Chapter 36 Ning Yao, let's get married.
Ning Yao's rebuttal was brilliant. Liu Yu, who was also in Group Four, glanced at her and stood up.
He first pulled the male classmate who was standing there in a daze back, and then took two steps forward to the center of the round platform.
He politely bowed slightly to the audience before turning to Ning Yao and asking, "May I ask, if the example Chen gave earlier was from Euclid's Elements?"
Liu Yu smiled, and before Ning Yao could reply, he stopped looking at her and turned to the crowd to speak eloquently, "As we all know, both The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art and Euclid's Elements are the culmination of achievements in the field of arithmetic, but they have different focuses."
One book focuses on practical algorithms, while the other emphasizes the construction of a geometric theoretical system. From a practical standpoint, the *Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art* is naturally superior. Does the student intend to use this to argue that the *Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art* is better than *Euclid's Elements*?
A pit. A huge pit.
Liu Yu's statement, by placing two Chinese and Western mathematical works side-by-side for comparison, highlights the fact that many mathematicians study both simultaneously. No one could definitively say which is superior, let alone clarify it in a small debate. Moreover, debates are not based on mere words; they require substantial evidence.
Therefore, no matter which book Ning Yao answered, it was wrong.
Some members of the affirmative side couldn't stand it anymore and almost stood up.
Ning Yao remained calm and composed, her expression unchanged. She even put her hands behind her back, took a few steps forward, and approached Liu Yu.
He didn't look scared at all; on the contrary, he seemed quite confident...
Ning Yao could naturally tell that Liu Yu was talking about a trap.
It's clear that his speech, posture, and the questions he asked were all designed to press and pressure, making him a very formidable person.
But compared to Ning Yiwen, who forced her to do all sorts of homework a few years ago and was incredibly nitpicky, she's still a little bit lacking.
Ning Yao nodded, addressed him by his name, and said with feigned seriousness, "Student Liu, that's a very good question. I'd also like to know if you're trying to use this argument to tell me that Euclid's Elements is superior to the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art?"
Use your own spear to attack your own shield.
Liu Yu was openly "beaten" by Ning Yao.
I wanted to reply, but when I opened my mouth, I completely forgot how to address the other person, especially since they remembered me...
For a moment, they seemed to be stumped by the question.
Another round of applause followed.
Even the opposing teams sitting on the stage applauded and nodded secretly.
Women are just as capable as men.
Ning Yiwen, sitting on the judges' panel, gazed intently at Ning Yao with his deep eyes.
She stood gracefully on the round platform, hands behind her back, smiling yet sharp as she refuted the other party.
Confident and composed.
She is so striking and eye-catching.
Ning Yiwen felt the spring water in his heart rise high, washing away all his defenses.
Liu Yu was only temporarily stuck, not stumped by the question.
In just a few breaths, he had already thought of what to say next and spoke again.
The attack became even more ferocious, leaving no room for retreat.
However, the affirmative teams naturally wouldn't let Ning Yao deal with it alone.
Several groups of people, one on the positive side and the other on the negative side, took turns attacking, and the scene quickly became heated.
Just as this scene was flourishing, Liu Yu brought up the Meiji Restoration in Japan.
At the same time, the focus of the debate has long since shifted from whether Chinese or Western culture is superior to which of Chinese or Western cultural ideas can save the country from its current predicament.
When Liu Yu spoke loudly and shamelessly, saying, "If we're going to use this as the basis for determining superiority, then I think there's no need to argue; Western thought is naturally superior. Otherwise, haven't we been trying to experiment with Japan's Meiji Restoration all along? Seeking external solutions instead of internal ones."
This is plain as day, and there's no arguing about it.
That's true. However, at the beginning of the year, Japan proposed the "Twenty-One Demands," and the government's attitude is currently ambiguous. There are quite a few patriotic students who are furious about it.
Being pointed out so directly by Liu Yu, Chen Yi was the first to feel a surge of anger. He jumped to his feet.
Unable to contain his anger, he questioned Liu Yu, "Reform, reform, I'd like to ask you a few questions."
"First of all, do you know the origin of Japanese writing?"
Liu Yu paused.
The earliest origin of Japanese writing dates back to the Sui and Tang dynasties, when it was transmitted from China.
For a moment, he couldn't figure out what Chen Yi was up to. He could only grit his teeth and say, "So what?"
Chen Yi sneered, "Not really. I'll just say that back then, during the Meiji Restoration in Japan, one proposal was to abolish the Chinese characters used in the language and replace them with English or another language. Now, I ask you, did it succeed?"
This was too obscure, and Liu Yu couldn't answer it immediately. He didn't even know about it.
But since he didn't know, it's easy to imagine that if such a proposal really existed, it would naturally fail.
At this moment, he was unsure whether the suggestion actually existed or not, or whether Chen Yi had set a trap for him.
Tao Si from Group Six sighed, stood up, and added, "That's right, it did happen. However, there are many reasons why this reform failed. It would be biased to use it solely to argue that Chinese characters are superior to Western writing systems."
Chen Yi's anger was directed at Tao Sizeng personally; he still had a good impression of him.
When facing Tao Sizeng, his anger subsided temporarily, but he did not back down an inch: "Before the Xinhai Revolution, it wasn't that no one had tried reform. May I ask you all, did it succeed?"
