As soon as he opened his eyes, Zhao Rong heard the chirping of summer insects.

The cool afternoon breeze blew in my face... No, it seemed like Su Xiaoxiao was fanning me.

Zhao Rong tilted his head to glance at Su Xiaoxiao who was sitting next to him. At this time, she was listening to other tourists chatting in the pavilion with her head tilted, while holding the handle of the fan with both hands to blow air for him.

Don't delay either.

Zhao Rong and his two companions arrived in Luojing in the morning. Seeing that they had plenty of time, they did not linger and set off directly. This was a pavilion named Zui Weng a few miles away from Luojing. Seeing that it was a hot summer day at noon, the three decided to take a break here, and Zhao Rong also took a short rest.

Zhao Rong stretched out while sitting on a chair in the pavilion, leaning lazily against a pillar, and glanced casually around the pavilion.

When I first arrived, there was no one in the Drunken Pavilion, but now there are already some more tourists.

There are two men in the northwest corner, probably companions, talking excitedly.

One of the men looked quite young, dressed in luxurious brocade clothes, with a handsome face, and held in his hand a black paper fan with peach blossoms and a bunch of handsome bamboos painted on it.

The other man is older, with thin cheeks and sunken eye sockets, but his eyes are bright. He wears a long robe and a wide belt, with his long hair casually hanging down. He holds a fly whisk in his hand, and looks like a famous scholar from Zhongnan.

In the northeast corner sat a plump middle-aged Taoist priest wearing a blue robe and holding a whisk, resting with his eyes closed.

Finally, not far from Zhao Rong and the other two, there was a tall man with a seven-stringed harp placed in front of him, tuning the instrument with his head down.

Zhao Rong lazily withdrew his gaze, looked outside the pavilion, and patted the railing with one hand.

The Zuiweng Pavilion stands on the top of the mountain. From here, you can see the beautiful scenery of Zhongnan for thousands of miles.

"That Lin Wenruo is really not a good guy." Su Xiaoxiao said in a low voice.

"Ah? What?" Zhao Rong turned around. He had just woken up and was a little confused.

"It was Lin Wenruo who broke off the engagement with the bride and threw all her dowry out the door on the wedding day." Su Xiaoxiao was angry. "How could there be such an unfaithful man? He is a well-read scholar in the academy, bah!"

Zhao Rong suddenly realized that he was talking about this person again.

When passing through Luojing City this morning, people on the streets, in the teahouses and restaurants were all discussing this matter. Zhao Rong was not very interested in it, but there were too many people discussing it, and from the fragmentary conversations he heard, he was able to piece together the general idea of ​​what had happened.

What's more, there was a sympathetic little fox demon beside her. When she heard about such a heartless thing, she pricked up her ears to inquire. After knowing the general situation, she felt sorry for the bride's experience. Along the way, she muttered that this kind of scholar was really bad. If Xiaoxiao met him, she would beat him to death.

Zhao Rong always felt that there was something wrong with these words.

No, I have to find an excuse to reward her with some chestnuts.

Most of the people in Luojing were cursing this scholar named Lin Wenruo, who was said to be the eldest son of the Lanxi Lin family. It seemed that he had broken off the engagement with the girl on the wedding day, turned his back on her and ruined the girl's innocence. He was also unfaithful and impeached the imperial teacher in front of the king. It was simply treasonous and they all accused him of being too good at reading.

Zhao Rong felt a little sympathetic towards that brother after hearing this scolding, but why did he feel a little guilty? Ahem, I am different from him. I am giving away jade...

Zhao Rong did not respond and made no comment.

But someone in the Drunken Pavilion heard Su Xiaoxiao's words.

"This little brother is absolutely right."

In the northwest corner of the pavilion, among the two people who had been talking loudly, the young man in brocade clothes smiled and spoke loudly to Zhao Rong.

Both of them looked towards Zhao Rong, especially the old man holding the whisk, who finally had the opportunity to look over here openly. At this moment, he was staring at Su Xiaoxiao with burning eyes, looking her up and down, and smiling knowingly.

In fact, he noticed these three people as soon as he entered Zuiweng Pavilion. To be precise, he paid attention to the handsome scholar with a fair face and eyes like lacquer. The other two, an ordinary Confucian scholar and a man with a rather scary face, were all vulgar people in his eyes. Mr. Qingxi always prided himself on being a famous scholar in Zhongnan Mountain, so he would not pay any attention to them.

The longer he looked at it, the more surprised he was.

The young man in brocade clothes glanced at Mr. Qingxi beside him with a strange look on his face, but he looked across again.

The handsome scholar was fanning the ordinary Confucian scholar attentively, and just now when he spoke, he inadvertently revealed some girlish anger.

Young Master Jinyi understood.

It seems that Mr. Qingxi has met a companion.

