CH 3

Cui Xie handed the bronze mirror over to the young manservant, asking him to return it to the owner.

The young manservant affirmed in response and left. As soon as he walked outside the room, a somewhat harsh voice sounded out: “Pengyan, why are you waving around a mirror? Has everything been packed away? Master already sent down instructions before heading to the yamen. Today, the Eldest Young Master must be sent back to the ancestral home. Now, it’s almost past chenshi, and there are still so many trunks that haven’t been loaded into the carriage yet. Do you want to wait until Master comes home and flares up in anger again?”

yamen: administrative government office of a local bureaucrat/official

chenshi: 7-9 am, ancient phrase to tell the time

Cui Xie was currently lying on top of the bed and couldn’t turn around. He only saw a figure from the corner of his eyes, a man wearing a long blue gown, one foot resting atop the room’s raised threshold, his wild gesticulations resembling a workplace overseer. 

Another person outside the door said: “Cui Ming, you have also seen the Young Master’s injuries, how can you bear to rush people like this?”

Cui Ming snorted coldly: “Uncle Yuan*, you only ever see the Eldest Young Master’s injuries, but have you seen Second Young Master’s injuries? Are your words secretly complaining about Master’s heartlessness or the Furen’s heartlessness? Seeing as you have already been friends with my father for many years, I’ll just treat it like I did not hear it. You should tell your family’s Pengyan to stop wandering around. If he has time, he should go help to load the carriage. Get on the road early so you can give everyone some peace.”

*Uncle here is a term used to address a man about the age of one’s father

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

With him watching attentively, the maidservants’ movements speeded up significantly. Pengyan, after returning the mirror, came back to join the others in the packing procession. One by one, the trunks were carried outside the room, and once nearly all the trunks had been moved outside, two tall and strong manservants came in, intending on supporting Cui Xie off the bed.

‘Uncle Yuan’ hurriedly rushed up to stop them, and quickly called over some people to find an old wooden bench and cover it in a few layers of bedding. Those two manservants passed a thick bar through the legs underneath the bench, making a makeshift stretcher, carrying Cui Xie to the rear of the courtyard in large strides. There, an already parked carriage waited, covered in green oilcloth tarps. In the carriage’s interior, it was packed full of various trunks and baggage wrapped in cloth bundles, a few were even strapped to the carriage’s roof. There was only a small, narrow block of empty space on the inside, close to the door, but Cui Xie would have to curl up in order to lie down.  

Cui Xie sighed and said, “With this narrow carriage, the road will be bumpy, what will be done if it accidentally aggravates this Young Master’s wounds?”

Cui Ming smiled faintly: “The Eldest Young Master is being punished and sent to the ancestral home, it’s not like you have been assigned an errand and are heading back to take care of family business. How much better of a carriage can there be? Our family only has a few carriages, Master will need to receive visitors, Er-ge needs to invite a physician, and Furen has to instruct servants to go out and do some errands…how could these carriages be available? According to Master’s intentions, a carriage was going to be rented from outside, but Furen was distressed for Eldest Young Master’s wounds and specially vacated this carriage. Uncle Yuan, once you reach the ancestral home, you should advise the Eldest Young Master. If he becomes more sensible in the future, who knows, Furen can most likely persuade Master to summon him back.”

Er-ge: second brother; used by servants and family members to refer to Second Young Master of the Cui Household

The rear courtyard’s doorstep had already been unbarred and the entrance was open. A few manservants took the carriage out and Cui Yuan could no longer waste time to bicker and dispute over this matter. He got onto the carriage and then instructed his son: “Follow the carriage closely from behind, watch the Eldest Young Master carefully. Don’t let him touch his wounds.”

Pengyan was well-behaved and closely followed behind the carriage, lifting the curtain from time to time to take a quick look at Cui Xie. Cui Xie had grown up in modern society, how could he comfortably watch a mere 10-year-old or so child walk behind the carriage? Seeing the carriage curtain being lifted again, he stretched out his hand to grasp the curtain, firmly saying: “You go to the front and sit down. If I need someone to wait upon me, I will call you from the back. I don’t need you to look upon me every few minutes, I will also not feel at ease.”

