Chapter 183 Fallacy
Zhu Lan walked up to Lu Zhiyi, and her steps were light and calm, like the spring breeze blowing through the willow branches.
Her blue shirt fluttered in the wind, like crisp bamboo leaves moving in the wind. The sunlight sprinkled on half of her body. It was clearly a woman's makeup, but she exuded a sense of elegance and grace.
"Miss Zhu, thank you for your courtesy." Lu Zhiyi bowed to her with a polite tone, but Zhu Lan caught a hint of contempt in the corner of his eyes.
"Mr. Lu." Zhu Lan returned the greeting and then asked Lu Qingfeng, "Senior Lu, what kind of competition will we have today?"
"Since it is you who are competing with my son today, it is not appropriate for our Lu family to set questions." Lu Qingfeng said, and invited an old man with white hair and beard to come up from the stage, "This is our village head, Mr. Zhou, and he will test you."
Although Mr. Zhou was old, his gestures were very decent, and he was obviously well-read. He nodded to the people on the stage.
Lu Zhiyi looked at Zhu Lan with a warm smile on his face: "In order to ensure fairness and prevent people from saying that our Lu family is bullying the weak, let me ask you first, does Miss Zhu have any achievements?"
Then he turned to Mr. Zhou and said, "If Miss Zhu is the one in white, please don't ask questions that are too obscure and difficult."
Mr. Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled: "That's natural."
Zhu Lan smiled faintly, "Thank you for your kindness, Master Lu. I am not talented, but I just happened to pass the Jiangzhou Prefecture Autumn Examination today and was fortunate enough to win the title of Juren."
There was an uproar in the audience.
"Did I hear correctly, Juren? She looks less than 20 years old, right?"
"Haha, I don't believe it anyway, so let her say whatever she wants!"
"She has only studied for a few days, how dare she be so arrogant?"
"I don't believe it either. Young Master Lu is extremely talented. It's already a great achievement for him to pass the imperial examination at the age of 30. If she really is a juren at this age, then our entire Qingxi Town will lose face!"
Murong Jing listened to the voices coming from both sides and smiled contemptuously, "Is it a rare thing to pass the imperial examination before the age of 20?"
When the people around her heard her words, they looked her up and down exaggeratedly and said sarcastically: "You are not afraid of sticking your tongue when you say that. What, are you also a juren?"
Murong Jing spread her hands indifferently, "I'm not."
Then he pointed to Zhu Qingyan beside him, "But she is."
Immediately, many eyes focused on Zhu Qingyan. She didn't know what to say for a moment, so she just listened to the man asking her.
"Are you really a juren?" His tone was obviously disbelieving.
Zhu Qingyan nodded slightly, but heard a rather regretful voice from the other party.
"Alas, the world is really going downhill now, and people's hearts are no longer the same as before. It's all because of the imperial decree. Every little girl dares to brag that she is a juren. Alas!"
Zhu Qingyan: ...
When Lu Zhiyi on the stage heard Zhu Lan say that he had passed the autumn examination of Jiangzhou Prefecture, his mood was naturally the same as those below.
If the other party claimed to be a student or a scholar, he might believe it.
You have to know that Jiangzhou is a big province with a large population, and the competition in the provincial examination is much more intense than that in Tongzhou. This girl dares to say that she is a juren. It’s better to brag realistically!
Lu Zhiyi shook his head. If that was the case, he couldn't show any mercy anymore.
He said to Mr. Zhou: "Mr. Zhou, please start."
Old Zhou nodded, "Since we are all scholars, let's follow the rules of scholars. It has been a long time since Qingxi Town has been so lively. Before we discuss the Dao, why don't I give you a few simple questions to test you, as a warm-up.
But this girl is from outside, can she trust me to be fair? "
Before Zhu Lan expressed his opinion, some people below shouted, "Mr. Zhou has always been the most fair. We believe him!"
"Yes, Mr. Zhou is highly respected and would not cheat!"
Zhu Lan listened to the people's unanimous words and saw the sincerity in their eyes. He believed that Zhou Lizheng was loved by everyone in Qingxi Town and should not be a partial person.
"The student believes in Mr. Zhou. Please give the questions." Zhu Lan retracted his gaze and said.
Mr. Zhou cleared his throat and recited slowly:
"If you don't learn something, and you can't learn it, don't give up."
This is a sentence from Chapter 12 of The Doctrine of the Mean. It turns out that the so-called "warm-up" is to recite the following text.
“If there is something you don’t ask, and you don’t know it when you ask, then don’t do it. If there is something you don’t think about, and you don’t get it when you think about it, then don’t do it. If there is something you don’t understand, and you don’t understand it when you understand it, then don’t do it.”
Zhu Lan and Lu Zhiyi recited it in unison at the same speed.
This is too easy.
Next, the difficulty of the questions asked by Mr. Zhou gradually increased, and the sources of the selected articles also began to become obscure.
At the beginning, the audience could still shake their heads and say a few words, but later on they could only stare blankly. They had never even heard of some of the articles!
Mr. Zhou asked another question from The Strategies of the Warring States. Zhu Lan and Lu Zhiyi recited at the same time again:
"...I asked for the lands of Cai and Gaolang, but Zhao Xiangzi refused to give them to me."
At this moment, everyone's spirits suddenly perked up, because the content the two people recited was finally different!
Lu Zhiyi smiled softly, "Miss Zhu, it clearly means 'Please visit Cai and Gaolang', but you read 'Cai' as 'Lin', which is a mistake."
Someone in the audience laughed and said, "It's great that this little girl has learned so much. She can even compete with Young Master Lu. It's a pity that her knowledge is still not sophisticated enough!"
When the women in Qingxi Town heard this, their eyes were filled with disappointment and disappointment. Some were even ready to turn around, unable to bear to see Zhu Lan make a fool of himself.
It seems that women really have delusions of studying to become officials.
At this moment, Zhu Lan's unhurried voice came from the stage.
"May I ask how many years ago the book that Mr. Lu is reading was printed?
Three years ago, two great scholars of our dynasty, Bao and Wu, announced after textual research that the word "Cai" in this article was a mistake for the word "Lin". Could it be that Master Lu didn't know this?"
Lu Zhiyi was stunned. He had indeed never heard of it.
"Are you... telling the truth?" he said in disbelief.
"Mr. Lu only needs to leave Qingxi Town and buy the latest official version and he will know the answer."
Lu Zhiyi looked a little panicked, but soon calmed down and said, "I will check it out if I have a chance."
Mr. Zhou coughed twice. This was just a warm-up before the formal debate and there was no need to dwell on it.
He announced that the formal debate would soon begin.
"Since the dispute between Miss Zhu and the Lu family originated from the issue of girls' admission to school, let's discuss how the world today should view the laws and rituals of our ancestors."
Lu Zhiyi was the first to say: "The laws of our ancestors cannot be abolished. If the descendants change them at will, wouldn't that be forgetting our ancestors?
Moreover, in ancient times, the Zhou emperor established the Zhou rituals, and even the sage Confucius was determined to "control oneself and return to the rites." How can we scholars go against the will of the sages? "
"Mr. Lu, do you know what 'standing still' means?" Zhu Lan let out a faint sneer.
"If everything our ancestors did was good and right, then shouldn't you take off the jacquard silk you're wearing? After all, our ancestors didn't wear this for hundreds of years."
Lu Zhiyi didn't expect the other party to find such an angle to refute, and was stunned.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
