1. Duan Qi and Porridge
Fan Zhongyan lived in poverty when he was a child, but he still insisted on studying. After remarrying with his mother, Fan Zhongyan moved to a temple in order to study. Fan Zhongyan's life at this time was extremely poor. He only cooked one pot of porridge every day, divided the porridge into four pieces, and ate two pieces in the morning and evening. He only ate some pickles in his porridge, and then mixed the rice porridge with vinegar sauce, just like that, he had a hasty meal.
In today's world, where there is no shortage of staple food and desserts and fruits, it might be okay to eat food like Fan Zhongyan's for one or two meals, but how could he endure it if he had to eat a few more meals. This is how Fan Zhongyan grew up by eating two meals a day and studying hard. It is precisely because of such a story that the term "Duan Qi Porridge" came into being.
2. Perseverance after several ups and downs
In 1028, Fan Zhongyan’s mourning ended. After Yan Shu’s recommendation, he was promoted to the Collector of the Secret Pavilion—responsible for the collation and arrangement of royal books and classics. The Secret Pavilion is located in the Chongwen Palace in the capital city. The position of the secret pavilion's director actually belongs to the emperor's literary attendant. Three years later, he was appointed as an admonisher by You Si. With his status as an official, he became more fearless in writing letters and speaking out.
In 1033, there was a severe drought and locust plague in the Jingdong and Jianghuai areas. In order to calm the people's hearts, Fan Zhongyan asked Renzong to send people to rescue the disaster immediately. Renzong ignored it, and he asked Renzong: "If someone in the palace What should your majesty do if you stop eating for half a day?" Renzong was shocked and ashamed, and asked Fan Zhongyan to go and deal with the disaster. When he returned, he also brought back a few handfuls of weeds used by the victims to satisfy their hunger and gave them to Renzong.
Fan Zhongyan saw that Prime Minister Lu Yijian had opened the back door, abused his private life, and made the government extremely corrupt. Based on the investigation, Fan Zhongyan drew a "map of hundreds of officials" and presented it to Renzong. He pointed to the promotions of officials listed in the picture and made sharp criticism of the prime minister's employment system.
Fan Zhongyan spoke generously about world affairs, worked hard without caring about his own life, and spoke out when he was wrong. He was even slandered and demoted many times, but he never regretted it until his death. "I would rather die loudly than live silently"!
3. To be an upright official
One day, when Fan Zhongyan was studying in the temple, he suddenly saw a white mouse crawling into the cave. He was curious, so he dug the cave and found There was an urn full of silver inside.
At that time, Fan Zhongyan was short of money. This urn of silver could undoubtedly greatly improve his living conditions. However, Fan Zhongyan did not take this urn of silver as his own. Instead, he adhered to his own moral principles and The urn of silver is still sealed and buried in its original place.
Later, Fan Zhongyan became a Jinshi and became an official. The monk in the temple where he stayed wanted to repair the temple, so he approached his old tenant and now the court official to "get sponsorship".
However, Fan Zhongyan was an upright official, with no extra money inside or outside, and he would not use public money for personal gain, generosity of the country, or use public money to show off for himself.
Fan Zhongyan later thought about it, wasn’t there a vat of silver in the mouse hole in the temple? It came in handy at this time, so he wrote a letter and told the old monk about it. The old monk dug out a jar of silver at the location indicated by him, which solved the urgent need of the temple.
4. Zhongyan fortune-telling
Fan Zhongyan of the Song Dynasty knew how to make decisions since he was a child. One time he happened to go to a fortune-telling place. When he went to a place and saw a fortune-teller, he simply asked the fortune teller. The fortune teller said, "Please help me see if I can become the prime minister." This fortune teller may have never seen this in his life. A child actually said that he wanted to be the prime minister, and he was shocked.
Talked to Fan Zhongyan, "Why do you have such a loud voice at such a young age?" Later, Fan Zhongyan felt a little embarrassed, and then said to him, "Otherwise, this is better. You can see if I can become a doctor." ”. The fortune teller was a little puzzled as to why there were so many different choices, so he asked him, "Why did you choose these two choices?" Fan Zhongyan replied, "Because only good looks and good doctors can save people."
Fortune teller After hearing this, the gentleman was very moved. The child wanted to save people, so the fortune teller immediately said to Fan Zhongyan, "You have this heart, which is called the heart of a real prime minister, so you will definitely be able to do it in the future." Be the prime minister."
5. Zhongyan assisted in the funeral
When Fan Zhongyan was the local magistrate of Pizhou, he had nothing to do. He led his colleagues to a high building and set up a banquet. He did not raise a glass to drink. , saw a few people wearing linen and mourning making burial utensils, and was not very angry, but hurriedly sent someone to ask them.
It turned out that a scholar who lived in Pizhou died and was going to be buried in the suburbs, but the coffin, tomb and other funeral utensils were not found yet. After hearing this, Fan Zhongyan showed a look of mourning, immediately removed the banquet, and gave the bereaved family a considerable amount of money to complete the funeral. Some of the guests at the banquet were moved to tears.