My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 42: Delaying gratification is to be indifferent to fame and wealth, and long-termism is to be calm and far-sighted.

After Zhuge Liang calmed down again, he looked back at the "Encouragement to Study" given to him by his elder brother, and suddenly he felt different.

A warm spring breeze that was very down-to-earth and rarely used big words warmed his desire to learn.

"In this chaotic world, without learning, one cannot become talented. Without talent, how can one protect one's family, serve one's country and save the world... However, the intention of studying should not be utilitarian.

Practical learning is important, but the foundation must also be solid and the character must be sharpened. After receiving this book, my dear brother, you must not study hard for the sake of quick success and instant benefits, and neglect farming, practicing swords and martial arts, strengthening your body and mind, and understanding the people..."

Zhuge Jin's opening words were a bit literary, but he then tried to use common language to explain the reasons:
Because "intelligent people are often prone to laziness. It is because they can make progress too easily in most things. Over time, when they encounter really difficult problems and do not see any progress after studying for a long time, they will become impatient.

At this time, cultivating one's character through farming, or practicing swordsmanship to strengthen the body and cultivate the mind, can make up for the problem of impatience. Because it takes at least half a year to harvest from farming, no matter how hard you try, you can't force it to grow faster.

Therefore, farmers are often more persistent than clerks who earn a living and coolies who are paid daily. Clerks and coolies may not work hard the next day if they don’t get paid, but farmers can persist in working hard for the harvest a year later.

"Similarly, it is not easy to see the progress of physical training and spiritual cultivation directly. It takes small steps every day to achieve great results. But because physical trainers are used to not seeing the benefits after exerting effort, they are often more persistent than those who only study."

Zhuge Liang preferred to look at the general idea and not seek to understand everything in detail. This was certainly a great help to his learning speed, but it was actually an obstacle to his in-depth study and improvement.

Before Zhuge Jin traveled through time, he had to recite the "Book of Admonitions to My Son" since he was a child, and he also studied the changes in his ancestors' mental journey in studying. It is not difficult to find that after Zhuge Liang suffered in his later years, he gradually developed the qualities of being focused and indifferent, not seeking breadth or quick gains.

Zhuge Jin knew very well that these qualities can only be gradually formed after a person has had experience, suffered hardships, and tasted the frustration of "I tried hard, but it was useless."

Now he wants his second younger brother to "complete a journey that would take five or six years in just one or two years." His biggest fear is not that he will not be able to teach his second younger brother the specific thinking methods and knowledge logic.

Instead, it was the result of forcing things to happen, which caused Zhuge Liang's knowledge to progress too quickly, but his character and perseverance could not keep up, and the foundation of his personality qualities was not solid.

That's a pity.

But Zhuge Liang in this life was destined not to suffer too much hardship or frustration himself.
Zhuge Jin had no choice but to use the most superficial principles and examples of other people's lessons to restore these principles as much as possible and cultivate Zhuge Liang's empathy.

Then use scientific farming, physical exercise and other methods to indirectly hone your character.

……

After reading his elder brother's earnest words of truth, Zhuge Liang was truly deeply shocked and could not help thinking about them for a long time.

The principles mentioned in Zhuge Jin's letter can actually be summed up in the Internet terms of later generations. The core is "delayed gratification" and "long-termism".
It's just that Zhuge Jin's wording is more down-to-earth, and he borrowed some wording from Xunzi's "On Learning" and Zhuge Liang's own "Admonitions to My Son" later, and broke it down and expressed it in a more detailed and popular way.

The idea of "being indifferent in order to show one's ambition" in "The Admonitions for My Son" is actually the epitome of "delayed gratification" in modern educational psychology.

“Tranquility leads to far-reaching results” is also a summary of “long-termism”, but the ancients were more frugal with words.

Zhuge Liang spent a full half a minute digesting the truth that his elder brother had said, and then continued to read the examples that his elder brother had given:

"After he first made suggestions for Liu Bei, he was worried that even if Liu Bei had a brilliant plan, he might still suffer for a long time, so he didn't want to suffer with him. He was afraid that Liu Bei would not distinguish between merits and demerits, and when he saw that his side was still in a state of decline, he would blame the strategist for being incompetent.

