CH 70

Dai da-ren helped choose a courtesy name for him and increasingly regarded Cui Xie more and more like his own disciple. He also asked Cui Xie about his studies.

In front of the Imperial Censor, Cui Xie’s crash course knowledge was not enough, so he could only pick out some of the annotations from 《Anthology of Poetry by Zhu Xi》taught by Teacher Lin and《The Complete Book of Poetry》given by Assistant Grandpa Liu. His responses were dry and any deeper questions, Cui Xie had no other choice but to rely on fabrication.

After asking a few questions, Dai Ren ascertained Cui Xie’s bottom line and stated: “Your essays are well written, but your argumentation of the classics is mediocre. When originally choosing to study 

《The Book of Poetry》first, it must have been for the Imperial examinations right? When students first start studying, they start with 《The Book of Poetry》and during the Imperial examinations, 《The Book of Poetry》and 《The Classic of Rites》are the two most tested areas. Everyone thinks that 《The Book of Poetry》is the easiest classic to learn, but they do not know that 《The Book of Poetry》has exact implications, implicit meanings, and out-of-context quotations. It is actually the hardest classic to understand thoroughly.”

Cui Xie lowered his head and ashamedly explained with two sentences: “When first beginning my studies, this disciple didn’t know anything and on account of Teacher Lin was currently teaching the《Book of Poetry》 , I just followed and started with it.  Later on, I became occupied with the preliminary rounds of the Imperial examinations and couldn’t put my foot down to read the essays of former Confucianists, so I only read 《Anthology of Poetry by Zhu Xi》and《The Complete Book of Poetry》.

Dai Ren nodded slightly: “I can’t blame you for that. In the Imperial examinations, the 《Anthology of Poetry by Zhu Xi》is emphasized more and even Cheng Zi’s annotations or any ideas that are inconsistent with Zhu Xi’s, will not be accepted by the examiners [1]. If you are willing to read 《The Complete Book of Poetry》, this is already considered to be having read a lot.”

He took a glance at Cui Xie and faintly sighed, “With your age and talent, you shouldn’t be only studying for the Imperial examinations. The Yongping Prefecture is desolate and from the beginning, it is not a place for producing gifted scholars. As a result, during the three entry level examinations, this allowed for you to drift along through. When the time comes for the huishi, the metropolitan examinations, gifted scholars from all over the land swarm to the capital. In just a single round of examinations, with your incomplete understanding and essays that only know how to seek and extract quotations from the anthologies for your classical argumentation, how can it compare to those with profound knowledge of the fundamentals and Confucian classics?”

With his words, Cui Xie felt sweat collect on his forehead and he deferentially stood up to respond: “This young disciple is ignorant, inviting the Teacher to guide me.”

This address of “Teacher” finally called to Dai Ren’s heart and he took Cui Xie’s hand and said: “Sit down, how can such a good anshou and a Little Tertiary Winner be made to stand still as a punishment in front of me. I am merely advising that you should study more while you are still young and not regard the path of taking the Imperial examinations to become an official as the only option you have.”

Cui Xie nodded and returned back to his seat.

Dai Ren seemed to look at him in pity, “This year is my last year as an Educational Commissioner for North Zhili and after I finish my patrolling, I will be returning to the capital to be on standby. It will be hard to have the opportunity to talk in the future, therefore, I must urge you a few more words today:

“In 《The Book of Poetry》, Confucius said ‘From them (the odes) we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants’. Therefore, in order to harness the 《The Book of Poetry》, one must write exegeses first. Good teachers can’t be found here in Qian’an County, just leave your registration as a current student here and study either in the capital or in the south. First, research and study the classical texts by the people of the Song Dynasty, and then intensively study the 《Jian Sub-Commentary》,《The Corrected Interpretations》and the《Mao Commentary》……although it is knowledge from our predecessors and not be sprinkled onto the inky drafts, but will you only write articles for the Imperial examinations your entire life? It is vital that you understand what the predecessors said and only by corroborating the texts of the examinations and commentaries can we get a glimpse into the big ideas of the 《The Book of Poetry》.”

Cui Xie earnestly agreed, but he was still somewhat uncertain if he would be able to pursue a high level of study somewhere else in the future.

From the only impression he had of that Official Cui, he seemed to be a bit controlling and had a irascible, manic temper. It was precisely because Cui Xie had been largely ignored in Qian’an that he braved the danger and took the risk to take the entry level examinations. Now that a mishap had occurred in the capital, and he needed to return to enter the Imperial palace to answer the Emperor’s questions, Official Cui would definitely come to know that he had become a xiucai.

Now then, will the Cui Residence try to think of a way to control him, and forbid him from going outside to study again?

