CH 25

Cui Xie currently felt that he had countless tasks to complete, but after getting up in the morning, he still forcefully sat himself in front of the desk, first copying the《Four Books and Chapters》using the accustomed Yan script for half a day.

Yan Script: Yan Zhengqing was a Chinese calligrapher, military general, and politician. He was a leading Chinese calligrapher and loyal governor of the Tang DYnasty. His artistic and aesthetic accomplishment in Chinese calligraphy bestows him with the title of one of the ‘grand calligraphy masters’ in history and his regular script style, Yan, is often imitated in later generations. This style is known to have flow and sharp edges, with a squared shape and spacious center portions with tight outer strokes. His characters were compact vertically. It was upright, muscular, fitting, yet also rich and controlled, which vastly contrasts the early Tang style which was sloped, feminine, pretty, and slim.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Zhenqing

Previously, when he had been practicing copying the Imperial edict, Pengyan had only mentioned that Cui Xie’s handwriting was better than his original style of writing and hadn’t found it strange. As such, Cui Xie no longer imitated the original Cui Xie’s handwriting, instead, by copying down books, he practiced his calligraphy while simultaneously memorizing the content.

The edition of that book on his hard disk was from the original text, and the different chapters and sections had been mixed and printed, but they were not coherent to read chronologically. When copying down the book, he first copied the original text and then copied the annotations once. When copying the original text, he silently recalled the annotations in his mind. Additionally, when copying down the annotations, one would then be able to recall details from the original text. With this two-phase technique of comparing and contrasting, content would be more firmly remembered.

Memorizing all the way up to 《The Analects of Confucious》and 《Mencius》, he also sketched a tree diagram for himself, with the title of each chapter as a main branch and continued to separate the original text and annotations into more refined, differentiated categories, writing only a few words as a reminder to prompt one’s memory. 

But if others caught sight of this diagram, it would be troublesome. After he was done sketching it, he immediately crushed the paper into a ball, soaking it into a teacup in which he then poured the tea dregs into the flower pond located under the windowsill.

Clerk Ji visited the residence to greet and fawn on Cui Xie. As he was sweeping the courtyard, he caught sight of that crushed paper ball and hurriedly muttered under his breath ‘Praising Wenchang Dijun’. He then called Cui Yuan and asked him to bring a charcoal brazier for burning paper. Not only did Cui Yuan retrieve a charcoal brazier, he also lit a few sticks of incense as he arrived at the study. Entering the door, he babbled and nagged to Cui Xie, “Which person pours paper written with words into the soil? The written characters have already been imbued with literary spirit, one must be respectful. If you don’t want to keep it, just burn it. How can doing it in such a destructive matter be alright…”

Wenchang Dijun: Taoist deity in Chinese mythology, known as the God of Culture and Literature and has been historically called upon by scholars and writers who need inspiration or help right before an exam. Dijun literally means Emperor/Monarch. Previously, Cui Xie was called the incarnation of Wen Qu/Wenchang Dijun in Ch.9, and here, Clerk Ji is either chanting it as sort of a “prayer” similar to how Buddhist monks would chant “Amitabha”. Wrecking literature/work like this was most likely considered a bit disrespectful.

Seeing that the brazier’s decorative eyes were brightly lit by the fire roaring inside, Cui Xie beamed and said, “Uncle Yuan, you are truly thoughtful, I did not even think of asking for a brazier.”

Cui Yuan sighed and lamented, “Young Master must think that this old man is just lamenting and nagging. This is all because Clerk Ji asked me to bring this over when he saw that you had soaked the written paper into a mushy ball outside. I haven’t seen you throwing away paper in such a manner before and did not think much about it. In the future, you must remember to respect and to treasure literary material as a cultural resource. Be careful that Wenchang Dijun is not offended.”

“I understand, I had merely done it in passing. In the future, if there is any waste paper, it will be bound to be carefully burnt up.” Cui Xie acknowledged his mistake quickly and his attitude was extremely good. He immediately took a few pieces of scratch paper full of written characters and threw them into the brazier. The dark red charcoal flames licked the surface of the paper, and the paper’s edges were burnt, quickly spinning into black ash. The burnt paper ash fell like delicate snowflakes into the snow-white winter ash pile at the bottom of the brazier, quickly melting into one color.

Cui Yuan used fire chopsticks to rummage through the brazier, revealing a few large oil palm chestnuts, and told Cui Xie, “When you aren’t using this brazier, just take it outside and let it burn for a bit. The chestnuts will be sweeter after roasting for a long time.”

