CH 44

Why not release the collection of couplets instead?

Speaking of this matter, Cui Xie actually felt quite ashamed. Once he finished collecting all the couplets together and copied them down for Colonel Xie, he had originally wanted to engrave some printing blocks to print the collection. But later on, he also needed to sell the 《Diamond Sutra》. After comparing the two works, he felt that it would be difficult to add pictures to this book and it did not have a mature market[1] like scriptures did. Additionally, scriptures were much easier to promote and as such, the plan to print the book was postponed.

But Guo Yong looked exactly like Teacher Lin as he severely gazed at Cui Xie. It was as if Cui Xie were to say one word wrong, he would be penalized to copy the entire book. Cui Xie did not dare to tell the truth, only faintly drooping his head and deliberately replied, “I am still young and my learning is only superficial, how am I qualified to compile such a book? Besides, these are all words and sentences extracted from Sage’s works….”

Guo Yong shook his head and as if he was chopping the nail and slicing the iron[2], he asked, “It is precisely at this young age that such a book must be released. A 15-year-old youth who had the ability to compile together all the correct pairings of couplets from the 《Four Books》, you can be regarded as a child prodigy; if you wait to release it once you get to our age, it will just be regarded as a bored scholar simply playing a game to match and extract all the couplets instead!”

Guo Yong was actually the youngest out of the group of scholars here and was only in his early twenties, the prime of one’s life. To say these kinds of words practically pierced a hole in the hearts of those pushing 30 as they tried their luck at the Imperial examinations.

Fortunately, those who passed the provincial level Imperial examinations in their 30s couldn’t be considered to be too old. The rest of the scholars in the room felt inwardly sore and sour for a while, but they endured it until the feeling passed. They then tried to persuade Cui Xie, “This is the right course of action. If you published this book a mere two months earlier as a 14-year-old child prodigy, this would still be regarded as an impressive achievement. Since worthy little brother Guo has said your book can be sent to be printed, then there must truly be no erroneous parts in it. You just need to be bold and muster up your guts. If you drag this matter on, you will soon become a youth at the age of 16, and it is not worth as much as your current identity as a young boy right now.”

At that time, County Magistrate Qi had pitied that Cui Xie could not become a 14-year old xiucai[3] and now these scholars were all urging him to publish his book. It seemed that this topic of a child prodigy’s valuableness was to be mentioned in passing again—then again, when was a child prodigy considered worthless? 

He had been blessed by the original owner of this body and currently, he was still at the age where he could be considered a child prodigy. There were even so many people who wanted to plan for him. In any case, he should cherish these precious years and not squander the remaining golden window of time so easily.

Cui Xie rose from his seat and cupped his hands together as he bowed to several people, “Wansheng[4] is of humble talent and shallow learning, and has not reached a proficient level. I am just afraid that there are many errors and omissions in the book. I will have to ask seniors to help me amend my writing.”

Tang Ning jokingly remarked, “What’s with all the politeness, aren’t we the ones still sitting on your sofa and reading your book collection? Besides, our xiangshi[5] exam is just within sight, reading these couplets, it can be considered as a review for the exam. You should print the book first and then ask gifted scholar Guo to write the preface for you. Next year, once he is admitted to become a jinshi[6] and becomes a precious official of the Hanlin Academy[7], your child prodigy work will also become famous.”

Cui Xie could not help but chuckle, “Yes, if I fail to pass the jinshi examination in the future, I will just become Guo da-ren’s literary companion and specially compile some books for children to learn in school, and I can also become a famous scholar in a honest way.”

A more senior student, Wang Zhining, was just about to urge Cui Xie to speak less of such unlucky matters, but Tang Ning rushed to shout, “No, no, this cannot be done! What’s the use of printing those schooling primers? I am still waiting for your family’s shop to print more novels with that colored printing that looks like embroidery! My copy of the《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》has already been flipped through to the point that it is about to fall apart, you don’t have any new novels to print?”

Cui Xie answered, “Naturally, there is. In the past few days, we have been printing sutras and in the next few weeks, I am preparing to paint a scroll of the famous generals from the Three Kingdoms period as well as print a colored edition of the Three Kingdoms.

I actually was going to trouble all the seniors here with a request——if any senior has written any criticisms or comments in the margins of the Three Kingdoms, or is personally familiar with a distinguished scholar that has, this wansheng would like to collect them and also print them with the  book.”

Near the end of the late Ming Dynasty, it started to become fashionable to release articles and books with critical commentaries.

Jin Shengtan’s[8] criticisms and commentaries on the Water Margin were still being sold in bookstores in the 21st century. If Cui Xie didn’t include an expert’s commentaries after releasing his edition of the 《Three Kingdoms》, he would feel as if he was letting down gifted scholar Jin.

