People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 480 Living in the Shadow of Lu Xun
The train Su Xun took was an early train, departing at the end of the morning at 9 o'clock.

He was lucky not to be late this time.

The 8-hour drive was filled with nothing but boredom, apart from the initial excitement.

Su Shi was staring out of the car the whole time, looking at the scenery along the way.

Except at lunch time, everyone went to the dining car, met a lot of people, and chatted with each other.

Many people would take the initiative to find Su Xun to talk.

At this time, trains were reserved for wealthy businessmen and dignitaries, and it was a good opportunity to expand your network.

Su Xun's family of five sat in a row, so naturally they had no chance to communicate with others before.

Now that they had arrived at the dining car, some businessmen guessed from Su Xun's appearance that he was an official, so they naturally tried to come over and get close to him.

When they learned that Su Xun used to be a fifth-rank prefect and was now about to go to Beijing to listen to the selection for transfer, those people became even more enthusiastic.

Su Shi and his brothers took this opportunity to talk to them about mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and about Bianliang High School. They also learned that the Song Dynasty now attached increasing importance to science, and even included it in the imperial examinations.

This also aroused the curiosity of Su Shi and his brothers about mathematics, physics and chemistry.

Time passed quickly like this.

At the end of the Shen hour and the beginning of the You hour in the afternoon, the train finally arrived in Bianliang.

"Is this the Kaifeng City of Bianliang?"

After getting off the train, the Su brothers, who were carrying bags and suitcases, were shocked.

In the evening, the sun had not yet set. Under the setting sun, the tall buildings outside the city of Bianliang blocked out the sky like a steel jungle.

Compared with the scattered buildings in Xiangyang City, Bianliang at that time was already full of densely packed buildings, extending to the outskirts of the southern city.

The number of bicycles and rickshaws outside the train station is many times that of Xiangyang, and there are even street lights laid by electric poles, illuminating every street.

This is the time when school is over and work is over. There is more than one school in Bianliang now, and there are more than ten schools of various sizes, from elementary school to high school.

The main ones are primary schools, followed by five junior high schools, and a new high school was established. The former Bianliang High School was renamed Kaifeng No. 1 Middle School, and the newly established one is No. 2 Middle School, which is just outside the south city.

They saw many people of their age wearing blue and white school uniforms with the words "Kaifeng No. 2 Middle School" printed on them, walking past the train station with smiles on their faces, proudly and confidently.

These students are also something to be proud of.

Bianliang High School was opened in the fourth year of Jingyou. Sixteen years later, it has already cultivated many talents, many of whom participated in the imperial examinations or were admitted to Bianliang University.

As a newly established No. 2 Middle School, neither the teaching quality nor the quality of students has declined due to the addition of a school, and it remains very strict.

The school doesn't care about background, only grades and abilities. Since there are only two high schools in the whole of Bianliang, the fact that they were able to get in already means that they are the chosen ones of heaven and are rare geniuses.

Even if you fail to pass the imperial examination or go to university, you will be considered an intellectual after graduation, and it is more than enough for you to become a teacher in elementary or junior high schools in other places, or work as a manager or technical worker in a factory.

Just like in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, having a junior high school or high school diploma was already a rare high-level talent, in the Song Dynasty where basic education was not yet popularized, a high school diploma was also very impressive.

In addition to the imperial examinations, special examinations such as the examination for those who are virtuous and upright and the examination for civil servants, for those with the same scores, those with a junior high school or high school education or above are often selected for admission.

As for a university degree, it not only adds points in these exams, but is also very valuable in the imperial examinations and is highly valued.

Therefore, the future of these students is bright.

Su Shi couldn't help but reveal an envious look at his peers. Compared with Bianliang, his hometown Meizhou was no different from the countryside.

There were no bicycles, no tall buildings, no power lines, not even newspapers.

Even when he was traveling by train, except for a few commercially developed cities like Chengdu, Xiangyang, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which had changed, what he saw were counties and villages that were no different from those of the former Song Dynasty.

But Su Shi knew that these were only temporary.

Because his horizons were broadened on the train, after arriving in Bianliang, he saw a different world.

