$30, Zhu Baishi

After walking to this area dedicated to Western learning. Reading

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Bai Gui felt dazed. This was the late Qing Dynasty when new learning and old learning were alternating. Many people were still studying the way of imperial examinations, and some learned people began to become enlightened gentry, learning Western ideas and embracing Western political systems.

Many people abandoned poetry, books, rituals and music, and learned from the West to save the country.

Some people clung to the old knowledge and wanted to find a way to become stronger from the pile of old papers.

The decline of Shanxi merchants was also related to the weakness of the Qing court.

When the nest is overturned, no egg is intact. The loss is due to the weak country, not the business!

"Yan Fu's theory of evolution..."

Bai Gui took a deep breath, his eyes dim. Some people may be unfamiliar with other books, but those who have received basic education will definitely not be unfamiliar with this book. There is a famous saying in it, a deafening saying, "Survival of the fittest."

"What a pity. If you want to reform the current malpractices, you must first reform the political system. Although practical learning is important, the Qing court is not fertile soil..."

He took a look at the brand new and sold-out "Evolution and Ethics", and his eyes shifted to the practical learning of "Chemical Explanation" and "Botany". A thin layer of dust fell on the exquisite cover.

Wiping off the dust with a clean sleeve, he immediately straightened his mind and set his sights on the old learning.

The way of the imperial examination is what he should consider at present.

Only the imperial examination can have a background!

Stepping forward, moving, he landed on the "Collected Annotations on the Four Books" written by Zhu Xi. He flipped through it and found that there were many new annotations in it, annotations on Zhu Xi's sentences.

It's also funny to say that Zhu Xi annotated the Four Books, calling the annotations in "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" chapters and sentences, and collecting the statements in "The Analects" and "Mencius" as a collection of everyone's statements, collectively known as "Collected Annotations of the Four Books Chapters and Sentences". Then people added annotations based on Zhu Xi's annotations...

"I've chosen it, I want this jade pen..."

Bai Xiaowen was willing to spend money on a gift to his uncle, and chose a jade pen worth two taels and one qian, with a beautiful jade as the pen tube and wolf hair as the hair, which was very exquisite.

Following Bai Xiaowen's urging, the other people no longer hesitated and had difficulty choosing. They took the inkstone or a few ingots of good ink at a mid-range price, and the cost was about three or four qian.

It's not that they don't have money and can't buy expensive gifts.

They are not Bai Xiaowen, and they have no relatives or friends with Mr. Zhu.

If the gift is too expensive, it will seem that they are flattering.

"Since you have chosen the pen, inkstone, and ink, then I will give you a book." Bai Gui smiled.

Among the four treasures of the study, pen, ink, paper and inkstone can be given as gifts except for paper.

Even the most precious paper will be used, while pen, inkstone and ink can be stored as treasures. A square of good ink is worth hundreds of taels of silver, comparable to gold. Some ink masters are extremely wealthy. For example, the "Kangxi Huizhou Prefecture Records" records that Wu Quchen "made exquisite ink and lacquerware throughout his life, and people competed for treasures. His ink was worth three times the value of platinum (silver)."

Bai Gui also had no intention of competing for beauty. He only needed to be dedicated when choosing to give a gift of apprenticeship, thinking that he could surpass the limelight of several peers and win the love of others. Once seen by a discerning person, he would definitely think that he was working for his own benefit.

And Mr. Zhu was exactly this discerning person.

He paused, wandered from the old school for a moment, and took a stone-carved version of "Compendium of Materia Medica" by Li Shizhen.

The ancients often said that if you can't be a good prime minister, you can be a good doctor.

If you give the Four Books and Five Classics, there will be too many books in the house and you can't put them in, and it will also seem that you are not dedicated. If I send him a book of practical learning, Mr. Zhu might get angry if he is an old scholar who is conservative. Although the western medical books at that time were more open than traditional Chinese medicine, they could not be compared with modern medicine.

Although sending medical books might not make Mr. Zhu happy, he would not be annoyed.

…

Mr. Zhu was very smart since he was a child. He passed the examination for the title of scholar at the age of 16, and won the first place in the provincial examination at the age of 22. When he went to Beijing to participate in the joint examination the following year, he did not take the bus because his father passed away.

Fang Yun, the governor of Qin Province, loved his talent and wanted to entrust him with an important task, but was declined. So Mr. Zhu lived in Bailu Academy.

Bailu Academy is located in the northwest of Zishui County, also known as Silu Temple.

The reason why it is called Silu Temple is because the four sons of a minor official named Lu all passed the examination for Jinshi in the Song Dynasty, so the emperor of the Song Dynasty ordered to build a temple for them to commemorate their merits.

When the group arrived at the entrance of the academy, they looked up and saw a plaque with four characters "Bailu Academy" on the gate tower as high as two people, and the auspicious patterns of white deer and white cranes were carved on the inlay.

The sound of reading in the academy came to their ears.

Bai Jiaxuan said to everyone happily that the plaque was written by the governor Fang Yun.

His father Bai Bingde and Bai Youde had the same idea. When Mr. Zhu was not famous, they promised to marry Mr. Zhu's father, and the eldest daughter married Mr. Zhu as his wife.

They were the family members of the family, and they were not stopped by the gatekeeper. Instead, they were led by the gatekeeper and went straight through the courtyard to the living room of the inner house in the backyard of the academy.

When Zhu Bai saw Bai Jiaxuan, she asked about her mother Bai Zhao's health as usual. After hearing that the old lady had recently shown off her third son Niu Calf in the village, she showed a happy and joyful smile.

Bai Gui and others lowered their heads together, not daring to look around.

However, he still took a look at Zhu Bai's appearance. She was dressed in a cloth dress, an indigo-colored mandarin collared shirt, blue cloth pants, and woven shoes and socks tied with white ribbons on her feet. She must have bound feet, because normal women's feet are not so small and pointed, like a crescent moon.

She had a graceful and elegant appearance, and her eyes were filled with a sense of steadiness, tenderness, and a sternness of abiding by something.

A typical woman who read poetry and books in the late Qing Dynasty!

Bai Gui labeled Zhu Baishi in his heart. This kind of woman was easy to get along with, as long as she didn't offend taboos.

He had seen many women with bound feet in Bailu Village and Bailu Town. Most of them were daughters of wealthy families. Girls from poor families had to work in the fields, and foot binding was still rare.

Some families who wanted to send their daughters to wealthy families as concubines also bound their daughters' feet.

Because wealthy families could not marry women with big feet.

"This is Xiaowen, right? I didn't expect him to grow up so big?" Zhu Baishi and Bai Jiaxuan talked for a while, and then stopped talking. They didn't want to ignore the young man standing beside them. This was a family-educated practice.

Zhu Baishi took the lead in sizing up Bai Xiaowen.

She had bound feet and couldn't walk on mountain roads, so it was unlikely for her to return to her parents' home.

Basically, she would be bound at home for the rest of her life.

"Yes, aunt! Uh, Xiaowen."

Bai Xiaowen smiled and called her aunt sweetly. It was unlikely that he had any feelings for Zhu Baishi, but it was also unlikely that he had no feelings. The blood relationship naturally gave him feelings.

He trotted a few steps to the kang and let Zhu Baishi take a good look at his appearance.

In a family where men farm and women weave, older women generally have poor eyesight and myopia because they do weaving every day. Bai Xiaowen knew that his grandmother Bai Zhaoshi had difficulty, so he considerately came over to let Zhu Baishi see him clearly.