Chapter Summaries

Liu Zhao was enraged when the Prince of Jingling offered him a post instead of help for the Commandery Academy, while Yu Yuling argued with his father Yu Yi over whether to leave Jingzhou. Yu Yuling left home again, and his brother Yu Qianlou found him at the gate.

• Liu Zhao read Liu Qiu's letter, rejected the Prince of Jingling's offers of employment, and prepared to work through the night with Wang Yang.
• Liu Zhao ordered Yu Yuling to return home, warning that his dispute with his father could harm his public appraisal.
• Yu Yiling told Yu Yi he would remain in Jingzhou and help restore the Commandery Academy instead of entering the Academy of State Sons.
• Yu Yiling cited the Classic of Filial Piety and accused Yu Yi of failing his duties as a leader, friend, and father; Yu Yi left without replying.
• Yu Yiling decided to return to the Commandery Academy, but Yu Qianlou met him at the gate, where Yu Yiling said their father detested him.

Yu Qianlou explained to Yu Yuling how rival factions at court might be forming around the crown prince and the Prince of Jingling. He left Yu Yuling considering whether the seemingly carefree Prince of Badong might also be quietly building influence.

• Yu Yuling accused his father of neglecting the Commandery Academy, and Yu Qianlou urged him to understand political factions before judging events.
• Yu Qianlou warned Yu Yuling to keep their conversation secret, then described the adult imperial princes and the growing influence of the Prince of Jingling.
• Yu Qianlou pointed out how the crown prince and Prince of Jingling repeatedly matched each other's charitable, political, and religious actions, suggesting rivalry beneath their public brotherly affection.
• Yu Yuling inferred that court politics might divide into a Crown Prince Faction and a Prince of Jingling Faction, while the other adult princes could tip the balance.
• Yu Qianlou suggested that the Prince of Badong might be quietly cultivating influence through his residence, personal guards, and popularity among junior officers, though Yu Yuling found the idea hard to believe.

Yu Qianlou explained why political factions left the Commandery Academy vulnerable, while Yu Yuling wondered whether it could survive. Wang Yang finished his work on the Book of Documents, then decided he urgently needed to study the law code.

• Yu Qianlou told Yu Yuling that the Prince of Badong would likely support the Wang Academy, while other powers would avoid opposing him and the Prince of Yuzhang.
• Yu Qianlou explained that Emperor knew about court factions but could not freely overcome them, and warned that Father’s friendship with him depended on staying out of factional politics.
• Wang Yang finished the manuscript, but persuaded Liu Zhao that philology required a separate book and more study.
• Liu Zhao took responsibility for organizing Pointing Out Flaws and let Wang Yang read his collection.
• After sleeping less than four hours, Wang Yang got up early to read the law code.

Liu Zhao and Xie Xinghan discussed the prince’s planned debate over Confucian scholarship and considered Wang Yang as a champion against Liu Tan. Wang Yang was summoned to meet Xie Xinghan, and Liu Zhao asked where his household was registered.

• Liu Zhao told Xie Xinghan that the prince had arranged an open debate between the schools and that the official notice would be issued that afternoon.
• Liu Zhao proposed Wang Yang as a potential opponent for Liu Tan, but Xie Xinghan objected because she blamed him for the scandal surrounding his poem about her.
• Liu Zhao showed Xie Xinghan Wang Yang’s manuscript and praised his learning, persuading her to consider using him in the debate.
• Xie Xinghan and Liu Zhao wondered in what capacity Wang Yang could compete.
• An attendant summoned Wang Yang to Liu Zhao, where he greeted Xie Xinghan and Liu Zhao asked where his household was registered.

Wang Yang deflected Xie Xinghan’s questions about his household registration by pretending she was proposing marriage, driving her to tears and out of the room. Liu Zhao then explained that he wanted Wang Yang to enroll in the Jingzhou Commandery Academy and defend the New-Text Book of Documents against the Wang Academy, leaving Wang Yang interested but wary of the complications.

• Wang Yang mourned Langya’s occupation, but Xie Xinghan pressed him for his household registration and the branch and residence of his family.
• To stop Xie Xinghan from investigating him, Wang Yang claimed she admired him and was seeking marriage, then publicly rejected her.
• Xie Xinghan became humiliated and furious, and she ran out in tears as Liu Zhao hurried after her.
• Liu Zhao told Wang Yang that Xie Xinghan had wanted to ask whether he would register locally and enroll in the Commandery Academy.
• Liu Zhao explained that the Wang Academy was trying to abolish the New-Text Book of Documents and asked Wang Yang to compete for the Commandery Academy and preserve the Jingzhou scholarly tradition.
• Wang Yang understood the dispute’s history but remained concerned about the problems involved in helping Liu Zhao.

