Chapter 247

The so-called "foundational books" are the very source upon which one's entire learning is built.

Learning has a foundation, just as a tree has a trunk; from the trunk grow branches, from the branches sprout leaves, and from there it becomes lush and verdant.

Learning is the same. To be considered accomplished, one must have several foundational books mastered by heart and studied thoroughly; only then, when reading broadly, can one synthesize and generate new insights, connecting points into a web. It is like how King Xiang and Gao Zu, though they gained the masses of the world, relied on foundations no greater than the men of Jiangdong and the old acquaintances of Pei County.

Pursuing learning is like recruiting soldiers; without a foundation, even if you gather a hundred thousand, they are but a rabble. With a foundation, eight hundred elite troops can contend for hegemony. In short, one must first have a foundation; once the root is established, the Dao will grow. Growth leads to daily progress and monthly nourishment, becoming stronger over time, until one can eventually reach the momentum to sweep across the world.

Therefore, although Wang Yang did not answer which foundational books he had, the five men already had their own assumptions. Based on the three books Wang Yang wrote, his foundation likely lay among several books with the "Classic of History" as the core. But now that Wang Yang actually said "I don't know where to begin," doesn't that mean his foundation is extremely profound, not to be summarized in a few words? But you are just a youth; how profound can you be? Could you possibly be well-versed in the Five Classics and thoroughly familiar with the various masters?!

This is a foundation! It does not mean that being able to recite or having some insights qualifies as a foundation. One must be insightful and clear, having examined and verified everything thoroughly—that is the true meaning of the word "mastery"!

Since the Han Dynasty, mastering one classic has been enough to become a Doctor, enough to open a school and take on disciples, and enough to establish one's reputation! The five men present each had their own mastered classic and were all masters of their time, yet not one of them would dare say their own foundational books were "hard to know where to begin." Thus, once Wang Yang said this, the five elders were all stunned—not because they were frightened or shocked, but because they simply hadn't reacted yet.

The skeptic, after a moment of hesitation, laughed heartily and looked at Wang Yang with a mocking gaze:

"Ho! I didn't expect you to be a peerless talent; my apologies, my apologies! Then it seems that what you have mastered is not just the 'Classic of History'?"

Wang Yang's expression was humble:

"I dare not, I dare not. In the way of learning, the word 'mastery' is the hardest. One may study for a lifetime and never achieve it. Confucius wore out the leather bindings of the 'Classic of Changes' three times and still found it hard to exhaust its Dao; Zheng Gong annotated the 'Classic of Rites' nine times and still felt it was incomplete. How could I dare claim mastery? I have only a slight understanding."

Hearing this, the five men had very colorful expressions. At first glance, these words sounded humble, but upon closer inspection, they were wrong. Not to mention anything else, just take the "Classic of History"—if you say you only have a "slight understanding" of it, then how many people in the world can say they "understand it well"? If you don't even dare claim mastery of the "Classic of History," and you cite the examples of the Sage Confucius and Zheng Xuan, then who else would dare use the word "mastery"?

The skeptic was so angry he laughed, his mouth twitching a few times:

"What a 'slight understanding'! Then may I trouble the young master Wang to ask, how well have you read the 'Classic of Changes'? Is that also a 'slight understanding'?"

Wang Yang smiled slightly: "It is a slight understanding."

Hearing Wang Yang say this, the skeptic instead became calm and composed. He leaned back, leisurely picked up his teacup, and a playful smile hung on the corner of his mouth:

"Then the young master must have read the 'Jiao's Forest of Changes', right? Please, young master, enlighten me on how such a strange hexagram image as 'Three husbands share one wife, none is fit to be the female. The child has no surname, the grandfather cannot be known' could be set up?"

After speaking, he didn't even look at Wang Yang, lowering his eyes and slowly blowing on the tea soup.

Wang Yang thought for a moment and said:

"This is not difficult. If the hexagram of 'Youthful Folly' changes to the hexagram of 'Gradual Progress', the outer hexagram gains the image of Kan water, the second to fourth lines mutually show the Zhen thunder, and the third to fifth lines mutually show the Gen mountain, which can form a three-yang hexagram. With three yang standing together, it can correspond to the saying of 'three husbands'. The inner hexagram Dui marsh belongs to yin, soft and compliant below, acting as the image of a wife, which is 'three husbands sharing one wife'. The Zhen hexagram is the child, meeting Gen to stop; if the name stops, it is not revealed, hence 'the child has no surname'. Gen is called the end of thickness, having longevity, able to extend years, which is the grandfather, and there is Kan as hidden, so it becomes 'the grandfather cannot be known'."