However, when printing, one needed to pay particular attention to typesetting. More than one person would leave commentaries for each paragraph, but one had to put all of these expert commentaries into one place and lump them together while still using different colors to differentiate between who wrote what, much like those bullet screen[9] videos one often saw in the modern age. Different experts had distinct criticism styles and different inclinations towards the characters of the Three Kingdoms. Readers possessed their own likes and dislikes, and could have conflicting opinions. Perhaps, they would even write commentaries fighting those critics. Either way, it was easy to stir up some fervor in the readers.

As a person who sold books, he wasn’t afraid of a fight! Rather, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to rustle one up instead!

He broadly and frankly turned to explain, looking very honest and upright to ask the seniors, “I just request that the seniors to check for them, and the annotations that you made should be well-founded and rational, or biting and vigorous, or charming and witty, or even thought-provoking, these are all acceptable. The remuneration fee will depend on the manuscript fee for writing the novel. In the future, I will be printing an edition including criticisms and other commentaries of the 《Three Kingdoms》 . Allowing readers to read the story as well as these various critiques, it will not only increase the fun while reading, it can also improve the critics’ ability and talents.”

“Is it just like…..like the《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》that has some pages of commentaries after the main text?’ Tang Ning exclaimed in surprise, “I have indeed written some reviews of the Three Kingdoms before! There are even some footnotes with small essays written on the book. Later, I will ask someone to send my book with you! I do not want your money, I only request that on the stamping seal you include these commentaries written by Qian’an County’s gifted and talented scholar Tang Yi’an[10].”

Two other shengyuan who were also fond of reading novels, Lu An and Xu Liyan, also tried vying to Cui Xie to get their annotated 《Three Kingdoms》included. Only Guo Yong persisted, unmoving in his stance in printing the compiled book on couplets from the Four Books first. He asked Cui Xie to print a dozen copies first and send them to all the shengyuan and various famous scholars in the county to establish his status as a child prodigy. Once the name of ‘prodigy’ had been confirmed, then he was allowed to focus on other things.

Cui Xie was somewhat helpless in the face of Guo Yon’s stubbornness but was more moved by such consideration and care. Giving a heavy nod, he replied, “Senior Guo, there is no need to worry, I will ask them to start engraving the templates tomorrow.”

After speaking this, Huang dasao[11] came to deliver the food. The book boy servants brought by the shengyuan who had been waiting outside also helped bring the dishes in, and soon an entire table was laden with food. However, when the group had been talking before, they had snacked on a lot of pine-flavored biscuits and cloud cakes with tea. They patted their bellies and faced the newly cooked plates of meatballs, fried crispy crucian carp, simmered lamb trotters, steamed lamb tail and other various strong cuisines relatively calmly. They drank and talked, chatting about various poetry articles and occasionally talking about the examinations.

Cui Xie had arrived home on a full stomach and did not want to eat again, so he just sat to the side and poured wine for the others, occasionally picking up his chopsticks to prod around in the vegetable dishes. He could not talk about poems or prose, but when everyone started talking about the Imperial examinations, he could not help but ask for a few seniors to share their experiences.

Wang Zhichang smiled and explained, “This, we have some experience with. Although I am not a top notch young talent, fortunately, I also have some experience concerning the examinations and I should explain a bit to this worthy little brother.”

Wang Zhichang tapped the mouth of the wine cup with his chopsticks, and after thinking of the words to say, he elaborated, “Let’s talk about the regulations of the examination room then. The examination papers and draft paper used in the county examinations must be purchased in advance at the yamen office. After they are purchased, one will fill in the surname and given names of the last three generations of their family. Then, following the practices of those who study Confucian classics, one must have the Department of Rites seal the papers with a special seal using the riding seal stamp method[12]. Any of your own unauthorized papers is absolutely forbidden and cannot be brought into the county examinations. The day of the actual official examination, it will be sometime in February where the ground is frozen and the weather is bitterly cold. You must prepare any spare parts of the items mentioned above as well as a furless outer coat. It is unavoidable for the coat to be removed during the security checks and once taken off, you will endure the freezing cold for a little bit. But, once you situate yourself properly into the examination room, that coat will keep you quite nice and warm.

One the side, Guo Yong reminisced about his younger days of taking the exam and little by little commented, “There is no chance of bias or fraud in the county examinations thanks to the hu ming method[13]. As long as the examination paper is acceptable and has some merit, the county and the prefecture, upon seeing your young age, there is a high chance they might just lower the criterion a little and let you pass. As for the dao examination[14], this may not necessarily be the case. All of the xuezheng[15] da-ren are from Beijing and are learned experts in the matters of politics and government, some are fond of young scholars while others are more inclined towards maturer individuals. If they see your young age, in order to solidify your knowledge, they might try to pressure you to keep you on your toes.”