Zhao Rong didn't know that he and Su Xiaoxiao, who was dressed as a man, had been misunderstood.

He glanced at the little fox demon in front of him who was hanging her head and pretending to be deaf and dumb. At this moment, she had her back to the two people who had just spoken, and buried her head in the ground like an ostrich.

"Hey, they're talking to you."

"Well, it's obviously with you."

"Why are you so timid?"

"I'm not a little kid, but my grandmother said that you should ignore men who approach you, because they are not good people."

"Yes, your grandmother is right." This time Zhao Rong nodded, agreeing very much. "All men are bad, except me."

Su Xiaoxiao: “…”

The young master in brocade clothes saw Zhao Rong and Su Xiaoxiao whispering to each other and ignoring him, feeling a little embarrassed. However, after receiving the look from Mr. Qingxi beside him, he coughed lightly and continued aloud:

"It's a pity that Lin Wenruo is still a student of Siqi Academy. Is the academy now teaching such a heartless and unrighteous person who has no king or country, no father or family, and no knowledge or insight?"

The words echoed in the Drunken Pavilion.

Zhao Rong and Su Xiaoxiao stopped whispering.

The fat Taoist priest who was sitting quietly beside him nodded.

"Zheng!" The zither master who had been tuning the guqin finished his work and started playing the zither.

The young man in brocade clothes was quite satisfied to see that everyone responded to him and turned their attention to him.

"Lan Xiangu is the daughter of the state teacher, a rich and powerful woman. She favored him and married him. She started to manage the household for him and waited for him to come back. But on the day of the wedding, he tore up the engagement and abandoned the marriage, ruining the girl's reputation. How could the fairy live with herself in the future? This is so heartless."

"The state teacher treated him like a son, taught him by ear, and tried his best to support him. However, during the king's spring sacrifice, in front of 100,000 people in Luojing, he wrote a letter to accuse the state teacher of 'ten crimes and five treasons', fabricating charges that did not exist. This is unrighteous."

"The king had high hopes for him, and he gave him food and clothing, and delegated power to him. However, he promulgated laws that brought disaster to the country and the people. He exploited farmers with the Spring Sprout Law to make profits for the Lanxi Lin family; he destroyed Zhongnan's national religion with the Retreat Law and deceived the people; he used the General's Law to engage in war and aggression, and provoked border attacks. These laws have destroyed the prosperity of Zhongnan, and are too numerous to mention. This is a case of no king and no country."

"Marriage is an important matter, and it is the parents' decision. He broke the agreement without any reason. This is unfilial. This is a fatherless and homeless person."

"As for his ignorance... How dare Lin Wenruo coerce the king to decide on the debate between Confucianism and Taoism and to establish the Zhongnan national religion? Oh, he is like an ant trying to shake a tree. He overestimates his own abilities!"

The young man in brocade clothes sneered.

"'If literature does not come out, what will happen to the people?' The people of the country were so eager to see him, but who knew that the one who came back was a heartless and unrighteous man, without a king or a country, without a father or a family, and without knowledge or understanding."

"The scholars in the Confucian academy are nothing special."

The young man in brocade clothes opened the folding fan in his hand, fanned it gently, smiled slightly, and felt that his words were refreshing and wonderful. If they were in Luojing City, they would surely win applause from the people.

The sound of the piano in the pavilion became louder after it became calm.

"The donor is right." The fat Taoist priest, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened his eyes and bowed to the scholar in brocade clothes.

"This thief Lin is an unforgivable criminal. The master of the temple valued him so much before, and our Chongxu Temple has never let down the Lanxi Lin family in the slightest. But he is so ungrateful and bites people indiscriminately like a mad dog. He even dares to use the debate between Taoism and Confucianism to seize the position of the state religion of our Chongxu Temple? Just relying on this yellow-haired kid and the mob behind him?"

"My Chongxu Temple has a thousand-year-old Taoist tradition. We built the temple here before Zhongnan Kingdom was founded. How dare he think of this? Humph, although I am just an ordinary Taoist in the temple, I also have a sincere and innocent heart. If that thief Lin dares to appear in front of me, I will scold him so hard that he can't even raise his head!"

After saying this, the fat Taoist waved his whisk, and his body shook. His originally fat body gave him a generous and heroic posture.

The young man in brocade clothes and the fat Taoist priest looked at each other with admiration in their eyes. At this moment, accompanied by the uplifting sound of the piano, their hearts were filled with waves. They felt that they had met too late. Both of them were knowledgeable people and heroes of Zhongnan.

"My name is Li Shiqian."

"I am a poor Taoist, Chen Hongyuan."

"I've heard a lot about you."

"I'm so sorry."

Zhao Rong raised his eyebrows, and couldn't help laughing as he looked at the scene in front of him, which seemed like the next step was to become sworn brothers.

