Chapter 3: Gathering with the Young Scions of the Nobility Again

"Oh, isn't this Biji?"

When Liu Xian stepped into the third classroom, someone immediately called out to him. Hearing the voice, Liu Xian looked over and indeed saw Shi Chao waving at him.

Seeing this, Liu Xian smiled and nodded back in acknowledgement.

After visiting the Jingu Garden and witnessing Shi Chong's extraordinary brutality alongside Shi Chao's casual indifference, a barrier had formed between Liu Xian and Shi Chao, making it impossible to restore their previous, seamless intimacy.

Consequently, over the following period, although Shi Chao continued to invite Liu Xian on hunting excursions and leisure outings as usual, Liu Xian repeatedly declined under the pretext of preparing for his coming-of-age ceremony and marriage.

Yet Shi Chao possessed a rough and bold personality, remaining magnanimous and unrestrained; so far, he had failed to notice Liu Xian's growing distance and treated him with his customary warmth.

Walking over to Liu Xian, Shi Chao lightly patted his shoulder and laughed with a chuckle, "You've been newly married recently, and I hardly dared to disturb you. Well? Is your bride a fierce shrew or a delicate beauty?"

Faced with Shi Chao's familiar attitude, Liu Xian found it difficult to be overly cold. Besides, after so many years of friendship, the emotional bond still lingered, prompting him to joke in return, "If my wife were to hear those words of yours, I'm afraid you wouldn't be welcome across my threshold ever again."

"Haha, what is there to fear? A great man makes the four seas his home. Where is your former boldness?"

While speaking, Shi Chao grabbed Liu Xian's arm and pulled him further into the room, then called out to his original companions, "Come, come, look who has arrived!"

Someone he knew was here as well? Liu Xian felt somewhat puzzled. Following Shi Chao's gaze, a flash of realization dawned upon him: they were all old acquaintances!

Gathered around Shi Chao's former desk were five young men, most of them wearing Confucian robes, with tall caps and wide sashes. Compared to the past, they had all changed considerably, but their faces still retained faint shadows of their former selves. Liu Xian quickly recognized them: from left to right, they were Zhang Wei, Chen Zhi, Jia Mi, Xun Chuo, and Pei Gai.

Well now, among the youths who had gone hunting on Mount Wanan back then, virtually the only one missing was Wang Zhou, who had once crossed swords with him in a sword duel.

The first to greet him was Zhang Wei, whose face was flushed red. Raising his cup with a smile, he said, "Biji, it has been a long time. Care to join us for a cup of wine?"

The smile froze on Liu Xian's face as he suddenly noticed that these individuals were openly drinking alcohol right inside the classroom, with several small plates of sliced raw fish, pickled celery, and other drinking snacks placed nearby.

As the nation's highest institution of learning, the Imperial Academy was a place dreamed of by scholars everywhere; ordinary students likely regarded it with a sense of pilgrimage. But as the saying went, longing was the distance furthest removed from understanding. For the scions of noble families, the Imperial Academy was easily accessible, and naturally, it was hardly treated with solemnity. Yet Liu Xian had never expected that on his very first day of enrollment, he would witness Shi Chao and his entourage drinking and making merry right here.

Now Liu Xian finally understood what Ji Shao meant when he spoke of the decline in scholarly discipline.

Faced with the proffered wine cup, Liu Xian politely declined, "It is still daytime, and becoming intoxicated violates decorum. Let us leave it for the evening instead."

Hearing this, several of the others chuckled, "Such a hypocritical prig."

One person had not even recognized Liu Xian. Half-drunk and half-sober with a hazy gaze, Jia Mi scrutinized Liu Xian for a long time before asking the others, "Who is this again?"

Liu Xian took the initiative to answer, "Brother Jia has a poor memory for prominent figures. Four years ago, you presented me with a Zhaowu sword!"

Jia Mi frowned, his delicate, feminine features revealing an intoxicating expression. After pondering for a moment without any result, he shook his head and said, "Ah, I've given away far too many things—if not a thousand, then hundreds. How could I possibly remember them all one by one?"

Liu Xian was rendered speechless. Chen Zhi quickly interjected from the side to remind him, "It's that Marquis of Anle's heir who once crossed swords with Wang Hutou and defeated him. He now goes by the name Liu Huanchong."

"Oh!" Jia Mi exclaimed in sudden realization, slapping the desk and laughing aloud, "I remember now! That did happen!" Pointing toward the door, he asked, "And where is Wang Zhou? Didn't Wang Hutou say he was going to continue dueling with him? Where is he?"

