It's a sad story.
The time is more than 200 years ago, during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, a cold winter night. The location is on a rugged official road on the outskirts of Tongzhou, Zhili Province. The trees on both sides of the official road have lost their leaves, leaving only the bare branches shivering under the cold wind. Hidden in the shade of the trees, there is a pavilion that has fallen into disrepair. The pavilion has stone tables and stone benches. Nestled on a stone bench was an elderly beggar in rags. He curled up like a curved shrimp, and a low moan came from his mouth.
He was cold and hungry. Under the cold wind, the thin clothes looked even colder. The days and nights of not eating made him so hungry that he lost the ability to move. However, he had a thousand thoughts in his mind, recalling decades of running and traveling, although he pursued elegant literature and pure faith, he ran into walls everywhere, was ridiculed and ridiculed by the world, and ended up hungry and unclothed, even eating a full meal and wearing a clean dress was a luxury.
Thinking of this, he sighed. A large drop of cloudy tears hung from the corner of his eye. Is it possible to say goodbye to the world without any gain? Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he struggled to take out a set of paper, pencil and ink from the bag beside him, and wrote a few lines with a wave. When he had finished writing, he took the pen and paper into his arms, still snuggled up on the stone bench, quietly waiting for the dawn to come. Perhaps, only the warm sun of winter can bring him a touch of warmth, light and hope.
However, he did not wait for the dawn. In the darkest hour before dawn, he finally couldn't hold back, slowly closed his eyes, lowered his heavy head, and said goodbye to the world...
It didn't take long for the cold wind to gradually stop. As the sky grew brighter, a bleak morning sun slowly rose into the sky. There are sparse pedestrians on the official road. At this time, an early old man who had picked up dung was picking up pieces of livestock manure when he suddenly found this beggar in the pavilion who did not know how long he had been dead. By this time, the beggar's body was covered with a layer of severe frost.
The old man who picked up the feces showed no more surprise. In this year, it is not uncommon for people to die on the side of the road for various reasons. When this happens, report it to the local officials.
After the government received the report of the old man who picked up the feces, it sent an errand boy to come to the autopsy and inquire about the relevant situation. The messenger asked the surrounding people, and they all said that they did not know the beggar, and it was estimated that he was a beggar from outside. The servant then looked through the beggar's clothes and pulled out from his arms a piece of paper full of words.
The messenger unfolded the paper and looked at it carefully, and found that there were three big words written on the paper: Desperate Poem. Next to it is: Qing Yongjia Shipai. The servant continued to look down, only to see a well-styled text jumping on the paper:
He was like a water gull, and he carried a bamboo stick through Nanzhou.
The rice bag is full of moon in the evening, and the song board is singing in the wind.
Two kicks to turn the dust world upside down, one shoulder to pick up the ancient and modern sorrows.
Now that they do not eat, why should the yellow dog bark endlessly?
The first two sentences of the poem are about their own life. The first sentence, "The world is as muddy as a water gull" comes from the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu's "Travel Night Book", "Fluttering like a sand gull in heaven and earth"; the second sentence "Carrying a bamboo stick through Nanzhou" comes from the Song Dynasty literary hero Su Shi's "Dingfeng Wave" in "Bamboo cane mangshoe light victory over horses, who is afraid?" A cloud of smoke and rain in a lifetime", showing the poet's profound cultural skills.
The third sentence, "Rice sac in the evening is full of remnants of the moon" and the fourth sentence, "The song board sings xiaoqiu in the wind", are telling their sad fate. Although he has fallen to the point of begging, he is happy in his suffering and has reached an open-minded state of life.
The fifth sentence, "Two kicks to turn the world over the dust" and the sixth sentence, "Shoulder to shoulder the sorrows of the past and the present", belong to the pen of God, expressing the poet's hatred for the unfair world.
The last two sentences, "But now do not eat the food of the yellow dog, why should the yellow dog bark endlessly", expressing the poet's pride in "not eating the food that comes from the mouth" and the contempt for the powerful and the villain, and keeping a conscience, which is precious.
The whole poem is neat and tidy, elegant in style, poetic and open-minded, awe-inspiring, and also has the heroism and elegance of Su Ci and Liu Ci, giving people a sense of purity that is born out of the dust, which is a level that countless readers cannot reach in their lifetime.
After the governor read Yong Jia Shi cai's "Desperate Poem", he sighed. The governor is also a reader who has experienced a cold window for ten years, and naturally can read the deep meaning contained in "Desperate Poems". He took out a sum of money from his own meager lulu, buried the beggar, and erected a monument: "The Tomb of Yongjia Shiqi."
This beggar who left a desperate poem called himself "Yongjia Shiqi". Yongjia belongs to Zhejiang. Zhejiang is thousands of miles away from Zhili Province, how did he come to Zhili Province through hardships and obstacles? It's all unsolved mysteries.
For more than 200 years, Yongjia Shicai's "Desperate Poem" has been circulating in the world. Some good deeds have examined and believed that he was a filial piety of Fengtai County during the Qianlong period. Ma Tixiao was talented, but because of repeated attempts (another theory is that the family had a change), he ran away from home and became a beggar who begged along the street.