Chapter 103: It is a Great Pity

Liu Cheng, of course, didn't just have this one reason. He also considered that the Prince of Badong was willful and did things casually. If his brother handed this letter up, it might sink into the sea.

Looking at the Prince's appearance on the day of the academic discussion, he seemed to appreciate Wang Yang quite a bit and had to rely on Wang Yang to suppress grain prices. If he had the intention to favor him, what should he do?

Also, although Wang Yang was a fake, Liu Zhao and Zong Rui were real scholar-officials. Scholar-officials helping people forge household registration was a matter of varying importance. Before the household registration inspection, it might not even count as anything. Now the household registration law is strict, but these two people only helped to register, which cannot be counted as pure forgery. If there is an intention to be lenient, it can be lightly revealed, and no one can pick out any problems.

The best way is to uncover it in public, so that the Prince has to deal with it, and even if he wants to favor him, he can't.

Liu Cheng had no grudge against Liu Zhao and Zong Rui, but he wanted to help his brother get the position of libationer of the official school, so he just used this matter to topple Liu Zhao. However, he knew his brother's temperament, so he didn't reveal this intention, but changed it to another statement:

"It's better to wait another day, until the day the grain ship arrives in Jingzhou. Then we will expose Wang Yang in public. First, we can directly state the facts in front of the Prince and the scholars to distinguish right from wrong. Second, it also shows that our Hedong Liu family is confronting him upright, rather than calculating behind his back and shooting arrows in the dark."

Liu Tan vaguely guessed that his brother's intention was not simple. However, this matter was of great importance, and it was indeed inappropriate to write a letter. Besides, with the Prince of Badong's temper, he might be too lazy to read so many words... In fact, no matter what, as long as Wang Yang's impersonation of a noble family is confirmed, it is basically a dead end. It's a pity that this person is a talent...

If possible, try to save his life when the time comes.

Wang Yang didn't know that the crisis had arrived quietly, and he was preparing for his meeting with Jiao Zheng tomorrow night.

In the garden of the Xie residence, the spring light was bright, the fragrant wind was warm, and a few willow threads caught the flying butterflies.

Xie Xinghan spread a blue brocade mat under the flower tree, took off her shoes, and sat on the mat wearing only white silk socks. She didn't apply red powder, her skin was like snow, she leaned against a white jade leaning table behind her, holding a book in her hand, and a small table was placed beside her, with tea sets and melons and fruits on it.

Drinking tea and reading books, enjoying flowers and listening to birds, quiet and happy.

In the flower bushes nearby, the maid Xiao Ning was holding a basket, collecting peony petals.

"Sister Xiao Ning—" a maid walked over.

"Shh!" Xiao Ning knew that her lady liked quiet at this time and didn't want to be disturbed, so she lowered her voice and asked: "What's wrong?"

The maid took out a small note with a bitter face: "Someone outside is asking to see the lady."

"The door is sealed today, didn't the doorman say so?"

"He said so, he talked through the door for a long time, but he just—"

"Xiao Ning—" Xie Xinghan was disturbed by the whispering of the two and frowned.

Xiao Ning took the note and said: "Xie Xie Niangzi, someone is asking to see you..."

"No guests today." Xie Xinghan's gaze fell back on the book.

"Turn him away." Xiao Ning returned the note to the maid.

The maid stuck out her tongue: "I said the lady wouldn't see him, but he insisted on saying the Wang and Xie families..."

"Who?" Xie Xinghan put down the book and looked at the maid.

The maid thought the lady was unhappy because she was disturbed, so she hurriedly bowed: "The servant will call someone to drive him away."

"Wait. Give me the note."

The maid presented the note, and Xie Xinghan unfolded it, which read:

"Yang respectfully writes to the lady: Xie Xie Niangzi, are you well! Mr. Liu's transcript of *Flaws in the Ancient and Modern Texts of the Minister* is finished, and I want to ask the lady to take a look. I didn't expect the mansion to be sealed, the vermilion door gap is narrow, the manuscript is thick, and it cannot be accommodated, which is a great pity..."