Chen Zhi smiled and said, "Changyuan is joking again. Didn't Wang Hutou secure an official recommendation last year and go to the palace to serve as a palace imperial guard?"

"Bah! What a disappointment! A complete letdown!" Jia Mi drained the wine in his cup in one gulp and asked Liu Xian, "Are you truly not going to have a cup?"

Liu Xian still gave a slight shake of his head, offering well-intentioned advice out of goodwill, "This place is meant for gentlemen to cultivate themselves. As the saying goes, 'The gentleman is cautious when he is not seen, and fearful when he is not heard.' Yet alcohol and sensual pleasures befuddle the mind. To act thusly violates the path of the sages. You really ought to be more careful."

"Ha! I never expected a true gentleman to show up!"

Jia Mi was clearly drunk; he stood up and leaned in close to inspect Liu Xian. His behavior was so presumptuous that Liu Xian felt quite at a loss.

Moving to within half a foot of Liu Xian, Jia Mi scrutinized his appearance, nodded, and remarked, "He has a fine skin indeed." Turning back to his companions with a laugh, he added, "What a pity that he knows nothing of the joys of life!"

Pouring himself another full cup of wine and taking a sip, Jia Mi picked up a paper fan from somewhere and smiled, "If the Way of the gentleman were of any use, how could the Han Dynasty have perished? You ought to learn the joys of life much sooner."

Slowly leveling his right hand so the paper fan concealed his face while resting his left hand upon his knee, he began to chant the "Ballad of the Western Gate" in a resonant voice:

"Out the western gate, pacing I ponder,
If we make no merry today, when shall we wait?
As for seeking joy,
Joy should be seized while it lasts."

"Wonderful! Splendid! Excellent!" The surrounding companions all burst into cheers and applause. Jia Mi was already remarkably handsome; as he drank and sang loudly, his sleeves fluttered like dancing butterflies, and he began to dance right there in public. His light, floating movements matched his exquisite features, making Jia Mi appear all the more dashing, unrestrained, and romantically free.

Throwing the paper fan aside, Jia Mi caught Liu Xian's gaze in a brief passing glance, and the more he danced, the higher his singing voice soared.

"How can one sit repining in gloom,
And wait all over again for the coming year?
Drink fine wine,
Roast fat beef,
I pray you call upon the joy of your heart,
For it can dispel sorrow and grief."

By the time he reached this verse, Jia Mi's enthusiasm had peaked. Clearly, Liu Xian was no longer within the scope of his attention as he entertained and admired himself in the center of the classroom:

"Man's life spans not a hundred years,
Yet he ever harbors sorrows for a thousand more.
The days are short and the nights are long,
Why not roam by the light of a candle?
Unless one is an immortal like Prince Qiao,
Lifespan and destiny are hard to reckon with.
A human life is not made of gold or stone,
How can years and fate be assured?
To be greedy for wealth and stint on spending,
Is only to be mocked by future generations."

The graceful dancer and unrestrained singing provoked continuous cheers and applause from everyone present.

Jia Mi was thoroughly pleased with himself. Having been showered with affection from all directions since childhood, he always obtained whatever he desired, and his peers never dared to show him displeasure. Even many of the imperial princes yielded three points to him out of deference to the Crown Princess and the Princess of Qiqi. Consequently, he acted with utter unbridrained abandon everywhere he went, boldly expressing his desires until he was fully satisfied.

It was the same now. When his dance ended, he poured another cup of wine, handed it directly to Liu Xian, and asked, "Does Huanchong feel any inclination to drink?"

Liu Xian was somewhat speechless. He could see that, judging by his opponent's intent, there would be no escaping without drinking today.

It seemed this young Duke of Lu commandery was arrogant and absolute; if he offended him, his future official career would likely be fraught with insurmountable obstacles.

Well, drinking a few cups was better than nothing. Surely he wouldn't sour his relationship with these noble scions right upon entering the Imperial Academy; his days in officialdom were still long ahead.

Liu Xian consoled himself inwardly: *Blend with the dust, harmonize with the light. Blend with the dust, harmonize with the light.* Besides, even Ji Shao hadn't bothered to intervene; he truly had no reason to act stubborn on his own.

With these secret thoughts, Liu Xian maintained a calm expression as he accepted the wine cup from Jia Mi's hand and drained it in a single upward gulp. When he finished, Liu Xian turned the cup upside down to show it was empty, prompting enthusiastic cheers from the noble youths.

Shi Chao laughed and said, "Biji, after your visit to my sixth uncle's place last time, your capacity for alcohol has truly grown!"

