CH 24

What Cui Xie really wanted them to sign was a non-disclosure agreement.

While overlay color printing and typesetting printing weren’t considered techniques that needed a lot of technical skill, in the early Ming Dynasty, no one had really thought of using these types of techniques. If there were no contract clauses, today, if he told the artisans how to typeset, produce shades of colors with varying deep and shallow intensities, and how to create shadows with smudging, then in just a few days, the entire dynasty would start producing colored book editions.

It did not take long for Shopkeeper Ji and his son to summon the artisans back to the store and renew their contracts with Cui Xie. Several of the artisans were worried that Cui Xie would ask them to sell themselves to work as slaves, stammering as they looked at him. But, upon remembering how many years they had worked with the store and the fact that their sons and daughters had all grown up here, they did not object and obediently accepted the deed.

Unexpectedly, once the deed was in their possession, it was not at all a life deed to sell themselves, but rather it was only just a long-term employment agreement and another confidential contract prohibiting the spread of the printing techniques employed in this store’s workshop.

This condition not only applied to when they were working in the bookstore, but even after leaving this job, they were not allowed to disseminate these techniques to other bookstores. The bookstore would pay them a yearly confidentiality fee, but if any of the employees dared to violate the ban, they would be reported to the officials for questioning.

As to this kind of contract, the workers were naturally not afraid to sign it. Besides from the fact that they had been working in the engraving industry for so many years, there were close to no differences between each store’s engraving and printing techniques. If they knew of a technique, others were certain to know as well; if they were really able to learn a new technique in the future, they would naturally conceal such a skill and pass it onto their children and grandchildren for them to be able to eat well in the future.

Shopkeeper Ji and Clerk Ji had no objections, so they immediately signed their names onto the contract. The other clerks and workers followed their example and signed the contract with a peace of mind. The xiang yu and li zheng administrators also signed as witnesses to the ordeal, organizing the stacks of paper and were prepared to send it to the yamen for further documentation and certification records.

These two terms refer to two local administrative/governance institutions set up in areas below the county level. Every 100 households is defined as “Li” and every 5 “Li” was defined as a Xiang. The administrator of Xiang is called Xiang Yue and the administrator of Li is called Li Zheng. The Ming Dynasty used systems inherited in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Xiang Yue, She Xue and She Cang system.

Lizheng: administrator of 100 households

Xiangyue: administrator of 5 “Li”

Yamen: administrative government office of a local bureaucrat/officials at a county level or higher

Cui Xie saw that it was getting quite late, so he instructed Cui Yuan to go to a restaurant and order food for the workers to eat and then inquired, “You all accepted jobs and work outside now? How long until you are all finished with the projects?”

A few engraving and printing artisans accepted work at another family’s bookstore and would need another four or five days to complete the work there. The accountant was helping a small restaurant in managing their accounts and it would take another half a month to settle all the store’s accounts. Fortunately, the two clerks still remained at the shop and went to work every day.

Shopkeeper Ji cautiously and carefully observed Cui Xie’s expression, but Cui Xie did not look happy nor angry, and he ultimately could not assess Cui Xie’s current mood.

He wanted to plead for these workers so that the Young Master would give them a few days’ allowance and allow them to finish their respective projects so that they could get their wages. Unexpectedly, before he even opened his mouth to speak, Cui Xie commented, “Since you all have a few days left, just go and finish your projects. Now that the back courtyard has been rented to the Wang family, you all should pack up the engraving tools and move them to my residence. Once you retrieve the rest of your tools and possessions from the other bookstores, find a clean vacant room to work. If anyone has no place to live, they can also move in.”

The clerks and workers were all pleasantly surprised, and a tired and worn-down handyman with no residence immediately said that he was willing to move in. Shopkeeper Ji was a little alarmed, and he stammeringly asked what Cui Xie planned to do with the father and son duo. Cui Xie glanced at him faintly, and with a profound, yet mysterious tone he replied, “Just remember these occurrences for now.  At the end of the year, when it is time to settle the accounts, we will discuss it then.”

As long as they were not sent to the yamen, the father and son felt this was already a heavenly lucky blessing. The two of them bowed up and down in gratitude and went to clean the storefront. After they had made up their minds, they decided that they were going to work desperately so that the Young Master could forgive them for their sins.

