The best way to live after middle age: do things soberly and be confused.

when I was young, I always thought the world was black and white.

after the baptism of the years, I just realized that the world is changeable and the human heart is complicated.

when you should be awake, when you should be confused, it is not only a good way to deal with the world, but also the philosophy of life.

01

the ability to do things soberly

Zhou Guoping once wrote in his book when you learn to be alone: "do things when you are awake, think when you are alone."

those who have gone far have already given up their impulses and become sober.

when it comes to politicians in the Ming Dynasty, everyone knows Zhang Juzheng, but in fact, his teacher Xu Jie is even more worthy of mention.

the fledgling Xu Chi is a "cynic" with an upright nature.

at that time, Zhang, a scholar from the cabinet university, held a high position and suggested to Emperor Jiajing that the title of Confucius Wen Xuan Wang should be removed and the standard of offering sacrifices to Confucius should be lowered.

the civil and military officials were silent, and only Xu Jie openly opposed it.

Zhang Xun became angry and said, "do you want to betray me?"

Xu Jie replied: "betrayal is because of attachment. I have never been attached to you. How can we talk about betrayal?"

offended Xu Jie, a bachelor's degree, and was demoted from the bustling capital to the desolate southern Xinjiang.

but Xu Jie is not depressed because of this. he has done his duty locally for several years and rehabilitated the injustice.

Emperor Jiajing was quite satisfied with Xu Jie's political achievements, so he called him back and was promoted.

at that time, the treacherous minister Yan Song was autocratic, trying to win over Xu Jie, who returned to the court, only to be shut out.

Yan Song put on small shoes for Xu Jiajing Emperor again and again, and Xu Jie's situation was in jeopardy.

with a lesson from the past, Xu Jie finally "enlightened".

he realized that his own people spoke lightly and could not hit a stone with an egg, and that a man had to protect himself if he wanted to defeat his opponent.

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therefore, under the condition of keeping the bottom line, Xu Jie was small to Yan Song and obedient everywhere.

Xu Jie even cursed the offense of Yan Shifan, the son of Yan Song.

at the same time, Xu Jiajie approached Jiajing Emperor to please him and gain trust.

step by step, he became a prince, and he also entered the cabinet and became a secondary assistant, second only to Yan Song.

the time is ripe, Xu Jie is waiting for the opportunity to move.

one day, when he learned that Yan Song had a missive to Emperor Jiajing, he took advantage of Emperor Jiajing's Taoist mentality to communicate with Randaoxing.

after divination, Randaoxing said to Jiajing: "Today there are treacherous courtiers."

after a while, Emperor Jiajing received a letter from Yan Song and doubted Yan Song's loyalty.

then, Xu Jie asked Yushi Zou Yinglong to strike while the iron was hot to ease the crime of impeaching Yan Song and his son.

Jiajing flew into a rage after reading the chapter, ordered severe punishment, and Yan's power fell.

Xu Jie took over as the first assistant of the cabinet, ushering in the pinnacle of his career.

from being a cynic in the workplace to being in a high position, Xu Jie's secret is only eight words: be awake and be confused.

02

being confused is wisdom

Mr. Banqiao has the word "rare confusion".

through the ages, really smart people will understand that confusion is a blessing.

not long ago, I heard the story of "the old lacquer pretended to fool Zhu Yuanzhang".

one day, Zhu Yuanzhang walked to a hall that was about to be finished. looking at the magnificent decoration, he thought of the hard days before.

seeing that there was no one around, I expressed my feelings:

"I just wanted to plunder some property along the way, but I didn't expect to get the throne in front of me!"

when he had finished, he looked up at the shed wall and was startled.

an old painter was painting carefully, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not find him before because of the leniency of Liang Mu.

Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised that he had made a slip of the tongue.

then immediately ordered the old painter to come down, but even shouted several times, the old painter did not respond.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to call the old painter, only to see him coming down from the roof trembling and kneeling on the ground to apologize: "the villain is deaf and deserves to die!"

Zhu Yuanzhang listened and thought to himself, what can a deaf old man hear when he is so far away?

he turned his anger into forgiveness, not only did not punish the old painter, but also gave him 22 silver.

the old painter took the silver and thanked him. When he walked out of the temple, his head was sweating.

in fact, he heard every word Zhu Yuanzhang said clearly.

but he knew in his heart that if he didn't pretend to be deaf, he would lose his life.

think of a very classic saying:

when the offender is confused, don't be stingy.

in his later years, Cao Cao was indecisive about the choice of successor.

according to common sense, the older Cao Pi should be set up, but he preferred the talented Cao Zhi, so he asked Jia Shuo for his opinion.

Jia Shao knew what he was thinking, pretended to be stupid and didn't answer.

Cao Cao was a little angry: "I asked you a question!"

Jia Shuo just came to his senses and apologized a little: "I was just thinking."

Cao Cao asked, "what are you thinking?"

Jia Shuo said, "I was thinking about Yuan Shao and Liu Biao."

Cao Cao was suddenly enlightened after hearing this, and soon issued an edict, making his eldest son Cao Pi his eldest son.

it turns out that both Liu Biao and Yuan Shao violated the etiquette law and chose to "stand young but not grow up", which eventually led to the cannibalism of brothers and brothers and the downfall of the country.

Jia Shu seems to be vague and his answer is not what he asked, but in fact, he is reminding Cao Cao not to repeat the same mistake.

I agree with one sentence: "the two basic points of life are: be foolish and be smart."

Life has its ups and downs. Cleverness is important, but confusion is even more rare.

A clear water means no fish, and a clear man means no friends. You may not have to figure everything out.

pretending to be confused, many problems will be easily solved.

there is a question on Zhihu: what is true maturity?

one of the highly praised answers is: true maturity is nothing more than knowing how to strike a balance between sobriety and confusion.

only when you do things clearly can you stand high.

only by pretending to be confused at the right time can you go far.

if you have both, you can deal with the world calmly.