Chapter 005: Duke Cheng
Facing Li Tingxiu's surprised look, Shen Yichen knew what this teacher was thinking.
Indeed, according to the ancient logic and my own poor academic level, "The Great Learning", which is only more than 2,000 words in total, can be said to be the only choice.
However, the brevity of "The Great Learning" does not mean that it is easy to understand. Those who have studied classical Chinese in later generations know that they are not afraid of the ancients having a long dialogue, but they are afraid of them narrowing it down to a few short sentences and asking you to read and analyze it. If you do that, you really have no idea what these ancestors were trying to express.
This is the contrast between "Mencius" and "The Great Learning". The contents of "Mencius" are all stories and articles. Even if you don't understand one or two sentences, you can guess the general meaning by combining the context and understand the philosophical thoughts that the ancient sages want to express.
Moreover, Shen Yichen once used "Mencius " as his life reading, and used the thinking viewpoints in the book to inspire himself, just like many people choose to read "The Art of War". Therefore, his familiarity with "Mencius" is far greater than the other three books. This is the source of confidence and courage!
"Okay, since you chose Mencius, I'll take a passage from the book by King Hui of Liang. Do you have any questions?"
"No, sir."
Shen Yichen still nodded calmly.
Seeing Shen Yichen's determination, Li Tingxiu said no more and said directly, "When King Xuan of Qi met Mencius in the Snow Palace, he asked if wise men also had this kind of joy? How did Mencius answer?"
“If one rejoices in the joy of the people, the people will also rejoice in his joy; if one worries about the worries of the people, the people will also worry about his worries. If one rejoices in the world and worries about the world, but still fails to rule, there has never been anyone.”
Shen Yichen's answer was correct, but Li Tingxiu did not stop there. Instead, he asked, "How do you explain this passage?"
Want to add more?
Faced with Li Tingxiu's increasing difficulty, Shen Yichen vaguely realized that his performance today might be too abnormal, which made this teacher curious and explore the limits of his knowledge.
But now that things have come to this, Shen Yichen has no intention of hiding it. After all, he has educational resources like the Chengguo Mansion Private School, but at the age of sixteen he can't even pass the exam to become a student. His so-called low-keyness is not about pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger, but he is the pig himself!
"Mencius said that if a ruler takes the happiness of the people of the world as his own happiness and takes the sorrow of the people of the world as his own sorrow, then the people will do the same for the ruler. Such a ruler will not be able to bring obedience to the world, and there has never been such a ruler before."
"What do you think?"
Li Tingxiu stared at Shen Yichen with sharp eyes. This literal translation could not really test the depth of knowledge. He wanted to see Shen Yichen's true level.
"Sir, in fact, Fan Wenzheng of the Song Dynasty has already given the best answer, which is that if you are in a high position in the government, you should worry about the people; if you are far away in the world, you should worry about your ruler. You should worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy after the world is happy!"
Shen Yichen did not express his own views, but quoted two sentences from Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower Inscription" in the Song Dynasty. In fact, this is also the pinnacle of poetry, and it is almost impossible for later generations to surpass it.
As expected, when Shen Yichen said this, the whole lecture hall fell silent. The students were surprised that Shen Yichen had become a completely different person and was not punished by the old teacher. Li Tingxiu was even more shocked because he could not only feel Shen Yichen's progress in knowledge, but also a change in temperament!
Just when the atmosphere seemed to freeze, a majestic voice came from the corridor outside the lecture hall.
“Well said!”
This voice broke the silence of the lecture hall, and everyone subconsciously looked towards the door, and Shen Yichen was no exception.
A middle-aged man with a red face, curly beard and a burly figure appeared at the door of the lecture hall. Standing at the door gave people a strong sense of oppression. He was completely opposite to the gentle and refined scholar like Li Tingxiu.
"My Lord."
Before Shen Yichen could react, Li Tingxiu, who was standing on the podium, bowed to the middle-aged man.
At the same time, the students in the lecture hall all stood up and bowed, leaving Shen Yichen standing there blankly without making any movement.
There is no doubt that there is only one person who can be called "Master" in the Chengguo Mansion and receive respect from everyone, and that is the second generation Chengguo Duke Zhu Yong, who is also Shen Yichen's biological father!
You should know that although the Chengguo Mansion was built in Nanjing, Zhu Yong was in charge of the Beijing Camp in the capital, which can be regarded as a characteristic appointment method of the two capitals system of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Zhu Yong lived in the capital all year round and rarely had the opportunity to return to the mansion in Nanjing, let alone inspect the private schools in the mansion and the outer courtyards.
As far as Shen Yichen could remember, he had only met Duke Cheng once in the private school in the outer courtyard. That was when Li Tingxiu came to be a private school teacher. Zhu Yong treated the "western teacher" as a guest and appeared in the lecture hall to encourage the students with a few words.
Apart from that, the only time the second son of the mansion, Zhu Ji, came back from the Renxu provincial examination two years ago was when Zhu Yong came back from the mansion. At that time, Shen Yichen glanced at him from afar, and they had no contact since then.
He didn't expect that Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong would suddenly appear here and even praise him.
Shen Yichen was very surprised, and Zhu Yong was also very surprised.
This time, Zhu Yong returned home on the orders of Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, to deal with some military issues concerning the Nanjing Central Military Governor's Office with Li Long, the current Nanjing garrison commander and the Earl of Xiangcheng, in order to prepare for the northern expedition against the Mongolian Uriankhai tribe next year.
Zhu Yong himself had no intention of inspecting the private school outside the academy. Moreover, as a duke, it was already a great blessing for him to allow non-relative disciples to attend the private school. How could he have the time to pay attention to the studies of these students?
So he was passing by the lecture hall corridor purely by chance and happened to hear Shen Yichen reciting the contents of "Elementary Learning" and "Mencius".
In fact, Zhu Yong was not interested in the content of the primer. The reason why he started to praise was because he heard Shen Yichen's final insights on "Mencius", which had a grand pattern that transcended the schoolboys and did not have the Confucian air of pretentiousness, which was very much in line with the appetite of the military generals and nobles of the Chengguogong lineage who had participated in the Jingnan Rebellion.
But Zhu Yong never expected that the student who was reciting the textbook would actually be his son!
After a brief moment of daze, Shen Yichen instantly felt a complex emotion, with resentment, fear, unwillingness, and desire...
All kinds of emotions surged into my heart and merged together , it was a mixture of all kinds of feelings.
It is obvious that this cannot be the current emotion of "Shen Yichen", it can only be the emotion . It seems that the original Shen Yichen has very complicated feelings for his father, Duke Cheng.
"My Lord."
Shen Yichen suppressed his surging emotions and bowed to Duke Cheng in a calm tone like everyone else.
But when he raised his head after finishing his salute, he did not avoid the enemy out of fear and cowardice as he had done in the past. Instead, he looked directly at the Duke of Ming Dynasty, his blood father!