The riotous and lively Wang family in the rear courtyard did not leave either. Wang Xiangzhen, under the guise of masquerading as an eyewitness, he was able to escape from the hands of his pampered lover and tiger wife. With a gaudy and garish look, he sat with the workers for more than half of the day—and he had the nerve to sit so comfortably.

Finally, Cui Xie dismissed the clerks and invited the workers to the hall for a drink. Only then, did Wang Xiangzhen start to move about his hips, standing up and saying with a smile, “Patriot Cui is truly broad-minded. I initially thought that since your servants rented out the courtyard behind your back, you would definitely take the Shopkeeper to the yamen for punishment and then retrieve the courtyard back. Otherwise, why would I be throwing my face around and sitting here? I was afraid that you would claim the courtyard back and was waiting to reason with you. I never imagined you to be such a reasonable person.”

Retrieve the courtyard back? Just where would Cui Xie get a hundred taels of silver to pay Wang Xiangzhen back?

Up until now, this group of artisans and clerks had come clean and they were still considered exemplary and loyal employees, so this courtyard could be rented for now. Chairman Mao had once taught “Keep men, lose the land; land can be regained. Keep the land, lose men; land and men are both lost.” Cui Xie was also a person who had signed the tripartite agreement, and had just been about to take up his post as a librarian, naturally he dared to follow in the footsteps of great men.

tripartite agreement: college graduates sign this once they are hired by employers in China. It is an agreement signed by the graduate, employer ,and university prior to commencing work. As Cui Xie was just about to graduate, he was in the middle of this process but was interrupted through his transmigration.

Besides, the old Cui Residence had a small back courtyard, two small rooms facing the back of the street. It would be more than enough when converted into employee dormitories and studio workshops, there was no need to waste money on this courtyard here.

Cui Xie replied with a grin: “Since Young Master had indeed paid rent and saved my family’s hired workers and courtyard, it is only natural for the Young Master to continue staying here. I have not properly thanked the Young Master yet. I had not known that the bookstore was damaged by the floods back then. If I had known about this matter earlier, I would have taken the time to personally thank Young Master Wang for your helping hand earlier.”

Overwhelmed by favor from Cui Xie, Official Wang was quick to smile at the flatter, but the bloody gashes at the corner of his mouth was about to bloom open, and he ‘hissed’ twice at the twinges of pain and quickly gripped Cui Xie’s arm: “We are all heroic, high-minded and righteous people and do not need to imitate those pedantic scholars, opening their mouth and saying Young Master every other line. I see that you are a few years younger than me, just call me Wang da-ge and I will also ask that I call you Cui-di!”

da-ge: older brother (affectionate)

-di: little brother (affectionate)

Cui Xie declined, “I dare not, I dare not, I am but just an ordinary scholar…”

“But you are not an ordinary scholar.” Young Master Wang slapped him hard on the shoulder. If it weren’t for that at the moment, Cui Xie had been standing perfectly upright, this motion would have been enough for him to topple over to the ground, “I looked at your shoulder just now, truly a terribly long and vicious scar. This is a wound only a warrior that has truly seen blood can sustain. All my life, I have admired warriors, when it is time to head back, come to my house, we have a large martial arts arena, several heavy horn bows and a good foreign horse in the stables. Whether you love riding or shooting, or like exchanging a few sword moves, I can exchange a few blows with you!”

…Thank you, just wait until I return home and practice for twenty years and I will definitely take you up on this offer.

Just as Cui Xie planned on declining, a thought flashed inside his heart. His gaze flickered over the other party’s bruised and swollen face, inquiring, “Wang xiong is skilled at martial arts?” Then how could he let two delicate women beat him to this state?

Xiong: another term to call someone brother (affectionate term for someone you feel close with)

Wang Xiangzhen followed his gaze and touched the corners of his mouth, painfully gnashing his teeth together: “In this life, I have a few pet peeves, I can’t stand seeing a beautiful woman suffering. This is merely just a few nail marks, if I was scratched I just let it be. I am reluctant to beat her, but I cannot bear to divorce her either. What else can I do but endure?”

