I used to read "Fan Jin Zhongju", and I felt that Fan Jin, who was crazy in the public because of the Zhongju, was simply ridiculous.
I have always believed that Fan Jin, an "official fan" who has spent half his life in the sea of books, is hateful and pathetic if he does not do his job properly and does not care about his family.
Now that I read "Fan Jin Zhongju" again, I feel that Fan Jin's state is very enviable:
Despite repeated failures, he was able to stick to his ideals and failed repeatedly;
Although the poor in the family can't open the pot, they can still stay at home, and in the name of exams, they will not participate in labor for decades;
Despite his poor family background, he was still able to marry a wife and start a family.
Mother and son are filial piety, husband and wife are loving, there is a father-in-law Hu butcher who dislikes but often helps him, and Zhou Jin, a teacher who appreciates his knowledge.
And all his efforts were not in vain after all, which not only changed his fate, but also glorified his family.
Fan Jin's life can be called inspirational and magical
The family is poor and has failed repeatedly
Fan Jingang's image on the stage: "Yellow and thin-skinned, white beard, and wearing a tattered felt hat on his head"; in Guangdong in early December, it was still the cold season, and he was begging and shivering from the cold in tattered linen.
At this moment, the old and poor Fan Jin was in stark contrast to the other well-dressed candidates.
Obviously, judging from Fan Jin's clothing alone, his family background is not very good. This is also confirmed in a follow-up article:
Fan Jin's residence:
The family lived in a thatched hut with a shawl, and a thatched hut outside the door. The main house is where the mother lives, and the wife lives in the cloak room.
After Fan Jin won the Xiucai examination, Hu Butcher came to the door with gifts to congratulate him.
From the mouth of Hu Butcher, the reader learned about Fan Jin's family food:
"My mother-in-law also came here to sit and eat. The old man's daily side dishes are sad to think about, and my daughter also eats some, since she entered your house, in the past ten years, I don't know if the lard has been eaten two or three times! Poor!
Fan Jin's economic situation:
Fan Jin's family savings are zero, and he even has to borrow from others for the fee to participate in the township test.
By the time Fan went to the city to take the imperial examination in July, the two of them had been hungry for two or three days.
On the day of the list, the old mother was so hungry that she had to sell the only old hen that was still laying eggs in the family and exchanged it for a few liters of rice.
Not only is his family poor, but Fan Jin's "battle situation" in the imperial examination is also unsatisfactory.
From the conversation between Fan Jin and the examiner, I learned that he had participated in more than 20 children's exams.
From the age of 20 to the age of 54 now, close to the year of the sixtieth year, he has not even taken the lowest level of the imperial examination meritorious fame. This is the same as the examiner and teacher-Zhou Jin.
Humble status, humiliation
Before he was lifted, because his family was surrounded by walls and he didn't work all day, Fan Jin's status was extremely humble. Even his father-in-law can insult him at will, not to mention what others think of him.
After Fan Jin went home with the first place in the children's exam, his father-in-law, Hu Butcher, only took a pair of pig intestines and a bottle of wine to congratulate.
The words that Hu Butcher said when he first entered the door were not so much congratulatory messages as a kind of sarcasm and humiliation:
"I am unlucky, I married a daughter to you, a poor ghost of the world, I don't know how tired I have been over the years! Now I don't know what virtue I have accumulated, and I have brought you to win the prime minister, so I brought a wine to congratulate you. ”
"Treasure of the World" and "Poor Ghost", these extremely insulting names show contempt for Fan Jin.
Even if he won the fame of Xiucai, Hu Butcher did not respect this scholar's son-in-law and warned him not to pretend to be big in front of the elders of the "butcher industry".
Fan Jin participated in the township test and borrowed a coil from his father-in-law, and was "spit in the face" by Hu Butcher and "scolded a dog blood sprayer". He mercilessly reprimanded him as "a toad who wants to eat swan meat"; sarcastically reprimanded him for his "sharp-beaked monkey cheeks" and wanted to be a master; and told him to relate to his heart early and find some silver to support his mother and wife.
When the township came back, the family had been hungry for two or three days, and after being known by the Hu butcher, Fan Jin was "scolded again".
Finally became famous, and all parties stammered
On the day of the list, Fan Jin's status finally ushered in earth-shaking changes.
The attitude of the neighbors:
At that time, some of the neighbors brought eggs, some brought liquor, some carried rice, and some caught two chickens.
The neighbors took the initiative to take out eggs, white wine, rice and other food, set up tables, chairs and benches, and helped the Fan family clean up a table of banquets to entertain the reporter.
Arrange for someone to follow the crazy Fan Jin, comfort Fan's mother and Fan's wife, and discuss how to make Fan Jin return to normal.
Hu Butcher's Attitude:
A person rushed to greet him, and when he walked halfway, he met Hu Butcher, followed by a second man who cooked soup, carrying seven or eight catties of meat, four or five thousand yuan, and was coming to congratulate him.
After receiving the news of his son-in-law's promotion, Hu Butcher stopped buying meat in the bazaar, and hurriedly came over to congratulate him with seven or eight catties of pork and four or five thousand yuan.
The people told Butcher Hu the results of the discussion. This made it very difficult for the butcher Hu, who was arrogant and casually insulting Fan Jin on weekdays.
Under the begging of everyone, Butcher Hu had to drink two bowls of wine in a row to strengthen his courage, found Fan Jin, who was going crazy, and beat him boldly.
Butcher Hu saw Fan Jin wake up, and he was a "virtuous son-in-law". was busy patting his ass again, and told everyone that Fan Jin was "talented and high, and his character is good, even the masters of Zhangfu and Zhoufu in the city do not have such a decent appearance as my son-in-law." ”
When Fan Jin went home, Butcher Hu saw that the back of his son-in-law's clothes was wrinkled a lot, and he lowered his head all the way and pulled it for him dozens of times.
The contrast between Butcher Hu's flattering appearance and his previous face is simply like two people.
The attitude of the county and urban gentry:
Squire Zhang rushed to Fan's house to congratulate him as soon as possible. The housekeeper sent a post, and then personally came to visit Fan Jin in a sedan chair.
Seeing that Fan Jin's house was in tatters, he immediately sent fifty taels of silver and a three-in-three mansion on Dongmen Street in the county seat.
Other people's attitudes:
Since then, many people have come to flatter him: some have given away land, some have given shops, and some have broken down their families, and their families have come to devote themselves to serving as a servant.
It only took two or three months for Fan Jin to go from being surrounded by walls, hungry and poorly clothed to now "there are domestic slaves and maids, and money and rice are needless to say".
It's really a step to the sky.
Seeing this, I have to sigh at the impermanence of the world:
In mid-December last year, Fan Jin was still wearing a tattered linen jacket and a tattered felt hat in the examination room.
In mid-October this year, Fan Jin's wife Hu Shi wore a silver silk bun, a azure satin suit, and an official green satin skirt.
In just one year, the Fan family's family situation has undergone earth-shaking changes.
If it were you, would you go crazy?
Everyone thinks that they are Fan Jin, but Fan Jin has real talent and learning, is well versed in the rules of officialdom, and finally went to Shandong to study politics.
Everyone thinks that they are Kong Yiji, but no matter how poor Kong Yiji is, he is still a child, and he usually takes copying books as a profession and has never done physical work in his life.
In fact, most people are obviously "camel Xiangzi", a migrant worker who works hard for a living.