Five.

Ji Kang was Cao Cao's first granddaughter-in-law, and his relationship with the lost heroic era was more direct than Ruan Ji's.

Ji Kang is a first-rate lovely figure in the cultural history of China. Although he is tied with Ruan Ji and younger than Ruan Ji, in terms of overall personality, his position in my mind is much higher than that of Ruan Ji, although he has always admired Ruan Ji. I have thought about the reasons for this feeling many times. After thinking about it, I finally understand that Ji Kang is more clear and thorough than Ruan Ji in what he opposes and pursues, so his life movement is clearer and louder.

His philosophy of life shocked people at that time: "Not Tang Wu, but thin Kong Zhou", "The more famous, the more natural". He completely ignored all kinds of long-standing grandiose dogmas and etiquette, and completely hated official career, because there was a realm of life in his heart that fascinated him. The basic content of this realm of life is to get rid of bondage, return to nature and enjoy leisure. Professor Luo Zongqiang said in his book Metaphysics and the Mentality of Scholars in Wei and Jin Dynasties that Ji Kang humanized Zhuangzi's philosophy, so it was poetic and reasonable. Ji Kang is a pragmatist who has lived in Yang Shan, Jiaozuo, Henan for a long time. Later, outside Luoyang, he opened a blacksmith's shop and worked under a big tree every day. He strikes the iron for others for free. If someone is paid for wine and food, he will be very happy and drag others to drink as much as possible in the blacksmith's shop.

A rare scholar and great artist, unexpectedly strike while the iron is hot near a big city! No one asked him to fight, just voluntarily; There is no utilitarian purpose, but it is very interesting. Compared with those hermits who are far away from the world and lonely, compared with those poor and weak literati, Ji Kang is really healthy and enviable.

Ji Kang is very handsome and equal to Ruan Ji. Why did the Wei and Jin scholars grow so tall and straight? If you look at the serious Book of Jin, you have to spend a lot of ink on Ruan Ji and Ji Kang, and write more about Ji Kang, saying that he has reached the point of "Zhang Long's charm and naturalness". My friend Dan Tao once used such a beautiful sentence to describe Ji Kang (Uncle Night):

Uncle Ye is also a man and Yan Yan is lonely and independent. If you are drunk, you will collapse if you are majestic.

Now, this rock is solitary and loose, and this majestic Yushan is beating the iron, with strong muscles, cheerful shouts, blazing fires and sonorous hammers. Is this blacksmith the author of many masterpieces handed down from generation to generation, such as Sound Without Sorrow, Tai Shizhen, Learning from others is naturally difficult, Managing Talent, Ming Dan, Relieving Private Affairs, Keeping in Good Health and so on? This iron is really good.

Ji Kang doesn't want many people to know about it, and he doesn't want others to visit it. Knowing his temper, Xiang Xiu, his good friend and writer, quietly came to him, saying nothing, just burying his head in helping him strike while the iron is hot. Speaking of Xiang embroidery, he is also a great figure. He is a good writer and proficient in Zhuangzi, but he is more willing to be the most loyal friend and help the blacksmith shop. He also went to Yang Shan to help another friend Lu An grow vegetables and irrigate the garden. Lu An is also a good friend of Ji Kang. These friends all believe in returning to nature, so they all do manual work. Xiang embroidery runs around to take care of many places, fearing that friends are too tired and lonely.

Ji Kang and Xiang Xiu don't like to talk about the rights and wrongs of the world when they are together while the iron is hot, so they don't talk much. The only topic is to talk about a few friends, besides Ruan Ji and Lu An, and Dan Tao. Lv An's brother Lv Xun has a good relationship. That's it. Five or six people who can be called friends, they all cherish it. In the wild and natural ecology, they will never give up the comfort of their families. This kind of affection is tacit to each other, so strong that it is almost indifferent.

