One spoke while the other wrote, and they kept at it until well past midnight. Liu Zhao wielded his brush furiously, not the least bit sleepy, but Wang Yang's throat felt as though it were smoking. Exhausted and drained, he simply could not hold out any longer.
Liu Zhao had someone prepare a guest room and invited Wang Yang to stay there.
The room was small and simply furnished, but compared with Black Han's thatched hut, it was in another league altogether. As both a member of the gentry and an educational official, Liu Zhao had more than a dozen servants and menials at the Commandery Academy. He specifically assigned two of them to attend to Wang Yang.
Since transmigrating, Wang Yang had faced danger at every turn, with pressure weighing on him like a mountain, and had not enjoyed a single good night's sleep. Now that he finally had a comfortable room, the taut string in his heart suddenly slackened. After a quick wash, he fell into bed and went straight to sleep. Liu Zhao, however, had no such comfort.
After nearly half a day of Wang Yang's "brainstorming," how could the great scholar possibly think of sleeping? He organized the freshly written manuscript, consulted references, checked evidence, and pondered the arguments. Bustling about, now crying and now laughing, he did not close his eyes all night.
At first light, he rushed over to find Wang Yang. Discovering at the door that Wang Yang was still asleep, he could not bring himself to disturb his rest. After standing there for a while, he could only return dejectedly to his own room and continue poring over the manuscript. Every so often, he sent someone to see whether Wang Yang had woken.
After receiving several disappointing answers in succession, he could not help thinking, Such learning at so young an age! If only he could break this habit of "sleeping by day," his future would know no bounds!
Liu Zhao held out until the middle of the snake hour-past ten in the morning. With still no sign of movement from Wang Yang's room, he could wait no longer and sent a servant to summon him for a meal. At the table, he immediately raised several questions he had been unable to resolve. Wang Yang answered as he ate, never once hesitating.
Liu Zhao could not help exclaiming, "The younger generation truly deserves our awe! Zhi Yan, with your learning, you would be more than qualified to serve as an erudite at the Academy of State Sons!"
An erudite in ancient times was different from a modern holder of a doctorate. Ancient erudites were both scholars and officials. Besides studying the classics and educating talented students, they also had to answer the court's inquiries and take part in deliberations on state affairs.
Given Wang Yang's love of reading and scholarship, serving as an erudite at the Academy of State Sons would actually have suited him quite well. But he knew that Southern Qi's allotted span as a dynasty was short and its politics extremely turbulent. Worse still, he did not know exactly how "short" or how "turbulent." That only deepened his sense of insecurity.
To his eyes, the Capital was a deep-sea whirlpool with dangers lurking beneath its surface. He could not flee it fast enough, so how could he possibly go to the Academy of State Sons?
Of course, without household registration, he could not go even if he wanted to. The thunderbolt of his assumed identity had yet to strike, and his debt remained unresolved. How could he possibly have the luxury of considering whether to join the Academy of State Sons?
Wang Yang shook his head, gave a bitter laugh, and went back to eating with his head down.
Seeing Wang Yang's expression, Liu Zhao assumed he thought little of becoming an erudite, and said:
"Of course, serving as an educational official does leave you with a somewhat narrower path to advancement. But scholarship is not confined by official position. With dedication and learning, any place can be a place of study. Look at the late Duke Wenxian Wang. He held the exalted position of chief minister and attended to ten thousand affairs each day, yet his mastery of ritual was unsurpassed throughout the realm. His works, including the Collected Notes on Mourning Dress Through the Ages, Questions and Answers on Ritual and Righteousness, and Essential Excerpts on Ritual, were all revered by scholars. One might say everyone admired him. I hear even the northern barbarians came seeking his books."
The "northern barbarians" referred to Northern Wei. The Southern Dynasties regarded themselves as the legitimate rulers and called the northern dynasties barbarian captors, hence the name.
Wang Yang felt rather ashamed. His grounding in ritual studies was truly inadequate; he had never even heard of the supposedly "enduring masterpieces" Liu Zhao had listed. Of course, perhaps they had never survived into his time at all?
Liu Zhao continued wistfully, "After Duke Wenxian passed away, I thought Wang Rong was the only member of the Langya Wang clan who could carry on his work. But today, I have discovered a second."
Wang Yang had just stuffed a large mouthful of rice mixed with fish paste into his mouth. He looked up with bulging cheeks and found Liu Zhao's eyes shining, his expression saying, "That's right, young man. You."
