The Rise of the Cold Gate in the Eastern Jin Dynasty

Chapter 6
On the east side of Fengqi Lake is a smooth road, about two feet wide. There is a row of willows planted on the side facing the lake. Some light-yellow buds have been pulled out, drooping on the ground, or dancing in the morning breeze, or waving waves in the water. On the east side is the endless wilderness farmland, full of busy tenants, and in a few days, there will be blue sky and white clouds, thousands of miles of green.

The Xiao’s School is on the east bank of Fengqi Lake. There are three tall bamboo buildings adjacent to each other. They are built near the water. There are two short ones on the left and right. One is Cui’s living room, the other is a pen and ink store, and the middle one is a large hallway classroom. , the two large windows on the west side are facing the lake and mountain, which is the old man Cui's dojo.

The morning breeze in the early spring, the warm spring light, the lake's face wrinkled slightly, Xu Bo moved forward, the sparkling waves, and the smooth road to the south, came a few limping young men in well-dressed clothes, their immature faces were like wrinkled faces. The lake water, complaining all the way, yawning all the way, is listless.

The head of the patriarch, Xiao Qing, stood at the entrance of the school with a gloomy expression, holding a thin stick, half as tall as a person, on the ground, looking at a group of bastards angrily, really acting like a dean of later generations.

Someone in the school had already arrived ahead of time. One was Xiao Shu, the great injustice sitting at the corner, reading with gusto the "Mao Poems" he kept privately, and the other was Xiao Yao, the representative of the "good student", the fifth brother, dressed Neat and dignified, she is reciting "Autumn Water Chapter" honestly.

"That's why adults do not do harm to others, and do not show much benevolence..."

Hearing Lang Lang's reading, the patriarch couldn't help sighing in his heart. He should be in a better mood, but for some reason, a burst of unreasonable anger rushed into his forehead, and the stick in his hand recklessly moved towards the person who was walking towards him. Hit the bastard on the leg.

He also scolded:

"Hurry up, do you know, dawdling, eating breakfast for nothing, eating shit that can't keep up with the hot ones, and gaining a good brain for nothing. Look at how cowardly you are, and look at Xiao Yao, the difference is so different." , I'm really ashamed for you."

The sixth brother, the seventh brother, and the rest of the group, Weiwei, were scolded by the head of the clan, and dared not make a sound, so they honestly entered the study hall.

"Ahem!!" The old man Cui, who was studying Go, raised his brows and coughed a few times.

Patriarch Xiao Qing understood, stopped reprimanding, and sat across from old man Cui, holding Hei Zi in his hand and pasting it casually, old man Cui immediately pulled his hand to stop Hei Zi from escaping, Hei Zi naturally refused, and ran away in a snake shape, Bai Zi chased and intercepted him, but Cui couldn't help it. The old man flew a hand of white stones in front as an introduction, so this hand of white stones was forcibly secured.

A moment later, the little fat man and Xiao Qinzhi, who were hanging at the end, had just walked to the door of the school, and were about to step in, but they were suddenly stopped by Chen Qing:
"Qin Zhi stayed."

Xiao Qinzhi was stunned, he didn't understand why everyone went in and let himself stay alone, the little fat man was very loyal and immediately asked:
"Second Uncle, what's the matter with you?"

"What's the matter?" Xiao Qing suddenly slapped the chessboard with his palm, and the chess pieces fell down one after another. He got up angrily, and shouted: "I'm late, but I still dare to talk back, stretch out my hand."

The little fat man's chubby face was full of innocence, his bulging eyeballs were full of pity, and he took the lead in extending his fat hand.

Xiao Qinzhi was almost blinded by the patriarch's brazenness, and he understood in an instant that he was looking for an excuse to play chess.

Xiao Qinzhi was forced by his mother to enroll in many remedial classes when he was a child. Later, he chose a few main subjects, including calligraphy, bamboo flute, and Go. Exercise your mind.

However, after the accidental death of my parents, calligraphy and bamboo flute were gradually given up. Only Go played continuously, mainly to pass the time. Just a few games of chess would take half a day.

Xiao Qinzhi's Go level is not high, between Ye III and Ye IV, but he only glanced at the chessboard, and he roughly understood that these two people are definitely a stinky chess basket, and they are half a catty.

But seeing that the four corners of the nineteenth-way chessboard were empty, the two directly strangled for a while in the middle game. Bai Zi began to forcefully conquer Hei Zi, chasing and intercepting them all the way.