While the iron was being struck, I suddenly saw a luxurious motorcade coming from Luoyang City. Headed by a noble son named Zhong Hui, he was a favorite of the imperial court at that time. Zhong Hui is the son of Zhong You, a great calligrapher. Zhong You was a great assistant of Wei, and Zhong Hui himself read widely. Zhong Hui has always admired Ji Kang and was once in awe. For example, after writing four papers, he wanted to show it to Ji Kang, but he lacked courage. He only dared to quietly stuff the article in the window of Ji Kang's residence. Now his position is not low. I heard that Ji Kang was working while the iron was hot outside Luoyang and decided to come. Zhong Hui's visit is very ostentatious. According to Wei's "Spring and Autumn Annals", it is "rich clothes and light clothes, and guests are like clouds".

Zhong Hui made this visit so ostentatious, perhaps out of respect for Ji Kang, or to show Ji Kang something, but Ji Kang refused at a glance. This sudden noise seriously violated his efforts to create a comfortable state. He glanced at Zhong Hui, did not even say hello, and worked hard with Xiang Xiu while the iron was hot. He swung the hammer, Xiang embroidery pulled the bellows, and no one looked.

This can push Zhong Hui to an awkward position. Before he left, he boasted about Haikou to his guests. Now the guests are looking at him in confusion. He can only stare bitterly at Ji Kang and Xiang Xiu and watch them work slowly. After reading it for a long time, Ji Kang still didn't mean to talk. He waved to the guests, got on the bus to catch the horse and went back.

Just a few steps later, Ji Kang said, "What did you hear? What did you see? "

Zhong Hui was surprised and immediately replied, "I heard it and came, but I saw it and left."

The question and answer is concise and ingenious, but Zhong Hui's heart really doesn't taste. The whip sounded a few times, and the huge chariots and horses returned to Luoyang.

Ji Kang didn't even look up, only Xiang Embroidery looked stupefied for a while, raising the dust behind the team, with a hint of worry in his eyes.

Six.

For Ji Kang, it is friends who can really disturb him from the bottom of his heart. Outside of friendship, he can bow his head and say nothing, but it is different for friends. Even a little psychological disorder will make him anxious and miserable. Therefore, how deep the friendship is, how deep the interference is.

This kind of thing happened unfortunately between him and his good friend Dan Tao.

Dan Tao is also a celebrity with great atmosphere. At that time, some people praised his character as "rough jade is solid gold". Different from Ruan Ji and Ji Kang, he has a moderate and friendly relationship with the imperial court, ethics and people of all colors. But he is good, loyal to friendship and has the demeanor of an elder. He is a very reliable friend. At that time, he held an important position; The official of Shangshu wants to quit and resign. The court asked him to recommend a qualified person to replace him. He sincerely recommended Ji Kang.

Ji Kang wrote a dear John letter to Dan Tao immediately after learning about it. Dan Tao's word is Chrysanthemum Garden, so this letter is called "Breaking up with Mountain Chrysanthemum Garden". I think it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the most important dear John book in the cultural history of China. Anyway, as long as people who have a rough understanding of China's classical literature can't escape, it will still be like this today after more than one thousand years.

This is a very long letter. Some words, a little sad-

I heard that you want me to take your place. It didn't work out, but you know you don't know me very well. Maybe you're too embarrassed to kill yourself as a chef. Why not use a priest as a cushion? ……

Ruan Ji is more mellow and virtuous than me, and never talks much. Some people hate him. I can't compare with him. I am used to arrogance and laziness. I don't understand human physics and like to talk quickly. Once an official, how much trouble it will cause every day! ..... I have made it clear how I live in the world, even if I walk in a dead end, I deserve it. If you force me, you must push me into the canyon!

I just lost my mother and brother, and I feel very sad. The daughter is only thirteen years old and the son is only eight years old. I'm not an adult, and I'm sick. I really don't know what to say when I think about this. Now I just want to live in a humble old house and raise my children. Always talk to friends and relatives about your feelings and the past. A glass of turbid wine and a piano is enough. It's not that I pretend to be lofty, but that I really can't be an official, just as we can't add the reputation of chastity to eunuchs. If you want to join my career and have fun together, you are actually driving me crazy. I don't think you have a deep hatred for me. You wouldn't do that, would you?

I say this to let you know me and say goodbye to you.

