The next day, Zhao Shouzheng and his son got up early and dressed carefully.
Zhao Shouzheng changed into a black silk robe, tied a blue silk sash around his waist, and wore the same black boots as officials. This was the most formal attire for an Imperial College student...Usually, they wore blue robes, and only when offering sacrifices to Confucius would they change into round-necked robes similar to those worn by Juren...This was also the difference between them and the students.
With Fang Wen's help, Zhao Hao also stepped into the brand new cloud-stepping shoes, put on the plain small-sleeved gauze pleated robe, and put on the lacquered gauze soft-winged scarf. When Fang Wen smoothed the pair of long soft wings behind his head, a gentle and polite young man appeared in front of everyone.
"Good." Zhao Shouzheng looked at his son for a long while, his eyes reddened as he said, "Who is this young man on the street who is so handsome? My son has grown up..."
Fan Datong, who had come early to join in the fun today, also gave a thumbs up and praised: "My dear nephew, with such a good appearance, if you take a walk along the Qinhuai River, you will definitely be riding a horse leaning on the sloping bridge, with red sleeves waving all over the building!"
"Don't lead my son astray!" Zhao Shouzheng was furious when he heard this. He glared at Fan Datong fiercely and warned Zhao Hao again and again, "You are so young, you can't go to that kind of place."
"We are going to become his disciples, right?" Zhao Hao was made to laugh and cry by these two out-of-touch old men.
"Oh, yes, let's go!" Zhao Shouzheng slapped his forehead, hurriedly picked up three gifts of apprenticeship: dried meat, lotus seeds and celery, and went out first.
The dried meat is to express gratitude to the teacher, the lotus seeds represent love for the child and the painstaking teaching, and the celery represents the success of hard work.
Zhao Hao followed behind with the remaining three items, namely dried longan, which symbolizes enlightenment; red dates, which symbolizes early admission to high school; and red beans, which symbolizes great ambitions.
The father and son took the six gifts and walked out of the alley accompanied by Fan Datong and the Gao father and son.
As soon as they reached the street, they heard a bang and a dazzling tin umbrella opened, shielding the not-so-strong sun for the father and son.
In fact, according to Zhao Hao's idea, he should rent a sedan chair for his father to sit in today, but it was too close to Zhao Jin's house, less than a hundred steps away on foot.
It's so close that he still needs people to carry him. I can't tell whether he is showing off or just fooling around.
~~
Across the bridge is the alley where Zhao Jin lives. Old Jiachang also lives in this alley.
Zhao Jin's family was not in Nanjing, so the old head called his son Yu Peng to greet Zhao Jin. He also invited more than ten neighbors to help him.
"Here they come, hurry up and set off the firecrackers!" Fat Yu Peng saw the Zhao father and son coming and shouted hurriedly.
The crackling sound of firecrackers resounded throughout the streets, attracting more people to watch the excitement. Everyone wanted to see what the newly crowned richest man in Caijia Lane looked like.
Of course, more importantly, it is said that after the apprenticeship ceremony, there will be a banquet for everyone.
This scene made Zhao Hao roll his eyes. This wasn't a wedding, so why were there so many people watching? Wouldn't I have to perform some monkey tricks for them later?
But now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to follow the instructions of the master of ceremonies, Yu Jiachang, like a puppet and enter Zhao Jin's yard.
The place where Zhao Jin lived was very shabby and dilapidated, similar to Zhao Hao's original home. This was not surprising, as the soldiers had no income except for a little food ration. Zhao Jin was old and could only make a living by writing and copying books for others.
He attached great importance to this day. He and Yu Peng cleaned up the yard when he came back last night, and moved tables, chairs, desks, and cushions from Yu's house. Yu Jiachang also bought him incense, candles, and holy images, and came to help set up the house before dawn.
But Zhao Jin had been through a lot after all, and at this moment he had completely calmed down. Wearing a patched Confucian robe and a half-new Tang scarf on his head, he sat beside the table where the statue of Confucius was enshrined, looking at Zhao Hao and his son who came in carrying the six rituals and a bundle of tuition.
Zhao Shouzheng hurriedly took two steps forward, presented the gift of tuition and the letter of assent to his disciple with both hands, and said loudly:
"When a person is young and ignorant, he will succeed if he has a virtuous father and brother at home and strict teachers and friends outside. My son lost his education, but fortunately he met Mr. Zhao, who did not abandon him. He took him in as a student and taught him earnestly, which helped him to correct his aspirations and interests and understand the way of saints. He also tried his best to be filial to the emperor by being frugal and respectful in his meals."
