The Spring and Autumn Annals states, "The ruler is the guide for his subjects; if the ruler is not upright, the subjects will flee to another country. The father is the guide for his son; if the father is not kind, the son will run away to another place. The husband is the guide for his wife; if the husband is not upright, the wife may remarry."

Seeing that no one answered, Shen Yuan couldn't help but stand up and speak her mind.

"I believe that the answer to Mr. Murong's question was found in books from a hundred years ago. The viewpoint put forward by Master Dong is exactly what I think."

Upon hearing Shen Yuan's voice, everyone looked towards Fengting.

A gentle breeze stirred, lifting the gauze curtains to reveal a corner of a crimson dress, making the figure of a woman inside the pavilion appear and disappear.

Chu Yuning's eyes widened suddenly. The woman in the pavilion was Shen Yuan! Although he couldn't see her through the veil, he knew her voice all too well after knowing her for so many years!

Why is Shen Yuan here at the Dao-Enlightening Banquet? Did Liu send her an invitation?

Why did she ask Liu for an invitation to come here? Was it to see him?

Chu Yuning felt a sense of doubt. He suddenly remembered that he had taught Shen Yuan those words, but he had disagreed with what Mr. Dong said at the time and had only flipped through the scroll quickly without looking at it carefully.

He still remembered that Shen Yuan was still focused on the last few sentences of that page, saying to him, "Look, there is an old saying, 'If a husband is not upright, his wife can remarry.' Although we are engaged, if you fail me after you pass the imperial examination, I will definitely beat the Dengwen Drum to break off the engagement and marry someone else!"

Shen Yuan spoke very seriously at the time, but he didn't take it seriously at all.

Chu Family Village is thousands of miles away from the capital. He didn't believe that an orphan like her could walk to the capital on her own, and he didn't believe that she would have the courage to beat the Dengwen Drum, which required being beaten with twenty strokes of the cane before one could beat it.

Therefore, he did not take Shen Yuan's words to heart at the time.

Unexpectedly, Shen Yuan still remembered what was written on that page of the book. He's always been in her heart; she can't forget him, can she?

After listening to Shen Yuan's words, the old gentleman Murong nodded in satisfaction. He stroked his beard and said in a deep voice, "What this young lady said is something you all know from reading ancient books, but you just dare not stand up and say it."

The scholar by the stream hung his head, his face filled with shame. They all knew what Shen Yuan had said, but dared not speak out.

They felt these words were disloyal to the monarch, disrespectful to the father, and unacceptable to the husband; they were words that could not be tolerated by the world.

Therefore, although Mr. Dong’s theory of the Three Cardinal Guides has been passed down for over a hundred years, only the first twelve characters, “The ruler is the guide for the subject, the father is the guide for the son, and the husband is the guide for the wife,” have been passed down and are well known to the people.

As for what follows, it was ignored or erased by these scholars.

Old Master Murong sighed silently. Those who were afraid and hesitant to speak out, or whose words and actions did not match their intentions, were not the disciples he was looking for.

He was not very satisfied with these scholars today.

If he had to choose one from this group of mediocre people, Chu Yuning would be considered barely outstanding. However, he didn't want to force anyone into taking him as a disciple, and besides, he also had reservations about Chu Yuning's character.

While Mr. Murong hesitated, Chu Yuning suddenly lifted her leg and walked towards the pavilion.

"The girl said, 'If the ruler is not upright, the minister can go to another country; if the father is not kind, the son can leave for another land; if the husband is not upright, the wife can marry another.' Then what constitutes being unrighteous and unkind?"

"Is it wrong for a king to be misled by a treacherous minister? Is it wrong for a father to beat his child in anger? Is it wrong for a husband to be infatuated with a mistress? Is there anyone to judge these rules of wrongdoing and lack of compassion?"

"If there is no evaluation, how can we find someone else just because the other party made a mistake? What kind of logic is it not to give them a chance to correct it?"

Through the gauze curtain, Chu Yuning stared intently at Shen Yuan, her tone aggressive and her sophistry so difficult to answer.

Everyone in the room couldn't help but gasp. To nitpick so harshly was practically an attempt to prevent the young woman from answering. They were leaving her absolutely no room to maneuver.

Shen Yuan's expression remained calm and composed as she calmly asked, "Does Young Master Chu not know how to judge a person?"

Chu Yuning was taken aback, not understanding what Shen Yuan meant by her rhetorical question.

Shen Yuan's lips curled slightly as she smiled and said, "If a mother is not virtuous, then she can be burned alive. Isn't this Young Master Chu's judgment? Young Master Chu should know better than anyone what constitutes virtuousness, right?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Yuning turned pale.

He gritted his teeth and lowered his voice, saying, "Shen Yuan, what exactly do you want to do here today? What nonsense are you spouting! This is the Banquet for Enlightenment, a gathering for scholars to debate their knowledge, not a place where a woman like you can speak as you please!"

"Wasn't Young Master Chu debating with me about the words of the sage? Why won't you let me speak again?" Shen Yuan's voice was not low; it was like water frozen into ice, deafening.

The scholar by the stream and his family in the pavilion, upon hearing Shen Yuan's words, couldn't help but recall the popular story that had been making headlines in Jian'an City recently—"Burning One's Own Mother."

Some people, unaware of the situation, would pull the person next to them aside, and that person would immediately recount the story vividly.

"In Chu Family Village, there lived a scholar, a very studious scholar. He loved to read, so he borrowed money to study. After finishing his studies, he didn't pay back the money, he didn't pay back the money!"

"In Chu Family Village, there was a scholar, a very scholarly scholar. The scholar burned his own mother. Why did he burn his own mother? Because he was afraid his mother would be too ashamed, too, too ashamed!"

It was unclear which of the pavilions had children, but they began to sing folk songs.

This folk song has recently spread throughout the city, and many children know how to sing it. Someone started singing it, and then the rest of the children took turns singing it in the pavilion.

Chu Yuning's face grew paler and paler.

His eyes, which were bloodshot and frighteningly red, were fixed on Shen Yuan.

At this moment, he finally understood that Shen Yuan had come to the Banquet of Enlightenment today to take revenge on him!

She couldn't stand to see him doing well!

"I heard these few lines of a folk song in the market when I went out to buy groceries." Old Mr. Murong looked up at Chu Yuning and asked, "Is the person in the folk song you?"

Chu Yuning stood there, wanting to deny it, but other scholars had already answered first: "Sir, Brother Chu is from Chu Family Village in Ping'an Town, the very person sung about in the folk song!"

No! I'm not!

Chu Yuning hurriedly walked up to Old Master Murong, wanting to defend herself, but as soon as Prefect Jiang raised his eyes, two guards stepped forward and blocked Chu Yuning.

Chu Yuning had no choice but to stand ten steps away and shout, "Sir, you can't believe the one-sided story of that woman of unknown origin. I did not owe any money and I did not burn my own mother."

"The woman is slandering me for refusing to pay back the money. I never borrowed any money, so how can I be accused of refusing to pay back the money? The story about burning my mother is also fabricated by that woman. My mother committed suicide because she couldn't bear the humiliation!"

"When this woman couldn't win the argument, she resorted to slandering me. I don't know how such an unreasonable country bumpkin was allowed in. This is not a place for a country bumpkin like her!"