'Technology changes life, reading changes destiny, and we strive for the rise of China.'

Su Shi remembered a newspaper he had seen on the train.

That was the Da Song Daily from a few days ago. I would prepare it every day on the train. I can still clearly remember the article written by Zhao Jun on the development of basic education.

At this moment, he knew what he wanted to do in the future - study hard and become someone who changes the world.

"Let's go!"

When Su Xun first arrived in Bianliang, he was also very shocked.

The last time he came here was six years ago, when he was transferred from the Tongpan of Mizhou to the Zhizhou of Daozhou, and came to Bianliang for investigation.

Bianliang had changed a lot at that time, but it was far from being as shocking as it is now.

After leaving the train station, the family took a rickshaw and headed towards Dongcheng before it got dark.

Su Huan now lives outside East City.

He was a Jinshi in the second year of Tiansheng, and his qualifications were quite good, but his official career had not been smooth. Historically, he was only the prefect of Quzhou at that time. It was not until 1055 AD that he became the chief judge of Lizhou Road.

However, he was now appreciated by Zhao Jun and was promoted from the magistrate of Xiangfu County to the assistant magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture. Later, he was transferred to Ezhou to be the prefect. His official career was smooth.

As a result, when he was about to step down and be promoted, his father passed away and he had to return home to observe mourning.

After the mourning period was over, he had just returned to Bianliang for examination and selection when he was taken away by Zhao Jun to tour the country.

Relying on the gilding in the past two years, he skipped the fifth rank and the fourth rank, and was promoted two levels in a row. He is currently working as the director of the Imperial Decree Bureau.

This is a three-level institution, with the chief officer being a fourth-rank official who is in charge of drafting government decrees, imperial edicts and other documents.

He was responsible for managing the clerks in the Constitutional Council who helped organize documents, and was also responsible for writing the decrees of the Constitutional Council, similar to the previous Zhizhigao.

So Su Huan was also allocated a house, which was a tube-shaped building with a U-shaped structure. Most of the residents were government officials, so it was equivalent to a house allocated by the unit.

In Bianliang, where every inch of land is worth a lot of money, even if an official has a high salary, if he wants to buy a house in the city, he has to save for several years without eating or drinking.

"No. 27 Qingshuitang Street, this is it."

The rickshaw took Su Xun and his family to the destination.

While Su Xun was giving the money, Su Shi got out of the car and looked up.

This is a tube-shaped building with about seven floors.

There is a square wall outside the building. The main entrance is closed, but there is a small door next to it.

In the security room at the small gate, two security guards were staring at them.

If it were placed in later generations, there would be a lot of such buildings, which would look very similar to the family compound of a certain government agency from the 1990s to the 2000s.

But in the Song Dynasty, it feels weird.

Accustomed to large mansions with several entrances and exits, seeing this kind of tall building, although it does feel tall, makes people feel a little depressed.

Su Xun paid the money, carried his luggage and took his family to the guard room, and asked the security guard inside: "Is this No. 27 Qingshuitang Street?"

"Yes, who are you looking for?"

The security guards are very polite. Those who live here are all officials, and those who come and go are definitely not ordinary people, so they cannot be easily offended.

Su Xun said, "I am Su Xun, the former governor of Ezhou. I am going to Beijing for a transfer. When I arrived in Bianliang, it was getting late, so I came to seek refuge with my brother, Su Huan. He wrote to me some time ago and said that he now lives at No. 27 Qingshuitang Street."

"It turned out to be Su Chisi's brother. Chisi just got off duty. I will go up and call him for you now."

When the security guard heard that the other party was the governor of a certain place and was looking for Su Huan, he did not dare to be careless and immediately went up to report.

Not long after, a young man in his twenties came down in a hurry.

When he saw Su Xun's family, he hurried over to greet them, "Uncle, aunt, Ba Niang, He Zhong, and Tong Shu."

"No deception."

"Don't bully your brother."

Several people also greeted the young man.

This person was Su Huan’s eldest son, Su Buqi.

Su Xun had two older brothers, and he was the third oldest. The eldest brother, Su Dan, was also a Jinshi, but unfortunately he died relatively early, at only in his twenties.