Although Cui Xie personally believed that it was not right to raise a mistress on the outside, he felt a bit of admiration for Wang Xiangzhen’s reluctant attitude and could not help but salute with his hands to say, “Wang xiong is very cultivated. It is just that Wang xiong’s wife already knows of all the entirety of this courtyard and I’m afraid it’ll be rare that it will continue to be so quiet in the future. I plan on opening the bookstore again, so I can only request that Wang xiong ponder over how to properly arrange that….women in the future.”

Wang Xiangzhen did not know whether it was because he had been beaten or he had been shouting during the quarrel, but his voice had become hoarse, and he replied, “Ai, let’s discuss this later. As for Sister Yue’s matter, I have to give it a bit more thought, it’ll take a while. But Cui-di, ge-ge has something to ask you—”

Cui Xie raised his eyebrows and turned to look at Wang Xiangzhen, silently expressing his doubts.

Wiang Xiangzhen was stunned by that pair of eyes. After a long pause, he remembered to breathe, lowering his head and smiled dryly: “Cui-di, before your ge-ge’s face heals, don’t visit the bookstore. Sister Yue’s temperament is fickle and like water* and with such a distinguished and handsome young person like you coming in and out, I’m afraid that the one living in the bookstore’s Drooping Flower Gate will not be reliable and I cannot lock up the other people’s feet.”

*In Chinese, she is described as having a temperament like water, which usually refers to a temperament that flows like water and is a metaphor for a woman’s inconsistency in love.

Drooping Flower Gate (chuihuamen): the gate that leads to the inner central courtyard, the view is often blocked by a patterned

Cui Xie nodded and peacefully agreed: “Wang xiong’s family members live in the back and I naturally want to avoid arousing suspicion. On weekdays, the bookstore has a Shopkeeper that will supervise the store and I will not come too often if there is nothing to do.”

Wang Xiangzhen’s lips moved slightly, causing the injury at the corners of his mouth to crack open, making his face seem a little distorted. Holding his face, he smiled, “I will not Cui-di suffer in vain. Later on, I will take you to Jiang mama’s flower pavilion, her residence…”

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

He raised his face, glancing at Cui Xie’s clean face and pure eyes, he swallowed the words he was about to say and coughed lightly, “Later, I will give you a pony. A righteous hero needs a good horse. If you ride a horse and wield a sword at the same time, it should be good…very good.”

At the lowest price, a horse was worth at least ten or so taels of silver. If it was a good horse, even a hundred taels would not be enough to buy one. This kind of gift could not be accepted lightly. Cui Xie quickly declined, but Wang Xiangzhen waved his hand and decided, “Fine, ge-ge has his own plan, I will see you once my face is healed!”

His furen had made a ruckus and accidentally met the mistress outside of the home. She had felt so ashamed that she had long returned home early. Similarly, the mistress also honestly and obediently retreated into the room and asked someone to lock the courtyard entrance. Regardless of the family’s future troubles, Cui Xie had a drink with a few of the workers and then returned home with the store’s real account books in hand.

That handyman from before arrived home earlier than Cui Xie and had asked Zhang mama to prepare the back courtyards. Cui Xie went over to check in on him and saw that the old bed Cui Yuan and his son had used was placed into the room. There were also old desks, books, chairs left by Wang xiucai that had been converted to work benches and there were also bowls and cloth towels available. It looked like a suitable place for someone to live in.

Xiucai: A scholar who has passed the entry-level examination to study at a college.

In the corner of the room, there was a trunk stacked with cut wooden boards and there were some miscellaneous papers, ink, glue and alum piled on the desk. Li Jinbao hurriedly explained, “These are all materials that were available in the store. I guessed that in just a couple of days, the Young Master would start printing books, so I just simply brought them with me. Young Master did not inquire further about our private projects outside, and I know to be grateful about that. I just wanted to prepare the boards and materials in advance so that once the artisans return, the work can be started immediately.”

Cui Xie was actually not in a rush to start printing just yet, he was still unsure what contents or details would be printed. Cui Xie did not dare to be too zealous, so he simply asked, “Have we ever printed a colored book in our store before?”

Li Jinbao was stunned by the question and replied with another question, “Is the Young Master referring to using yellow apricot paper and  porcelain blue paper as the base and then printing over it? Not only is the font hard to see once printed, but it also costs two or three ounces of silver per page, we can’t afford to print, can’t afford to print!”