Wang Yang agreed to represent the Commandery Academy in a debate against Wang Academy if Liu Zhao could solve his lack of household registration. In Jingzhou City, he explored the market with A-Wu and arranged for a shopkeeper to make folding fans, offering a bulk order of thirty.

• Liu Zhao offered Wang Yang a hundred thousand cash reward to compete against Wang Academy, and Wang Yang asked whether his missing household registration could be resolved.
• Wang Yang promised to do his best for the Commandery Academy if Liu Zhao found a way to register him, then left for the city.
• Wang Yang and A-Wu wandered through Jingzhou City, where A-Wu marveled at the sights and ate White Cocoon Candy.
• Wang Yang visited a fan shop and confirmed that folding fans were unfamiliar there.
• Wang Yang bargained with the shopkeeper to make thirty folding fans for forty cash each, with the first fan due before noon the next day and the full order within seven days.

Wang Yang ordered a batch of folding fans and explained his bargaining strategy to A-Wu. When a rider’s horse threatened A-Wu, a skilled woman in blue-green rescued her, then ignored the rider’s advances until a man rebuked him.

• Wang Yang commissioned thirty folding fans from a shopkeeper, paid him a hundred coins, and set prices and commissions for their sale.
• Wang Yang explained to A-Wu why he had bargained down the price before paying extra to motivate the shopkeeper.
• A-Wu chased chestnuts that had fallen from a vendor’s bag as a galloping horse bore down on her.
• A blue-green-clad woman rescued A-Wu, struck the horse with her scabbard, and caused it to crash into a shop wall.
• The rider approached the woman and tried to speak with her, but she ignored him.
• A man rebuked the rider for speaking to the woman disrespectfully.

Wang Yang defended A-Wu and a young woman in green after a cavalryman blamed them for injuring his horse, using the Qi Code and the woman’s knowledge of military regulations to challenge him. Fourth Lady Xie intervened to end the confrontation, then had her carriage deliberately shower Wang Yang with dust as it passed.

• A-Wu pretended to faint when the cavalryman demanded payment, but Wang Yang reassured her that they owed him nothing.
• The young woman in green exposed the man’s false claim that his horse was a purebred Liaoxi Black Steed, and Wang Yang accused him of breaking the Qi Code by galloping through a crowded market.
• The man claimed he carried urgent military intelligence, but the young woman pointed out that his behavior contradicted the rules for military messengers.
• When the cavalryman threatened to have them arrested as spies, Wang Yang called for Commandery Academy Libationer Liu Zhao.
• A girl in pink summoned the cavalryman to Fourth Lady Xie’s carriage, and he soon dismissed the crowd and rode away.
• Xie Xinghan’s carriage sped past Wang Yang and covered him in dust, while she laughed and asked Xiao Ning whether they should turn around and do it again.

Liu Zhao brought Wang Yang to meet the eccentric scholar Zong Ce, hoping to ask for help with Wang Yang’s household registration. Zong Ce mocked Wang Yang and refused him a seat among his treasured stones, leaving their reception tense but unfinished.

• Liu Zhao and Wang Yang crossed Zong Ce’s bamboo grove, and Liu Zhao warned Wang Yang that their host could be eccentric.
• Zong Ce explained that he had bought the estate for seven stones he believed were seats once used by the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
• Zong Ce assigned himself Xiang Xiu’s seat and told Liu Zhao to sit in Liu Ling’s, whom he had just called inferior.
• Liu Zhao introduced Wang Yang, but Zong Ce insulted him as an undeserving young man and suggested he return to the Commandery Academy.
• Wang Yang took no offense and regarded Zong Ce’s bluntness as genuine, while Liu Zhao apologized with a look.

Wang Yang argued that Zhuangzi’s apparent detachment concealed profound compassion, impressing Zong Ce and winning his attention. He continued discussing Zhuangzi, but Liu Zhao stopped him when his words touched on the politically dangerous seizure of a state.

• Liu Zhao asked Zong Ce to help arrange Wang Yang’s household registration, but Zong Ce refused and mocked Confucian learning.
• Wang Yang challenged Zong Ce’s claim that Zhuangzi advocated freedom from feeling, arguing that only those with deep feelings sought to transcend them.
• Wang Yang explained Zhuangzi’s grief and compassion for the world, and Zong Ce excitedly praised his insight and offered him a more prestigious seat.
• Wang Yang continued describing Zhuangzi’s criticisms of rulers who seized states, and Liu Zhao cut him off because the remarks risked offending the court.

Wang Yang impressed Zong Ce and Liu Zhao with his interpretation of Zhuangzi, and Zong Ce took him away after promising to help with his household registration. Meanwhile, Xiao Baoyue and Xie Xinghan discussed Wang Yang’s poem and rumors of Xiao Baoyue’s marriage to Xu Kuang.

