The Play of Ming Dynasty
The Play of Ming Dynasty Chapter 2

The development of a baby’s brain never depended on human will. Brother Wen’s memory had only recovered to the point of “Lu-Wang’s Study of the Mind”.

If someone were to ask him if the ‘Wang’ in “Lu-Wang’s Study of the Mind” was his older brother, then who was ‘Lu’? He wouldn’t be able to answer at all.

Fortunately, he had gotten something out of this meeting. At least, from Wang Hua and his son’s conversation, he knew that his name was Wang Shouwen, and it was obvious that he was named after his older brother, Wang Shouren.

As for who ‘Wang Yun’ was, Young Master Wen had not yet figured it out.

It was too bad that Wang Shouren was already 17 years old. He was already at the age where he was not interested to play with babies, so he rarely came to see him.

Young Master Wen couldn’t crawl or walk, so he had no way to look for information. He could only try to master Ming Dynasty dialect so that he could understand what his mother was whispering to him in private.

His hard work paid off. After half a month of unremitting efforts, Young Master Wen finally understood the whole story of his older brother’s name change from his mother’s mouth.

His older brother had already given a message through dreams before he was born, and there was a new twist this time: everyone was very anxious because his older brother still couldn’t talk at the age of five. One day, a monk passed by and looked at his older brother while muttering something bizarre. When his grandfather heard this, he changed his older brother’s name! Then a miracle happened–his older brother could speak soon after!

Young Master Wen, “?”

There was too much element that he didn’t know where he should start commenting.

If Crazy Monk had appeared, could there also be Lousy Taoist?

His brother was indeed a legend of the Ming Dynasty, he has had so many bizarre encounters since he was a child.

After having solved the huge question in his mind, Young Master Wen returned to his usual life as a carefree baby.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to work hard and just lie around, it’s just that he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even sit up!

Practicing raising his head every day was the only pastime he could do as a baby.

Young Master Wen happened to be practicing raising his head when he saw his older brother again. He slowly raised his little head and then slowly lowered it back. One two three four, one two three four, one two three four, once again, one two three four…

Suddenly, a big human face appeared in front of him.

Young Master Wen, “…”

Young Master Wen’s pupils shrank, he was obviously fightened. His movements of raising his head came into halt.

Wang Shouren laughed rudely.

Wang Shouren didn’t have a particularly good relationship with his stepmother, but he did not have any objection towards this younger brother. It was just that Young Master Wen was still such a little kid and couldn’t even talk or be touched, so he had no interest in coming over.

Wang Shouren had nothing to do today, so he wandered over to take a look. He didn’t expect to see Young Master Wen to be playing so enthusiastically.

The first time they met, he felt that his younger brother’s eyes seemed to be able to talk. Seeing him this time, he realized that his feeling had been right.

Wang Shouren poked Young Master Wen’s small face curiously.

The two-year-old child’s whole body was so soft that when he gently poked him, it felt like poking a ball of cotton. He felt even more amused when he looked at Young Master Wen frowning because he kept poking him.

Wang Shouren easily picked his small brother up, then said to the wet nurse and Lady Zhao, “I’ll take Young Master Wen to Grandfather’s place.”

Wang Shouren held the baby calmly and comfortably, but Lady Zhao felt that every step he took was like stepping on her heart. She was agitated, fearing that he would accidentally drop Young Master Wen.

She had wanted to tell Wang Shouren to return Young Master Wen, but she remembered that Wang Hua wanted his children to be closer, so she made his wet nurse to quickly follow them.

Wang Shouren was not someone who cared about other people’s feelings. As he was walking with Young Master Wen in his arms, he randomly pulled a piece of bamboo leave to play with Young Master Wen.

He was about to get married and have a child, so he was very stable when picking up a child. He safely carried Young Master Wen to the two elders.

Young Master Wen finally calmed down after his grandmother took him.

When everyone walked with him in their arms, they would consciously slow down and take great care of the weak and helpless baby.

Wang Shouren was different. He sometimes sped up and sometimes slowed down, and he sometimes held him with both hands and sometimes with one hand, even tossing him between his left and right hand.

Fortunately, Wang Shouren was not crazy enough to throw him into the air, otherwise he would have had to worry about whether he would become one of those cases of “an elder threw a child into the air but failed to catch the child causing the child to be paralyzed”.

It was not easy for children to grow up safely!

Mrs. Cen obviously spoke more and sounded more friendly in front of her eldest grandson. Seeing that Young Master Wen was not making a fuss, she said to Wang Shouren with a smile, “It is rare that Young Master Wen’s mother allows you to carry him here.”

Wang Shouren remembered Lady Zhao’s hesitant look, then casually sat next to Madam Cen and said, “We are brothers, what’s there to worry about?”

Scholars have always paid attention to “pactice self-cultivation, maintain family harmony, conduct good governance, and guarantee peace”. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, the examination scope of the imperial examination was the Four Books and Five Classics. One of the Four Books, “The Great Learning”, specifically talked about “why we should bring order to our family”, etc. It was a content that would definitely appear in the exam!

Therefore, scholars in the Ming Dynasty paid special attention to the principle of filial piety and brotherhood. A discord in the family would affect their reputation and career if the word of it spread, so they had to find a way to reconcile no matter how discordant their family were.

Besides, he and Lady Zhao didn’t have that much hatred.

Next to him, Old Man Wang was taking a few sips of his tea. He glanced at Young Master Wen who was listening attentively to their conversation, then turned to Wang Shouren and said, “Your father has written a letter to Uncle Zhu to discuss about your marriage. You can’t run around anymore, so just study hard at home.”

