Chapter 32: *Book of Documents* Q&A

Yu Yuling said in surprise: "Teacher?! What is wrong with you?"

Liu Zhao stood up directly: "Quick, quick, invite him in!" His tone was very anxious.

"Teacher..."

"I will go welcome him myself!" Liu Zhao walked out quickly regardless, only remembering that Xie Xinghan was still in the room when he was about to go out.

"Teacher, do you... know him?"

Yu Yuling did not know why his teacher was so uncomposed, suspecting that this Langya Wang clan member had some connection with his teacher.

Liu Zhao forcibly stabilized his emotions and said to Yu Yuling: "You go invite him here, and you must not be negligent!"

Yu Yuling took the order and retreated, full of questions.

"Who did they invite?" Xie Xinghan turned out from behind the screen.

"I don't know. But... if he can really answer these questions, Liu Zhao is willing to treat him with the etiquette of a teacher!" Liu Zhao said excitedly, holding the letter.

Xie Xinghan was shocked to hear this!

In the past few days, the Wang Guan School had always found people to come and make things difficult for Liu Zhao in the name of "discussing learning," and Liu Zhao had always responded with ease, but today he actually said such words!

"Uncle, be careful, this might be a conspiracy of the Wang Guan School! If you take the initiative to admit defeat, then Liu Tan will have even more reason to dismiss the Commandery School!"

Liu Zhao's heart skipped a beat; he was only focused on learning, but almost forgot that this was a critical moment for the life and death of the Commandery School.

"Don't see him. Find an excuse to send him away," Xie Xinghan suggested.

Liu Zhao thought for a moment and said in a deep voice:

"No. Learning is a matter for a thousand years; how can one deceive oneself and others? If this person can really teach me with the *Book of Documents*, I should naturally bow my head! Besides, if he can really solve these great puzzles in learning for me, that is a fortunate thing in my life!"

Seeing Liu Zhao's ecstatic appearance, Xie Xinghan knew that this uncle's pedantic nature had flared up again. While embarrassed, she was also curious, looking at the letter paper held by Liu Zhao. Her eyes swept over the ink characters, and she suddenly felt that the handwriting was somewhat familiar. Just as she was about to look closely, footsteps outside the door were already near, so she hurriedly hid back behind the screen.

"Teacher, Young Master Wang is here." Yu Yuling brought Wang Yang into the room.

"Mr. Liu." Wang Yang bowed to Liu Zhao.

Liu Zhao was stunned; he never expected the visitor to be so young?!

Xie Xinghan was also stunned; why did this voice sound a bit familiar?

"This... did you write this?" Liu Zhao held up the letter and looked at Wang Yang in disbelief.

"Yes."

"Can you answer all these questions?"

"I can answer."

Liu Zhao was a little dazed, looked at Wang Yang blankly for a few times, and then remembered to offer a seat: "Please sit, please sit."

Just as Wang Yang sat down, Liu Zhao asked hurriedly: "'Qin Ming Wen Si An An,' you said the *Kong Commentary* explained it incorrectly, so how do you explain 'An An'?"

Wang Yang said: "The *Book of Documents Kao Ling Yao* says: 'Fang Xun Qin Ming Wen Si Yan Yan.' Zheng Xuan's commentary says: 'Tolerance and covering are called Yan.' The *Erya* says: 'Yan Yan, gentle.' In the *Ancient and Modern Character Table*, 'An Ruzi' is also written as 'Yan Ruzi,' which is proof that the meanings of 'Yan' and 'An' are connected in ancient times, so the *Shiming* says: An, Yan also—"

"Wait, wait, wait! Wait a moment!" Liu Zhao interrupted Wang Yang, ran to the bookshelf, pulled out a book, and quickly checked it.

At this time, Xie Xinghan, who was hiding behind the screen, also wanted to look for it, but what she wanted to find was not a book, but the letter. She wanted to confirm the handwriting again, and only then did she realize that in her anger, she had left the letter at the Vice-Governor's Mansion!

Liu Zhao nodded while flipping through the book, then looked at Wang Yang and said: "Sorry, please continue." Then he suddenly remembered something and called out: "Yuling! Have someone bring tea and fruit."

"Tea and fruit" is what modern people call "tea snacks." At that time, tea was mostly accompanied by melons and fruits rather than pastries.

Yu Yuling was anxious to come back and hear the rest, so he hurriedly went out to arrange it.

Wang Yang continued: "'An An' is originally a reduplicated word, like 'careful and cautious,' 'heaven's net is vast,' all of this type. The meaning is the same as 'Yan Yan.' 'Qin Ming Wen Si An An' means that his diligence, brightness, culture, and thought are all based on nature, not obtained by force. The *Kong Commentary* says this is 'settling the world where it should be settled,' which is really far-fetched."