• Zong Ce made Wang Yang and the others repeat a saying about stealing a state, then Wang Yang recited his interpretation of Zhuangzi.
• Liu Zhao asked whether Wang Yang was versed in Neo-Daoism, and Zong Ce grabbed Wang Yang and promised to help with his household registration in exchange for a favor.
• Xiao Baoyue praised Xie Xinghan’s tea but noted that she had altered the traditional Badong Tea recipe.
• Xiao Baoyue teased Xie Xinghan about Wang Yang’s poem comparing her to a slender Chu beauty, and Xie Xinghan called Wang Yang a lecher.
• Xie Xinghan asked Xiao Baoyue about rumors that her family was arranging her marriage to Xu Kuang, and Xiao Baoyue confirmed she had heard the rumors.

Xiao Baoyue explained the political schemes behind her proposed marriage to Xu Kuang and warned Xie Xinghan to avoid the Prince of Badong. At the Xie Residence, Zong Ce brought Wang Yang to challenge Xie Xinghan to a debate, but she recognized Wang Yang and ordered the servants to beat him out.

• Xiao Baoyue told Xie Xinghan that the Crown Prince, the Marquis of Xichang, and Xu Xiaosi were using the proposed marriage to advance their political interests.
• Xie Xinghan urged Xiao Baoyue to stay and advise her about the Commandery Academy, but Xiao Baoyue left and warned her not to get entangled with the Prince of Badong.
• Zong Ce arrived at the Xie Residence with Wang Yang, claiming Wang Yang would defeat Xie Xinghan in philosophical debate.
• Xie Xinghan recognized Wang Yang, thanked him for his help the previous day, then called him a lecher and ordered the servants to drive him out.

Wang Yang defused Xie Xinghan’s accusation over a scandalous poem and accepted Zong Ce’s plea to help him in a debate, hoping Zong would arrange his household registration. Xie Xinghan challenged Wang to pure conversation, confident her expertise would overwhelm him.

• Zong Ce stopped Xie Xinghan’s servants from taking Wang Yang away, and Wang denied writing the poem that had fueled rumors about her.
• Wang Yang swore he had not written the poem’s famous lines and offered to go to the county office, prompting Zong Ce to intervene and calm the dispute.
• Wang Yang apologized to Xie Xinghan, but she demanded that he leave because she considered him frivolous.
• Zong Ce asked Wang Yang to stay and help him defeat Xie Xinghan, promising to settle Wang’s household registration.
• Wang Yang provoked Xie Xinghan by claiming he had beaten her in a debate before, and she challenged him to pure conversation.
• Xie Xinghan declared that Wang would not last three exchanges against her, believing his Confucian studies left him unprepared for her family’s specialty.

Wang Yang and Xie Xinghan wagered on a philosophical debate, with Zong Ce staking valuable handwritten commentaries on Wang Yang’s victory. Xie Xinghan challenged the claim that Don Juan was not lustful, and Wang Yang ended the chapter by attacking her definition of lust with arguments drawn from the classics.

• Wang Yang and Xie Xinghan wagered that she would serve him if she lost, while she demanded he copy three hundred books if he lost; Zong Ce and Xie Xinghan also wagered rare commentaries.
• Zong Ce agreed to stake his Wang Bi-sealed copy of the Tao Te Ching after Wang Yang confidently assured him Xie Xinghan would lose.
• Xie Xinghan proposed debating whether Don Juan was lustful, and Wang Yang argued that marriage and fathering children were natural rather than signs of lust.
• Xie Xinghan claimed that Don Juan’s five children and lack of discernment proved his lust, while Wang Yang challenged her reasoning and asked who had defined such behavior as excessive.
• Xie Xinghan declared that lust was derogatory, and Wang Yang countered by citing Gaozi, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, and the Book of Songs to argue that desire was part of human nature.

Wang Yang defeated Xie Xinghan in a debate about beauty, then left after receiving a note from a Commandery Academy Attendant. Xie Xinghan agreed to another debate on Neo-Daoism, while Zong Ce’s slip about Wang Yang’s household registration left her curious about him.

• Wang Yang countered Xie Xinghan’s quotations to argue that loving beauty was not inherently wrong, and Zong Ce declared him the winner.
• Xie Xinghan conceded the round, revealed her name, and challenged Wang Yang to debate Neo-Daoism; she promised three hundred copies of a book if she lost.
• A servant delivered Wang Yang a note from a Commandery Academy Attendant, and Wang Yang left to see an old acquaintance before agreeing to meet again.
• Xie Xinghan asked Zong Ce how he knew Wang Yang, and Zong Ce accidentally revealed that Liu Zhao had brought Wang Yang to arrange his household registration.
• Zong Ce changed the subject by offering to tell Xie Xinghan about Wang Yang’s discourse on Zhuangzi’s deep affections.