Zhao Jin took the note with both hands and symbolically opened it. He saw Zhao Hao's name, hometown, age, and the name of his father Zhao Shouzheng written on it.
Then he froze...
Seeing him standing there like a clay sculpture and not taking the meat from his hand, Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help but feel a little dissatisfied and said, "This teacher is a bit silly. Please don't make my son a little silly..."
Zhao Hao was left behind, not knowing whether to stand or kneel, so he could only cough awkwardly and said, "Sir, I kowtow to you."
As he said this, he lifted the hem of his robe and was about to kneel down to Zhao Jin.
"Wait!" Zhao Jin jumped up from his chair as if he had been stung by a scorpion. He held onto Zhao Hao, who was about to bend his knees, and asked in a deep voice:
"May I ask if your grandfather's name contains the character 'Li'?"
"Hey, how did Lord Zhao know that?" Before Zhao Hao could answer, Zhao Shouzheng asked curiously, "My father's taboo is to establish a book, but there is a word 'establish' in it."
"Are you descendants of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty?" Zhao Jin asked.
"Of course!" Zhao Shouzheng raised his hands to the north and said proudly, "I am the 26th generation grandson of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty!"
"Uh, I can't become your disciple..." Zhao Jin returned the letter to Zhao Shouzheng with both hands, looking a little embarrassed.
There was total silence in the place, and everyone was stunned.
Zhao Hao was also confused, and thought to himself, could it be that after all the hard work, I failed at the last moment, and the project is going to fail?
The next scene, however, stunned him and shocked everyone else.
Zhao Jin smoothed his sleeves with both hands, pushed down the golden mountain and overturned the jade pillar, and knelt in front of Zhao Shouzheng.
"Uh, what is Mr. Zhao doing?" Amid the uproar, Zhao Shouzheng hurriedly reached out to support Zhao Jin, trying to pull him up.
Zhao Jin was very resolute. He kowtowed to Zhao Shouzheng and said loudly, "Nephew, Zhao Jin, the 27th generation grandson of Emperor Taizu of the Great Song Dynasty, pays homage to uncle!"
"What?"
"What what?"
Amid the discussions among the crowd, Zhao Hao blinked hard and looked at Zhao Jin. He didn't expect that this old man was of the same generation as him. No wonder he didn't dare to be his teacher.
"Are you from the lineage of Prince of Yan or Prince of Qin?" Zhao Shouzheng started to quibble. The Zhao family has a long history in the world, and not everyone can be related to the royal family of the Song Dynasty.
The Prince of Yan does not refer to Zhu Di, but Zhao Dezhao. The Prince of Wei refers to Zhao Defang. These are the two branches left by Zhao Kuangyin.
"The line of the King of Yan." Zhao Jin said, and then went on to say, "Nanping Duke Huayuan Zhao."
"Oh? We are getting closer and closer." Zhao Shouzheng said in surprise: "We are also the Garden Zhao. Then our generation names should be 'Li Shou Yue Shi Cheng', why are you the Jinbo Jin?"
Zhao Jin wrote the word "帛" on the ground with his finger, and then erased the upper stroke and the lower word "巾".
Isn't the only thing left the word "曰"?
"It's hidden very well." Zhao Shouzheng nodded and accepted the gift from his fifty-year-old nephew.
Then, under the order of Zhao Shouzheng, Zhao Hao performed the same etiquette as Zhao Jin.
Zhao Jin also bowed in return, calling him "my dear brother". The stern look on his face disappeared, replaced by a genuine kindness.
Zhao Hao suddenly realized. No wonder Zhao Jin didn't respond to his suggestion that day when he tried to get close to him, saying that one couldn't write two Zhao characters with one stroke and that they were all one family five hundred years ago.
To put it bluntly, are you worthy of the surname Zhao?
Now that he saw that he was indeed worthy of the surname Zhao, Zhao Jin naturally lost his arrogance that kept people at a distance. He held his hand and said affectionately things like "Brothers should visit each other more often" and "Brotherhood should not be abandoned", words that gave people goose bumps.
Zhao Hao just felt it was unbelievable. How many generations had passed? Could they still be considered brothers?
However, this cold stove seems to have been heated up... right?
ps. Haha, I didn't expect that, but I didn't kneel down after all. Please give me some votes and comments~~~~
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