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  Li Mingyun had a habit of writing down his thoughts and feelings whenever he saw something important or wonderful, but unfortunately, he had too many thoughts. As a result, Lin Lan spent most of her day taking notes for Li Mingyun.

  "Sympathetic heart, the starting point of benevolence; shame and hatred in the heart, the starting point of righteousness; modesty and courtesy in the heart, the starting point of propriety; right and wrong in the heart, the starting point of wisdom... Human nature is originally good, where does evil come from? And where is the source of evil?" Li Mingyun muttered to himself, shaking his head and frowning, quite disagreeing.

  Lin Lan asked weakly: "Do we have to remember this too?"

  Li Mingyun shook his head: "Just a slight feeling of emotion."

  Lin Lan said, "What's there to be sentimental about? Old Man Meng is just advising people to do good deeds. If everyone becomes a virtuous gentleman, society will be harmonious and perfect."

  Li Mingyun's eyes sparkled with interest, and he didn't expect Lin Lan to say such a thing, so he became interested in discussing it with her: "But Mencius said that these four virtues are the foundation of human nature. What is meant by 'foundation'? It means what is natural, what one is born with."

  Lin Lan sneered, "Nonsense! Which infant is born knowing about propriety and shame? Aren't they shaped by later education? If these four virtues were innate, would Confucius and Mencius need to exert themselves writing 'Analects' and 'Mencius'? Who would need them to teach?"

  Li Mingyun found it more and more interesting: "Then what do you think human nature should be like?"

  Lin Lan thought for a moment, she couldn't say anything too mysterious, lest Li Mingyun became suspicious, after all, she was just a village girl who knew some basic medical skills. She said: "I think that when people are born, there is no such thing as good or evil, because babies don't understand anything, they're like a blank sheet of paper. Later on, the people and things they come into contact with are like ink, it depends on whether red or black ink is spilled onto this blank sheet of paper."

  "This remark is quite interesting." Li Mingyun said with a smile.

  "It's just that! What's the point of arguing about whether human nature is good or evil? I've heard that someone once abandoned a newborn baby in the forest, and later the baby was taken away by wolves and grew up among them. The child's temperament became like that of the wolves. Can you say that this person is good or evil? Can they even be called human?" Lin Lan cited an example of a modern wolf child to prove her point.

  Li Mingyun sighed: "It can't be called human." Suddenly, he frowned: "Is what you said true? How could there be parents with such a ruthless heart?"

  Lin Lan shrugged: "In the vast world, there is nothing strange. So, no one is born a gentleman, nor is anyone born a villain, it's all the result of later education and cultivation. Meng Laozhang is really boring, the story of Mencius' mother moving three times has already explained this issue, he still talks about the four virtues being fundamental, it's simply slapping his own mother in the face. This boring question is not even worth arguing about, how stupid." Lin Lan said impatiently.

  Li Mingyu couldn't help but applaud and laugh: "Wonderful! Although this remark goes against the words of the sage, it has its own wonderful aspects."

  "What the saints say is not absolute, I've said it before, Meng Lao's words are just meant to teach people to be good, and his words still have a positive effect." Lin Lan said frankly.

  Li Mingyu nodded and suddenly thought of something, so he pretended to be serious and said: "Don't call Meng Laozu Meng Laozu, this is disrespect to the sage."

  Lin Lan thought of Liu Luoguo's clever solution to the "old head" story, and with a tilted head, she smiled at Li Mingyu's serious face: "What is old? Old is an honorific title, like old master, old gentleman, old lady. What is head? Head refers to the first of a family, the founder of a school. What is child? Child refers to the favored son of heaven. As Mencius was only second to Confucius as a Confucian master, shouldn't he be called 'old head'?"

  Li Ming was stunned, listening to her clever explanation, and couldn't help but laugh awkwardly. The laughter sounded like he had just heard his beloved woman's coquettish words, unintentionally carrying a hint of doting tone. For the first time, he felt that talking to her could be so delightful.

  Seeing the natural flow of her smile, revealing a little woman's charm and innocence, Li Mingyun naturally scratched the tip of her small nose and smiled: "You can't call me that in front of outsiders."

  Alright! Daring to scratch her nose, Lin Lan stretched out her hand and heavily scratched his nose, still putting on a dare-to-take-advantage-of-me-again pose, staring at him with wide eyes.

  Li Mingyun was in a good mood and laughed: "Alright, that's it for today! I'm going out to get some sun."

  "It's still sunny, the sun is about to set." Lin Lan pouted and quickly put away her pen, ink, paper and inkstone. This bookworm doesn't even know day from night.

  Li Ming allowed a moment of stunned silence, then pushed open the window and gazed out. The outside was already painted with a warm sunset glow, and he smiled faintly: "Then let's go watch the sunset!"

