The Art of Deception and Adrian's Tale Last Chapter

Adrian Li has seven brothers and two sisters. He is the sixth among his brothers. His third brother died early, so the other six branches were established and his father named it "Liuqiantang". Except for him, all his brothers are farmers, but his seventh brother later opened a computer room, which is slightly commercial in nature. Adrian Li believes in heredity and prenatal education. He said that his love of reading was determined by nature, because the years when he was born were when his father was studying behind closed doors. He also cited the father and son of the Su family as evidence, saying: "It is said that Su Laoquan started to study hard at the age of 27. Laoquan was born in the second year of Xiangfu of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, Yiyou, and turned 27 years old in the second year of Mingdao of Renzong of Song Dynasty. Wesley Su was born on December 19th of Bingzi year, and Su Ziyu was born on February 20th of Yimao year. The two brothers were born at the time when Laoquan was studying hard. In history, only Laoquan started to study hard at the age of 27, and he gave birth to two literary masters; only my father started to study hard at the age of 40, and he gave birth to a leader. Isn't it a miracle? . Wesley Su was a man of great talent and his writings were heroic; Ziyou was a very calm person, and he liked the teachings of Huang-Lao. His annotations on Laozi were applied to the masterpieces of ancient and modern times. Laoquan studied very hard at first, but later he gradually understood the principles and became calm. Therefore, Wesley Su and Ziyou had different talents. I was born in the last years of my father's hard-working study, so I am calm by nature, like Laozi, and quite similar to Ziyou; but it is a pity that I was born in a peasant family and could not learn anything, which made me feel ashamed of Ziyou. "He said that his strange thoughts were also inherited from his father. In fact, his family has had special personalities for several generations. Let's trace back to his great-grandfather and take a look at his pedigree.

Adrian Li's great-grandfather, Qiufang, was extremely serious. Although he was the owner of a dye shop, he was dignified and everyone was in awe of him. If any of his relatives or children were untidy or drunk and walked into his shop, they would hold their breath and be in awe, not daring to pass by. But he was not harsh to others, and still had a kind and gentle attitude. He never did anything wrong in his life and lived to be seventy years old. Before he died, he asked his family to hold a towel in their hands and wash his face. His hat was slightly untidy, so he adjusted it himself, and then he died leaning on the table.

Adrian Li's grandfather, named Leshan, was a farmer all his life. He used to grow vegetables to sell. In his spare time, he sold candles and straw sandals and hawked them on the streets. He was a big man with a simple temperament. When he went to the street to carry manure, if someone talked to him, he would stand up to answer, with the manure on his shoulders, not knowing how to put it down. When he met a cunning person, he would deliberately make fun of him. After a long conversation, he would switch from left shoulder to right shoulder, and from right shoulder to left shoulder, making people on the street laugh. He went to sleep after dinner, and when his family went to bed, he had already woken up, and he never slept again. When he was asleep, he would not wake up even if he was called, but if he was called "robbers are coming!", he would get up in surprise. After going to bed at night, he would prepare the vegetables to sell tomorrow. After finishing, he would hold a pole and go to guard the vegetable garden. The vegetable garden was close to the main road, and thieves who stole things passing by would often be snatched by him and returned to the owner. Therefore, thieves were very afraid of him and often took a detour. The family was reluctant to eat meat on weekdays. At the end of the year, he cut ten pounds of meat to prepare for pickling. He used a knife to trim the edges and corners, and cut off about half a pound. He then ordered his wife to pick radishes for soup, and earnestly told him: "Keep the big ones to sell, and the small ones to grow up. You must pick twins and broken ones that cannot be sold." His wife searched the garden but could not find a single one. Only then did he reluctantly allow them to be picked and used. When the soup was hot, he personally took a spoon and poured it into a bowl, then poured it into the pot, poured it again and again, poured it again and again. His wife asked: "What are you doing?" He said: "I want to share it with my family and workers, but I am suffering from the inability to be fair and universal!" Not long after this, he fell ill and died. His wife cut a piece of meat and offered it in front of the spirit. When she saw it, she burst into tears and said to herself, "There are more tears than meat!" Because of the deep sorrow, he took the shoulder pole he used during his lifetime and treasured it, saying: "If our descendants are prosperous in the future, they will often wrap it with red silk and hang it on the beam of the main hall as a permanent memorial!" It is said that this shoulder pole was kept by his descendants until the ninth year of the Republic of China, when it was destroyed by thieves. His wife, Zeng, was the daughter of a wealthy family in Gaoshan Village. After she got married, she accompanied her husband to work all year round, carrying water and manure, and never complained about the hard work. Sometimes when he returned home, he saw the leftover food of cats and dogs, and secretly thought, how could my family get such leftover food? When Adrian Li was young, he heard his parents talk about this repeatedly, and warned them and their brothers: "Our ancestors were poor and hardworking at that time, and it was so difficult to have a meal. As children and grandchildren, we must never forget it!"

Adrian Li's father was named Gao Ren and his surname was Jing'an. He was originally a student studying business outside. After his father passed away, he became a farmer and worked with his wife. He worked hard all day long, just like his parents. He often took out the shoulder pole left by his father as a warning, so his family became better off and was able to buy land. Unfortunately, at the age of 40, he became ill due to overwork. The doctor warned him: "Quickly stop doing housework and rest in peace, otherwise you will die!" He handed over all the housework to his wife and concentrated on recuperating. It took three years for him to recover. During his recuperation, he got the opportunity to read books. He first found books such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Romance of the States to read, and then he started to read the Four Books. He read again and again, and then he saw the truth from them, that is, "Books are worldly affairs, and worldly affairs are books."

Later, he only read three books, and stopped reading the others. Which three books? The first was "Sacred Edicts and Instructions", which was issued by Emperor Qianlong and followed by Zhu Bolu's family mottos. The second was "Essentials of the Heart", which he only read one of the books, which contained famous sayings by Sima Guang and Tang Yixiu, and he called it a book of mottos. The third was Yang Jisheng's memorial on Yan Song's ten evils and five good deeds, followed by his will (which was written on the eve of his death in Jiaoshan to teach his son, and all the words were about how to manage the family). In addition, there was a book of annotations to the Three Character Classic, which I believe he did not read often. Among the three big books, only the first two books were read by him. A few days before his death, he was still reading and could not bear to put them down. He often said: "Why read so many books? In each book, if you think that a chapter is good, just remember it and follow it; if you don't like the rest, don't read it." The two sentences he loved to read aloud the most in "Sheng Yu Guang Xun": "If a person does not know how to be filial to his parents, does he not think about the love his parents have for his children?" In "Ji Xin Yao Lan", there are these sentences: "Poverty and humbleness give rise to diligence and thrift, diligence and thrift give rise to wealth and honor, wealth and honor give rise to arrogance and extravagance, arrogance and extravagance give rise to debauchery and chivalry, and debauchery and idleness give rise to poverty and humbleness."