Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty's Imperial Examination

by Usui Takumii

not mine, twin dragons translations, until CP 80, after is from readwn (mtl-machine translated).

1. 00 to 10

Summary:

Cui Xie, a modern college student, transmigrated into the body of a son of a fifth-rank official in the powerful Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, shortly after transmigrating, his father banished him to Qian'an, Hebei, the family's ancestral home. He took two servants with him to live in the small county, but from then on, he lived well, made good money, and took the Imperial examinations. Step by step, he clawed his way back up and returned to the glorious capital city to walk a road of clear skies and embark on the path of an official's life.

Chapter 1

As the month of June looms ever closer, and graduation slowly approaching, the soon to be university graduates were all in a hurry. They jump from one recruitment fair to the next, tossing and turning in their beds with anxiety as they try to find a satisfactory job. During the day, the boys adorn themselves with various professional attires while bustling busily outside for an entire day. Once they returned to the dormitory, however, they immediately changed back into their unkempt sleeveless tank tops and shorts, all donning slippers as they squat in front of the window sill to snack on some watermelon.

When Cui Xie returned to the dormitory, he came home to see such a scene of three watermelon-eating people squatting near the windowsill. Sensing his presence, they all turned around to stare at him. The room was hot and stuffy, quite like the inside of a steamer basket and on his table, there was one triangular slice of watermelon remaining on the top of the plate.

He was only wearing a thin t-shirt and jeans, and there was not a single droplet of sweat on his forehead. It was like he had not even walked under the huge, hot, baking sun outside. The dormitory's eldest resident glared at him several times and said: "Your sweat-free physique during summer is really enviable and hateful, ah! If I knew you hadn't suffered from the heat at all, we wouldn't have left you a slice of watermelon!"

Cui Xue grinned, taking out a batch of popsicles from his bag, dangling it in front of his envious cohort of roommates who had gathered together. Facing them good-naturedly and enthusiastically, with his pure ivory teeth glinting, he asked: "On such a hot day, why haven't you all turned on the air conditioner? Are you guys planning on entering the mountains as savages if you can't find a job? Are you guys trying to familiarize yourselves to a life in a natural environment without electricity or air-conditioning in advance?"

"The electricity box downstairs is out of service, can't you see that we don't even dare to play video games right now? We were afraid that we would spend every last bit of the remaining electricity before the power comes back on." The dormitory's eldest flung the watermelon rind in his hand onto the ground and randomly picked up an ice-cold popsicle, tore off the packaging, took a bite, and gave a contented smile: "Also, what savages? If you really want to be a savage, it is better to transmigrate into ancient times. When the time comes, just find a place to open up and cultivate the land, you shouldn't have to worry about finding a job."

The second eldest resident, a student in the College of Chemistry, also gnawed on a popsicle, mumbling: "How great would it be to transmigrate! We could make frosted window panes, brew wine, steelmaking…in ancient times, they precisely had a shortage of professional talents like ours. Putting me in this era and making me run back and forth between job fairs is a waste of my useful knowledge!"

The third eldest and last roommate threw his popsicle's plastic packaging to the ground, then lazily reclined on the back of his chair, laughing at his complaining roommate: "Based on how you cram read the textbook last night right before the final exam, I estimate that even if you transmigrated, you would forget all of the material you've learned within a few days. Might as well band together with us English majors to become a group of mountain bandits or something, at least that has better future prospects than whatever you do. Boss (referring to the eldest) is in the College of Economics, and if he transmigrated, he could just start a small business or something. But the most suitable for transmigration would have to be our little fourth-ah (Cui Xie)!"

The other two smiled, saying: "Yes, only little fourth is a literature student, in ancient times he would have been considered a scholar."

The eldest nodded vigorously in agreement, slapping his dirty hands together, the ones covered in watermelon juice and melted popsicle and wiped them on Cui Xie's shirt before sincerely and earnestly exclaiming: "Little fourth-ah, it's time to transmigrate, you'll have to pack up your writing brushes, as well as your ink and wash paintings. Ancient scholars must know a little bit of those. Once you do that, go buy a collection of good poems and then memorize them. Then in the future, you'll be able to easily plagiarize them if you transmigrate."

The second eldest's popsicle stick dangled languidly from his mouth as he walked to his bedside and found a book. He couldn't help but shove it into Cui Xie's hand: "This is a book that I bought from a second-hand website online with great difficulty, it's called 'A Fool's Guide to Ancient Chemistry', please take a good look. If you transmigrate in the future, don't forget to make us chemistry majors proud!"

The third eldest fumbled around his desk for a while and saw that there wasn't really anything to take. He simply unplugged his portable hard disk and carefully handed it over like it was extremely valuable: "All ancient Emperors liked fangzhongshu[1]. If you can't mingle along well, just learn a few tricks from here and who knows, maybe you can even become a State Preceptor later. "

Cui Xie touched the wet stains on his t-shirt sleeves, feeling the sticky book and hard disk shoved in his hands with a slight frown. His slender phoenix eyes swept over his three roommates, his cold, yet righteous gaze making them bow their heads one after another in shame.

He hugged the book and the hard drive, glaring at his three roommates for a long while. The corners of his pursed mouth jumped up slightly, revealing a sly smirk: "I have already been hired as our university's librarian, brothers, you should just go transmigrate by yourselves." He was a student and scholar of modern and contemporary Chinese literature. If he transmigrated to a time period before the late Qing Dynasty's New Culture Movement and the popularization of the new written vernacular Chinese, he would not be much better off than those English majors[2].

The other three in front of him raised their heads and stared at him in surprise: "You've been hired as a librarian? Joining the faculty of our alma mater right after graduation?"

"Well, well, little fourth, you came back and pretended to be so serious, why didn't you tell us such happy news earlier! Go, go, go, let's go have a drink, let boss treat you!"

His roommates swarmed and flocked around him, dragging him to the barbecue stall parked outside the university, feasting on meat skewers. They also ordered a few bottles of beer to celebrate his stable new job position and to commemorate their upcoming graduation as university seniors. The four of them drank and reminisced about their four years at university. They all clutched their respective beer bottles, crying disorderly and messily, and they did not return to the dormitory until it was almost closing time.

The electricity was still out when they returned back to their dormitory in the night, so the four of them had to sleep in the dark.

Cui Xie awoke in the middle of the night, his throat feeling unspeakably thirsty, so he felt around his bedside table to get some water. While he was gulping down water, he saw a dashboard light on his laptop blinking, as if the electricity had finally come back on. He set down his cup and went to unplug his laptop. Unexpectedly, the cup was accidentally overturned by the thick charging cord when the wire had been unplugged, and the water spilled across the keyboard. It was unknown which wire had been connected to an electricity source, but a gleaming blue arc flashed out of the keyboard. It streaked across the nearby chemistry book, the portable hard disk, nipping his fingers which were immersed in that water puddle.

Unspeakable pain and numbness struck Cui Xie's brain. Before he could react, he lost consciousness.

When he came to again, he only felt aching pain all over his body, his lower body was unbearably hot and anxious, his shoulders felt especially heavy, as if it was being pushed down or held in place by someone. And his cheeks, chest, and abdomen were ice-cold, apparently, it seemed that he was not lying on a bed in the dormitory or in a hospital, but lying on an ice-cold floor instead.

Perhaps he had only fainted a few minutes because no one had discovered his lack of consciousness yet.

When he had gotten out of bed to get that glass of water, it had still been dark outside. If he really relied on his roommates, who were still in a drunken stupor, his body would have long turned cold before they discovered him!

The pit of Cui Xie's stomach ferociously thrashed at once, and his breath seemed to take along a cold and bloody fragrance. He did not dare to delay any longer, taking a deep breath. Resisting the dizziness and pain, he shouted 'Help!' with all of his remaining strength.

However, the voice squeezed out of his throat was so faint and feeble, that even he could barely hear himself.

Suddenly, he felt someone lower themselves onto his body, heavily pressing down on his back. A voice asked in his ear, "What did da-ge[3] say?" Before he could make a sound, the voice sounded again, "Ge, stop making trouble. Just nicely confess to Father, Mother, and er-ge, they are your flesh and blood. What grudges can you possibly hold against your dearest family members? Er-ge [4]no longer blames you for the matter of you pushing him. Then, is it because you are still holding onto hatred and feeling wronged just because Master chided you with a few words?"

What Father, Mother, and Er-ge? He thought he had only caught a chill, hence his shoulder ached, but it turned out it was because someone was actually pressing down on it?

But he was an only child, and didn't have a single younger brother! His parents had passed away when he was a junior high student. He had been taken in by his uncle for a year and then had haphazardly been passed through each of his relatives' homes year after year until he grew up. How could his parents have sprouted out of nowhere to lecture him?

Was he dreaming? Or had he been already electrocuted to death, and transmigrated?

Cui Xie's sore and numb brain became active again as he struggled to keep his eyes open, lifting his head slightly to look around his surroundings. It's just that this person who was laying on top of his back pressed down even harder. As such, he could only lift his chin up, catching a glimpse of a blue-bricked floor and solid wooden furniture legs, as well as a pair of black silk cloth boots that hovered close by.

The owner of the boots paced back and forth in front of him. Seeing these movements, Cui Xie felt dizzy and his head throbbed as the world in front of him spun. Sweat trickled down from his forehead, trailing into his eye sockets, stinging painfully. He had to blink his eyes a couple of times to force the unpleasant feeling out.

The person who was pacing in front of him suddenly halted and yelled towards the top of his head: "Your mother passed away early, so I pitied you for losing your mother at such a young age. These years, I have always favored you, but I never thought I would spoil you into a bully who oppresses his younger brother and a brute who disrespects your stepmother! Even until now, you still refuse to admit to your mistake! Do you think it is just because I cannot dare to make a move against you, an ungrateful little beast?"

Cui Xie was at a loss.

He had just transmigrated over, didn't inherit any of the previous owner's memories, thus, he didn't know how to cooperate with this performance.

Fortunately, he was not originally the leading role of this scene. Before he could utter a sound, a beautiful image of a woman threw herself towards the owner of the black boots and a pampered voice cried out, "Master, do you want Xie-ge's life? Those two brothers were just playing in the garden, someone accidentally pushed him by mistake and such Heng-ge only suffered a bump to the head and fainted. Then do you plan on beating Xie-ge to death as compensation? Even if you are willing, I am not willing. Xie-ge is a scholarly seedling, in the future, he will become a jinshi and bring honor and glory to the family name. If you hurt him, those who call him gege, just who will they rely on in the future?!"

Master stomped fiercely, coldly retorting: "I dare to let Heng-ge rely on him for the future? After studying for a few years, this evil creature's wicked heart had grown even larger. Right now, it is only bullying one's brother, if he is to become a jinshi[5] in the future, I am afraid he will eat this old one whole!"

He took a few heavy breaths, directing his next words to his furen[6]: "Heng-ge is no worse than this demon. He is clever and intelligent, so why rely on this one for the future! Tomorrow, I will banish him and send him back to the ancestral home in Qian'an (a county in Tangshan, Hebei). If he wants to cause trouble then he can just start a ruckus there. I will just treat it like I never had this son! Once Heng-ge is of age, I will let him enter and attend the Imperial Academy (highest educational body in Imperial China) and wait until he is old enough to be appointed as an official. You mother-son pair do not have to rely on others. As long as I live for another day, I will make these arrangements for you!"

The Furen sobbed a few more times and the Master angrily flicked his sleeves and ordered, "What are you looking at? If you don't drag this little beast out immediately, then all of you will be sent back to the ancestral home!"

Cui Xie, who was still in his painful, half-comatose state, was dragged out of the hall and placed into an empty room. The room was slightly damp, but the rays of sunshine peeking in from the outside made him feel comfortable, alleviating the room's chilling and damp coolness. There was also a bed and bedding provided for him, which was vastly superior to the cold-stone slab he had been pressed against just now.

He sighed contentedly, closing his throbbing eyes to recollect the big play just now, confirming two things—

He had transmigrated.

The current body he resided in was also called Cui Xie, so there was no need to change the name.

As for the disputes between the brothers in this household, and what the relationship between the stepmother and stepson was like, at the moment, he couldn't care less.

During his state of dizziness and befuddlement, he felt someone tear off his pants and smear ice-cold ointment onto his buttocks. He also faintly heard someone bitterly wailing into his ears, saying that he had suffered greatly, and this person blamed themselves for not protecting him well enough. This crying voice had a wonderfully reassuring effect. Ever since he transmigrated, he had felt like his entire soul and state of mind had been stretched tensely into a tightly wound string, but now that tense string was slowly relaxing. The pain aching from his body was becoming blurred. Accompanied by the sound of crying, he fell into a deep sleep.

Footnotes:

fangzhongshu: a comprehensive name for a book on ancient Chinese eugenics, sexual medicine, and sexual health books; basically a sex manual

*Modern Chinese Literature, which is what our protagonist learns, is called "白话文" or 'baiwenhua' and roughly translates to: 'plain speech writing'. Before, roughly around the 1910s, people still used a really complicated form of written old Chinese that only scholars really understood. Thus, the common people created an easier form of writing based on their own dialects and their spoken Chinese, thus a written 'vernacular' Chinese became popularized. During the Ming Dynasty, this form of writing was starting to become popular in novels and 'lowbrow' writing, but those of high-ranking or well-learned people still tended to use the old Chinese standard. As such, Cui Xie would have majored in the "Vernacular", modern style, which is vastly different from former classic Chinese literature before that time period. If you want more information, here is a link: wiki/Written_vernacular_Chinese ).

da-ge: big brother

er-ge: second brother; Note: -ge is used as an affectionate endearment referring to children in the family, not to be confused with older brother. I know it's weird, but it's just a term used to refer to children in an official household during that time period.

Jinshi: highest rank a scholar can get and is attained after passing the imperial exam, when scholars attain this rank they usually become court officials. It should be noted that the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) had a very large number of jinshi graduates reaching up to around 24, 536 in total.a href="ffn5"

Furen: official madam of the lord master/madam of the household

Chapter 2

Cui Xie's sleep was not smooth and steady. In his dreams, he had returned to yesterday evening when his roommates had given him some advice on what matters to pay attention to if he were to transmigrate.