Cui Xie wholeheartedly agreed.

Cui Yuan still had a lot of chores to do outside, so he arranged the brazier so that it was not in the way and left. Cui Xie pushed the ash pile aside, reburying the chestnuts into the ashes. He then flattened one side of the ash pile’s surface. Using the fire chopsticks to draw two strokes in passing, drawing a thick-shelled, thorny and big hairy chestnut on the bottom of the brazier’s ash basin..

This was just a casual drawing for fun. After just a few strokes, he set down the copper chopsticks and returned to his desk to continue sketching the tree diagram on the paper as he memorized the 《Four Books》. When he was tired of memorizing the 《Four Books》, he switched to memorizing the 《Pingshui Rhyming Scheme》. The finished tree diagram was then thrown into the hot coals, burned into ashes.

Pingshui Rhyming Scheme: or Level Water Rhyme was one of the most popular rhyming systems of the Middle Chinese language in Chinese poetry after the Tang Dynasty. In Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, this system was highly influential and the Yunfu Qunyu version served as the official standard in the Imperial Examinations. Modern Chinese phonology is vastly different from Middle Chinese now.

The flames roared in the charcoal brazier, burning intermittently, and soon, the chestnuts buried in the white ashes were slowly roasted. If a cut was made on the chestnut shell, the roasted brown chestnut’s inner flesh was exposed. Blowing off the ashes to taste it, the chestnut tasted both hearty and sweet.

Not long after, Pengyan entered to pour tea and Cui Xie invited him to eat the freshly roasted chestnuts in the brazier. Not only did Pengyan taste some for himself, he also peeled a handful for Cui Xie and put the whole, freshly peeled ones onto the table. Cui Xie had already eaten quite a few before Pengyan had entered, so he did not rush to eat them all, first leaving it on the edge of the table to cool. In the time between copying down material, he occasionally drew a few strokes on the paper’s borders, basing his sketch off the chestnuts in front of him. With just a few strokes, he drew out the chestnut kernels’ figured and veined pattern, leaving the bright side of the kernel a blank white on the paper. Then,diluted ink was used for the shadowy background, making the chestnuts appear extremely lifelike.

When Pengyan once again came over to deliver the freshly peeled chestnut kernels, he saw the small drawing Cui Xie drew on the edge of the paper. He could not help touching it and said in a surprised voice, “How can you paint so well? Previously, when you painted lotus flowers with Teacher Lu, he disdained your painting craftsmanship, criticizing that it was not like a real flower.”

That is because the original person who painted that was the young Cui Xie, and not this transmigrating adult.

Cui Xie lowered his head with a guilty conscience, blinking and replied, “At that time, didn’t I have to paint according to the brushwork techniques taught by Teacher Lu? That included coloring and mixing the proper colors, and once the brush landed on the paper, I was afraid something would go wrong, so it was awkward no matter how I painted. This painting was freely painted in front of real chestnuts, without restraint, of course it would be better.”

Pengyan stared at the chestnuts and sighed for a long while. “This is truly a natural talent. If you hadn’t learned from Teacher Lu at home, but instead found a famous artist like Teacher Zhou (Shen Zhou), maybe you would already become a painter long ago. Then, the Master would have known of your talents, and would have had a better impression of you.”

Shen Zhou: born in the Ming Dynasty and was a famous painter. He contributed greatly to the artistic tradition of China and his style consistently bore a unique touch of an abiding confidence, restrained calmness and subtle warmth. The ideal of his life and the accomplishments of his art have earned him reverence by all artists devoted to the ideals of the literati (wenren) tradition. He is regarded as one of the painting elite-the Four Masters of Ming (includes Weng Zhengming, Tang Yin, Qiu Yung).

As long as Pengyan was not suspicious, all was good.

Cui Xie had transmigrated for quite a time, and was already quite clear on the personnel and relationships that often interacted with the original owner of this body. Out of everyone, Pengyan was the original’s personal manservant and knew him better than most. Cui Yuan was originally assigned to work in the outer courtyard, so he was actually not particularly familiar with Cui Xie’s personal situation.

Cui Xie gazed at the child’s eyes that were full of trust and admiration, sighing silently in his heart. He stuffed all the chestnut kernels towards him and said with a grin, “I also think I have talent, I can paint better than what the Teacher taught me. Later, I will also draw some works for you, maybe I can also draw a portrait for you, who knows, maybe it’ll be quite accurate!”