All in all, this is a battle of glory for elementary school students.

But in the face of the naked threat from the patriarch and the "impeccable" unreasonableness, Xiao Qinzhi still chose not to say anything, and reluctantly stretched out his hand and got hit.

Patriarch Xiao Qing looked back, looked at the scattered chess pieces, stroked his beard, and pretended to be annoyed:

"The sky does not produce useless people; the earth does not grow nameless grass; the river still has a clear day; how can people have no luck; the luck of a day lies in the morning, and you will be ruined."

Seeing that Xiao Qinzhi and the little fat man had their eyes widened and remained motionless, the patriarch was very satisfied and said:
"It's all because of your fault, not to mention ruining this game of chess, and disturbing Mr. Cui's interest, so the chess pieces are scattered all over the floor. If you don't hurry to pick them up, do you still want to eat sticks?"

Xiao Qinzhi had no choice but to continue to swallow his anger, squatting down to pick up the chess pieces one by one, pitiful for the little fat man, who had suffered an indiscriminate disaster, with an aggrieved expression on his face.

The two boys of Mangu and Fatty wanted to help, but were scolded by the patriarch and sent away. Then, they picked up sticks and hit Xiao Qinzhi and Fatty on the buttocks of picking up the chess pieces.

"I'm not polite when I see you, you should hit me."

"Hello sir!"

Xiao Qinzhi was about to be blown out of anger, cursing furiously in his heart, but under the threat of the stick, he still held back his resistance, bowed down to salute old man Cui politely.

"go in."

Old man Cui had a gentle face, holding the chess piece and said, he is now a good person.

It was a good move to use power for personal gain, and a good move to kill chickens and monkeys. Xiao Qinzhi, the leader, was beaten, and the sound of reading in the study suddenly became much louder. The patriarch was very satisfied, and the two smelly baskets were ready to fight again.

Before Xiao Qinzhi stepped in, he glanced at it quietly, and it was the start of the mid-game fight again. With the familiar formula and familiar taste, he couldn't help but slander in his heart:
"I know I'm good, but I didn't expect there to be two better than me. It's a sad thing."

Suddenly, Xiao Qinzhi had an epiphany, and the last link of the whole plan was perfectly made up. Thinking of this, Xiao Qinzhi secretly smirked, and stepped into the study calmly.

The seats in the study hall are very particular. The fifth younger brother Xiao Yao sat in the front row in a well-behaved manner, while the rest sat in the back row, leaving a large space in the middle.

Xiao Yao is probably a good student who makes all the teachers "feel sorry", and a good boy who makes all the parents feel relieved and distressed.

Although he is a bit dull and looks stupid, but he is kind, well-behaved, down-to-earth, and respects the old and loves the young. When he saw Xiao Qinzhi coming in, he quickly saluted and said:
"Hello fourth brother."

He saluted again:

"Hello eighth brother."

"Hello fifth brother!" Seeing Xiao Yao reading "Autumn Water Chapter" again, Xiao Qinzhi said with a smile: "Listening to you reading this article every day, my ears are so calloused that I can memorize everything I hear. Is it really that good?"

Xiao Yao lowered his head slowly, embarrassedly said:

"Fourth brother, I... I just know how to recite."

Xiao Qin was stunned for a moment, and smiled back awkwardly:

"I'm just joking. No one will recite it after listening to it. Don't take it seriously, don't take it seriously. Just keep memorizing, keep memorizing."

For Xiao Yao, the fifth younger brother who is so sincere and hard-working, even though we seldom play together, Xiao Qinzhi couldn't bear to be hurt. A talent for reading?"

The patriarch outside who often pretends to be a scholar is actually half-baked, he can't even play Go, and his luck lies in the morning, tsk tsk.

As for the third uncle who works as a clerk in Yanling County, and the uncle who is a county magistrate in Jiangzhou, they all come from the gentry status. The only scholar that the Xiao family can take out is probably the eldest sister Xiao Yunzhi, who is both talented and beautiful. It's a pity. She's a woman, and she's married.

To sum up, in these years, Xiao's entire army was wiped out on the road of Congwen, and there was not a single survivor. Thinking about it, I shudder.

Looking again, none of the big bastards sitting in the back row were good at studying, except eating and waiting to die, Xiao Qinzhi couldn't help sighing, the psychological burden of guilt was fleeting, and then Patting Xiao Yao on the shoulder, he solemnly encouraged:

"Fifth brother, don't learn from them. They are useless. They don't think about making progress all day long. They eat and die. But you are different. You don't get dirty when you come out of the mud, and you don't become demons after washing the waves. You have to study hard. , we must persevere, as long as the skill is deep, the iron pestle can be ground into a needle."