  "Call Yu Rong to accompany me, I want to rest. I've been writing all day and my hands are almost broken." Lin Lan rubbed her sore arms and leaned lazily against the back of the chair, complaining.

  Li Mingyu stretched out his injured hand in front of her and waved it: "Hey! The one who almost got their hand cut off was me."

  Lin Lan immediately lost her temper, feeling extremely wronged, and suddenly stood up to get the medicine box.

  "What's wrong?" Li Mingyun looked at her in confusion.

  Lin Lan opened the medicine box and rummaged through it: "I want to study a special medicine, so I can heal my injuries quickly and free up my hands."

  Li Mingyun couldn't help but smile wryly, letting her have her way, and backed out of the cabin with his hands behind him.

  These days, Lin Lan has used her spare time to concoct a pill that treats motion sickness. It's actually just Baoji Wan, but this pill was developed by Li Zhaoji of Foshan during the Guangxu period of the Qing dynasty. Lin Lan used his formula and made some minor improvements, renaming it Baoning Wan. Not only does it eliminate the suffering of drinking medicine, but it's also effective. Ye Xiang'er and Yu Rong are both taking it now, and their symptoms have improved significantly.

  Lin Lan also wanted to make Liu Shen Wan, Liu Wei Di Huang Wan, and Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Wan, and open a pharmacy in the future. These would be the signature medicines.

  Busy at it, someone knocked on the door.

  Lin Lan thought it was Yin Liu and said: "Come in!"

  "Sister-in-law, brother-in-law is not here?" The clear and melodious voice of Ye Xiang'er sounded from behind.

  Lin Lan turned around and saw Ye Xiang'er holding a small lacquered tea tray, standing there quietly. She smiled and said: "So it's my cousin, are you looking for your brother?"

  Yexi'er said with a warm smile: "It's nothing, I came specifically to see sister-in-law. These days, thanks to sister-in-law's Baoning pills, my body has become much more comfortable. Seeing sister-in-law accompany brother-in-law in reading every day is tiring, so I specially asked the kitchen to cook some bird's nest congee for sister-in-law to relieve her fatigue."

  Lin Lan was taken aback by the favor and hastily got up to take over the tea tray: "How can I possibly accept this!"

  Yexi'er smiled slightly and said: "We are all family, can't younger sister only take care of older sister, but not the other way around?"

  Lin Lan smiled awkwardly: "Then thank you, cousin." But in her heart, she was suspicious, what kind of trick was Ye Xiang'er trying to pull by being so overly polite?

  "Quickly drink it while it's hot, sister-in-law! It won't taste good if it gets cold."

  It was hard to refuse the kindness, so Lin Lan had no choice but to put down her work and drink the bird's nest congee. Ye Xiang'er walked over to the medicine box, touched the medicinal materials, seemingly very curious, and said: "I really admire Sister-in-law for knowing medical skills. To be honest, I've been weak since childhood, and my family has worried about me a lot. I've also thought about learning some medical skills, not just to cure illnesses and save people, but also so that I can take care of myself. Unfortunately, it's never worked out."

  It seems like he's trying to get Lin Lan to chime in... Is his cousin also interested in medicine?

  Lin Lan slowly drank her bird's nest congee, smiling and looking at Ye Xiang'er, pretending not to understand what she was saying.

  Yexi'er waited for a while and saw that Linlan didn't follow her words, so she went straight to the point: "Sister-in-law, why don't I study medicine instead?"

  Is it true or just a joke? Lin Lan pretended to be surprised: "Studying medicine is really tough."

  Xiang'er walked over with a gentle smile, sat down in front of Lin Lan, and said sincerely: "I really want to learn from you, not seeking to cure all diseases, but just hoping to learn some health-preserving methods from you, Sister-in-law. Are you willing to teach me?"

  Lin Lan smiled and said: "Learning how to cultivate one's body is easy, with your intelligence and wisdom, you can learn it by reading just two books on health preservation."

  "How can that be? It's better to follow Auntie's example, isn't it?" Ye Xiang'er had already assumed a pleading posture.

  Lin Lan refused but had no choice and said: "Then I'll teach some when I have time."

  Yexi'er was overjoyed and stood up, making a curtsy to Lin Lan: "Xier first thanks Eldest Sister-in-law."

  Lin Lan smiled dryly a few times: "Sister-in-law is too polite, we are all one family."

  And regardless of what ideas Ye Xiner had, if she was sincere in her pursuit of learning, she wouldn't be petty, and would teach her as such. If Ye Xiner wanted to play tricks, then she would counter with the appropriate move.

  "Eldest Sister-in-law, take your time, I'll be off first." Xiang Yin'er achieved her goal and happily left.

  Lin Lan put down the swallow's nest congee and couldn't help but mutter: "Eating at others' homes makes one's mouth soft, this saying is really not wrong at all."

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