My life skills in Daming Liver

"Fang Aizhu? Didn't you go to Nanping to accompany my uncle?"

A maid beside Mrs. Li came out with tea, saw Fang Aizhu, and then saw Su Ze behind Fang Aizhu.

The maid hurriedly returned to the house to report, and after a while she came out with a happy face and said: "Xie Yuanlang, Madam invites you to enter the house."

Su Ze followed the maid into the room. At this time, Mrs. Li was already sitting on the main seat. On her right was a scholar under the age of thirty. He was wearing a Confucian shirt and had piercing eyes. What surprised Su Ze was that he But no beard.

Scholars these days will basically grow beards, especially after they have a certain status, they will basically grow beards.

Generally, a scholar like Su Ze who is still studying for the exam will shave his beard for the convenience of reading. This person in the class should be Li Zhi who was reprimanded by Mrs. Li just now.

But at the moment, Mrs. Li and Li Zhi looked harmonious, and they couldn't see the quarrel just now.

Su Ze was looking at Li Zhi, and Li Zhi was also looking at Su Ze.

Li Zhi had already known about this future son-in-law of the Fang family in his letters with the Fang family's father and daughter.

Li Zhi is not yet thirty years old, but in fact, he is not much different from Fang Ruolan's age.

Li Zhi was also brought up by Mrs. Li. The so-called eldest sister is like a mother, and his relationship with Fang Ruolan is also very close. It is not the relationship between elders and juniors, but closer to brothers and sisters.

Su Ze was mentioned in Fang Ruolan's letter, from which Li Zhi also saw his niece's intentions.

Li Zhi was naturally very happy when his brother-in-law Fang Wanghai wrote about the marriage.

At that time, Su Ze hadn't been admitted to Jieyuan, but Li Zhi didn't think fame was so important, instead he wrote a letter to persuade his sister to lower her requirements and get married as soon as possible.

Later, Su Ze high school in Fujian Jieyuan, Fang's family became more and more satisfied with this future son-in-law.

Li Zhi was a genius at a young age, he was able to write essays at the age of twelve, and he passed the examination in Fujian Province, a major imperial examination province, at the age of twenty-six, but for some reason he was unwilling to continue the examination, and instead indulged in various academics.

Mrs. Li also had nothing to do with her younger brother. Now that Li Zhi was about thirty years old, she had already married and established a business. After all, she was married, so she couldn't discipline him like she did when she was a child.

Even if he got angry and reprimanded, Li Zhi could always fool around with laughter.

This time Li Zhi came back from the Imperial College and said that he was going to resign, which made Mrs. Li angry again.

Under the Ming Dynasty system, if a person was promoted to be an official, if he resigned, he would not be able to continue to be an official in the future.

Dr. Guozijian is also an academic officer, and he can serve as an official outside the country after a few years, and Nanjing Guozijian is located in Nanjing City. This is the good job that Fang Wanghai asked Li Zhi to do in the same year.

Now Guozijian is no longer what it was in the early days of Guozijian. Even the Nanjing Guozijian is more of a dawdler. He is also an academic officer. Compared with Hai Rui, who works hard, Li Zhi is already much more comfortable.

But just like this, Li Zhi wanted to resign from office and go to study abroad, so Mrs. Li was so angry.

Su Ze paid an honest visit to Madam Li, Madam Li introduced Li Zhi, and Su Ze saluted Li Zhi.

Li Zhi was very interested in Su Ze, his niece and son-in-law, but his sister was in the hall, so he just drank his tea with his head down.

Mrs. Li asked about Su Ze's Nanping, feeling that time flies, and Su Ze took advantage of the situation to send a gift list.

In addition to the rouge gouache given by Su Ze last time, the gift list also included newly dyed cloth, a few new books, and the latest black tea from Wuyi Mountain.

In addition, there is also a pair of ivory bone carving fans that Su Ze found from the deer king's spoils, and a pair of exquisite hand-painted horse tags.

Mrs. Li was very satisfied with this gift list, and her face when she just reprimanded her younger brother was much better.

After Mrs. Li had finished chatting about the household chores, she started talking about business again.

However, it is naturally impossible to discuss matters such as marriage with Su Ze directly, and Fang Wanghai has to wait until Fang Wanghai finds an opportunity to settle it. The business Mrs. Li is talking about is Fang Wanghai's official business.

"In the next year, Rulin will leave for the Imperial Academy, right? Are you planning to go to the Imperial Academy in the capital or the Imperial Academy in Nanjing?"

Su Ze said honestly: "The younger generation wants to go to the Imperial College in Nanzhili, and study nearby."

This sentence touched Li Zhi's heart, and he immediately interjected, "Just go to the Nanjing Imperial College to get a name! There is no need to go to the prison to study! Those morons can't teach you anything!"

Mrs. Li stared heavily at her younger brother, and Li Zhi, who was suppressed by blood, lowered his head.