He wanted to tell them that he did not want to transmigrate at all, but just as he opened his mouth, his three roommates and the dormitory he had lived in for the past four years suddenly vanished. Surrounding him on all four sides was pitch-blackness, but he was clutching two things in his hands—a book on ancient chemistry and a black portable hard disk.

He lowered his head, glancing at the chemistry book. That book floated from his hand and hovered in the air by itself. The black portable hard disk followed after, aligning itself on the other side. When he looked over, a computer operating system window unfolded midair. Within the newly opened screen, dozens of gigabytes of video software were neatly arranged inside, the file names ranging from 'Mature Older Woman' to 'Lolita', and it was a very comprehensive collection. There were also several folders containing various internet novels formatted as .txt files.

Among them, there was a .txt file icon that had its frame bordered in light blue. He took a closer look. The name of the file was 《The Secret Annals of Wang Zhi》. It seemed that his third eldest roommate had been reading this very novel before Cui Xie had transmigrated. At the time, he had occasionally taken a few peeks over the third eldest's shoulders, and had seen that this seemingly erudite and scholarly written article was not like a typical internet novel. He had also asked the third eldest at the time and had heard it was an ancient novel, the contents pertaining to Wang Zhi, a palace eunuch, documenting his unofficial history with the consorts of the Imperial Harem.

Was this a dream? Or were these the supplementary benefits he had been granted after transmigrating?

What was so special about this 《The Secret Annals of Wang Zhi》?

Cui Xie, not wanting to see what videos his roommate uploaded on there, reached for the hovering chemistry book instead. He turned a few pages, the book containing both texts and pictures in it. The first few chapters were about metallurgy, firing Chinese porcelain, and other similar artisanal techniques. The book contained thorough and exhaustive texts describing the tedious details in full. These descriptions were also equipped with detailed chemical formulas. He attentively looked at a couple of pages but was unable to make sense of what he was looking at, even the fundamental and elementary formulas looked confusing to him.

Too real! Too pragmatic!

He was so scared that he awoke with a violent jolt. When he opened his eyes, he caught sight of an entire bed swathed in brightly-colored cotton-padded quilts. He was still lying on top of the bed, his hands clutching a pillow on both sides, his palms otherwise empty.

It turned out to be a dream.

As expected, his soul had really transmigrated into an ancient person's body, and he had brought nothing from the modern world. At this time, he even began to miss the chemistry book, even if the content of it was too hard to understand. At least it was a modern object, looking at it would have been familiar and comforting.

While he had been ruminating over the chemistry book, that ancient chemistry book suddenly flashed into the center of his vision, and he almost crawled up in shock. On the edge of the kang bed[1], manservants and maidservants bustled about with their work. There were only five or so people. Fortunately, they were all focused on packing and organizing, so no one paid attention to him and his abnormal behavior hadn't been found out.

Cui Xie started to feel a bit guilty watching the nearby servants tidy up various things, taking more than a few glimpses at them.

Watching the servants working proved to be a good distraction as it caused him to momentarily forget about the contents of the book, which had disappeared from his vision. As such, he buried his head into the cotton quilts, concentrating on recalling the cover of the chemistry book. Promptly, a projection of the book quickly floated into his vision again.

He experimented and fiddled with it a few times, finally confirming that the two objects his roommate handed to him had transmigrated with him. As long as he concentrated on thinking about either object, he would be able to summon them. Using this projection, he was able to use his mind to flip the pages of the book or click on various files located within the folders on the hard disk.

This was probably because when he was electrocuted, these two things had also passed through the electric current when he transmigrated. The last memory he had before crossing over emerged into Cui Xie's mind—a blue electric arc crackled from his laptop, slashing across the chemistry book and the black hard disk, before pouncing onto his hand. After that, he was most likely electrocuted, his soul leaving his mortal body and he had transmigrated into this interesting and appealing antique era. These two objects accompanied him, fully integrated into his brain.

But why didn't that laptop, which had also emitted arcs of electricity, crossed over together? He had also had some classical Chinese literature materials downloaded on his laptop. If it had crossed over, it would have been just as useful as the other two objects!

When others transmigrate, if it was not a dimensional space, one would acquire a guided system. If it was neither of those, some could even bring a conversion system, where one could make transactions with another plane of existence to receive convenient, cheap goods. Any of those would have been nice, not to mention advanced artificial intelligence. He hadn't even been able to bring his laptop, which was using the latest WIN10 driver. Now, all he had was an incomprehensible ancient chemistry book and a hard disk full of pornographic waste…

Forget it. He'd have to make do and proceed without a plan for now.

His parents had passed away, and he had been sent to live with his various relatives for many years. But hadn't he also had a part-time job while studying, earned four years' worth of university tuition, and had finally been admitted to university? Now, in his possession, at least he had a chemistry book. So he wasn't totally helpless. If he couldn't smelt steel, he could always smelt lead pills and cinnabar. If he became a trickseter Daoist priest and left this household, it wouldn't matter where he went, couldn't he still make a living to feed and clothe himself?

Thinking of this, Cui Xie's worries were assuaged, and his mentality and psyche slowly stabilized. Shutting his eyes, he concentrated on conjuring the ancient chemistry book again.

After a closer examination, he discovered that although the book contained numerous formulas and procedures, they had relatively simple formulations and industrial manufacturing processes. As long as he disregarded the actual chemical principles behind them, they were easy and fun to read. After flipping through it, he gradually became immersed in the content, diligently marking down in his heart any practical or useful content. If he did not understand it, his brows occasionally furrowed together, and he would ponder over it. Because all of his energy was concentrated on reading the book, his physical pain became fuzzier, and he felt better than when he had first woke up.

But to outsiders, he appeared to resemble a heavily-wounded patient, laying there in a stunned, disoriented coma. Once in a while, his brows would knit together, as if he was experiencing fierce pain, his dreams also turbulent and unpeaceful.

The young manservant who brought him his medicine looked at his current state and could not help but feel a little worried. He carefully felt Cui Xie's forehead and whispered, "Da-ge, it's time to take the medicine."

Cui Xie had long heard the approaching footsteps. He opened his eyes and reached out to receive the medicine bowl. That young manservant did not hand it over, instead, taking out a porcelain spoon to scoop the medicinal soup, only personally bringing it to his mouth after lightly blowing on it, the piping mouthful turning colder. While feeding him, the manservant said, "Da-ge, you got into big trouble this time. On the back of er-ge's head, a bump the size of a red jujube swelled up. He is still lying on the bed. Although your stepmother insisted it was not your fault, your father has already issued a set-in-stone command. You are to be sent back to the ancestral home today, and he will only allow my father and me to accompany you. No one else is allowed to be taken, he said it was to grind and wear down your temper."

What 'your father', 'your father'? Just why were there so many fathers in this family? Cui Xie frowned and his brows wrinkled. Drinking a spoonful of medicine presented to his lips, he slowly probed with his words: "How did er-ge get hurt? I don't remember how I pushed him at the time. I should have visited him and apologized in person. But now, I can't move, so I can only ask you. After he slipped, the servants had reacted timely and attended to him, just what did the physician say?"

The manservant did not suspect that the person in front of him was fundamentally different at the core, so he honestly replied: "Er-ge is still unconscious. The physician diagnosed that he had knocked the back of his head and was prescribed a few medications. When he slipped and fell in the garden, he had been talking to da-ge, and it seemed like you two were discussing something about studying and entering the academy, but I could not really understand it. Er-ge also had a few maidservants beside him, so I walked a bit farther behind. Later, for some reason, I suddenly saw er-ge slowly falling backward. It was hard to tell whether your outstretched hand had been to push him or to catch him. When I finally squeezed into the crowd, all those jiejie[2] were yelling murder, saying that you deliberately pushed er-ge."

This child had clearly said he had not witnessed it, but he had explained the cause and effect of the matter clearly

This original body's father had mentioned the Imperial Academy yesterday, yinjian[3], and electing officials. Presumably, his father had to be at least a seventh-rank official to be qualified to have his son become a yinjian. The original owner of this body and his younger brother were both scholars studying to enter into the prestigious Imperial Academy. However, this body's father had the intention to send his eldest son to enter the Imperial Academy to study. To seize such a golden opportunity, the stepmother and younger brother deliberately fell down, framing the eldest son, entrapping him. This father could not distinguish between black or white[4] and indiscriminately ordered people to beat the eldest son.

He had even been beaten to death. The original owner of this body had died, otherwise, Cui Xie would not have transmigrated over.

There was really this type of father who would beat this son to death without first conducting a proper investigation. In fact, the stepmother only needed to blow wind towards the pillow to obtain that yinjian title, but she went so far as to harm a person to death….

Cui Xie was being sent to Qian'an, but the original owner was the one who had actually 'returned to his hometown'.

Cui Xie sighed in his heart. After grabbing the bowl of medicine and blowing on it, he drank the piping hot concoction in one gulp and said to the young manservant: "My face feels hot, go fetch a mirror over."

The young manservant made an affirming sound and then ran off. After a while, he came in holding a bright, shiny bronze mirror and handed it over: "Da-ge's mirror had already been packed away, so I just borrowed Meizhi jiejie's mirror."

Cui Xie didn't care who owned the mirror. He just randomly nodded and took the mirror, his appearance reflecting off from the shiny surface.

The face staring back at him, although blurry, it could be seen that its features were very similar to his original face. It also had a long, round face, a pair of phoenix eyes, the lower lip was slightly thicker, but the tip of the nose was faintly turned up, appearing excessively delicate and graceful. He had lived until he had almost graduated from university in his previous life. Then, his bone structure had already fully matured and grew out, his features a bit clearer and shapely. This current body looked like a junior high school student, both cheeks had a little bit of baby fat, and the chin was round, possessing a childish nature.

But what attracted him the most was not this similar face, but the black-netted headscarf[5] worn on top of his head. This black-netted headscarf originated from the attires that Daoist Priests would wear. This style of dress had been determined in the Early Ming Dynasty, by Ming Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming Dynasty Emperor of Hongwu. It was mandated that all officials to the commoners were to dress this way, but it became an obsolete tradition during the Qing Dynasty. By seeing this black-netted headscarf, Cui Xie had been able to determine he had transmigrated into the Ming Dynasty. As for the other dynasties, he would have had to ask someone to figure it out.

He thought for a while, then asked the young manservant standing next to the bed: "What year were you born and how old are you?"

The young manservant did not seem confused by this question and neatly replied: "This manservant was born in the fifth year of the Chenghua[6] reign. I am 14 this year, and only younger than da-ge by two months."

This child and he were both born in the fifth year of the Chenghua reign. When children were born in ancient times, they were regarded as already one-years-old. Since he is 14, then 13 years would have passed, and it should be the 18th year of the Chenghua reign, correct?

That means that Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Jianshen, should still be on the throne, right?

Wait! Wasn't Emperor Xianzong's personal eunuch named Wang Zhi?

No wonder, the 《The Secret Annals of Wang Zhi》was selected and highlighted on the hard disk, that means he probably might have transmigrated into this book!

Cui Xie quickly conjured the hard disk's screen, carefully clicking on the novel and reading it carefully— Sure enough, Chenghua 18th year was when Wang Zhi was at the zenith of his power. However, two years later during the Chenghua reign, or Chenghua 20th year, Wang Zhi would fall from power, and this book would end…

Then from this point of view, it was better to avoid the storyline. Anyways, he was only 14-years-old and was about to be sent to the ancestral home soon. As long as he was careful, he could completely avoid the billows and waves that would soon occur in the capital.

Chenghua, Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing[7]….these reigns were considered relatively stable. After surviving the Zhengtong reign and Jingtai's Tumu Fortress Crisis, the current Ming dynasty was still decades away from the tumultuous period that would take place at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Other than the Vassal Prince of Ning's rebellion in the middle, it was basically a peaceful and prosperous era.

Although he was a transmigrator, he was confident he could survive in any environment. But now that he knew he was living in a peaceful and stable era, Cui Xie breathed a sigh of relief, his heart that had been hanging suspended in the air had also loosened somewhat. He handed the mirror to the young manservant and casually asked: "How will we get to Qian'an from here? Is the residence even fit to house people?"

While Cui Xie no longer had many worries, the young manservant's entire face was etched with anxiety: "The residence only has one carriage, my father has already gone to set up the carriage, the three of us are the only ones going. Da-ge's books and medicine have all been packed, as well as a few trunks of other possessions are to be taken along. I heard that the old residence at the ancestral home has been empty for over a year, and no one is currently occupying it. I don't know what it would look like now."

While he had been talking, he saw Cui Xie's eyes lower, looking pensive. Afraid that after hearing this, Cui Xie had felt uncomfortable and fearing that it would affect his body, the manservant quickly cheered up and comforted Cui Xie: "Actually, Qian'an is not far from the capital. It'll only take a day or two by carriage to arrive. The old residence is actually much larger than the house in the capital, and it is also located in the county's town. It isn't such a remote or deserted place. Even if we go there, it will not delay da-ge's studies. Don't all of the students in the capital dislike the city's noise, so they always go to study at a temple anyways? Let's go back to your ancestral home and quietly study for two years, I'm sure it'll be even better than the Imperial Academy."

Actually, Cui Xie was not worried about how far Qian'an was. In fact, could it even be considered far to someone from 500 years in the future where the modern age had made traveling thousands of miles as simple as buying a plane ticket? Besides, as a transmigrator, it was safer to be as far away from this original body's relatives as possible, lest they realize that he was not the same person they once knew.

He sighed at the original owner's unfeeling and callous family. He sighed inwardly at the death of the original and innocent owner. A mere 15-ish year-old child who had just taken a severe plank injury[8] was suddenly being sent to an old, unoccupied residence just like that, not even given the chance to properly recuperate. They were simply deliberately trying to kill him. Even if the original owner of this body had survived the beating, he would be tortured to death by this upcoming long journey anyways.

Although these people hadn't realized that the real Cui Xie was dead, he would sear this memory into his heart, and clearly remember—these three people from the Cui family were all murderers. No matter if it was the one who ordered the beating, or the one who secretly framed and provoked from behind…one day, he would seek justice for young Cui Xie.

