Confucius was very embarrassed, because although his father was a high-ranking scholar, he had been dead for a long time, and he did not inherit his father's position, so he could not figure out whether he could still be treated as a scholar. The most important thing is that he was still in the period of mourning at that time, and he was still wearing filial piety clothes.

After thinking about it, Confucius gritted his teeth and stomped his feet: "Let's go!" ”

Confucius hesitated, stopped three times and came to Ji Pingzi's mansion, and when he looked up, he saw the guy who had been his enemy all his life - Yang Hu. Yang Hu was a few years older than Confucius, in his early twenties at the time; He was over-the-top and handsome, both of which were similar to Confucius's. When Confucius first saw him, he thought he had seen his brother who he hadn't seen for several years, and Yang Hu also thought he had seen his brother Yang Yue.

But after confirming their eyes, both of them knew that they had recognized the wrong person. Yang Hu stretched out his hand to stop Confucius, cleared his throat, and said arrogantly, "What are you doing here?" This is not a place to cry and mourn! You'd better go back quickly, lest you get infected! ”

Confucius had to bow his head, endure the huge humiliation and leave the Ji Mansion angrily, and the two formed a lifelong grudge when they met for the first time. Confucius returned home and stayed awake for the night, and the next day he had to continue to live a difficult life at the bottom of the world, studying and begging for food.

As mentioned earlier, the education of the nobles for their children (the six arts of etiquette and archery) is generally handed over to brothers and uncles and nephews, which belongs to the education of inner disciples. But later, the aristocracy was lazy and degenerate, and the brothers and uncles and nephews could not teach the students well, and as a result, the six arts became a luxury education that was difficult to find for every nobleman's child. As a result, private education was born, and the aristocracy had no choice but to send their children to private schools for education; In addition, in order to enable their children to enter the upper class of society in the future, ordinary families will also send their children to private schools. As a result, private learning grew stronger and more popular.

Confucius found an errand in a private school, teaching while studying. At the age of twenty, Confucius finally learned the Six Arts. Confucius's thirst for knowledge was unlimited, and after learning the Zhou rites, he decided to go back to the Song Kingdom to study the ancient rites of the Yin Shang dynasty.

In the Song Kingdom, Confucius met Xiang Xu, who was very old and ready to return to his hometown. Because the princes seized Fuyang in order to give it to Xiang Xu (Xiang Xu didn't dare to accept it, so it was handed over to the Song State Office), Kong Su's heroic behavior greatly boosted the morale of the coalition army, so Xiang Xu was very impressed by Kong Su. Xiang Xu was pleasantly surprised, happily received the son of the old warrior, told Confucius about Confucius's heroic deeds, and opened the door for Confucius to learn ancient rites.

During his studies, under the mediation of Xiang Xu, Confucius married the daughter of the Qi official clan, and the two returned to Lu after marriage. At that time, there happened to be an embassy in the Song State preparing to visit the Lu State, and Xiang Xu specially instructed the envoy to recommend Confucius to Lu Zhaogong. So Lu Zhaogong knew through the mouths of the Song people that there was a young and promising saint in his country.

Soon Confucius's only son was born, and Lu Zhaogong specially sent someone to send Confucius a fat carp to congratulate, and Confucius immediately named his son "Kong Carp".

Lu Zhaogong was not concerned with state affairs and never used Confucius; Ji Pingzi took the lead, he summoned Confucius to his side and gave him a position in the family accountant. Confucius did his job brilliantly, but he was always sued; Ji Pingzi later put him in charge of the family's animal husbandry affairs, and Confucius did an equally good job.

Confucius was probably in the Ji family until he was thirty years old (the eleventh to twenty-first year of Lu Zhaogong). During this period, he really understood what would never be known in the streets and alleys, and how the open and secret battles between the high-level leaders of the Lu State and the intrigues between the retainers were.

Confucius criticized the scholars for their "disloyalty", and in his actions he was respectful of any retainers and would never join anyone's circle.

Ji Pingzi's family is a small office, and the retainer is the Qing doctor; Confucius was the equivalent of a minister in charge of finance and animal husbandry, and every ounce of power brought benefits. So the people in the low position scolded him, and the people in the high position co-opted him, all wanting to get a piece of the pie. Confucius rejected all of them. He became a wealthy person for some people, and those who said bad things about him in Ji Pingzi's ear.

Ji Pingzi had to dismiss Confucius from his post and ordered him to manage animal husbandry, and ordered Yang Yue to act as the financial agent. Confucius insisted that his work be reviewed, and Ji Pingzi borrowed several auditors from his uncle Sun Wan (Ji Pingzi did not trust his own retainers) and audited them for half a year, but Mao'er did not find out.

Confucius proved his innocence and soon resigned.

Confucius was never satisfied with becoming a retainer, and his current wish was to open a school and teach scholars to observe the rites of the week, in order to save this decadent society that was in decline and materialistic was rampant.

In the autumn of the 17th year of Lu Zhaogong (BC525) before the resignation of Confucius, the monarch of the Tan State visited Qufu.

Lu Zhao held a banquet to entertain the guests. During the banquet, Uncle Sun Wan asked Tan Zi: "I heard that Shaohao's clan uses the name of birds as the official name, why is it?" ”

Tan Zi was a very knowledgeable person, and he knew a lot about the history of his clan, so he said: "Shao Hao is the ancestor of the widow, of course I know those things. In the past, when the Yellow Emperor accepted the Mandate of Heaven, the sky was full of auspicious clouds, so the Yellow Emperor was named after the cloud chronicle, and all official positions were named after the clouds. Emperor Yan chronicles with fire, so official positions are named with the word fire. Gonggong's chronicle with water, Taihao with dragon chronicle. When my ancestor Shaohao ascended the throne, there were phoenix birds hovering in the sky, so he chronicled with birds.

"Among them, the phoenix bird is the calendar and is in charge of the calendar; Xuanniao is the division (spring equinox, autumn equinox); Bo Zhao is the Sizhi (summer solstice, winter solstice); The blue bird is Si Qi (beginning of spring, beginning of summer); Dan bird is closed (beginning of autumn, beginning of winter); Zhu Gu is Situ; The dove is Sima; The dove is commonplace; Shuang dove is the secretary; The dove is the director. Five kinds of doves are civil officials, and five kinds of pheasant tails are five gongzheng. However, from the beginning of the period, the monarch abandoned this way of chronicling and changed it to another name. ”

Those present were amazed and amazed. The uncle went back and told the family about it, and some of the family members had close contacts with Confucius, so they told Confucius again.

Confucius was overjoyed, he hurried to Tanzi's accommodation, respectfully and humbly asked Tanzi about the Shaohao family's legacy and customs of all kinds of knowledge, Tanzi also very much admired the studious young man in front of him, and knew everything about Confucius.

Many years later, Confucius said to his students: "I have read all the historical classics of the Lu State and have not found any historical records, and Tan Jun can blurt it out." Therefore, 'the Son of Heaven lost his official position and learned in Siyi.' That's true. ”