Track the traces of historical figures

Author: Fang Ren Gong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Unexpected Answers - The Story of Kong Rong
Henean Governor Li Ying had a peculiar temperament: he would reject all visitors to his mansion unless they were contemporary celebrities or close relatives and friends. Li Ying was already a renowned scholar, and this only enhanced his fame. One day, a child appeared at the gate of Li Ying's residence. The child was fair-faced and dressed modestly. He paced back and forth from the east to the west of the mansion gate and vice versa, occasionally glancing at the two open vermilion-painted doors of Li's mansion as if waiting for someone. After what seemed like a long while, he suddenly walked up to the gate.
"Please inform Mr. Li that I wish to pay my respects!" the child said calmly.
"Do you know the rules of our household?" the gatekeeper sneered, looking down at the child. He thought, "What a brat. I've never seen him before. His tone is quite arrogant."
The child did not back down and retorted immediately, "If your esteemed household has established rules, does that mean someone like me, who shares a distant family connection (meaning ancestral ties) with Mr. Li, should be turned away?"
The gatekeeper was taken aback and said, "You wait," then went inside to report.
The child's name was Kong Rong, courtesy name Wenzhu, from Qufu, Shandong, the 20th descendant of Confucius. He had just arrived in Luoyang with his father a few days earlier.
Kong Rong was exceptionally intelligent from a young age. Once, when his family was eating pears together, he picked the smallest one. The adults found it strange and asked why he didn't pick the bigger ones. He replied, "The elders eat the big pears, and the children eat the small ones. I am the youngest in the family, so naturally, I picked the smallest one." This answer won praise from everyone.
After arriving in Luoyang, Kong Rong heard people discussing Li Ying's character and reputation, and he very much wanted to pay him a visit. However, his father was only a commandant and had no prior connection with Li Ying. Moreover, he was only ten years old—how could he dare to go alone? After much deliberation, he decided to wait outside Li Ying's gate. If Li Ying happened to be out or returning home, he could at least catch a glimpse of this famous scholar.
However, after lingering at the gate for a long time, he didn't see Li Ying. Finally, he decided to go alone and seek an audience.
At that moment, Li Ying was having a leisurely chat with a few scholars in his study. When the gatekeeper mentioned that a "young master" with a distant family connection had come to seek an audience, he couldn't help but feel puzzled. In his memory, he had no such young relative in his list of distant family connections. But since he claimed to have a connection, there must be some basis for it. So he nodded slightly and said, "Please bring him in."
"May I ask—"
As Kong Rong entered the study, Li Ying glanced at him and asked directly, "What is your name? Where do you come from?"
Kong Rong answered in an orderly manner. Li Ying listened and realized that his family had no ancestral ties with Kong Rong's. His expression darkened, and he said, "So, the Li family has no connection with your Kong family in ordinary times. I wonder, what relationship do your ancestors and parents have with me?"
Some of the scholars in Li Ying's study also pointed and whispered, none of them having any objections to Kong Rong.
"Younger master, am I not your ancestor?" Kong Rong did not answer directly but instead turned the question back to Li Ying.