Mrs. Li said: "Lan'er's uncle is a professor of the Imperial College. He will go back to his hometown to visit his relatives this time. Let him go to Nanjing with you to be imprisoned after that time."

Li Zhi originally wanted to refute that he was not going home to visit relatives but was planning to resign, but was glared at by Mrs. Li again, and he lowered his head again and dared not speak.

Mrs. Li stood up and left Su Ze to eat, and then took the maid to the back to prepare dinner.

Li Zhi finally caught up with the plan to talk to Su Ze alone, he looked at Su Ze with fiery eyes and said:

"Xie Yuanlang, I always see your name in my brother-in-law's letters. Last time he went to the south of the Yangtze River and came to Nanzhili. He met me once, but he was full of praise for you!"

"The elders praised it, but the younger generation was terrified."

Su Ze also finally met the strange uncle Fang Ruolan was talking about, a unique figure in the intellectual history of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and Li Zhi, a representative of the Taizhou School.

Li Zhi deviated from the Confucianism when he was a child, and wrote essays criticizing Confucius at the age of twelve. He was able to pass the entrance examination in Fujian, which was highly competitive, at the age of twenty-six. His level of Confucianism was extremely high.

Li Zhi is only thirty years old now, and Fang Wanghai has found him a teaching position in the Nanjing Imperial College, but Li Zhi is unwilling to go to the Imperial College to hang out, clamoring to resign and study abroad.

Now Li Zhi is in the period of absorbing the ideas of various schools, but Su Ze doesn't know if he has been exposed to the knowledge of Taizhou School.

Li Zhi pulled Su Ze and said, "I'll call you Ru Lin, and you call me Hong Fu. Don't make any red tape, how about it?"

Sure enough, the history books say that Li Zhi was a maniac who "scorned etiquette and didn't stick to famous teachings". In Ming Dynasty, which valued etiquette of seniority, there were not many people like him.

But Su Ze still shook his head and said, "Let me call you Mr.'s number."

Li Zhi thought for a while and said, "Then call me Zhuo Wu."

"Mr. Zhuowu."

Li Zhi was a little disappointed. He thought that Su Ze's youth, Xie Yuan, should have a young and frivolous personality, but he didn't expect him to be so stable, similar to his wooden brother-in-law. This disappointed Li Zhi who had been in Nanjing.

At this time, Nanjing was located in the Jiangnan area where the literary style was the most prosperous. It can be said that celebrities and madmen emerged in endlessly, and Li Zhi was nothing in the Jiangnan area.

How can such a strict person write such a masterpiece as "The Peony Pavilion"?

When Li Zhi was in the Nanjing Imperial Academy, he received "The Peony Pavilion" from Fang Ruolan, and he was shocked for a moment. He promoted it in the Nanjing Imperial Academy, and everyone thought Su Ze was a great talent.

"Ru Lin knows how to learn from things, right?" Li Zhi looked at Su Ze and asked.

It turned out that at this time Li Zhi was still accepting the thought of the study of the mind, but it was normal. This was the period when the study of the mind was flourishing, and the Taizhou School was only a branch of the study of the mind.

The Jiangsu and Zhejiang region where Nanjing is located is also the area where the study of mind is most widely spread. It is natural for Li Zhi to be enthusiastic about the study of mind.

Su Ze said: "Study things to know, to know conscience? I understand."

Confucian interpretations of the understanding of Investigating Things and Improving Knowledge vary.

Zhu Xi believed that "investigating things to gain knowledge" is to obtain knowledge by investigating the truth from all things.

He and Lu Jiuyuan believed that the meaning of "Ge" was to get rid of, and it was intended to express the desire to get rid of material desires and seek the principles of heaven, and opposed seeking knowledge outside the mind.

And Wang Yangming went a step further, arguing that "extending knowledge" means extending conscience, and "investigating things" is the right thing, so he said "extending knowledge and extending knowledge" as "extending knowledge and investigating things", that is, "to extend the conscience of my heart to everything".

So when Su Ze talked about reaching conscience, Li Zhi knew that Su Ze knew how to learn from the heart, so he immediately started discussing happily.

"Ru Lin, I recently studied "Xunzi", and there is a sentence in it that says 'Ice is made of water, but colder than water', and I got something out of it."

"Please enlighten me."

Li Zhi said: "Ru Lin, do you know the brine used to make salt? This winter, the brine is placed outside the house together with ordinary water. Ordinary water freezes but the brine does not freeze. Doesn't it mean that the brine is as cold as ice? The water is as cold as ice, Is Xunzi wrong?"

Su Ze was not at all surprised that Li Zhi said "Xunzi was wrong". From the perspective of Li Zhi's life, he has always been a person who despises authority.

However, such a smart person is also the easiest to dig into the horns of the dead, like to study the book bag and buckle the word, and finally fall into the philosophical speculation of empty talk.

