Scholarship is a matter for the ages-how could debate decide it?

If he did not know what he could and could not do, his actions would have no foundation and his conduct no guide. He might stumble into a pit at any moment and, in the end, not even know how he had died.

Southern Qi's laws were based on the Taishi Code. This code had been promulgated in the fourth year of the Taishi era of Western Jin (267), and successive dynasties had continued to use it. The court had begun revising its provisions the previous year, but Wang Yang knew nothing of this yet.

What Wang Yang also did not know was that, while he buried himself in the law code, a conversation was taking place in a nearby room-and it would soon sweep him into its wake...

"What!" Liu Zhao was both shocked and furious. "Scholarship is a matter for the ages-how could debate decide it? This isn't some session of pure talk! I'm going to see the prince!"

"It's no use," Xie Xinghan said despondently. "The prince has made up his mind. Apparently, the official notice has already been drafted and will be issued this afternoon. Besides, there is precedent for debates on Confucian scholarship. Under Emperor Zhang of Han, the scholars gathered at the White Tiger Monastery to discuss the similarities and differences in their interpretations of the Five Classics. By choosing the White Tiger Daoist Grounds as the venue, the prince clearly intends to follow the example of those ancient worthies."

Liu Zhao said indignantly, "At that White Tiger gathering, Emperor Zhang of Han personally ruled on the outcome, and everyone accepted his judgment with admiration. That was because Emperor Zhang himself favored neither side! So they could discuss On Learning freely! But now the prince is plainly biased toward the Wang Academy. Won't victory or defeat simply come down to a word from him?"

Xie Xinghan knitted her brows. "However biased he may be, he still has to convince the public. Since this will be an open debate, there are bound to be many people present. If we can truly refute Liu Tan on scholarly principles, I doubt the prince will openly cheat."

"The New Text and Old Text Schools have been at odds for so long that refuting either side on scholarly principles is almost impossible! There might be some hope of overwhelming Liu Tan through sheer learning. But with his eloquence and the depth of his scholarship, even the late Duke Wenxian Wang Jian praised him lavishly, saying, 'The Liu Clan's Two Dragons can be said to travel a thousand miles in a single day.' I truly have no confidence that I can defeat him. In fact, if this were a test of scholarly foundations, I would have no fear. But to contend with words before every watching eye, with an unfair judge presiding, no less..."

Liu Zhao sighed. "Unless we gain an overwhelming advantage and refute him until he is speechless. But with Liu Tan's talent, that's almost impos..." Halfway through, his eyes lit up, and he blurted, "Why would it be impossible?!"

"Uncle, have you thought of a way?" Xie Xinghan asked, delighted.

Liu Zhao's eyes shone. "I have someone in mind. He is here at the Commandery Academy right now. If he agrees to take the field, our chances of winning will be considerable!"

Xie Xinghan hurriedly asked, "Who?"

"Wang Yang. You've met him. The afternoon before last..."

At the name Wang Yang, Xie Xinghan bristled like a little white cat and nearly sprang from her seat. "He hasn't left yet?! Where is he!"

Seeing Xie Xinghan, normally as still as water, suddenly become so agitated, Liu Zhao was baffled. "My dear niece, what is..."

Realizing she had lost her composure, Xie Xinghan relaxed her shoulders and straightened her willow-slender waist, returning to her usual impeccably elegant seated posture. Her voice was firm. "You cannot use this man!"

"Why?" Liu Zhao asked in astonishment.

"He... he is frivolous and ignorant!" Xie Xinghan said bitterly.

"Whatever gave you that idea? If he is frivolous and ignorant, how many people in the whole world could be called genuinely talented and learned? My dear niece, have you misunderstood him somehow?"

The mere thought of Wang Yang made Xie Xinghan's teeth itch with hatred.

When she first read that poem, she had already felt something was wrong. The first four lines-"Footloose through rivers and lakes, he traveled with wine; a Chu waist, slender and light upon the palm. From Eastern Mountain he always rose for the common people, winning the name of a romantic prime minister"-seemed to describe Xie An abandoning his leisurely life with courtesans on Eastern Mountain and resolutely emerging to save the common people. There was nothing wrong with that.

Had it simply been a poem he had written to reflect on the past, that would have been fine. But this poem had been given to Xie Xinghan! Right at the outset, it spoke of a woman's slender waist. The language was frivolous and seemed to hint at her.

Xie Xinghan had been somewhat angry at the time, thinking his choice of words rash and improper. She had intended to catch him and teach him a lesson, but he had escaped through a trick.

