CH 37

This was a book priced at nearly four taels of silver and one book was equivalent to Teacher Lin’s two months of income. There were so many people who bought it, and it was even unexpectedly sold out?

This news was so astounding that Cui Xie felt that it was all surreal. He could no longer contain himself and maintain his previously unperturbed expression, letting himself instead indulge in his own excited emotions for a moment. Then, he slowly recovered his cool-headed disposition as he walked to the hall.

Shopkeeper Ji had also been stunned giddy by the silver taels, clutching the account books as he rose out of the chair, showing Cui Xie today’s accounts and order receipts. Surprisingly, the《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》sold extremely well, selling more than 300 copies in just one morning. Nevertheless, it was Shopkeeper Ji who had forcefully suppressed the sales later on, and it was only this way that barely a hundred or so copies remained, leaving a little stock for tomorrow’s sales.

Even though Cui Xie had personally planned the entire sales process, painted the beautiful paintings and allowed for those scholars to exchange their articles for the prints, slowly building up momentum step by step starting from the Chongyang Poetry gathering, he still had not expected to be able to sell with this kind of momentum.

He originally conjectured that the hardcover copies could sell at most two or three hundred copies like the Shen Garden Poetry collection and he had even planned on disseminating the unsold ones to other parts of the country, and then release black and white monochrome paperbacks to seize the low-income marketplaces and households by storm. Altogether, selling one thousand copies would be considered the extreme boundary and maximum that could happen. But, as soon as the store opened, just based off of the sales from the frenetically buying individual customers that had queued up in the store, they had sold more than a hundred copies. Major customers such as military officers, county officials, influential households and other wealthy families from other places also flooded in like an endless stream. They did not even care about the price of 3 taels of silver and nine coins for one copy, placing tens of book orders and dozens of local orders.

If it were not for the fact that Shopkeeper Ji saw that the sales were very good and declined all those in the same printing industry who wanted to help them with the distribution and sell as a third-party agent with commission, even those final hundred copies would have been sold short. In the daytime, the printing artisans, handymen worked against the clock in the smothering and stuffy workshop, not even caring to print the Cui paper any longer, and only then, were they able to produce and hammer out more than a hundred sets of books. Altogether, it would only be enough to sell for another day.

Everyone was happy, yet simultaneously worried.

The good news was that the entire manufacturing costs came down to only about two or three coins for one copy, whose selling price was three silver taels and nine coins. Over 300 copies had been sold during the day, and the net profit accumulated to around 800 taels of silver. The bad news was that there was not enough manpower and the printing artisans could not keep up with the high demand——one could stay up all night tonight, but would they have to work overtime every day in the future?

However, compared to a few months ago, Cui Xie had only possessed thirty taels of silver altogether and lodging at the inn had been attributed to the innkeeper’s kindness; compared to the days when the Shopkeeper Ji and the rest of the clerks were so poor that they had to rent out the study’s rear courtyard in exchange for some meals, these current troubles could be said to be happy troubles.

Cui Xie pondered for a while and then said to several artisans: “As for the color printing techniques, I know everyone is reluctant to pass it to outsiders and I also do not want those outside the study to learn of it. But, if you have nephews or apprentices in your family who are willing to come to the bookstore to work, bring them over to sign the contract.”

The artisans initially did not want their children and apprentices to recklessly mingle along with this study that seemed to have no prospects, but times had changed: the study now possessed a unique color printing technique among the two capitals and the thirteen provinces, it was profitable and the owner was also lenient and generous. If their children could come in and work here, it would be much better than to work elsewhere.

They eagerly inquired, “Our little fellows have only practiced for a few years and cannot do major workmanship, the study doesn’t need this many handymen right?”

Cui Xie recalled the sight of those young artisans and apprentices who had been helping in the rear workshop these past few days, grinned and encouraged: “The children you have brought in these days are nice, sensible and diligent. In the future, teach them a bit more, no need to conceal your personal skills. Let them learn those skills as soon as possible so they can become more independent. Later on, we will open store branches in Beijing.”

Although Cui Xie was just a youngster, when bringing up the subject of apprentices only a few years older than him, his expression and words were all implied that he meant to take care of them. But at the current moment, no one in the room would find this gesture ridiculous, but only thought that he was mature and reliable. Several of the artisans looked at each other and replied at the same time, “Young Master is benevolent, we will definitely invite sensible and capable youngsters to our bookstore as apprentices!”

