Chapter 30: CH 30

Snitching was always risky, but one needed to be cautious on the topic of learning.

At the end of the school day, Zhao Yinglin furiously blocked Cui Xie in an inconspicuous place located outside of the academy. Betrayal, anger and pain spread across his whole, taut face. He gritted his teeth, grabbed the lapels of Cui Xie’s robes and said, “How could you do this! I kindly invited you to attend the poetry gathering, but you secretly complained to my grandparents behind my back, I…I even thought you were a good person! You! You…”

Although Cui Xie had been grabbed by the collar of his robes, with Zhao Yinglin’s protruding muscles and bones along with his small, tightly clenched fists wandering in front of him, Cui Xie still maintained the demeanor of a scholar and asked, “How many sheets of characters did Zhao shixiong write today? Memorized how many tens of pages of books? How many circles and dots did Teacher Lin write on your essays?”

Shixiong: senior male fellow student, apprentice/disciple; peers of the same generation often refer to this (male only)

Zhao Yinglin grabbed Cui Xie’s clothes and wanted to hit him, but hearing these words felt like a bucket of cold water had been doused on his head, his thin, boney clenched fists swayed, but he restrained himself and bitterly replied, “Yesterday, my grandparents took turns to chastise me, and even said they would tell my da-ge, and have my da-ge write a letter back rebuke me! I kindly invite you to participate in a poetry gathering, and you treat me like this!”

Da-ge: older brother

Cui Xie calmly waited for him to finish, then raised his hand to grab Zhao Yinglin wrist and pulled it down, pulling apart from those thin hands.

He looked at Zhao Yinglin and sincerely said, “Zhao shixiong must not be so anxious to take offense, what I did naturally has a justification and reason for it. Would Zhao shixiong like to sit at my residence for a while?”

Zhao Yinglin turned his head away and snorted coldly. Cui Xie straightened out his robes, said ‘Please’ and walked out of the school first.

A few of the Zhao family members and servants were already blocked outside the entrance. When they saw them, they beamed and said, “Young Master Cui, my father instructed us to escort er-ge home. The things that Young Master is carrying can be given to us, Little Brother Pengyan is still young, even if we carry a bit more, we will not expend too much effort.”

Er-ge: Here, this is a servant addressing his household’s Second Young Master. He does not literally mean that Zhao Yinglin is his second brother, but rather it is just how servants/family members referred to their young masters by their chronological age.

Cui Xie thanked him, handing his bags to them and told Pengyan to rush home to prepare tea and then said to them, “I would like to ask Zhao shixiong’s guidance on some subjects I do not know how to do. I hope these two da-ge can help me talk to Grandma Zhao, Grandpa Zhao and Uncle and Aunt. Allow him to sit at my residence for a while to read a book and discuss some questions.”

One of the manservants felt embarrassed and said with difficulty: “These past two days, my Father, Mother, and grandparents have to strictly keep watch of er-ge, he is not allowed to stay outside…”

Zhao Kui raised his hand to slap him and scolded, “Is Young Master Cui an outsider? Isn’t the Cui family basically a part of the Zhao family!” After scolding the manservant, he turned around and smiled at Cui Xie, “Young Master can feel free to take er-ge with you. I will go home and talk to the grandparents to make sure that the two elders will be happy and will no longer blame er-ge for acting willfully and making trouble outside.”

Zhao Yinglin pouted and dilly-dallied behind the group, taking frequent glances at Cui Xie harmonizing with his family members who acted as if they were not related to him, filled with injustice as he dragged his feet. Nevertheless, he still honestly and well-behavededly followed Cui Xie and entered the Cui Residence. Zhao Kui trailed behind them to help them with their bags.

In the courtyard, there were two children with chuitao hairstyles chasing and frolicking with great cacophony. This pair of children were the son and daughter of Worker Huang’s family. Cui Xie halted in front of the passageway and waited for them to run past before grabbing Zhao Yinglin’s wrist and saying, “Zhao shixiong, please come to my study.”

Chuitao: When babies are born, their hair was let loose to hang over their head and this period would last until the children reach 8 or 9.

Erfang (2 in the diagram)

His study was located laterally to his bedroom and in the erfang (second ‘ear’ room/wing). In the very beginning, Zhang mama was the one who had picked it out for him, and a gate had been opened on the protruding bedroom’s western wall, allowing independent entry and exit. Later, because two artisans’ families had come to live in the residence and he wanted to order them some furniture, Cui Xie also conveniently commissioned himself a modern-style bookcase that spanned the entire wall and a long sofa. This way, one could recline on the sofa and read a book comfortably.

