Confucianism under Heaven

Chapter 468 Who will be the winner?

Chapter 468 Who Will Win the Flower?

"The Six Arts and Classics are the most enduring and fundamental skills in our Confucian and Taoist continent. Therefore, this Scholars' Gathering is a competition of the Six Arts."

Xie Ming's thunderous voice rang out here, regardless of what others thought.

These words made the people from the other nine countries frown, clearly not expecting that the other party would test such basic things.

"Since it's a test on the Six Arts and their commentaries, then this is going to be a bit troublesome."

Ye Ru's eyes darkened slightly as he murmured.

"Alright, now that everyone has entered, I hereby declare the Scholars' Literary Gathering officially open!"

"First of all, one of the Six Arts is rites. In this assessment, I hope everyone can answer what rites are and how they have developed."

After everyone knew the exam questions, Ye Ru sat down at his desk and began to think about them carefully.

What is propriety?

"In the Zuo Zhuan, the definition of rites is as follows: 'Rites are the constant principle of Heaven, the righteousness of Earth, and the conduct of the people.'"

After thinking for a moment, Ye Ru began to write: "Propriety and righteousness, integrity and shame, go hand in hand. Among them, propriety determines nobility and lowliness, righteousness is the standard for action, integrity is honesty and uprightness, and shame is having a sense of shame."

Having written this far, Ye Ru felt it was acceptable, and then continued writing:

Before Confucius, there were already the rites of the Xia, Yin, and Zhou dynasties. The rites of the Xia, Yin, and Zhou dynasties were inherited and improved. By the time of the Duke of Zhou, the Zhou rites had been fully developed. The rites advocated by Confucius complemented benevolence. Confucius said, "If a person is not benevolent, what use are rites?" He advocated the rule of virtue by "guiding people with virtue and regulating them with rites", which broke the restriction that "rites do not apply to commoners".

"During the Warring States period, Mencius regarded benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom as basic moral norms, with propriety being 'the heart of deference and yielding,' which became one of the virtues of man."

Xunzi placed even greater emphasis on rites than Mencius. He wrote "On Rites," which demonstrated the origin and social function of rites.

"This is the development of etiquette. In the end, with the continuous development of society, etiquette also includes more things."

After writing this, Ye Ru felt there were no mistakes. He then pondered for a moment before putting down his pen.

The Jin people around Ye Ru sneered disdainfully when they saw him put down his pen so early. This man was so skilled before, but this time he only used such a short time. It was obvious that he hadn't finished writing at all.

"Hmph, aren't you ashamed? You gave up after only thinking for so long. You think you're so strong? You're just disgracing your Yanhuang Kingdom like this?"

The Jin scholar who had previously clashed with Ye Ru snorted coldly, then mocked.

These words, when they reached Ye Ru's ears, made him shrug helplessly. After putting down his pen, he looked up at Xie Ming and said:

"I'm done."

These words caused an uproar throughout the literary gathering. No one expected that the first person to finish writing would not be from the Zhong Sheng family, but a young scholar from the Yanhuang Kingdom.

"Is what he said true? Is it really that amazing?"

"No way, it's only been a short time. Even a scholar who passed the imperial examinations probably couldn't finish it this quickly."

"Are you sure you've finished writing? This is no child's play. I can give you another chance. If you want to take it back, I can let you continue writing."

Upon hearing this, Xie Ming's face showed a hint of surprise, and then he said in a deep voice.

These exam questions were jointly set by the National Academy of Literature and were generally more difficult than those written by ordinary scholars. In all the literary gatherings he had presided over, he had never seen anyone write so quickly.

"Don't give me a chance, I've definitely finished writing it."

Ye Ru shook his head, indicating that he did not need another chance to write. He had a calm and collected expression on his face. Although the test was difficult, it was not difficult at all from the perspective of his era.

"Okay, since that's the case, then bring it over."

Xie Mingyang raised his chin, and a staff member took away Ye Ru's papers, while Ye Ru looked at the others indifferently.

"How arrogant! I really don't know if he's actually finished writing it or if he's just pretending."

Shaking his head, the Jin scholar sneered.

"You can take a look later, but you'd better hurry up and write yours now, otherwise things might not be so good when the time is up."

Ye Ru shifted his gaze to a stick of incense stick stuck in the distance. When the incense burned out, the competition on etiquette would be over.

"Let's see how arrogant you are in a moment."

The Jin scholar said coldly, then continued to ponder what constituted propriety. After a moment, he hurriedly began to write.

Meanwhile, the only sound on the entire writing platform was the rustling of pens; almost every writer was writing furiously. This made Ye Ru sigh, "There are so many hidden talents here!"

"You said Ye Ru handed in his paper early, was it because he was confident of success, or...?"

Zhang Dong looked at Ye Ru, who was looking around in the distance, and turned to Zhang Zhi to say something.

"I don't know. Although Ye Ru is quite skilled in discussing classics and doctrines, the Six Arts haven't been promoted for a long time. I wonder if Ye Ru can win this discussion on etiquette."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhi shook his head helplessly, seemingly unable to believe it either.

Since they had never seen Ye Ru talk about the Six Arts before, they didn't know whether Ye Ru's early submission was due to pride or genuine confidence.

Time passed quickly, and soon someone put down their pen and prepared to hand in their paper. Half an hour later, after the incense stick had burned out, a melodious bell rang out throughout the world.

"This first round is over! Those writers who haven't finished writing, please stop writing now, or you will be expelled."

Upon hearing this voice, Xie Ming stepped out from the high platform, his gaze sweeping around with an air of authority, and slowly spoke.

After those words were spoken, everyone put down their pens.

After witnessing this, Xie Ming dispatched many people to collect the paper.

"Now, all participants, please take a break. In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the results will be announced."

"This person is from the Yanhuang Kingdom. That's interesting. I've heard that the Yanhuang Kingdom produced a rather remarkable scholar. Could it be this person?"

Mr. Kong smiled, looked at Ye Ru whose expression remained unchanged, and then said to Shi Tianze with a smile.

"may be."

Shi Tianze's face was somewhat gloomy. He looked at Ye Ru and said casually, but what he was really thinking was whether Ye Ru was the murderer who killed Shi Yu.

After an incense stick had burned, Xie Ming came out again with a smile, took out a list, and said:

"According to the judges of the conference, the top 500 in this competition, ranked from highest to lowest score, will advance to the second round, the Six Arts of Music."

At this point, Xie Ming took a deep breath, looked at the first position on the list, and then said, as if keeping someone in suspense:

"Is everyone very interested in the number one spot now?"