Chapter 49 Two A Bittersweet Dream

After finishing this important family matter, Zeng Guofan felt relieved for a while, and went back to his room to rest for a while.As soon as he lay down on the bed, he suddenly saw his long-lost grandfather and father, and he was very surprised. Open your eyes and look around, isn't this the lotus leaf pond?The flowing water that winds around the mountain is just the trickling river; the verdant peaks and ridges are exactly the Gaomei Mountain that you think about day and night. "Ah, the hometown that gave birth to me, I'm back in your arms!" Zeng Guofan felt unspeakable joy in his heart, shouting, and ran towards the Juanshui River and Gaomei Mountain like a child.

He walked along the Jushui River, as if he was just a primary school student carrying a bamboo basket, who had just bid farewell to Master Yanmen from the ancestral hall. He was full of interest in the kingfishers flying in the grass and the fish swimming in the water.The hunchbacked fifth father was still sitting under the ancient willow tree, leisurely holding a three-foot-long pipe in his mouth.He got up and pulled the rope, and pulled up the century-old rope that had been handed down for generations, and the little fish and shrimp jumped around in the net.Seeing the children who were leaving school greedily standing aside, the hunchback fifth father chose a small red crucian carp and handed it over.The primary school student held it in his hands as if he had found a treasure, and ran towards home with his legs spread.Behind the five fathers shouted: "Baby, you don't want your bamboo basket anymore?"

Running and running, the red crucian carp disappeared. The elementary school student went up to Mount Gaomei, and in an instant he turned into a boy of sixteen or seventeen. Holding a hatchet in his hand, he walked into a bamboo forest along the mountain path.What a beautiful bamboo branch, so quiet and strong, he really couldn't bear to raise the knife.But no way, he wants to chop off the bamboo, use it to weave baskets, and then sell them on Jiangshi Street in exchange for a few pennies for paper and pens. Shulang's family is not well off!He doesn't suffer from it.The path in the forest gave him a lively and interesting sentiment, and the bamboo baskets with green skin and white heart formed from his own hands brought him the joy of success...

Suddenly, there were deafening firecrackers at the foot of the mountain, and he ran down quickly. Amidst the sound of the gong, a servant with a red flower on the left side of his hat walked out, and shouted at the door of the house: "Congratulations, the thirty-sixth candidate of your son's high school!" Grandfather and father came out with smiles and received the good news. The door of the house was surrounded by old and young people from four townships and eight villages who came to watch the fun.After a while, the crowded crowd gave way, and a big red sedan chair was carried in. Mr. Ouyang Ningzhi, the old father-in-law, rode behind the sedan chair with a smile, and the lady came!Zeng Guofan came to the door with double happiness, and he was so happy that he couldn't help himself.It was late at night, and all the relatives and friends who were making trouble in the bridal chamber had left. The wife was shyly sitting on the edge of the bed with a red silk hood on her head.Holding a dragon and phoenix red candle, the groom walked over anxiously, he didn't know what the bride looked like.After hesitating for a long time, he finally gently lifted the red silk.The groom was stunned: under the candlelight, the bride's face was pink and her cheeks were full of affection.A sense of happiness that he had never felt before surged into his heart, and he hugged the bride in a drunken way with delusional eyes.Slowly he opened his eyes, and the lady in his arms was already visible. His forehead was full of wrinkles and his hair was gray. He let go of his hands in disappointment, and suddenly saw a decrepit old man in the mirror.That was himself!

He walked out the door dejectedly.There was a lot of traffic and people outside. "Isn't this going to Changsha City?" When he saw the familiar Fire Palace, he thought to himself.The Fire Palace was a mess inside and out, and he was about to turn around and walk away when a man with a rag on his shoulder said with a smile on his face, "Looking for a quiet place? The private room upstairs please." Zeng Guofan stopped, seeing this The guy is very familiar, isn't this the very talkative waiter in Yueyang Tower?How did he get here!If you take a closer look, it's not.what!

