Du Zhongxiao stood alone in the courtyard, watching the bright moonlight sprinkled on the ground, like a dream. It was late autumn, and the grass on the ground had already withered and yellowed, and the moonlight shrouded it as if it had fallen into frost.

Han Yueniang came out and whispered to Du Zhongxiao: "Da Lang, it's cold at night, let's go back to the room." ”

Du Zhongxiao said in a low voice: "It's okay, I'm upset, take a walk outside." ”

Han Yueniang walked to Du Zhongxiao's side, sighed, and said in a low voice: "I heard about Tan Erniang, that woman is really pitiful, but in addition to giving her some money and food, what can she do?" She has been in the Ma family for so many years, and she has not reported to the official or left evidence. When the officials came here and wanted to deal with Ma Meng, they suddenly thought that their great revenge had been avenged. I've asked people where things are so easy. Ma Meng is treacherous and cautious, and he has no handle at all, how can Tan Erniang recognize that his revenge can be avenged. ”

Du Zhongxiao was silent for a while before he said: "Tan Erniang is a weak woman, she has no knowledge, and it is useless to talk about these truths." If the facts of any case are clear and the evidence is conclusive, the official only needs to handle it according to the routine, and the official will be too easy. What makes me most unhappy about this matter is not Tan Erniang, she is cowardly by nature, and she is blameless when she is bullied. What I can't let go of in my heart is Tao Seventeen. On that day, he committed a crime on the street, and although he was happy to slash the enemy, he also blocked his own way of life. Tao Seventeen is not dead, I can calmly clean up Ma Meng, and finally be able to give Tan Erniang an explanation. Tao Seventeen asked, how much more interesting is all this? ”

Han Yueniang was silent, and she didn't understand why Du Zhongxiao said that.

After a thousand years of experience, Du Zhongxiao always felt that he should be better than ordinary officials. As a common man, Tan Erniang should have stupid power. No matter how confused she is, she should have the ability to avenge her grievances instead of shirking responsibility. In fact, according to Du Zhongxiao's arrangement, Ma Meng will definitely be cleaned up in the end, but Tao Seventeen is really powerless. It's just that the son died, does the final result still mean to Tan Erniang?

Grassroots governance has always been difficult, and don't think that it is easy to deal with small officials with low status. The county and township forces are intertwined, and the official forces are relatively insufficient, and in many cases they can only seek a balance. Don't say that in this era, Du Zhongxiao was known as the strictest control over the grassroots in his previous life, and there are many legends of the five giants of Chengguan Town. Without the support and firm determination from above, it would not have been easy to move the head of the world in that era.

Ma Meng did not have a close relationship with the county officials, and he mainly interacted with the officials of the yamen, both in the prefecture and county. We cannot take it for granted that these people have no power, and they will listen to whatever officials say. Just think about it, in Du Zhongxiao's previous life, a wealthy and powerful family in a place colluded with a large number of bureau-level officials in the county and city, how difficult it was to investigate. If someone is arrested, either no evidence can be found, or no witnesses can be found, and many cases are often closed.

Of course, there is another way for officials to deter localities, and that is to impose extrajudicial punishments. It's just that in the face of the collusion of the yamen officials, this trick is not easy to use.

Thinking of this case, Du Zhongxiao's mood was a little heavy. I have done my best, but I am still a little disappointed with this result.

Sighing heavily, Du Zhongxiao said to Han Yueniang: "It's cold at night, go back to your room to rest." My mind was so messed up that I went outside for a walk. The moon and stars are scarce, go and take a look at the night of the Bianhe River. ”

Han Yueniang couldn't understand Du Zhongxiao's thoughts, so she had to let him go, and asked him to come back early and go back to the room by herself.

Du Zhongxiao called Chai Xin, took two entourages, and went out to inspect the village.

A full moon hung high in the sky, and a few stars were scattered on the canopy, which looked deep and long. Du Zhongxiao walked under the moon and unconsciously arrived on the embankment of the Bianhe River.

It was almost winter, and the water of the Bianhe River began to become shallow, and the boats on the river became scarce. Lights were hung on the boat, and they were spread out on the river.

Standing on the embankment, looking at this situation, Du Zhongxiao inexplicably felt a sense of sadness. When he came to this world, he became an official after becoming a jinshi, and there has always been a question that has plagued him, that is, what kind of official he should be. Is it to drift with the tide in the torrent of history, use the knowledge of your previous life to seek a smooth sail, or stand at the head of the tide and raise a flag to be a tide-maker. and even call for wind and rain to change the direction of this torrent.

The river rushes to the sea, but in the torrent, you don't know where the direction of the sea is, and it is not easy to guide the tide. Where will history go, and with a thousand years of knowledge, will it be able to find its way? In Du Zhongxiao's previous life, there were several times when human beings thought that they had reached the end of history. The capitalists in Europe and the United States have carved up the world, thinking that they have found the end of history, and they have divided mankind into three, six, nine, and so on, and they are unscrupulous. But the two world wars and the rise of a red empire told the world that it was just a new beginning. The Red Empire thought it had found the right path, but it collapsed in less than a hundred years, and human history went down another path.

Standing on the upper reaches of the river, you don't know if there is a right channel that leads to the sea, or to a muddy swamp. Even if you learn the knowledge of a thousand years later, you are still at a loss when your mind is full of productive forces and production relations, capitalist socialism, freedom and equality. According to the scale and half claw learned in the previous life, thinking that what you do will lead the society in what direction is likely to go in the opposite direction. Knowing that the productive forces determine the relations of production, and that the relations of production should be adapted to the development of the productive forces, you will be able to distinguish what kind of relations of production are needed by the productive forces of this era, and which elements of the relations of production promote the development of the productive forces and which hinder the development of the productive forces. Don't be funny, everything you think you've figured out has failed without exception. It's a process that complements each other and develops dynamically, rather than digging a river channel for you to divert water into.

Looking at the sky, Du Zhongxiao suddenly remembered a question in his previous life: where did people's correct thoughts come from. There is only one answer, from practice, not from textbooks. Practice is indispensable, and dogma is just a mirror, a beautiful phantom.

At this moment, a melodious sound of the piano came from the river, like a heavenly sound, breaking the silence of the night.

No matter in his past or present life, Du Zhongxiao is a person with no artistic cells, and when he occasionally listens to songs, he can't tell the difference between good and bad, and he can't tell the difference between elegance and vulgarity. In this world, he rarely even listens to small songs, and he really doesn't feel that there is anything good about it.

But when the sound of the piano came, it suddenly plucked Du Zhongxiao's heartstrings, as if he had dissolved into one with this heaven and earth.

The moon and stars were sparse in the sky, and there was silence all around, except for the lights on the river, which dotted the quiet night. The clear sound of the piano flutters in the night, like a song composed by heaven and earth, connecting the pulse of heaven and earth.

Du Zhongxiao stood in the night, immersed in the sound of the piano, completely forgetting who he was and where he was. At this time, the classics that he used to memorize as a candidate for the Jinshi exam slowly flowed in his heart, and the sentences beat with the sound of the piano.

"Whoever knows me is said to be troubled; Those who do not know me say what I want. Who is this? ”

With the sound of the piano, this sentence naturally recited from Du Zhongxiao's mouth, and the tone was abrupt, which coincided with the sound of the piano.

As Du Zhongxiao's words fell, the sound of the piano stopped abruptly. The breeze carried the water vapor of the Bianhe River and hit Du Zhongxiao's face head-on.

Du Zhongxiao suddenly sobered up, and said to Chai Xin beside him: "Go to the dock and see, what is playing the piano here!" ”