After he said a few sentences, Pengyan finally rushed to the front of the carriage, sitting side by side with his father who was driving the carriage.

Not long after, once the carriage got a small distance away, the courtyard’s doors slammed shut from the inside, and was tightly sealed…

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The weather on the road was extremely hot, the carriage’s compartment was narrow and stuffy, and the two small carriage windows for ventilation were entirely obstructed by the stacks of trunks. Cui Yuan was afraid that the Young Master’s wounds would fester, so he stopped the carriage not far from the Cui household, walking to the back of the carriage to check on Cui Xie’s wounds.

There was an endless, busy flow of traffic on the road, and many people, as well as horse riders, passed by the carriage, curiously looking into the compartment. Cui Xie would rather die than let his belt be pulled down, and he resolutely said: “I know my wounds. Applying the medicine feels cold and is quite troublesome. If we check up on it during the road, it’ll be in vain. If the wound comes into contact with dust, soiling the wound, it would end up becoming easily infected. I will change the dressings myself once we reach our stop.”

Cui Yuan helplessly said: “If someone is injured, they’ll even sprinkle some fine soil on the wound to stop the bleeding, what harm can some fine dust cause? If Young Master does not want to let me see it, then that’s fine, once we leave the capital, let’s search for a clean inn to stay at and invite a physician to come take a look.”

He felt Cui Xie’s forehead, which felt a little hot to the hand. Sighing, he returned back to driving the carriage. 

Although he was worried about Cui Xie’s injuries, he did not dare to find a place in the capital to stay at. He was afraid that this matter of staying at an inn to recuperate would travel its way into the ears of those fawning servants of the Furen’s. It would be like adding oil and vinegar behind one’s back and they would secretly inform Cui Que, exacerbating the father and son’s worsening relationship. Fortunately, the official roads within the capital were very flat, and even if the carriage was driven fast, it would not be too bumpy. Cui Yuan hurried away from the capital with the carriage and entered Tongzhou around lunchtime.

He was not familiar with the place, so after entering the city, he asked a few people for directions and  followed along the main road, making a beeline for a guest inn facing towards the main street. 

The inn was a small two-story building. From the outside, you could see interlocking wooden arches and flying eaves*, painted engravings carved on the walls. The building was very gorgeous, but for some reason, the main lobby’s interior was cold and cheerless.  

‘adding oil and vinegar behind one’s back’: idiom; adding details while telling a story (to make it more interesting) 

Tongzhou is district/county east of Beijing

*This would be a good example of the architecture described here, but this picture’s building is slightly too ornate, so it can only be used as a vague reference. I would imagine the inn is not as ornate and meticulously crafted, but it should still have hints of those unique interlocking beams under the roof and eaves that extend up and outwards. The ‘flying’ eaves give the building a sense of floating and brisk movement, mostly designed for decoration and drainage. The interlocking beams are much more functional and bear most of the load, designed for overhanging, windproof, earthquake resistance, foundations etc.

Cui Yuan and his son directed the carriage to drive closer to the entrance of the inn. When they looked in, they saw that each of the guests inside were all docilely seated, but their chopsticks did not move. Outside the inn, a few men wearing knotted head scarves were guarding the door, all of them tall and robust-looking, their bodies emitting hostile auras. These men’s eyes attentively glared at passerbys, their gaze like an eagle’s penetrating glare as they watched people come and go into the inn. People walking close to the inn were forced to move to the other side of the main road.

The knotted head scarves should most closely resemble the second picture from the left or variations of it. The headscarf is an entire scarf, wrapped from the forehead to the back of the head and tied tightly. After, the remaining untied portion is allowed to hand down naturally and the length of the scarf usually runs to the shoulders. It is made of a type of cloth mostly worn by commoners. 

Several other men dressed in the same manner curtly and restrainedly stood by those big men. Cui Yuan was unaware of what happened, stopping the carriage and asking from a distance: “Waiter, is your inn still accepting customers today? My Young Master is eager to make a stop at an inn, If this place isn’t open, we will go to another place.”