By the way, he is the loyal boss of the small restaurant at the foot of Jiji Mountain.The boss lifted up his apron, wiped his hands and said, "Don't worry, you will never see Long Mao again. Long Mao has already wiped out you. There are no outsiders in the booth. They are all your long-lost friends." Zeng Guofan felt it was strange. When he went upstairs and opened the curtain to look at it, his heart skipped a beat.There are three people sitting at the Eight Immortals table in the private seat, drinking and talking happily.Jiang Zhongyuan sat on the top, Hu Linyi sat on the right, and Luo Zenan sat on the left.

He hurried in and bowed to say hello: "I haven't seen you for a long time, so you are all here!" Strangely, none of the three noticed him and continued talking about them.He was very frustrated, so he sat awkwardly leaning on his hands to take a rest.Only Jiang Zhongyuan said with a hearty smile: "It's all right now, the world is quiet. It's exactly what Mr. Kang Jie said back then: 'People are happy in peace and nothing happens, and Yinghua has infinite days to sleep.' We can enjoy it to our heart's content." I drank and wrote poems." "That's right. Thinking back to how difficult it was for us to establish Xiangyong, a homicide occurred in this fire palace that year, forcing Xiangyong to be unable to settle down in Changsha and had to hide in Hengzhou." Luo Zenan chime in.

"It's rare to bear the burden of humiliation in life, and finally trained a land and water army in Hengzhou, which laid the foundation for the Hunan Army's victory in the future." Hu Linyi sighed. Zeng Guofan felt a little relieved when he heard it from the side, and thought to himself: "Fortunately, they didn't see me, let's sit for a while and listen to what they have to say." "If you say that Disheng bears the burden of humiliation, I am really inferior. Needless to say, the bullying of the township soldiers and the power of the Hunan officialdom, and later in Jiangxi, the new and old governors have trouble with him, and they don't pay them. A large amount of gold and silver went back to the lotus leaf pond, saying that he was incompetent in war and well-stocked, and you are angry!" Luo Zenan took off his glasses and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. tears.Zeng Guofan was very grateful to his in-laws for this move.

"This is understandable. The reason is stupidity and jealousy. The most embarrassing thing is that Deyin Hangbu was sent to the barracks to spy, and Duolong'a followed. Disheng is full of enthusiasm and loyalty. Isn't it chilling that the imperial court is so suspicious!" Hu Linyi touched the table with his hands heavily back and forth, as if venting his pent-up anger, red tides appeared on his usually sallow cheeks. Zeng Guofan stared at them blankly.Emotion. "Forget it, let's not talk about it. Fortunately, Brother Disheng's ambition has become a great cause, and now he has achieved fame. Since the Qing Dynasty in San Francisco, no Han has the honor of Brother Disheng. We all rely on his humiliation And it is famous in Lingyan Pavilion." This was Jiang Zhongyuan's sonorous and unrestrained voice, and he took a sip of his wine after speaking.

"Long-haired and twisted seeds are easy to deal with, but it is foreigners who are difficult to deal with. I am always worried that Disheng will fall into the hands of foreigners and ruin half a lifetime of fame." Hu Linyi didn't drink, and his mood suddenly fell.When Zeng Guofan took a sneak peek, the blush on his cheeks disappeared. It was exactly what he looked like when he vomited blood and passed out on the South Gate Wharf in Anqing: thin and gray, with his eyes slightly closed. "What are foreigners afraid of? They don't have three heads and six arms. If they hit my hands, they will never come back." Jiang Zhongyuan said angrily, still with the spirit of fighting coir raincoats and guarding Changsha City.

