Chapter 5: CH 5

Before it was time for the evening meal, the famous physician Colonel Xie invited from the capital had hurried over.

This Medical Officer Liu was once an Imperial Physician, and after his resignation, he opened up a pharmacy in the Imperial capital. He had taken a few of his sons with him to live in the capital and continue the business, and was an expert in treating injuries such as contusion, sprain or fractures from falling, bruises, and the like. Upon his arrival, he first checked up on Cui Xie’s injuries, took his pulse and then quickly prescribed two prescriptions, one for internal use and the other for external use. He personally took out the herbal medicines from his own supplies in his medicine box, and blended the two medicines together before handing them over for Pengyan to brew. 

After Medical Officer Liu finished retrieving the prescriptions, he then took out an exquisite white porcelain medicine bottle and handed it over to Cui Xie. Stroking his beard, he said: “This is the medicine Colonel Xie asked me to give to you. It is the same medicine the jinyiwei use on their own wounds. Later, make sure to wipe the other medicinal powder off your wounds and replace it with this bottle instead. Also, it’ll be good to change the dressings every morning and evening. Once the wounds scab over, apply the external medicine I prescribed every morning and evening and there should be no scars left over.”

Jinyiwei: means the ‘Embroidered Uniform Guard’; and was essentially the imperial secret police that served the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty. They are given the authority to overrule judicial proceedings in prosecutions with full autonomy in arresting, interrogating, and punishing anyone, including nobles and the emperor’s relatives. The guards would usually don a distinctive golden-yellow uniform with an identifiable plaque hanging near his torso and carrying a special blade weapon. 

Cui Xie thanked him and asked Cui Yuan to pay the consultation fee. Medical Officer Liu refused and  responded that Colonel Xie had already paid, and so the two of them booked a room for him next door. An entire table full of good wine and dishes were ordered and delivered to his room. In addition, they paid the coachman who had been sent for him to return tomorrow, thus allowing the physician and coachman to spend the night here before returning to the capital.

After Medical Officer Liu left the room, Cui Xie discussed with Cui Yuan: “Colonel Xie first rescued me, then invited a physician, sent medicine for my injuries and even helped to intercede on my behalf for my father. We must give him some gifts as thanks. It just so happens that Physician Liu is acquainted with him, so go purchase some things, and then ask Physician Liu to lend a hand and deliver it over.”

With some difficulty, Cui Yuan embarrassedly said: “The Young Master has been at home for so many years, but altogether the funds we have accumulated from the monthly allowances only add up to about thirty or so taels of silver. Even though we have some incense burners, ornamental pieces, jade pendants, and other elegant playthings, all of them together are not worth more than a dozen or so taels. After returning to the ancestral home, it is unknown whether the funds will even be adequate to cover all of the residence’s renovations and repairs, so how can any taels be spared to obtain some connections and favors with the jinyiwei?”

Mofang, although we may not have money, we still have science and technology. Just wait until I flip through the chemistry book!

Mofang: internet slang used when a person is stunned and shocked; the whole person is ‘square and panicked’, kinda like “shooketh”

Cui Yuan helped to apply the medicine onto Cui Xie’s wounds and then went next door to accompany Medical Officer Liu to partake in the food and drink. Cui Xie grabbed a quilt and covered his head from both sides. Laying on the bed while warmly wrapped in blankets, he silently perused through the book. 

He remembered that Emperor Xianzong (the Chenghua Emperor and current emperor) particularly liked to take pills, even directly appointing a bunch of Tibetan Monks and Daoist Masters that were raised in the palace as officials*. As such, Cui Xie wanted to copy down a pill recipe for Colonel Xie, so that the man could refine an ‘immortality’* pill to present to the Emperor. But after reading the chapter on refining pills in the alchemy chapter, all he saw were recipes that called for lead, mercury, azurite, copperas…and thus he did not dare to even start crafting. He was afraid that if the Emperor ended up taking this pill full of harmful ingredients and incurred some unexplainable ailments, this would actually harm Colonel Xie’s career instead since he would be the one to give such a pill to the Emperor.

