Chapter 25 Pick-up Treasure

A nine-foot-tall man standing right across from you, staring with eyes full of curiosity, especially his pupils are still light blue, which looks very distant and pure. This picture made Guan Suyi’s heart softened. The Guan family was a family of literary giants and also an educational family. They had always adhered to the principle of teaching without distinction. As long as have a heart of eagerness to learn and seek truth, they were willing to teach others regardless of their status.

Therefore, in the face of this rough man who was almost reaching thirties, but couldn’t even speak Han language very smoothly, Guan Suyi was also willing to exchange knowledge with him, and even share everything she knew. She raised her eyebrows pondering, trying to find the easiest way to express her opinion.

Emperor Sheng Yuan held the teapot and leaned slightly to look. His focused eyes seemed to want to penetrate the thin black veil to see the true face of the beauty. Qin Lingyun coughed first, seeing that he couldn’t call back His Majesty’s mind, he had to wink at his sister-in-law.

Li shi said with a smile, “Hunnar, don’t block Madam’s sight, sit down.”

“Thanking Madam.” Emperor Sheng Yuan saluted in a dignified manner, then sat down in reserved manner, and still looked restlessly at Guan Suyi.

Guan Suyi raised her eyebrows and said with a smile, “Hunnar, the light of the temple. It’s a good name, your parents must have high expectations for you.”

Qin Lingyun showed a surprised expression, and even Emperor Sheng Yuan was stunned for a moment. Asked, “Do you know Jiuli language?”

“My grandmother is Zuo Dingxiang.” Guan Suyi replied politely.

Emperor Sheng Yuan suddenly said, “If we’re talking about knowledgeable people, no one in this world can compare to historians.”

“Yes, no matter which school, which great man, which book, as long as they leave a trace in history, they all will be like enumerating one’s family treasureto be very familiar with the matter.” Guan Suyi smiled heartily, obviously liked the indirect compliments of the Jiuli strong man for her grandmother. She pointed out at the topic board downstairs with her fingertips and continued, “Didn’t you just ask me why today’s proposition is a false proposition?”

“Yes, I think human nature should be evil. Otherwise, why is it easy to learn bad things, but difficult to be good? Why do we always have to use severe punishments and laws to restrain people’s behavior, and once the legal system is in chaos, the social atmosphere will also be in chaos.” Emperor Sheng Yuan looked over with a burning gaze. He highly praised Legalism thought, and naturally also agreed with the view that “human nature is inherently evil”. He was curious how Guan Suyi would answer.

Qin Lingyun also looked serious and waited solemnly.

Guan Suyi was worried that Hunnar wouldn’t understand too profound Han language, so she asked the shop assistant for a few white papers and a set of four treasures of the studybrush, ink, paper and inkstone, unhurriedly spread them out .

She picked up a blank piece of paper and said slowly, “People don’t understand anything when they were just born, their brains are like this blank piece of paper, completely empty, it’s the simplest and most harmless thing. At this time, they do not distinguish between good and bad, so there is no good or evil in human nature. In the process of growing up, children will come into contact with different people and different environments, some are comfortable, some are sinister, so they are painted with various kind of color and become a variety of people. Good people have dark thoughts, evil people have bright sides, and most people are neither good nor bad, just somewhere between them. In fact, what is the nature of human beings, Confucius and Gaozi have already answered.”

As she spoke, she drew on two sheets of paper, and with just a few strokes, she vividly drew the Rakshasa evil spirit and the smiling face Bodhisattva. Just as she said, white paper was white paper, and only because it was painted by human that it could make people feel hate and joy.

Emperor Sheng Yuan stared at her exposed jade-white wrist in a trance, and didn’t speak for a long time. In the end, Qin Lingyun couldn’t stand it any longer and asked, “Didn’t you say that human nature does not distinguish between good and evil, it’s just a blank piece of paper? So why make a note of human nature?”

Guan Suyi put down the brush, slowly dried the ink, and whispered, “Confucius said in the “Book of Rites”: ‘food and drink, men and women (relationship), are people’s great desires to survive’ ,Gaozi also said: ‘Appetite and lust are only natural’. It can be seen from this that human nature cannot be without these two words “food” and “sex”. Food is for survival, and sex is for reproduction, which are the most basic needs of human beings. In order to survive, no matter how kind people are, they will do evil things like exchange children for food when they are extremely hungry; In order to reproduce, even the most vicious people will give up hope of life and use their lives to protect the safety of their children. One eats their children, and the other sacrifices their lives to save their children. The choice between the great evil and the great good is that the former takes their own survival more seriously, the latter take reproduction of their clan more seriously. It can be seen that the motivation that really drives a person to do good and evil is always unrivaled. In a peaceful and prosperous world, when the people are well fed, warmly clothed, and live well, there are naturally many people who do good deeds; In the midst of raging war, people didn’t know when they ate their last meal, and in order to survive, there are many people who burn and loot, escape into the woods to become bandits. The purpose of Legalist and Confucian on labeling human nature as good and evil is to tame the people, and guide them to live in an orderly manner without jeopardizing the rights of others to live. Legalists use severe punishments to deter others, and Confucians use broad benevolence to persuade them. None of them can afford to feed and clothe people, and let them live in peace and contentment. Wouldn’t you say it will be much easier to teach them to respect the law and do good deeds when they no longer have to worry about their lives.”

“Yes! You are so right!” Emperor Sheng Yuan kept clasping his hands, his deep eyes were full of admiration. He never thought that Guan Suyi could extend from the essence of human nature to the causes of good and evil, and from the causes of good and evil to the way of governing the people. Her mind was like a sky, boundless, far and wide, made people always want to explore more and learn more.

Qin Lingyun pondered for a moment, and his heart was full of admiration.

Guan Suyi pointed to the two scholars who were already quarreling below, shook her head and said, “Therefore, the emperor’s top priority is to quickly make the people’s lives stable and prosperous, and recruit these scholars, what’s the use of arguing all day long.”

Qin Ling Yun coughed, then squinted to take a look at His Majesty’s expression. Li shi uneasily tugged her brother-in-law’s sleeve, implying that he should help mediate for Marquis Zhenbei madam. Although she didn’t quite understand the previous words, the last few sentences were deeply touching. Yes, if you can live a good life, who wants to be a wicked person? If he hadn’t been forced to a dead end, her brother-in-law wouldn’t have fled to the border and became the executioner for His Majesty.

Emperor Sheng Yuan was not angry, but laughed out loud, “Does Madam also think these scholars are annoying? The emperor wants to invite talented people from all over the world to serve the country, reform the tax, distribute the land, drill the army, choose administrator, and so on. All need to be done by people who are proficient in the area. He only has one head, no three heads and six arms, so he is very busy. Indulging and even exalting these scholars is just to show his attitude.”

“South gate standing woodIn the early Warring States period, Shang Yang erected a piece of wood at the south gate of the Qin capital, and declared: “Whoever can carry this piece of wood to the north gate will be rewarded ten gold (later added to fifty gold)”. as a result, a man carried the wood to the north gate and Shang Yang really rewarded him fifty gold. From then on, all the people of the Qin knew that Shang Yang followed his words, and the new law was quickly implemented, Thousand gold to buys bonesThe monarch wanted to buy fine steeds with thousand of gold but couldn’t get it, in the end a courtier bought a pile of horse bone for 500 gold, the king was furious but the courtier explained: “Your Majesty, if the news spreads that you are willing to spend a lot of money on the bones of fine steed, wouldn’t the horse be easily obtained?”, sure enough the news spread and the fine steeds came in droves.” Guan Suyi nodded to Old Master Guan and Father Guan who were sitting below, and said sassily, “Aren’t my grandfather and father two most valuable horse bones?”

Emperor Sheng Yuan was stunned. For a while, he didn’t know how to answer, but Guan Suyi had already stood up and bent her knees to say goodbye. After listening to the most of it, she could already guess the outcome of this debate. When people have just obtained a stable and peaceful life, they naturally prefer the doctrine of doing good deeds. From the very beginning the battle of words that Xu Guangzhi provoked had taken advantage of the right time, the right place, and the right people, how could he not win?

When she walked to the stairs, she suddenly remembered something and turned back, “Hunnar is very eager to learn. When he is not on duty, you should let him to read more.”

Qin Lingyun replied with a smile, “You don’t need to explain this. Usually when there was time, I asked him to study, and even invited the most famous master to teach him. Unfortunately, he disliked the master for being a sour scholar, who chewed on words all day long, which made him had a headache when he heard it, and fled every time he saw the opportunity.”

“Then give him a flexible master, or let him read the books he likes, doesn’t necessarily need a master.” As Guan Suyi walked downstairs, she shook her head and chuckled, “So old and still skipping school, just like my stepson.”

Li shi was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she hurriedly stepped forward to pretend to send her off, but in fact tried to turn the topic away. Watching the two walk out of the building, Qin Lingyun pressed his fist to his lips and burst out laughing. If one day, Guan Suyi knew that the sour scholar in his mouth was Old Master Guan, didn’t know what kind of expression she would show.

Emperor Sheng Yuan stood by the railing and watched, waiting for the carriage of Marquis Zhenbei Mansion to drive out some distance before putting away his simple and honest expression, sat at the table and ordered, “Serve the wine.”

The guard immediately went to call the shop assistant. He picked up the two sketches and looked at them for a long time, then carefully folded them and put them in his sleeve, his meaning was unclear, then said, “As expected of Guan Qiguang’s granddaughter, she is a good teacher, and teach without looking at the background, even take care a little guard like this.” After a pause, he asked, “What does her stepson look like?”

“I heard that his temperament is very naughty. At the age of ten, he still doesn’t understand anything, and often used as a gunman by others. Didn’t someone come to report a few days ago that Prince Cheng’s Shizi was smashed in the head and almost died? He did it. Others wanted to test your attitude towards your brothers, but they didn’t dare to stretch out their hand themselves, so they pushed him out.” Qin Lingyun reluctantly took out the Buddhist beads.

“Oh? Zhao Luli didn’t even care? He was known as the think tank in the army, how could he teach his son like this?” Emperor Sheng Yuan was greatly surprised.

“He thought of his ‘dead wife’ all day long, where he have the mind to disciplined his son, and the children are the flesh and blood left by his ‘dead wife’, he regard them as his life, and reluctant to move a hair of them. Being able to marry Guan Suyi is like he pick-up a treasure. No matter how naughty the children are, Guan Suyi can educate them very well. I heard that Zhao Luli finally beat Zhao Wangshu two days ago, and now he is detained at home studying! Guan Suyi is not like Old Master Guan, who don’t know how to be flexible and always adhere to old ideas. She is extremely good at guiding others. Just see, Zhao Wangshu will definitely be able to benefit in the future.” The words ended with a few beads.

Emperor Sheng Yuan nodded with deep feeling, but for some reason, he was very concerned about the phrase “can marry Guan Suyi is like he pick-up a treasure”. After thinking about it, it took root and became a thorn in his heart, which made him in very bad mood.

Qin Lingyun didn’t notice his slightly gloomy expression, and continued, “She said that Old Master Guan and Guan Yunqi are the two most expensive horse bones. This brain, this vision, actually penetrated to this point. If I am compared with her, afraid I’m still not good enough.”

Emperor Sheng Yuan did not respond to his words, he sat for a while with a calm face, and suddenly got up and left, not caring about the outcome of this debate.

Translator’s note:

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present you the most bonehead of all male lead!

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