For the United States, the " Declaration of Independence " is one of the most important founding documents.
This declaration was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and signed by representatives of 13 British colonies. There is a very important clause in this declaration, namely:
people are all created equal and enjoy the inalienable rights granted to them by the Creator, including life, freedom and the right to pursue happiness. We believe that these universal truths are self-evident.
I have to say that this clause is particularly exciting, at least it makes many countries still in colonies wake up as if they are dreaming and begin to work tirelessly to fight for independence.
Now, the word colonization has gone far away from us, but the consciousness of everyone being born equal is imprinted in people's hearts. But if you think about it carefully, the scope of application of being born equal is really narrow, especially in ancient times, being born unequal was the norm.
Some people are born with golden keys, some people cannot even guarantee basic food and clothing, some people rely on the blessings of their ancestors to become officials, and some people can only face the loess and bear the sky to exploit them.
Under feudalism, there seems to be no sign of being born equal, but some people are still unwilling to bow to fate. They are poor but have lofty ambitions. They are in high positions but dare not forget the worries of the people at all times.
During the Tang Dynasty period, there was such an official whose name was Pei Kuan .
Pei Kuan is famous for his integrity, uprightness, good at riding and shooting, and has a high literary talent. He is both virtuous and capable. During his tenure as an official, he fought against powerful bullies and was not merciful to the children of wealthy families, so he was very loved by the people.
Whenever there is anything better at home, the people will think of this parent official, which makes Pei Kuan very worried for a while.
Facing the gifts sent, Pei Kuan refused to accept them, and his family members resolutely returned them to . However, once, because the servant did not see the gifts clearly, it was impossible to return them, so Pei Kuan had to deal with them on his own. Unfortunately, someone happened to be caught, but no one expected that Pei Kuan unexpectedly got a beautiful wife.
Pei Kuan insisted on not accepting gifts
Pei Kuan, a man from Hedong, his father had been the governor of Yuanzhou, but he was also a rare good official. This left a deep impression on Pei Kuan, and made him determined to be a father-like person since he was a child.
In that era when only studying could lead to a future, Pei Kuan studied very hard. Although his family background was better than that of ordinary civilians, he never relaxed.
Pei Kuan was also very smart since childhood and had a strong ability to accept new things, which made his father have high expectations for him.
When Pei Kuan grew up, he entered the officialdom smoothly with his excellent imperial examination results without any major ups and downs in his career.
After the imperial examination, Pei Kuan was appointed as the army of Runzhou . The new official took office and made three moves. Pei Kuan did not think about ignite the fire when he arrived in Runzhou, but was thinking about how to be a good official.
Runzhou at that time was now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. Pei Kuan was first arrived and naturally unknown. Since a new official took office, local officials naturally came to congratulate him, so they gave him various gifts.
This made Pei Kuan very angry, and at the same time he also allowed him to see the chaos in the local officialdom, so he not only returned all the gifts, but also stated that he would not accept bribes from anyone.
Although Pei Kuan's approach made many officials feel unsociable, it made the local people see that he is a rare good official.
All the people love officials, this is unquestionable, and the local people also gave Pei Kuan a thumbs up.
Since Pei Kuan is a clean official, the people naturally want to make him live a better life, so every time they have something delicious at home, they also want to let him taste it.
Since he refused to accept the gifts from the officials, he would not accept the gifts given by . He would not accept the things given by the people with . He would patiently persuade the people to bring the things back to every time, but even so, an accident still happened.
Pei Kuan buried the meat
One day, after Pei Kuan's lunch break, a servant reported to him and said:
, someone sent a whole venison of sika deer , and I have put it in the kitchen in the kitchen.
Pei Kuan was very angry. He felt that the servant was very ignorant. He had followed him for so long. Since he had accepted what someone had sent him, he asked him who gave it.
This servant felt very wronged and said:
I didn't plan to accept it, but the person who came just didn't agree to take it away. When I asked him to report his name, he said that it was just a little venison meat. I wanted Lord Pei to taste it, so I had no worries to leave the name, and then left after throwing the meat.
Pei Kuan went to the kitchen and saw the venison. He thought it was very difficult. If he accepted the venison, then someone would definitely imitate him like this in the future, but if he wanted to return it, he could not find the gift.
After thinking about it, he had a plan in his mind, and then ordered the servant to drag the venison into the backyard. Pei Kuan dug a hole in the backyard and decided to bury the venison so that he could be worthy of his guilt.
Just as Pei Kuan was burying his flesh in the backyard, the governor of Runzhou happened to have something important to come to Pei Kuan to discuss, and happened to see this scene.
Runzhou Governor was puzzled, so he asked Pei Kuan why he wanted to bury the venison meat. Isn’t this a waste of resources?
Pei Kuan didn't hide it and directly reported to the governor that this piece of meat was given by someone else, but he couldn't find the gift-giving person, but he couldn't accept it happily, so he had to come up with this bad plan.
Pei Kuan got a pair of beautiful wives
The governor of Runzhou is much older than Pei Kuan. He met all kinds of people in the officialdom, but not many people as honest as Pei Kuan were.
He believes that a person who can be so honest as an official, then his character will not be much worse.
At that time, Pei Kuan had just entered the officialdom and had not yet married. The governor of Runzhou happened to have a daughter who had just grown up. After thinking about it, he told Pei Kuan that he would marry this daughter to him.
Pei Kuan did not refuse after hearing this. After all, this is a good marriage. If he insists on rejecting it, it will seem too unkind. In this way, Pei Kuan married a beautiful wife and made a good marriage on earth.
Pei Kuan's official position was not high at that time, and the daughter who could marry the governor was really high-ranking , so some people slandered Pei Kuan for burying venison and deliberately acting for the governor to show it.
When Pei Kuan heard others' slander, he smiled and the governor also stood up to tell everyone that Pei Kuan had a good character and that he wanted to marry his daughter to such a person.
Facts have proved that the governor did not read the wrong person. Pei Kuan is indeed a person with noble character. Even if he was promoted later, he always kept his original intention in mind. He strictly demanded himself and kept working hard to be a clean official.
In a trance, a thousand years of experience has passed. Although Pei Kuan has long been away from us, the deeds he has left behind have been for a long time, and he also inspires us to stick to our original aspirations at any time.
It can be seen from this that people with good character will definitely be favored by the God of Destiny. Just like Pei Kuan, if the venison is not buried, how can they get a beautiful wife?
Reference materials: "Old Book of Tang", etc.
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