*They are called Chuanfeng officials: means ‘officials by direct appointment’ .Many specialists in aphrodisiacs and the like, as well as Buddhist monks, nuns and Tibetan lamas, Daoist Masters, and other craftsmen and entertainers were irregularly appointed to official posts in reward for their services. Instead of going through the usual bureaucratic procedures, these persons were appointed by direct appointment by the Emperor and his official seals. Although this was not illegal since the Emperor can do whatever he wants, it seriously violated precedents and regulations.

*Jindan: golden pill referring to the alchemic term that once this pill is taken, a person can become reborn and become an immortal

Looking further down, there were recipes for potteries, enamels, dyes, and daily cosmetic products and while these were considered relatively safe, for a military man like Colonel Xie, there was an 80% chance that he would not be interested.

If one wanted to give something to a man like him, then wine was the most suitable.

A light bulb went off in Cui Xie’s head, and he immediately flipped to the chapter on wine-brewing and directly flipped to the wine formulations from the time period after the Qing Dynasty and onwards. After some deliberations, he ended up choosing the liquor most suited for wine-brewing in the Northeastern part of China—the strongly fermented and fragranced daqu white wine.

Daqu white wine or daqu liquor, is one of the regional varieties of white wine, a clear and colorless liquor usually distilled from fermented sorghum. Daqu white wine is originally from Sichuan (province in China) and is made with sorghum and wheat, fermented for two to three months. The qu starter culture used in the production of  the white wine is usually made from pulverized wheat grain or steamed rice.

This kind of wine is made from fermented sorghum and the starter culture was a blend of barley and wheat in the daqu white wine. All of these materials were readily available materials in the Northeast. The manufacturing costs for daqu white wine was half as costly as the popular brewed imported glutinous rice wine that was introduced to China in the Yuan Dynasty. The fermented daqu white wine was clear, cold, and fragrant—extremely suitable for drinking by oneself or giving to others as a present. In the book, there was also a diagram of a microbiologist-certified distillation machinery. Flipping through the book, he made a marking on the page of this diagram, thinking that it would most likely be more advanced than the equipment during the Chenghua era.

Making up his mind, Cui Xie waited for Pengyan to bring up the medicine and then asked if he could help him write down a wine-brewing recipe.

Surprised, Pengyan asked: “Da-ge also knows how to brew wine? But our family does not brew wine?”

Da-ge: older brother, affectionate term of endearment used by family members and servants to address the Eldest Young Master of the Cui Household

They are referring to the 5th year of reign of Ming Dynasty’s Ninth emperor, Chenghua Emperor, Zhu Jianshen; it would be approximately around 1469; Chenghua stands for ‘accomplished change’. Chenghua is not the emperor’s real name but the name he is given when he ascends to the throne. This title is used when addressing his reign/era and people use this term when mentioning the current emperor or his reign. After all, one cannot refer to the emperor by his real/birth name.

Cui Xie replied: “Accidentally came across it when reading some articles from a Yuan dynasty person’s notes, it should be okay to use. Go get a brush and some paper, if that doesn’t work, just wait until your father comes back to write it down.”

Pengyan patted his chest and proudly said, “Don’t worry, da-ge, I have already accompanied you in your studies for so many years, although I can’t write any essays, writing a few words should not be a problem.”

Immediately, a chair was moved and placed at the head of the bed. A row of draft papers spread out on top  of the seat, vertical columns of red grids lined up and down the papers. Grinding the ink, Pengyang kneeled in front of the chair, and prepared to write.

Cui Xie crawled to the head of the bed, dragging his legs behind him, and looked at Pengyan’s moving brush tip. While drinking medicine and reading at the same time, Cui Xie occasionally added some marginal comments on the side.

Pengyan’s writing style was very beautiful, and the format was consistent and regular. The main text was written large-sized in the top grids, and the annotations were written smaller, the different parts divided into two sections within one grid. Small circles serving as punctuation marks marked the end of each sentence, just like in the ancient texts in the Four Books and Five Classics. This wine-brewing recipe was not too long, and along with the annotations regarding the industrial process, almost all of the paper had been filled.