Xie Xinghan couldn't help but smile when she read this. This lazy guy actually complained that the door crack of the mansion was too narrow for the manuscript to be thrown in, and said it was a great pity. It was simply nonsense! After laughing, she continued to read:

"The doorman said to come back tomorrow, but tomorrow after tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there? If I wait for tomorrow, everything will be wasted! I beg the lady to pity my sigh of waste and open the door to see me. I wrote this in a hurry at the door, and I have no order in my pen, so I can't say everything. Wang Yang bows."

*Song of Tomorrow* is a poem from the Ming dynasty. From the perspective of poetic style, it is almost a doggerel poem, and by the standards of the Six Dynasties literature, it really cannot be counted as an extraordinary work. But the strength of this poem is that it has a lot of reason and interest, and the words are shallow and the meaning is clear. Xie Xinghan also felt it was interesting when she read these four sentences, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, and she said to the maid: "Please invite him in."

The maid and Xiao Ning were both stunned when they heard this!

On the day the mansion was sealed, guests were refused, and there was never an exception. The lady actually wanted to break the rule!

"Xie Xie Niangzi, the door is already sealed..." the maid reminded weakly.

Xie Xinghan tilted her head and thought for a while: "Open the door, don't seal it today. Lead him here."

The maid lowered her head to take the order, covering up her surprised expression.

Xie Xinghan smoothed her hair and said again: "Xiao Ning, mirror."

"Yes." Xiao Ning's tone was normal, she went to get the mirror, and after turning around, her eyes opened wide!!

——————

Note: The standards of literature change with time. What the Song dynasty thought was good, the Six Dynasties might not necessarily think so, and articles that the Ming dynasty was proud of would likely be despised by the Han dynasty. Therefore, not all "masterpieces" will achieve good responses when taken to ancient times. It depends on the literary standards and aesthetic interests of the time. For example, the *Edict of the Northern Expedition of Kaixi* by Emperor Ningzong of Song, the opening is: "Heaven's way is good for return, China has the reason of must extend; people's hearts follow, there is no revenge that a commoner cannot report."

Such sentences may be easy to move people's hearts today. Under our modern aesthetic tastes, this sentence might be included in a selection of famous passages, or reprinted on the Internet as a "very cool" sentence. But in fact, when restored to the historical context of the time, this is not a successful case of drafting an edict. The most obvious problem is that the comparison is not appropriate, and it lacks elegance.

According to the literary aesthetic principles of the time, the emperor's words are divine. The barbarians are enemies of the great state. The royal army is upright, and the orthodox China is compared to a commoner, which is low-grade. Therefore, Wang Yinglin's *Guide to Ci Studies* of the same era commented: "When the Kaixi army was used, the edict was issued to the world, and the first couplet said 'there is no revenge that a commoner cannot report', how vulgar it is." These are all people who know literature.

Modern readers like sentences that can be quickly incorporated into their own understanding. Only in this way can it be easier to arouse emotional resonance. Therefore, although Chen Yinke highly praised Wang Zao's *Handwritten Letter to the Empress Dowager on Behalf of the World*, he also pointed out that its famous sentences (see the author's words) "are also widely circulated by later generations because the meaning is clearer." Under this literary style of modern times, "Our country's benevolence is vast, and those who are submissive will not be unhelped; the righteous martial arts are vigorous, and those who jump beams will be killed even if they are strong" is more popular than "Cultivating benevolence by virtue, the original nature is sincere; repairing literature and stopping martial arts, it fits the nature of the longitude and latitude," and it is better than "The moon is equal to the sun and gets the sky, and can shine for a long time; the earth matches the earth, so it is widely born," which now looks "nothing strange."

But the literature that we despise was actually highly praised in the context of the time. For example, the previous sentence, the Emperor was greatly appreciated after seeing it, and sighed: "A few sentences use classic words, which are comprehensive and prepared. If it were not for you, it could not be done. It is a real masterpiece." ( *Guide to Ci Studies*) This is not a false reputation, but the literary technique used in that sentence perfectly fits the literary requirements of the Song dynasty for the writing of edicts, the so-called real "body of royal words."

Therefore, Xie Xinghan felt it was interesting to see *Song of Tomorrow*, but she didn't praise it very much, which is easy to understand. Friends who are curious about the literary preferences of the Northern and Southern Dynasties can read *Selections of Refined Literature*, *Poetry*, and *The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons*. After reading the three books, you will have a shallow impression of the literary interests of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. ===== CHAPTER 104 =====