CH 19

County Magistrate Qi had not touched the 《Four Books》for many years. Afraid that he might have omitted some texts when he tried to compare Cui Xie’s recitation, he dispatched a bookkeeper who had been serving nearby to fetch the book. Turning to a random page, he read, “Confucious says: A fine horse is called a Ji, not because of its strength, but because of its other commendable virtues.”

Four Books and Five classics by Confucianism is part of the core curriculum tested in Imperial examinations

Ji: a thoroughbred horse/refined and virtuous

These lines were asked from 《Analects Book 14》and was not too far from what Cui Xie had recited from the book earlier. Cui Xie was not in the least sluggish in his reaction, and he subsequently recited the next few lines, “Ji, a good name for a horse. Virtue, the tone harmonizes well…”

Qi Sheng interrupted him, flipped back a few pages, and randomly stopped. Running his fingers down the book, he asked, “ ‘This speaks of the psychophysical nature, not the original nature. If it were speaking of the original one, then nature would be identical with principle—and principle has nothing that is not good.’* Which line is this annotation interpreting?”

*Here, Confucius and a couple of Chinese figures are discussing human nature and man’s behavior. Confucius states that nature is spoken of in combination with the psychophysical and there are indeed differences between human nature. In the beginning, they are the same, but once people practice good or bad their nature changes. Cheng Zi is responding to this and questioning how Confucious remarked that people are born good or evil and fall away from it in practice or become something else altogether.

Cui Xie replied, “This line is spoken by Master Cheng, the explanation and interpretation lie in the original texts originating from《Book 17: Yanghuo》 Confucius says, ‘By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.’ ”

“Zi Lu asked what constituted a complete man.”

“Confucious says: ‘Suppose a man with the knowledge of Zang Wu Zhong, the freedom from covetousness of Gong Chuo…’”

“Guan Zhong acted as prime minister to the Duke Huan——”

“Guan Zhong acted as prime minister to Duke Huan, made the leader of all the princes, and united and rectified the whole kingdom. Down to the present day, the people enjoy the gifts which he conferred. But for Guan Zhong…”

County Magistrate Qi flipped through dozens of pages, suddenly raising his voice to interject and asked, “Shun married without informing his parents, why?”

This line jumped from the 《Analects》to《Mencius》. In any case, Cui Xie had read and studied the Four Books yesterday with the attitude of taking it out under someone’s examination and review. He still had some lingering impressions of it, quickly scrolled down a few lines, and found the original text. He recited, “Confucious says: ‘If he had informed them, he would not have been able to marry. That male and female should dwell together, is the greatest of human relations…”

Four Books contained the ‘Great Learning’, ‘The Doctrine of the Mean’, ‘The Analects’, and’ Mencius’. The Sage refers to Confucious himself.

County Magistrate Qi’s question seemed to be urgently brought up, making Cui Xie’s state of mind elevated and tense as his nervousness heightened. He continued to keep searching and staring at the pages. Once he found the relevant lines and recited a few, he was interrupted and he hurried to complete the asked lines. After being tested for half a day, he had gone through the whole entirety of 《Four Books, Chapters and Annotations》over and over again—just like how when one ordinarily read an article, one would look for the complement in the article when asked to complete the sentence asked by opposing party.

In actuality, for this intermediary, it was impossible for one’s eyes to look at so many characters in such a short time. But, no such limitation existed in his brain. After reciting it over a dozen times, he had already had a considerable impression of this book’s contents.

County Magistrate Qi naturally did not know of this, but the next question asked became more urgent than the last, the sentence was spoken faster than the last sentence. After rapidly firing arrow-like questions from the 《Analects》and《Mencius》in succession, he turned to the beginning of the 《Great Learning》and inquired, “ Tang Zhi’s 《Pan Inscription》on his bathtub denotes: ‘If you can improve yourself in a day, do so each day, forever building on improvement.’ Which line is this interpreting?”

Cui Xie started from “ ‘Pan, the bathing tub is engraved’, and continued to recite the rest. This time, the County Magistrate no longer interrupted him, allowing him to recite the entire《Great Learning》until the line ‘Readers should not simply get close to it and neglect it.’

County Magistrate Qi closed the book, the sound interrupting Cui Xie’s fluent chanting. He looked at him and asked, “You have only read the《Four Books》these years? How much effort did it take to memorize the book to be able to recite it so fluently?”