Four Books and Five Classics: Chinese classic texts illustrating the core value and belief systems in Confucianism and were often the core official curriculum for civil service examinations. Link to more information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Books_and_Five_Classics 

After Pengyan set down the brush, Cui Xie suddenly noticed that the piece of paper in front of him hovered into view, was enlarged, and then afterward, compressed into a standard PDF file. The chemistry book that had been originally hovering in front of him was squeezed aside by the PDF file. Then, the portable hard disk floated into his vision, the disk’s storage interface screen unfolding into view. The PDF file shrunk to the size of a typical file icon and was promptly stored into the hard disk.

Heavens…this hard disk had become immortal ah!

Cui Xie stared at the hard disk in shock, but Pengyan thought that he was looking at the newly copied down wine-brewing recipe. When the ink on the paper dried, Pengyan used both hands to hold it in front of Cui Xie: “Da-ge, check to see if there are any mistakes.”

“…..None.” Cui Xie clicked on the PDF file within his mind and compared the file with the paper in front of him. Not a character was missing, even the position of the paper’s fragmentary, shredded threads near the top was identical. 

This was simply an artifact made for cheating!

Mom, there is no need to worry about me failing an exam ever again!

And he no longer needed to worry that his handwriting would not match up with the original owner’s writing style!

Cui Xie had also learned calligraphy from a professional teacher for several years in his childhood. Although he could not compare to those extremely learned ancient scholars, if he were to directly copy the style from the original texts, he would be able to produce an imitation that was about 70-80% similar. And it just so happened that he was beaten and injured recently, so if there are any obvious differences, it could be attributed that his writing style had changed because of a lack of energy. In the future, he would have to find more copies of a master calligrapher’s works to copy, and when the time came, he could easily change the font. No one would be able to identify any problems!

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He was so astonished by this newly learned skill that he wanted to give the hard disk a kiss, but he did not dare to show such a face in front of Pengyan. So, he lowered his head and pretended to check the paper, his mouth drawn taut as he ordered: “Go and find a charcoal stick or eyebrow pencil or something, I still need to draw a picture of the cauldrons needed for brewing the wine.”

With a worried expression, Pengyan hesitated: “But your injuries…”

Cui Xie waved his hand: “Quickly go, didn’t I just apply some effective wound medicine? The pain can’t even be felt.”

After Pengyan left, he buried his face into the bed’s quilts, biting his fingers, and giggled for a long time. If it weren’t for the injuries on his body, he would have already rolled around on the bed a few times.

Unexpectedly, this chemistry book had become his life’s weapon, and this hard disk was an enormously huge, golden finger (slang used in games, basically a cheat)!

His roommates were simply all-knowing and omnipotent experts on transmigration, for whatever they had said had become useful. He was already using the second and third eldest’s golden finger, and according to the boss’s advice, he just had to practice some calligraphy and painting as well. He would definitely put it to good use one day in the future!

He felt bored after spending half a day confined to the bed, and it was a long time before Pengyan pushed open the room’s door and returned. With a stiff and severe expression, Cui Xie took the charcoal pencil and drew a diagram of the distillation machinery on the pale-yellow bamboo paper, drawing arrows to mark the name and purpose next to each part.

That evening, when Cui Yuan came back, he saw Cui Xie’s wine-brewing recipe and the diagram of the distillation machinery and was just as surprised as his son, asking: “Just where did Young Master copy this detailed of a recipe from? This old servant has never brewed wine before, but looking at this Nine Steaming Nine Sun-Drying* brewing method, the brewed wine must be incomparably mellow and rich, like bejeweled ambrosia. This recipe would be worth thousands of taels of silver!”

*The Nine Steaming Nine Sun-Drying, as the name implies, is an ancient Chinese method involving nine cycles of steaming and sun drying. It was developed during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and is commonly used for medicinal and food ingredients processing.

Of course it was, this wine-brewing recipe was craftsmanship from the late Qing Dynasty after all and the technology written here was something that wouldn’t be invented for another 200-300 years. 

Cui Xie’s voice dropped low and became subdued: “It’s taken from a Yuan Dynasty person’s miscellaneous notes, it is said that the Western regions over there had different brewing techniques, different from our great Ming dynasty. At the time, I thought the western brewing method was pretty good, wanted to make it myself, so I copied down the recipe. Later on, the book disappeared. Uncle Yuan, if you think this recipe is good enough as a thank-you gift, please help write a letter for me, and attach this wine-brewing recipe and send it to Colonel Xie.”