This letter soon spread in one's hand and in one's hand. The court knew Ji Kang's uncooperative attitude, but Dan Tao, despite his good intentions, got a flat end, which was certainly not good. But he knows that the general dear John letter need not be written so long, which is Ji Kang's frank confession to himself. If friendship really dies, it is entirely possible to say a few words coldly or even say nothing and end everything. In short, these two former friends, their farewell is too beautiful to describe.

Ji Kang wrote a dear John letter to Lv Xun, Lv An's brother. Lv An was the friend mentioned above who went to Hunan Embroidery to help grow vegetables and water flowers. Originally, Lu Xun and Lu An were Ji Kang's friends, but the two brothers suddenly fought a big lawsuit that shocked the distance. It turned out that Lu Xun took a fancy to his younger brother Lu An's wife and secretly possessed her. In order to cover up, he even charged his brother with "unfilial" and appealed to the court.

In doing so, Lu Xun is the devil, but he is the plaintiff! "Filial piety" was a heavy crime at that time. The elder brother accused the younger brother of "unfilial", which shows his moral image, and the court is willing to reiterate filial piety. On the contrary, Lu An, as the defendant, was wronged but difficult to justify. How does a scholar tell a scholar about his brother's occupation of his wife? And such a thing, where is the evidence? Why should a wife get along with herself? Why should families avoid shame?

In the face of the greatest shameless and hooligans, the victims are often at a loss. Because those who create shameless hooligans have already considered the shame that the victims don't want to talk about, the charges that the public is easy to understand and angry, the victims have no choice but to sob in tears. If there is the last road, the last chance in life, it is to find the closest friend to talk to. In this case, many friends who are usually regarded as confidants have already avoided one by one, and the fragility and rarity of friends' ways are revealed at the same time. Difficult to argue, Lu An thought of his most distinguished friend Ji Kang. Ji Kang proved to be Ji Kang, and immediately became angry. Lu An has been sentenced to "unfilial". Ji Kang doesn't understand officialdom. The only thing he can do is to scold Lu Xun and break up.

This time, the dear John letter was written with indignation, angrily denouncing Lu Xun for framing innocents and being malicious; I regret that I advised Lu An to be patient without principles before and felt sorry for Lu An. For Lu Xun, there is nothing to say except rest. We can see at a glance that this is completely different from his dear John letter to Dan Tao.

"Friend", what a strange name it is, Ji Kang is really confused by it. He values his friends so much that he has to break up again and again. He was very strict in choosing his friends all his life. I didn't expect all the great events to happen among his few friends. He wants to express his likes and dislikes by breaking up, and also wants to define the meaning of friends by breaking up. He cherishes it too much, but the more he cherishes it, the less he can stay.

Although he was very angry, what he did was very small: he said a few words for an wronged friend in a private letter and saw through a fake friend, that's all. But because of this, he was arrested.

The reason is simple: he is an accomplice of unfilial.

From this unreasonable case, I understand why it is so easy to build an unreasonable case in China, and why the unreasonable case has expanded its meaning so quickly. Up and down don't care much about the truth of the incident, but they are keen on a crime that is the most popular, easy to spread and can arouse public anger; Once this charge is established, the truth of the matter becomes even more insignificant. Whoever wants to bring up the facts to spoil everyone's fun immediately becomes an accomplice to the crime. As an accomplice, the right to speak is completely deprived. Therefore, please forgive all the friends who are grateful and tight-lipped. They can't compete with secular anger that doesn't need facts, and they can't afford the notoriety that accomplices and accomplices can wear on their heads at any time.

Now, it's Ji Kang's turn to be convicted.

Si Mazhao, the ruler, hesitated in court. We remember Ruan Ji drinking and eating meat at his mother's funeral and being accused of being unfilial. Si Mazhao defended Ruan Ji on the spot, indicating that Si Mazhao didn't care about the crime of unfilial. He is more concerned about Ji Kang's dear John letter to Dan Tao, which annoys his official career so much, and always gives him some color to see see.