The waiters did not dare to respond but one of the strong-looking men swept his gaze in their direction, and heavily said, “Your manner of speaking is authentic and quite proper, looking at your dress, you seem to be a servant of an official’s household from in the capital. Who is your master? You said that in the back compartment of your carriage is your Young Master, but why is the carriage’s tailgate so deep? It seems to be heaped with a pile of goods?”

When this man finished speaking, there were a few loud and heavy thuds that traveled from the inn’s second story, sounding as if someone had thrown a table down. A few shouts could also be heard, but it was just that they could not clearly see the situation through the windows.

The more Cui Yuan watched, the more he felt something was wrong. He regretted following a passerby’s suggestions to come to this inn, so he shook the reins, saying: “As your inn cannot allow us to dwell here, we will just leave then. No need to make things awkward and label us as thieves. My household’s Young Master is the child of an honorable and proper official, how could he be randomly pulled aside for an interrogation?”

Cui Yuan inwardly felt a bit annoyed, but he did not want to cause trouble, so he directed the horse to move around them, avoiding the group to set off again. The big man gave a meaningful glance to his right and left sides, leading a group of people in front of the horse, and said faintly: “The jinyiwei is handling a case here, and you ran into it yourself. Acting suspiciously, you cannot just leave as you wish.”

He walked to the front of the car, lifting the hem of his clothes to expose a slender xiuchun sword, shaking the sword in front of the father and son servant pair.

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. 

xiuchun sword: general term used for the official knife issued by the court for the Imperial guards, and there were multiple shapes and designs, Most official swords used by Imperial guards used a lot of silver, gold and jade decorations, hence the coquettish sounding name of ‘embroidered spring’.

Cui Yuan had personally witnessed jinyiwei searching a house and confiscating its possessions in the capital before, so his complexion immediately turned ashen. With a trembling voice, he said, “Da-ren, my Young Master is the eldest son of Official Cui, the head official of the Yunnan Division in the Ministry of Revenue. Today is our first day on the road. Because we are returning to our old ancestral home in Qian’an, we have brought more luggage, which is why it is weighing the carriage’s tailgate quite a bit. It had nothing to do with the evildoer da-ren is looking for!”

That tall and large man pondered and said, “Cui Que? And your young master is Official Cui’s Eldest Young Master? Do you have a road permit*? 

Da-ren: an honorific name for government officials; literally means “big person”

*In the Ming Dynasty, there was such a provision that when people left their homes, they were required to obtain and get a letter of introduction from the local government, road documents called ‘road permits’. Those who did not possess the proper documentation would be punished in accordance with the law. 

Qian’an County is located in the Hebei province

Cui Yuan immediately took out the road permit from his sleeve, and then took out one whole piece of silver, stuffing it towards the guard. The jinyiwei refused to accept the silver and gave it back to him. He waved his hand and said: “Consider yourselves unlucky for bumping into Colonel Xie’s* office handling a case here. Before the criminal is apprehended, I’m afraid we cannot let you leave just yet, so for the time being, wait here.”

*Technically Xie Qianhu; qianhu = A Colonel in charge of 1,000 men. The Ming Dynasty had multiple marshal offices and administrative offices set up under high commanding officers.. Qianhu, is one of many types of administrative titles given to senior and junior Colonels. There were a total of 17 Qianhu offices and hence 17 Colonels.

Cui Yuan, slightly bitter, besieged and pleaded: “My family’s Young Master is suffering from serious injuries. In this hot weather, he is confined inside a carriage and I’m afraid that his wounds will fester, it could be fatal!”

The jinyiwei looked a little puzzled, “Who has your household’s Young Master offended, actually going so far as to take refuge by moving back to the ancestral home with such injuries? Why haven’t I heard any news of an official’s family incurring the wrath of powerful ministers?”

The Cui family’s father and son were blood-related, so Cui Yuan could not say that the Eldest Young Master’s injuries were caused because the Master was partial to the step-wife and the youngest son. The Eldest Young Master had been already beaten to this point and was forced to stifle this flush of anger. That jinyiwei did not press the matter and waved his hand towards two other guards to inspect the back of the carriage.