嬷嬷(mā mā): while it is pronounced mama, it refers to old female servants, and is used similarly to pozi

Example of modern-day style bookcase:

Versus ancient chinese style bookcase

Zhao Yinglin had never seen a study room arranged in such a way before. When he first entered the door and saw the bookcase full of books, he had been shocked to a halt.

But he was still angry with Cui Xie, and was unwilling to praise him. Once he recovered his spirit, he promptly displayed a disdainful expression and posture, criticizing, “Why is your bookshelf so ugly? The wood is originally not good, only a layer of tung oil was applied and there are no decorative carvings on them. The bookshelves don’t even have irregular, varying heights and shapes…why is there a bed next to the table!”

Tung oil: tung oil, from the Japanese wood-oil tree Aleurites cordata; used in making lacquer

“This luohan bed was probably made after the workers embezzled some of the materials, right? It is too narrow, one cannot lie down properly and the bed frame is also slanted back, how could you ask for such a thing? The cushions and pillows on it are too thick and overstuffed. The fabric is also not good. Our family’s bed sheets and mattresses are made of silk and the pillows are all embroidered with flowers. You do not even have embroidered patterns on the sheets…”

Luohan bed: piece of furniture may be placed in a reception hall or in a studio for relaxation durng the day. A kang table could be used on top of it for enjoying refreshments.

Zhao Yinglin was deliberately picking faults, everywhere he looked, he would only see things he disliked. He thought that everything was wrong with this study and talked on and on about it. Once his gaze shifted away from the bookcase to the other side of the study, when he saw a timetable nailed to the whitewashed wall, his throat suddenly went mute and he was speechless—

In the area where the wall was flat and smooth, a thin cedar board had been nailed down with iron nails. It was similar to the game scoreboards used in competitions, with movable numbers. There was a line of character written on the board: ‘There are 529 days until the Jiachen County Examinations’.

Jiachen: 41st year of the 60 year cycle 

Anytime you see a word in front of the examinations, it usually refers to the year in the 60-year cycle used in ancient times. The Chinese 60 year calendar cycle is based on combinations of a cycle of ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. It is how people kept track of birth years and dates back then.

The three numbers displayed on the small board could be switched out. Every day you could flip the page, watch the day of the exam approach day by day until the date arrived…just thinking about this made people feel frightened and restless.

Zhao Yinglin felt like all his grievances had dissipated in front of this sign and he asked in horror, “Why did you make such a sign to hang on the wall!”

Cui Xie indifferently said, “Because I am not like Zhao shixiong who has already passed and been admitted as a tongsheng already, I still have to pass the Yingxian examination first. A concrete date has not been set for the county examination and it is yet to be determined, so I can only calculate it based on the chunwei examination date. Anyway, a few days will not make too much of a difference. Zhao shixiong will be taking the dao examinations soon and has two more months of review than me, but those two months will pass by in a flash right?”

Yingxian: Ying county in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province

Chunwei examinations: “spring exam”, these are the metropolitan exams that are held always a year later than provincial ones and takes place in February usually and is hence called the “spring exam”. Successful candidates who passed were called gongshi (tribute scholars)

Dao examinations: the first of three sessions for the provincial/metropolitan examinations. The provincial and metropolitan examinations were organized in three sessions: The first session was three questions (dao) on the interpretation of the Four Books and four on the Five Classics. Three days later, the second session will take place with the challenge to compose one discursive essay (lun), five critical judgments (pan), an announcement (gao) and a memorial (biao). Again, three days latter, the third session is held in which five essays are to be compiled on Classics, historiography and contemporary affairs.

Helpful diagram:

“That, well there are still 600 days left…” Zhao Yinglin retorted stiffly, forcibly looking away from the time board and then saw the timetable set by Cui Xie.

Rise at the time of maozheng to exercise. At the start of chensi, go attend school, in the gap between Teacher’s lessons, recite a hundred lines from the 《Four Books》, recite ten sections from 《Classic of Poetry》, look over twenty pages of characters, do twelve poti, and read one chapter from 《Classic of Poetry》, 《Book of Rites》,《Book of Changes》 and 《Spring and Autumn Annals》. After returning home from school, read the poti in the collected works, and memorize three ancient texts. After dinner, rest for 30 minutes and then start reviewing the notes taken during the day. Then memorize books and practice painting…all the way until the second nightwatch period.

Maozheng: time from 5-7 am.