Wang Yang learned that Black Han had received a suspicious, dangerous transfer order to Tianmen Commandery and sought a way to protect him. He planned to win a favor at a scholarly debate to make Black Han one of his retainer troops, but Black Han had to depart the next morning.

• Black Han told Wang Yang that he alone had been ordered to garrison duty in Tianmen Commandery and worried he would be unable to care for A-Wu.
• Wang Yang suspected the unusual transfer might conceal a scheme and promised to help Black Han avoid it.
• Wang Yang took Black Han to Liu Zhao, who explained that releasing him from the soldier register would be difficult.
• Liu Zhao proposed that Wang Yang win the scholarly debate in six days and ask the prince to transfer Black Han into his retainer troops.
• Black Han agreed that he wanted to become Wang Yang's retainer, but said his orders required him to leave the next morning.

Wang Yang tried to find someone who could delay Black Han’s transfer to Tianmen, but Yu Yi, Xie Xinghan, and Zong Ce were unavailable. Suspecting the order targeted Black Han, Wang Yang stopped relying on others and led his men to confront External Forces Army Advisor Jiao Zheng.

• Wang Yang learned that Yu Yi might be able to intervene, but Yu Yi refused to receive him at the Yu Residence.
• Wang Yang went to the Xie Residence with a short manuscript for Xie Xinghan, waited until dusk, and left when she did not return.
• Wang Yang found that Zong Ce was away, then warned Black Han that his transfer order seemed suspicious and might put him in danger.
• Wang Yang returned to the Commandery Academy to ask questions and borrow supplies, then went with Steward He and eight servants to Jiao Zheng’s mansion.
• Wang Yang ordered the servants to kick down Jiao Zheng’s gate and strode inside.

Wang Yang forced his way into Jiao Zheng’s home and accused him of secretly reporting Wang Tai to the Prince of Jingling, threatening to involve the Prince of Badong. After a maid invited him to visit Fourth Lady Xie, Jiao Zheng recognized Wang Yang as a young master of the Langya Wang and paid his respects.

• Wang Yang barged into Jiao Zheng’s home and berated him for allegedly reporting Wang Tai to the Prince of Jingling.
• Jiao Zheng’s servant confirmed the ox cart bore the Niyang Liu Clan emblem, and Jiao Zheng ordered his guards to stand down.
• Wang Yang threatened to report Jiao Zheng to the Prince of Badong, leaving Jiao Zheng worried that he was being dragged into a conflict between princes.
• Steward He brought a maid from Fourth Lady Xie, but Wang Yang told her to have her mistress wait until he could visit the next day.
• Jiao Zheng bowed and introduced himself as Jingzhou External Army Advisor, paying his respects to Young Master Wang of Langya.

Wang Yang used Liu Zhao and Fourth Lady Xie’s endorsement to persuade Jiao Zheng that he was a genuine Langya Wang young master, then accepted Jiao Zheng’s invitation to dinner. He ordered a batch of folding fans during the meal and left Jiao Zheng eager to please him.

• Wang Yang questioned Jiao Zheng about other officials surnamed Jiao and pretended he might have mistaken the name of the person who accused his uncle.
• Jiao Zheng invited Wang Yang to his residence, where he hurriedly prepared the household and arranged for his daughter Yan'er to greet their guest.
• Jiao Zheng claimed he could not find his register of officials and persuaded Wang Yang to stay for dinner while promising to retrieve it the next morning.
• Wang Yang sampled Jiao Zheng’s local dishes and received a folding fan delivered by Steward He from the Commandery Academy.
• Wang Yang ordered thirty matching fans within six days and told Jiao Zheng’s servant to treat the fan shop owner to food and drink.

Wang Yang pressed Jiao Zheng to delay Black Han’s transfer, then accepted a place to stay at the Jiao family home. As Jiao Yan lingered in his room and offered to attend to him, Wang Yang told her he was tired.

• At Jiao Zheng’s banquet, Wang Yang asked him to cancel Black Han’s transfer from A Qu Garrison to Tianmen Commandery, and Jiao Zheng agreed to delay it for six days.
• Wang Yang and Jiao Zheng traded questions about Black Han and Wang Yang’s background, each concealing what he knew.
• After the banquet, Wang Yang accepted Jiao Zheng’s offer to stay overnight rather than wait for a carriage back to the Commandery Academy.
• Jiao Yan brought Wang Yang tea and lingered in his room, saying she wanted to attend to him, but Wang Yang told her he was tired.