Everyone on the opposing side remained silent.
At this moment, the entire venue became Chen Yi's personal show, and everyone's attention was focused on him.
He raised his hands, facing all the teachers and students, and said: "I admit that we may need to learn some ideas from foreign countries, whether it's France or Russia. Can we directly adopt the ideas of any other country? No! I dare say no! No single idea can directly save us from our predicament. Only we ourselves can save us."
"Learning is certainly necessary. But our goal is to develop our own unique way of thinking. Therefore, students, in our hearts, Chinese culture is undoubtedly the best!"
The applause on stage was thunderous. Even the opposing side couldn't help but applaud him.
Chen Yi's language and actions are extremely captivating.
This brought the entire debate to a climax.
There have been no more brilliant remarks from him since.
Chen Yi's fifth group was the undisputed winner of this debate competition.
The second place went to the sixth group, which included Tao Sizeng from the opposing side.
But what's truly astonishing is that, among all the votes, the first group's score was tied with the fourth group's.
According to the pre-established rules, the final decision was left to the five judges to decide who would be the third-place winner.
Everyone immediately looked toward the judges' panel.
The five judges were whispering amongst themselves.
The three in the fourth group were somewhat uneasy, but Liu Yu was determined to win.
He didn't believe he could lose to a group of students from a higher primary school.
Unexpectedly, the first person on the judging panel to stand up was "Group One".
Liu Yu stared wide-eyed.
Fortunately, a second judge quickly nominated "Group Four".
"Group Four."
"Group One."
The last person who hasn't voted yet is Ning Yiwen.
Ning Yao looked at Ning Yiwen with bright eyes, and she inexplicably believed that Ning Yiwen would cast his vote for her!
But Bu Shuli wasn't as confident as her. She gripped Ning Yao's hand tightly with her fingers, waiting nervously.
The entire room fell silent.
Then Ning Yiwen's clear voice rang out: "First group."
"Wow!" Ning Yao and the others jumped up with joy.
"Impossible!" Liu Yu exclaimed, standing up with a slightly ferocious expression.
He lost to Chen Yi and accepted the defeat wholeheartedly.
He didn't deserve to lose to Tao Sizeng.
But how could we possibly lose to a group of toddlers who haven't even grown all their feathers yet!
But by then, the atmosphere at the scene had become enthusiastic, and no one cared about his remarks as a loser. Moreover, his open mention of Japan, given the current situation, was itself an unpopular act.
In contrast to Liu Yu's dejected state, Ning Yao and the others were much more enthusiastic.
All the students from the upper elementary school class surrounded them. It was already impressive to defeat a middle school class, let alone three!
Ning Yao and the others were trapped in it.
But for Ning Yao herself, the person she most wanted to share this with at this moment was naturally Ning Yiwen.
Her eyes kept scanning the people outside the crowd until she locked onto her target.
Her eyebrows suddenly curved upwards as she struggled to squeeze through the crowd until she was out of the crowd.
"Brother Ning!" Ning Yao smiled and threw herself into his arms, giving him a tight hug!
Ning Yiwen had already seen how she came out of the crowd, but he didn't expect that Ning Yao would rush up to him and hug him in public.
He was jolted back two steps by the person in his arms before he could regain his footing.
After a long pause, Ning Yiwen, reluctant to let go, finally reached out and hugged her, saying, "You naughty girl!"
"Look, I won! I won!" Ning Yao didn't care about anything else and happily shared it with him.
Liu Yu witnessed this scene of the "siblings" embracing.
Liu Yu frowned and asked the person next to him, "What's the relationship between those two?"
The male classmate next to him glanced in the direction of the judges' table and said casually, "Oh, Ning Yiwen... that's his sister."
Cheating!
Liu Yu's eyes instantly shifted from irritation to coldness!
This is cheating!
It's definitely cheating!
No way! He's going to report this to Principal Chen and the others!
*
The debate competition came to an end, and the biggest reaction, apart from Chen Yi's speech, was actually from Ning Yao's group of four, among whom Ning Yao was the best.
Everyone in the school knows about it now.
Wherever they go, people greet them.
Ning Yao held onto Ning Yiwen's sleeve as they walked along the school corridor, nodding repeatedly and smiling at those who greeted her.
Ning Yiwen saw this and found it amusing.
He teased her, saying, "It seems that Ning Yao is now more 'well-known' than I was back then."
Upon hearing this, Ning Yao was reminded of her first day of school.
When Ning Yiwen took her to see Old Chen to register for school, they greeted people, smiled, and nodded along the way.
He smiled knowingly and said modestly, "That's all thanks to your excellent guidance, Brother Ning."
Ning Yiwen was amused by her, but just shook his head with a smile.
He sighed inwardly, realizing that his Ning Yao had truly grown up.
He kept replaying Ning Yao's radiant appearance on stage in his mind, his heart and eyes filled with uncontrollable pride.
So, when Ning Yiwen got home, his first words were, "Ning Yao, let's get married."
Ning Yao's eyes widened.
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Author's Note: Oh my god, I'm so excited! I've finally gotten to this point! The inspiration for this story really came from a dream—this is one of the three major fragments from my dream! My writing skills are limited, so please forgive me if it's not very good. I'm going to work on the next chapter now. I might revise this chapter later. [Lop-eared rabbit head]
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