“Alright. Colonel Xie not only rescued you from the White Lotus Society’s Patriarch’s blade but had also cared to see if Young Master was injured, even willing to write a letter to help dissolve Master’s anger. Truly a good person, therefore this wine-brewing recipe is not too over-the-top of a gift.”

Cui Yuan sighed for a while, and set down the recipe, “These types of correspondences, while I was serving Master, I had indeed seen a couple. After I have written it, I will ask the Young Master to modify and look over it.”

Cui Yuan’s writing was simple and unadorned, without any literary elegance, but the contents were complete and accurate, the emotions sincerely written, with no major problems. Cui Xie had not studied classic Chinese very much in the beginning, so he had nothing to change in terms of the strokes of the characters in the letter. He merely sealed it together with the wine-brewing recipe and entrusted it over to Medical Officer Liu to take back to the capital.

‘simple and unadorned’: idiom; plain and straightforward)

After Colonel Xie received the correspondence, he immediately had someone send a reply. The text in the letter was also similarly simple and unadorned, with no unintelligible allusions to classic literature. The contents simply thanked Cui Xie. He remarked that the wine-brewing recipe looked quite good, and once brewed, he would send over a few bottles to let Cui Xie try and hinted that Cui Xie should anticipate a happy event to occur soon. 

After the messenger from the Xie household left, the Senior Provincial Official overseeing Tongzhou district also dispatched an administrative assistant. This assistant, who was also surnamed Liu, brought a few minor government officials to visit Cui Xie at the inn. Assistant Liu praised and commended him, then carefully asked Cui Xie to describe the details and process of how he cooperated with the jinyiwei to capture the demons of the White Lotus Society. Assistant Liu also praised him for his heroism and loyalty to his Empire, commenting on how he was even willing to give up his own life. He kept saying that Cui Xie was worthy of inheriting his father’s loyalty and trust due to his filial piety.

Naturally, these words were not told for him to hear but were to let Official Cui in the capital hear it. Cui Xie felt rather uncomfortable that the topic had shifted to his father, so he changed the subject to instead praising Senior Provincial Official Fu’s attitude of loving the common people as one’s children. He continued to praise that under the jurisdiction of such a pure and honest official, the demons were forced to act conspicuously and their actions were as obvious as fireworks exploding in the sky. But there was simply nothing for them to ignite in that empty sky, so they had quickly burned out of steam. Those criminals could only make noise for a while. As long as the government took action, they could easily be taken down. 

‘loving the common people as one’s children’: idiom; praise for a virtuous ruler

Assistant Liu’s eyes lit up, smiling: “That’s right, Young Master is exceedingly intelligent and handsome, seeing things clearly. The White Lotus Society has spread its influence in Shandong (a province in northeast China) for many years, Xu Yingzhen and the other fiends believed that they had deep foundations in the county. They had wanted to enter Tongzhou to spread their heresy and planned on disrupting our people’s hearts to expand their evil cult. But, they did not know that Senior Provincial da-ren would be so devoted. After single-mindedly enlightening, and civilizing the common people for numerous years, the common people are now fondly attached to this Imperial dynasty, just as much as sons and daughters do not wish to part with their parents. How could they associate with such demons! The demons were like a river without water, a tree without roots, it is natural that they will ‘rise and fall, their death sudden’.”

Da-ren: honorific name for government officials or those of higher authority

‘Rise and fall, their death sudden’ or ‘其亡也忽焉’ is a teaching that comes from The Commentary of Zuo, an ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals. It basically means something is rapidly blooming, but then it withers and is often used to explain the rise and fall of powers through history where authoritarian centralization of power was common. It is the primary text through which educated Chinese gained an understanding of their ancient history, It greatly expounds upon the Annals’ historical background, containing many rich and lively accounts of Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC) history and culture. It is a source of many Chinese sayings and idioms, more so than any work, and its concise, flowing style is held as a paragon of classical Chinese. For more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuo_zhuan 

Since the White Lotus Society had suddenly appeared in Tongzhou, their Senior Provincial Official would have to send up a report to the Imperial court pleading forgiveness on this matter. After the jinyiwei had left yesterday, Senior Provincial da-ren could not sleep for most of the night. As an administrative assistant, Assistant Liu naturally was also fiercely anxious and impatient. These past few days of visiting the sick were nothing but a trivial errand. Unexpectedly, this Young Master’s unintentional words had given him ideas for a proper defense he could mention within his report. When Assistant Liu returned to the Provincial Office to deliberate more on the matter, maybe it could not only resolve this heresy case crisis, but also exhibit da-ren’s efforts and merits in nurturing the people to the Emperor.

