CH 42

Once one gets busy, time flies by extremely quickly.

During the daytime, Cui Xie attended the academy, answering the prompts, and at night, he was drawing portraits, and memorizing books. Time flew by like running water and he was only concerned that 24 hours was not going to be enough. The academy had no other holidays and he did not have time to look at the almanac. He was long unable to remember what day and time it was, and he only knew that the countdown to the county examinations was lessening day by day.

When he was about to head out that morning, he suddenly discovered a slender strip of stove ash that led from the courtyard’s well to the kitchen’s interior. Additionally, an ashy yellow thread that seemed as if it was made out of bran poked out and was laid around the well. Cui Yuan was cleaning up nearby, but he did not touch the two slender lines at all, it seemed that there was some sort of custom.

Cui Xie stopped to look at the scene in front of him for a while, and then asked curiously: “What day is it today to put these ashes in the courtyard?”

Huang dasao strolled out of the kitchen, acting as if she had a bound hand and foot[1] , “Replying to Young Master, this is custom in our county. If one wants to get rich this year, one must lead a dragon into the residence.”

Cui Xie immediately clammed up,  not daring to speak for fear of revealing that he did not understand the customs of this dynasty. Fortunately, this custom was truly unique to Qian’an and it was only occasionally followed in the capital. On his side, Pengyan whispered and explained, “I only just learned now, that this is a custom unique to our hometown. Rice bran is used to be laid to the side of the well and then stove ash is used to lead from the well to the edge of the water jar so that the dragon can be led into the residence. Then, there will be dragons living in our well  and in the future, it will bless the Master’s family with wealth!”

Towards this young rich and important person, Huang dasao was somewhat timid in front of him, but she treated Pengyan like a member of the younger generation of her own family, watching him with a warm smile to say a few more words, “Today, one should also eat pan-fried cakes, but eating cakes in the morning will be hard to digest. At noon, I am afraid that the rising winds will blow on it and the oil cakes will not be as crispy. Young Master should come back a bit earlier in the evening and I will cook rice cakes for you and you can sprinkle them with some sugar to eat.”

Cui Xie nodded and gently replied, “Great, I just was craving some pan-fried cake. Since oil is going to be used, one might as well make some deep-fried sesame balls, sweet crispy hemp leaves, deep-fried noodle cake, fried ginger slices….make a lot, you can eat them at home first and then give some to the neighbors to taste.”

Huang dasao responded with a surprised ‘Ai Ai’ and then returned to the kitchen to work. Cui Xie then walked to the front gate of the Zhao family’s residence and waited for Zhao Yinglin to come out. The two of them still walked to school together.

The Zhao family did not have the habit of not eating pan-fried cakes in the morning, so Zhao Yinglin walked out with two pieces of wrapped up oil paper, and freshly fried flaky buttery and shiny rice pastries appeared. He handed Cui Xie a piece and pouted, “My grandma personally made these, and the methods used in the South are different from other families. Try it, it is guaranteed to be delicious.”

The weather in early February was still rather cold and the freshly fried cakes were no longer burning to the touch. Cui Xie honestly accepted it, tearing open the oil paper to take a bite. Inside the rice cake, the pastry thinly sandwiched a layer of lard and sugar filling, which had almost scalded his tongue. But, after getting used to the heat, it was indeed different from the usual tastes here. The cake was somehow softer and sweeter.

Cui Xie couldn’t help but once again rejoice that he had a bookstore. Otherwise, if he followed after those other transmigrators that depended on selling refreshments for money, even the tastes of customers on this street would not be easily satisfied. 

Gifts blinded the eyes. After eating the cake, he patted the back of Zhao Yinglin’s hand particularly consciously and said, “If Teacher Lin tests us on tiejing moyi[2] I will write down a copy on account of Grandma Zhao’s fried rice cake.

The grin on Zhao shixiong’s face was about to fly off but he still feigned aloofness to scold, “Am I such a person? Tiejing and moyi are the basic skills us scholars have to learn, I have naturally learned them all by heart.”

Cui Xie almost burst out in laughter, but taking care of the little student’s emotion, he said, “Yinglin xiong  naturally does not have such intentions, it is rather there are certain parts I am unsure about myself. When writing from memory, I want to compare with you.”