Cui Xie let out a sigh of relief, his eyes fluttered open and he respectfully replied, “This student was raised by this one’s grandmother since childhood. Later on, two elders fell severely ill and this student had to serve them in the ill’s bed chambers. When there was time, this one could only read the 《The Classic of Filial Piety》and recite a few lines of the 《Four Books》to the Teacher. But, if da-ren wants to test me, you can take out any book and this student can remember some after reading it once.”

Da-ren: honorific name to call a government official or one of higher rank

County Magistrate Qi’s eyes turned listless and slightly sluggish. He asked in disbelief, “You said you can remember it?”

Cui Xie lowered his gaze and replied with a smile, “It is just rote memorization, entering into the brain and not into the heart.”

Qi Sheng gave him a deep look and ordered: “Bring the 《The Reconstruction Records of County Confucianism》that I wrote a few days ago!” Shortly after the bookkeeper arrived with the article in hand. Qi Sheng quickly looked over it and handed it over to Cui Xie, “I’ll give you one stick of incense’s time to memorize it.”

The bookkeeper lit a new incense stick, white threads of smoke rising up into the air. Cui Xie took the article and carefully read it once. Closing his eyes, he confirmed that there were no errors or omissions, and then recited each line: “Qian’an county has an academy, founded in the second year of Hongwu* in the Ming Dynasty. It was founded by my great ancestor by the Imperial order to direct the study of Imperial teachings to the county. The prestigious County Head Magistrate nourishes and establishes…on account of the ancestor’s will. Time will melt the palace’s Left (politics).”

*They are referring to the second year of the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, the first Ming Dynasty Emperor.

This miscellaneous article was recently written by County Magistrate Qi. He had carefully revised it several times, so the content was basically ingrained in his head. He did not need to look at the book like when he tested Cui Xie on the《Four Books. Instead, he observed Cui Xie’s expression as he recited. 

Steady and unhurried, the syllables free-flowed, warming the heart and delighting the eye/

‘warming the heart and delighting the eye’: idiom; pleasing and delightful

Cui Xie finished reciting the article smoothly, but not only was County Magistrate Qi’s expression gloomy, on the contrary, he showed a look of lamentation. He signed in his heart: How could this kind of aptitude and natural endowments only arrive in Qian’an now! If it was a year earlier, no, if it was just half a year earlier, if only he had arrived in time to catch up in this year’s county examination. As long as Cui Xie did so, I would have definitely nominated him as the anshou——A 14-year-old anshou and 14-year-old shengyuan could also be called a prodigy!

Anshou (案首, lit. “first on the desk”), the highest ranking linsheng, and thus the top shengyuan who ranked first in college/county exam.

Linsheng (廩生, lit. “granary student”) is the first class of shengyuan, who were the best performers in the college/county exam

Note: When they say college, they are mostly referring to county examinations.

Shengyuan (生員, lit. “student member”), also commonly called xiucai (秀才, lit. “distinguished talent”), an entry-level examinee who had passed the college exam.

Pity!

It was a pity that this year’s examination had already passed, the next year was when the Autumn triennial provincial Imperial exam would take place and there would be no shengyuan examination. By the end of that year’s examination period, Cui Xie would be 16. A 14-year-old shengyuan was precious, a 16-year-old shengyuan was not as valuable.

County Magistrate Qi was wrenched with feelings of pity and impatience, wanting to head straight to the Cui Residence in the capital to ask how his father could bear to delay such a good child and hinder him from studying seriously. But on the other hand, Cui Xie was not able to maintain his studies because he wanted to serve his grandparents. He was loyal and filial, and his actions could not be said to be wrong….

Forget it, learning could be supplemented later, but loyalty and filial piety were major principles. If it hadn’t been for his heart of love and filial piety originating from childhood, how could Cui Xie become such a loyal and righteous person?

He sighed and remarked, “Since you now live in the county, you can study with a peace of mind in the future. Do not fail to live up to the natural endowments gifted to you by the providence of the Heavens.

It is a pity that I am simply a jiansheng and if I teach you, I will only delay you. These next two years, you will need to find a Teacher to help you lay a solid foundation. After the year after next year’s examination, I will think of a way for you to enter a school in a government-level administrative division, the teachers over there are better.”

Jiansheng (監生, meaning ‘university student’): Students hailing directly from the Directorate of Education and this title was easy to purchase

What? Cui Xie could not help but glance at him in surprise. Was he so certain that Cui Xie would be a xiucai after passing the college exam the year after next? Did County Magistrate Qi have the utmost confidence in his highly retentive memory and aptitude or was he planning to help him…by leaking examination questions?