Today's psychology is just like this trend. Everyone is paying attention to the study of things to gain knowledge, but no one can tell how to "reach conscience", and all discussions have fallen into empty talk.

However, it can also be seen from this that Li Zhi is very good at observation. He has already discovered that the freezing point of a saturated solution is lower than that of water.

Su Ze shook his head and said:

"It's not Xunzi who was wrong, it's Zhu Zi and Mr. Yangming who were wrong."

Li Zhi had a habit of refuting Su Ze. This was a habit he had developed in Nanjing debating scriptures with others. He just opened his mouth, but he heard Su Ze's words clearly.

"What?!"

I thought that Su Ze would be horrified when I said that Xunzi was wrong, but Su Ze refuted both Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming in one go.

You must know that Xunzi's status in Confucianism is rather embarrassing. Many of his works are not familiar to Confucian scholars. This means that he has a high status. In fact, his status in the hearts of Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty is not as good as that of Wang Yangming and Zhu Xi.

Of these two people, one is the official thinking of the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty, and the other is the new sage of Confucianism. Now Su Ze actually said that they were all wrong?

mad!

It was the first time li zhi saw such a lunatic!

I didn't expect Su Ze to have such an arrogant thought under such a gentle appearance!

As expected of my nephew!

Li Zhi, who was invincible in debating the scriptures at the Nanjing Imperial College, aroused his interest in debating the scriptures.

However, classic debates are not won by anyone whose argument is weird. It also needs to be able to convince the opponent, or at least refute the opponent's argument.

Li Zhi straightened his body and put on a fighting posture. He raised his hand and said, "Ru Lin, please speak!"

Su Ze said lightly: "Investigating things is investigating things, and extending knowledge is extending knowledge. They are obviously two things. The ancestors confused them and confused them."

Seeing Li Zhi thinking, Su Ze continued:

"Take ice water as an example. In Nanping, I once made a thermometer based on the principle of thermal expansion and contraction."

Su Ze explained the principle of the thermometer, and then said: "If you use a thermometer to measure, Mr. Zhuo Wu's question is self-evident. The freezing temperature of the water mixed with brine is lower than that of pure water, so that the water freezes and the brine does not freeze. There's an ice situation."

Li Zhi was shocked. Although he had never seen a thermometer, he also felt that it was feasible after hearing what Su Ze said.

Yes, if the temperature can be quantified, then I don’t need to study that problem, I just need to record the results.

Su Ze said: "To study things is to study the principles of things, but what is physics? It is an unchanging way."

"Water boils and boils, water cools and freezes. These are the principles of matter. The principles of matter are constant and do not change with human consciousness."

Although this sentence is a bit avant-garde, what Su Ze said is that the water freezes when it is cold and boils when it is hot. It is indeed constant and cannot be affected by human consciousness. He nodded involuntarily.

Su Ze also said: "Investigating things is to study the principles of things thoroughly, but where do we start with the principles of things? From phenomena, laws, data, and simple laws to deduce complex laws. Studying the principles of things does not require the teachings of sages. , you only need to summarize and deduce according to the law, so some craftsmen don’t understand the words of the sages, but they can understand the principles of things. Doesn’t this mean that the investigation of things has nothing to do with the ancient precepts of the sages?”

Li Zhi was shocked, Su Ze's theory was too contrary to his common sense, but he seemed unable to refute it.

Su Ze said again: "The next step is to extend knowledge. Knowledge is the knowledge of all peoples. The so-called extended knowledge should be the knowledge of all peoples. This is the study of people's hearts."

"Speaking in a small way, understanding things and seeking conscience are all such knowledge."

"On a larger scale, how to manage subordinates, how to judge cases, and how to manage property are all studies of people's hearts."

"To achieve knowledge, you need to read the words of sages, learn from the examples of predecessors, and learn the essentials of history and politics. The most important thing is to discern people's principles and follow people's hearts. These need to be adjusted and changed at any time according to the current situation. How can they be confused with investigating things? ?”

"That's why the younger generation said that both Zhu Zi and Mr. Yangming were wrong. Investigating things and extending knowledge are the two sciences of studying things and extending knowledge. It is not enough to explain the fickle human mind with the unchanging natural principles, and to explain nature with the thinking of human mind and principles. The reasoning is the same.”

Li Zhi stammered and said, "That is to say, there are two roads to becoming a saint?"

Su Ze nodded and said, "Of course, one can become a saint by thoroughly studying the principles of all things, and one can also become a saint by discerning the hearts of all peoples!"

Li Zhi suddenly thought of something and said: "Wait, Ru Lin, you said that the laws of heaven are constant, and the movement of the stars can affect people's hearts. Isn't it because people's hearts affect the laws of heaven?"

Su Ze said decisively: "The movement of the stars is the law of heaven, and it has nothing to do with people's hearts!"

Seeing Li Zhi's disbelief, Su Ze said:

"The stars are moving, I can count them!"