The smiling expression etched on Zhao Yinglin’s face deepened, and he no longer pretended to be a good student who did not cheat. Instead, he casually nodded and became exhilarated as he brought up Shangding[3] and Shangmao[4], two days to worship at the Wenwu Temple[5]. He commented that Teacher Lin was likely to join County Magistrate da-ren to go write some poetry and literature on the order of the Emperor, thus, maybe the students would be given a holiday.

Since Zhao Yinglin was truly just a child and had nothing to worry about, he was easily satisfied. Just in order to be obtain a copy to cheat when testing one’s ability to write from memory, Zhao Yinglin was in high spirits from morning till the afternoon, all the way until Teacher Lin formally asked tested them on tiejing moyi—

Suddenly someone from the Cui family arrived,saying that there was a guest from the capital and requested that Cui Xie go back to receive the guests. Zhao Yinglin’s joy immediately turned into horror as he stared at Cui Xie, watching his every step as Cui Xie departed. But, he did not have the courage to hold him behind and could only helplessly watch him walking outside towards the gate containing bright freedom. At last, he could only face this jam-packed practice examination full of questions alone.

Not to mention what would happen to the little shixiong from the Zhao family left all alone in the classroom, Cui Xie also became apprehensive as he walked out: So far, in the capital, only two people had come looking for him. Most of his family would only be looking for trouble, but the other person was someone he wanted to be friends with. There was just too big of a disparity in choosing between these two options. It was no less than one coming across a bandit on the road or picking up five million dollars in cash on the road instead.

Cui Xie shook his head and asked the worker who had come to pick him up: “Who is looking for me?”

“He is a subordinate of the Jinyiwei’s household, someone called Xie Shan.” This worker did not live in Cui Xie’s Residence. Naturally, he did not know that Xie Shan had visited during the New year, nor did he know of their personal relationship. Towards the Jinyiwei, he was extremely reverent and lowered his voice, “It is said that he visited to give the Young Master some wine.”

Cui Xie’s smile became a bit clearer, his feet accelerated and he quickly walked back home.

Huang dasao had already fried a lot of hemp leaves and sprinkled a thick layer of white sugar on it. There were also glutinous rice dumplings wrapped around bean paste as well as crispy and slightly salty doughy sleeves, all served out for the guest. Xie Shan sat in the Flower Hall, tasting the snacks and sipping on tea. Only after catching sight of Cui Xie did he dust off his fingers, stand up and grin, “This subordinate was just about to thank the Young Master for such hospitality. The pastries in your house have a unique flavor, not one bit inferior to those in Beijing.”

He handed over a gift list again.  The list didn’t have that many specialty products from the capital, but rather just had some ordinary desserts and fruits, in addition to ten jars of highly perfected fermented wine.

This wine was made according to the recipe Cui Xie had given to Colonel Xie, the fermented wine was modeled after those strongly fragrant distilled liquors.

Xie Shan continued: “These were just freshly steamed. Our Master thought it tasted quite good, so he hurriedly sent some over to the Young Master. However, the brewing time had been quite short and although the wine is clear and fragrant, it is not yet mellow or pure enough. Master instructed me to tell the Young Master that this wine should be stored in the cellar for a year or two to reduce the internal heat and then drink it. At that time, you will be a little bit older and can handle drinking strong alcohol.”

Cui Xie laughed as he held the gift list, “How can I be worthy of Colonel da-ren’s concern. I will accept this wine, but I will have to ask that you send a gift back as well.”

He accepted the gift list and personally went to his study to fetch a painting scroll. When unfurled, it was a portrait of Guanyin, the painting as meticulous and detailed as Colonel Xie’s portrait had been. The appearance of Guanyin had been completely stolen from 《Journey to the West》,  but since he could not remember the specific costume, he could only base it on the other portraits of Guanyin sold outside.

Xie Shan stood up on the spot, chanted ‘Amitabha’ and sighed, “Now this is truly the likeness of Buddhism. Just how did Young Master paint out such a great appearance, even the temple offerings cannot compare to this one!”

That is because Zuo Dading was good-looking and when she went out to shoot movies, the masses all regarded her as Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. At best, her impression had left a profound memory in his childhood, so his painting closely resembled that impression. Cui Xie gave a modest smile, “Brother Xie is overpraising. I thought of painting a portrait that could be hung up in public since you commented that the painting last time was not so easy to hang up to show to guests. I do not know if Colonel da-ren believes in Buddhism, so I just drew this portrait.”

Last time Xie Shan had given so many pigments and paints, so Cui Xie decided at that very moment that he would use those paints to paint a portrait that would allow Colonel Xie to appreciate it better.

