As a result, during the midterm inspection at the end of the month, Xuan Cheng confidently presented on stage to the dozens of professors below. “Battles in ancient times were often based solely on the king’s whim. The people themselves had no say in the matter. The kings wished to unify all of China, while the people merely wanted peace and security. As a result, the kings and their subjects were divided. While victory in a battle could bring glory and fame to a kingdom, defeat brought shame and stained the name of the kingdom forever. This type of one-king system can be described as a ‘wisdom over nature’ kind of situation. After all, during those times one man could preside over the entire army itself. Typically just one man was in charge of all the strategy, and was capable of reversing the tides of battle. Any incompetent generals found their hundreds of thousands of troops virtually annihilated.” Xuan Cheng paused, sweeping his eyes across the solemn white-haired men around him. “For example, Qing Shihuang, simply by commanding an order, could reunite the six kingdoms and make the four seas one. Zhang Liang devised his military strategies thousands of miles away from the actual battle. In contrast, w.a.n.g Yan made a great error by trying to escape after the battle had broke out. This kind of atmosphere made him unable to think calmly, costing him hundreds of thousands of men.”
He paused again. “We can also use the example of Guigu Academy dispatching Wei Zhuang to lead a team of talented experts, yet none of them were unable to harm the enemy at all.”¹
“Wei Zhuang?” In the audience, Pig Head spat out his tongue, muttering to himself. “Did you watch too much The Legend of Qin?”
Xuan Cheng’s mentor couldn’t help himself from asking, “Xuan Cheng, ah, why are you mentioning Gui Gu and Wei Zhuang in your lecture?”
Xuan Chang immediately stiffened in horror. “Oh, no, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to say that.”
The meaning behind his words were actually very simple. He only needed to convince the ancient history professors to allow him to choose this topic for his dissertation. Professor Liang had told him that his topic was too deterministic and therefore an incorrect one; what he wanted to prove today was that what he had chosen was in fact correct.
History was like a dressing up a young woman. As long as what you said made sense, you could find a way to defend your claim.
After a while, the casually dressed professor sitting in the middle finally spoke. “Xuan Cheng, after discussing between all the professors, we’ve determined that your topic is untenable. Even though the deadline for choosing your topic has pa.s.sed, you’ll have to switch to a new one.”
Xuan Cheng’s expression immediately changed, as if dark and gloomy rain clouds had pa.s.sed over. Drawing courage that he didn’t know he had, he replied, “I won’t!”
Liang Ren fell back in a dead faint. Silence filled the room.
Afterwards, Liang Ren looked for Xuan Cheng again. With a sincere tone, he said, “Xuan Cheng, your topic is really an incorrect choice for a history paper. I know that this kind of material is very interesting, but whenever something concerns human consciousness and choice it’s something that just can’t be done. Since last year I’ve been trying to tell you that you should turn the deterministic elements of your topic into more important ones.”
Xuan Cheng was also serious as he replied, “Professor, I won’t change it. I have my reasons; no matter what, I believe that human wisdom can conquer over our nature. In ancient times during military conflicts, it was human choices that served as the prevailing cause.”
After trying to argue for half an hour, Liang Ren was struck dumb by Xuan Cheng’s stubbornness. Finally, he gave up, allowing Xuan Cheng to do as he pleased.
Pig Head and the others ridiculed him, pretending to argue with the sky gleefully, as if they were talking to the teachers. As the unfortunate victim, Xuan Cheng angrily lashed out against them, quoting a famous monologue from the internet: “You can only see half of my outward self, but not the true depths in my heart; you have your many choices, but I have already chosen my destined one. You may laugh that I have nothing, but I only pity that your soul is lacking; you can ridicule me studying day and night, but I will show you whose era this will become. The life of a scholar is destined to be a solitary one, and the path is filled with those who will challenge and jeer at you. But why does that matter? As I study the ancient books in the green lantern-light, I will never surrender my soul and spirit. I am a history student, I will speak for myself!” Afterwards, he took liberties to add another sentence into the mix. “I am Xuan Cheng, and I will represent my history paper!”
“Are you Chen Ou-ti? Hahaha!” The three idiots laughed until their faces were red. “Looks like the beauty’s gone completely to his head. Remember that time when he thought that the chairman took a fancy to him?”
Pig Head added fuel to the fire. “I’m afraid he spammed ‘husband’ too much on the bottom of that guy’s Weibo page!”
As before, Xuan Cheng only gave a faint smile, his face calm and unbothered.
Afterwards, he dreamed.
¹Reference to a famous Taiwanese animation. Wei Zhuang is the major antagonist who is dispatched by the Gui Gu (Ghost Valley) Academy to kill off the main characters
²Chen Ou-ti, the CEO of a cosmetics company, who achieved meme status with a series of advertis.e.m.e.nts with the phrase “I am Chen Ou-ti, I speak for myself!” Often parodied with “I am x.x.x, I speak for myself!”