But before he broke out and escaped, Liu Bei personally saw him off, saw his worries, and said something:

'After wandering for half his life, suffering from the separation of his wives and concubines and being hunted down, he also summed up a truth: Whenever I encountered war and disaster, it was not because I had done something wrong recently, but because of my laziness a long time ago, which planted the seeds of the long-term cause.

Just like this time when Xia Pi was stolen, after quietly reflecting on it, how could Bei have the face to let Yide take the blame? Although Yide failed to stabilize Cao Bao and Xu Dan, the root cause was that when our army was conferring the title and authorization, we did not appease the Danyang soldiers.

After Tao Gong passed away, Bei had one and a half years to solve the problem, while Yide only took over for one and a half months. Therefore, Bei was most responsible for the theft of Xia Pi.

Sir, you have made plans for me today. If we lose again tomorrow, it is definitely not your fault. It is because I have not done a good job in training soldiers and treating people in the past one or two years. And your plan today will benefit our army sooner or later in the future..."

This passage of encouragement to study written by Zhuge Jin was obviously embellished, and Liu Bei certainly did not say such words.

Zhuge Jin combined Liu Bei's reflection with Napoleon's later words "If I fail tomorrow, it is not because I did something wrong yesterday, but because I did it wrong a long time ago. If I worked hard yesterday, it will not work tomorrow, but it will work a long time later" to enhance the persuasiveness.

But this time, Zhuge Liang really didn't realize that his elder brother was lying.

When he read this, tears welled up in his eyes.
He felt his elder brother's expectation for him to cultivate his mind and character, and truly believed this example that happened to Liu Bei.

Zhuge Liang put down the scroll and sighed:
"No wonder General Zhendong was able to turn defeat into victory under Big Brother's plan even when he was in such a desperate situation. Big Brother's strategy is undoubtedly unique, but General Zhendong's resilience, strict self-discipline, and tolerance towards others are also indispensable."

Zhuge Liang secretly made up his mind to learn from his elder brother's life experience in terms of learning attitude, and also to learn from General Liu's tenacity and perseverance in character cultivation.

The other scrolls on professional knowledge can be used as reference books after you have finished learning and can be put away in different categories.

On the contrary, you should make a careful copy of this volume "Encouraging Learning" and keep it carefully.

In the future, if you find yourself becoming restless because your progress has slowed down, or doubting your life because of other setbacks, you should take out this letter, read it carefully, and reflect on yourself!
The content that I skipped at the beginning is the most precious among the dozen volumes of family letters from my elder brother!
The elder brother really put a lot of effort into sorting and did not make any mistakes. The learning attitude and learning method, the mentality of being a person, are always more important than the specific content of learning.

Thinking back on these principles, Zhuge Liang felt that it was not appropriate to read any specific books tonight.

He sat in meditation for a long time and wrote down two sentences at the end of the volume: "Be quiet to cultivate yourself, be frugal to cultivate virtue. Be indifferent to fame and wealth to clarify your ambition, be tranquil to achieve your goal."

Then he put down his pen and went back to bed in awe.

There are actually some trivial explanations and lists at the end of the second volume, but they have been ignored by Zhuge Liang.

……

Maybe I was so absorbed in studying last night that I slept too late.

Zhuge Liang, who was always diligent, actually slept until noon.

Finally, it was the second sister Zhuge Lan who cooked breakfast, which was almost cold. Seeing that her brother was still not getting up, she came over and forced him awake.

(Note: In the previous chapter, everyone thought the names of the eldest and second sisters were not good, so they have been changed. You can go back and confirm.)
Zhuge Liang simply washed and dressed with a confused look on his face, sat down at the food table, picked up the bowl of porridge and took a sip, then he noticed that the taste was wrong.

"Hey, why did you make bean porridge today? And what is this round and moist rice?"

Zhuge Lan hadn't finished her housework yet. She was wrapped in a worn-out coarse cloth apron, with her hands on her hips, scolding her younger brother: "Did you finish reading the second volume of my eldest brother's letter last night? You didn't read it, and you occupied it so that we couldn't read it!
If I hadn't seen it when I was cleaning up your desk this morning, I don't know how long the things that my elder brother had sent would have been lying in the silk box. I'm afraid they might have gone bad before I knew it!"

