Ran Yong (522 BCE - ?), also known as Ran Yong with the courtesy name Zhonggong, was twenty-nine years younger than Confucius and a native of the State of Lu. He appears seven times in The Analects. According to the Ran Family Genealogy, Ran Li married a woman from the Yan family, who bore him two sons: the elder, Geng (Ran Geng), and the younger, Yong (Ran Yong). After the Yan woman died, he married a woman from the Gongxi family, who gave birth to Qiu (Ran Qiu). Later, hearing that Confucius was teaching in Queli, the Gongxi woman "ordered her three sons to go and study with him." Ran Yong achieved scholarly success and, along with Ran Geng (Boniú) and Ran Qiu (Ziyǒu), was counted among the "Ten Philosophers of Confucius's School." They were known in their time as "Three Worthies from One Family," and locally as the "Three Ran."
Ran Yong came from a humble and lowly background, and his father had a bad reputation, which some used as a pretext to attack Ran Yong. Confucius refuted this, saying that a plow ox could also produce a calf fit for sacrifice. Although Ran Yong was not born into an aristocratic family, how could the state afford to abandon him given his outstanding talents? Ran Yong was quiet and steady, benevolent and righteous, not given to smooth talk, and was a person of high moral cultivation and broad tolerance. He was highly valued and appreciated by Confucius, who said that "Yong could be placed facing south," meaning that Ran Yong had the bearing of a ruler and could serve as the lord of a state. He repeatedly asked Confucius about Ren (Benevolence) and practiced it earnestly, truly seeking and attaining benevolence. His classmate and close friend Zi Gong (a wealthy merchant and eloquent disciple) also praised him for not being burdened by poverty, not treating his subordinates as personal property but as borrowed messengers, not taking out his anger on others, not harboring deep resentment, and not holding grudges over others' past mistakes.
Ran Yong possessed extraordinary political talent. He once consulted Confucius on governance, and Confucius taught him to maintain a reverent and forgiving heart, focus on self-cultivation, attend to the broader picture in affairs, and promote many virtuous talents. After accompanying Confucius on his travels through various states, Ran Yong returned to Lu and, in the third year, became the steward of the powerful Ji family. He treated the virtuous with respect and governed by "dwelling in reverence while practicing simplicity"—that is, he studied policies seriously and earnestly as an official, yet implemented them in a simple manner, grasping the essentials while discarding trivialities. He advocated "transforming the people through De (Virtue)" and achieved remarkable political accomplishments. However, after serving in the Ji household for three months, Ran Yong found that his remonstrations were not fully followed nor his advice fully heeded, so he resigned and returned to follow Confucius.
He was renowned among Confucius's disciples for his virtuous conduct. On his deathbed, Confucius praised him before the other disciples, saying: "How worthy is Yong! He far surpasses others." He was listed among the "Four Categories and Ten Philosophers" (in the category of Virtuous Conduct) of Confucius's school. During the Warring States Period, Xun Kuang (Xunzi, a prominent Confucian philosopher) greatly revered him, ranking him alongside Confucius as a Great Ru (Confucian scholar).