xi found that the scene around them and the little boy had suddenly disappeared, and there seemed to be only two stone benches and a clear voice left in the whole world.Soon, the two of them felt that time began to pass rapidly, faster and faster, and finally formed a circle of vortexes, swirling wildly around them.In front of Lu You and Zhu Xi's eyes, there are many inverted images, which appear and disappear for a moment. From the Song Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, and from the Five Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, they have been tracing forward, as if they are going upstream in the torrent of time. Thousands of years have passed by. Soon they went back to one thousand three hundred and ninety-one years ago. Zhu Xi and Lu You realized that they had become spectators of history. He could hear and see, but he could not move. Like a dead soul, he could only silently watch all this repeat itself, but could not interfere. In front of them was a yellow-brown wilderness full of gravel.On the open ground in the wilderness, there are dozens of huge fire piles.These blazing fires were as high as several people, with a radius of more than ten feet, billowing black smoke soaring upwards, like dozens of thick black dragons flying in mid-air, covering the sky and the sun. Beside the fire, there are hundreds of ox carts lined up, and each cart is loaded with a cart full of bamboo slips.Soldiers in black armor took the bamboo slips from the ox cart and threw them into the fire, with crackling sounds from time to time.On the hillside farther away, a group of old men in robes knelt down on the ground, looking at the fire and weeping loudly. Farther away, a middle-aged man stood on a carriage with an uncertain face.A young scribe held three or four volumes of bamboo slips in his arms, ran to the car with a face full of panic, and stretched out the bamboo slips to the middle-aged man, as if begging for something.The middle-aged people turned a deaf ear. "In the thirty-third year of the first emperor, the emperor burned all the books in the world. On that day, I met a man named Shusun Tong." The voice of the owner of the pen mound rang in the ears of the two without losing the opportunity. "My ancestor was Zou Yan, a family of yin and yang, but in my generation, I was just a little scribe who loves books like hell. When His Majesty the First Emperor ordered the burning of books, I was terrified, so I handed over the few volumes of slips I had collected to Shusun Tong, I hope he can come forward to save the hard work of these predecessors. Shusun Tong, his public identity is a Confucian scholar serving the Emperor Qin, but in fact he is the "Hundred Parents" of the world. When Su and Qin united the six kingdoms At that time, the schools of the Six Kingdoms also secretly united, and jointly elected one person as the leader of the Hundred Schools, to rule over the Hundred Schools and resist the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty. Shusun Tong is the successor of the Hundred Schools in this generation . "He is the head of a hundred families, and he has the responsibility to protect the interests of a hundred families. But when I saw him, he refused my request. He said that he had no teeth and tongue, and that he would face the powerful court fiercely. His resistance will only lead to the complete annihilation of all schools of thought. Letters are just dead things, let them be burned. Temporary compromise is for people to continue to live. As long as people are alive, knowledge will be passed on. After saying this, he never I took those treasured classics from my hands and threw them into the fire. I was very sad and helpless about this. Shusuntong appreciated me very much and called me to be his accompanying bookboy." Zhu Xi and Lu You found that the time and space around them began to change again, and they quickly realized that it was still the same yellow-brown wilderness, but the people in the wilderness had changed. This time, hundreds of soldiers in black armor could be seen standing in four phalanxes.In the middle of the four phalanxes is a huge pit filled with people.Zhu Xi and Lu You could recognize some of the faces among them. They were the Confucian scholars who cried bitterly on the hillside when the books were burned. This time, the middle-aged man was still standing far away in the car, his face ashen.The little scribe next to him was full of anger, secretly clenched his fists.When the soldiers began to fill the pit, the little scribe turned around resolutely and left alone. "Whether it be Shusun Tong or me, neither of us would have imagined that in the second year after the burning of books, Emperor Shihuang would start cheating Confucians again. This was an unprecedented tragedy. More than 400 disciples of Confucianism and dozens of disciples of hundreds of other schools They all died in this incident. Shusuntong remained silent during this incident. The schools of thought were in an uproar, accusing Shusuntong of being cowardly. The leader of the Confucian school, Kong Yu, even threatened to dismiss him. I also expressed my dissatisfaction with this useless practice of begging for perfection. I questioned him face to face. Now that people have been killed, how should knowledge be passed on? Shu Suntong smiled wryly and shook his head, without saying anything , so I decided to leave. "Shu Suntong didn't keep me. Before he left, he told me that the "Hundred Parents" was established at the beginning to prevent the extinction of the inheritance of the schools. The Hundred Parents have tried various methods in the past. Confucianism's restoration of rituals, Taoism's renunciation of sages and wisdom, and even imitation of Legalism's political claims, unfortunately all failed without exception-the final answer is to burn books and bury Confucianism. Shu Suntong said that maybe it is time to change There's a new way." The surrounding scene began to change again, this time it was a huge palace stretching for dozens of miles, with magnificent buildings and jade buildings, which were extremely magnificent.A little scribe was sitting outside one of the palaces, looking up at the sky bewilderedly.Inside the palace gate behind him, there are a sea of ​​bamboo slips piled up. "Shu Suntong told me that he had a premonition that there would be a catastrophe bigger than burning books and burying scholars. As a patriarch, he had the responsibility to lead his sons to survive the catastrophe. For this reason, he did not hesitate to use any means. But he He said that the older generation has the practices of the older generation, and the new generation has the hope of the new generation. He had high hopes for me and thought that I might be able to blaze a new path. Therefore, he sent me to the Efang Palace to be in charge of the Cangguocheng Sort out the surviving books of the Six Kingdoms—there is the place with the most complete books in the world. Shusun Tong said, if I can find out the answer to how to pass it on, at that time, he will entrust me with the seal and responsibility of the Hundred Parents When he said this, he instantly aged a lot. "In the next ten years, I stayed at Efang Palace, reading and sucking crazily, hoping to find answers from these classics. The changes in the world outside the palace have disappeared for me. Meaning, I don't know about the death of the First Emperor, the demise of Prince Fusu and Prime Minister Li Si, the practice of Hu Hai and Zhao Gao's arbitrariness, and the collapse of Daze Township and the world. I was just immersed in the sea of ​​books until That fire happened." The voice of the owner of the pen mound carried a hint of self-mockery. Zhu Xi and Lu You saw that their surroundings suddenly turned into a vast and boundless sea of ​​flames, and the magnificent palace just now was swallowed up by this terrifying and crazy Zhu Rong.Countless soldiers around threw torches towards these buildings, clapped their hands and laughed loudly, and a big Chu character flag fluttered high against the fire.A young man curled up in the palace, leaning against a mountain of bamboo slips and shivering.