On the discussion board, the debate is in full swing.
"The most ridiculous point of the opposing view is that they say she had syphilis and that scholars should not have syphilis. After reading this, I fell into deep thought. Lu Meir is a woman. Did she get syphilis from birth? Impossible! Then, where did her syphilis come from? Men! Doesn't the Holy Academy stipulate that men who have had syphilis cannot participate in the imperial examinations? No! Then, why can't women who have been harmed by men participate in the imperial examinations? In addition, as far as I know, the brothel where Lu Meir worked was very high-end, and most of the people who came and went were scholars. So, it was the scholars who harmed her, not her who harmed the scholars!"
"The affirmative side's point of view is entangled in a disease and her identity, but the problem is that we are not discussing her 'body', but her thoughts, mind, spirit, morality, etc. The reason why we mentioned syphilis and her identity as a prostitute is to express our concern about her personal morality. As for saying that the scholar harmed her, this argument is simply ridiculous. May I ask, didn't she know that the customer might have syphilis? She knew, but she chose money!"
"The opposing side is simply a bunch of saints who have never touched women. What is she? She is a prostitute, not a brothel owner! Not a big boss! How much choice does she have? If she was from a prominent family, a young lady, would she appear in a brothel? She was forced! You accuse a person who is forced, but you don't blame the pimp, the brothel owner, the parents who sold her when she was young, and the brothels that forced her to become vicious. You are the ones who have no morals!"
"What the affirmative party said is very accurate! I agree with one point very much. She was indeed forced. After all, she didn't want to be sold to a brothel, she didn't want to prostitute herself, and she didn't want to do these despicable things. But the rebels also thought so! The rebels didn't want to kill the human race, but they were forced by the monsters! The rebels didn't want to sell out human intelligence, but they have the handle in the monsters' hands! Have you noticed that the other party has been treating Lu Meir as an ordinary person!"
"We shouldn't use the standards of ordinary people to measure students, we should use the identity of scholars to measure them! What is a scholar? A scholar can die bravely even when a demon holds a knife to his neck. Those who kneel down are traitors, not scholars! Scholars must maintain their integrity even when they are forced and insulted. Those who succumb to interests and intimidation are ordinary people, not scholars! When Lu Meir was not a student, who cared about her? But she is a scholar, so we should measure her by the standards of scholars! Obviously, she doesn't deserve to be a scholar!"
"The opposing debater is totally wrong! After passing the examination for a scholar, did Lu Meir go out to prostitute herself? Did she sell her body? Did she get syphilis again? No! After she became a scholar, she was absolutely a role model. She never did anything evil! So, when did she make a mistake? When she was still an ordinary person! You also said that you can tolerate ordinary people doing this and that. Okay, the debate is over! We won."
"I think we need to reiterate what this debate topic is. The essence of this debate topic is whether Lu Meir is qualified to be a scholar. So, what is the standard of a scholar? We have many standards for the term scholar. We say that scholars should be noble, should sacrifice their lives for justice, should have lofty ideals, and should do this and that. But, we ask the other way around, are all scholars like this? I think the scholars in the clan are not like this, so can we say that the scholars in the clan are not qualified to be scholars? Scholars are defined by the imperial examination! Since she passed the Tongsheng exam, she is a scholar. You can say that she is a bad scholar, a bad scholar, but she should indeed be a scholar!"
"Are the rebels also considered scholars?"
"Of course! If she is a rebellious scholar, just kill her. So, you can go and kill Lu Meir, I won't stop you, but I insist that she is a scholar, even if she is a scholar who can be killed."
Soon, a long reply sparked heated discussions among the public.
"I am a juren, my eldest brother is a xiucai, my second brother is also a juren, and my father is a jinshi. My father died in the battle of Liangjie Mountain, and my eldest and second brothers died in the war of barbarian invasion of Gu country. There were too many deaths on the border of our Gu country, so we have the custom of group burial and group sacrifice. The three graves of my father, eldest brother and second brother are connected together. Every year, I go twice, once on Qingming Festival, and once on my father's death anniversary, September 20th."
"Every year, I would bring my family, my father's favorite rice wine, smoked meat, and paper money to their graves. I have two sons, a daughter, a wife and two concubines. At the same time, there are my two sisters-in-law. Yes, I am now supporting my sisters-in-law, as well as my three nephews and two nieces."
"Every time I go to the grave, I ask my children and nephews and nieces to kneel down, and then I tell them about my father's most heroic moments, I tell them about how my eldest brother delayed his studies so that I could study, and I tell them about my second brother's earnest teachings to me. I always tell them that in our Liu family, no matter whether it is a man or a woman, everyone must be a scholar, everyone must have courtesy, righteousness, integrity and shame, and everyone must be a hero, because they are watching us from heaven, because they are the reason why the human race has not perished!"
"Let the child finish listening to what his father and brother have to say. I will tell him what happened to the human race recently."
"When Fang Sheng proposed that both men and women take the exam, I did not object. When the news was confirmed, I immediately called my daughters, nieces, and even nephews, all the female relatives who could read and write, together. I told them: I let you study and take the exam not so that you can fight and sacrifice like your grandfathers, uncles, or other scholars. I let you study so that you can have more chances to escape and live a few more days when you encounter monsters and barbarians. I opened a private school for them and taught them how to take the exam."
"Unfortunately, everyone can see that the women's imperial examinations are very polarized. The daughters of wealthy families are extremely outstanding, or a very small number of women from poor families are extremely outstanding. However, there are very few women who can pass the examination to become a Tongsheng. Most women are very poor. Therefore, none of my female relatives passed the examination to become a Tongsheng."
"Right after the results were announced, I took all of them to the graves of their father and brother. I didn't make them kneel and cry, nor did I punish them. I just told them their stories, the stories of Fang Sheng and the stories of those ancient sages. I didn't force them to do anything, I just hoped that they would study hard. As long as I don't go to the battlefield, my private school will continue. I think that letting more people study, regardless of gender, is as great as Confucius! Teaching everyone is for everyone, and that is what I have always insisted on."