Xiao Yao was very excited to get such a high evaluation from the fourth brother, and he kept muttering, wanting to burn these twelve words into his life. Seeing this, Xiao Qinzhi smiled slightly, and walked to the back row with peace of mind. , sat by the window facing the lake, and the little fat man sat next to each other.

The lake breeze blows in slowly through the window, and the spring light also ripples on the lake surface. Xiao Qin's head rests on the window eaves, his thoughts diverge, and his blurred eyes pass over Fengqi Lake, looking at the opposite Jinniu Mountain. In the mountain forest, there is a Taoist temple with red walls and golden roofs faintly visible. It is said that there is a high-level Taoist living there, but it is not known whether it is true or not.

"Fourth brother, I have already remembered." Xiao Yao's voice sounded.

Xiao Qinzhi's imagination was interrupted, he turned his head and asked:
"Remember what?"

"Out of the silt but not stained, clean ripples but not demon."

"Ah!" Xiao Qinzhi was stunned, the reflex arc of daring to love was too long, he couldn't help but start to mutter in his heart, wondering if his encouragement would harm him in the future, after all, the fifth brother is not an ordinary person.

"Haha!!" There was rustling laughter from the back row, Xiao Yao's face turned red, Xiao Qin stared at him, and said:
"The ruler is short and the inch is long. Why are you laughing? What's so funny? Why can't I laugh?"

The little fat man continued: "Fifth brother, they are just joking around, don't mind."

Xiao Shu threw the book at the one who laughed the loudest, and stared at him.

The laughter stopped immediately, after all, the face of the second brother and the fourth brother still had to be given, Xiao Yao was grateful from the bottom of his heart, and saluted the two of them, hesitantly said:
"Fourth brother, thank you, but I think... I think..."

"Just say, if you can help, Fourth Brother will definitely help you."

"The second uncle said that you are good at arithmetic, so I want to learn arithmetic with you."

"Hahaha!!!!"

This time the laughter was even louder, the row of laughing people in the back leaned forward and backward, like a big joke, Xiao Qinzhi frowned, feeling a little puzzled, he scolded a few words, and when the laughter stopped, he asked:

"Did the second uncle ask you to find me, or do you want to learn it yourself?"

"It's...it's me!" Xiao Yao's voice faded.

Xiao Qinzhi was stumped for a while, it was clear that the patriarch asked the fifth younger brother to come, but he knew it well, learning arithmetic, and even learning Mao's arithmetic.

What's the plan of this old thing?
Xiao Qinzhi couldn't figure it out, could it be that he wanted to install a pawn and penetrate into the enemy's interior?

But let the fifth younger brother be an undercover agent, who is he looking down on?
There is a term in Go called "Xian Tuo", which means that when two sides are fighting fiercely together, one side suddenly stops and turns to another place to make a threat. Xiao Qinzhi decided to ignore the matter of the fifth younger brother for the time being, and "rush" to the old man Cui first. important.

"Okay, I see, wait for my notification."

As soon as the voice fell here, the "Battle of Glory" at the door was just over. Old man Cui was in a good mood, and he seemed to have won. I started to explain "The Analects of Confucius", regardless of whether I could understand the following, and said it on my own.

It's still the original recipe, and the same taste. Compared with his Go level, Cui's teaching method is a match made in heaven.

The patriarch acted as the "teaching director". At the beginning, he patrolled for a while, but after a long time, he didn't show up. Everyone thought he was busy with something, so they relaxed their vigilance. Some of them were sleeping, and the rest were watching carefully." Small articles", after reading this one, read another one instead, sharing resources.

Xiao Qinzhi pretended to listen for a while, but felt drowsy and had no interest at all. He turned around and read the "Analects" of the little fat man, and read it with relish. I found out a book of "Mao Shi".

However, the fly in the ointment is that this classical Chinese version is really too obscure to read. If it is not for the extremely rich theoretical knowledge of human body structure, I am afraid it will be difficult to understand. Xiao Qinzhi is thinking, whether he should transfer a few small articles from later generations to everyone. Seek benefits.

Thinking about it again, an excellent short article needs to be exciting, emotional, and detailed. At least tens of thousands of words. If you write it yourself with a brush, your hands will cramp. this thought.

(End of this chapter)