At this moment, a young man who is highly valued by Si Mazhao asks for an audience. He is Zhong Hui. I don't know if readers still remember him, so they gingerly stuffed their first paper in Ji Kang's window and took a group of people to visit Ji Kang after he made his fortune. At that time, he was working while the iron was hot in the countryside and was left out by Ji Kang. He knew Si Mazhao's mind, then quietly advised:

Ji Kang, Wolong, don't let him get up. Your majesty has nothing to worry about governing the world. I just want to remind everyone to be a little wary of a proud celebrity like Ji Kang. Do you know why he wrote such a dear John letter to his good friend Dan Tao? As far as I know, he wanted to help others rebel, but Dan Tao opposed it, so he failed. He became angry from embarrassment and broke up with Dan Tao. Your Majesty, in the past, Jiang Taigong and Confucius both killed so-called celebrities who endangered fashion and disturbed morality. Now Ji Kang and Lu An are both dissolute, slandering saints and classics, which any monarch who rules the world can't tolerate. If your majesty is too kind and doesn't get rid of Ji Kang, there may be no way to be honest and clean.

I specially translated Zhong Hui's speech in large paragraphs, hoping readers can read it carefully. He evaded the specific question of filial piety, and almost every sentence hit Si Mazhao's heart. In moral personality, he is a villain; He is a master of libel techniques.

As soon as Zhong Hui left, Si Mazhao ordered Ji Kang and Liu An to be executed immediately.

Seven.

This is one of the darkest days in China's cultural history, and there is even the sun.

Ji Kang, wearing a wooden cangue, was taken from prison to the execution ground by a group of soldiers.

The execution ground is in the east of Luoyang, and the road is not close. Ji Kangyi was expressionless and ethereal on the road, thinking of many adventures in life.

He remembered that, like Ruan Ji, he went up the mountain to find Master Sun Deng and followed him for a long time. The master hardly spoke on weekdays, until Ji Kang left, only to sigh deeply: "You are strong-willed and talented, can you avoid disaster?"

He remembered that he had traveled to the west of Luoshui in his early years, and one day he spent the night in Huayang and played the piano alone in his residence. A visitor suddenly came in the middle of the night, claiming to be an ancient man. He chatted with Ji Kang about his temperament and became interested. He asked Ji Kang for a piano, and played a song "Guangling San", which had an incomparable timbre. Pass it on to Ji Kang after the fight, and repeatedly tell him not to pass it on to others. The man drifted away, leaving no name.

Ji Kang thought of this, and the melody of Guangling San filled his ears and brain. He followed the advice of the mysterious visitor and taught no one. A man named Yuan Xiaoni learned from somewhere that Ji Kang could play this piece of music. He made many requests, but he didn't agree. The execution ground is not far. Is this tune cut off forever? -thought of here, he slightly alert.

Suddenly, Ji Kang heard something moving ahead, and it was getting louder and louder. It turned out that 3,000 imperial college students crowded on the edge of the execution ground and petitioned the court to pardon Ji Kang and let Ji Kang be the tutor of the imperial college. Obviously, too many students want to use this petition to remind the court of Ji Kang's social reputation and academic status, but these young people don't know that their gathering of 3,000 people has constituted a political demonstration. How could Si Mazhao give in?

Ji Kang looked at the dark young students and was a little touched. I was aloof all my life, but I died because of a few friends, and a pair of sincere eyes wandered around. An official rushed through the crowd and came to the high platform of the execution ground to announce that the court would uphold the original judgment.

The execution ground was covered with mountains calling for a tsunami.

However, everyone's eyes are on Ji Kang who has been put on the high platform.

Ji Kang, a tall man, looked up and squinted at the sun. He said to the official beside him, "It's not time for execution. Let me play a song. " Without waiting for the official to answer, he said to his brother Ji, who was seeing him off, "Brother, please bring my piano."

The piano was quickly taken away and placed on the high platform of the execution ground. Ji Kang sat in front of the piano and said to 3,000 Thai students and onlookers, "Please let me play Guangling San once. In the past, Yuan Xiaoni and others wanted to learn many times, but I refused. " Guangling San is unique today! "

There was silence on the execution ground, and the mysterious piano was overwhelming.

After the fight, die calmly.

It was New Year's Day in the summer of 262, and Ji Kang was thirty-nine.

Eight.

