Song Chuyi usually looked like a cat sprawled out on its belly sunbathing – lazy and seemingly harmless. But once she was truly provoked, she would instantly transform into a fierce tiger, biting people to death. The words she used to curse Nan Qi at this moment were, in fact, the result of her exercising extreme restraint and were still very polite.
Her temper when enraged was already considered somewhat fierce even in Qin territory, let alone in Wey, where Confucianism flourished.
Nan Qi was also briefly surprised, but then he regained his composure and said with a slight smile, “You flatter me.”
The people around them were instantly shocked, their mouths opening even wider. Ji Mian said softly, “Am I seeing things? Yunsi, someone cursed you, and you actually smiled?”
Nan Qi’s expression had always been like the whole world owed him a debt – he found everyone displeasing to the eye and rarely smiled. Just now, he had actually been smiled into laughing by being cursed? Could it be that he enjoyed being mistreated?
“Daoism emphasizes peace and detachment. He was the first to lose his temper, so naturally he has fallen into a lower order.” Nan Qi picked up his wine vessel and calmly took a sip.
Song Chuyi fell silent. Although she felt that “higher order” and “lower order” did not matter, and there was little point in it either, she truly was too easily angered. In scheming, one had to be able to guard one’s mind at all times, measuring everything with a heart that remained forever calm.
Song Chuyi suddenly sat up straight. Everyone looked nervous and was about to step forward to mediate, but then they saw her solemnly give Nan Qi a salute. “What Brother Yunsi said is entirely correct. I have learned my lesson.”
“How strange,” Hui Shuyun sighed, then asked, “Are all Daoists as mystical and cryptic as you two?”
Song Chuyi chuckled, reached out, tore off a piece of roasted meat, and stuffed it into her mouth. “He’s the only mystical and cryptic one. I’m very normal.”
“If I am not mistaken, you belong to Zhuangzi’s faction, right? Properly mystical and cryptic,” Nan Qi said slowly.
After Laozi, Daoism gradually split into factions. One faction developed Laozi’s “non-action” into nihilism; Zhuangzi was the representative of this faction, as in “Zhuang Zhou dreams of a butterfly,” which was mystery upon mystery. The other faction abandoned the elements in Laozi’s thought that negated ritual and law, interpreting Laozi’s “Dao” as natural law. Its representative was the Huang-Lao Dao-Law faction among the Jixia school in Qi.
Song Chuyi and Nan Qi happened to belong to these two different schools.
“So Huajin is a follower of Zhuangzi?” Xi Hong said in pleasant surprise.
Zhuangzi sought spiritual freedom – a life of abandon among mountains and waters, wine, and ponds – and his philosophy was also very popular in the current age.
Song Chuyi smiled, which could be taken as tacit admission.
Xi Hong tapped out a rhythm with his chopsticks and sang, “In the Northern Sea there is a fish, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so huge – I do not know how many thousands of li it spans. It transforms into a bird, and its name is Peng. The Peng’s back – I do not know how many thousands of li it spans. When it rouses itself and flies, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. This bird, when the seas move, will journey to the Southern Sea…”
“How magnificent,” Ji Mian praised.
This was Zhuangzi’s Xiaoyaoyou. Although Daoism had never accomplished anything great in governing the state or conducting foreign relations, when it came to teaching people how to cultivate their minds, many other schools of thought could not compare with it. Therefore, most scholars had read Laozi and Zhuangzi.
Song Chuyi kept stuffing meat into her mouth while humming along indistinctly.
The group was singing enthusiastically when suddenly they heard someone shout from downstairs, “The gentleman upstairs who was cursing just now…”
The voices of the crowd stopped abruptly. Then they heard the person below shout again, “We heard that you, sir, speak with sharp words. We wish to invite you, sir, to instruct us on the general trends of the world.”
This was an invitation for Song Chuyi to go and set forth her own arguments to everyone.
Debate on such occasions was an exchange among scholars. If one spoke well, one might rise to fame overnight; if one spoke poorly, no one would blame them either. But if such a debate were not accepted, it would appear greatly lacking in magnanimity and would be harmful to one’s reputation.