Xun Chuo chimed in, "As the dignified heir to the Marquis of Anle, how could he possibly not know how to drink? Rumor has it that back in the day, the late Marquis of Anle matched Emperor Wen drink for drink, either tying or winning—he never lost once."

Pei Gai simply chimed in to stir up trouble, "What kind of nonsense is that, Xun Guan Nu? Could you possibly think Changyuan would lose?"

"..."

Urged on by the crowd, Liu Xian had no choice but to down four consecutive cups with Jia Mi, feigning defeat and admitting that he had lost to him. The moment he conceded defeat, everyone offered congratulations to Jia Mi while teasing Liu Xian merrily, effectively welcoming him into their little clique.

Having passed this initiation ritual, they resumed drinking amongst themselves, chatting casually in a desultory fashion. The content of their conversation remained remarkably uniform: a chorus of complaints that gaining anything of value from the Imperial Academy was utterly impossible.

As a descendant of the renowned late-Han scholar Xun Shuang, Xun Chuo wagged his tongue heavily as he criticized the Imperial Academy's education: "How many years has it passed, and these teaching assistants are still lecturing on the *Classic of History* and the *Classic of Poetry*, babbling endlessly about benevolence, righteousness, and morality? What are those even worth? Have they no shame at all about being outdated?"

Chen Zhi, the grandson of Chen Qian, expressed profound agreement and mocked, "Indeed, if my grandfather had obsessed over those things back then, where would our wealth and honor today come from? All those tales of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, of the three resignations and deferrals—they are nothing but deceitful nonsense."

Such remarks were rebellious and treasonous, yet they did not come from nowhere. As the son of Zhang Hua, Zhang Wei was quite familiar with recent literary trends and instantly grasped the implication. He lowered his voice to ask, "Are you referring to... the *Bamboo Annals*?"

"Exactly!" Pei Gai slapped the table, leaning forward slightly as he said with great solemnity, "What's written in that book turns the world completely upside down!"

Turned upside down? Liu Xian had initially been idling by, but upon hearing them discuss the mysterious and renowned *Bamboo Annals* of recent years, he couldn't help pricking up his ears to listen.

He had heard Chen Shou mention it: five years ago, in the second year of the Taikang era, grave robbers had broken into a large tomb filled entirely with bundles upon bundles of bamboo slips. The robbers discarded the bamboo slips and took only the antiques from the tomb. Later, a farmer discovered that most of these bamboo slips bore characters and hurriedly reported it to the authorities. To their utter astonishment, officials realized that these slips were actually bamboo strips from the pre-Qin period—spanning several dozen cartloads!

The news reached Luoyang, and the reigning emperor immediately ordered Central Secretariat Supervisor Xun Xu and Central Secretariat Director He Qiao to take charge of the matter. It took a full two years to translate the texts on the bamboo books into contemporary script. As it turned out, these bamboo slips constituted the official history of the state of Wei, recording over a thousand years of history stretching all the way from the ancient era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors down to the Wei King Xiang, during whose era Mencius was active!

One had to realize that ever since Emperor Qin Shi Huang burned books and buried scholars, followed by Xiang Yu burning down Xianyang, aside from the official Qin history and the *Spring and Autumn Annals* compiled by Confucius, the historical records of all the other Warring States had completely vanished. This had forced Sima Qian, the Grand Historian, to gather legends among the common folk in order to compile the pre-Qin sections of the *Records of the Grand Historian*, which naturally contained quite a few errors—some of which, like the biographies of Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Fan Ju, and Cai Ze, had already been disproven by later generations.

In contrast, unearthing a complete pre-Qin history—and an official state history of Wei at that—was nothing short of a monumental event in the literary world. Consequently, the fame of this work spread far and wide among scholars.

Unfortunately, it was said that its contents were too absurd and unorthodox, so the court kept only two master copies in the Central Secretariat without widely disseminating them, leaving most people knowing only the name while never laying eyes on the text—even Chen Shou had been denied the privilege of seeing it.

Hearing someone mention it here, Liu Xian inevitably felt a surge of curiosity and couldn't help asking, "Could it be that you have all seen the original texts?"

"Of course we have!" Jia Mi pointed at Xun Chuo and laughed, "After all, the Secretariat Supervisor in charge of the matter is the head of his clan!"

Xun Chuo was clearly extremely proud of this as well. Holding his wine cup, he leisurely remarked, "I even watched my grandfather compile it page by page with my own eyes!"

"What on earth is written in those bamboo books?"

"It's all great state secrets of antiquity that were never meant to be passed on outside!" Xun Chuo assumed a mysterious air and said, "You know about the abdication among Yao, Shun, and Yu, right?"