Cui Xie could not gamble on this possibility and decided that upon entering the palace, he would take the advantage to hug the Emperor’s thighs. It would be best if he could persuade the Emperor to permit him to study abroad. If that didn’t work, he could only wait for Dai da-ren to return to the capital and shamelessly ask him to accept him as an disciple and then move into the Teacher’s residence…….

Cui Xie affectionately gazed at Dai Ren as if he had already been locked up by Official Cui at home and was looking through prison-like bars and watching Teacher Dai Ren who had come to visit and bail him out.

Educational Commissioner Dai also looked affectionately towards Cui Xie and said, “If you are willing to switch over to 《The Book of Rites》as your foundation, I will truly accept you as my disciple then.”

How about trying to hold the Emperor’s thighs first. The《Rites of Zhou》had 45,000 words, 《Ceremonies and Rites》had 56,000 words, and the Book of Rites had 99,000 words…《The Book of Poetry》he studied was only 39,000 words and it wasn’t even an order of magnitude at all. He also had the hard disk as his golden cheat and he could open pdf files in his consciousness. But, in order to study the classics, he couldn’t just open them and copy a few times. He needed to be able to recite every sentence and each word had to be memorized nimbly just like how there was a ctrl+f function in Word.

If Educational Commissioner Dai had studied and chosen 《The Book of Changes》, Cui Xie could have grit his teeth and accept it. But《Ceremonies and Rites》required one to learn the Three Rites, which added up to more than 100,000 words. It was only a little less than the 《Spring and Autumn Annals》plus the《The Commentary of Zuo》[2]. To have to memorize to that degree, it gave Cui Xie a headache just thinking about it.

While the two people were wordlessly gazing at each other with affection, there was a series of hurried knocks that echoed from the door outside, shattering the atmosphere of teacher and student. Dai Ren looked back and asked, “Who is it?”

The one who pushed open the door was actually Song Ji, the local Registrar, and after greeting by raising clasped hands, he said, “Replying to da-ren, someone outside is claiming to be Cui xiucai’s family. They said that the family received an Imperial decree and the Emperor wants him to enter the palace to ask a few questions. Therefore, someone was sent to Yongping to pick him up.”

Surprised, Dai Ren exclaimed, “I had only just selected him to become a Little Tertiary Winner, and it has already unexpectedly alarmed the Holy One?”

Registrar Song shook his head: “The servants sent by the family don’t know anything and just said that the head of the family, Official Cui, received an Imperial decree saying that the Emperor wanted to summon the child prodigy and ordered them to bring Cui Xie back to the capital immediately. When the new talents had been parading through the streets earlier, the procession had bumped into them by accident and they followed the road until they found the yamen. Da-ren, do you want Cui Xie to go back immediately?”

The eyes of the two people fell onto Cui Xie’s face, their gazes slightly bewildered. But, Cui Xie had received a warning in advance so his heart had a grasp of the situation. Hence, he showed a bearing that didn’t even shift in color even if were to see Mount Tai[3] collapsing before him.

Dai Ren couldn’t help but praise Cui Xie a few words in his heart and then stated, “Your family won’t use an Imperial edict to talk nonsense. Go take a look. If it is truly people from home, just go back with them.”

If it was really people from the Cui Residence, he wouldn’t recognize any of them.

Cui Xie’s secret troubles were hard to say out loud, so he was forced to say, “I still have a former acquaintance that is waiting for me outside the civil temple who is also 15 or 16-years old. He is wearing a Chinese skullcap and dressed in crimson Taoist robes. Is it possible for the da-ren to find him, so I can exchange a few words with him?”

Registrar Song asked, “Are you referring to the one called Pengyan? Isn’t he your manservant? He is also waiting with the servants of the Cui family, they are sitting in the prefectural hall.”

Cui Xie was worried about Pengyan, so he said his farewells to the Educational Commissioner and wanted to first go over to take a look. Dai Ren waved his hands, “The summons of the Holy One is proper business, you can leave with peace of mind. I will speak to the academic officials in Qian’an County on your behalf and ask them to register you as a new student.”

“Many thanks to da-ren then.”

Cui Xie followed Registrar Song to the prefectural hall and soon saw Pengyan and two unfamiliar male youths sitting together. The trio didn’t seem to be conversing much. As soon as Cui Xie entered the hall, the two unfamiliar youths stood up immediately, squeezed out flattering smiles and said, “Eldest Young Master is finally here! By the Emperor’s heavenly providence, you have been summoned to enter the palace. Laoye hastily ordered these servants over to escort you back to the capital. That way, it is easier to order new clothes, shoes and socks for you and teach you proper etiquette when entering the palace.”

Pengyan was so emotionally moved that his two eyes turned red, “Da-ge, Brother Cui Xing said that your reputation as a child prodigy has spread to the palace. The Emperor said that you are loyal, talented and wanted to summon you. Aren’t you going to become a high-ranking official now!”