Chenshi: 7-9 am

Poti or “breaking open the topic’ is the opening of the eight-legged essay in which two sentences of prose are written that function as broaching the topic and demonstrating the test-taker’s knowledge about the title/prompt and its source. It is a writing style in which the main subject is approached directly from the outset. I will be using poti and the phrase “breaking the topic” interchangeably since either versions fit better in certain contexts than the other.

The “second nightwatch period” or ergeng refers to the second of the five night watch periods and this is usually from 9  pm to 11 pm.

The fifth nightwatch period is from 3-5 am.

Obviously, it was not the type of arrangement that required for someone to study and sleep until the fifth nightwatch period, but how could just looking at his timetable make people feel chilly?

By coincidence, Pengyan entered the study, cupping refreshments and holding the school bags, informing them that Zhao Kui was returning home first. Zhao Yinglin’s thoughts were interrupted by this and he slowly recovered from this anxious and pressing state one would feel when an exam was fast approaching. He slowly returned from his previous state of not being able to stop studying, even for just a moment.

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His anger when he first arrived had long been forgotten behind him and he used all his willpower to vehemently debate with two sentences: “I have never studied this way, and look, wasn’t I also admitted as a tongsheng? Besides, your, your class schedule is off. Why don’t you take a look at 《Statutes》《Ordinances》or learn 《A Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance》or 《Memorials of Famous Officials in Past Dynasties》?”

Zizhi Tongjian: A Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography published during the Song Dynasty. In 1065, Emperor Yingzong of Song ordered the great historian Sima Guang to lead, with other scholars such as his chief assistants Liu Shi, Liu Ban and Fan Zuyu, the compilation of a universal history of China and it took 19 years to complete . It covers 16 dynasties and spans across 1400 years.

Since the Four Books and Five Classic were heavily weighted and emphasized, besides questions on the scriptures, there were questions on a few other topics. But, the others were merely adding flowers to the brocade and could be pushed back in terms of learning.

Adding flowers to the brocade (idiom): provide the crowning touch, to give additional splendor; similar to the saying “icing on the cake”

Cui Xie smiled wordlessly and invited Zhao Yinglin to sit down and drink tea.

The sofa cushions were stuffed with duck and goose feathers that were bought for three silvers per sack at the market. Sitting on it made one feel like they were sinking, the cushions both soft and squishy. The curvatures of the back of the sofa was just right and adding on the goose feather cushion, one did not need to sit in that usual kind of upright and still position. Naturally, this design was adjusted to give people the most comfortable feeling.

The moment he sat down, Zhao Yinglin felt a bit ashamed to face the sofa and thought that he should not have disdained it just because it was narrow and rough looking or because the cushions were not satin-covered. Sitting on the Cui family’s sofa, cupping the tea given by the Cui family, facing the Cui family…shixiong, he could no longer express his anger and he hmphed twice and lowered his head.

Cui Xie serenely asked, “Zhao shixiong is still angry with me?”

Zhao Ying Lin bit his lip and furiously replied, “You wanted to go yourself, why did you snitch on me? If I knew you were the type to tell my family’s elders everything behind my back, I, I wouldn’t have helped them ask to invite you!”

Cui Xie sternly said, “Whether I go or not, or whether shixiong goes is two different things. I am the son of a Beijing official. If I do not study well in the future, I can just easily enter the official route by being a yinjian, and become a minor official; I can also accompany my father in taking care of official matters; I can also marry a wife with a rich dowry and spend all my life cock fighting and running around like a hunting dog…does shixiong still want to compare with me?”

Yinjian: one of the many titles given to students during an Imperial examination, specifically the sons of officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Bureaucratic officials enjoyed this privilege where their sons could have an easier time if they had this title during the exams and based on what type of family you came from, there would be different titles, Imperial exam content and supervisors. Think of it as an alumni legacy privilege for colleges.

How can I not compare with you! You may be the young master of an official family, but my family also owns a paper mill, and I am not the poor, raggedy scholar who has never seen the world!

A spark ignited in Zhao Yinglin’s stomach and a flame roared to life in his chest. He wanted to quarrel with Cui Xie, but was beaten to it by the other party who opened his mouth and solemnly said, “Eldest Zhao shixiong is studying in Fucheng and cannot easily make a trip back. Only you can stay at the knee of your father and grandfather and cater to make them happy. The hope of the entire family rests on you! Your mother expects you to become a talent by studying and supporting your entire family; Your parents are waiting for you to be granted a title and become an official, returning your parents’ kindness…”

Zhao Yinglin was startled and subconsciously whispered: “But there is still my da-ge…”

Cui Xie glanced at him and said in a deep voice, “Because of your da-ge, you must study even harder. Your da-ge has taught you since childhood, training you to become a talent. In the future, when he is admitted as a jinshi and becomes an official, and needs assistance in the court, shouldn’t you take out your ability and repay him? If you do not try to help him as soon as possible, do you want him to deal with the matters of court by himself?”