Liu Xian nodded. Who wouldn't know that? Among all ancient histories, the most yearningly admired legend was the abdication of the three emperors Yao, Shun, and Yu. They did not cling to power, cared for all the people under heaven, and yielded the imperial throne to one another, thereby surviving the catastrophic floods that engulfed the Nine Provinces and securing the subsequent unity of the Xia peoples.

To Liu Xian's astonishment, Xun Chuo declared with absolute finality, "All of that is false!"

False? Liu Xian was startled, and heard Xun Chuo continue: "The bamboo books state: *'Formerly, Yao's virtue declined, and he was imprisoned by Shun. Shun imprisoned Yao at Pingyang and seized the imperial throne. After imprisoning Yao, Shun blocked and dammed Danzhu so that he could not see his father.'*"

"It is stated very clearly right there: the abdication of Yao and Shun was actually no different from what happens today. Emperor Shun simply launched a coup d'état, exactly like Emperor Xuan and Emperor Wu of Wei, imprisoning Emperor Yao and forcing him to abdicate the throne to him!"

Seeing Liu Xian struck dumb, Xun Chuo was immensely pleased with himself and turned to say to the others, "Do you know about Yi Yin exiling Tai Jia?"

This was also a well-known story. Yi Yin was the imperial tutor of the Shang dynasty, who assisted Tang the Successful in founding the dynasty. After Tang's passing, Yi Yin continued to assist three generations of Shang kings—Wai Bing, Zhong Ren, and Tai Jia—making him a veteran official of four reigns and a premier statesman.

According to the *Records of the Grand Historian*, after King Tai Jia of Shang ascended the throne, he failed to follow ancestral teachings, acted willfully and recklessly, and disregarded Yi Yin. Consequently, Yi Yin confined Tai Jia to the Tong Palace, where he instructed and admonished him for three years until Tai Jia reformed, whereupon Yi Yin welcomed him back to continue ruling as King of Shang. It was regarded as a fine tale of harmony between a sovereign and his minister.

At this juncture, Xun Chuo proclaimed, "That is also false!"

"The bamboo books state: *'Yi Yin banished Tai Jia to Tong and established himself. Seven years later, the King stealthily emerged from Tong and killed Yi Yin.'*"

"What virtuous minister and good teacher! Yi Yin was nothing more than a petty villain who usurped the throne and established himself, only to be killed by the King in the end!"

The more Xun Chuo spoke, the more elated he became, going on to recount the truth behind events such as the "Gonghe Administration" and the "Co-reign of Two Kings" during the Zhou dynasty. True to the pattern of the preceding stories, these accounts recast various virtuous governance and moral tales of antiquity as mere power struggles and sordid squabbles among the ancients.

Concluding his remarks, he summarized, "The way of Confucius and Mencius is truly deceptive and fame-seeking. In my view, these *Bamboo Annals* are the ultimate truth of human existence! In the past, people often blustered nonsense about how human hearts are not as ancient as they used to be and public morals are degenerating day by day—what utter bullshit! We are human, and the ancients were human; why should we assume that while people today do rotten things, people in the past only did good deeds? It's nothing more than honoring antiquity while disparaging the present, all to make oneself appear extraordinary."

With that, he looked immensely pleased with himself, thoroughly convinced he had expounded upon an ultimate truth of the human world and seen through the social reality spanning three millennia.

Yet at this moment, Liu Xian asked, "Does that mean Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei are false as well?"

As soon as these words were spoken, they nearly choked Xun Chuo. Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei were figures from just a few decades prior; plenty of people had witnessed their loyalty and righteousness, and even the emperor frequently praised them, so he naturally could not easily dismiss them.

However, catching the gazes of his companions, Xun Chuo felt he could not afford to back down, and so he disparaged them instead: "They simply were misled by the way of Confucius and Mencius, which led to their demise, the destruction of their state, and their grand ambitions remaining unfulfilled. Had they truly understood the times and recognized the turns of fortune and destiny, could they have lacked wealth and honor? To accomplish great deeds, a great man must use whatever means it takes! Is it not obvious now who wins and who loses?"

At these words, everyone burst into cheers: "Makes sense! Perfectly sensible!" They laughed and praised Xun Chuo, exclaiming, "Guan Nu has grand talent! Guan Nu has grand talent!"

Liu Xian did not utter a word. Instead, he gazed at these aristocratic young men drinking amidst interwoven goblets, fell silent, and drained yet another cup of wine as he thought to themselves:

*Has it truly been decided who wins and who loses now?*