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.

County Magistrate Qi was deep in thought and did not pay attention to Cui Xie’s expression. After pondering for a while, he noticed that Cui Xie was still seated and waiting upon him to the side. He gathered up the miscellaneous articles and papers on the table, saying, “You have such a good memory. It is a waste to memorize articles like this. In my study, there is a set of the 《Compiled Transcriptions of the Six Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song》*. You take it back and become properly familiar with it. In the future when learning how to write eight-legged essays, the written essays will have flesh and blood (he means substance).”

《Compiled Transcriptions of the Six Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song》: Technically it is the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties: Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi, and Zeng Gong. However, some argue that since three of them (the Su’s) are from the same family, it should be titled the ‘Six Great Prose Masters’ instead.

Eight-legged essay: ‘eight bone text’; style of essay in imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The eight-legged essay was needed for those test-takers in these civil service exams to show their merits for government service, the contents often focusing on Confucian thought and knowledge of the Four Books and Five Classics in relation to governmental ideals

Cui Xie quickly scrambled up to thank him and then reported to him: “This student has received the Imperial Saint’s commendation and wants to return to the ancestral tombs to pay tribute to one’s ancestors. This student is unaware that if there are further obstructions in the case, how long will it take until this one can leave the county?”

Case? Such a good child prodigy’s prospects had to be tarried by his age, and he still had the time to pay attention to a case ah!

County Magistrate Qi reined back the sigh that was about to escape, and he calmly said: “If you want to go, just go. This case contains irrefutable evidence and the court is unlikely to summon you to appear in court for another trial. There is nothing wrong with that coachman. Once the documents arrive at the Ministry of Justice, they will further investigate them. If they need evidence, it is more convenient to collect evidence from your residence.”

He then instructed a bookkeeper to retrieve the trunk of old《Compiled Transcriptions》and put them in the carriage along with the rewarded silver and fabrics. Then he sorrowfully let Cui Xie and his servant return home.

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After returning from the yamen, Cui Xie asked the coachmen to send a letter back to the Cui Residence on his behalf. Then, the master and servant packed up some household items, brought the original owner’s childhood, elementary books, and rushed to the ancestral tombs.

yamen: administrative government office of a local bureaucrat/official

In chapter 8, these books were the Three Character Classic along with Hundred Family Surnames and Thousand Character Classic, which formed the basis of elementary education. This group came to be known as San Bai Qian (Three, Hundred, Thousand) from the first characters in the titles. It was the universal introductory literacy texts for students and the original Cui Xie wrote in these.

The Cui family was a wealthy family moved by the Imperial court to enrich the north after the Yongle Emperor moved the capital from Nanjing (literally means Southern Capital) to Beijing (literally means Northern Capital). The ancestral hometown should have been located in the Xiangfan district, but now that the family had been split into different households, they no longer had contact with relatives from the original family. In the beginning, under the careful watch of the military, the Cui family had been driven to migrate across thousands of miles. Simultaneously, some of the relatives who migrated died on the road, and some were moved to other villages. Only one of the Cui family’s ancestors had a married couple move from northern Jiaxing County to Qian’an County.

Xiangfan district (prefecture in Hubei province)

Here is a picture of the distance they moved by referencing google maps.

The descendants of the Cui family themselves were not prosperous, and there were still some tombs of deceased children and unmarried daughters that could not be erected. Small, lonesome tombs encircled and littered around one lump particularly lofty tombstone. Some of the tomb’s lumps had been blown and leveled by the wind and rain. This ancestral tomb was now honorably and properly inherited by Cui Que to take care and look after.

Cui Yuan purchased the three sacrificial animals, wine, and the proper rites needed. He lit some incense and they were lined up as a sacrificial offering in front of the cemetery.

The three sacrificial animals were originally cow, sheep, and pig; later pig, chicken and fish

Cui Xie personally retrieved water, taking a rag to wipe the upright stone tablets clean. By doing so, he now could take in the whole scene at once and observe the names engraved on the steles.

The tombstone belonging to his paternal great-grandfather was the most conspicuously built. In the center, it was engraved with ‘The Late Cui da-ren’s Precious Resting Place*’. In the lower-left corner, an ‘Unworthy Cui Yun Weeps’ was inscribed. Around the time when the stele had been erected, Father Cui had already passed to become a juren. There was also an epitaph on the stele, which should have been written by Cui Que, recording the good deeds of the descendants of the Cui family, along with his wife and children.