After Wang Yang finished speaking, the other four, not understanding the "Classic of Changes," were confused and looked at the skeptic. The skeptic's hand shook, and the tea splashed out, wetting a large part of his lapel. However, he didn't feel the heat at all, wiped it twice haphazardly, raised his head to look at Wang Yang, his eyes wide open!

This person was Liu Jing, a Doctor of the "Classic of Changes" at the Imperial Academy. Although he was not an expert in studying the "Classic of History," he was very clear about the academic value of those three books; just the argument that the ancient text of the "Classic of History" was a forgery was enough to start a school! Therefore, he had always been skeptical that these three books were written by a youth. Oh, is it not enough for your Langya Wang clan to produce a Wang Rong, and you must produce another genius? I don't care how you clamor and praise other things, but when it comes to learning, no fraud is allowed!

If it were verified that the author was indeed Wang Yang, then Wang Yang's qualification to enter the Imperial Academy would be unquestionable; no matter how others lobbied or obstructed, he would support it with both hands. Not to mention being a student, even being a Doctor would be qualified enough!

But then again, this was all regarding the "Classic of History." If one is proficient in one classic, one can enter the Imperial Academy. Even if your learning is truly recognized, it doesn't mean you can be ignorant of the heights of heaven and earth and speak wildly. He had originally thought that even if the three books were truly written by Wang Yang, his study of the "Classic of Changes" must not be refined, so he deliberately wanted to use this question to dampen Wang Yang's arrogance, but who knew he would be confused himself!

Liu Jing looked at Wang Yang, his eyes wide and round, and didn't speak. The few people beside him were anxious and asked repeatedly: "What's wrong?" "Is he right?" "Speak up!"

Liu Jing looked left and right, appearing a bit dazed, as if he had just woken up, then suddenly remembered something, and without answering his colleagues' questions, hurriedly dipped his finger in the tea and drew a hexagram on the table: ䷘

Then he asked Wang Yang: "What hexagram is this?"

Wang Yang stretched his neck to take a look and said: "Innocence."

Liu Jing wiped away the bottom horizontal line with his finger and then drew an X: "How about this one?"

"Initial nine, innocence in going, auspicious."

Liu Jing stared at Wang Yang without blinking: "How do these six words come from the image?"

Wang Yang looked at the hexagram, frowned slightly, and after a moment, his brow relaxed:

"The first line of the Zhen hexagram is firm. The fourth line of the Qian hexagram is also firm. Two firms helping each other is innocence. Other hexagrams often take soft lines to correspond with firm lines, and firm and soft corresponding easily produces delusion. This hexagram is not so; it is purely firm without impurity, so it can conversely obtain the truth of innocence. Following this, movement conforms to the heart of heaven, and things go smoothly and auspiciously."

Liu Jing let out an "Oh my god" and blurted out in surprise: "You really understand!"

If Liu Jing had argued to the end, Wang Yang would have been arrogant to the end, but now Liu Jing's attitude had changed greatly, and he had made such a big scene, so Wang Yang felt a bit embarrassed and humbly said: "Slight understanding, slight understanding."

The others were in an uproar, vying to ask Liu Jing: "What exactly is going on?" "How does he understand it?" "To what extent does he understand? Speak clearly!"

The happy old man looked at Wang Yang, smiling from ear to ear!

Liu Jing ignored the others' questions, his eyes only on Wang Yang, leaning forward, and asked:

"There is a saying that the mutual hexagram originates from the 'Commentary on the Appended Phrases' of the Sage Confucius: the so-called 'the beginning is hard to know, the end is easy to know, this is the root and the tip', and also 'to distinguish right from wrong, it is not complete without the middle lines', so the middle lines are the mutual hexagram. What do you think?"

Wang Yang thought for a while and said: "I don't quite agree."

Liu Jing's eyes lit up: "Tell me the reason!"

"I think 'the beginning is hard to know' refers to the beginning of observing the image, like looking at flowers in the fog; this is the difficulty of deliberation. 'The end is easy to know' refers to after obtaining its meaning, like parting the clouds to see the sun, thus finally phrasing it; this is the ease of smooth completion. Since the second and fifth lines correspond, they reside in the middle of the hexagram; the third and fourth lines intersect, residing in the change of the hexagram. The omens of good and bad fortune are all contained in these four lines; this is the meaning of the so-called 'middle lines', not the mutual hexagram."

The other four looked anxiously at Liu Jing.

Liu Jing only looked at Wang Yang, his eyes even brighter, and slapped the table, shouting: "Well said! Then can you tell me, how exactly are the lines of this mutual hexagram taken?"

