I only wished to take up my fiefdom, but my elder brother forced me to rebel.

As soon as Kong Xiuyuan spoke, laughter erupted from inside the main hall.

A white-bearded PhD student stroked his beard, laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking.

"A crown prince who doesn't even attend classes on the classics dares to come to the Imperial Academy to discuss philosophy. I'd like to see how he ends up in three days."

"The mathematics, agriculture, and other subjects taught at the Royal Academy are craftsmen's skills; how dare they be compared to the teachings of sages?"

"The Crown Prince has practiced martial arts since childhood, and he probably can't even remember the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Annals."

The PhD students talked back and forth, as if they had already secured victory in the debate three days later.

Kong Xiuyuan did not laugh with everyone.

He tucked the title written by Lu Yuan into his sleeve, then glanced at everyone.

"The sooner you laugh, the more you'll lose face in three days."

The laughter inside the hall gradually faded away.

What does the phrase "祭酒" mean?

Dr. Whitebeard frowned. "Could it be that the Crown Prince truly surpasses us?"

"I don't know."

Kong Xiuyuan said, "But since he dared to write the question so directly, he wouldn't just go to his death on a whim."

"So what?"

Another PhD student sneered, "Can the way to govern a country be explained with a few sheets of arithmetic paper?"

Kong Xiuyuan stopped arguing and simply had his arguments written down and distributed to various places.

In less than half a day, the news spread throughout the capital.

Some say the Crown Prince is arrogant, some say the Royal Academy is absurd, but most people are just waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

The scholars of the Imperial Academy have already announced that in three days they will show the Crown Prince what it means to be a disciple of sages.

Shen Xiyao walked into the study of the East Palace, carrying a stack of scriptures in her hand.

She wore a plain blue dress, and the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Book of Rites in her arms were neatly stacked, without a single crease on the corners of the books.

After entering, she first looked at the papers on the table, and then at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan is revising the Royal Academy's curriculum regulations.

He didn't look up.

"I heard I'm going to be criticized at the Imperial Academy, so you came here specifically to deliver this elegy?"

Shen Xiyao placed the scriptures on the table.

"I heard that Your Highness will be discussing Dao in three days. I was worried that Your Highness might not even know where you went wrong, so I sent some books to broaden your horizons."

Although the words were spoken gently, the knife was hidden deep within.

She was never satisfied with her status as a concubine.

Although Shen Chongshan was her adoptive father, he never treated her as the legitimate daughter of the Shen family.

After entering the Eastern Palace, she was talented, beautiful, and shrewd, but she was always overshadowed by the principal wife and concubines.

She was not convinced.

She wanted Lu Yuan to know that she wasn't just a decorative vase placed in the backyard for people to admire.

Delivering books today, ostensibly to help out, was actually to witness firsthand just how capable this person, who usually only knows how to laugh and rant, really is.

Lu Yuan finally raised his head and asked, "Do you think I will lose?"

"I believe that Your Highness may not even know the reason for your defeat."

Shen Xiyao opened the Book of Rites and pointed to a passage that said...

"When sages govern a country, they must first rectify the hearts of the people, and then discuss skills and techniques. If they cannot even distinguish between ruler and subject, father and son, elder and younger, superior and inferior, what use is it even if they can calculate all the money and grain of the world?"

"So you think the Royal Academy shouldn't grant official titles?"

"At the very least, a group of people who are ignorant of the classics should not be allowed to bypass scholars who have studied diligently for years and enter the imperial court directly."

She spoke very seriously.

This wasn't just a casual provocation; it was something she genuinely believed.

After looking at her for a while, Lu Yuan suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist, trapping her hand between the desk and himself.

Shen Xiyao was completely taken aback when he made a move, and her expression changed.

"What is Your Highness doing?"

"Didn't you come here to teach me?"

Lu Yuan placed his palm on her other hand, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Since the teacher is here, why do you want to leave halfway through the lesson?"

"open!"

"Finish what you were saying first."

Shen Xiyao struggled a bit, but failed, so she could only raise her head and glare at him.

"Is Your Highness angered by embarrassment?"

"If I were angry, I would have thrown you out long ago."