Footnotes:

It is a heatable brick bed.

jiejie: older sister

yinjian: one of the many titles given to students during an Imperial examination, specifically the sons of officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Bureaucratic officials enjoyed this privilege where their sons could have an easier time if they had this title during the exams and based on what type of family you came from, there would be different titles, Imperial exam content and exam supervisors. Think of it as an alumni legacy privilege for colleges.

distinguish between black or white: idiom; not able to distinguish between right and wrong

A wangjin headscarf used to tie up Ming Dynasty males' hair, a very symbolic type of dress, It is because "no one is noble or low, it is all wrapped up". These headscarves were also the piece of clothing least associated with social hierarchy. Although this ornament was small, the social and cultural implications of the Ming Dynasty carried by it are extremely rich. They are typically woven from black silk, horsetail, brown silk, and other materials.

They are referring to the 5th year of reign of Ming Dynasty's Ninth emperor, Chenghua Emperor, Zhu Jianshen; it would be approximately around 1469; Chenghua stands for 'accomplished change'. Chenghua is not the emperor's real name but the name he is given when he ascends to the throne. This title is used when addressing his reign/era and people use this term when mentioning the current emperor or his reign. After all, one cannot refer to the emperor by his real/birth name.

Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing, are all reigns that occur after Chenghua. Zhengtong's reign and Jingtai's reign was before the Chenghua reign. The Tumu Fortress Crisis was a frontier conflict between Northern Yuan and the Ming Dynasty and the First ruler of the Mongols of the Northern Yuan, Esen Taishi, captured Ming Emperor Zhengtong, on September 1, 1449. With him gone, the court put his younger brother, Emperor Jingtai , and he was put in charge. But then Zhengtong eventually returned and took back his throne. That's why he was regarded as the sixth and eighth emperor of the Ming dynasty. I suggest you look at wikipedia for more information.

*The beating injury is referring to ancient Chinese corporal punishment in which someone takes a wooden plank and hits the person's bottoms/buttocks. It is a rather cruel, but common punishment in those times.

Chapter 3

Cui Xie handed the bronze mirror over to the young manservant, asking him to return it to the owner.

The young manservant affirmed in response and left. As soon as he walked outside the room, a somewhat harsh voice sounded out: "Pengyan, why are you waving around a mirror? Has everything been packed away? Master already sent down instructions before heading to the yamen[1]. Today, the Eldest Young Master must be sent back to the ancestral home. Now, it's almost past chenshi[2], and there are still so many trunks that haven't been loaded into the carriage yet. Do you want to wait until Master comes home and flares up in anger again?"

Cui Xie was currently lying on top of the bed and couldn't turn around. He only saw a figure from the corner of his eyes, a man wearing a long blue gown, one foot resting atop the room's raised threshold, his wild gesticulations resembling a workplace overseer.

Another person outside the door said: "Cui Ming, you have also seen the Young Master's injuries, how can you bear to rush people like this?"

Cui Ming snorted coldly: "Uncle Yuan, you only ever see the Eldest Young Master's injuries, but have you seen Second Young Master's injuries? Are your words secretly complaining about Master's heartlessness or the Furen's heartlessness? Seeing as you have already been friends with my father for many years, I'll just treat it like I did not hear it. You should tell your family's Pengyan to stop wandering around. If he has time, he should go help to load the carriage. Get on the road early so you can give everyone some peace."

With him watching attentively, the maidservants' movements speeded up significantly. Pengyan, after returning the mirror, came back to join the others in the packing procession. One by one, the trunks were carried outside the room, and once nearly all the trunks had been moved outside, two tall and strong manservants came in, intending on supporting Cui Xie off the bed.

'Uncle Yuan' hurriedly rushed up to stop them, and quickly called over some people to find an old wooden bench and cover it in a few layers of bedding. Those two manservants passed a thick bar through the legs underneath the bench, making a makeshift stretcher, carrying Cui Xie to the rear of the courtyard in large strides. There, an already parked carriage waited, covered in green oilcloth tarps. In the carriage's interior, it was packed full of various trunks and baggage wrapped in cloth bundles, a few were even strapped to the carriage's roof. There was only a small, narrow block of empty space on the inside, close to the door, but Cui Xie would have to curl up in order to lie down.

Cui Xie sighed and said, "With this narrow carriage, the road will be bumpy, what will be done if it accidentally aggravates this Young Master's wounds?"

Cui Ming smiled faintly: "The Eldest Young Master is being punished and sent to the ancestral home, it's not like you have been assigned an errand and are heading back to take care of family business. How much better of a carriage can there be? Our family only has a few carriages, Master will need to receive visitors, Er-ge needs to invite a physician, and Furen has to instruct servants to go out and do some errands…how could these carriages be available? According to Master's intentions, a carriage was going to be rented from outside, but Furen was distressed for Eldest Young Master's wounds and specially vacated this carriage. Uncle Yuan, once you reach the ancestral home, you should advise the Eldest Young Master. If he becomes more sensible in the future, who knows, Furen can most likely persuade Master to summon him back."

The rear courtyard's doorstep had already been unbarred and the entrance was open. A few manservants took the carriage out and Cui Yuan could no longer waste time to bicker and dispute over this matter. He got onto the carriage and then instructed his son: "Follow the carriage closely from behind, watch the Eldest Young Master carefully. Don't let him touch his wounds.

Pengyan was well-behaved and closely followed behind the carriage, lifting the curtain from time to time to take a quick look at Cui Xie. Cui Xie had grown up in modern society, how could he comfortably watch a mere 10-year-old or so child walk behind the carriage? Seeing the carriage curtain being lifted again, he stretched out his hand to grasp the curtain, firmly saying: "You go to the front and sit down. If I need someone to wait upon me, I will call you from the back. I don't need you to look upon me every few minutes, I will also not feel at ease."

After he said a few sentences, Pengyan finally rushed to the front of the carriage, sitting side by side with his father who was driving the carriage.

Not long after, once the carriage got a small distance away, the courtyard's doors slammed shut from the inside, and was tightly sealed…

The weather on the road was extremely hot, the carriage's compartment was narrow and stuffy, and the two small carriage windows for ventilation were entirely obstructed by the stacks of trunks. Cui Yuan was afraid that the Young Master's wounds would fester, so he stopped the carriage not far from the Cui household, walking to the back of the carriage to check on Cui Xie's wounds.

There was an endless, busy flow of traffic on the road, and many people, as well as horse riders, passed by the carriage, curiously looking into the compartment. Cui Xie would rather die than let his belt be pulled down, and he resolutely said: "I know my wounds. Applying the medicine feels cold and is quite troublesome. If we check up on it during the road, it'll be in vain. If the wound comes into contact with dust, soiling the wound, it would end up becoming easily infected. I will change the dressings myself once we reach our stop."

Cui Yuan helplessly said: "If someone is injured, they'll even sprinkle some fine soil on the wound to stop the bleeding, what harm can some fine dust cause? If Young Master does not want to let me see it, then that's fine, once we leave the capital, let's search for a clean inn to stay at and invite a physician to come take a look."

He felt Cui Xie's forehead, which felt a little hot to the hand. Sighing, he returned back to driving the carriage.

Although he was worried about Cui Xie's injuries, he did not dare to find a place in the capital to stay at. He was afraid that this matter of staying at an inn to recuperate would travel its way into the ears of those fawning servants of the Furen's. It would be like adding oil and vinegar behind one's back[3]and they would secretly inform Cui Que, exacerbating the father and son's worsening relationship. Fortunately, the official roads within the capital were very flat, and even if the carriage was driven fast, it would not be too bumpy. Cui Yuan hurried away from the capital with the carriage and entered Tongzhou around lunchtime.

He was not familiar with the place, so after entering the city, he asked a few people for directions and followed along the main road, making a beeline for a guest inn facing towards the main street.

The inn was a small two-story building. From the outside, you could see interlocking wooden arches and flying eaves, painted engravings carved on the walls. The building was very gorgeous, but for some reason, the main lobby's interior was cold and cheerless.

Cui Yuan and his son directed the carriage to drive closer to the entrance of the inn. When they looked in, they saw that each of the guests inside were all docilely seated, but their chopsticks did not move. Outside the inn, a few men wearing knotted head scarves were guarding the door, all of them tall and robust-looking, their bodies emitting hostile auras. These men's eyes attentively glared at passerbys, their gaze like an eagle's penetrating glare as they watched people come and go into the inn. People walking close to the inn were forced to move to the other side of the main road.

Several other men dressed in the same manner curtly and restrainedly stood by those big men. Cui Yuan was unaware of what happened, stopping the carriage and asking from a distance: "Waiter, is your inn still accepting customers today? My Young Master is eager to make a stop at an inn, If this place isn't open, we will go to another place."

The waiters did not dare to respond but one of the strong-looking men swept his gaze in their direction, and heavily said, "Your manner of speaking is authentic and quite proper, looking at your dress, you seem to be a servant of an official's household from in the capital. Who is your master? You said that in the back compartment of your carriage is your Young Master, but why is the carriage's tailgate so deep? It seems to be heaped with a pile of goods?"

When this man finished speaking, there were a few loud and heavy thuds that traveled from the inn's second story, sounding as if someone had thrown a table down. A few shouts could also be heard, but it was just that they could not clearly see the situation through the windows.

The more Cui Yuan watched, the more he felt something was wrong. He regretted following a passerby's suggestions to come to this inn, so he shook the reins, saying: "As your inn cannot allow us to dwell here, we will just leave then. No need to make things awkward and label us as thieves. My household's Young Master is the child of an honorable and proper official, how could he be randomly pulled aside for an interrogation?"

Cui Yuan inwardly felt a bit annoyed, but he did not want to cause trouble, so he directed the horse to move around them, avoiding the group to set off again. The big man gave a meaningful glance to his right and left sides, leading a group of people in front of the horse, and said faintly: "The Jinyiwei[4] is handling a case here, and you ran into it yourself. Acting suspiciously, you cannot just leave as you wish."

He walked to the front of the car, lifting the hem of his clothes to expose a slender xiuchun[5] sword, shaking the sword in front of the father and son servant pair.

Cui Yuan had personally witnessed jinyiwei searching a house and confiscating its possessions in the capital before, so his complexion immediately turned ashen. With a trembling voice, he said, "Da-ren[6], my Young Master is the eldest son of Official Cui, the head official of the Yunnan Division in the Ministry of Revenue. Today is our first day on the road. Because we are returning to our old ancestral home in Qian'an, we have brought more luggage, which is why it is weighing the carriage's tailgate quite a bit. It had nothing to do with the evildoer da-ren is looking for!"

That tall and large man pondered and said, "Cui Que? And your young master is Official Cui's Eldest Young Master? Do you have a road permit?"

Cui Yuan immediately took out the road permit from his sleeve, and then took out one whole piece of silver, stuffing it towards the guard. The Jinyiwei refused to accept the silver and gave it back to him. He waved his hand and said: "Consider yourselves unlucky for bumping into Colonel Xie's[7] office handling a case here. Before the criminal is apprehended, I'm afraid we cannot let you leave just yet, so for the time being, wait here.

Cui Yuan, slightly bitter, besieged and pleaded: "My family's Young Master is suffering from serious injuries. In this hot weather, he is confined inside a carriage and I'm afraid that his wounds will fester, it could be fatal!"

The Jinyiwei looked a little puzzled, "Who has your household's Young Master offended, actually going so far as to take refuge by moving back to the ancestral home with such injuries? Why haven't I heard any news of an official's family incurring the wrath of powerful ministers?"

The Cui family's father and son were blood-related, so Cui Yuan could not say that the Eldest Young Master's injuries were caused because the Master was partial to the step-wife and the youngest son. The Eldest Young Master had been already beaten to this point and was forced to stifle this flush of anger. That jinyiwei did not press the matter and waved his hand towards two other guards to inspect the back of the carriage.

The two jinyiwei walked around to the back of the carriage, knocking on the compartment door, and called out politely: "Is Young Master Cui in the carriage? Please get off the carriage so we can inspect the carriage's contents."

The compartment door was pushed open from the inside, five pale and slender fingers clasped on top of the door's buckle, and soon after, half of a sickly-looking face came into view. That face was as pale as his hands, both cheeks burning bright red. Although it was mostly covered by the carriage and a pair of sleeves, the exposed eyebrows and eyes were as bright as pulsating flame, immediately illuminating the visions of those who caught sight of it.

Cui Xie's eyes were bloodshot, the tip of his nose a little red. He smiled at the two jinyiwei, his eyes containing glistening teardrops, his voice hoarse as he spoke: "Apologies, I had been curled up in this carriage for an entire morning, so my legs have gone a little numb. I will have to trouble the two of you to wait for me to go down slowly."

The two, seeing his pitiful appearance, felt that their earlier thoughts of suspecting him as a bandit had been absolute blasphemous, and they happily said: "No rush, isn't Young Master Cui suffering from injuries? Do not force yourself to endure such extreme pain, we will help you down."

As they said this, they lifted him out of the carriage.

Cui Xie had felt extremely bored for the entire journey, and while he had just been reading in his mind, he had not felt anything. In reality, the muscles in his legs had long lost any perception of sensation, and had gone numb. It was not until someone helped him to stand up that he felt that his two legs could not support his body at all, they were numb and painful. He almost knelt as soon as his feet touched the ground.

Fortunately, the two guards next to him gave him a hand. He held onto the carriage's side, leaning heavily as he stood with his numb legs. The two jinyiwei still had to inspect the contents of the carriage. Seeing that the young master looked to be on the verge of collapse, they proactively proposed: "Young Master Cui does not need to stand here. Ask your servant to help you into the inn to rest and wait for our Colonel da-ren to finish arresting the criminal until we make our next plan of action."

Cui Xie thanked the guard, using the carriage to move forward slowly. Pengyan hurriedly jumped from the driver's seat fixed on the carriage exterior to help him, still holding the paper bag his father had given him. He secretly stuffed it towards the two guards.

Unexpectedly, the two lieutenants would not accept it, bitterly smiling: "Colonel Xie's Office has strict rules. If I were to take your few pieces of silver here, at most, it would not even be worth a jar of good wine. Heading back, we will get punished, it is not worth it. Properly support your household's Young Master inside instead."

Cui Xie said a 'you have worked hard' and held onto Pengyan as they walked forward. As soon as they arrived near the front of the carriage, a loud rumble heavily reverberated from the second floor of the inn, the window facing the street suddenly flying down.