"Explained well, explained well!" Liu Zhao was glowing, facing the letter paper, praising it twice, and then continued to ask:

"The *Gao Yao Mo* says 'Zheng Min Nai Li,' Zheng's commentary explains 'Li' as 'rice,' you criticized it as 'not reasonable,' what does that mean?"

At this time, Yu Yuling had already brought two servants into the room and placed tea sets and fruits on the table in front of Wang Yang. He also poured tea himself and respectfully served it to Wang Yang.

Wang Yang took the tea, thanked him, and replied:

"'Zheng Min Nai Li' as 'rice' does not make a sentence. If you extend 'Li' to mean 'eating grain,' there is no such usage. The *Book of Documents, Wang Zhi* says: 'In the west, they are called Rong, wearing skin, and there are those who do not eat grain.' If you change it to 'there are those who do not eat Li,' is that okay?"

Liu Zhao's eyes lit up, and he asked hurriedly: "Then how should the character 'Li' be explained?"

Xie Xinghan also leaned forward unconsciously, waiting for the answer.

"'Li' is a loanword for the character 'Li' in 'Li Wo Zheng Min' in the *Zhou Song*. The *Guangya* says: 'Li, complete also.' Zheng Xuan's commentary on the *Xiao Situ* says: 'Complete, settled also.' Therefore—"

Liu Zhao ran to the bookshelf again to find a book in a hurry, saying: "Don't worry about me, continue!"

"Therefore, 'Zheng Min Nai Li' actually means 'Zheng Min Nai Ding' (the people are settled). So the *Records of the Grand Historian, Xia Annals* writes these four characters as 'Zhong Min Nai Ding,' taking its general meaning. Furthermore, connecting to the previous text, Great Yu controlled the floods, the five grains could be eaten, birds and beasts could live, and all goods could be used; this is precisely the meaning of settling the people, which absolutely cannot be covered by the people being full. Thus, 'Li' is absolutely not 'rice grain'."

After Wang Yang finished speaking, there was silence in the room for a while, and only the rustling sound of flipping through scrolls could be heard.

(The rustling sound here is not the sound of flipping through pages of a book; at this time, "whirlwind binding" had not yet been invented, and paper books in the Northern and Southern Dynasties were mostly scroll-bound, also called roll-bound, so the rustling is the sound of flipping through scrolls.)

Yu Yuling asked in the gap: "Young Master Wang, you said earlier that Zheng Xuan's commentary on the *Xiao Situ*—"

"Brilliant! Truly brilliant!" Liu Zhao praised, returned to his seat, his excitement overflowing: "This young master's skill in exegesis is very profound! It has the style of Han Confucianism! May I ask who is your honorable teacher?"

"Exegesis" was also called "Elementary Learning" in ancient times, equivalent to today's "linguistics" and "philology."

Exegesis flourished in the Han and Tang Dynasties and developed into a grand trend in the Qing Dynasty.

Wang Yang's answer just now integrated the academic achievements of the "Qian-Jia School" of the Qing Dynasty. Although Liu Zhao was limited by the era and did not know what the "Qian-Jia School" was, he saw that the basis of Wang Yang's two answers was based on exegesis, so saying he had the "style of Han Confucianism" was not wrong.

"My teachers are many..." Wang Yang also did not know how to answer this question. In ancient times, doing learning attached great importance to teacher inheritance. Things like in martial arts novels where teachers don't allow their names to be told basically wouldn't happen. Even if they were hermits, they were hiding the "person" and not the "name," let alone being a classic teacher scholar.

"Changing to many teachers?" Liu Zhao asked in surprise.

In classic learning, one pays attention to a single lineage. Situations of following different teachers to learn are not common, especially since ordinary people cannot find so many teachers.

Yu Yuling reminded his teacher: "Young Master Wang comes from the Langya Wang clan."

"Oh? So it is a 'Great Family'! No wonder!" Liu Zhao was both surprised and happy.

A great family is a noble family, and "Great Family Child" was one of the titles for noble family young masters at that time.

Xie Xinghan frowned slightly when she heard the four words "Langya Wang clan."

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Note: In the Eastern Han Dynasty, one entered officialdom through classic learning. First there was classic learning for generations, and then there were public ministers for generations, and only then did noble families emerge. Therefore, noble families often maintained an unfailing tradition of classic learning. Qian Mu believed that noble families maintained their status not only through power and wealth, but also through academics and ritual law, both combined into family education and family style. This statement is very true. See Qian Mu's "A Brief Discussion on the Relationship between Academic Culture and Noble Families in the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties." So Liu Zhao understood immediately when he heard that the male lead was a "Great Family Child," because many great scholars at that time came from noble families. ===== CHAPTER 33 =====