Seeing Wang Yang's slightly stupefied expression, Liu Zhao declared earnestly:
"Zhi Yan, these are no empty words! Wang Rong may be hailed as a man of every talent, but in my opinion, when it comes to the Book of Documents, however accomplished he may be, he might not surpass you. Many of your conclusions could make the deaf hear and the benighted awaken! Pointing Out the Errors is certain to be passed down to future generations! Highest is the establishment of virtue, next the establishment of merit, and next the establishment of words. When these endure through the ages without fading, that is called immortality!"
Utter conviction and devotion shone in Liu Zhao's eyes. Manuscript in hand, his inner cosmos blazing, he sprang to his feet and called out, "Servants! Clear away the food! Zhi Yan and I must continue writing our book!"
Though moved by Liu Zhao's pure passion for scholarship, Wang Yang still could not help crying inwardly, But... I haven't finished eating yet!!!!!
"The 'Many Regions' chapter of the Book of Documents says, 'We of Zhou shall greatly bestow rewards upon you.' The term 'da jie' has been difficult to explain since ancient times. In fact, 'da jie' was originally a single character, with 'da' above and 'jie' below. This character appears in the Great Section of Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters, where it is glossed as 'great,' with 'jie' supplying the sound, and pronounced like 'gai.' Whenever 'jie' is glossed as 'great' in the classics and commentaries, it is a phonetic loan for this character. Here, however, the original character was used. Later readers rarely encountered it and mistakenly split it into the two characters 'da' and 'jie.'"
"Then there are the four characters 'wang ke nian ting.' The Commentary on the Book of Documents explains them as, 'No deed worthy of consideration, no words worthy of hearing.' But considering the preceding line, 'A sage who fails to reflect becomes a madman; a madman who can reflect becomes a sage,' I strongly suspect that 'nian ting' was originally a corruption of 'nian sheng.' It means that nothing King Zhou did could be considered an act that made him a sage. The 'Against Idleness' chapter says, 'Thus they would not listen.' In the Han stone classics, the character 'ting,' meaning 'listen,' was written as 'sheng,' meaning 'sage.' The ancient forms of 'ting' and 'sheng' were similar, making them easy to confuse during copying."
"In Great Announcement, we have, 'As when a father builds a house, having already established the plan.' What does 'di fa,' 'established the plan,' mean? I suspect 'di fa' is a corruption of 'di ding,' 'settled.' It means the father had already settled the foundations, but the son refused to construct the hall. Later in the text comes 'None dare alter the plan,' while the Biography of Zhai Yi in the Book of Han gives it as 'You must not alter what has been settled.' In ancient script, the characters 'fa' and 'ding' were written similarly, so their resemblance readily led to errors!"
Liu Zhao struggled to suppress his shock, steadied his hand, and sent his brush flying across the page. He keenly sensed that he was witnessing the birth of a work destined to endure through the ages!
Once this book appeared, it would surely become a work that no scholar of the Book of Documents could bypass!
Then Wang Yang offered another startling conclusion:
"The Canon of Yao says, 'He regulated the five rites, the five jades, the three silks, the two living offerings, and the one dead offering. As for the five tokens, they were returned when the audience ended.' The nine characters for 'five jades, three silks, two living offerings, and one dead offering' were likely written on a misplaced bamboo slip and are in the wrong position. Judging from the sense and structure of the passage, their proper position should be..."
His heart surging with excitement, Liu Zhao swiftly recorded Wang Yang's words, then asked eagerly, "Where should they be?"
Wang Yang stretched. "Let's stop here for now. We can continue when there's another opportunity."
"What? But... time waits for no one! Wouldn't it be wonderful if we rode this momentum, completed the whole volume, and brought its benefits to the world of scholarship sooner? Why stop?"
Wang Yang put on a helpless expression. "I have something to attend to."
Liu Zhao looked displeased. "What could be more important than scholarship?!"
Taking his cue, Wang Yang sighed. "To tell you the truth, I owe a debt of thirteen thousand two hundred cash, and the repayment date is almost here. But my purse is empty. How can I possibly have the peace of mind to write a book? I have to find a way to raise the money first. As for the book, I can only set it aside for now."
Liu Zhao's expression grew serious. Looking at Wang Yang, he asked, "Zhi Yan, tell me the truth. Do you... do you have a habit of gambling at chupu?"
Before you continue