The two of them stopped in their tracks, scared by the object free-falling from a low altitude vantage point, they looked up. Immediately after the window panel had been knocked down, a thin man, roughly in his forties jumped out, gracefully dropping down onto the ground, clutching a Japanese-style sword in his right hand. With a kick of his toes, he barreled towards the master and servant pair.

A man dressed in a turquoise-colored yesa[8] followed behind the man closely and dashed towards the window. Leaning against the window lattice, he motioned behind him, quickly somersaulting over and jumped down.

Pengyan screamed in fright. Cui Xie felt disoriented, feeling as if he had transmigrated into some period wuxia[9] drama, staring at them dazedly. He did not react until the person was almost in front of them and he reflexively pushed Pengyan off into the distance.

That man did not even spare a glance at the falling Pengyan. The long sword in the man's right hand was put against Cui Xie's neck, and with a turn of the body, his right arm also clamped around Cui Xie's throat.

Footnotes:

yamen: administrative government office of a local bureaucrat/official

chenshi: 7-9 am, ancient phrase to tell the time

'adding oil and vinegar behind one's back': idiom; adding details while telling a story (to make it more interesting)

Jinyiwei: means the 'Embroidered Uniform Guard'; and was essentially the Imperial secret police that served the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty. They are given the authority to overrule judicial proceedings in prosecutions with full autonomy in arresting, interrogating, and punishing anyone, including nobles and the Emperor's relatives. The guards would usually don a distinctive golden-yellow uniform with an identifiable plaque hanging near his torso and carrying a special blade weapon.

xiuchun sword: general term used for the official knife issued by the court for the Imperial guards, and there were multiple shapes and designs, Most official swords used by Imperial guards used a lot of silver, gold and jade decorations, hence the coquettish sounding name of 'embroidered spring'.

Da-ren: an honorific name for government officials; literally means "bigger person"

*Technically Qianhu Xie; qianhu = A Colonel in charge of 1,000 men. The Ming Dynasty had multiple marshal offices and administrative offices set up under high commanding officers.. Qianhu, is one of many types of administrative titles given to senior and junior Colonels. There were a total of 17 Qianhu offices and hence 17 Colonels.

A yesa was a Ming Dynasty one-piece robe with a cross-collar top and a large pleated skirt.

Wuxia: martial arts theatrical, cinema, or literature genre

Chapter 4

Cui Xie grabbed at the arm clamped against his neck, pulling it straight outward, but his kidnapper turned the hilt of his sword, striking him hard on his collarbone, telling him to stop struggling. Pengyan, who was on the ground, saw Cui Xie getting knocked at. He cried out "da-ge", wanting to rush over to rescue him. Cui Yuan also charged over from the front of the carriage, kneeling in front of the jinyiwei, begging them to save Cui Xie.

Those jinyiwei dressed in disguise had already drawn out their swords, pointing them towards the kidnapper. They slowly pressed forward, but ultimately they were apprehensive since the hostage was the child of an official working in the Ministry of Revenue, so they did not dare to directly make a move.

The man in turquoise robes who had jumped from the inn's second-floor was standing ten steps away from Cui Xie and his kidnapper, brandishing a xiuchun sword, indifferently speaking to the kidnapper: "Patriarch Xu, the four heavenly kings of the White Lotus Society[1] have all been arrested. Several jinyiwei have mounted horses and are riding towards the pier where your secret hideout is located as we speak. Just where do you think you are going?"

White Lotus Society! Was that not the infamous cult that had risen up in insurrection, this dynasty's famous evil sect that tried to overthrow the current dynasty?!

Cui Xie could not help but turn his face, glancing at Patriarch Xu whose face was laced with grievances. The man's right hand tightened around his neck firmly, and he whispered into Cui Xie's ear: "I just want to escape from here and do not want to hurt anyone. You are the son of a high-ranking official right? If you want to live, ask those jinyiwei to make way, get into the carriage with me, and send me off!"

The jinyiwei who had stopped the carriage immediately stepped forward to remind: "Colonel da-ren, this is the son of Cui Que, the head of the Yunnan Division in the Ministry of Revenue. He had just left the capital and was heading towards Qian'an when he accidentally came across the jinyiwei handling matters, as such, these subordinates stopped them."

Colonel Xie nodded, and stood in place, holding his knife in a reverse grip with the hilt on top and the blade pointing out on the bottom, and said: "Doesn't matter if he is the son of a high-ranking official. Even if Official Cui himself fell into their hands, he would still have to be loyal to his country until the very end. If you kill him, it is simply adding another crime to your name. You can't escape from your inevitable death sentence. Doesn't your White Lotus Society claim to help the people to attain salvation? Do you still wish to commit evil when death is so close at hand?"

Colonel Xie's expression was cold, but he had a pair of naturally upturned lips, speaking softly and slowly as if he was merely chatting with Patriarch Xu.

It was a pity that Patriarch Xu did not share the same leisurely intentions. Tightening his grip around Cui Xie's neck, he sternly shouted: "Attaining salvation? Killing you dog officials and hawks and hounds[2] is saving the world and helping the people! We are all benevolent laymen who recite the Buddhist scripts and worship the Bodhisattva, but the Imperial court wants the lives of our people for no reason. Then should we keep our heads down and let others kill us? If you take another step forward, I will chop off this puppy's arm first!"

Colonel Xie sighed: "It's a pity. Don't worry Young Official Cui, after your show of martyrdom, this official will personally report your merits. The Emperor is benevolent and wise, His Majesty will extend kindness and favor to your father, Official Cui."

Cui Xie dryly coughed twice and said with a wry smile: "Then I must thank da-ren for your good intentions. But can da-ren exchange this favor and ask the Emperor to commend my biological mother instead?"

Colonel Xie's smile finally reached his eyes, the corners of his mouth turning up even deeper. Nodding, he remarked: "It is rare that a son has such a high notion of one's duty. Xie-mo[3]has noted it and will certainly request this on your behalf." After he was done speaking, he lifted the sword in his right hand, brandishing and waving it, charging forwards with the rest of the jinyiwei.

Patriarch Xu gritted his teeth and said: "Good, good, since you are not afraid of death, I'll first kill you. On behalf of my fallen brothers, I will pay them with your life!"

Previously, in order to conveniently drag Cui Xie, he had grasped onto Cui Xie's neck with his arm, the tip of his sword facing outwards. Now that he had murderous intentions, his wrist rotated, and he adjusted into a position that would make it easy to cut down at his hostage. Cui Xie suddenly lifted his head to look towards the roof, screaming: "White Lotus Venerable Mother!"

Patriarch Xu subconsciously looked over, his hand movements pausing. Cui Xie took the opportunity to take the arm and pushed it outwards. He suddenly slammed his head backwards, and did not know what he had knocked into. Either way, he was in so much pain it felt like his brains had become mush, even the injuries on his legs seemed to be implicated by this sudden move of his. His feet went soft, and his entire body fell to the ground, even Patriarch Xu's arm had been dragged down with him.

Patriarch Xu's body followed him forward, the sword in his hand was narrowly gripped, and the unsteady, slanting sword's tip was angled towards Cui Xie's shoulder. The blade slashed across, opening up a single, shallow blood-red streak. But, at that moment, Cui Xie's bottom fiercely slammed against the road's limestone surface, the wounds aching piercingly painful all the way down to the bone marrow. Due to the pain coming from his bottom, he couldn't even feel the shallow wound on his shoulder at all. After impact, he rolled onto his side, changing to a position that let him put his weight on his stomach instead, but was left stunned from the pain.

This series of reactions had already exhausted his strength and patience. If Patriarch Xu were to raise his sword to slash down at him right now, he would not be able to avoid it.

Patriarch Xu had been hit so hard that he felt a tingling sensation in his nose, and his eyes dazzled with tears, vague and blurred. He had nearly released his sword in his agony. After struggling to blink back tears, he finally realized that the jinyiwei had already encircled him, and he was surrounded by layer upon layer of Imperial guards. Lastly, Colonel Xie's xiuchun sword had finally entered his view.

Knowing he had no hope of escaping, he cursed Cui Xie in his heart, hating him in his bones. Disregarding the sword that was pointed towards his chest, he drew out his sword and slashed directly towards Cui Xie.

But, before the blade could fall, a slender xiuchun sword obstructed its path mid-air, striking his Japanese-style sword. The crisp sound of gold and jade resonated together, and it easily parried the Japanese-style sword. The xiuchun sword moved downward, gliding down the Japanese-style sword's shaft before hacking into flesh and blood. Another twist of the hand crippled Patriarch Xu's right arm.

The jinyiwei approached from the left and right to tie up Patriarch Xu as Colonel Xie sheathed his sword. He stooped over to pull up Cui Xie, the corners of his mouth still traced with a smile, and he warmly said: "It seems that I don't need to ask for a grace for Young Master anymore. Today, you have helped the jinyiwei capture the White Lotus Society's Patriarch Xu. This merit will be personally reported by me, and I will not let you suffer this fright in vain."

The wounds on Cui Xie's legs had finally split open after his fall, and at this moment, his trousers were moist, but his clothes were loose and hadn't been completely soaked. But after the wound had reopened, he had lost consciousness for a few seconds, and could not get up by himself.

Colonel Xie pulled at him, but couldn't get him to move. At first, he thought it was a little strange, but afterward, he recalled that Cui Xie was a scholar. After coming across this sort of difficult and intimidating situation, how could one not be paralyzed by fear? So he squatted down, and supported Cui Xie with his body, smiling: "Weren't you just very courageous just now? Dared to deceive even the Patriarch of the White Lotus Society, but now you're scared? Not to mention, I've only heard that the White Lotus Society's religion believed in Maitreya Buddha, so what is this 'White Lotus Venerable Mother' you just shouted? Just where did you hear such a thing?"

What? In the movies, didn't all the White Lotus Societies have a 'Venerable Mother" of some kind? Did he misremember, maybe it was 'Saintess'?

Cui Xie was not sure. He glanced at the seemingly presentable Patriarch Xu lying on the ground, all tied up. Seeing that there were some bafflement and confusion on Patriarch Xu's face, Cui Xue lowered his eyes and said with a guilty conscience: "This one does not know if they have such a thing, but only felt that all living things are balanced with their respective yin and yang. If there is a heretic Patriarch, then there must be a "Venerable Mother" to match, so that was just casually thrown out."

The jinyiwei all broke into laughter, only Pengyan rushed into the crowd, hugging him and crying: "Da-ge, da-ge, your wounds have reopened! I beg da-ren to let my Young Master into the inn to rest and help us invite a physician for him!"

Colonel Xie's gaze followed Pengyan's hands downwards, only to find that the hem of his robe was stained with blood. So it turned out, the legs hadn't been frightened till it went soft, but because it was originally badly injured. The corners of his upturned mouth were slightly pursed, and he glanced at Pengyan. Frowning, he asked, "Your Young Master is the eldest son of an official who works in the Ministry of Revenue, how could he have been beaten to this point? Who dares to indiscriminately use the wooden plank on the son of an official from the capital? Your Master must be confused, not even knowing to report this to the Ministry of Justice, or the Dali Supreme Court. Instead, he even let his son leave the capital with such heavy injuries."

Only then did Pengyan start becoming scared, his voice trembling as he spoke: "No….it was my household's da-ren's order to beat Young Master like this. It was only because the Young Master had accidentally pushed the Second Young Master in the garden, so my family's Master declared that he lacked brotherly affection and ordered someone to beat him, and then drove him out of the capital…"

The corners of Colonel Xie's mouth gradually pursed even tighter as he ordered his subordinates: "Have someone bring a wooden bench here, and carry Young Master Cui into the inn. Then order a clever person to take my nameplate and go to the capital and send for Yonghe Palace's retired Imperial Physician Liu to come and treat his injuries." And then he spoke again: "We can't manage your family's affairs, but us jinyiwei still have some face." He pointed at one of his subordinates, "You there, go get some ink and brushes to write a letter to Official Cui," he turned back to Cui Xie, "I will call for someone to send that letter on your behalf, lest your esteemed father rebukes you for not honoring your father's order because you are temporarily staying in Tongzhou midway through your journey."

Immediately, someone fetched an ink brush and some paper. Pengyan turned around obediently and asked someone to spread the paper on his back so that Cui Xie could write.

Cui Xie took the brush in one hand, and pressed the white paper with the other. He gestured in the air for a long time, but he did not dare to write—he hadn't seen the original body's handwriting yet, and after his parents passed away, he was unable to formally continue cultivating his calligraphy skills. That is, later on, he only wrote simple announcements and letters for his university, something worthy of light praise, but not much else. What would he do if his handwriting accidentally revealed himself?

Drops of sweat started to form on his forehead, and his wrists shook.

Colonel Xie was still propping Cui Xie up and could feel him trembling slightly from his legs to his arms. Thinking that his injuries had been too severe and that he was too weak, Colonel Xie took the brush, saying, "Writing is also labor-intensive. I will write a card and send it to the Cui Residence later. You can rest here at ease, do not worry about your Father's fury or anger—there has never been an occurrence under the heavens that there is a principle that a person who has helped the Emperor is to be condemned."

Cui Yuan and his son stared at Colonel Xie with wide eyes, hoping that this man could persuade Master to welcome the Young Master back home again. Only Cui Xie did not want to go back, but it was not easy to say so, so he just took out the prior persuasions Pengyan had used on him as an excuse, saying: "Many thanks for Colonel Xie's kindness, but Qian'an is where my family's ancestral home is located, and it is cleaner than home. It is more convenient to remain there to study in preparation for the Imperial examinations."

Colonel Xie observed him and saw that Cui Xie's eyes were clear and harbored no resentment. It really looked like he felt the countryside was quite good. Feeling quite surprised, the Colonel's eyebrows raised, and he responded, "Since this is the case, I will arrange it for you."

At this time, a waiter from the inn was sent over with the wooden bench. Helping Cui Xie up onto it, Colonel Xie stepped back and looked at him, "I have an Imperial decree resting on my shoulders and must take these criminals away and fulfill the decree. I am afraid I cannot stay any longer. Young Master Cui must rest well and recuperate, diligently and frequently study. Let us meet again in the capital."

Cui Xie lay on the stool, not even able to cup his hands in greeting because he was so inconvenienced, so he merely nodded and remarked, "Thanks for Colonel Xie's care. It is currently inconvenient for this one to get up. And so, right here, I wish you da-ren smooth sailing and bright prospects for the future.

With the leaders of the White Lotus Society in custody, the jinyiwei left, and the inn slowly revived and became lively again. The inn's owner personally arranged the best room for Cui Xie, and refused to accept payment for the room and even invited a locally famous physician to prescribe medicine for his injuries, especially setting aside a small stove to cook Cui Xie's medicinal cuisine.

Cui Xie felt very apologetic and asked Pengyan to pay, but the inn owner insisted on not accepting it. He personally went to Cui Xie's bed and explained: "Previously, it was my inn that was incompetent, actually letting the leader of the White Lotus Society rest here. This is a criminal charge that can lead to death. If it weren't for this little official's efforts to help catch the criminal and also get wounded because of this, and the fact that you wanted to rest at my inn, how could those of the qianhu or Colonel office let me off so easily? Today, if Patriarch Xu had gotten away, let's not say that I can no longer keep operating this inn, all of the inn's employees would have to enter Beizhen's provincial prison. Our skin would be torn off one layer at a time. This little official is our benefactor, just peacefully rest here, no need to mention any payments."

This inn operated between a rather important sector, laying between the area where dealings between the capital and the North Canal took place, its business was very profitable. Its backer that it relied on was bound to be an important figure who was close with the authorities. As long as it had not colluded with the White Lotus Society, there was no reason for the jinyiwei to casually arrest them.

Since the other party was willing to take care of him, Cui Xie accepted the kindness and rested with ease at the inn.

Cui Yuan and his son moved the luggage to the guest room, replacing the bedding and pillows with their own, and borrowed a folding screen to block the bed, giving it some privacy. When the windows were opened in the morning and evening, Pengyan placed an apricot fragranced pellet brought from home into a jar, and lit it, borrowing the cool breeze to spread and disseminate the lingering sweet fragrance throughout the guest room.

Cui Xie had wounds all over, and his nose was constantly filled with the smell of herbal medicine and blood. Suddenly, inhaling in this fresh and clean, yet pleasantly sweet scent, he immediately felt his spirits refreshing and rousing itself, his injuries seeming to be less painful.

Footnotes:

The White Lotus Society was a religious and political movement, much like a sect or cult, that appealed to many Han Chinese who found solace in the worship of Wusheng Laomu ("Unborn Venerable Mother", who was foretold to gather all her children at the millennium into one family). Basically in response to famine, crowded conditions, and harassment from petty government officials, White Lotus leaders in central China began a rebellion; they promised their followers that there would be the return of the Buddha and the end of suffering. They were heretics who wished to overthrow the current government.

'hawks and hounds': idiom; running dogs or hired thugs

-mo is a term that officials and high-ranking ministers use to refer to themselves, similar to I, analogous to when Emperors refer to themselves in third person with 'zhen'.

TN: New release! This was a pretty action-packed chapter :). I'm quite stressed from college classes already, but nonetheless, hope ya'll are doing well! ❤

We have set up a kofi and account! If you would like to support us or get early access to advance chapters for Blood-Sucking Empress, those options are available for you!

Chapter 5

Before it was time for the evening meal, the famous physician Colonel Xie invited from the capital had hurried over.

This Medical Officer Liu was once an Imperial Physician, and after his resignation, he opened up a pharmacy in the Imperial capital. He had taken a few of his sons with him to live in the capital and continue the business, and was an expert in treating injuries such as contusion, sprain or fractures from falling, bruises, and the like. Upon his arrival, he first checked up on Cui Xie's injuries, took his pulse and then quickly prescribed two prescriptions, one for internal use and the other for external use. He personally took out the herbal medicines from his own supplies in his medicine box, and blended the two medicines together before handing them over for Pengyan to brew.

After Medical Officer Liu finished retrieving the prescriptions, he then took out an exquisite white porcelain medicine bottle and handed it over to Cui Xie. Stroking his beard, he said: "This is the medicine Colonel Xie asked me to give to you. It is the same medicine the jinyiwei use on their own wounds. Later, make sure to wipe the other medicinal powder off your wounds and replace it with this bottle instead. Also, it'll be good to change the dressings every morning and evening. Once the wounds scab over, apply the external medicine I prescribed every morning and evening and there should be no scars left over."

Cui Xie thanked him and asked Cui Yuan to pay the consultation fee. Medical Officer Liu refused and responded that Colonel Xie had already paid, and so the two of them booked a room for him next door. An entire table full of good wine and dishes were ordered and delivered to his room. In addition, they paid the coachman who had been sent for him to return tomorrow, thus allowing the physician and coachman to spend the night here before returning to the capital.

After Medical Officer Liu left the room, Cui Xie discussed with Cui Yuan: "Colonel Xie first rescued me, then invited a physician, sent medicine for my injuries and even helped to intercede on my behalf for my father. We must give him some gifts as thanks. It just so happens that Physician Liu is acquainted with him, so go purchase some things, and then ask Physician Liu to lend a hand and deliver it over."

With some difficulty, Cui Yuan embarrassedly said: "The Young Master has been at home for so many years, but altogether the funds we have accumulated from the monthly allowances only add up to about thirty or so taels of silver. Even though we have some incense burners, ornamental pieces, jade pendants, and other elegant playthings, all of them together are not worth more than a dozen or so taels. After returning to the ancestral home, it is unknown whether the funds will even be adequate to cover all of the residence's renovations and repairs, so how can any taels be spared to obtain some connections and favors with the jinyiwei?"

Mofang[1], although we may not have money, we still have science and technology. Just wait until I flip through the chemistry book!

Cui Yuan helped to apply the medicine onto Cui Xie's wounds and then went next door to accompany Medical Officer Liu to partake in the food and drink. Cui Xie grabbed a quilt and covered his head from both sides. Laying on the bed while warmly wrapped in blankets, he silently perused through the book.

He remembered that Emperor Xianzong (the Chenghua Emperor and current emperor) particularly liked to take pills, even directly appointing a bunch of Tibetan Monks and Daoist Masters that were raised in the palace as officials[2]. As such, Cui Xie wanted to copy down a pill recipe for Colonel Xie, so that the man could refine an 'immortality'* pill to present to the Emperor. But after reading the chapter on refining pills in the alchemy chapter, all he saw were recipes that called for lead, mercury, azurite, copperas…and thus he did not dare to even start crafting. He was afraid that if the Emperor ended up taking this pill full of harmful ingredients and incurred some unexplainable ailments, this would actually harm Colonel Xie's career instead since he would be the one to give such a pill to the Emperor.

Looking further down, there were recipes for potteries, enamels, dyes, and daily cosmetic products and while these were considered relatively safe, for a military man like Colonel Xie, there was an 80% chance that he would not be interested.

If one wanted to give something to a man like him, then wine was the most suitable.

A light bulb went off in Cui Xie's head, and he immediately flipped to the chapter on wine-brewing and directly flipped to the wine formulations from the time period after the Qing Dynasty and onwards. After some deliberations, he ended up choosing the liquor most suited for wine-brewing in the Northeastern part of China—the strongly fermented and fragranced daqu white wine.[3]

This kind of wine is made from fermented sorghum and the starter culture was a blend of barley and wheat in the daqu white wine. All of these materials were readily available materials in the Northeast. The manufacturing costs for daqu white wine was half as costly as the popular brewed imported glutinous rice wine that was introduced to China in the Yuan Dynasty. The fermented daqu white wine was clear, cold, and fragrant—extremely suitable for drinking by oneself or giving to others as a present. In the book, there was also a diagram of a microbiologist-certified distillation machinery. Flipping through the book, he made a marking on the page of this diagram, thinking that it would most likely be more advanced than the equipment during the Chenghua era.

Making up his mind, Cui Xie waited for Pengyan to bring up the medicine and then asked if he could help him write down a wine-brewing recipe.

Surprised, Pengyan asked: "Da-ge also knows how to brew wine? But our family does not brew wine?"

Cui Xie replied: "Accidentally came across it when reading some articles from a Yuan dynasty person's notes, it should be okay to use. Go get a brush and some paper, if that doesn't work, just wait until your father comes back to write it down."

Pengyan patted his chest and proudly said, "Don't worry, da-ge, I have already accompanied you in your studies for so many years, although I can't write any essays, writing a few words should not be a problem."

Immediately, a chair was moved and placed at the head of the bed. A row of draft papers spread out on top of the seat, vertical columns of red grids lined up and down the papers. Grinding the ink, Pengyang kneeled in front of the chair, and prepared to write.

Cui Xie crawled to the head of the bed, dragging his legs behind him, and looked at Pengyan's moving brush tip. While drinking medicine and reading at the same time, Cui Xie occasionally added some marginal comments on the side.

Pengyan's writing style was very beautiful, and the format was consistent and regular. The main text was written large-sized in the top grids, and the annotations were written smaller, the different parts divided into two sections within one grid. Small circles serving as punctuation marks marked the end of each sentence, just like in the ancient texts in the Four Books and Five Classics[4]. This wine-brewing recipe was not too long, and along with the annotations regarding the industrial process, almost all of the paper had been filled.

After Pengyan set down the brush, Cui Xie suddenly noticed that the piece of paper in front of him hovered into view, was enlarged, and then afterward, compressed into a standard PDF file. The chemistry book that had been originally hovering in front of him was squeezed aside by the PDF file. Then, the portable hard disk floated into his vision, the disk's storage interface screen unfolding into view. The PDF file shrunk to the size of a typical file icon and was promptly stored into the hard disk.

Heavens…this hard disk had become immortal ah!

Cui Xie stared at the hard disk in shock, but Pengyan thought that he was looking at the newly copied down wine-brewing recipe. When the ink on the paper dried, Pengyan used both hands to hold it in front of Cui Xie: "Da-ge, check to see if there are any mistakes."

"…..None." Cui Xie clicked on the PDF file within his mind and compared the file with the paper in front of him. Not a character was missing, even the position of the paper's fragmentary, shredded threads near the top was identical.

This was simply an artifact made for cheating!

Mom, there is no need to worry about me failing an exam ever again!

And he no longer needed to worry that his handwriting would not match up with the original owner's writing style!

Cui Xie had also learned calligraphy from a professional teacher for several years in his childhood. Although he could not compare to those extremely learned ancient scholars, if he were to directly copy the style from the original texts, he would be able to produce an imitation that was about 70-80% similar. And it just so happened that he was beaten and injured recently, so if there are any obvious differences, it could be attributed that his writing style had changed because of a lack of energy. In the future, he would have to find more copies of a master calligrapher's works to copy, and when the time came, he could easily change the font. No one would be able to identify any problems!

He was so astonished by this newly learned skill that he wanted to give the hard disk a kiss, but he did not dare to show such a face in front of Pengyan. So, he lowered his head and pretended to check the paper, his mouth drawn taut as he ordered: "Go and find a charcoal stick or eyebrow pencil or something, I still need to draw a picture of the cauldrons needed for brewing the wine."

With a worried expression, Pengyan hesitated: "But your injuries…"

Cui Xie waved his hand: "Quickly go, didn't I just apply some effective wound medicine? The pain can't even be felt."

After Pengyan left, he buried his face into the bed's quilts, biting his fingers, and giggled for a long time. If it weren't for the injuries on his body, he would have already rolled around on the bed a few times.

Unexpectedly, this chemistry book had become his life's weapon, and this hard disk was an enormously huge, golden finger (slang used in games, basically a cheat)!

His roommates were simply all-knowing and omnipotent experts on transmigration, for whatever they had said had become useful. He was already using the second and third eldest's golden finger, and according to the boss's advice, he just had to practice some calligraphy and painting as well. He would definitely put it to good use one day in the future!

He felt bored after spending half a day confined to the bed, and it was a long time before Pengyan pushed open the room's door and returned. With a stiff and severe expression, Cui Xie took the charcoal pencil and drew a diagram of the distillation machinery on the pale-yellow bamboo paper, drawing arrows to mark the name and purpose next to each part.

That evening, when Cui Yuan came back, he saw Cui Xie's wine-brewing recipe and the diagram of the distillation machinery and was just as surprised as his son, asking: "Just where did Young Master copy this detailed of a recipe from? This old servant has never brewed wine before, but looking at this Nine Steaming Nine Sun-Drying brewing method[5], the brewed wine must be incomparably mellow and rich, like bejeweled ambrosia. This recipe would be worth thousands of taels of silver!"

Of course it was, this wine-brewing recipe was craftsmanship from the late Qing Dynasty after all and the technology written here was something that wouldn't be invented for another 200-300 years.

Cui Xie's voice dropped low and became subdued: "It's taken from a Yuan Dynasty person's miscellaneous notes, it is said that the Western regions over there had different brewing techniques, different from our great Ming dynasty. At the time, I thought the western brewing method was pretty good, wanted to make it myself, so I copied down the recipe. Later on, the book disappeared. Uncle Yuan, if you think this recipe is good enough as a thank-you gift, please help write a letter for me, and attach this wine-brewing recipe and send it to Colonel Xie."

"Alright. Colonel Xie not only rescued you from the White Lotus Society's Patriarch's blade but had also cared to see if Young Master was injured, even willing to write a letter to help dissolve Master's anger. Truly a good person, therefore this wine-brewing recipe is not too over-the-top of a gift."

Cui Yuan sighed for a while, and set down the recipe, "These types of correspondences, while I was serving Master, I had indeed seen a couple. After I have written it, I will ask the Young Master to modify and look over it."

Cui Yuan's writing was simple and unadorned, without any literary elegance, but the contents were complete and accurate, the emotions sincerely written, with no major problems. Cui Xie had not studied classic Chinese very much in the beginning, so he had nothing to change in terms of the strokes of the characters in the letter. He merely sealed it together with the wine-brewing recipe and entrusted it over to Medical Officer Liu to take back to the capital.

After Colonel Xie received the correspondence, he immediately had someone send a reply. The text in the letter was also similarly simple and unadorned, with no unintelligible allusions to classic literature. The contents simply thanked Cui Xie. He remarked that the wine-brewing recipe looked quite good, and once brewed, he would send over a few bottles to let Cui Xie try and hinted that Cui Xie should anticipate a happy event to occur soon.