Therefore, the brothers Su Huan and Su Xun paid more attention to family affection. Even though they were both serving as officials in other places, they still wrote letters to each other frequently.

"Uncle, why are you here?"

Su Buqi went up to help with the luggage and said, "Father was still talking about you guys."

Su Xun smiled and said, "It's no good staying at home all the time. It's time to go to Beijing for an inspection."

As Su Buqi led them upstairs, he said, "You came here by train, right? You should send a telegram so that I can pick you up at the train station."

"Can we send telegrams, too?" "Yes, but it's more expensive."

"I won't lie to you, brother. How can I tell others the news by telegram?"

Su Shi looked up at the corridor. The corridor was not narrow, but even very spacious, so spacious that there were a lot of honeycomb coal piled in the corner.

"It's expensive because it's troublesome to tell others the news."

Su Buqi took them to the third floor, and then turned left and there was a straight corridor.

The corridor is more than 100 meters long, but only four families live there. This is enough to show that the houses here are much larger than the buildings outside.

"I also heard from others that the Zhiyuan invented Pinyin. There are 23 initials and 24 finals in total. The telegraph has 47 wires, and each wire represents a different Pinyin. In this way, by combining them, you can send out the text you want to know."

As Su Buqi was speaking, two young men came out from the door of the second house.

They were Su Huan's second son Su Buyi and youngest son Su Buwei. They came up to help carry things. Then Su Huan's wife Yang also came out and greeted them warmly.

After a few pleasantries, Yang quickly called them into the house.

It was the first time for Su Shi and Su Zhe to enter such a tube-shaped building. They felt it looked a bit depressing from the outside, but it was not particularly narrow inside.

What comes into view is a huge living room, fully equipped with all kinds of furniture, including sofas, tables, chairs, cabinets, and the windows are made of transparent glass, so you can see the sunset outside.

Looking to the left again, there are the toilet and kitchen on the left.

Looking to the right, the bedroom is on the right, and there is a door at the innermost part of the living room leading to a large balcony of over 100 square meters outside.

Su Huan was a fourth-rank official, which was equivalent to the highest local official in later generations.

Although the place they live in is not a small villa, it is more than 300 square meters and is naturally very luxurious. Perhaps the only thing missing is a radio and a TV.

Otherwise, it will be regarded as a veteran cadre's house in the future.

At this moment, Su Huan was sitting on a sponge sofa produced by the Bianliang Furniture Factory and reading a newspaper. The School of Chemistry has certainly not been there to sit there and do nothing over the years, and has developed a lot of useful things.

It can be said that the highest level of life in the Song Dynasty now is basically no different from the early days of the founding of the country in later generations, except for the lack of electrified products.

"Mingyun is here, come and sit down."

Su Huan put away the newspaper, sat at the table and said to Yang: "Madam, go make some tea, and ask Buqi to go out and tell Yang Ma to buy some more vegetables to take home."

Su Xun saw that he was not wearing the traditional scholar's robe, but a four-pocket suit with a stand-up collar and pocket covers.

He looked around, and with some confusion, he sat down next to Su Huan and said, "Second brother, why did you ask Mumu (sister-in-law) to make tea? Don't you have any maids or servants at home?"

"Hey, call her a maid or a human being, not a slave or a servant. Right now, there is only one maid in the house that your mother brought with her. But she is not a slave, but a hired servant in the family."

Su Huan waved his hand and said, "Your ideological awareness is still too low. The prefect has repeatedly stressed that people should not be enslaved and that human rights are equal. You live at home all the time, so you must listen to current affairs and understand the changes in the court."

"Forehead"

Su Xun asked for trouble.

Su Shi was still curious and asked, "Uncle, your clothes."

“This is called formal wear.”

Su Huan lowered his head and glanced at it, then smiled and said, "At the beginning of this year, the court changed the official uniform to court dress. It is only worn at grand court meetings or formal occasions. When working in government offices or in private, formal or casual clothes are worn."

"Oh."

Su Shi scratched his head.