Guo Yong looked up to glance at Cui Xie, smiled and then continued, “But, if you are the child prodigy who published the 《Compilation of Antithetical Couplets from the Four Books》, then the situation is drastically different. Various Tixue[16] da-ren who arrive at the Yongping Residence[17] will not only preside over the college exams, but they are also here to observe the local academic atmosphere and style as well as assess and appraise the local shengyuan preparing for the imperial examinations…if at that time, they catch wind of such a child prodigy, and read the couplet pairings compiled and extracted from the Classics, they will naturally feel that although you are young, nevertheless, you are an upright and prudent scholar. Upon handing in your examination papers, answer their questions correctly and calmly. Then, they will not think that you are inordinately proud of your own ability and naturally, it will be improbable for them to deliberately pressure you.”

Senior Guo Yong was not much older than Cui Xie, yet he already had such a profound understanding of the examination room. It was no wonder that all of the officials and scholars in the county considered him as the most likely candidate to pass the provincial level imperial examinations!

After hearing his analysis, Cui Xie felt as if the tongsheng[18] examinations were going to be as easy as pie!

Cui Xie’s cheeks flushed with excitement and he poured a few more cups of wine for these scholars, anxiously waiting for them to say some more.

The remaining three scholars also talked about some taboos in the examination room such as preparing food beforehand or rewarding money to the minor government officials who patrolled the examination room; Candidates were only allowed to leave the examination room twice a day; If you submitted your examination papers in advance, you still needed to wait by the gates until there was enough people to be let out…In comparison, a particularly unusual rule prohibited one from mentioning their birthplace or the struggles of studying and so on. If the papers showed so much as a hint of this kind of writing, it would immediately be dismissed.

Cui Xie recalled how in the modern world, in various categories when talented individuals were selected as part of a competition and interviewed, there were certainly some individuals who spared no effort selling a tragic story or flaunting their background. He could not help but admire Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming Dynasty Emperor, for laying down the foundations of this system: Everyone could not mention or show off their background and candidates did not have to worry about racking their brains to weave together a tragic childhood. The graders of the examinations would not need to show consideration towards the weaker exam candidates and give a few points extra to sway the results.

Cui Xie listened with extreme interest as the group continued to discuss the various regulations in the examination room. Once the discussion was coming to an end, the scholars’ literary train of thought began to pour out, Tang Ning made a toast and said, “In this room, besides the shengyuan, the rest must be child prodigies. This can be considered as ‘But scholars at their ease within, For all but ignorance enters in[19]’. How about we imitate Young Master Cui’s 《Compilation of Antithetical Couplets from the Four Books》and extract some words and sentences from some ancient classic poems and link together a poem verse? If you don’t link it up right, you will be punished with alcohol…”

Wang Zhichang replied, “Drinking so much wine at Young Master Cui’s residence, is this not causing trouble for others? If it was me, those who can’t follow through with a line have to tidy up a book on Young Master Cui’s behalf. Put these books back on their shelves, everyone one will have sobered up and had enough food, and it will be about time to head to our respective homes.”

This method of punishment was quite sophisticated and everyone agreed to the plan. As such, Wang Zhichang started the poem with one of Liu Yuxi’s sayings, “When will the copper pot stop leaking?”

With Tang Ning beside him, the youth added, “The numerous sounds of the bell in the Imperial Gardens ring late into the night.” After successfully linking together the verses, he gave Xu Liyan next to him an upper verse to link from, “The candles on the colored threshold spit out the sun”.

These scholars turned around one by one as the activity continued and since Cui Xie didn’t understand poetry anyways, he just sat to the side and acted as a supervisor, taking notes and recording down the linked verses. Someone who couldn’t follow through was handed a book lying on the table and instructed to put it back on the shelf according to the classification paper pasted on the back.

At the beginning, everyone was able to link the verses extremely fluently but once 30 minutes had passed, their creativity gradually could not keep up and they were forcefully crammed towards the front of the bookshelf to work a few times. The tipsy feeling of drinking wine was drained dry as sweat trickled down.

On parting for the day, a few of the scholars massaged their lower back and legs, all regretfully saying, “Didn’t we say we were going to come to your study to rest, read a few books? Why do I feel even more tired after relaxing? Wang xiong[20] who came up with this idea, really knows how to tire people out. It would be better off if we had just tidied up after finishing the wine rather than having to get up and sit back down every few minutes.”