Shopkeeper Ji, unwilling to fall behind, said, “My mediocre son has been running outside for a few years as a traveling salesman In the future, once the books in Qian’an are all about sold, I will ask him to run around in Beijing and he will definitely be able to build up our Zhirong Study’s name in the capital!”

Cui Xie laughed, “These are things for the future, do not worry about them at present. I estimated that this book was just well advertised before and the customers want to buy it as soon as the sales launched. It will slow down in popularity in the future. You all have suffered these past few days, this month’s payroll will be doubled. Once the limelight passes, I will give you all a holiday.”

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The next day, once Zhirong Study opened for the day, there was another round of panic buying.

When Cui Xie arrived at the academy, he heard several shixiong complain that his family’s books were too difficult to buy. They had all raced away in the afternoon after the academy ended for the day and left in a hurry, but the books in the store had all been sold out, so they had made a trip for nothing. After complaining a few more times, they asked Cui Xie if he had any spare copies at home and wanted to know if they could buy a few copies directly from him.’’

Yue shixiong, who had already bought the books, asked bitterly, “Do you have any more of those big prints at your residence? My manservant’s luck was not good and consecutively bought three copies only to end up with three prints of that Immortal Huayi, is it possible to exchange for a copy of Wan Ning and that female ghost, A Rou?

Shixiong: big brother disciple/senior/older brother (man). This is usually used by peers to refer to their classmates, members of the same sect/school etc, otherwise it is used to refer to someone senior to yourself.

A fellow student came over and exclaimed in surprise: “You have Immortal Huayi? I have two copies of the Goddess Taishan, do you want to exchange them? Cui-ge unexpectedly just randomly sealed a portrait in the book boxes, one cannot pick them and cannot exchange them either. Just how much effort would it take to collect all four portraits!”

Several seniors who had pooled money together to buy a set also lamented that the one portrait included was to be somehow divided and even after buying four sets, he had not collected all the sets and was busily exchanging them to get the ones he was missing.

Only Zhao Yinglin, who had gone into Cui Xie’s study last night, smiled knowingly and said nothing——Although he had only accepted a print of the demonic fox Wan Ning, there were a few big hanging portraits in Cui Xie’s study. Last night, he had looked at them carefully in complete solititude for a good half of the night!

Soon the morning bell sounded out, interrupting the students’ off-topic and work-distracting discussion. As Teacher Lin walked into the lecture hall with a book grasped in his hands, his gaze swept through the jam-packed crowd of scholars as he strolled through. With a light cough, he coldly said, “These past two days, your hearts have been frivolous and impatient. I am afraid anything that I will lecture today will not go through your heads, so I will not lecture today.”

Everyone’s hearts were apprehensive, wondering if the Teacher had also bought a copy of the《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》and was addicted to them, letting them take a vacation today.

Naturally, there was no such holiday.

Teacher Lin took out two fully-copied and closely packed scrolls sandwiched between a stack of books, throwing them to Yue Su, who had been looking for someone to exchange prints with him. He solemnly ordered, “Come recite the topic. Today, just write these tiejing and moyi from memory. If there are any mistakes, just go back home and copy them again from the books.”

Tiejing: a method of Imperial examinations in which the Classics are tested by being presented with phrases from the Classic, and then the examinee has to recite/write down the full paragraph. This examination is passed if one correctly answers five out of ten topics.

Moyi: similar to tiejing, an examiner will bring up a theme dealt with in the Classics and the examinee has to quote literally and verbatim from the original text, yet without commenting on it or explaining it.

The entire hall bursted with joy, feeling as if they were walking on air and feeling light, the students continued to discuss the book’s storylines during breaks and those tongsheng who had exchanged portraits became listless.

Tongsheng (童生, lit. “child student”), an entry-level examinee who had passed the county/prefecture exams but not the college exams

Although Cui Xie was an exemplary student who did not like to talk about calligraphy and painting, today, all these living things’ minds were frivolous and hot-tempered. This was all caused by his family’s launched book so it was unavoidable for him to follow after the discussion silently all the way through.

Fortunately, he had only just recently started studying and the period had been short. As a result, the Four Books that had been memorized were still fresh in his mind, and he had been repeatedly flipping through them as he learned to write eight-legged essays and had the classics firmly memorized. While copying, one had to be a bit more attentive, if one needed to bactrack, then words would have to be crossed out and mentioning taboo words needed to be avoided. The words should be written so that radiance emanates from the head of the large black characters, and one must also avoid dropping ink spots onto the scroll’s surface.

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

After teaching the three mengtong students, Teacher Lin followed along each table to check  the texts they wrote from memory. If there were mistakes or the curled surface of the scroll was dirtied, he would directly criticize them, asking them to later copy the topic hundreds of times.

Mengtong: elementary school students (enlightenment scholars)

Mengxue: elementary learning in traditional China. During the Han period, it became common for children of the higher classes to obtain education at the age of eight. In preparation for school, they start learning Chinese characters, how to read, how to write, and learning the smaller arts. The schools then allowed them to learn the bigger arts and classics. As a result, traditional Chinese classics did not include a section for elementary learning and books for this purpose were either totally neglected in compilation of catalogues or included in other sections.

Upon finally strolling in front of Cui Xie, Teacher Lin glanced at the table and seeing that that piece of paper was neat and tidy like a copybook, his expression improved and he nodded slightly, “A scholar must have a scholar’s demeanor. No matter what happens to you outside, as long as you enter the academy and see the portrait of the Holy Master (Confucious), you must recall that this is a sacred place where Sages have dwelled. One must wash off and purify one’s intestines and lungs of those excessively dirty thoughts to study!”

These words were not only for Cui Xie to hear, but it was more so for the students who had started discussing those immortals and demons in the academy.

These sentient beings in question, crooked their heads even lower, racking their brains to recall the scriptures, fearing that if they wrote something wrong, they would have to copy the scriptures once they returned home. Cui Xie also lowered his head and wrote carefully in silence, even more afraid that the Teacher would remember that he was the one who published a book to seduce these sentient beings to not study properly in the first place.

Fortunately, Teacher Lin did not say anything about this matter. After reading Cui Xie’s paper, he commented, “You can write up to here, come with me. Let me ask you, yesterday, I said that I would teach you how to make antithetical couplets, have you prepared well?”

Yesterday…..Yesterday his classmates were busy going to his residence to read books and he had been busy dealing with the accounts with Shopkeeper Ji, throwing the matter of Teacher Lin planning on teaching him antithetical couplets to the back of his mind, how could he think to still do them! Now that the matter came in front of him, he was so nervous that he could not think of anything and could only sacrifice the omnipotent and universal reply, “Teacher naturally teaches this disciple the knowledge needed when taking the exam. This disciple is dull and did not know where to start. Yesterday, I only reread《Ancient Times Couplet Categories》and hope Teacher can bestow some enlightenment on the matter.”

Ancient Times Couplet Categories: a classic that lists antithetical couplets collected since ancient times

A small smile appeared on Teacher Lin’s face and he said, “Your learning is too shallow, not being able to think of any is nothing much. Naturally, what I teach is not for you to become a child prodigy and go out to challenge people in making couplets, but rather, to truly understand and do a good job in writing about the main text  in the scriptures. You must have a foundation in writing contradictions and antithetical couplets. Eight antithetical couplets will be spread layer upon layer, displaying sophisticated exposition that uses the positive and negative to complement one another as you make comparisons. The text should be neat and tidy, and when reciting it, it must be even more beautiful in temperament and one must prioritize this.”

Cui Xie thought back to the county’s collected works of anshou examination papers.After ruti, or entering the topic, sure enough, the main text was composed of two antagonistic yet corresponding parts for each four sections in the body paragraphs——the name of eight-legged essay originated from this composition.

Anshou: highest ranking linsheng and the top shengyuan who ranked first in the college exam (yuanshi)

Ruti: several phrases in prose merging into the discussion/main body of text

Pretending as if he suddenly comprehended something, Cui Xie bobbed his head down, asking, “Will Teacher be officially teaching me how to compose the eight legs?”

Teacher Lin responded, “You have just learned how to begin the discussion (Exordium) and ruti for a couple of days, and are still anxious to learn the eight-legs. If the first parts are not studied thoroughly, the latter sections will be more difficult to write. In a little while, I will extract some phrases from the Four Classics to link together into the upper couplet (first couplet of the two). You will also extract a phrase from the Four Classics to finish the counterpoint. If you have poorly memorized the text and not familiarized yourself enough, this will be a difficult task. One, this will also test your memorization of the scriptures to see if it is ripe and fresh. Two, when writing articles, one must capture and emulate the Sage’s tone themselves. The Four Books are all full of the Sage’s wisdom, learn and practice more so that when you go to the examination room, you can write them all by hand.”

Just take a few sentences from the book and piece them together into rhyming couplets? That shouldn’t be too difficult, right? Feeling relieved, Cui Xie replied, “Teacher, please continue with the prompt.”

Teacher Lin said, “There is a spring of water; how it gushes out!”

Cui Xie had done too much poti recently that he subconsciously said, “This is from 《Mencius·Li Lou II》, Mencius replied: ‘There is a spring of water; how it gushes out! It rests neither day nor night…”

Poti or ‘breaking open the topic’ is the opening of the eight-legged essay in which two sentences of prose are written that function as broaching the topic and demonstrating the test-taker’s knowledge about the title/prompt and its source. It is a writing style in which the main subject is approached directly from the outset. I will be using poti and the phrase “breaking the topic” interchangeably since either versions fit better in certain contexts than the other.

Teacher Lin waved his hands to interrupt Cui Xie, “This is not for you to recite from memory, but for you to find the sentences in the Four Books that contradict and make a couplet with them.”

Cui Xie quickly paused, thinking about how to make such a couplet.

To make a couplet with these four characters (in Mandarin) was extremely simple, he could throw out a bunch of ones like “The crescent moon is plump” and “One’s hometown is flourishing”, but what Teacher LIn wanted was not only the linking couplet, but the content also had to be from the Four Books.

He could not figure it out for a long time and he was so anxious that he almost gave into the urge to open the file in a hurry and look for a phrase that could link to the upper couplet. However, for the purpose of training his memory, he resisted this urge and started to recite the《Great Learning》from memory, simultaneously reciting it and contrasting the text with the couple “There is a spring of water; how it gushes out’. Once he got to the phrase, “What is meant by “The making the whole kingdom peaceful and happy depends on the government of his state,” this’, the following sentence suddenly popped into his head. 

His eyes brightened, looking up at Teacher Lin, he blurted out, “With its rugged masses of rocks! In the Book of Poetry, it is said, “Lofty is that southern hill, with its rugged masses of rocks!”

Teacher Lin stroked his beard and nodded in satisfaction, ‘That’s it. Although it is a bit on the slower side, you have not touched these word games before, so this type of result is not bad. I will leave you with a few more prompts. Using this as a pretext, you can comb through the Four Books a few times, and must know the text so thoroughly to the point that with just a few picked phrases from the text, you know where it came from and which characters to link the couplets. If you become familiar with these, the xiaoti tested in the county examinations will not be able to trouble you.”

Dati: great themes used in provincial and capital examinations

Xiaoti: lesser themes used for tongshi (apprentice examinations)

Dao examinations: the first of three sessions for the provincial/metropolitan examinations. The provincial and metropolitan examinations were organized in three sessions: The first session is three questions (dao) on the interpretation of the Four Books and four on the Five Classics. Three days later, the second session will take place with the challenge to compose one discursive essay (lun), five critical judgments (pan), an announcement (gao) and a memorial (biao). Again, three days latter, the third session is held in which five essays are to be compiled on Classics, historiography and contemporary affairs.

He then unceremoniously came up with more than ten prompts, and considering that this was Cui Xie’s first time, he only came up with four-character and five-character prompts and told him not to look at the books, but correctly link the couples based on memory.

This homework assignment was simply even more difficult than writing essays and Cui Xie had to recite the Four Books over and over again, comparing and contrasting the words until he found the right match. When he returned home, his face had turned blue from exhaustion. But, the Cui Yuan father and son duo as well as Shopkeeper Ji who had stayed at home, all had an expression etched with blatant joy and unspoken sorrows.  Holding the account books and silver, they reported to Cui Xie that the sales today had been even better than yesterday and that there were only the newly made 100 copies made today left in stock.

——Not only did the customers who hadn’t been able to squeeze into the queue line yesterday lined up early today to buy a copy, but some who had bought a copy yesterday came back to buy some more. All their orders immediately wanted four sets and they even clamored in saying they would pay more if the clerks helped them match and collect all four beauty portraits!