Su Huan said to Su Xun, "Mingyun, you came to Beijing to be selected for the examination, right?"

"Yes."

Su Xun nodded and said, "Because of my father's mourning and Ba Niang's incident, I haven't been an official for five years. Thanks to Zhiyuan, Ba Niang's incident has been resolved. It's time for me to go to Beijing to be transferred."

"Well, you came at the perfect time."

Su Huan said, "The court is short of people right now. You don't know that officials are needed everywhere. We sent many officials to conquer Youyan before. Now we have conquered the Western Regions and sent many more. Every department is short of capable officials. The prefect said before that your talent far exceeds mine, but unfortunately you have been in mourning. Now that he knows you are here, he will definitely be very happy. Tomorrow you will report to the Ministry of Personnel first, and then go to the Court of Officials. I will mention it to the prefect and see if he will meet you then."

"Thank you, brother."

Su Xun nodded repeatedly.

The scene of meeting the magistrate at the Xiangfu County Government Office that year is still vivid in my mind.

Thinking of the appreciation of the dean, I was also excited.

"He Zhong, Tong Shu."

Su Huan looked at Su Shi and his brothers again.

The two brothers were not yet twenty years old and had no given names. They were both called by nicknames, which were given to them by Su Shi's father Su Xun when they were 13 and 9 years old respectively.

"uncle!"

Su Shi and Su Zhe stood up quickly.

"When you study at home, do you learn mathematics?"

Su Huan asked.

"No."

Su Shi and Su Zhe shook their heads honestly.

"So what do you study all day?"

"Learn the literature of the past and present."

"Is it your father who taught you all this?"

"Yes, mother."

"Nonsense."

Su Huan slammed the table, looked at Su Xun, pointed at him and said angrily: "You are such a blockhead. I told you to read more about current affairs. Why are you delaying the children's studies like this?"

By now, Su Xun also knew the importance of mathematics, physics and chemistry, so he could only say awkwardly: "My father passed away, and there is Ba Niang's matter. I am entangled with the Cheng family all day long. I am worried about Ba Niang's health. How can I care about these things?"

"Okay, I don't want to hear your explanation. No matter what position you choose, even if it's to be the governor of the Western Regions, Hezhong and Tongshu must stay in Bianliang, go to school, and study mathematics and physics well."

Su Huan made the decision, "You are lucky to have met the Dean, and you passed the imperial examination when mathematics and physics were not yet included in the imperial examination. But you can't think that your children can follow your old path in the future. What era is it now? If they don't know mathematics, who will admit them? You just follow the old ways every day and stay in Meizhou without leaving. If you continue like this, He Zhong and Tong Shu will be ruined by you, don't you understand?"

"Yes."

Su Xun couldn't refute, so he had to agree.

"uncle."

When Su Shi heard that he would live in Bianliang in the future, he spoke quickly.

Su Huan turned his head and asked with some anger: "What's the matter?"

"I wonder if Mr. Lu Xun is also in Bianliang?"

Su Shi asked.

"I heard it was."

When Su Xun heard about Lu Xun, he showed an expression of admiration and said, "This gentleman is really talented. He often writes articles in newspapers. He has a good understanding of the current situation of the Song Dynasty. He often talks about the sufferings of the people and discusses the evils of the people. Even the governor often quotes his words."

Then he looked at Su Shi in confusion and asked, "Why are you asking Mr. Lu Xun?"

"This"

Su Shi hesitated for a moment and said, "I just feel that your words are really enlightening and thought-provoking. Another thing is..."

"Just what?"

"When I read the poems written by Mr. Li, I don't know why, but I feel like I have always lived in his shadow, as if those poems should have been written by me."

"Hahahahaha."

Su Xun laughed, clapped his hands and said, "It's good for a young man to have talent, but you shouldn't be too obsessed with other people's works. In the long run, just like you are now, you should think beyond your own thoughts when it comes to poetry. Do you understand?"

"My nephew understands."

Su Shi lowered his head and looked out the window again, his eyes full of confusion.

That being said.

But this feeling of living in the shadow of Mr. Lu Xun still lingers in my heart and cannot be shaken off.

(End of this chapter)