Dafeng Night Watchman

Chapter 42: The Second Saint and His Wife



The peak of the cold wind swept through the forest, and the dead branches made a shrill whine.

On the path paved with bluestone slabs, Xu Qian'an turned his head and looked at Xu Xinnian, whose sleeves and black hair danced together. This cousin who was so good-looking that people envied him seemed like a banished immortal.

He pointed to a waterfall in the distance and introduced: "This is the place where a senior in the academy attained enlightenment. There is a stone tablet beside the waterfall, which records the life of that senior."

In winter, there is a lack of water, and the waterfall is slender and weak, rushing into the pool listlessly. The water in the pool is clear to the bottom.

There is a monument erected by the pool, a bronze man sitting cross-legged in meditation, and the inscription on the monument is the life story of a scholar named Qian Zhong, who was born six hundred years ago and was active at the beginning of the founding of the Dafeng Dynasty.

At that time, the king of the previous dynasty was incompetent, the officials were corrupt, the tycoons bullied the people, and the Central Plains was in chaos and rebels were separatist.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

At that time, the imperial court of Da Zhou and the rebels in various places had been engaged in a tug-of-war for more than ten years, and the people living at the bottom were in dire straits.

Qian Zhong, a second-rank scholar, traveled abroad for three years and witnessed the people's miserable lives. He brought the people's grievances to the capital of Da Zhou with anger and shattered the few national fortunes of Da Zhou with his flesh and blood.

Then Da Feng established the country, quelled the war, and brought peace to the world.

"Is the Great Confucian Realm so powerful?" Xu Qi'an questioned: "Why don't I see the word 'awesome' on the three Great Confucian Realms?"

Xu Xinnian didn't know what "awesome" meant, but it was undoubtedly a vulgar word. Thinking of his elder brother's meritorious service in writing poems, he resisted the urge to ridicule him and replied:

"Who told you that they are the second-grade Great Confucian Realm? They are only the fourth-grade Gentleman Realm."

Xu Qi'an couldn't believe it: "How dare you call yourself a Great Confucian Realm?"

Xu Xinnian squatted down by the pond, washed his hands, and explained: "The Great Confucian Realm has two meanings. One refers to a scholar with profound knowledge and reputation; the other refers specifically to the second-grade realm of Confucianism and Taoism. The Great Confucian Realm of our academy belongs to the former."

Bringing people's grievances to shatter the destiny of a country, even if the destiny is weak in the last years of the dynasty, it is still beyond human power. How strong is the second-grade realm of Confucianism and Taoism? What about the first grade?

Xu Qiyan fell into deep thought for a long time, and said with a slightly respectful tone: "Does Yunlu Academy have a second-grade scholar?"

Xu Xinnian shook his head and said regretfully: "In the past two hundred years, there have only been third-grade scholars at most. The third-grade scholar is at the stage of establishing destiny. I heard it from my teacher when I sent Ziyang Layman that day. The dean of our academy is at the third-grade stage of establishing destiny."

Xu Qiyan's tone suddenly became relaxed, and he commented casually: "Not bad."

The personalities of the three old gentlemen seemed a bit exaggerated and unserious, lacking a bit of calmness and seriousness. Xu Qiyan told his evaluation to Xu Erlang.

Erlang pondered for a moment: "They were not like this before. After the Gentleman Realm, there is the third-grade Liming Realm... This may be related to the Liming Realm."

"Well, Ziyang Layman was like this before, but recently he suddenly changed his temperament and became a different person. I heard from the teacher that Ziyang Layman is only half a step away from Liming."

The two brothers wandered aimlessly in the academy. Xu Xinnian took him to visit some scenic spots and historical sites. As an academy with a long history of 1,200 years, Qingyun Mountain would definitely become a tourist attraction if it were not for the usual prohibition of outsiders from entering and disturbing students' studies.

"Brother..." As they walked, Xu Xinnian suddenly shouted in a low voice.

Xu Qian'an stopped to look at him.

Xu Xinnian glanced at him, turned his face away, and pretended to look at the scenery around him: "I thought about it for a long time yesterday. If it weren't for you, my father would have been executed and his women would have been sent to the Jiaofangsi."

"If it weren't for you, sister Lingyue would have been in danger yesterday. She might have been bullied by the Zhou family."