Cui Xie put on a smiling expression with great difficulty as he saw the group off. Upon going back to his study, he carefully and neatly made a copy of the《Compilation of Antithetical Couplets from the Four Books》using the taiga script to bring over to the artisan workshop and let the engravers engrave a new printing board. This compilation of antithetical couplets was no more than 500 sentences, most of which were two-character pairs or three-character pairs. It was even shorter than the 《Diamond Sutra》and there were no pictures or texts to add. Four engravers pushed back printing the colorful pictures of 《Diao Chan Appreciating the Moon》and《Lu Bu tricks Diao Chan》 and hurriedly started the engraving process for him..

Cui Xie thought about the packaging style of auxiliary learning materials made in later generations and somewhat felt the desire to engrave a portrait on the inner cover page so that those beginner students could grow up under his own shadow. After giving it some thought, he felt extremely ashamed and in the end, he only let the artisans print a “Extracted and compiled by Qian’an’s Cui Xie” on the left corner of the bookmark since the books were meant to be given as gifts so he did not write any cards.

One hundred copies of the book were first printed, a copy was given to the County Magistrate, County Deputy, the teachers of the county, a few familiar shengyuan  who had given him some teachings as well as his tongsheng classmates. He invited them to give their first impressions and criticisms. Guo Yong and a few others asked for a few more copies, saying they wanted to find someone to write a preface and commentary on his behalf. It was a pity that he did not usually go out to socialize much and there were not many literati he was familiar with. Even that shixiong[21] from the neighbor Zhao’s family who was studying in Fucheng was also mailed a copy. There were many copies that didn’t end up being given out so they were simply thrown into the bookstore to sell.

But he had a clear understanding of this matter in his heart, this enlightenment primer book that was thrown away into the bookstore was merely exchanging where it spent its final days before it turned into ash, forgotten by time. In general, Teachers in private schools used enlightenment primer books they were familiar with and it would be hard to convince them to change their curriculum unless there was some vigorous promotion. Regarding promotion, the effort and cost that would be put into doing so was not worth the losses and it was better to put those efforts in promoting the 《Diamond Sutra》whose payback would be rapid.

Besides, the Cui paper and the novel still had very good sales in the bookstore and Shopkeeper Ji also had a bun in the oven thanks to the money that was raked in by the sales. He had even asked his son to enter the capital and collect quite a few weimo[22] papers from the provincial imperial examinations as well as newly released folk stories. Compared to the couplet books, how could they not sell well? Cui Xie handed the leftover books to Clerk Fang who had come to pick up some merchandise and inventory, empathetically and considerately leaving behind a sentence, “If you can’t sell it, don’t force it and just let the matter go.”

Although Cui Xie had said so, how could a clerk not try to sell the books published by the Young Boss himself? After returning to the store, Clerk Fang discussed this matter with Shopkeeper Ji and his son, Clerk Ji, and they ended up putting up a big sign outside of the store. On the sign, it said, “A unordinary enlightenment primer book called the 《Compilation of Antithetical Couplets from the Four Books》extracted and written by a 15-year old child prodigy from this county”, and then placed the books below. They then called a young child apprentice to watch the stand attentively on the side.

This sign had no beauties drawn on it, only a few lines of bare ink. Not many people read the sign and no one wanted to buy the books located below. When several of the Confucian scholars from Teacher Lin’s academy saw such a bleak situation when they went to buy the drawing prints, they brought up the topic to Cui Xie during school but Cui Xie did not care too much and just smiled a bit before letting the matter pass.

After just a few days passed, Shopkeeper Ji found Cui Xie and updated him on each temple’s accounts of selling scriptures to believers so they could practice Dāna[23]. After that, he moved onto the accounts regarding the bookstore and when mentioning the 《Compilation of Antithetical Couplets from the Four Books》, Shopkeeper Ji’s expression turned slightly awkward.

Cui Xie strangely said, “If you can’t sell it, don’t force yourselves. I have a rough expectation in my heart and I don’t blame you all. Why are you so concerned about it?”

Shopkeeper Ji looked as if he had just swallowed a raw ginseng fruit whole, choking until his eyebrows creased. One could not tell if he was happy or if was feeling unwell, he smacked his lips and said, “It’s not that they can’t be sold, but the strange part is that all of the copies are sold out! It was bought by a customer who was a foreign merchant–the high quality Cui paper and 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》that the other merchants clamored for, he did not want a single one of those. He only picked out the long forgotten and abandoned collections of classics and poetry as well as the rest of the couplet books left on the stand. He didn’t even care for the price and bought thirty or so of those books.”

Footnotes:

Some pictures:

2. riding seal stamp method:

TN: New chapter for the week! The semester just picked up for me and my university is going back in-person! Very excited but apprehensive.

Hope you all are doing great and have an amazing week! Stay safe and healthy