Lin Zexu (林則徐), courtesy name Yuanfu ,, a native of Houguan County, Fujian Province, was a statesman, thinker, and poet during the Qing Dynasty. Because of his advocacy of the strict prohibition of opium, he is known as a "national hero". Lin Zexu was born in a family of feudal scholars, who was intelligent and talented from an early age, and was raised at the age of 20. He successively served as an official in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei, Henan, Shandong and other places. When Lin Zexu was in office, he strictly banned opium, punished smoke smugglers, and destroyed opium in public in Humen. Lin Zexu was incorruptible all his life, because Humen sold cigarettes, he became a national hero who Chinese respected very much.
Lin Zexu is also a father, and he is as worried as many parents about finding a husband for his daughter. He broke his heart to choose a husband for his daughter, and what kind of husband he was looking for, in Lin Zexu's view, this was a lifelong event for his daughter, sloppy. So he could only personally fight and strictly choose his son-in-law. During the Daoguang years, when Lin Zexu was on patrol, one year Chinese New Year's Eve night, everyone in the Yamen went home, and only one young man did not leave. This person was a talented man who was engaged in the work of copying and writing in the Yamen, named Shen Baozhen.
Lin Zexu saw this young man and asked, "Today is Chinese New Year's Eve night, everyone has gone back, why are you still here?" Shen Baozhen said respectfully, "There is still one official document that has not been copied, so I can't leave yet." Lin Zexu looked at him for a long time and said, "I have a copy of the sonata, I want to copy it tonight, can you come and help me copy it?" "At that time, the sonata was 10,000 words long, and it took a long time to copy it. Shen Baozhen listened to two words without saying a word, picked up a pen and copied this recital, and copied it until after the third change, and then copied it. Shen Baozhen carefully checked and found that there were no mistakes and omissions before presenting it to Lin Zexu.
Lin Zexu just took a hasty look at it, saying that the words were too lazy and sloppy, and they had to be copied again. Shen Baozhen didn't have any complaints after listening, took the recital and copied it again, and when he finished copying, the sky was already light, and this time Lin Zexu was satisfied.
After a few days, everyone went to Lin Zexu's house to visit the New Year, and Shen Baozhen also went. Only to see Lin Zexu happily said to everyone: "Today is a day of double happiness. There are happy events in the New Year, and today everyone should celebrate that I have a good son-in-law. With that, he called Shen Baozhen to the front, asked him to salute everyone one by one, and told everyone that this was my good son-in-law. Everyone was stunned at the scene, even Shen Baozhen himself was a little surprised.
It turned out that Lin Zexu, who had always been diligent and hard-working, attached great importance to people's character, and naturally chose a son-in-law very carefully. Because Lin Zexu himself is more anxious and easy to get angry, he prefers to find a son-in-law who is not impatient. So he examined Shen Baozhen by copying the song chapter and found that he was a very industrious and impatient person. And this is what Lin Zexu attaches great importance to. Lin Zexu told him about his test of Shen Baozhen's copying of the chapter, and everyone was full of praise. In this way, Shen Baozhen became Lin Zexu's dragon-riding son-in-law.
The story of Lin Zexu's son-in-law is familiar, similar to the story of Zhang Liang in the Han Dynasty picking up shoes for Huangshi Gong. Shen Baozhen and Zhang Liang both have the same qualities: respectful and courteous, not impatient, diligent and studious. These good qualities can not only achieve good marriage, but also are necessary qualities for people, how can these qualities be lacking if you want to gain a foothold in a complex official field? Lin Zexu, as a generation of famous courtiers, is naturally familiar with the reasoning, and choosing a son-in-law is not only to find a good home for his daughter, but also to find a political partner for himself.
A young man is faced with an almost unreasonable request from his boss, even if he has to agree to do so because of his identity, but most people will show embarrassment or hesitate slightly. However, the calmness and calmness displayed by Shen Baozhen is really valuable. It was precisely because of this quality that Lin Zexu was relieved to marry his daughter to him, and Shen Baozhen also passed the jinshi examination later, and later became a generation of famous courtiers.
As a minister, Lin Zexu was successful, Humen sold cigarettes, and fought an important battle for China to resist foreign invasion, and he became a national hero in the hearts of Chinese; as a father, Lin Zexu was also successful, and he used a forward-looking vision to find a best husband for his daughter. From this point alone, Lin Zexu has a vision more than many modern parents. In addition, Shen Baozhen's story also tells many young people that if they want to make the old man like and let the leader appreciate, it is most important to be practical.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty