Don't be a Kept Man

Chapter 44: What Would I Even Covet From You

Upon hearing Chen Miao Ping say this, the Emperor realized that there must be an interesting trick to this, yet he could not pinpoint the exact meaning of this exercise. His expression was skeptical, but he did not interrupt. To the side, Xie Su Zhi was also deep in thought, and she had quite a vested interest in this story.

Chen Miao Ping continued,

"Your Majesty's explanation is correct in how the relative wanted it to be interpreted, 'A raining day keeps guest, heavens keep I do not'. The student scholar could also understand that meaning, but he instead used the original words to create a different meaning as, 'A raining day, keeps guest day; keep me not? Keep.'"

Everyone laughed in response and thought that this was quite an interesting tale. The Emperor said as he chuckled,

"That is quite ingenious."

Chen Miao Ping continued,

"A stopping point used at different points of a sentence, or with a different inflicted tone, they can all create a different meaning. This poetry line can actually have many more interpretations. For example, 'A raining day, keep guest day; keep me or not keep?' or 'A raining day, keep guest day. Keep? I do not keep!' These are exemplary examples that can only be interpreted differently by the person reading and understanding it. With each lesson by a different teacher, it would naturally be taught to produce different levels of students with different levels of understanding."1

Based on his explanation, a feeling of delight and admiration emerged in the Emperor for this kind of reasoning. He repeated Chen Miao Ping's explanations once more to himself and this time, he couldn't help but release a long sigh of appreciation and understanding. With some feelings of lament and gratitude in his voice, he said,

"Zhen also hopes that all the talents under this sky could be used as they are talented, but the core, the basis of this country rests on those families with weighted backgrounds. How could we just shake the foundations? Zhen, however, does understand your meaning......"

Chen Miao Ping lowered his eyes. The whole point to his long speech was to tell the Emperor that the sons of high status families have too many things in their favor. Whether it was from the strength of their teachers or their networking, it all exceeded far beyond those who come from poor families and no backgrounds.

Hence, it was a completely normal result for this examination to have more than 70% of the examinees who passed be from high status families. But if the Emperor wanted to solve the root of the problem, he must focus all his energy on shrinking that gap between the rich and the poor, letting everyone walking on this earth have a chance to study and read.......

But the possibility of this was slim to none. Even with the focus and power of a few generations tackling this problem, it was not enough to bring this change to completion, as that's what had happened in the history of his original world.

The palace was completely surrounded in silence where one could have heard a pin drop to the ground. In the midst of this silence, outraged yells could be heard echoing faintly throughout the entire Imperial Palace, so much so that it could be heard from as deep as Zhi Feng Palace. Those who heard these calls of rage and anguish from the poor scholars could feel those cries of protest sincerely from the bottom of their hearts.

Those scholars had been gathered around the entrance to the Imperial Palace since this morning.

The Emperor gritted his teeth tightly, and holding onto the chair's armrest, he solemnly said the next few words,

"Those officials that are involved in this law breaking case must be punished without question! The names of all examinees who have cheated will have their rank removed, flogged a hundred times and jailed for three months. For the rest of their life, they will be barred from being an official of this country!"