 Instead, Kang disguised himself by writing an examination eight-legged essay espousing traditionalist ideas and passed the exam while Liang's paper was assumed to be Kang's and picked out to be failed.Inspired by the book "A short account of the maritime circuit", Liang became extremely interested in western ideologies.After returning home, Liang went on to study with Kang Youwei, who was teaching at "Wanmu Caotang" () in Guangzhou.