Lu Yuan bent down and moved closer, his tone becoming more gentle.

"You just said that we must first rectify people's hearts. Then let me ask you, what does Mencius say?"

Shen Xiyao was taken aback.

"The people are the most important, the state is next, and the ruler is the least important."

She answered very quickly.

"If the people are the most important, why must ordinary people spend twenty years studying and then write an essay to prove they can recite the words of sages if they want to enter the government?"

Shen Xiyao frowned: "The imperial examination tests talent and virtue, not rote memorization."

"When it comes to river management, will we test your knowledge of the Spring and Autumn Annals?"

"Naturally, we need people skilled in water conservancy."

"When conducting disaster relief, will we test your knowledge of the Book of Rites?"

"You also need to understand accounts and finances."

"Will we test your knowledge of the Analects during wartime?"

Shen Xiyao opened her mouth.

Lu Yuan continued, "Since you know that river management requires water conservancy, disaster relief requires accounting, and warfare requires map reading, then what makes you say that only those who understand the classics can enter officialdom?"

She wanted to argue back, but found that every word she uttered was blocked.

Lu Yuan released one hand, picked up the Book of Rites from the table, and turned to a page.

"The Book of Rites says that morality, benevolence, and righteousness cannot be achieved without rites. But you treat rites as a threshold, regard the birth of a scholar as a qualification for officialdom, and put the survival of ordinary people aside."

He closed the book.

"Is this called venerating sages, or using sages to guard one's own door?"

Shen Xiyao's eyes trembled slightly.

She studied from a young age, and these were the chapters and verses she respected most.

But Lu Yuan didn't criticize the sages, nor did he say that the classics were useless. He simply dissected the principles she was familiar with, layer by layer, and presented them to reality.

"Your Highness, please don't try to change the subject."

She gritted her teeth and said, "The teachings of the sages did not say that water conservancy is useless."

"That's why the Royal College teaches scripture."

"Then why not base our decisions on the scriptures?"

"For the meaning of the scriptures is a ruler, not a lock; it is a root, not a shackle."

Lu Yuan stared at her: "If an official can only recite texts but doesn't even know how many seeds to plant per acre, what happens when the people starve to death? If he stands by the barren field reciting 'A gentleman endures poverty,' does that mean the people will come back to life?"

Shen Xiyao was completely speechless.

Her wrist was still held by Lu Yuan, and the scriptures she had personally chosen were spread out on the table. The distance between them was so close that she could not ignore the man's aura.

The study is a place for discussing matters.

She was a concubine, and he was the crown prince.

If outsiders were to see her trapped in front of her desk, who knows how many unpleasant things would be said in the mansion tomorrow.

But she didn't struggle anymore.

She suddenly realized that what she really wanted was to stay, not to leave.

Shen Xiyao pursed her lips.

"Where did Your Highness learn those words?"

"What the books of sages and saints teach."

"Why haven't I seen it?"

"Because you only look at the words in the books, and don't look at what's happening in the world."

As Shen Xiyao looked at him, the contempt in her heart shattered little by little.

This man is usually very lazy and dares to speak casually to anyone he meets.

But when it comes to the common people, the army, and the imperial court, what he sees is completely different.

That's not something you can fake by cramming at the last minute.

Only those who have seen and thought about the world possess such sharpness.

Just then, Su Yuling's voice came from outside the door.

"Lu Yuan, what are you doing?"

Shen Xiyao's expression changed drastically, and she subconsciously tried to pull her hand back.

But Lu Yuan released her first.

Su Yuling pushed open the door and entered. Her gaze swept over Shen Xiyao's flushed face before landing on a table of scriptures, and her eyebrows immediately rose.

"Is Sister Xiyao here to deliver books, or to cause trouble?"

After straightening her clothes, Shen Xiyao said, "Your Highness and I were discussing the same topic."

"Your hands are red from all the discussion?"

Su Yuling looked at Lu Yuan and said, "If you're right, then use your words. What kind of skill is it to resort to violence?"

Shen Xiyao lowered her head and remained silent.

Lu Yuan kicked the scriptures scattered on the table aside.

"Three days from now, I will have all the great scholars in the world, along with this pile of tattered books, kneel before me."