Wang Shouren muttered, “Does going out to study considered running around?”

He gained a lot of knowledge every time he went out. He felt that he could learn much more by travelling than by studying hard at home.

If his father had not stopped him, he would have had thought of a way to tell The Emperor about what he had gained from his journey!

Although he had no official position and no chance to see The Emperor, there would always be a way. A long as he was willing to use his brain, The Emperor would definitely see his brilliant idea!

Wang Shouren did not regret running away from home to travel to the border. On the contrary, he thought that “even though his father placed first in the imperial examination, he did not understand his son at all.”

Old Man Wang caught a glimpse of his eldest grandson’s expression, but of course he didn’t understand what he was thinking about. He usually doted on his eldest grandson, but this time he wasn’t careless and scolded him, “This marriage has been decided since you were a child. Our families will become one when you get married, so don’t make them your enemy.”

Officialdom was a place where connections were important. Generally speaking, fellow townsman would form their own party. They were from the same town after all, who would you help if not your own people?

For example, the Wang family was from Yuyao. Wang Hua, the Number One Scholar, was admitted by his fellow townsman and friend, Xie Qian.

Xie Qian himself was a Number One Scholar, also the most promising Yuyao native in the imperial court. He was considered a top figure in Yuyao’s network.

Wang Shouren’s future father-in-law, Zhu Rang, was also from Yuyao. He was the Chief Envoy and Counselor of Jiangxi. He was a fourth-rank official and had higher rank than Wang Hua.

With this marriage, Wang Shouren would be considered a member of Yuyao’s network in the future, which would be helpful for his career later!

Which man wouldn’t want his son-in-law to be doing well?

If you help me, then I would help you too. We would help each other. With this virtuous cycle, the future generation would have no worries!

Wang Shouren was only 17 years old. He hated hearing this kind of principle the most, so he responded perfunctorily, “I know.” As he was saying this, he took Young Master Wen to play with. Seeing that Young Master Wen seemed to be listening seriously to what they were talking about, Wang Shouren said curiously, “Look, I always feel that Young Master Wen understands what we are saying.”

Old Man Wang said, “How can a tiny little kid understand? Even if he understands it, he won’t be able to remember it. You are smart, but even you can’t remember things before you were four years old.”

When Young Master Wen heard his grandfather said, “Even if he understands it, he won’t be able to remember it.”, he felt his heart was stabbed by an arrow.

He was right, he couldn’t remember anything most of the time. There was no such thing as photographic memory!

Thinking about it, the Wang family had already cheated with Wang Hua who was a Number One Scholar and “Sage Wang” Wang Shouren. It was normal for other family members to disappear into the background.

Don’t compare and grow up happily!

When Wang Hua came back from work, he heard that his father and sons were all there, so he went straight over to chat with them without changing his clothes.

Young Master Wen looked at Wang Hua curiously, and what he saw was the patch on Wang Hua’s uniform.

It was said to be a informal clothes, but it was actually a type of official uniform. Officials wear this when they were working in the Yamen, complete with a black gauze hat and official boots.

Informal clothes came in different colors and patches to distinguish their grades. Young Master Wen didn’t remember the specific classification.

The official robes of high officials should be bright red and purple, but his father’s official robes were cyan, which showed that his father’s official position was not very high. The Number One Scholar also had to start from zero, it was not easy!

Young Master Wen began to concentrate on studying the square patch on his father’s official robe.

There was a bird embroidered on it.

The bird looked quite abstract.

He couldn’t tel what kind of bird it was.

It seemed that only veterans of officialom could recognize people by looking at birds.

It was not easy to survive in officialdom!

Wang Hua didn’t notice that his younger son was seriously looking at the bird. He had just received a reply from his future in-laws that said that the two parties should be making preparations, then the two children could get married in the sixth and seventh month.

Considering that neither Wang Hua nor Zhu Rang could leave their posts without permission, Wang Shouren was asked to go to Jiangxi to get married. After the marriage, he would stat there for a while and listen to his father-in-law’s teaching before returning to Yuyao to study and prepare for the exam.

It was said that a doctor couldn’t heal himself, and this was probably also the case when raising children.

Even though Wang Hua was a talented scholar, he found it difficult to deal with Wang Shouren, so he came up with the idea that parents all over the world had: if children weren’t thoughtful, they would be better after getting married.

Marriage was good, marriage was wonderful, marriage was the panacea for bad sons and daughters to change their minds!

If that didn’t work, it would be a good idea to take them to their in-law’s house and stay out of sight!

If his son headed back to Yuyao now and transported the betrothal gift to Jiangxi, it would almost be time for the wedding. Then Zhu Rang himself would make the arrangements and Wang Hua didn’t have to worry about anything. It was so good to have a son, there wasn’t much trouble!

After hearing Wang Hua’s arrangement, Old Man Wang thought it was good. He nodded and said, “Since you can’t leave, I will go with him. Just consider it as me going out to relax.”

Wang Hua was a little worried, “Can your body bear it?”

Old Man Wang glanced angrily at him and said, “I’m in very good health, so the journey will be nothing.”

Young Master Wen listened to them discussing about Wang Shouren’s marriage. At first, he could muster the energy to carefully discern what they were talking about, but soon the felt sleepy and his eyelids became heavier.

While being half asleep, Young Master Wen felt his face being poked twice. His older brother’s voice floated hazily into his slumber, “This kid really doesn’t cry and make a fuss. He can sleep anywhere…”

Young Master Wen frowned.

He smacked his lips twice.

He kind of wanted to bite him.

It was a pity that he didn’t have any teeth!

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

@

error: Content is protected !!