flstandardbreds Chapter 414: Washing Ink by the River
Chapter 414: Washing Ink by the River
According to legend, a long time ago, there was a child who loved writing so much that he was obsessed with calligraphy.
His father was also very impressed to see that his son was so studious.
In order to create a quiet learning environment for his children, the father built a small house by the river so that the children could practice calligraphy quietly.
However, although the child was studious, his family was not actually well-off and could hardly afford enough paper for him to write freely.
But the child was not discouraged, nor did he give up calligraphy.
The child tore his sleeping quilt into two pieces and practiced writing on the quilt every day.
After half of the quilt was covered with words, he would take it to the river and wash it with river water.
After cleaning it, he will hang it to dry.
During this period, he used the other half of the quilt to write and practice calligraphy, and repeated this cycle over and over again.
As the child practiced writing day after day, his calligraphy skills improved.
The river water beside him also quietly changed after his repeated cleaning.
The originally clear and sparkling river water was gradually stained with ink, and the color became deeper and deeper.
Finally, when the child's calligraphy reached perfection, the originally green river had completely turned into the current ink-black color.
…
After Gou Yazi finished telling the story about washing ink into a river in vivid detail, a group of civil servants from the Ministry of Rites, including Su Liang, showed respectful expressions on their faces.
There was admiration in their eyes, as if they saw the figure of the child who was obsessed with calligraphy through the long years.
Su Liang couldn't help but sigh: "To be able to wash the entire river into ink-black, this person must be a great scholar!"
The dog grinned, showing his white teeth, and said, "I heard from my grandfather that the man later went to Wei and became a high-ranking official. My grandfather asked me to learn from him, but I can't read and my grandfather can't read either, so there's no way for me to learn."
Li Zhi listened, smiled slightly, and said gently: "There are 360 professions, and every profession has its top talents. Maybe you can make a name for yourself by rowing a boat."
However, Li Zhi's words "There are 360 professions, and every profession has its top scholar" made some civil servants in the Ministry of Rites frown slightly.
Most of them made their mark through the imperial examinations. In their hearts, the title of top scholar represents supreme glory and the pinnacle of knowledge. Now that Li Zhi uses it in other industries, they feel that this is a blasphemy against the imperial examinations and top scholars whom they respect.
Although Su Liang was somewhat dissatisfied with Li Zhi's remarks, he knew that it would be counterproductive to refute Li Zhi because of such a sentence and thus ruin the relationship between the two.
So he chose to remain silent and did not express any opinion.
Seeing that Su Liang, the leader, did not take any action, the other civil servants from the Ministry of Rites could only silently close their mouths that they wanted to open and temporarily suppress the dissatisfaction in their hearts.
Compared to the dissatisfaction of the civil servants in the Ministry of Rites, Gou Yazi seemed particularly excited. His eyes sparkled and he said loudly: "Haha, if I can row a boat and become the number one scholar, then my grandfather will wake up laughing in his dreams."
Li Zhi smiled and looked back at the dark river water. Doubts welled up in his mind again. He asked, "So, the river water is all stained black by ink?"
When Gou Yazi heard Li Zhi's question, he did not answer immediately, but picked up a long stick from the side with a gourd ladle tied to one end of the stick.
He skillfully reached the end of the gourd ladle into the river and scooped out a ladle of water.
Then, he walked up to Li Zhi holding the gourd ladle and said, "I don't know if it is ink or not. Please check for yourself."
Li Zhi took the gourd ladle handed to him by Gou Yazi, then moved closer to the river water and sniffed it gently. He only smelled the smell of ordinary river water, without the stench or fishy smell like sewage that he had originally expected.
However, what surprised Li Zhi was that he faintly sensed a strange smell from the scoop of river water.
His mind moved and he immediately circulated the Qi in his body and gathered it on his eyes.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and he performed the Qi-gazing technique.
This sight surprised Li Zhi.
The river water, which was originally as black as ink, took on a completely different appearance under the effect of the Qi-gazing technique.
The river water actually emitted a golden glow that was so bright and dazzling. In that golden glow, there seemed to be an aura that made Li Zhi quite frightened.
Li Zhi's eyes flashed, and he suddenly realized why the Five Ghosts were so afraid of the Black Water River. It turned out that the aura in the Black Water River was the reason why the Five Ghosts and Wang did not dare to approach.
Li Zhi calmed down and carefully sensed the breath, and found that it was extremely pure, without any impurities.
For some reason, the word "righteousness" suddenly popped into Li Zhi's mind.
This breath gave him the feeling of being upright, righteous, and full of masculine energy. It was for this reason that the five ghosts, who were filled with evil spirits, and Wang, who was an evil spirit, avoided it.
Li Zhi's heart trembled, realizing that the man washing ink by the river was definitely not an ordinary person.
Li Zhi dispersed his Qi-gazing technique, and his eyes fell on Gou Yazi again. He asked, "Little brother, do you know the name of the person who wrote by the river?"
Gou Yazi frowned and tried hard to recall. After a long while, he said uncertainly, "I think his name was Zhang something."
Li Zhi smiled and shook his head, thinking to himself that he would be able to find out about this person when he arrived in Wei.
Su Liang, who was standing by, saw that Li Zhi seemed to be very interested in the ink-washing man, so he asked curiously, "Why? Did Lord Li find anything?"
Li Zhi smiled slightly and replied calmly: "Nothing, just pure curiosity."
As they were talking, the boat had reached the other side unknowingly.
Although the old man is very old, his rowing skills are still very skilled, even better than Gou Yazi.
Therefore, when Li Zhi and his men reached the other side, the soldiers from Duan Heng and Qiongqi Camp had been waiting on the shore for a long time.
Duan Hengzheng and the soldiers from the Qiongqi Camp were carrying tribute on the boat.
The old man was also helping. Although he was old, he was still very strong.
Seeing the dog coming, the old man shouted rudely: "You dog, why don't you come and help quickly. Finish the work quickly so that you can run the next trip. It's getting dark soon! You have no sense!"
Upon hearing this, Gou Yazi did not dare to delay for even a second and hurried over to help move things.
After they had unloaded all the things from the two boats, the old man and the dog hurriedly rowed the boats back.
Looking at the backs of Gou Yazi and the others as they left, Li Zhi told Duan Heng about his discoveries and experiences on the boat just now.
After listening to Li Zhi's story, Duan Heng cast his eyes towards the black water of the river. After thinking for a moment, he said, "When I came out, I heard from my uncle that there had never been any demons or evil spirits causing chaos in the territory of Wei. It was because of the Confucian righteousness and the bloody murderous aura of the military strategists. The aura you mentioned should be the righteousness that my uncle mentioned."
"Righteous and righteous..."
Li Zhi looked deep in his eyes and muttered to himself.