The three of them were talking vigorously, when suddenly the curtain was lifted again, and an old scholar with long beard came in with his head held high.The man was dressed in shabby clothes and was hale and hearty.As soon as he came in, he pointed his cane at the people at the table of the Eight Immortals and said, "You guys are having a good time drinking here, why didn't you call me?" Zeng Guofan took a closer look, and knew that it was Wu Nanping, an eccentric from Yuezhou, who hadn't seen him for more than 20 years, and unexpectedly met here.Just as I was about to get up to say hello, I thought again, since they can't see me, I won't disturb them, and just sit and listen. Wu Nanping sat down on his ass, and after a few sips of wine, he did not change his old habits. He was full of complaints and wrote strange words: "I have been listening outside for a long time. You are all the big leaders of the Hunan Army. It was your Hunan army that destroyed it, and your Hunan army protected the Qing Dynasty. It is really Lao Wang who sells melons, sells melons, and boasts! In fact, Changmao lives and dies on its own. If there is no internal strife, the world will be settled for many years." It was really a word that shocked everyone, and everyone listened attentively.Zeng Guofan thought to himself: "It is appropriate to say that he is a genius." "I also advise you to take the time to show the credit for protecting the Qing Dynasty. Let me see that the Hunan Army is not only not a hero, but it is the chief culprit who dug the foundation of the Qing Dynasty!" Jiang, Hu, and Luo all stared at him with wide eyes.Zeng Guofan was even more panicked. "Think about it. For two hundred years in the Qing Dynasty, the soldiers were in the hands of the imperial court, the money and food belonged to the household department, and the vassal officials obeyed the orders of the central government. Over the years, as many as 20 people have been promoted to governors because of military merits. It also occupies nearly half of the eighteen provinces. They rely on their merits and do not pay attention to the imperial court. The soldiers have become servants, and the money and food have become private property. The arrogance of the government is even more extreme, and it has reached the point where it can do whatever it wants. Today's situation is that the outside is more important than the inside, and the power of the governor is greater than that of the court. The battle between the long-haired man and the thieves cost two to three out of ten, and the battle against the old-fashioned grammar cost seven to eight out of ten. Well, you see, this is his contribution to winning the battle with his ancestors! The Qing Dynasty fell in the hands of the Hunan and Huaihe Army. It can always be proved in the past few decades." Hearing this, Zeng Guofan was so frightened that he was covered in cold sweat, and cursed fiercely in his heart: "This Wu Nanping, I list you as the descendant of the Tongcheng School of Literature in Hunan. It's inappropriate not to ask your opinion first, but you can't do that either." Take revenge on me!" "Master Wu, you speak well!" An unusually loud sentence came from outside the curtain, attracting everyone's attention.The curtain was lifted, and a scholar in his forties walked in.But seeing him with a bold and suave demeanor, when everyone looked at him, it turned out that the person who came in was Wang Kaiyun, a romantic and talented man.He didn't wait to be greeted, and sat next to Shoujiang Zhongyuan on the Eight Immortals table.As soon as he sat down, he talked like no one else: "I completely agree with Mr. Wu's opinion. The world not only feels sorry for the Hunan Army, but also for Di Weng. Di Weng's talent is originally in the Confucian classics. He is today's Zheng Kangcheng and Han Tuizhi. But he is too ambitious for fame and fame, and soon after he was a leisurely Hanyuan scholar, he went to be an official of the Ministry of Rites. The time for learning is no longer enough. Later, he built the Hunan Army to fight Changmao. I have no time to write a book. The strengths have not been fully utilized, but the weaknesses have been worked hard, and the result is nothing but a regret for the annals of history.” "Renqiu, you are too mean!" Hu Linyi interrupted him in great dissatisfaction. "What I said may seem mean, but it's not mean. I've told Di Weng face to face." Wang Kaiyun still speaks nonsense unscrupulously. "After Diweng a hundred years later, there will be tens of thousands of