[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-assuming-the-langya-surname":3,"chapter-assuming-the-langya-surname-assuming-the-langya-surname-chapter-32":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The False Clan of Langya",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2273828,4442,"Chapter 32: Answers to the Book of Documents","assuming-the-langya-surname-chapter-32",32,"\u003Cp>Yu Yuling exclaimed in shock: “Teacher?! What’s wrong?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao stood up immediately: “Quick, quickly invite him in!” His tone was urgent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Teacher...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll go meet him myself!” Liu Zhao strode out without hesitation, only remembering Xie Xinghan was still inside as he reached the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Teacher, do you... know him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Yuling did not understand why his teacher had lost composure so completely, suspecting some connection between the Langya Wang clan and his teacher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao forced himself to calm down and told Yu Yuling: “Go bring him here—do not treat him with any disrespect!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Yuling bowed and withdrew, burdened with questions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who did they send for?” Xie Xinghan stepped out from behind the screen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know. But... if he can truly answer these questions, I will treat him as my teacher!” Liu Zhao held the letter, voice trembling with excitement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Xinghan was stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In recent days, the Wang Academy had repeatedly sent people to challenge Liu Zhao under the guise of “academic discussion,” and Liu Zhao had always handled them effortlessly—but today he had said such a thing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uncle, be careful—this may be the Wang Academy’s scheme! If you admit defeat, Liu Tan will have even stronger grounds to abolish the county school!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao’s heart lurched—he had been so absorbed in scholarship that he nearly forgot this was a matter of life and death for the county school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t see him. Find an excuse to send him away,” Xie Xinghan suggested.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao paused, then spoke in a low voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No. Scholarship endures for millennia—how can one deceive oneself? If this man truly can teach me the Book of Documents, I will bow before him! Moreover, if he can resolve these profound scholarly puzzles, it would be the greatest fortune of my life!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Liu Zhao’s ecstatic expression, Xie Xinghan knew her uncle’s scholarly obsession had taken hold again. Yet she felt curious, her eyes drifting to the letter in his hand—then she noticed the handwriting. It seemed familiar. She leaned closer to examine it, but footsteps outside drew near, and she hurried back behind the screen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Teacher, the Wang Young Master has arrived.” Yu Yuling ushered Wang Yang in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mr. Liu,” Wang Yang bowed to Liu Zhao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao froze—he never expected the visitor to be so young?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Xinghan also froze—why did that voice sound familiar?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This... this was written by you?” Liu Zhao held up the letter, staring at Wang Yang in disbelief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can you answer all these questions?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao stared blankly at Wang Yang for a moment, then remembered to offer a seat: “Please, sit down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No sooner had Wang Yang sat than Liu Zhao rushed to ask: “‘Qin Ming Wen Si An An’—you say the Kong Commentary misinterprets it. What does ‘An An’ mean?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yang replied: “The Book of Documents Kaolingyao states: ‘Fang Xun Qin Ming Wen Si Yan Yan.’ Zheng Xuan annotated: ‘Broad tolerance and encompassing is called Yan.’ The Er Ya says: ‘Yan Yan means gentle.’ In the Ancient Figures Table, ‘An Ruzi’ is also written as ‘Yan Ruzi,’ proving that in antiquity ‘Yan’ and ‘An’ shared meaning—thus the Shiming says: ‘An means Yan.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait, wait! Hold on!” Liu Zhao interrupted Wang Yang, darting to the bookshelf and pulling out a scroll, flipping through it rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind the screen, Xie Xinghan also moved to search—but not for a book. She wanted the letter again, to confirm the handwriting. Only then did she realize she had left it behind at the Governor’s Mansion in her anger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao flipped through the book, nodding, then looked up at Wang Yang: “Forgive me—please continue.” Then he remembered something and called out: “Yuling! Bring tea and fruit!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tea and fruit” meant what is now called “tea snacks”; tea was then accompanied by fruit, not pastries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Yuling, eager to hear the rest, hurried out to arrange it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yang continued: “‘An An’ is a reduplicated term, like ‘Xiao Xiao Yi Yi’ or ‘Tian Wang Hui Hui.’ Its meaning is identical to ‘Yan Yan.’ ‘Qin Ming Wen Si An An’ means all these qualities arise naturally, not through forced effort. The Kong Commentary’s claim that it means ‘calming what ought to be calmed’ is forced.