Jinshi: highest rank a scholar can get and is attained after passing the imperial court exam, when scholars attain this rank they usually become court officials. It should be noted that the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) had a very large number of jinshi graduates reaching up to around 24, 536 in total.

Zhao Yinglin opened his mouth but did not know how to refute. Cui Xie did not give him any space to think and he finally hammered it home, “You are the pillar of the whole family and you have a heavy responsibility resting on your shoulders. How can you hurt your family’s expectations by participating in a poetry gathering? Fine, I have some essays written by various anshou candidates from various counties curated by the Heavenly (Shuntian) Provincial Fu. You can take a few copies and take them home to read. No matter how good the poems in the poetry gathering are, it will not be tested in the yuanshi examinations, and will not be as helpful as these articles.”

Anshou: highest ranking linsheng and the top shengyuan who ranked first in the college exam (yuanshi)

Shengyuan: (生員, lit. “student member”), also commonly called xiucai (秀才, lit. “distinguished talent”), an entry-level licentiate who had passed the college exam (there are three classes within shengyuan that is in the pictures below

Lisheng: (廩生, lit. “granary student”), the first class of shengyuan, who were the best performers in the college exam

Yuanshi: college level exam that tongsheng(passed the county exam) have to take

府(fῠ): is a compound, house or mansion. Fu (府) can only be labelled and called as such if it is bestowed as part of a position or inherited in the aristocracy. In this case, it is referring to an administrative governmental division in the Ming Dynasty, a local government office.

The Shuntian Fu was a high-ranking government office with jurisdiction of 24 countries. It had the highest local administrative agency in the capital and was a Superior Third grade, two to three levels higher than a general prefecture office. While a usual official third grade yamen used bronze seals, Shuntian Fu used silver seals.

Cui Xie took a few other books he had read, wrapped them in oil paper carefully and asked Pengyan to go to the kitchen to fetch some fresh fruit and snacks. He personally sent Zhao Yinglin home and said a few reassuring words to the Zhao family’s elders.

Landlord Zhao truly hated that he could not keep Cui Xie as his grandson and exchange that uneasy monkey who could not relieve his worries with the Cui family. Cui Xie grinned and comforted them, “In fact, Brother Yinglin does not like that type of entertainment. He merely admires the scholarly atmosphere and was willing to listen to senior talents talking about poetry and essays. Once I am at the poetry gathering, I will make a copy of the poems and verses and bring it back for him to read. He will naturally be overjoyed.”

Uncle Zhao (Zhao Yinglin’s father) said, “Yes, you go and copy some poems…”

Huh? Huh?! You snitch on others so they cannot go, then how can you still attend then?!

Cui Xie very naturally explained, “My classmates and I are not familiar with each other and it is rare for them to invite me this once. If I reject them for no reason, I am afraid that others will think that my family is too proud and shows contempt for others. In the future, they will not be willing to associate with me.”

So that’s why. Landlord Zhao nodded repeatedly, “This has some truths to it. You scholars should compose more poems and essays. If this Yinglin child was not so worrisome,  I would have let him attend and broaden his worldview.”

Zhao Yinglin was so furious that his face bulged, his veins pulsing. Cui Xie was afraid that he would anger himself into illness and he also praised Zhao Yinglin in front of his father and grandfather, “Brother Yinglin is a responsible person. He understands the severity of the situation and will not be distracted by the flashy ongoings outside.”

After saying his farewells to the elders and grandchildren of the Zhao Residence, when he returned home, Pengyan asked him with a tinge of worry, “Da-ge is really planning on attending the poetry gathering? Your body is qi deficient and the Chongyang mountains are also cold. The cold air won’t aggravate your prior wounds right?”

In fact, the healing medicine sent by Colonel Xie and the Imperial Physician who had been invited, the scars on his buttocks had long flattened and there was only a slightly reddish knife scar on his shoulder. There used to be a slightly itchy feeling, but now he no longer felt that at all.

Qianhu(colonel): The Ming Dynasty had multiple marshal offices and administrative offices set up under high commanderies. Qianhu, is one of many types of administrative titles given to senior and junior commanders to take care of. There were a total of 17 Qianhu offices, or chillarchies, each office and their commander in command of 1,000 households. Translation-wise, I will be referring to Xie Qianhu as Colonel Xie.