Later, when they met at the Commandery Academy, she had held back for Liu Zhao's sake. Yet who could have imagined that, in just a day or two, the poem would somehow spread-and that singing girls would even set it to music!

Those Dengtu Young Men, those frivolous youths, competed to recite it. They paid no attention whatsoever to the original poem's theme, its ode to Xie An, and instead made wild connections and interpretations. They even insisted with absolute certainty that the poem's second line had been written about her, Xie Xinghan!

Someone had actually given her the nickname "Xie Chu Waist"!

Worse still, some twisted the words to claim that these two lines described the tender, lingering affection between Xie Xinghan and the man who wrote the poem! They even offered detailed explanations!

The first line, "Footloose through rivers and lakes," described the poet's wild, unfettered nature.

The second described Xie Xinghan's slender Chu waist and graceful figure. The phrase "light upon the palm" ostensibly employed a literary allusion, but was actually a description of reality: he had touched her with his own hands. Without "firsthand experience," how could he have perceived it so deeply!

When Xie Xinghan first heard this, she nearly exploded with rage. Shame and fury filled her heart, and she hated Wang Yang to the bone. But she could hardly spell such matters out to Liu Zhao, so she could only speak vaguely, saying that she thought Wang Yang's words exceeded his abilities and that he was far too young. How could his learning and breadth of vision compare with Liu Tan's?

Liu Zhao took out the manuscript and handed it to Xie Xinghan. "He dictated this, and I wrote it down. I haven't finished organizing it yet."

As Xie Xinghan read the words on the pages, her bright, dark eyes widened more and more.

Liu Zhao said, "Leaving everything else aside, when it comes to the Book of Documents, this man could found a school of his own!

"Sometimes I think, in this age, Darkness and Buddhism hold sway, while Confucian scholarship languishes.

"Last year, the two great masters Wang Jian and Liu Yu both passed away. Could Heaven truly be destroying our cultural heritage, leaving us mired in ill fortune?

"But now that I have met him, I feel there is hope for a revival of Confucian scholarship. This young man may someday become a grand master of his age, his name enduring through the ages!

"As for Liu Tan and me, I fear that a hundred years from now, no one will remember us."

Liu Zhao sighed, his expression dimming, but then he suddenly brightened again.

"I am helping compile Pointing Out Flaws in the New Text and Old Text Versions of the Book of Documents. As long as Pointing Out Flaws survives, so will my name! Besides, Zhi Yan and I have become friends. With us spending our days together discussing scholarship, my learning will naturally advance every day. So the one history will erase is Liu Tan, not me! Hahahaha!"

Xie Xinghan was deeply shocked.

She had never imagined that Uncle Liu's opinion of that lecher could reach such heights!

If this man truly possessed such learning, would using him to defeat Liu Tan not resolve the Commandery Academy's crisis perfectly?

At this thought, Xie Xinghan immediately cast aside her personal prejudice and began considering the feasibility of sending Wang Yang into battle.

"Uncle, if he really can win, that would certainly be good. But the question is, in what capacity would he compete?"

Liu Zhao's smile vanished instantly, and he murmured to himself, "Yes, in what capacity would he compete?"

Wang Yang was engrossed in the Qi Code when an attendant suddenly arrived to report that Liu Zhao wished to speak with him.

Wang Yang assumed it must concern the manuscript. Yet the moment he entered the room, he met the scrutinizing gaze of a serene young woman and could not help freezing for a moment.

Her starry eyes gleamed, her waist was slender and lovely, her clothes understated and elegant, her delicate face like jade. Who else could she be but Fourth Lady Xie?

Why was she here?

She wasn't here to pick a fight, was she?!

Liu Zhao said, "Zhi Yan, you two have met before, but I did not introduce her in detail then. This is the daughter of Lord Xie, Director of the Secretariat, from the Chen Commandery Xie Clan. She is fourth among her siblings, hence the name Fourth Lady Xie."

Keeping his expression unchanged, Wang Yang cupped his hands in greeting. "Fourth Lady Xie."

Xie Xinghan rose and dipped in an impeccably executed return greeting. "Young Master Wang."

"You are both talented young people. You should speak with each other more in the future. Please, sit."

Once the two were seated, Liu Zhao asked Wang Yang, "Zhi Yan, where is your household registered?"

Xie Xinghan's starry eyes fixed on Wang Yang, as though her gaze could pierce right through him.

Here it comes, here it comes.

Alarm bells instantly rang in Wang Yang's mind!