There are a few things that must be clarified-

In the second year after Ji Kang was killed by Si Mazhao, Ruan Ji was forced to write an article "Advising Gong Jin", which was ambiguous. A few months later, Ruan Ji died at the age of 53;

Xiang embroidery, which helped Ji Kang strike while the iron was hot, was afraid after Ji Kang was killed and accepted the call of Sima's family to be an official. On the way to Luoyang, the capital, I made a detour to Ji Kang's former residence to pay my respects to him. It was dusk and it was freezing. There was a whimpering flute from the neighbor's house. Xiang Xiu recalled the scene when several friends gathered here for a banquet. Deeply moved, Xiang Xiu wrote "Nostalgia". It's short. It's over at the beginning. Later, Xiang Xiu became an official on horseback, an official on the Yellow Gate, and a regular waiter on horseback. However, it is said that he didn't do anything practical in his official position, but just avoided disaster.

After Ji Kang's death, Dan Tao lived for 20 years, probably the longest among celebrities at that time. Ji Kang wrote him a famous dear John letter, but before he died, he said to his ten-year-old son Ji Shao, "As long as Uncle Dan Tao is alive, you are not an orphan!" Sure enough, Dan Tao is the person who cares about Ji Shao the most and benefits the most. When Ji Shao grew up, Dan Tao recommended him to be an official.

The descendants of Ruan Ji and Ji Kang are nothing like their parents. Ruan Ji's son Ruan Hun is a very filial official. He has never been drunk once in his life. Ji Shao was recommended by Dan Tao as an official and became a loyal trainer to protect the emperor. Once Emperor Jinhui was defeated and trapped, and all the officials fled, but Ji Shao was well dressed, protected the emperor with his own body and died loyally.

Nine.

One last thing.

Song Guangling San, played by Ji Kang on his deathbed, has been hard to find. However, it is said that the music score was found in the court of the Sui Dynasty, and it was exiled to the people in the Tang Dynasty. In the era of Song Gaozong, it was included in the mysterious music score by Zhu Quan, the son of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty. According to the mysterious music score, it can still be heard today. However, is this really the song Ji Kang played on the high platform of the execution ground? After so long, so many dynasties, sometimes palace and sometimes folk, there are still many blank time paragraphs, which can still be handed down? The original question is, how did Ji Kang enter the court of Sui Dynasty that day?

Anyway, I won't listen to the modern Guangling San. Guangling San ended in Ji Kang's hands, just like Ruan Ji and Sun Deng's mysterious Xiao Gu. It's all distant silence, and we can't chase it back.

However, why does this era, this group of people, these unique voices always make us unable to give up? I think, these figures trudging on the edge of life seem to have laid a tragic foreshadowing for the whole cultural history of China. They yearn for peace and are anxious all over. They strive for wit and division everywhere. They mark a conscious cultural personality for the first time at a high cost of their lives. There may be no direct descendants in their lineages, but China's aesthetic culture began to stand on its own feet from their mental torture. In the hundred years after the death of Ji Kang and Ruan Ji, great calligrapher Wang Xizhi, great painter Gu Kaizhi and great poet Tao Yuanming appeared one after another. Two hundred years later, great literary critics Liu Xie and Zhong Rong were born one after another. If we broaden our horizons a little, great scientists such as chemist Ge Hong, astronomer, mathematician Zu Chongzhi and geographer Li Daoyuan also emerged during this period. Almost all of these people are in their respective fields. The anxiety and struggle of celebrities in Wei and Jin Dynasties opened a secret place of China intellectuals' hearts, where the fruits of civilization bloomed. Thousands of generations in the future will also be related to this. However, when the achievements of civilization have multiplied from generation to generation, the strange images of the spiritual pioneers of that year are hard to see again. Ji Kang and Ruan Ji became more and more eccentric and surly in the eyes of later generations. They are as strange as non-human beings and as surly as elves.

Having them is the luck of China culture, and losing them is the regret of China culture.

Nothing can be undone.

I think, up to now, the only thing we can barely say to them is a contemporary idiom: I don't care about eternity, I only care about owning it.

We used to have it!

-writing this article is the same as the day Ji Kang died after playing Guangling. It was a hot August, with an interval of 1732.