Chapter 322 - I can explain it all! (1/2)

“Reasonable!”

“It really has such a structure!”

“Nine by twelve?? Old Cao is too particular about it!”

“Teacher Zhang Ye, well done! So mighty and domineering!”

Yao Mi clapped her hands, giving him her kudos. A small number of Peking University students also nodded their heads. The cla.s.s was too interesting! It was just the same as the first lesson. Just listening to Zhang Ye’s first few sentences made them yearn for more. All their attention was on Zhang Ye. This lecturing method of throwing a shocking statement at the beginning and then slowly explaining it through logical arguments had been used by many lecturers before. However, there were few who could do it as well as Zhang Ye!

The point of view was too refres.h.i.+ng!

The angle was also very different from the norm!

A few Redology experts looked at one another. They were unable to refute him, and were in a daze. They were here to dismantle him, but they ended up falling into Zhang Ye’s rhythm. Before coming, they had indeed done a lot of preparatory work. They thought Zhang Ye would carry on providing evidence and talk from there and then slowly guide people with his “chicanery”. Hence, a few Redologists and people from the world of literature had decided on how to refute him. They had even thought of how to force Zhang Ye into a dead end, causing himself to be trapped in a corner, with no way of justifying what he said. It could be said that these people, from the literary world that brought animosity with them, were prepared, but they were rendered speechless because Zhang Ye had completely ignored their discourse!

Doc.u.mentation as proof?

In the end, this fellow didn’t talk about that!

He started on another footing, and began talking about the structure of “Dream of the Red Chamber”!

Meng Dongguo only wanted to curse out loudly: You aren’t f**king dealing out your cards in a routine fas.h.i.+on!

This made the Redologists simmer their words that they could not vent. Regarding the structure, and the nine times twelve, they had never studied it before. The entire Redology world had never explored this piece of content, what was there for them to say? They were not prepared at all! They could only listen helplessly to Zhang Ye talk! They were originally planning to lead Zhang Ye into a trap so that he would fall into their hands, but who knew that they were the ones who got caught up in Zhang Ye’s rhythm!

He was not simple!

He really had skills!

Yan Yu looked at Zhang Ye, and no longer held contempt towards him in her heart. She began considering Zhang Ye’s theory from an academic perspective for the first time.

Elder Qian smiled and said to Yan Yu, “Little Zhang isn’t bad, is he?”

Yan Yu remained silent for a moment before commenting, “Brilliant, but his views are too radical.” In the end, she still did not believe Zhang Ye’s theory.

Elder Qian said, “Let’s carry on listening then. Hur Hur.”

A Historian from another school said objectively, “What Teacher Little Zhang said really makes a lot of sense. One has to know that the cultural beliefs in historical heritage, the ancients valued tradition a lot. They paid attention to structure. Such as five-word poems, seven-word poems that required them to rhyme. This can all be seen.”

Professor Zeng also nodded slightly while stroking his beard. Teacher Little Zhang had really lived up to the expectations of Peking University!

Wu Zeqing, at another side, still had that mild expression. She never gave a look of doubt from beginning to the end. It was as if she always believed Zhang Ye would be able to lecture well.

The Chinese department’s Dean and Department Secretary were different. When they heard Zhang Ye boldly claim that the number of chapters of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ was incorrect, they began to worry. They were worried he would shame the name of their Peking University’s Chinese department. There were so many expert scholars and insiders present who had been studying ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ for nearly all their lives. If they managed to refute him until he was speechless, then that would be a great spectacle. Hence these department leaders and teachers of Peking University were all worried. Only when they saw this scene, did they realize that not only was Zhang Ye not stumped, he had dumbfounded the literary experts and Redologists instead. As a result, they were relieved. They were also overjoyed!

Nice job Little Zhang!

Your speech has already knocked that bunch of Redologists unconscious?

Zhang Ye carried on speaking. He exploited his victory in one fell swoop. “So according to this structure, with nine times nine equals eighty-one, chapter 82 of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ should be another major divisor. It should be a turning point in the major plot.” As he said this, he gestured to the staff member in charge of the projector. The projector immediately jumped to Chapter 81. “However, in the 120 circulated chapter version of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, that isn’t the case. This is the reason why I have always been saying that Cao Xueqin’s original writing is limited to the first 80 chapters on the whole!”

The text of chapter 81 appeared.

When everyone saw this, they were curious.

“It doesn’t feel wrong?”

“That’s right. It looks like it was all written by one person.”

“I think so too. It’s quite smooth and very reasonable.”

“If it’s continued on and just imitated, it wouldn’t be imitated so well, right?”

The Peking University students were all speaking in hushed tones.

A few Redologists did not speak out so easily. They were put into a pa.s.sive state by Zhang Ye’s opening. Now, they did not want to speak up on unfamiliar structural problems that they did not research on. They wanted to watch silently and see if Zhang Ye would make a mistake, so they could find an opportunity to refute him.