After the messenger from the Xie household left, the Senior Provincial Official overseeing Tongzhou district also dispatched an administrative assistant. This assistant, who was also surnamed Liu, brought a few minor government officials to visit Cui Xie at the inn. Assistant Liu praised and commended him, then carefully asked Cui Xie to describe the details and process of how he cooperated with the jinyiwei to capture the demons of the White Lotus Society. Assistant Liu also praised him for his heroism and loyalty to his Empire, commenting on how he was even willing to give up his own life. He kept saying that Cui Xie was worthy of inheriting his father's loyalty and trust due to his filial piety.

Naturally, these words were not told for him to hear but were to let Official Cui in the capital hear it. Cui Xie felt rather uncomfortable that the topic had shifted to his father, so he changed the subject to instead praising Senior Provincial Official Fu's attitude of loving the common people as one's children[6]. He continued to praise that under the jurisdiction of such a pure and honest official, the demons were forced to act conspicuously and their actions were as obvious as fireworks exploding in the sky. But there was simply nothing for them to ignite in that empty sky, so they had quickly burned out of steam. Those criminals could only make noise for a while. As long as the government took action, they could easily be taken down.

Assistant Liu's eyes lit up, smiling: "That's right, Young Master is exceedingly intelligent and handsome, seeing things clearly. The White Lotus Society has spread its influence in Shandong for many years, Xu Yingzhen and the other fiends believed that they had deep foundations in the county. They had wanted to enter Tongzhou to spread their heresy and planned on disrupting our people's hearts to expand their evil cult. But, they did not know that Senior Provincial da-ren would be so devoted. After single-mindedly enlightening, and civilizing the common people for numerous years, the common people are now fondly attached to this Imperial dynasty, just as much as sons and daughters do not wish to part with their parents. How could they associate with such demons! The demons were like a river without water, a tree without roots, it is natural that they will 'rise and fall, their death sudden[7]'."

Since the White Lotus Society had suddenly appeared in Tongzhou, their Senior Provincial Official would have to send up a report to the Imperial court pleading forgiveness on this matter. After the jinyiwei had left yesterday, Senior Provincial da-ren could not sleep for most of the night. As an administrative assistant, Assistant Liu naturally was also fiercely anxious and impatient. These past few days of visiting the sick were nothing but a trivial errand. Unexpectedly, this Young Master's unintentional words had given him ideas for a proper defense he could mention within his report. When Assistant Liu returned to the Provincial Office to deliberate more on the matter, maybe it could not only resolve this heresy case crisis, but also exhibit da-ren's efforts and merits in nurturing the people to the Emperor.

Assistant Liu immediately changed his half-heartedness from earlier, and affectionately asked who Cui Xie's teacher was, which level he had studied up to, and when he planned on taking the Imperial Examination.

These questions could be said to be Cui Xie's Achilles' heel, he did not know how far his predecessor had studied up to or who his teacher was. So without any better option, he could only desperately cough like his life depended on it. Pengyan hurriedly poured a cup of tea for Cui Xie and replied on his behalf: "Originally, Young Master was studying with Master Xu, his step-maternal uncle, but then four years ago Master Xu was selected to be Qinshui County's Head Magistrate. Furen then invited an Imperial examination candidate from Jiangxi, Teacher Lu Zhongshenglu, to instruct the two Young Masters. In the middle, the Mister had to cancel the studies to prepare for the examination so Young Master self-studied for two years. Now, he has read all Four Books, but he has not been formally taught the Five Classics."

Assistant Liu was baffled and asked: "Haven't reached the classics yet?"

Not to mention he was the son of an official in the Ministry of Revenue, even children in ordinary scholarly families would have been familiar with the Four Books by the age of seven or eight. This Young Master had a clever and nimble appearance, but he had only read through the Four Books and hadn't even been taught the Five Classics formally?

As his initial surprise passed, he felt like his tongue had slipped, and quietly cast a glance at Cui Xie. Seeing the boy's evasive eyes, Assistant Liu mistakenly thought that Cui Xie was ashamed of his slow-learning progress, so he comforted: "The essentials required for the preliminary rounds of Imperial examinations are just being familiar with rationale and argumentations from the Sage's (Confucious) scriptures and knowing Zhu Xi's commentaries[8] to the Four Books. It also requires a thorough understanding of the different Sages' viewpoints and meanings. Just like how Young Master Cui spends time laying a good foundation, one's mind will amass profound knowledge and accumulate richly and break forth vastly[9]. Compared to those who blindly speed through to answer questions before thoroughly understanding the scriptures, Young Master's essays will be much more stable and solid."

Even though he had quickly covered up his slip-up, Assistant Liu still felt that he had made a mistake and had personally slapped the face of son of an official in the Ministry of Revenue by accidentally revealing the child's lackluster learning or skills. He felt extremely awkward and embarrassed. Feeling that his continued presence would be tasteless, he left in a hurry and left behind the Senior Provincial Official's handwritten poem and a set of newly crafted Four Treasures of the Study[10].

Footnotes:

Mofang: internet slang used when a person is stunned and shocked; the whole person is 'square and panicked', kinda like "shooketh"

*They are called Chuanfeng officials: means 'officials by direct appointment' .Many specialists in aphrodisiacs and the like, as well as Buddhist monks, nuns and Tibetan lamas, Daoist Masters, and other craftsmen and entertainers were irregularly appointed to official posts in reward for their services. Instead of going through the usual bureaucratic procedures, these persons were appointed by direct appointment by the Emperor and his official seals. Although this was not illegal since the Emperor can do whatever he wants, it seriously violated precedents and regulations.

Daqu white wine or daqu liquor, is one of the regional varieties of white wine, a clear and colorless liquor usually distilled from fermented sorghum. Daqu white wine is originally from Sichuan (province in China) and is made with sorghum and wheat, fermented for two to three months. The qu starter culture used in the production of the white wine is usually made from pulverized wheat grain or steamed rice.

Four Books and Five Classics: Chinese classic texts illustrating the core value and belief systems in Confucianism and were often the core official curriculum for civil service examinations. Link to more information here: wiki/Four_Books_and_Five_Classics

The Nine Steaming Nine Sun-Drying, as the name implies, is an ancient Chinese method involving nine cycles of steaming and sun drying. It was developed during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and is commonly used for medicinal and food ingredients processing.

'loving the common people as one's children': idiom; praise for a virtuous ruler

'Rise and fall, their death sudden' or '其亡也忽焉' is a teaching that comes from The Commentary of Zuo, an ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals. It basically means something is rapidly blooming, but then it withers and is often used to explain the rise and fall of powers through history where authoritarian centralization of power was common. It is the primary text through which educated Chinese gained an understanding of their ancient history, It greatly expounds upon the Annals' historical background, containing many rich and lively accounts of Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC) history and culture. It is a source of many Chinese sayings and idioms, more so than any work, and its concise, flowing style is held as a paragon of classical Chinese. For more information: wiki/Zuo_zhuan

Zhu Xi's commentaries: Zhu Xi was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, politician, and writer, his contributions to Chinese philosophy included his editing of and commentaries to the Four Books, which later formed the curriculum of the civil service exam in Imperial China from 1313 to 1905

'accumulate richly and break forth vastly': idiom; one must first learn a wide range of subjects, accumulating a profound, thick and thin, solid foundation; the reading should be extensive as to best absorb its essence, the accumulation of knowledge should be deep and slowly released over time

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

Chapter 6

After Assistant Liu left, Cui Xie encountered additional visitors dropping in successively, one after the other.

He was the eldest son of an official in the Ministry of Revenue, a righteous figure of high status, and someone who had helped provide assistance to the Jinyiwei[1] in the capture of the criminals and just happened to be staying at the inn. The Senior Provincial Official dispatched several of his trusted aides to look in on him. But for some reason, the entire province's officials, from top to bottom, and even the local large and influential families in the area joined the steady stream of visitors, either personally dropping in or sending their servants to check upon him. The daily coming and goings of these visitors at the inn were equivalent to in later generations when celebrities were hospitalized. Reporters and media outlets would advance dauntlessly in wave upon wave to gather and interview the person in question.

Of course, everyone had tacitly forgotten that his bottom had been beaten to mush by his own blood father, instead, treating his injuries as the battle scars he had sustained when he helped capture the criminals.

Before these people had come, they had received some advice from Assistant Liu: to never mention things like eight-legged essays[2] or the four forms of poetry[3], only advising that when they met him, to praise him with a few words like 'fair and full of vitality' or possessing 'dragon's talent and phoenix posture'. Additionally, they would start presenting some of the local popular customs and goods, giving a few sets of Yongshun's (county in Jiangxi Province) newly printed stories and poetic novels. Cui Xie racked his brains to talk like how the people of the Ming Dynasty did, pretending to not have heard anything when he did not understand, bowing his head to shed tears when his family was mentioned. Afterward, Pengyan would feel distressed for Cui Xie and helped him to answer. In any case, through this method, no weak points or flaws were exposed.

After dealing with the guests, he also had to pretend he missed his parents and his life in the capital, in order to slowly worm out information from the father-son duo. This way, he was able to learn about the original owner's family, friends, and past life.

Pengyan was especially soft-hearted, as long as Cui Xie heaved a few sighs and said he was homesick, Pengyan would begin reminiscing on past memories and the family circumstances back in the capital; And Cui Yuan had served Cui Xie's father from a young age, making him very familiar with the current state of affairs of the people in the parents' generation. When changing his wound dressings, Cui Yuan would frequently say things like, 'if Furen was still here' and so on.

After ten days of bitter struggles, Cui Xie finally figured out the original family's relationships and circumstances.

In summary, it went something like this. During the Yongle[4] reign, the Cui clan, headed by Cui Xie's paternal grandfather at the time, was one of many households who had been forced to move from the southern part of the country and up north to Zhili[5]. However, the old man of the Cui household was extremely proficient and skilled at farming and operating agricultural businesses, eventually acquiring around 1,000 mu (1 mu =614.4 m2; around 164 acres) of top-notch, irrigable fields. By the time it got to this original owner's father's generation because his grandfather had enough to provide for his father's schooling and after hiring some tenants to cultivate the fields, he moved to Qian'an county with his wife and children.

When his father, Cui Que, was 18-years-old, he married Liu–shi[6], the daughter of an active Colonel.. Although the furen was of military lineage, her bearing was elegant and she could even sing verses of poems with her husband. After getting married, Cui Que advanced while singing loudly[7] in the Imperial examinations. In the 2nd year of the Chenghua reign, he was admitted as a jinshi[8], and appointed as a capital official. After that, he promptly brought his parents and his wife with him into the capital. Then their old house was given to a prospective imperial exam scholar who used it to open an academy.

Unfortunately, although he was quite proud of his officialdom and career, the household experienced consecutive misfortunes. Upon entering the capital, two years later, the Old Master Cui suffered a paralyzing stroke; immediately afterward, Liu furen, who had been pregnant, had overworked herself and disturbed the fetus, passing away due to difficult childbirth; the Old Madam Cui had to take care of her husband and also take care of her newly-born grandson. Not many years passed before the accumulated work caused sickness, and she developed a heart illness and was forced to send young Cui Xie to the outer courtyard to study, before retreating to her quarters to isolate herself and pray to Buddha to recuperate.

When Liu furen passed away, Cui Que felt that the ancestral tomb's feng shui[9] had some issues, and returned back to reconstruct and renovate the ancestral home, before moving the ancestral memorial hall to the capital. After that, he remarried a retired official's daughter from the capital, the current Xu furen. The rights to manage the household was given to the new furen, Xu-shi, and the next year, she gave birth to the second son, Cui Heng.

There were still a few concubines in the Cui family's inner courtyard, but only one concubine surnamed Wu ended up giving birth to a shu[10] son, called Cui He, who was only 5-years-old this year. There were two other shu daughters, the eldest was Jiao-jie, who had been married to maternal Uncle Xu's son (a boy the same age as Cui Xie and a juren[11]), roughly around two years ago. To this day, she still lived with her husband's parents in Luzhou (prefecture in Sichuan province). Meanwhile, the younger daughter was called Yun-jie, only ten years old this year and her marriage had not been decided yet.

As for the original owner, there was nothing to say. Since childhood, he had been studying at home and had never even gone out of the residence more than a couple of times in his life. He had mediocre relationships with his half-brothers and had no friends on the outside, even his studying was muddle-headed and careless—this point was not said by the Cui Yuan father and son duo, but rather was what Cui Xie surmised from Assistant Liu's attitude.

In short, not leaving home had resulted in only meeting the same old relatives and friends every day, which then resulted in the eventual entanglement of grievances.

These past few days, his days had been even more bitter than during finals week at university, as he had to carefully deliberate over and over every few words said. He also had to watch the other party's reaction to adjust the subject of the conversation in a timely manner. This observing one's countenance and watching one's color these past few days had exhausted him so much that he did not even have the energy to read. Since he had escaped out of the original owner's situation, he breathed a sigh of relief, buried his head into the blankets, and slept happily for the next two days.

This body was only 14-years old, precisely the time when the body was growing the fastest. Whether it was fatigue or injury, as long as one got enough rest, one would be able to quickly recover.

After lying on the inn's bed for half a month, the plank wounds had more or less fully healed and scabbed over. Near the borders of his wounds, the places where there were scabs were slowly falling off to reveal a tender pink flesh, flushed with color compared with the pale skin surrounding it. As long as the color fades in the future, no blemishes will be left on Cui Xie's skin. The gash on his shoulder was also scabbing, with no sign of infection, and even when it was moved, it did not hurt and did not impede any major movements.

After observing for two more days, Cui Xie felt that his body felt fine, so he asked the father-son duo to pack up their luggage and prepare to head to Qian'an soon.

Although Pengyan obediently packed the luggage, Cui Yuan was still a little reluctant to leave and asked: "Can we leave in two days instead? What if the Master hears about how you helped the Jinyiwei capture those demons, and becomes no longer angry at you and decides to send someone to take us back?"

Cui Xie shook his head: "Uncle Yuan, do you remember how many days we have stayed in the inn?"

Half of a month.

During those two weeks, the entirety of Tongzhou had visited them, gifting various brushes, ink, inkstones as well as nourishing ingredients, the large gift pile stuffed into a trunk. There were even several pedantic guests who had written poems and essays for him. Only that house in the capital was quiet, not even a piece of paper was sent by them.

Cui Yuan initially did not want to believe that his own family's Master would be so indifferent to his blood-related son, but after calculating the number of days, and recalling how the household had been so eager to send them out, he could not help but feel discouraged.