"This..." A look of hesitation appeared on Wang Yang's face, "I won't talk about the common rumors; they are not the correct explanation. The true taking of lines for the mutual hexagram, neither Xun Shuang nor Zheng Xuan explained it very clearly."

The brilliance in Liu Jing's eyes exploded, as if he wanted to pierce through Wang Yang! He braced his arms and almost stood up, then forcibly restrained himself, his eyes locked tightly on Wang Yang, and gritted his teeth:

"Don't worry about them! I am asking you now! Didn't you say before that one shouldn't be self-deprecating? Tell me your thoughts!"

Wang Yang was a bit troubled: "This... I need to think."

Before Wang Yang's last word had even finished, Liu Jing immediately said: "Good! Think as much as you want! Do you need to use tea to draw on the table? I'll get you bamboo sticks to cast the hexagram!"

Wang Yang waved his hand: "No need, no need."

Liu Jing asked suspiciously: "Then what will you use?"

Wang Yang took a deep breath and, under Liu Jing's incredulous gaze, closed his eyes.

In an instant, countless phantom images of hexagrams appeared before Wang Yang's eyes like a brilliant screen of stars.

Upper mutual Gen, fourth line changes, nine three, ambush in the grass, six two, same people in the clan.

Initial six, singing in joy, ominous! Initial nine, salty approach, truly auspicious!

Countless yin and yang lines flashing with starlight flowed rapidly in the void, flipping and reorganizing...

When Wang Yang was a child, he liked to play a game where he would mix several decks of cards together, each card representing a character, and then use the bed as the world and the quilt as the mountains and rivers, letting these characters meet, talk, form grudges, fight, and finally have a series of earth-shattering stories, sometimes playing for a whole day.

This game continued in school, only instead of using cards, he changed to using a pen. Once he used a pen, he could only represent the main characters, and more supporting characters flickered in Wang Yang's mind like stars. Therefore, for Liu Jing, he might feel that Wang Yang performing hexagrams in the void was hard to imagine, but for Wang Yang, playing with these lines was easier because they—could not talk.

Liu Jing understood what Wang Yang was doing, but the other four were like falling into a sea of smoke, among whom the curious one was the first to be unable to hold back and asked: "Jingyan, what exactly is he—"

"Don't speak!"

Liu Jing watched Wang Yang without blinking, his palms pressed hard against the table, even his voice carrying a slight tremor.

After a while, Wang Yang opened his eyes, and Liu Jing held his breath unconsciously, bloodshot veins appearing in the whites of his eyes!

Wang Yang said softly: "The second to fourth lines are the lower mutual—"

"Wait!" Liu Jing's heart pounded, his eyes never leaving Wang Yang, and he beckoned: "Bring the pen, bring the pen!"

In this tea room, the attendants had long been dismissed, so everyone didn't know who Liu Jing was ordering. In fact, Liu Jing didn't know either; he only knew that he needed a pen now.

The happy old man smiled helplessly, got up himself, took paper and pen, and placed them on Liu Jing's table.

Liu Jing wiped the table with his sleeve, didn't even look at the old man, and waved his hand, signaling him not to block his view.

Du Ganguang was not annoyed, bowed and retreated like an attendant, and the other three couldn't help but smile at this.

Liu Jing's face was solemn, and he said to Wang Yang: "Please continue."

Wang Yang slowed his speech: "The second to fourth lines are the lower mutual, the third to fifth lines are the upper mutual, and the combination of upper and lower is the heavy mutual. The Qian and Kun hexagrams, purely yang and purely yin, have no mutual to seek. There are five hexagrams lacking an upper mutual: Approach, Return, Encounter, Army, and Same People. There are five hexagrams lacking a lower mutual: Comparison, View, Stripping, Decisiveness, and Great Possession. The remaining hexagrams have mutual hexagrams both upper and lower, and just as the main hexagrams are opposite, the mutual hexagrams also reflect each other. Only the four hexagrams of Travel, Abundance, Moderation, and Dispersion have the same mutual hexagrams."

Wang Yang's voice had stopped, but Liu Jing's pen didn't stop, still frantically drawing and deducing on the paper, and the others didn't dare to disturb him. They just looked at Wang Yang with complex eyes.

After a long time, Liu Jing put down his pen, and then his body seemed to have all its strength drained, and he slumped back on the mat.

The other colleagues asked anxiously: "What's wrong with you?"

"Speak up!"

"What exactly is wrong?"

"Jingyan? Jingyan!"

Liu Jing slowly raised his head, looked at Wang Yang carefully, then looked at his colleagues, and said softly: "He has mastered the 'Classic of Changes'."

Seeing that his colleagues were still dazed, Liu Jing pulled his neck and shouted with his arms raised: "This child has mastered two classics!!"