Cui Xie felt his wound through his robes and grinned, “The injuries on my body had healed long ago. Aren’t you and your father too worried, if you don’t believe it, why don’t you touch it for yourself?”

Pengyan shook his head, “What’s the use of me feeling it, I am not a doctor. Forget it, I’ll ask Huang dasao to make a cotton-padded inner jacket to wear. It is better to wear a bit more, lest you might catch a cold.”

Dasao: older brother’s wife/sister in law-so in this case, Huang dasao is the furen that was described but she is most likely married to the eldest Huang son (Working Huang)

Cui Xie smiled and watched Pengyan run to the inner courtyard. He turned around and went to the workshop located behind the residence and asked the artisans how long it would take to engrave the woodblocks and whether they would make it in time for the Chongyang Poetry Gathering.

The engravers laughed, “Even if an wants to be quick, with our capability, it will still take four or five days to engrave everything. Little Pengyan already timed us before. This novel has hundreds of pages and just engraving the text alone will take more than three months. If the pictures are to be printed in color, it will be necessary to engrave a few different versions for color printing using overlaid images. Right now it is the end of August, the Chongyang festival is almost upon us. The earliest it can be printed will be around November.”

An: northern dialect that means “I”

Chongyang Festival: Double Ninth Festival or Double Yang Festival occurs on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month which is said to have a lot of yang (sun/warm) energy and is a very auspicious date. It is customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum liquor and wear the zhuyu (japanese cornel dogwood) plant (considered to have cleansing qualities). Chongyang cake is popular and incense sticks are burned. Some Chinese will visit the graves of their ancestors to pay respects on this day as well.

Cui Xie early on had already surmised that the novel would most likely not be able to make it in time, but after measuring the time, if it was only engraving one picture and then pairing a fine and delicate verse under the picture, that should still be doable in the time frame he had left. These past two days he had been practicing his lines and in early September, he could try to imitate those embroidered pictures. If the engravings would not make it in time, he could only hand-paint a few diagrams of beautiful women and sell the design of the character at the poetry gathering.

He asked a few more technical questions and inadvertently pointed out the solution that would resolve the issue of the rigid and one-toned color filling—if one wanted the colors to be printed as if it had been shaded softly like paintings did, one could use their fingers to press on that area with color; For deeper and more shaded areas, one could use their fingernails to scrape and line. This would be quicker and smarter than using a rake.

In fact, he hated that he could not just write down the things from the chemistry textbook and show them to the workers, but an official family’s Young Master should not know the difficulties of printing and it was normal to want to willfully print colored pictures; if a person who had never been in contact with printing suddenly came up with color printing techniques that surpassed the current era’s techniques, that person would be regarded as an evildoer possessed by something unclean.

Therefore, he only occasionally made a few comments to guide the artisans to break through the limitations of their thinking. After that, the workers could fill in the gaps in the technical problems that he did not mention the solution to on their own initiative and perhaps develop an even better printing method than the craftsmanship recorded in later generations.

After listening to these suggestions, the artisans immediately took out the paint and the woodblock to try printing—it was still that inky plum flower template. Zhao Shi, the most experienced master among the printers, personally painted the pigments onto the plum blossom engraved printing blocks. He printed the paper on the inked plum blossom block, rubbing the paper gently with his fingers, pressing on the colors one by one using his fingers. He lifted the paper up to observe the effect.

The plum blossoms were printed softly and beautifully, the fringes looked slightly moist, as if it really had been drawn on by a brush.

Zhao Shi’s eyes turned red with excitement and he sighed a few times, “Ai, ai, I have really turned old. This kind of simple method I was not even able to figure out, thank you for Young Master’s suggestions! Fortunately, the Young Master is the incarnation of the Wen Qu constellation, born extremely clever and bright, hearing one and knowing ten. Otherwise, just relying on us old and confused artisans, this big matter will be delayed.”

Wen Qu Constellation: Wen Qu or Wenchang Dijun is a Daoist deity in Chinese mythology, known as the God of Culture and Literature. He is physically represented by the constellation of six stars near the Big Dipper. Those who are born under the Wen Qu Constellation are seen as lucky stars with an affinity/talent for literature and art.

Hearing one and knowing ten (idiom): to explain one thing and he will understand everything 

Cui Xie smiled and casually said, “You all are immersed in engraving day and night, when you sink into your work, it is difficult to think elsewhere. I am a layman and do not care if something can be done or not. Whatever I think of, I will say it, this makes me more flexible.”

He saw that it was getting dark outside and advised them, “If it gets too dark, it is inconvenient to use the road. Don’t rush to engrave the woodblocks right now, you can head home early after eating.”

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