The two jinyiwei walked around to the back of the carriage, knocking on the compartment door, and called out politely: “Is Young Master Cui in the carriage? Please get off the carriage so we can inspect the carriage’s contents.”

The compartment door was pushed open from the inside, five pale and slender fingers clasped on top of the door’s buckle, and soon after, half of a sickly-looking face came into view. That face was as pale as his hands, both cheeks burning bright red. Although it was mostly covered by the carriage and a pair of sleeves, the exposed eyebrows and eyes were as bright as pulsating flame, immediately illuminating the visions of those who caught sight of it.

Cui Xie’s eyes were bloodshot, the tip of his nose a little red. He smiled at the two jinyiwei, his eyes containing glistening teardrops, his voice hoarse as he spoke: “Apologies, I had been curled up in this carriage for an entire morning, so my legs have gone a little numb. I will have to trouble the two of you to wait for me to go down slowly.”

The two, seeing his pitiful appearance, felt that their earlier thoughts of suspecting him as a bandit had been absolute blasphemous, and they happily said: “No rush, isn’t Young Master Cui suffering from injuries? Do not force yourself to endure such extreme pain, we will help you down.”

As they said this, they lifted him out of the carriage.

Cui Xie had felt extremely bored for the entire journey, and while he had just been reading in his mind, he had not felt anything. In reality, the muscles in his legs had long lost any perception of sensation, and had gone numb. It was not until someone helped him to stand up that he felt that his two legs could not support his body at all, they were numb and painful. He almost knelt as soon as his feet touched the ground.

Fortunately, the two guards next to him gave him a hand. He held onto the carriage’s side, leaning heavily as he stood with his numb legs. The two jinyiwei still had to inspect the contents of the carriage. Seeing that the young master looked to be on the verge of collapse, they proactively proposed: “Young Master Cui does not need to stand here. Ask your servant to help you into the inn to rest and wait for our Colonel da-ren* to finish arresting the criminal until we make our next plan of action.”

Colonel of this particular Qianhu office. Qianhu is explained earlier in chapter.

Cui Xie thanked the guard, using the carriage to move forward slowly. Pengyan hurriedly jumped from the driver’s seat fixed on the carriage exterior to help him, still holding the paper bag his father had given him. He secretly stuffed it towards the two guards.

Unexpectedly, the two lieutenants would not accept it, bitterly smiling: “Colonel Xie’s Office has strict rules. If I were to take your few pieces of silver here, at most, it would not even be worth a jar of good wine. Heading back, we will get punished, it is not worth it. Properly support your household’s Young Master inside instead.”

Cui Xie said a ‘you have worked hard’ and held onto Pengyan as they walked forward. As soon as they arrived near the front of the carriage, a loud rumble heavily reverberated from the second floor of the inn, the window facing the street suddenly flying down. 

The two of them stopped in their tracks, scared by the object free-falling from a low altitude vantage point, they looked up. Immediately after the window panel had been knocked down, a thin man, roughly in his forties jumped out, gracefully dropping down onto the ground, clutching a Japanese-style sword in his right hand. With a kick of his toes, he barreled towards the master and servant pair.

A man dressed in a turquoise-colored yesa followed behind the man closely and dashed towards the window. Leaning against the window lattice, he motioned behind him, quickly somersaulting over and jumped down.

A yesa was a Ming Dynasty one-piece robe with a cross-collar top and a large pleated skirt.

Pengyan screamed in fright. Cui Xie felt disoriented, feeling as if he had transmigrated into some period wuxia* drama, staring at them dazedly. He did not react until the person was almost in front of them and he reflexively pushed Pengyan off into the distance.

Wuxia: martial arts theatrical, cinema, or literature genre

That man did not even spare a glance at the falling Pengyan. The long sword in the man’s right hand was put against Cui Xie’s neck, and with a turn of the body, his right arm also clamped around Cui Xie’s throat.