On the Discourse Ranking, the Literary Assembly debate was in full swing.
"The most laughable point of the opposing side is their claim that she had contracted venereal disease, and that scholars should not have venereal disease. Yet after reading that, I fell into deep thought. Lu Meier was a woman—was her venereal disease innate? Impossible! Then where had it come from? Men! Does the Sacred Academy stipulate that men who have had venereal disease cannot take the Imperial Examination? No! Then why can a woman harmed by men not take the Imperial Examination? Furthermore, as far as I know, the brothel Lu Meier had worked in was extremely upscale, and most of those coming and going were scholars. Therefore, scholars harmed her; she was not harming scholars!"
"The affirmative side is fixated on an illness and on her identity, but the issue is that we are not discussing her 'body,' but her thoughts, mind, spirit, morality, and so on. The reason we mention venereal disease and her identity as a prostitute is to express our concerns over her personal morality. As for the claim that scholars harmed her, that argument is simply ridiculous. May I ask: did she not know that her clients might have venereal disease? She knew, yet she chose money!"
"The opposing debaters are simply a pack of Saints whose fingers have never touched spring water! What was she? She was a prostitute, not a madam! Not some great boss! How much choice could she possibly have had? If she had been born into a lofty, distinguished family, a young lady of the house, could she have appeared in a brothel? She was forced into it! You condemn someone who was forced, yet do not condemn the pimps and madams, do not condemn the parents who