"If it weren't for you, the Xu family might still be immersed in the luck of surviving a disaster, and then one day, they would suddenly be wiped out."

After saying that, he strode forward, walked more than ten meters, and silently said: Thank you!

...

The Second Saint Academy.

Xu Qian'an followed his cousin up the steps, crossed the incense burner and entered the hall. The seven-meter-high red lacquer pillars supported the dome. The second saint enshrined in the academy was the founder of Yunlu Academy.

In the thin flame of the candle, the second saint wore a green double-breasted Confucian shirt and a tall Confucian hat, with one hand behind his back and the other on his waist, looking into the distance.

Beside the sub-sage was a nimble and beautiful white deer, with cloud patterns faintly visible on its white fur.

Xu Xinnian pointed at the white deer and said, "It is the origin of the name of Yunlu

Academy."

Xu Qianan said, "Scholars are elegant, and white deer are their mounts."

Xu Xinnian glanced at his cousin and corrected him, "It's not a mount, it's a wife."

"!!!" Xu Qianan re-examined the sub-sage and murmured, "It doesn't matter."

Anyway, they are all mounts... He didn't dare to say this.

Xu Xinnian seemed to know what his cousin was thinking, and said, "It is recorded in the Yunlu Zhi of the Academy that this white deer is a demon. When the saint sat down to listen to the classics, it turned into a human and accompanied the sub-sage. The man and the demon have been together since childhood, and they have a deep affection for each other and became husband and wife."

"The love between a human and a demon was not tolerated in the world at that time... and it is still the same now. But when the saint knew about it, he did not break up the couple, but agreed to their marriage. The saint said: Great love has no boundaries. It can be seen that as long as there is affection, humans and demons can also stay together forever."

Since ancient times, the love between humans and demons has had nicknames, such as the Undead Knight; the Grassroots Hero; the Unity of Heaven and Man. So, what is the nickname

of this sub-sage?

Calling a deer a horse... the horse of Ma Zi? Xu Qian'an bowed to the statue of the sub-sage.

When Xu Xinnian respectfully paid homage to the sub-sage, Xu Qian'an looked around the hall and found that there was a stone tablet as tall as a person on each side of the hall.

One side was blank, and the other side was engraved with words.

He walked to the stele and read: "He died for his loyalty and repayed the emperor's kindness,

and his name will be passed down through the ages - Cheng Hui."

The handwriting was neat, not elegant, sloppy or exaggerated, giving people a sense of the majestic and upright gentleman.

"This is what the second sage of the Imperial College left here." Xu Xinnian walked over and stood shoulder to shoulder with his cousin in front of the stele.

"The second sage of the Imperial College... By the way, I have never been very clear about the details of the grievances between the Imperial College and Yunlu Academy." Xu Qian'an was very interested, and the words "eating melons" were written in his eyes.

Xu Xinnian looked around and saw that there was no one around, so he spoke and whispered: "This matter started from the dispute over the foundation of the country two hundred years

ago."

"Fight for the foundation of the country?" Although Xu Qian'an was a history novice, he still knew the meaning of fighting for the foundation of the country.

The prince is the foundation of the country!

Fighting for the foundation of the country means fighting for the position of the prince.

"At that time, Renzong was in power, and the position of crown prince had been vacant for more than ten years. Two princes were powerful competitors at that time. One was the eldest son, and the other was a concubine's son born to a noble lady. The noble lady was very charming and beautiful, and was deeply favored by Renzong.

"Renzong planned to make the concubine's son the crown prince. At that time, he encountered opposition from all the civil and military officials in the court. Renzong issued edicts many times, but they were all rejected by the cabinet. At that time, the scholars of Yunlu Academy led the civil and military officials in the court.

"The eldest son should be made the crown prince, not the youngest, and the legitimate son

should be made the crown prince. This is a rule since ancient times that even the emperor cannot violate. Big brother, you are right. The ritual system is the dragon-slaying technique commonly used by scholars.

"In this battle for the foundation of the country, both sides were unwilling to admit defeat. The two sides fought for a full six years. During this period, the cabinet changed four prime ministers, and officials in the court left one after another. There were more than 200 officials involved in the capital and local areas.