Ordinary portraits were inconvenient to hang for others to see and his own self-portraits weren’t considered to be suitable as gifts. But nowadays, the Son of Heaven (Emperor) paid particular attention to uniting the Three Doctrines: Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. Daoist priests and Buddhist monks were all inserting themselves into the Imperial court and such convictions were densely popular among the commoners. A majority of folks would request an image of a God or statue of Buddha or Bodhisattva to be brought into their homes. He was a bit fuzzy on the Three Pure Ones[6] so his paintings for that were not very good. As such, he could only give a likeness of Guanyin first–even if Colonel Xie did not use it, he could give it to his elders and close friends who practiced Buddhism.

Piousness and devoutness was spread all over Xie Shan’s face as he held the portrait scroll to say, “Our da-ren does not have any particular beliefs. However, we still visit temples whenever there are any holidays and we still donate some fragrant essence money to the monasteries. After seeing such a likeness of the Bodhisattva drawn by Young Master Cui, maybe he will even start believing in Buddhism.”

Cui Xie breathed a sigh of relief, “That is good. There are still a few newly printed Diamond Sutras in my residence, they are all manufactured from my own bookstore, not worth much. You can also bring some into the capital and ask Colonel Xie to take them to use as gifts.”

Looking at Xie Shan holding the painting and his posture that looked like he did not dare to even move, Cui Xie went forward to help him roll it up and bound it closed with a red thread. Xie Shan respectfully placed the scroll on the clean table, rose from his seat and thanked Cui Xie, “Then I will thank Young Master Cui on behalf of my Master. After March, it will be Tomb-Sweeping day and on the Eighth Day of April, it will be Buddha’s Birthday, and it will be a good day to practice dāna[7]. With the sutras printed by the Young Master, our Master can save a lot of effort on these matters.”

Xie Shan once again dragged a cart full of presents back with him. Xie Ying first hung the portrait in the study and then opened one of the sutras, examining the faint lotus flowers trailing along the top of the pages and other such color paintings. He couldn’t help but furrow his brows, “This is that Cui Beauty’s printing workmanship. You said this was printed by Young Master Cui?”

It turned out that the Zhirong Study really belonged to his family? Then that Cui Beauty was indeed that Cui Beauty….Young Master Cui?

Xie Shan did not know what Colonel Xie was thinking and just nodded to say, “Young Master Cui said it was printed by his own bookstore’s workers. This subordinate saw that it was just a few volumes of sutras and it would not cost much to return such a gift…”

Xie Ying gave him a faint glance, “You even know not to be wasteful? He was a quiet and lonely young man living such a simple life, just how much family property could he have? This scripture is even printed in color and it must have cost quite a sum to print such a book. I don’t know how much it costs to purchase such a print, how could you ask for so many copies from him!”

Xie Shan drooped his head down and silently vented: With you two giving gifts and then sending back gifts each time, using this servant to act as the middleman to run errands back and forth, how could I actually get blamed for this?

He wanted to retort this, but he did not say it aloud. Instead, he put on a positive appearance and persuaded, “Young Master Cui said that this sutra was printed by his bookstore. Do you want this subordinate to take a few servants back and disguise themselves as foreign merchants to make discreet inquiries on where his store is? If there is someone who does not have eyes and bullies him, this subordinate will stealthily head over to the yamen and bring out the invitation card from Colonel daren, guaranteeing his store to be safe and secure, making fast money!”

Xie Ying sneered, “His family possesses an Imperial decree and he is also the eldest son of one of the officials in the Ministry of Revenue. He also has a deep friendship with a Commander’s son, who in Qian’an would dare to bully him? But these scholars may not necessarily know how to operate a business….forget it, you take some people to take a look—no need to visit him again. Just take a look to see if there are any unsellable books in his shop, buy some and I will take them as a gift to others.”

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The current Cui Xie, who in Xie Ying’s impression was a noble and virtuous character aloof from politics and material pursuits, was currently racking his brains on how to sell these 《Diamond Sutras》. 

The Fourth Day of February was Shangding Day and the county had to offer sacrifices to the Confucian Temples, and it is precisely on this day that all the shengyuan needed to put on a guise and follow along with the ceremony to compose articles that praised the previous Sage. Teacher Lin set up the carriage early in the morning and left for the day, giving this group of students a day off. Cui Xie had finished his homework the night before and went to practice horseback riding in the morning. After an hour of practicing his calligraphy quietly and calmly, he called for someone to call for Shopkeeper Ji to analyze the issue of new book sales.