Afraid of provoking the Young Master's sorrow, he sighed back to his son: "Our Master is the disciple of Grand Secretary Wu, and Grand Secretary Wu has some relatives in the jinyiwei. Master has also had some dealings with the Jinyiwei before, and always had some face with them. How come even though Colonel Xie spoke some words for the Young Master, saying that we should wait for good news, it seems like Master is treating them like this matter has nothing to do with him?"

His way of thinking had actually accused his Master wrongly. After Colonel Xie's correspondence had been delivered to the Cui household, Official Cui had not even seen it when it was directly sent to the Xu furen in the inner courtyard.

After seeing the contents, Xu furen personally threw the letter into a candle flame, burning it to ashes.

Her confidant, Di mama[12] watched the candle flame creep up the letter, the flames licking off the seven characters, 'Jinyiwei Qianhu Xie Ying' on the cover of the envelope. Feeling alarmed in heart, she recalled in a low voice,"Furen, this is correspondence from the jinyiwei, although its contents were in regards to ' that thing', it is indeed related to the Master's official duties. If Furen burned it just like that, if that Colonel were to mention this to the Master, wouldn't the Master blame you for thinking for oneself and acting accordingly[13]?"

Xu furen shook her head and spoke unhurriedly, "What does the jinyiwei have to do with our Master? It's nothing but a petty scam to ask for money. Let's send a gift privately to end this matter, this is also my duty as a mother. I read the letter, and the contents did not say what troubles our Xie-ge has caused, let's just treat him as meritorious and innocent, send a hundred or so taels is good enough, no need to disturb the Master."

Di mama was still a little worried, afraid that Cui Que would learn about his eldest son's matters from the mouth of outsiders, reigniting the love between father and son. The Master would then blame furen for hiding this matter.

Xu furen warmly smiled: "If Master really cared about that boy, would he have sent him to the ancestral home? His mother was of military lineage, yet her fate was good. She took advantage of the Master that had not passed the examinations yet and married over. That was the only reason she could occupy the furen's seat even when her status was not much higher than the rest of those in the inner courtyard. What kind of good studious son could be born from such a woman? Even if that one were to stay in the capital, and enter the Imperial Academy, he probably wouldn't even be able to pass the exam to become a jinshi. It is better to give Heng-ge the otherwise wasted opportunity instead. But as the furen, I can not be too harsh on him. In the future, once he is of age, as the furen, I will find a competent and filial daughter-in-law for him and let him stay at the ancestral home to take care of her, isn't this also a life full of abundance?"

Hearing furen's relaxed and easy words, Di mama chanted a Buddhist mantra, trying to bring in some blessings, and said: "It is still furen who has resoluteness, this servant will go prepare the gift and instruct the outer courtyard not to report this matter to the Master."

Xu furen gently nodded: "Go. This really is not a big deal. Also keep an eye on Heng-ge for me, let the servants take good care of him, and don't let him get out of bed for the next two days. Even if the Master hears someone's advice and news from the outside, when he comes back and sees Heng-ge's injuries, it will naturally sever off any such thoughts."

Cui Yuan and his son did not avoid others while they were packing, when the inn owner heard that they were leaving, he hurried over to persuade: "Does Young Master Cui find anything unsatisfactory? If the room is unorderly, I can call for someone to help clean it up for you; if the inn is not clean enough, my residence is not far away and has a spare empty courtyard. The Young Master is welcome to move in, it will be convenient for studying."

During Cui Xie's stay at the inn, as if he was like a spy that had been tasked to infiltrate Wang Jinwei's No. 76 intelligence organization[14], he had been wracking his brains with worry, his hair had gone white from the stress, but now, Cui Xie was able to get up and leave openly without saying anything.

The inn's landlord continued to bitterly persuade, "Qian'an was hit by numerous floods last summer, households in and outside of the county have had their residences destroyed. This year, rice, grain, and vegetables have become extremely expensive, it is not a quiet place to study. Young Master has already lived at the inn for several weeks, would it not be better to send someone to fix the residence before moving?"

Cui Xie shook his head firmly.

These days, he had a lot of dealings with the people in the Ming Dynasty, especially those that dealt with those who were government officials. He had already silently accumulated a bellyful of this era's customs and conventions, no longer the previously tender transmigrator who had been slung by mud.

Since he was determined to leave, he had long prepared a reason that ancient people could not refuse, throwing it out to the inn's landlord—he wanted to return to his ancestral home to sweep the tombs.

The Ming Dynasty regarded death as a continuation of life, sweeping the graves and making ritual offerings to one's ancestors were like showing respect to one's parents, ultimately related to the big Confucian principles of filial piety.

The landlord could not continue to persuade him, instead ordering the kitchen chefs to prepare a lot of dry food, dishes that could be eaten on the road, and other pickled things. He also arranged for hired workers to help them pack up all the gifts they have received when the guests came to visit the sick m and then rented a spacious and comfortable carriage to send them on their way.

However, they had stayed at the inn, eating without paying, living there for free, and could not just leave nothing behind. Cui Xie used the excuse that personally writing would disturb the wound on his shoulder, so he called Pengyan to write on his behalf, copying down a Zhenjiang aromatic vinegar[15] recipe founded in the Qing dynasty's Daoguang reign. It was then sealed in an envelope and handed over to the landlord.

Footnotes:

jinyinwei: means the 'Embroidered Uniform Guard'; and was essentially the imperial secret police that served the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty. They are given the authority to overrule judicial proceedings in prosecutions with full autonomy in arresting, interrogating, and punishing anyone, including nobles and the emperor's relatives. The guards would usually don a distinctive golden-yellow uniform with an identifiable plaque hanging near his torso and carrying a special blade weapon.

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.

Four Forms of Poetry: verses, ditties, odes, and songs.

Yongle refers to the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di, the third Ming emperor (1403-1424 reigned). The Emperor moved the capital up north and forced many people to relocate.

Shi: in ancient times, this term was put after the surname of the married woman as a term of address.

advanced while singing loudly: idiom; triumphant progress.

Jinshi: the highest title that a scholar could obtain after passing the Imperial examinations, usually holding the highest of offices. It should be noted that the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) had a very large number of jinshi graduates reaching up to around 24, 536 in total.

Feng shui: harmonizing energy around one's home or the environment; a concept linking the destiny of man to his environment. It aims to ensure that people live in harmony with their surroundings.

Shu: meaning concubine-born; Di: meaning born of the official wife/madam of the family

Juren: a qualified graduate who passed the triennial provincial exam.

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

'thinking for oneself and acting accordingly':idiom; to act on one's own initiative.

Historical Tangent: Wang Jinwei is referring to a Chinese politician originally a member of the left-wing Kuomintang opposing the right-wing government in Nanjing. He later became increasingly anti-communist after his efforts to collaborate with the Chinese Communist Party ended in failure and his political orientation veered sharply to the right later in his career after he collaborated with the Japanese. He engaged with Chiang Kai-shek in a political struggle for control over the government until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese war (around 1937). He is often regarded as a traitor in the War of Resistance. The No.76 organization was founded after Chinese defectors proclaimed their willingness to serve Japan as secret police organizations during the Chinese Civil , the history behind it is quite convoluted and complex, it is not too important to the story. It's basically just saying that Cui Xie had been distraught in thinking of how to quickly leave the inn, but now he finally is able to leave his worries behind.

Zhenjiang vinegar is a rice-based black vinegar widely used in Chinese cuisine, taking its name from Zhenjiang located in the Jiangsu province.

Chapter 7

Once Cui Xie's plans of leaving spread, several acquaintances rapidly arrived to send him off. Everyone was extremely reluctant to part so they took a long time to send him off, before finally letting him out of the city gates and then each returned to the city in their own carriages.

Cui Yuan drove the Cui family's original carriage in front while Coachman Zhao, hired by Landlord Yan, drove the carriage that carried the harmonious Cui Xie and Pengyan together. They meandered along the road, one in front and one in the back. When they arrived near the Wuli Pavilion[1] located outside the city, suddenly, two small green carriages appeared on the same road, and from the interior of one of them, the curtain lifted to reveal an elegant middle-aged man who then hopped out of the carriage. It was actually Assistant Liu who never showed up again after asking after the progress of his medical treatment.

Cui Xie promptly got off his carriage, supported by Pengyan, and immediately thanked Assistant Liu and Fu Senior Provincial Official's concern and care.

Assistant Liu smilingly stroked his long beard and said: "I am here today, not only to send off Young Master, but to also deliver to Young Master the gift prepared by the Senior Provincial Official."

Several manservants removed two large wooden trunks from his car, silently opened the lids of the trunks, and then stepped back, revealing two compartments filled to the brim with books.

Assistant Liu pointed to the trunks and proudly spoke: "Our Senior Provincial Official knows of Young Master's heartfelt intentions to study, specifically ordering me to deliver a comprehensive and complete collection of the《Four Books and Five Classics》. This full set can only be found in the Qian'an county academy, even ordinary scholars who want to borrow them won't be able to. Young Master can take these annotations on the Four Books. The righteous Five Classics can be used to illuminate and compare, try to thoroughly fathom by reading and writing more, and do not let down Fu daren's beautiful intentions."

Cui Xie's was serious and solemn as he got up, bowing deeply with one hand cupped in the other to express his thanks.

Assistant Liu had a hard time receiving Cui Xie's formal bow and then waved his hands around a few times. Those same manservants once again reached into the carriage to pull out a smaller trunk, which was also full of books after the lid was opened.

Cui Xie could not help but swallow nervously, starting to doubt whether his own 12 years of exam-oriented education and four years of university of work-study experience would be good enough in these ancient times.

But, he still had the third-eldest's portable hard disk in his brain, and the hard disk was 2 terabytes. Although there were many videos and downloaded internet novels on it, there seemed to be more than 1 terabyte of storage remaining. It should…should be enough to store all of these books, right?

Seeing how Cui Xie's expression had gone blank from shock, Assistant Liu thought that the boy had been moved by his sincerities and smiled with satisfaction, saying: "These were all gathered and collected by the entire province's efforts a couple of days ago. Under Northern Zhili's jurisdiction, all the top scoring county, prefecture and even anshou's[2] examinations have been carefully handpicked and curated into a set. You take it to diligently memorize it for two years and this one doesn't dare to say anymore, but the position of tongsheng[3] will surely be achieved."

….only memorizing all those books in those trunks could one become a tongsheng, was Assistant Liu encouraging him or trying to give him a psychological blow?

Assistant Liu ordered the servants to move the heavy trunks into the carriage Cui Xie had been riding in, earnestly slapping his hands together and persuading: "I know that you are a child of an official, even if you do not walk the path of taking the imperial examination, there are still methods to be elected as an official. One can become a donation official[4], but to obtain a position through the shadows is after all not the right way[5]. Not only will it depend on your esteemed father's official post, moreover, but your future prospects will also be limited, most likely only able to become a seventh-rank position at the end. It is still better to struggle onto the two lists[6]…at the very least be like our Senior Provincial Official, a proper, self-cultivated juren with self-confidence."

He said these few phrases very lightly, but they reverberated like a heavy hammer in Cui Xie's ears, suddenly dispelling the momentary mental fear that he had been gifted too many books.

This was the Ming Dynasty, where there were four clear and distinct classes (scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants), and an official's influential and valiant power was impossible to resist.

If he failed to pass the juren and jinshi examinations, then for the rest of his life, he would have to lie prostrate to this original owner's father, even lying under that Imperial Academy attending stepbrother of his, because graduates of the Imperial Academy could be directly appointed as officials. If the second younger brother of the original owner became an official, and Cui Xie remained as a mere ordinary citizen, then at that time, let alone enacting revenge for the dead young Cui Xie, even his future life would be under the control of others' fingers.

Even if he could make money exploiting the chemistry's book advanced technological techniques to earn money, it would be all useless. This era emphasized 'honor one's parents, for their love is selfless'. Xu furen was his stepmother, possessing a mother and child relationship. No matter how much money he could earn, he was just merely someone else's cultivated money tree. If he failed to supply their avarice, he would be quickly cut down and sold off.

If he were to become independent, then no one present would ever dare to dispose of him at will—then could he come up with a plan for the future.

He took a deep breath, clearing his mind. He then raised his head to look up at Assistant Liu, sincerely thanking him: "Many thanks for Assistant's Liu reminder, this one will be sure to diligently study and live up to Mister's teachings today."

Assistant Liu beamed and nodded, watching Cui Xie leave until the carriage was but a mere speck in the distance. Touching his beard and whispering to himself: "Has Young Master Cui truly started to understand things properly? Why does it seem that after I persuaded him a few words, his whole temperament became heavier and steadier, no longer like his previously fickle and impatient manner? Once the subject of studying was brought up, why did he act as if there was someone after his life?"

The nearby servants did not know what their Master was muttering about, so they pulled the horses over, asking him if he wanted to return to the city. Seeing the huddle horseheads, he suddenly let out a chuckle: "The other is the son of a five-rank official, his future prospects will naturally be taken care of by that Official father, what use do I get out of standing here randomly thinking about it. Next year, the Ministry of Appointments large scale audit will be launched, I better go back and think about how to straighten out the money and grain accounts in order to help da-ren obtain the highest-quality evaluation!"

After securing the three trunks gifted by Assistant Liu, both carriages were weighed down to the point that the axles creaked and groaned, moving extremely slowly. The group of fear did not dare to drive in the dark, so they had no other alternative but to retire early during the journey, unhurriedly following along Tianfu (area in Chengdu, Sichuan) and turning into Yongping (county in Yunnan Province). It was not until the morning of the third day that the group arrived outside the ancestral home located in the northern part of Qian'an.

In early years, this residence had been mortgaged to Official Cui's county study-mate, Scholar Wang, who opened a school. But, last year, Qian'an county and the surrounding villages were overrun by floods. Master Wang's residence and land had been submerged, and his parents had died due to the floods. As such, he returned to the residence and went to observe the mourning period for his parents' funeral.

Under the deluge of floods, the courtyard had been completely submerged and then subsequently left empty and unattended for an entire year. It was now displaying a somewhat dilapidated and broken appearance: the top of the ruyi gate [7] was missing several tiles, the decorative carved stone bricks under the roof's eaves were spotty, one block missing here and there. Flourishing moss and lichen climbed up vigorously along the outer walls and the original red lacquered door had paint peeling off it everywhere. A well-used brass lock was hung on the door's knockers, which had been placed by Scholar Wang after he had moved out.

