Guozijian scholar Zhou Wenqiang stepped out of the ranks.
"Wei Gong, trouble you to take a look at this for this official."
Wei Zheng nodded and handed the dictionary over.
As he flipped through the dictionary and read its contents, Zhou Wenqiang's expression slowly turned very grim.
Until finally, he closed the dictionary with a snap.
"Your Majesty! This dictionary misinterprets the imperial will and cannot be promoted, otherwise it risks misleading future generations!"
"Moreover, many indecent characters and words are brazenly written in this dictionary, which is an insult to refinement!"
Hearing this, Fang Er immediately became displeased.
Damn it, Xue Zhiqian and dozens of other scholars worked for nearly two months to compile this dictionary, and he described it so poorly.
This was simply challenging his bottom line!
"May I ask your name, sir?"
"This official is Zhou Wenqiang, scholar of the Guozijian. Does the Marquis of Liaodong have an opinion on what this official just said?"
Zhou Wenqiang looked at Fang Er arrogantly with his chin raised.
That expression made Fang Er very unhappy. Confucius was already wishing he were dead, who would dare to be as confident as you!
Misinterpreting the imperial will, what a heavy accusation! And misleading future generations!
"This Marquis asks you, 'Heaven begot me with virtue, what can Huan Tui do to me?' What was the sage doing when he said this? What was he thinking?"
"In what tone did he speak? What were his inner thoughts?"
"Also, what do you mean by 'indecent characters and words'? Are you saying that the characters created by our ancestors are shameful?"
Zhou Wenqiang was stunned.
"There's a way to ask that? Isn't it always about asking what the sentence means?"
Seeing him stammering and unable to utter a complete sentence, Fang Er was not polite.
"If you can't even answer this, how can you be sure that what you've learned is definitely correct?"
"You are always saying 'the Master said, the Master said.' Did the Master tell you to say all this?"
"With your intelligence, I'm afraid in reading comprehension, you'd only be able to write 'understand'!"
Zhou Wenqiang's face turned red, and he pointed at Fang Er, loudly questioning,
"This is sophistry! The question just now, do you happen to know the answer?"
Fang Er smiled and suddenly pointed at Zhou Wenqiang, scolding him.
"I just love seeing you dislike me yet be unable to do anything about it!"
After speaking, he instantly calmed down, stroking his chin with his right hand.
"Hmm! It should be this state. No mistake!"
"Hahahaha!" Chai Shao, with a large bump on his forehead that looked like a horn, watched from the side and laughed heartily.
"Alas! Brother, your performance is spot on!" Cheng Yaojin also chuckled.
Zhou Wenqiang's face twitched, but how could he retort? He hadn't seen the sage's expression when he said that either!
However, thinking about the content of the sentence and the context, it seemed… there was a tiny possibility?
"Is the Marquis of Liaodong making fun of the sage?"
Seeing that Zhou Wenqiang couldn't respond, Du Zijian, a博士 from the Guozijian, asked Fang Er with an unfriendly tone.
Fang Er glanced at him and then, without mercy, retorted.
"You always invoke the sage's name, does that truly mean you respect him?"
"Who knows if you are two-faced? Saying one thing to our faces and another behind our backs?"
"The sage taught us to do good, but why are there still so many scholars in prison?"
Du Zijian was speechless. After a long period of contemplation, he looked at Fang Er sinisterly and said.
"First the newspaper full of indecent language, and now this dictionary."
"In this official's opinion, the Marquis of Liaodong is perhaps trying to manipulate public opinion with ulterior motives!"
"Damn! This is a killing blow without drawing blood!"
Before Fang Er could speak, the protective Chai Shao immediately became unhappy.
"The newspaper reports current events, and this was personally vetted by the Emperor!"
"Are you saying that the Emperor is manipulating public opinion?"
"From the Spring and Autumn period to the present, a full thousand years have passed!"
"Besides clinging to old piles of paper, have you ever had your own opinions?"
"If you can't do it yourself, and then get jealous when someone else creates something good, isn't that just being envious!"
Du Zijian did not expect Chai Shao to shift the topic to Li Shimin.
Seeing Li Shimin's unfriendly gaze, he instantly felt a chill all over his body.
He quickly bowed to Li Shimin: "Your subject did not mean that! I implore Your Majesty to investigate."
Li Shimin's voice was cold: "Manipulating public opinion! You have placed a very heavy hat on me!"
"What, I allowed government decrees to be published, and now that's wrong?"
After speaking, he looked at the officials in the hall and roared.
"Whoever dares to bring up the newspaper again, take off your clothes and get out of the palace!"
Du Zijian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and retreated to his position.
After he returned, Li Shimin directly read Fang Er's three conditions from yesterday in public.
Of course, at this occasion, he certainly did not present Fang Er to the front, only stating them as his own decisions.
Fang Xuanling was about to step forward to express his agreement when he heard Lu Guan, the Left Vice Minister of his Ministry of Revenue, speak before him.
"Your Majesty, this subject has an objection to this matter."
"Establishing these schools is likely to consume a large amount of money, and the Ministry of Revenue simply cannot afford it!"
Li Shimin turned his gaze to Fang Xuanling.
The implication was obvious.
"Your subordinate is undermining me, give me an explanation!"