Inspired by Xie Shan, Cui Xie wanted to print more sutras to donate to the surrounding Buddhist temples and borrow the monks there to promote his own store’s printed sutras and scriptures.

Shopkeeper Ji stayed silent for a period of time and seeing that Cui Xie did not seem to be kidding, he tentatively asked, “Is Young Master only concerned about studying and do not know how many Buddhist temples and monasteries we have in Qian’an?”

Cui Xie blinked a few times and boldly asked, “Are there many? Could there be about five or six?” If there were only two or three temples, they would still be able to donate a dozen books to each temple. If there were more than that, he would only be able to give away a few copies.

Besides giving these to a Buddhist temple or monastery, these volumes of sutras were useless. The majority, if it wasn’t sold to faithful devoutists, would be given as a present to big moneybags. His Diamond Sutra had been made into a Orihon–style[8] book. It was more exquisite and delicate compared to those two volumes he had hand drawn for the New Year. The cover was mounted with a finely particular Jacquard weave damask fabric. Each page was printed with a lightly colored lotus flower as a base. The very first page was printed with a gargantuan painting of the Great Leiyin Temple[9] and the last page at the tail end of the foldable book was printed with a white-clothed Guanyin. When one went to practice dāna, these scriptures would appear several times more pious than those common sutras on the market. How could monks and devoutists dislike it?

He was optimistic about the business opportunity here and wanted to use the influence of the temple to promote his Diamond Sutras in advance. First, it was to let everyone know that his family’s sutras were good and when people were vying to obtain scriptures for the Tomb-Sweeping Festival and Buddha’s Birthday, they would naturally buy it from his bookstore first.

At that time, one could also make a private order. If one were to purchase a large amount, you can print on a page at the back of the sutras a list with the words ‘Venerated and Faithful Master XX or Madam XX’engraved respectfully.

He had thought it through quite well, but Shopkeeper Ji gave him a meaningful glance, as if he was looking at a junior who was unaware of the world. In the past, Shopkeeper Ji regarded Cui Xie’s words with the utmost trustworthiness, as if Cui Xie was Shen Wansan[10] himself. Shopkeeper Ji rarely gave such looks to Cui Xie and felt a little guilty. Cui Xie added a few more temples, “Then is it possible there are more than ten temples?”

Shopkeeper Ji shook his head and lamented, “Young Boss only counts how many mountains we have here. There are more temples than mountains, how could the number of temples be less than the amount of mountains here? Our Qian’an is home to nine mountains, two rivers and one plain. There are temples built on every mountain and altogether there are 62 Buddhist temples. There are only two temples bestowed with the Emperor’s personally inscribed plaque. There is also a Guanyin Temple and the image printed on the Young Master’s sutra is precisely Guanyin, it goes without saying that Dāna will be practiced there.”

There were tens of temples in such a small county, was this reasonable? Who decided this? There were only about 5000 households in one county and 60 or so temples had been provided. With so many temples, could the monks even get enough to eat?

Shopkeeper Ji proudly explained, “Most of the county is devout and benevolent, the practice of donating the necessities to the monks has never been ambiguous. That year when the floods arrived, the Senior Monks ended their Buddhist temples and gave up a lot of rice to help those in need, so the incense burning in front of the temple is roaring even stronger now! To comprehensively survey the counties under the Yongping Prefecture and even to go as far as Fucheng, except for the Luan prefecture in Zhili which has a few more temples than us, none of them can compare to us!”

Fine fine fine, I know that the monks can fill up their bellies, we also have to point at the monks to eat, so how are we going to give the sutras this time?

Shopkeeper Ji pondered over the matter for a while and said, “In the eastern part of the county, there is a Xuanjue Temple that will be necessary to practice Dāna (charity) there. There are also the two temples that have received Imperial plaques, Qingning Temple and Baoning Temple, in addition to the Guanyin Temple. The incense burning in these temples is the most dense. Our family’s Dāna donation would be good with about a hundred volumes. In our shop, thousands of taels have been flowing like water into our store and nowadays, there are not as many books being printed, so it is not a problem to spend a few hundred taels for this matter.”

In fact, just to pray for blessings for the Young Boss himself, spending a few hundred taels to worship the Buddha was considered not too much.