Assistant Liu immediately changed his half-heartedness from earlier, and affectionately asked who Cui Xie’s teacher was, which level he had studied up to, and when he planned on taking the Imperial Examination.

These questions could be said to be Cui Xie’s Achilles’ heel, he did not know how far his predecessor had studied up to or who his teacher was. So without any better option, he could only desperately cough like his life depended on it. Pengyan hurriedly poured a cup of tea for Cui Xie and replied on his behalf: “Originally, Young Master was studying with Master Xu, his step-maternal uncle, but then four years ago Master Xu was selected to be Qinshui County’s Head Magistrate. Furen then invited an Imperial examination candidate from Jiangxi (a province in southeast China), Teacher Lu Zhongshenglu, to instruct the two Young Masters. In the middle, the Mister had to cancel the studies to prepare for the examination so Young Master self-studied for two years. Now, he has read all Four Books, but he has not been formally taught the Five Classics.”

Furen (夫人; Fūrén): honorific name used to call the Madam of a household

Assistant Liu was baffled and asked: “Haven’t reached the classics yet?”

Not to mention he was the son of an official in the Ministry of Revenue, even children in ordinary scholarly families would have been familiar with the Four Books by the age of seven or eight. This Young Master had a clever and nimble appearance, but he had only read through the Four Books and hadn’t even been taught the Five Classics formally?

As his initial surprise passed, he felt like his tongue had slipped, and quietly cast a glance at Cui Xie. Seeing the boy’s evasive eyes, Assistant Liu mistakenly thought that Cui Xie was ashamed of his slow-learning progress, so he comforted: “The essentials required for the preliminary rounds of Imperial examinations are just being familiar with rationale and argumentations from the Sage’s scriptures and knowing Zhu Xi’s commentaries to the Four Books. It also requires a thorough understanding of the different Sages’ viewpoints and meanings. Just like how Young Master Cui spends time laying a good foundation, one’s mind will amass profound knowledge and accumulate richly and break forth vastly. Compared to those who blindly speed through to answer questions before thoroughly understanding the scriptures, Young Master’s essays will be much more stable and solid.”

Whenever the Sage comes up, that is referring to Confucious and sometimes him + his disciples

Zhu Xi’s commentaries: Zhu Xi was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, politician, and writer, his contributions to Chinese philosophy included his editing of and commentaries to the Four Books, which later formed the curriculum of the civil service exam in Imperial China from 1313 to 1905

‘accumulate richly and break forth vastly’: idiom; one must first learn a wide range of subjects, accumulating a profound, thick and thin, solid foundation; the reading should be extensive as to best absorb its essence, the accumulation of knowledge should be deep and slowly released over time

Even though he had quickly covered up his slip-up, Assistant Liu still felt that he had made a mistake and had personally slapped the face of son of an official in the Ministry of Revenue by accidentally revealing the child’s lackluster learning or skills. He felt extremely awkward and embarrassed. Feeling that his continued presence would be tasteless, he left in a hurry and left behind the Senior Provincial Official’s handwritten poem and a set of newly crafted Four Treasures of the Study.

‘lackluster learning or skills’: idiom; ignorant and incompetent).

Four Treasures of the Study: namely  a set of tools including the brush, paper, ink, and inkstone; the essentials of calligraphy and scholarship

TN: New release! Definitely not ready to translate all these imperial examination and scholarly terms, but I’ll try my best! *MINOR SPOLIER BUT NOT REALLY: This novel will have a heavy emphasis on the process of imperial examinations, academia and slice of life with slow romance in the later parts! I hope no one thinks its boring, I personally find these type of novels very enriching and interesting since I am a history nerd :))

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