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Excellent! Brilliant!” Liu Zhao’s face glowed. He praised the letter twice, then pressed on:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Gao Yao Mo says: ‘Zheng Min Nai Li.’ Zheng Xuan interprets ‘Li’ as ‘rice.’ You reject this as ‘inappropriate.’ Why?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Yu Yuling entered with two servants, placing tea sets and fruit on Wang Yang’s table. He poured tea himself and respectfully offered it to Wang Yang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yang accepted the tea, thanked him, and replied:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“‘Zheng Min Nai Mi’ makes no sense as a sentence. If ‘Li’ is extended to mean ‘eating grain,’ no such usage exists. The Book of Documents, Wang Zhi, says: ‘The west is called Rong; they wear fur and hair, and there are those who do not eat grain.’ Would you change it to ‘there are those who do not eat’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao’s eyes lit up: “Then what should ‘Li’ mean?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Xinghan unconsciously leaned forward, waiting for the answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“‘Li’ is a phonetic loan for the ‘Li’ in the Zhou Song: ‘Li Wo Zheng Min.’ The Guang Ya says: ‘Li means to establish.’ Zheng Xuan’s annotation to Xiao Situ says: ‘Establish means to fix.’ Therefore—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhao rushed back to the bookshelf again, muttering: “Don’t mind me—keep going!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus ‘Zheng Min Nai Li’ actually means ‘Zheng Min Nai Ding.’ Hence the Records of the Grand Historian, Xia Benji, renders these four characters as ‘Zhong Min Nai Ding,’ capturing the essence. Moreover, linking to the preceding context: Yu the Great tamed the floods, grains became edible, birds and beasts multiplied, and goods became usable—this is precisely the meaning of stabilizing the people, not merely feeding them. Thus ‘Li’ cannot mean ‘grain.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Wang Yang finished, silence filled the room, broken only by the rustling of scrolls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(The rustling was not from turning pages—“whirlwind binding” had not yet been invented; paper books in the Northern and Southern Dynasties were mostly scroll format, called “juanzi,” and the sound came from unrolling and rolling them.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Yuling seized the moment to ask: “Young Master Wang, you mentioned Zheng Xuan’s annotation to Xiao Situ—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Magnificent! Truly magnificent!” Liu Zhao exclaimed, returning to his seat, his excitement palpable: “This young master has profound expertise in philology! He carries the spirit of Han Confucians! May I ask who your teacher is?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Philology” was also known in antiquity as “Xiao Xue,” equivalent to today’s linguistics and philology.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Philology flourished in the Han and Tang dynasties, reaching its peak in the Qing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yang’s answers drew upon Qing-era “Qianjia School” scholarship. Though Liu Zhao, bound by his era, had never heard of the “Qianjia School,” he recognized that Wang Yang’s arguments rested firmly on philology—so calling him a successor to Han Confucians was not inaccurate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I have many teachers...” Wang Yang hesitated, unsure how to answer. In ancient scholarship, lineage was vital; the trope of masters forbidding students to reveal their names, as in wuxia novels, rarely occurred—even recluses concealed their person, not their name, let alone scholarly masters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve studied under many masters?” Liu Zhao asked in surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In classical studies, lineage was paramount; studying under multiple teachers was uncommon, especially since most could not find so many teachers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Yuling reminded his teacher: “Young Master Wang is from the Langya Wang clan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh? So he’s a ‘Da Jiazi’! No wonder!” Liu Zhao was both astonished and delighted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Da Jia” meant aristocratic clan; “Da Jiazi” was a contemporary term for aristocratic young masters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Xinghan softly frowned upon hearing “Langya Wang clan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——————————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Note: In the Eastern Han, entry into office came through classical scholarship; successive generations of classical scholars led to successive generations of high ministers, and thus to the rise of scholarly clans. Aristocratic families thus maintained enduring traditions of classical learning. Qian Mu argued that these clans sustained their status not merely through power and wealth, but through scholarship and ritual propriety—both forming family education and ethos. This view is sound. See Qian Mu’s “On the Relationship Between Wei-Jin-Northern and Southern Dynasties Scholarship, Culture, and Aristocratic Lineages.” Thus Liu Zhao immediately understood upon hearing “Da Jiazi,” for many great scholars of the time emerged from noble families.\u003C\u002Fp>",1393,"2026-06-19T23:36:03.373Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","7dbfb944cf997d54e72178209ac7a95b1021512be446c33d094d231219fc0984","assuming-the-langya-surname-chapter-33","assuming-the-langya-surname-chapter-31",62,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-false-clan-of-langya-cover.jpg"]