Cui Xie estimated that for the Son of Heaven to want to meet him, it was not only to see the child prodigy, but to also inquire about the case of Xu-shi framing an official.

Cui Xie inwardly heaved a sign, patted Pengyan’s shoulder and spoke, “I see. This is a gargantuanly good matter and I was originally planning on taking you to accompany me. But, your father is still in the county, unaware of the situation and I am afraid he is worried. Do not come to the capital with me. Just wait at the ancestral home with your father and I will bring back some fresh novelties when I return.”

After all, the father and son duo were once servants of the Cui Residence. After entering the capital, they would always bow their heads in front of the Cui family. If that Official Cui came to know that the Peace of Mind Study was under the father and son’s names, who knows how much he would torment them.

When the two servants from the capital heard “ancestral home”, they thought of how Official Cui had not made sacrificial offerings to the ancestors at the ancestral home for many years. As such, the servants that were sent in the past had always done things half-heartedly. Fearing that this Eldest Young Master had learned of such matters, their complexions were somewhat awkward. Although Pengyan still wanted to go, he was accustomed to being obedient, so he endured his desire to go to the capital and said, “Then I will go back. From now on, I will have to trouble Xing-ge and Shi-ge to take care of Da-ge then.”

The two servants replied, “Little Brother Pengyan need not worry, how dare we not carefully serve the Eldest Young Master?”

Cui Xie also headed over the prefectural city to say his farewells to Educational Commissioner Dai and the other da-rens there. But, he first went to the inn to pack up.

Because it was the day of the grand entrance ceremony, the new rising stars and their new companions went to say their blessings to each other. As such, the inn was empty and no one asked him why he was in such a hurry to leave. Cui Xie had Pengyan stay behind so as to tell his fellow xiucai about his trip back home. He then packed a few sets of clothes, brought some dry food and silver, and then boarded the carriage with the two servants of the Cui Residence.

Once the two servants left the Yongping Prefecture, only then did they dare to tell him the truth when they reached the deserted mountain road: “The furen has been arrested by the Jinyiwei and the Emperor has summoned you in to ask you questions regarding this case.”

Cui Xie’s heart did not fluctuate in the least, but his face revealed an expression of horror, grief and indignation. He grabbed them by their shirt collars and violently shook them, “Just what is going on? How did it come to this?”

The performance had been somewhat exaggerated, but the two servants had already been scared that their souls were floating away and didn’t mind the particulars. They grabbed Cui Xie’s arms and whispered, “Young Master, keep your voice down, you must not let others hear of this! You will know the truth once you return to the capital, right now, this little one doesn’t dare to say it!”

Cui Xie glared at them and said in a hoarse voice full of anguish: “Mother has worked so hard to raise me and now she has been imprisoned. I am willing to accept the punishment instead, how can I turn a cold eye and act like a bystander? Hurry up and tell me what is going on, otherwise, I will directly go knock on the grievance drums in front of the palace to appeal for justice!”

Those two servants were so frightened that they promptly stopped him, “Young Master, quell your anger. We can just say it then!”

The two of them told him what they had heard on the day the family had received the decree and bitterly 

urged Cui Xie, “Laoye is determined to divorce Xu-shi and sooner or later, she will no longer be considered as part of our family. You are the child prodigy that the Emperor wants to meet and that eunuch has personally stated that you are righteous. Why bother feeling angry on behalf of that unvirtuous woman?”

Cui Xie vehemently exclaimed, “Although Mother is guilty, since I was born as a man, how can I have the heart to ignore it! No need to persuade me any further, I will definitely plead for her!”

The two servants even took out the fact that Official Cui had been unable to go to work for the past few days in order to coax him, to let him think more about his father’s situation and not pull the rest of the Official’s residence further into this extremely frightening case. Nevertheless, Cui Xie acted like an excessively filial son, unable to eat or drink and sighing everyday.

The carriage traveled day and night and finally entered the Cui Residence three days later. Everyone from the Cui Household came out to greet him in the courtyard and even Cui Que appeared. He stood in the courtyard thinking about his eldest son who had been away for a long time, his heart and mind absentminded: This was his son, a righteous patriot praised by the Emperor and a child prodigy. He was afraid that he would have to count on Cui Xie’s future prospects in the future.

Fortunately, he had sent the child out of the capital early, so he didn’t let the evil Xu-shi harm him.

He flapped his sleeves and brought out the dignified bearing of a father and sat on the main seat in the main hall to wait for Cui Xie. He waited for Cui Xie to finish paying his respects to his paternal grandparents in the central courtyard before he was to face him to perform the proper rites of respect.

At that time, it seemed like time had been stretched out several times. The sound of chatter and laughter from the outer courtyard made people fretful, but Old furen stubbornly did not let Cui Que go to the central courtyard to receive the greeting together, so he had to wait in torment in his own courtyard.