Mr. Qingxi standing by was not interested in this scene, and even had little interest in the major changes that had taken place in Luojing in the past few months and the things that the people of the country were talking about.

No matter what your Lanxi Lin family and Chongxu Temple are fighting for, no matter how many rebellious things you, Lin Wenruo, have done, it is too far away from me anyway.

He felt that he was indulging himself in the mountains and rivers of Zhongnan, and that he was an elegant celebrity in the secular world. Although he might not be famous for the time being and could not be compared with the famous celebrities in Luojing, as long as he participated in more elegant gatherings, took more medicine and did some elegant things, he might become famous in Zhongnan and be promoted to a celebrity.

For example, this matter right now.

Mr. Qingxi gave another look to the young man in brocade clothes named Li Shiqian.

Li Shiqian realized that he had to get down to business. After all, he still needed Mr. Qingxi to bring him into the circle of celebrities in Luojing, which he had managed to curry favor with. So he coughed lightly.

"It is fate that I can meet you all in this Drunken Pavilion today. We are all like-minded and have a great time talking. It is very rare. The gentleman next to me is Mr. Qingxi, who is well-known in Luojing. He will hold an elegant literary gathering tonight. Seeing that you all get along well, would you please do me the honor of attending the gathering?"

After he finished speaking, he looked around, but his eyes were mainly directed towards Zhao Rong.

Liu Sanbian was staring at the scenery outside, and Su Xiaoxiao was in a daze, holding her chin with her hands, not knowing what they were thinking about. Both of them ignored Li Shiqian.

When Zhao Rong saw Li Shiqian's gaze, the corner of his mouth twitched.

You two are on the same page and have a good conversation? Weren't you the only two talking just now?

But don't hit someone who smiles at you.

Zhao Rong smiled and replied: "Sorry, we are not locals. We are just passing by here in a hurry. Time is tight, so we won't bother you anymore."

Li Shiqian's smile froze.

Mr. Qingxi urged him again, but Li Shiqian refused to give up and asked several more times.

Zhao Rong declined several times, but seeing that he was still unwilling to give up, he looked at the beautiful scenery and ignored him.

Li Shiqian and the other man looked gloomy upon seeing this.

"It's okay if they don't go. I just happen to have time. Hahahaha. I've never seen what kind of banquets you scholars host. Today I'm going to broaden my horizons." The fat Taoist Chen Hongyuan laughed.

Mr. Qingxi's eyelids jumped. Who cares if you come or not? I think your body can crush me to death.

"Zhao Rong, can you please stop reading?" Su Xiaoxiao, who had been in a daze, suddenly tugged at the corner of Zhao Rong's clothes.

"Um?"

"Is it okay?" The corner of his clothes was tugged again.

"not good."

Zhao Rong's lips curved. "As expected of you, Su Xiaoxiao, you easily said something I couldn't expect."

"You can become a bad person. Xiaoxiao won't care about you anymore."

"You think reading too many books will make you a bad person, right?" Zhao Rong said slowly.

Su Xiaoxiao was angry and didn't want to pay attention to him at first, but after a while, she still nodded softly.

"Who told you that reading too much will make you a bad person?"

"Isn't that what they said about Lin Wenruo? He read so many books, but the more he read, the worse he became. He did so many bad things. He might as well not have read any books."

Zhao Rong's smile faded, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked down at the pair of black and white eyes in front of him. He said seriously with a rare look, "Do you have to believe whatever the world says?"

His voice was not loud, but in the Drunken Pavilion, where only the faint and melodious sound of the piano could be heard at that moment, it floated into everyone's ears along with the sound of the piano.

“To judge a person, we should not look at what others say about him, his appearance, or even his heart, but look at his actions and what he actually does.”

"Tsk." Li Shiqian curled his lips.

Mr. Qingxi and Chen Hongyuan also looked disdainful.

He is another "rationalist" who has read a few books and is full of empty words and teaches people principles.

"But, but he really did something to let down that Fairy Blue." Su Xiaoxiao asked puzzledly.

"Whether there is any inside information or not, this is only his personal morality, not the main basis for judging him." Zhao Rong said softly. "Because Lin Wenruo is a Confucian scholar who is involved in the world and governs the country, what should be valued and used as the criterion for judgment should be his public morality, that is, his actions towards Zhongnan State."

Su Xiaoxiao seemed to understand but not quite.

"Isn't what he did just to promulgate evil laws and bring disaster to Zhongnan Kingdom?" Li Shiqian couldn't help but interrupt, "You are such a boring scholar. I sincerely invited you to participate in the literary gathering, but you didn't know what was good for you and didn't know the etiquette. Now you are talking nonsense and even started to speak for Lin Wenruo. Is this what a Confucian scholar is? Birds of a feather, we all share the same taste!"