*Note, the original text just said “Dare not to say Cui da-ren’s precious name” because it was considered taboo to refer to a dead person by their full name, but I didn’t like it so I just changed it.

Juren: the qualified graduate who passed the triennial provincial exam

Cui Xie silently wrote down the names of his great-grandfather and grandfather. Afterward, he looked around the cemetery before finding a low tomb full of weeds near the tomb of great-grandmother Fang. On the stone tablet, it was inscribed with ‘The Tomb of the Deceased Wife Liu shi, sheren Cui Que Erected’. This tablet was shorter than all the others and the stone was so old it had been cracked in multiple places. It could be clearly seen that no one had taken care of it for many years.

氏 (shì): shi means clan name. Women, upon marriage, are identified by their surname and it is very rare that their personal name is recorded. This is the case even for princesses. They would then be referred to as ––shi, to identify the family they came from.

Sheren is an ancient office title meaning rich and important

He knelt before the grave in place of the original owner for a while. All of this was done in silence. Cui Yuan chattered and consoled: “Our Master is busy with official matters and did not have time to come back to sweep the graves. It may be assumed that the servants who looked after the graves did not look after it seriously.”

Next to the tomb hill was a tomb keeper’s house. The house was empty and the people that were supposed to be inside were not there. The entire ancestral tomb was not cleaned frequently and the steles were covered with dust. This was because the Master did not come back to visit often after moving to the capital. Naturally, those servants guarding it would only half-heartedly clean it when someone came to visit.

Cui Xian knelt in front of that almost level tomb, took out the Imperial decree, and read it word by word. After that, he took out a pen and paper to make a few duplicates. He lit a bonfire in front of the Cui family’s ancestral tombs and burned them. At the same time, he silently told them the genuine news of how Cui Xie had been beaten to death by his own biological father, hoping that they were in the Nine Springs—if there was truly a Nine Springs—that they would look after that child.

Nine Springs (underworld of Chinese mythology)

After performing the proper sacrificial rites, Cui Yuan and his son helped him up on his right and left sides. They persuaded him, “Shall we go now?”

Cui Xie shook his head: “It is rare for us to visit. The guards here are not very dedicated, so I will take advantage of this time to rebuild my mother’s cemetery before going back.”

He was the eldest son and eldest grandson, repairing the tombs were a part of his duty.

Located near the cemetery, there were masons who specialized in carving monuments and stone tablets as well as workers who repaired the graves’ soil. Cui Yuan invited them and asked the stonemason to copy the words on the original tombstone and go back to re-engrave it onto the new one. Cui Xie and the workers discussed how to replenish the tomb soil.

The foreman said: “It can be repaired by simply digging out nearby soil and spreading it on top of the tomb. It can last for a year if the dirt is compactly packed. But, if there is any wind, it will not be possible. This grave of the Young Master’s was blown flat by the wind. A better material is wood ash soil mixed and fired in the kiln to make quicklime. After it is applied, it is strong and no need to be afraid of the elements; naturally, the best material is the mortar, but it is expensive. It is bitter to mix quicklime with loess sand. After mixing the materials, you have to constantly mix the mixture and pound out glue pieces.”

loess sand (yellow sandy soil typical of north china)

He looked at Cui Xie’s figure covered in dust, but still revealing the soft and shiny robes underneath. He dryly commented, “Surely the Young Master will not hesitate to spend these few allowances, right?”

Cui Xie looked at the low gravestone and the dilapidated stone tablet. With a sorrowful and a derisive smile, he faintly said, “Don’t be stingy, use the best of the best. You can invite a Teacher of the Yin and Yang* once you believe that the repairs are essentially finished. We will stay nearby and when the time comes, we will come over to fill the first shovel.”

*A Teacher of the Yin and Yang were most likely people whose careers included astrology, fortune-telling, houses, tombs, dreams and so on. They were most likely hired to perform some ancient Chinese rituals according to superstition and ancient Chinese values, particularly values surrounding the death.

Repairing your own grave, naturally, you must use the best materials to do so.

He couldn’t erect a mound for the original Cui Xie, so he could only use the opportunity of repairing Cui Xie’s mother’s tomb to bury some old belongings in it. This way, the mother and son pair could rest together peacefully from now on.