Cui Xie pondered for a moment and clarified, “It’s not that type, but rather the calligraphy and paintings are printed in different colors.”

From his impressions, the erotic pictures in the Spring Albums seemed to be in color, but in the chemistry textbook, it was written that the earliest usage of duoban (woodblock) and gonghua (blind embossing) printing techniques only appeared in the late Ming Dynasty’s 《Letterpapers from the Wisteria Pavilion》and 《The Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy》. He did not know whether the color printing industry developed during the Chenghua reign had reached that step yet. Would it be too shocking to throw out the latest technology all at once?

The Spring Albums were a set of classical Ming Dynasty paintings that was often used as a teaching aid for sex education and erotica during that time period.

Duoban printing: woodblock print which allowed people to print multiple colors on paper using one block at the same time by cutting it into separate pieces, each corresponding to a small part in the painting. It represented the highest level of Chinese craftsmanship back then.

Gonghua printing: blind embossing, inkless printing technique in which patterns are demonstrated by concave and convex lines, and it was used to depict shapes of mountains, water, flowers, birds, fish and insects. Embossing is the method of creating raised logos or characters without the use of ink.

Letter Papers from the Wisteria Pavilion is a catalog of luxury-printed papers issued in Nanjing in 1626, containing twenty leaves devoted to painting poetry and inscribed from old poems. The Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy was published in 1644 with similar contents.

Chenghua reign: referring to the reign of Ming Dynasty’s Ninth emperor, Chenghua Emperor, Zhu Jianshen; it would be approximately around 1469; Chenghua stands for ‘accomplished change’. 

Li Jinbiao saw that Cui Xie was lost in thought and couldn’t help but call out to him: “Young Master? I have never heard of the characters in a book having different colors, wouldn’t they be uncomfortable to read compared to regular ink?”

Cui Xie shook his head, bit his lip and asked, “Forget printing anything, can you, like Xie gong paper, color the paper and then print an image in a different color on top of it?”

Xie Jingchu: a poet who created ten color paper, later known as “Xie Gong paper/Xue Tao paper”

Li Jinbao let out an ‘ah’ sound and said, “So it was about dying the paper? Is that what you scholars use to write poems and essays? If it’s just dyeing the paper yellow with pine flower or honey locust, that is actually quite convenient. It doesn’t take too much effort to engrave a decorative border, if you ask an artisan, they can work overtime into the night to rush out the product. Only applying the wax will take a bit more time.”

With a technical work background, making something new would take half the work, but produce twice the effect. With some traces of surprise, Cui Xie asked, “Do you know how to do all the techniques out on the market?”

Li Jinbao bristled and waved his hands, “Don’t dare to say to know all, we have never done those prints bordered with gold and silver done in the Southern part of the empire, but as to the ordinary dying and applying the wax, that is no problem.”

Cui Xie’s gaze dropped for a bit as he pondered for a while, and then he slightly nodded, “Tomorrow, tell your Shopkeeper that you want him to purchase all the necessary pigments for paper dyeing as well as the tools. If anything is lacking, just ask Cui Yuan for money. Then, try out all the colors that can be dyed and then show me afterwards. Additionally, ask around to see if other workers want to move in so I can find a few neighbors and carpenters and commission some furniture—it’s just that the style will be on the simpler side.”

Li Jinbao nodded with an excited expression: “Thank you Young Master, we not only have a place to live, but we can also choose the style of furniture we want? Not to conceal this from Young Master, but after last year’s flood, this little one even had to beg for food and even lived in a shack. If it wasn’t for Shopkeeper renting out the courtyard—”

He abruptly trailed off, lowered his head and peeked at Cui Xie.

The corners of Cui Xie’s mouth twitched slightly, and he flicked his sleeves and turned around: “It is getting late. You can rest, I will head off now.”

Today, he had threatened to kill someone with a sword, forced Shopkeeper Ji and his son to settle the accounts and also summoned back the workers back to re-sign a contract with him…having done so many of these villain mafia and BOSS-like actions, it was no wonder that Worker Li was afraid of him. He should be conscious and leave first, he didn’t want to scare others into a heart attack.