If you want to show your edge, show it—but if you let it shine too bright, you'll only make those who wield power feel threatened.
Giving your final answer all at once cannot compare to advancing step by step.
So-called merit is sometimes just like this—the right to explain belongs to those who decide the merit.
If they say your merit is great, then it's great—and you're rewarded with official rank and nobility.
If they say it's minor, then it's minor—and you're simply given some silver as a dismissal.
Or, like Shen Yu—clearly he had great merit in interpreting the Mountain Scripture, but because he couldn't hold his tongue, his merit was outweighed by his faults, and he was demoted to this place.
To put it plainly, merit is nothing but a means of control for those in power.
If you aim to go far, you must continually prove your worth, until one day you've accumulated enough to set the rules yourself.