people who will praise him and praise him. I, Wang Kaiyun, will sing the opposite. I have also drawn up an elegiac couplet, and I will hand it over to Ji Ze when I pay my respects in the future." "Read it to us!" Wu Nanping urged.Although the two geeks usually look down on each other, they agree with each other on this point. Wang Kaiyun took a sip of wine, and read in cadence: "In my life, Huo Zimeng and Uncle Zhang have expected themselves to have different achievements in different generations, and the survey is only passed on from one aspect; the study of Confucian classics is above Jihejian Ruan Yizheng. Regret the auditorium book." "Xiong Shen is excellent, and the evaluation is fair!" Wu Nanping praised, "Renqiu, you are a cold-eyed onlooker, and what you see is profound, but I guess Zeng Jize will not accept it." "Of course he won't accept it. This elegiac couplet can only be recorded in my Xiangqilou diary and passed on to future generations." Zeng Guofan was upset.Strangely, none of Jiang Zhongyuan, Hu Linyi, and Luo Zenan raised objections.He angrily quit the private seat, walked out of the fire palace, and returned to the lotus leaf pond in an instant.Weird thing!How did the trickling river dry up?Where have all the clear waters of the past gone?He went to look for the bamboo forest in Mount Gaomei again, and was startled!As if suffering a catastrophe, the blue beauty of Mount Gaomei disappeared, and there were bare tree trunks all over the mountain, with withered yellow leaves swaying among the trunks, and then scattered silently on the hillside and in the ditches, messy and faint Miserably, sadly and heartbroken. "Oh, Heyetang, why did you become like this!" Zeng Guofan finally couldn't help shouting, and suddenly heard the bell ringing.It turned out to be a big dream!He looked sideways at the clock, and the hour and minute hands were right together: just right. This is such a strange dream!Zeng Guofan thought to himself.He had a lot of dreams in his life, especially when he was at home in Xianfeng in 1987 or 1982. He was in a desolate state of mind and full of worries. It was almost a dream when he closed his eyes, and it was also a nightmare.But such a dream like tonight has a beginning and an end, from childhood to old age, sweet at first, bitter at first, beautiful at first and ugly at first, but I have never had it before.He thought about it calmly, and it wasn't surprising.The beautiful lotus leaf pond is just an impression in his mind before leaving the museum and going to Beijing. It is closely related to the innocent years of innocence. Then it didn't work.In the age of guarding his father's funeral, Gaomei Mountain and Juanshui River can no longer arouse his intoxicated fascination.He has seen and heard many negative remarks about the Hunan Army and about him personally from the letters and conversations of friends in the capital and his hometown who are unhappy in officialdom, or who live in seclusion.A few days ago, Ouyang Zhaoxiong showed him a letter from Wu Nanping, and what Wu Juren said in the dream was exactly what was in the letter.Last year, when I went south from Tianjin, I ran into Wang Kaiyun in Qingjiangpu.This talented man who believed in the art of the emperor all his life felt a little resentment towards Zeng Guofan for not reusing him. Now he has written many books and is famous all over the world as an academic master.He gave Zeng Guofan five books written in recent years: "Zhou Yi Yan Shuo", "Yu Gong Jian", "Gu Liang Shen Yi", "Zhuang Zi Qi Pian Zhu", "Xiang Qi Lou Wen".When delivering the book, Wang Kaiyun said quite proudly that Zeng Guofan was originally a talented writer and he didn't have time to spare. He also said that he recently made a parody of a couplet, but he dared not send it away.Zeng Guofan urged him to read it, but unexpectedly it turned into an elegiac couplet in his dream... Tonight, all these miscellaneous things were dug out, and this bittersweet dream was randomly pieced together.As for the fallen leaves on Mount Gaomei, Zeng Guofan thinks it is a true reflection of himself now: exhausted and distracted, trying to shake himself up but unable, just like in late autumn, the mountains are full of fallen leaves, and there is nothing to clean up. "Hey!" He sighed heavily, remembering that Li Hongzhang had come to Jiangning from Zhili, and was going to visit the Yamen in the morning, he forced himself to close his eyes and meditate, hoping to sleep for another hour to refresh his spirit.He had a lot to say to this wealthy student.