Song Chuyi hurriedly gnawed the meat off the bone in her hand, tossed it onto the food table, took the cloth handed over by the maidservant, wiped her hands, and only then rose calmly to her feet.
Scholars loved this kind of activity the most, so the moment Song Chuyi appeared, all eyes in the tavern focused on her. Upon seeing her appearance, the crowd’s gazes were variously surprised, incredulous, or disappointed – truly a spectacular sight.
The person standing on the platform in the main hall saw Song Chuyi slowly descending the stairs and at first felt very regretful. But seeing that Song Chuyi was relaxed and composed, without a trace of nervousness or unease, and also without the sharp edge and high spirits of youth, he instead became very curious.
Song Chuyi was also sizing up the other party. He was standing right on that platform painted with a chessboard. He looked about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, wore a blue cloth robe washed so pale it had turned white, and his black hair was neatly bound up in a silk cord. On his sharply contoured face, his brows were broad, clear, and long, like hanging rhinoceros horns, splitting apart as they extended toward his temples, full at both ends. His eyes were bright, his nose bridge firm and straight, and his lips neither too thick nor too thin.
“What clear brows and bright eyes,” Song Chuyi could not help praising. “You have a very handsome appearance, sir.”
Seeing how young Song Chuyi was, the young man for a moment did not know how to address her. After a pause, he cupped his hands and said, “You flatter me.”
Song Chuyi stepped onto the platform. “May I ask what you wish to discuss?”
“I would like to ask you: can a small state contend for the world?” the young man asked with a smile.
As soon as this question came out, some of the people around who were still drinking all turned their gazes over.
“Yes,” Song Chuyi answered without the slightest hesitation, firmly and confidently.
The young man did not press further, because the rules of debate were fixed there: once the respondent gave a view, they had to elaborate in detail on the reasons.
Song Chuyi smiled faintly and said with folded hands, “There is nothing in heaven or earth that can escape a single ‘Dao.’ Whether a state is large or small, those who follow the Dao flourish, and those who defy virtue perish. Reversal is the movement of the Dao; weakness is the function of the Dao. It is precisely because a small state is weak that it is not guarded against by other strong states. If it can make good use of this advantage – the Dao has no fixed Dao, yet all things that exist have a reason for existing. How do you know that for the weak there is only the single path of ‘perishing’?”
“Those who follow the Dao flourish, and those who defy virtue perish. Reversal is the movement of the Dao; weakness is the function of the Dao. Splendid!” The young man repeatedly savored the meaning of these words, and his eyes could not help but brighten as he shouted a word of praise.
A state that complies with morality will flourish, while a state that violates morality will gradually move toward destruction. Connecting this to current affairs, Song Chuyi’s words carried a strong implication that the King of Wei was without virtue. Regardless of whether the statement was truly reasonable, everyone who heard it felt greatly gratified in their hearts.
“Reversal is the movement of the Dao; weakness is the function of the Dao” means that the development of things always cycles and returns to the beginning. The low is the foundation of the high, and the later is the premise of the earlier. Therefore weakness is the foundation of all things, and all things begin from weakness, because only when there is weakness is there strength. When in a position of inferiority, one should use a humble and yielding attitude to reverse the decline.
Those who understood the deeper meaning of Song Chuyi’s words naturally found them brilliant. But there were also those who understood only the surface. Hearing her words, they could not help sneering, “So by this reasoning, when the King of Wei bullies our Wey this time, we should still show weakness and softly let him bully us?”
“What I am speaking of is the situation of the state. As things stand now, if Wey does not show weakness, what else can it do?” Song Chuyi retorted. She looked around and said, word by word, “If a rabbit fights a tiger with bare flesh, in the end it can only become food. Softness containing strength is the way for a weak state to become strong. If one is weak from the outside all the way to the inside, that is the true sign of a state’s destruction.”
The hall was silent for a moment. Once the crowd had savored the meaning of her words, thunderous applause immediately broke out. Nan Qi, Ji Mian, and the others shouted the loudest. With this argument, Song Chuyi would be able to make a name for herself in Wey.
“I am Xing Shou. May I ask your esteemed name?” the young man said with cupped hands.