Zhuge Liang felt a little guilty after being scolded. He did notice last night that there was an appendix at the end of the volume, which explained some trivial matters in life and some things sent by the messenger.

But he was usually a hands-off boss and left all the housework to his sister, so he didn't pay much attention.

When the eldest sister Zhuge Zhi heard her younger sister and sister bickering, she also walked leisurely to the inner hall, pushed her younger sister away to do some work, then took the list and gently advised: "You should also be more careful. You should also read these. Although they are just trivial matters in daily life, I think that what my eldest brother wrote makes a lot of sense. He must have consulted a famous martial arts teacher or doctor."

Zhuge Liang hurriedly finished his meal, and then carefully read the latter part of the scroll on encouraging learning with his elder sister.

It turned out that the eldest brother also explained some health-preserving methods that should be paid attention to when studying and working, as well as ways of dietary supplements and healing.

The first point emphasized the dietary combination, saying that some tea produced in Wu was sent here, which had been simply roasted. They were taught a new way of drinking it. In the future, they could drink it directly by boiling it without adding onions, ginger, garlic or salt, which could clear the liver, improve eyesight and detoxify.

Then he said that he should pay attention to eating small and frequent meals in the future, especially the second brother who studies hard, staying up late can easily damage the liver, and he should pay attention to his work and rest. He also asked the messenger to bring a few buckets of walnuts, which can be placed in the pot with washed sand or salt, baked with the shells, and eaten directly, or the walnut kernels can be removed and cooked into porridge.

As for the ingredients for making porridge, Zhuge Jin also attached a recipe and asked Zhuge Liang to find merchants in southern Jing in Xiangyang and purchase coix and wolfberry, which can be bought everywhere, to make porridge with mung beans, which can also clear the liver, improve eyesight and detoxify.

Obviously, Zhuge Jin knew that Zhuge Liang in history died of liver failure due to liver overload, so he urged the sixteen-year-old Zhuge Liang to pay attention to liver maintenance.

When Zhuge Liang saw this, he was also stunned: "Then the round and smooth thing in the porridge is coix seed?

No wonder when Cai Zhonglang was compiling the "Han Ji", he recorded that when General Ma Yuan of this dynasty was on his way to pacify Jiaozhi, he was infected with miasma and went to Lingnan Coix to remove dampness, heat and detoxify. In the end, he was accused by treacherous officials in the court of looting Hepu pearls.

This thing does look like pearls. But how come we have it so soon, something that Big Brother told us to buy on our own? "

Zhuge Zhi explained softly, "These are what the messenger brought yesterday. They must have received instructions from my eldest brother. On the way here, they passed through Xiangyang and Jiangxia, and they visited merchants in southern Jing and bought them with a large sum of money, and sent them here.

Isn't it written here? Job's tears are produced in Lingnan and can be purchased from merchants in Changsha and Guiyang. Goji nut is a rare treasure mentioned in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of the Southwestern Barbarians". It can be purchased in Yelang State - the Yelang State in the early Han Dynasty is today's Zangke County. Merchants from Lingling can purchase it along the Qianzhong Road.

It seems that the people assigned by General Liu to Big Brother are not negligent in doing things, Big Brother must be highly valued by General Liu."

Zhuge Liang followed his elder sister's line of thought and read on. The more he read, the more he felt his elder brother's heavy expectations.

The eldest brother took so much care of their diet.

Later on, some drawings of fishing gear seemed to be attached, teaching them that their meat diet should mainly consist of large fish, but that they should be fully cooked and not eaten raw, in order to maintain health and nourish the brain.

There were also several boxes of special lamp oil for Zhuge Liang to use for reading at night, some ideas for improved agricultural tools to protect his waist when he was doing breeding experiments in the fields, and a bunch of other things.

As these had nothing to do with breakfast, the two sisters were in a hurry and had no time to open them. They just opened the food that their eldest brother sent them early in the morning.

"Now that you have finished your breakfast, you can unpack the remaining things that Big Brother brought you! After you unpack them, teach us how to use them!"

Zhuge Zhi felt it necessary to let her younger brother, who didn't do housework, learn some skills, so she assigned the remaining unpacking tasks to Zhuge Liang.

(End of this chapter)