Pengyan accepted happily from the bottom of his heart, cupping several chestnut kernels in hand and left to go help Cui Xie retrieve some snacks.

When it was midday, the lizheng administrators located on the same street as the study sent over a contract certified with a red seal. Cui Xie put the contract away in the box, and from now on, he was also considered to be a boss.

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

The administrators drank his residence’s tea and praised him without so much a prompt: “When I went to the yamen and said the Cui family’s Young Master was writing a contract with someone, the scribe near the entrance did not even want my good intentions (money) and the Office of Household Records immediately stamped it without saying anything! Everyone in the yamen said that you are a righteous hero recognized by the Emperor and that you will definitely not break the contract or law, and they even said that those hired workers were lucky enough to chance upon the Young Master’s accumulated merit and virtue.”

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

Cui Xie’s heart moved when he heard this and he asked, “If I wish to dispel a servant’s status, how should it be done?”

The lizheng administrator replied, “This matter is easy to handle. As the Master, you must provide the proper official documents and go to the Office of Household Records to register the new civilians. Then, just instruct them to settle down again. However, after their servant statuses are dispelled, they will be called into service. Soon, in October, the river conservancy works project will start and all available artisans are to report to the Capital and take turns to be on duty…no, all the artisans that your family employed are all civilians. Is it possible that the Young Master wants to let go of the people by his side instead?”

Cui Xie intended to dispel Cui Yuan and his son’s servant statuses, but upon thinking about the Ming Dynasty’s mandatory civilian labor service that spanned from the ages of sixteen to sixty, he didn’t answer immediately, shaking his head, “I was just asking.”

Note: Ancient Chinese Emperors, in order to finish and get enough workers for large scale structural, architectural, farming, and civic works projects done, they demanded civilians to work in such projects as part of a mandatory labor service that all people from ages 16-60 had to obey. It was not until the Hongwu Emperor that this forced peasantry labor system was mostly abolished and obsolete.

The lizheng administrator did not inquire further. He only left after drinking two completely filled cups of hazelnut sesame roasted tea and eating a few pieces of layered, flaky pastries stuffed with sweet meat.

It was not early when he left and Cui Xie estimated that Teacher Lin’s academy would have dispersed for the day. He asked Zhang mama to pack up several kinds of high quality brushes, ink, paper and inkstones gifted from the Tongzhou officials, a case of roasted loose tea leaves as well as a small bamboo basket filled with the kiwis (Wild Monkey Peaches) conferred by the County Magistrate. He brought all of these with him as he headed to Teacher Lin’s residence to deliver these gifts.

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

When Cui Yuan caught sight of this outside the Cui Residence’s entrance, he asked in amazement, “Why are you planning on becoming a pupil on neither a proper or improper date? Why not wait for August 15th to come around, when the academy is closed, and then formally buy the six rites of apprenticeship and give it along with gift money?”

Cui Xie laughed and answered, “I naturally want to go ask for pupilship on a good date, but today, I have a matter that I must trouble Teacher Lin with. Isn’t our bookstore planning on printing new books? Teacher Lin’s contacts are all students, the first person we can find that can discuss such scholarly contents would be Teacher Lin. I want to ask him for help on publishing a book.”

All the methods that Shopkeeper Ji had come up with depended on pirated copies of books and it cost three or four taels per book to buy someone else’s work, and transporting the goods on the road would cost another good amount of money. If one purchased a premade engraving board template currently on the market, with their engraving technique and labor, if other people want to read it, they would have simply already purchased what they wanted to see and copies of the book would have long been already spread. If one were to invite someone to write a new book, the cost was more expensive than buying an edition from Jianyang that was thousands of miles away, so why bother with these pirated things, and be possibly investigated “for a thousand miles?”

In his heart, Cui Yuan believed that Teacher Lin could not be regarded as the best person to go to, but adding on the condition and attribute of “being able to find” was added, then he couldn’t be considered as the best person, but rather—the only person.

Cui Xie went inside to change into a new set of robes, cleaning and dressing up neatly. He brought Pengyan with him to the residence rented by Teacher Lin. By now, the session time for the academy had long ended and there were only a few naughty little disciples that were being punished for copying books left. Teacher Lin was resting in the hall, reading a book when he saw Cui Xie enter with an armful of gifts. He hurriedly went up to greet him and asked, “Are you properly settled down now and preparing to attend the academy?”

Cui Xie handed the gifts over and said a long greeting, “The ground in my residence is being broken everywhere and that chaos makes it very uncomfortable for one to start studying. I am afraid that the matter of studying will have to wait until after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Today, I visited to ask for help from Teacher Lin. My humble home does not have many good things to give as gifts so I brought the Four Treasures of the Study gifted to me by the officials and gentry I got to be acquainted with as well as the fresh fruits bestowed by the County Magistrate.”

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

Cui Xie’s brushes, ink, paper and ink stones were all of high quality, and although the kiwis were a bit on the smaller side, but attached with the two words ‘County Magistrate’’,  whether it was good or bad, it’s worth had skyrocketed regardless.

Teacher Lin first stared at the gifts, his eyes browsing through each one, and then he retracted his gaze with satisfaction, stroking his beard with a smile, “Not to mention that I have long regarded you as a disciple in my heart, but just based on our relationship of being neighbors, why would you need to bring up the phrase ‘begging for help’ at all?”

Cui Xie lowered his head slightly, piously explaining, “This disciple has always admired Teacher’s knowledge and upon meeting trouble, Teacher was the first person that I thought of to ask for help. Just to be transparent with Teacher, but this disciple’s family recently transferred me authority to manage a Zhirong Study located in the west of the city. However, ever since last year’s flood that ravaged the county , the study has not properly reopened and now we do not know what we should print. The Shopkeeper just met this disciple and begged for help yesterday. This disciple knows that my knowledge is merely superficial, and can only request for Teacher’s help on the matter—either to find someone to write a novel or to select some short stories and compile them into a collection.”

He made a deep bow and pleaded, “This is the first time this disciple has handled such a matter himself and is wholly requesting Teacher’s help, so I do not disappoint my family’s expectations.”

Teacher Lin revealed a cautious expression, helped Cui Xie up and frowned, “You are still a young child, how can you dare to take on such a major event like compiling a book?”

Cui Xie sighed, “This study was a part of the dowry given by my late Mother’s maternal family and it just so happened that this disciple came to this county, how could I watch and leave my mother’s legacy alone and let it decay into nothing? As for the matter of compiling works, this disciple does not dare to be frivolous and only hopes that Teacher will pity my act of filial piety and preside over this matter for me.”

Teacher Lin held the bookcase as he muttered to himself irresolutely for a while and after pondering, he nodded, “On the account of your deceased Mother, I will be helping you this one time. Those novels are objects that can shake and disrupt a person’s mind and ambition. You are a person who is on the path of taking Imperial examinations in the future, you should focus on the scriptures and not be distracted by these chores.”

Cui Xie successively nodded, “These things will actually be made by artisans, I will follow Teacher’s teachings and study in closed seclusion at home.”

Now that he had entrusted someone with this matter, he naturally could study at home with a peace of mind. Furthermore, with such a relaxed frame of mind, he guided the artisans to the three-walled courtyard located in the back of the residence to build two clean and dry pit toilets—although Zhang mama was to return to the capital, but if a servant with a family moved in in the future, he would have prepare a toilet for their female relatives.

Zhang mama saw that Cui Xie had settled matters in the house in an orderly manner and the employees in the bookstore were all obedient to him, so she packed up what little baggage she had and said farewell to the master and servant trio. Along with the manservant who had escorted her here, she hurried back to the capital in a small donkey cart. 

Old Cui furen looked forward to the news of her grandson from day till night and when Zhang mama arrived home, she immediately grabbed the woman servant to ask questions. Zhang mama told of the stories and matters she had encountered these past few days, and laughing exaggeratedly she told, “Our Young Master is praised by everyone in the ancestral hometown and all the neighbors around him say that he is a loyal and righteous man and are naturally willing to associate with him. He also received the Emperor’s holy grace and even the County Magistrate just adores him too much. This time, the Master was just momentarily angry. Sooner or later, once his anger recedes, he will remember his son’s good characteristics and send someone to bring him back!”

The old furen sat on the bed and listened, her face initially full of smiles and she was very immersed in the conversation. Later, upon hearing the word ‘Master’, her joy faded and she sighed, “If I wait for him to change his mind, I’m afraid that even after I die, he will not change his mind. I will just wait for the day my eldest grandson becomes promising, dignifiedly coming in through the main entrance and that father and stepmother will be unable to stop him then. Then, his grandfather and I will enjoy the blessings of being served by our eldest grandson for a few days.”