The following story is from the Qing Dynasty Xu Fangzhiwei's notebook novel "Nuogao Guangzhi", which has been slightly changed when translated.
During the Ming Dynasty, there was a Wang Jinshi in Huizhou. It is not easy to take the entrance examination, generally they are smart and hard-working students, it is possible to pass the examination, which is more difficult than today's examination of Tsinghua Peking University. But Wang Jinshi was not a smart child when he was a child, and he could even be said to be very stupid, and he could pass the jinshi examination, which had a lot to do with his father Wang Taiweng.
Wang Taiweng is very anxious, and the family is very rich, but he can't get along with the family and has a bad relationship.
Wang Taiweng's feet are very thin, there is no meat on the side, and after some people look at it, they say: Look at your foot appearance, you will definitely be poor and want food in the future. Wang Taiweng was very unhappy in his heart, but he was also worried.
After Wang Jinshi was born, in order to avoid begging for a living, Wang Taiweng specially asked someone to teach him to read. Unexpectedly, Wang Jinshi was very stupid, for more than ten years, let alone reading and writing articles, he would not even break sentences. Those people all used the opposite to satirize Wang Taiweng, saying: This child is a rich and noble life, and he may not have to beg in the future. After Wang Taiweng heard it, he felt even more uncomfortable.
Wang Taiweng had a distant nephew, very smart, learned, and very famous in the local area. He paid a lot of money to invite his nephew to the house and let him teach his son to read. Maybe with a famous teacher, his son can improve, Wang Taiweng thought in his heart. He said to his nephew: My child, if you can teach well, you can teach it with all your heart, and if you really can't do it, tell me, don't hide it from me.
The nephew agreed and began to teach the younger brother seriously, and in the past year, he had exhausted various methods, and the younger brother still could not read and break sentences. He was desperate, and at the end of the year he said to his uncle: The little nephew is really powerless, he really can't teach him well, I want to go home. Uncle your family is so rich, even if the younger brother is blunt, he can be a rich man in the future, why do you have to force him to study! Wang Taiweng nodded.
Privately, Wang Taiweng scolded his wife, saying that he had given birth to a useless son for himself, and he seemed to be really going to beg in the future.
Wang Taiweng went to buy some things, ready to give them to his nephew when he was ready to practice for him, and at the same time, he found a very thick stick and leaned against the corner. Why find a stick? It turned out that Wang Taiweng was worried that he would be harmed by his son and begged for a living, and he actually moved his killing heart to kill his son in the name of filial piety, and then donated his family property to the temple, and he also went to the family to ensure his old age.
Mrs. Wang knew her husband very well, and when she saw that he had made a big stick, she cursed and grinned, knowing that he was going to kill her son. She did not dare to stop it, and secretly told her son to let Wang Jinshi find a way to hide.
Wang Jinshi has already married a wife, he is not stupid, but he is not knowledgeable in reading. When he learned that his father was going to beat him to death, he consulted with his mother and wife, but the three of them discussed for half a day and did not know what to do. If you want to run, you don't know where to stay; if you want to stay, you are afraid of being killed by your father.
Soon it was midnight, Wang Jinshi was tired, and he fell asleep.
In his sleep, Wang Jinshi saw a golden armor god man, who held a huge axe, pushed away the crowd, and then grabbed Wang Jinshi and slammed it to the ground, then stepped on Wang Jinshi's two arms, split his chest with the axe, and pulled out Wang Jinshi's heart in the stunned expressions of everyone. The god man felt a heart from his body again and stuffed it into Wang Jinshi's chest.
Wang Jinshi dreamed of arriving here, frightened, frightened into a cold sweat, and woke up.
The next morning, Wang Taiweng practiced for his nephew, and he pulled Wang Jinshi along. After drinking the practice wine, Wang Taiweng returned first. Wang Jinshi told his brother that his father was going to kill himself, and he cried again: Compassion is something that everyone has. Brother, can you bear to see me go back and be beaten to death by my father? His brother told him not to worry, there is no such cruel father in the world.
Wang Jinshi also said: My father, it is really possible to do such a thing. He could do anything for his own retirement. However, I had a dream last night, dreaming that the Golden Armor God Man had changed my line, and now I felt as if I had become very smart, that reading broken sentences was no longer a problem, and that I vaguely remembered the Four Books and Five Classics that my brother taught me. I am willing to follow my brother and finish my studies.
When my brother heard it, he was quite surprised, and he quickly tested his knowledge about books such as "University", "Zhongyong", "Analects", "Poetry Classic", "Spring and Autumn", etc. Wang Jinshi actually knew it, and many of them he could recite, which was completely different from before.
Both of them were taken aback, and the younger brother felt as if he could do anything at once, as if the eight veins of the Qijing were integrated, and the second vein of Ren Dou instantly opened. And the older brother also felt that the younger brother seemed to have suddenly changed from a foolish person to a talented person. The two looked at each other and smiled, and hurried back.
There was a sharp knock at the door, and Wang Taiweng thought that his son had returned, grabbed the stick, and prepared to kill his son. Seeing that his nephew had also returned together, he felt strange and asked him why he had not left.
The nephew said: My brother had a dream last night, dreaming that his heart had been changed by the Golden Armor Godman, and he had now become very smart. I've asked, and it's true.
Wang Taiweng did not believe it, and tried to let his son recite the Analects and Mencius, wang Jinshi memorized a lot in one breath, like a flowing cloud, no longer like before, according to the reading will not break the sentence.
Wang Taiweng was overjoyed and immediately arranged for his nephew to continue teaching his son to read. A year later, Wang Jinshi entered the county school as the first place, and a few years later, he passed the examination for talent and talent, and finally won the jinshi. When the good news came, Wang Taiweng sat on a stool and laughed and said: "Good, good, my old man will never beg for a living again."
Wang Taiweng was so happy and excited that he kept laughing, laughing until he actually lost his voice, opened his mouth, and closed his eyes.
This story, in fact, is quite interesting. In ancient times, some people felt that people's transformation from stupidity and ignorance to intelligence and talent, or from wisdom and talent to stupidity and ignorance, was related to external forces. For example, Jiang Langcai said that Jiang Yan was very talented before, and the old article was not good because his five-color pen was taken away by the immortals.
In fact, everyone's qualifications are different, some learn fast, some learn slowly, as long as you insist, you can learn well, but sooner or later. In rural terms, it is that children have a time to open the trick, if they do not open the trick, they can't learn anything well, and they can open the trick without a teacher.
Wang Jinshi is probably the same way, in the early stage, he failed to open the trick (open or not, and the teacher's method, the child's qualifications are related), and later opened the trick, so learn everything quickly. Wang Taiweng was too anxious, and he was always worried that he would beg in his old age, and he was too demanding of his son, too anxious, and even killed, which was also very stressful for his son.
In short, the development of the eyes of the child, can not be too hasty.