After an unknown amount of time passed, there was finally the cries of “Da-ge” and “Eldest Young Master” being yelled out in the courtyard. Cui Que straightened out his clothes, sat upright in his seat and looked out the hall, anxiously waiting for Cui Xie to pay his salutations. Who would have guessed that after that just as the group of people arrived at the bottom of the stairs, a rude, impetuous, but ruthless figure would charge in from outside with a flushed face and dash towards Cui Xie. The figure’s fist slammed towards Cui Xie’s face as the figure loudly shouted: “It is you, a bastard, who harmed my mother!”

The sound of skin and flesh colliding rang out and Cui Que was so startled that he jumped up from his chair, sternly shouting, “Grab that troublemaker, have him locked up to kneel in the ancestral hall!”

Cui Que couldn’t sit still anymore so he rushed outside to take a look at Cui Xie——He was a person who would have to enter the palace to face the Emperor, there must be no scars on that face!

In the courtyard, only the cries of the mamas and the maids could be heard. Usually, those lovable and oriole-like voices were sweet-sounding, but this time, the voices were noisy and in disarray, knocking against each other. Listening to it, one could not hear the delicate, soft, yet crisp voices, making people feel distraught with anxiety. Cui Que scolded them repeatedly and ran to the top of the stairs to look down from the top, and then finally saw the real situation in the courtyard.

It was Cui Heng who had charged in from behind and had grabbed the sleeve of Cui Xie’s robe, brandishing a fist to punch the other in the face. Cui Xie had swung his right arm to the back and his head was slightly tilted back, avoiding the fist. He grabbed at the incoming fist with his left hand and twisted it downwards.

Before Cui Que could run out to stop him, his eldest son had twisted his second son’s right hand, spraining the wrist until it turned blue and swollen, as it hung crookedly in the air.

The sound of Cui Heng’s cries echoed sharply in the courtyard, but Cui Xie remained unmoved and clutched his left hand. Amidst the sounds of weeping, he coldly asked, “My father is also your mother, and my mother is father’s first wife, what did you just call me? We don’t know whether mother is alive or not in the prisons, but you as a son don’t even consider atoning for her sins or chanting Buddhist scriptures to pray for blessings. Unexpectedly, instead you come here to bully and humiliate your eldest brother, this kind of thing that goes against human ethics——”

“Are you afraid that the world won’t talk about a mother’s wickedness and inability to educate her son? Are you afraid that there aren’t enough scandals at home and that your father’s future is not difficult enough?!”

Exactly ah!

If Cui Xie, who had been residing in the countryside this entire time knew of this, then what about the second son who had been at home wearing brocade garments and eating jade meals? Could it be that the Xu-shi was evil by nature, so the son she gave birth to was also like this?

Cui Que had already forgotten about how he had beat his eldest son half to death as well as banished him to the countryside. He walked down the steps, one at a time, wanting to reunite as father and son, enjoying such family bonds.

The second son who was blocking in the middle was insensible and exposed a cruel, ruthless and unsightly expression, screaming, “Isn’t this all what you did! You deliberately donated the Cui family’s courtyard to provide some library for Qian’an county. In the end, you were the one that got that benefit and my mother was arrested by the Jinyiwei! Isn’t it all because of you, a lowly——

His left-hand throbbed in pain and he didn’t dare to shout anymore, only glaring at Cui Xie with a pair of red eyes that seemed as if blood could drip out any second.

Cui Xie sighed, “Those who know me say that my heart is worried, those who don’t know me say that I am looking for something. The courtyard I donated was the property Grandmother gave me, how does this have anything to do with Mother? Your accusations are simply….forget it. Mother is indeed guilty, but after all, she is the wife father officially wed. She is also my stepmother who gave birth to a second son for the Cui family, indeed a merit. No matter what you think, I respect Mother in my heart, and cannot  just look on unfeelingly seeing her meet with a mishap.”

He lifted his gaze to look at Official Cui, released his younger brother’s hand and bowed with a fisted salute: “I have already endured the sorrow of having lost a mother, how can I have the heart to ask Heng-ge to bear the same pain? Furthermore, how can I let him bear grudges against Father for not having done anything till now based on this matter, and have him hate the Cui family? I will first submit a petition expressing  my feelings for Mother. Inviting Father to rest at home for a while. I will give my greetings upon my return.”

He turned around and left, his figure and appearance so confident and extraordinary that no one could obstruct his path. Official Cui urgently ran down the steps to stop him, halfway down, he stepped on air and narrowly tumbled down. Fortunately, a servant supported him and he only suffered a fright.

But, upon raising his head again, only a sinister-looking Cui Heng and a group of maids at their wits’ end were left in the courtyard. Cui Que was so anxious that he rushed outside a few steps and waved his hands: ‘Stop him! Do not let him hand over any petition….do not let him provoke the Jinyiwei and cause the Emperor to be unhappy!”