"I am not speaking for Lin Wenruo alone, I am speaking for the Confucian scholars of my generation." Zhao Rong said calmly. "You deal with the Confucian scholars of my generation by destroying their private morality first, making people disgusted, and then pushing them down, destroying their public morality, making it difficult for people to distinguish between the true and the false, and destroying the reputation of the Confucian scholars of my generation, confusing their merits and demerits, right?"

Zhao Rong's tone was cold. "Just like what you are doing now, you are just arguing about the truth, but you are using my absence to slander my personal morality."

"you!"

Li Shiqian was speechless.

Chen Hongyuan said sternly: "Then how do you explain his method of bringing disaster to the country and the people?"

Zhao Rong suddenly looked strange. "Do you really understand the details of the Spring Sprout Method, the Retreat Method, and the General's Method?"

Chen Hongyuan suddenly felt guilty. Aren’t the people in Luojing always saying that it is a waste of money and time?

As a Taoist priest, he had no time to learn about the new laws in detail. He did know the only law that was closely related to the Taoist temples, which was about demolishing the grand Taoist temples and turning them into farmland for the poor peasants to cultivate. It was simply a regression of education and ridiculous. He remembered this new law that harmed his own interests clearly.

But the arrow had already been shot and there was no turning back, so he could only grit his teeth and nod.

Zhao Rong thought about what he had seen and heard in Zhongnan Kingdom during this period, and couldn't help but express his emotion.

"The Spring Sprouts Act provides relief to farmers, which can increase production and enrich the people, and increase the government's revenue, killing two birds with one stone; the Retreat Act returns the farmers' land, which can alleviate Zhongnan's food crisis and eliminate the need to waste time and money to ship food from other places; the Military Act reorganizes the military, which can supplement the border garrisons and guard against foreign invasions."

"To observe his public morality, these three methods are enough!"

"The law is good, but the implementation process is difficult and it has caused public outrage. This is due to the corruption of Zhongnan's system and the poor implementation of the law. Why should we put all the blame on the new law itself and the people who promulgated it?"

Li Shiqian, Chen Hongyuan and Mr. Qingxi looked at each other.

"Moreover, these three methods are aimed at the lower-class people of Zhongnan Country and are beneficial to the country. I see that most people in Luojing live a wealthy life and are in the middle class. They are not lower-class people. These three methods cannot bring them much benefit. They even damage the interests of the upper class including Chongxu Temple. Therefore, some people hide behind the scenes and manipulate public opinion. You are either a member of the interest group with short-sightedness, or you are being carried away by the local gossip and follow the crowd. You are all being used as a gun, but you don't even know it!"

Li Shiqian opened his mouth, but didn't know how to refute him, so he stopped talking.

Zhao Rong said slowly, "The Chen Dynasty to your south has been reformed by the ambitious Legalists, and they may go north to swallow up the fat piece of meat of Zhongnan Mountain at any time. The Taoist model of governing a country with a small population is no longer applicable to the situation in Zhongnan. Now, it is not easy for someone to stand up and reform for you, but you are ignorant and corrupt, and you are destroying people's moral character."

Zhao Rong asked word by word: "Why do you bully us Confucian scholars like this?"

One of the only two Confucian scholars in the pavilion pursed his lips.

"In such a huge country like Zhongnan, the ruler makes elixirs, the national teacher practices Taoism, the people are ignorant, the Taoists do nothing, the hermits avoid the world, the celebrities are dissolute, and none of them do anything."

"Only a group of Confucian scholars have been thinking hard about state affairs and patching up the gaps."

"You are all partial to private morality, but lack public morality."

"The reason why Zhongnan is declining day by day is nothing else. There are too many good people who restrain themselves and do not do wrong. They enjoy rights but do not fulfill their obligations. Everyone regards the debt they owe to the group as nothing. Although there are many people, they have never been able to benefit the group, but have become a burden to the group. How can it not decline day by day!"

Zhao Rong's words were powerful, every word was sonorous and forceful, every sentence was firm, and they echoed in the Drunken Old Man Pavilion.

Everyone was silent.

Li Shiqian and the other two had different expressions, some were pale, some were waving their sleeves in anger, and some had their eyes lowered, but none of them dared to look at the scholar again.

“Zheng!”

The sound of the piano suddenly stopped.

I don’t know whether it’s the end of the song or the end of the person.

Sudden.

Blessings come to the soul.

Zhao Rong turned his head as if possessed by a ghost and looked towards the place where the sound of the piano suddenly stopped.

Lin Wenruo took his hands off the strings and raised his head, ignoring everyone in the pavilion and looking only at the scholar who was looking back.

Smile like spring breeze.

"I am Lin Qingchi, also known as Wenruo. May I ask your name, sir?"

When I see a gentleman, my heart is happy.