Chapter 233 Ten Years of Repeated Senior Year—Is That Even Polite? (2 / 2)

While Xu Yanmiao mentally ranted, it didn’t stop him from giving a proper response.

Recalling the torment of his senior year—burning the midnight oil, drinking thick tea from a thermos, the bitter taste still lingering in his memory—he politely smiled and said, “What you say is true. I’ll need to carefully think this through. Choosing a school of thought is no trivial matter.”

The officials: “…”

Xu Lang, you’ve changed. You’re deflecting like a pro now!

Who ruined the innocent Xu Lang from two years ago?!

Xu Yanmiao glanced at his desk and noticed two books. “These?”

“They were left by Master Quan and Master Ji for us to pass on to you.”

Xu Yanmiao picked up the books and began flipping through them seriously.

An official blurted out, “But you’re not—”

Only to be immediately silenced by another, who tugged his sleeve and whispered, “Xu Lang has always been respectful. Even if he doesn’t want to join either school, he won’t just toss their books aside to gather dust.”

Each of the two masters had given him a book containing their interpretations of classic texts.

If the original text of the classics had about 2,000 characters, the commentary turned that into at least 20,000.

One of the books was an annotation of the Book of Rites.

Xu Yanmiao flipped it open.

“Confucius said: ‘To have a heart at peace with virtue is to be unparalleled in the world.’”

“The Doctrine of the Mean says: ‘Before emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure arise, that is called balance.’”

“Balance is when emotions remain unexpressed, still within the heart. Hence, joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure are still in their unmanifested state.”

“Do not write it as ‘in the heart,’ for once in the heart, balance has already manifested and moved into emotion, which contradicts the meaning of virtue.”

“What does it mean to have a heart at peace with virtue? The Analects states: ‘The unvirtuous cannot endure hardship or prolonged pleasure. The virtuous find peace in virtue, while the wise benefit from virtue.’”

“Thus, to have a heart at peace with virtue means—”

“Snap!”

Xu Yanmiao closed the book abruptly, his head spinning.

[No wonder they say people spend their whole lives studying just one book. This is dissecting every single word!]

[And there are other versions of these interpretations too…]

He broke into a cold sweat.

Closing his eyes for a moment to gather himself, Xu Yanmiao reopened the book. Even then, his hands were trembling.

[Academia is just too terrifying…]

“Xu Lang!” Someone called from outside. “Minister Li is looking for you!”

Everyone could see how quickly Xu Lang sprang up from his chair.

He rushed out the door, grabbing the official’s arm. “Is it about the imperial examination? Let’s go, let’s go! Such an important matter can’t be delayed!”

As for the two books, they were left behind on his desk.

When the Minister of War heard commotion at the door and looked up, he was surprised. “Xu Lang arrived this quickly?”

Xu Yanmiao asked if he could open the window. Receiving permission, he pushed it open, letting the biting winter wind cut through the room. It was harsh but refreshing. He then explained, “I didn’t want to waste any time.” He followed with, “What is it that the Minister sought me for?”

The Minister of War pulled him into a side room, realizing afterward it was unnecessary but too lazy to send him back out.

“Xu Lang, you must be aware that His Majesty’s ancestor was the eldest prince of the Yu Kingdom…”

The Xia Dynasty followed the Zhou, which followed the Chu, which followed the Liang. Before that, during the era of the Seven Warring States, Yu was the most powerful among them.

This was common knowledge for at least 80% of Xia’s scholars.@@novelbin@@

[Eh? Wasn’t it the seventh prince?]

Xu Yanmiao mentally flipped through his memory. [Oh! I remembered wrong. They intended to recognize the eldest prince from the start… Strange, then why do I have an impression of the seventh prince?]

“Greetings, Your Majesty!”

The officials of the Ministry of War bowed in unison.

The elderly emperor nodded slightly, his tone casual. “I came to see how the policy essays for the metropolitan examination are progressing. Where is Li Qian?”

An official was just about to lead the way when suddenly a voice echoed—

[Hahaha! So that’s how it is!]

[The old emperor adopted the Yu Kingdom’s Gao family as his ancestors and planned to change his name. After all, an emperor named Gao Tiezhu (Iron Pillar) doesn’t sound quite right. Originally, he wanted to change it to Gao Xiuqi, but that was already taken by the seventh prince of the Yu Kingdom. Can’t have the same name as an ‘ancestor,’ right? So, he had to pick something else.]

[Then he tried Gao Bang, only to be reminded that one of the rebel kings back then already had that name.]

[He tried Gao Lie, but it clashed with the name of the eighth monarch of the Yu Kingdom, Gao Lie. Again, offending his ‘ancestor.’ Hahaha!]

[He changed his name seven or eight times before finally settling on Gao Jianyi.]

[How tragic!]

[Still, who would’ve thought this ancestor recognition was real?]

[So funny. Picking ancestors like shopping—he originally planned to adopt someone else, a prime minister from the Li Kingdom among the Seven States! But that guy was later executed by a foolish king. Apparently, he didn’t die ‘auspiciously’ enough, so he was discarded. Decided to switch ancestors.]

The old emperor, his expression unchanged, instructed the official beside him, “Knock on the door.”

What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen someone recognize an ancestor before? Back in the day, all eighteen rebel kings picked ancestors to honor. Several of them, even those with the same surname, fought bitterly over the same forefather!

He just picked more carefully—what’s wrong with that?

From the Book of Rites, Chapter “Representation and Records”:

Confucius said, “To have a heart at peace with virtue is to be unparalleled in the world.”

This is how Confucius defined a virtuous person. “Center of the heart” (zhongxin) is not “within the heart” (xinzhong). The Doctrine of the Mean states, “Before the emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure arise, this is called balance.” Joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure remain unexpressed, still within.

The heart is the master of the body. When the heart holds balance, emotions exist but remain unmoved. “Center of the heart” means balance remains unmanifested, still within the heart. If it’s “within the heart,” then balance has already manifested and moved into emotion, contradicting the essence of virtue.

From the Analects, Chapter “Virtue in the Neighborhood”:

“Those without virtue cannot endure hardship or prolonged pleasure. The virtuous find peace in virtue; the wise benefit from virtue.”

“To have a heart at peace with virtue” refers to the state of a virtuous person. A virtuous person loves others. A virtuous person loves without exception. Thus, a virtuous person who achieves “peace at the center of the heart” regards all people as kin, with no opposition. In essence, they see the world as one family.

However, some modern translations interpret this as, “A virtuous person who achieves peace at the center of the heart is rare; perhaps only one person in the world can attain this.”—Excerpt from Professor Yu’s Lecture Notes.