Cui Yuan got out of the car, took out the key to open the gate, and asked the Coachman hired from Tongzhou to help him unload the luggage from the carriage threshold.

The two large carriages were creakily squeezed in, the racket it raised actually long alarmed the neighbors residing in the left and right households. All the neighbors in the vicinity were secretly watching the newcomers and sizing them up from behind their own doors. But, most of the people currently at home were furen, seeing that Cui Yuan and Coachman Zhao driving the car were both mature, able-bodied males, it made it even more difficult for them to come forward and strike up some small talk.

The two large carriages entered into the courtyard, one after the other, hurrying past the front entrance into the other courtyard, stopping next to the steps of the main gate in the second, enclosed courtyard.

Cui Yuan moved out of the carriage first, opened the main gate and called Pengyan to sprinkle water and sweep, to clean up a place for his little master to rest. Coachman Zhao looked for a log of wood to jam the wheels in the courtyard and then moved the luggage down from the carriage.

Cui Xie's bottom was still injured, if he moved too much he was afraid of reopening his wounds, so he had been helped off the carriage slowly, first looking around the residence's courtyard.

When Old Master Cui originally lived in the residence, he had set aside financial capital and renovated the house once. The bricks and wood used were all first-rate materials and the mortar used for bricklaying consisted of glutinous rice juice blended inside. After numerous years of wind and rain, the residence's walls were still quite complete and sturdy.

The residence's gates opened at the southeast corner, and upon entering the gates, one would directly find themselves facing a screen wall[8]. Beyond the entrance and to the back left direction of the main gate, there was an inconspicuous reverse-facing South Wing, and in the outer courtyard facing west, there was a stone and brick built horse stable located there. Draping tasseled hyacinths were harmoniously carved onto the screen wall, uprightly positioned opposite to the main gate. After the tasseled hyacinth gate was the main courtyard. The entire courtyard was a slender strip, the pathways paved with bluestones. The pathways then parted, one leading to the central quarters or main room, while another two paths led to the residence's east and west side wings respectively. The flowerbeds on both sides of the courtyard was full of weeds and dead branches, and in the northwest corner, there was an eight trigram-sided well. The interior of the well was black and indistinct, and there was not much water in those depths, green algae bordered along the well's sides.

The main courtyard was constructed like it would usually be in a siheyuan, but it was slightly different from the typical Beijing siheyuan. There was a hall in the middle of the main room, and through the entrance, one could see the two back rooms. These two side chambers protruded forward, enclosing the inner half of the courtyard into a concave-like shape. The courtyard was surrounded by hand-painted verandas, with pallid, washed out dark red pig blood paint on it. The paint's veneers were all flaking off and the original surface revealed an old wood with its original brown lustrous color.

Cui Xie's heart was beating like crazy, and there was an unexpected sense of happiness.

This residence may not be five or six hundred square meters, and there were more than 20 rooms, all equipped with their own little gardens. In his previous life, he could not even afford to buy a room here, but now he was to live in this large residence all on his own, yet Cui Yuan and his son still had strained expressions on their faces, as if they were suffering some major hardships.

If this was considered hardship, he was willing to suffer such suffering every day!

The three of them were to live in such a large residence, and they could have the final say in everything. Compared to being locked in a house, forced to fight with family and randomly suffering beatings, wasn't this much better?

Cui Xie sighed at the residence for a while, and then walked to the carriages to help Coachman Zhao and Cui Yuan to unload the trunks. The three who were working immediately stopped him and said, "This Young Master is a scholar and shouldn't carry heavy things, otherwise you might hurt your hand."

Cui Xie's sleeves had already been all rolled up, but seeing that they did not even want to use him, he could only pull his own dignity and find a respectful task: "Then I will find two wooden boards and you all will push the trunks down the boards. It will save the effort of lifting it instead. There are not many valuable objects in the trunks anyway, it won't matter even if they are dropped."

In the corner of the courtyard, there were piles of wooden boards and bamboo poles that had been cut down from who knows where. He went over to grab a few pieces, but then Pengyan hurriedly rushed over to drag Cui Xie away, forcing him to go inside and obediently take a rest. The father and son pair set up a ramp down the carriage, picking a few trunks containing porcelain and ornaments and then threading a bamboo pole through the trunk's handles. They then asked Coachman Zhao to help take this trunk in, while the rest of the luggage was directly pushed off the makeshift wooden ramp, saving a lot of manpower.

There was no place for Cui Xie to intervene, but he was a good young man born under the red flag and had grown up in the modern years as part of the great youth. He was really not used to sitting and watching other people work, so he just wandered around the three workers, handing them water, tying ropes, helping as much as he was allowed to.

Coachman Zhao took a few sips from the water pouch and admiringly commented: "Your family's little official is really considerate of people. I have traveled to Northern Zhili by carriage many times. Those who hired coachmen all wished they could treat people as cows and horses, no matter how heavy the box is, they would request it to be lifted by hand. We even feared to the point that if we were to accidentally scrape the leather trunks, we would get our flesh cut off as punishment. I have never seen a family's Master personally handing water to the servants."

Cui Yuan, on the other hand, felt inwardly distressed and concerned : "My family's Young Master has taken the Sage's teachings to heart, benevolence…"

Cui Xie looked at the Pengyan, whose forehead glistened with sweat, immersed in his work. He silently thought: Your own son is the one who deserves your concern, A child as young as 13 or 14 years old has to work for others…truly a feudal society without human rights.

Footnotes:

Wuli Pavilion was an ancient, farewell pavilion located in the eastern suburbs of Fuzhou, built during the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in Houpu Village, Gushan Town in the summer of 2006.

Anshou (案首, lit. "first on the desk"), the highest ranking linsheng, and thus the top shengyuan who ranked first in college exam.

Tongsheng: a candidate who has passed the county-level imperial exam.

The 'official donation system' was a way to spend money to buy an official position. If one failed the imperial examination, you can donate and become an official that way (corrupt and often nepotistic, one of the many reasons why this was a flawed system).

the right way:refers to the right way of becoming an official, by passing the imperial examinations

Two lists: In the Ming Dynasty, the A examination was the jinshi (highest rank) examination and the B examination was the juren examination (township/provincial examination). They were called the A list and the B list, and collectively called the two lists. Anyone who passes the B list and then passes the A list to become an official is called 'born of the two lists'. Of course, the jinshi and juren are stratified into further rankings which you can read about on the wikipedia for Imperial examinations.

ruyi gate: the 'as you wish' gate symbolizing good fortune is common in traditional Chinese compounds known as siheyuan, a courtyard surrounded by buildings on all four sides.

A spirit screen is also called a screen wall or spirit wall and it literally means 'shadow wall' that is used to shield an entrance gate in traditional Chinese architecture. They can be positioned either on the outside or inside of the gate they are protecting. Generally, yingbi = outside or inside spirit screen and zhaobi= screens only positioned on the outside.

Chapter 8

As the weather got hotter and hotter, Cui Xie saw that the back and chest of the three people's clothes were all soaked with sweat, their breathing becoming heavier as they gasped for air. So he set down the water pouch, and stood up to say: "You all should take a rest, I'll go buy some water and food. Even if people don't need to rest, the horses still need to eat and drink."

Cui Yuan hurriedly went to stop him: "How can I let you buy things, tell Pengyan to go do it!" Giving his son a hard wink, he ordered: "Once outside the gates, go directly east and walk past two streets. There will be a place selling food, beverages, and even wine. Brother Zhao escorted us for an entire journey and also suffered some hardship, Pengyan, buy some more wine and meat and invite Brother Zhao to eat a good meal before returning to the capital."

Pengyan affirmed with a quick 'en' sound and stood up in response, "Father, don't worry, I often buy food for da-ge outside. With just one look, I can tell which ones are the most delicious!" Turning back and pressing on Cui Xie's arm, he sincerely reasoned: "Da-ge, since you do not have any money on hand, and don't go out often, you may get lost along the way. Just wait here, I'll go to one of our neighbors and ask for some water to wash your face with."

Pengyan was bursting with vigorous and boundless energy, running all the way out the compound.

The neighbors located opposite and on the side next to them had all been paying attention to the newcomers. Seeing that a young manservant, the Pengyan who had shoulder-length hair, coming out from the residence, there was nothing much to avoid in terms of male-female interactions. As such, a couple of the female neighbors pulled him aside to ask: "This little brother, is your Master from the same family living here before? Are they renting that jinshi's residence to study or are they planning on opening a school just like Teacher Wang did?"

Pengyan stood up a bit straighter and puffed out his chest*: "What renting a residence, my family's Master is precisely the original owner of this compound. I accompanied the Eldest Young Master back to the ancestral home."

An old furen questioned: "Is it the Official Cui from the capital? I heard that he became a fifth-rank official, how come he told the Eldest Young Master to return to the ancestral home alone?"

Pengyan did not want to say that Cui Xie had been driven out of the house by his own father, so he lightly answered: "Young Master returned to the ancestral home to prepare for the tongsheng examinations. The clamor and noise in the capital is not good for studying quietly, so he brought us back to live here for a while."

Everyone sighed for a while, and a furen in her thirties suddenly sharply interjected from the back of the crowd: "How old is your family's Young Master? My eldest son was admitted as a tongsheng at the age of 18, and after testing again, he became a xiucai[1]. Those Young Masters in the capital should be much better than us county folk right?"

A person nearby curled their lips and remarked, "Zhang mama spouting in front of this group of furen is nothing much, but saying that Master Jinshi's son is not as good as your working son? All those who live on our street are all studious seeds[2], which one of them isn't a young talent selected to be a xiucai?

Hearing these furen bicker made Pengyan's head hurt, so he coughed slightly to interrupt: "Sorry to trouble all the aunts and grandmas, my family's Young Master just recently moved in. The water in the compound's well is unclean, could we borrow a few buckets of water from some of your homes?

The crowd's quarreling immediately came to a halt, and all of them eagerly responded: "Never mind drawing water, later you can ask your family's servants to come and pick it from our yard later, it doesn't matter how much you need. If your family wants to dredge the well, Peking University street has a registered artisan household [3]. To hire a dredger craftsman will only need four silver pieces per day. For house repairs and renovations, there are also masons and carpenters and it is cheaper to hire them all together."

Pengyan did not dare to call the shots, so he circled back to the courtyard to ask his father.

Cui Yuan declared: "It'll take a few days of work to fully dredge and clean the well. When you go shopping for wine and produce, take a look to see if there are any water tanks for sale. First, buy a large water tank to store water and make do with it for these next two days. Some artisans will need to be hired, but since it is getting late, let's eat first, and then after the meal, you come with me to take a look."

Pengyan left once again, and very quickly, someone arrived at their residence and knocked on the door, heaving a large water tank in tow, along with a ladle and bucket. Cui Yuan was currently laying down clean woven mats and fresh bedding onto the kang bed in the quarters of the main room and had no time to fetch water. So, he asked the workers to fetch some fresh water and compensated them with an extra silver piece. Hence, he asked Coachman Zhao to bring them over to the neighboring house to borrow some fresh water and along the way, see if they could borrow some fresh grass and bean blend to feed the horses.

Cui Xie inadvertently witnessed Coachman Zhao directly scooping up the raw water to drink. Feeling that it was unhygienic, but as he was unfamiliar with wooden stoves, he had to go to the main room and ask Cui Yuan to boil the water.

Cui Yuan thought that Cui Xie was feeling thirsty, so he quickly put down the bedding and went to boil water. The trunks containing the quilts and bedding were haphazardly left open in the corner of the room, so Cui Xie spread out the quilts smoothly onto the bed since he had nothing else to do. There were inlaid wooden frames on all four sides of the kang bed and it looked quite similar to an ordinary wooden bed. While he was at it, Cui Xie climbed up and hung the sheer muslin canopy, even hanging a draping perfume/spice sachet in one of the canopy's corners. After he was finished smoothing out his own place, he looked across the room, catching sight of a bare common mud brick-heated bed located underneath the southern windows. He went into the compound's central hall and rummaged out the father and son's bedding from their trunks and spread it out onto the bare bed.

When Cui Yuan returned from steeping the tea, when he saw that his bedding had been neatly and tidily spread out in the quarters of the main room, he was so frightened that he almost threw the teacup out of his hands and repeatedly sputtered: "This won't do, this won't do at all! Young Master, how can you spread out our bedding into the main room! Which household has their servants residing in the main room? I will go and move the bedding out right now, but actually, Pengyan will have to sleep in the outer rooms at night so he can pour tea and water….Hai, how can I let you do these servant's chores!"

He set down the lidded bowl and went to grab the quilts on the kang bed. Cui Xie did not expect that he would be able to change Cui Yuan's mind, so he simply brought up their financial situation and discussed: "When we first came, did you not say that we only have thirty or so taels left? It is unknown whether those in the capital will continue to send our monthly allowance in the future, and this little bit of silver will have to support my recuperation and studies as well. Just how many ounces can be allocated to repair the house? The main room will definitely have to be renovated, but you two will have to suffer in one of the other rooms and even have to spend a fair amount of money to repair them. It would be better to live here, saving both money and a lot of trouble."

Cui Yuan anxiously murmured: "That's…"

Cui Xie quickly raised his hand and pointed out the window, interrupting him: "Uncle Zhao and the others are still outside, let's do this, for now, don't let others hear us quarreling."

Cui Yuan promptly shut his mouth, stuffily letting out a sigh.

After a short, while Pengyan came back with a store clerk, carrying two large food boxes and a small jar of wine: one box was for Cui Xie, and it contained snow-white fish thick soup, stewed old hen soup, and lastly braised Chinese yellow eel paired with vegetables; the other delicacies were for Coachman Zhao and Cui Yuan, the dishes in the other box consisted of fried peasant's quail, salted fish, braised meat in wine, and sweet and sour vinegar braised ribs. There was also a large plate full of fragrant white rice, and the wine was the restaurant's trademark brewed white wine.

The store clerk sent the box to the main room, opened the box, and took out each dish. He then personally helped them to bore an opening into the wine jar's clay stopper and instructed: "These guests please enjoy the meal, once finished, please send the bows and jars back. We are all in the same neighborhood and we hope that the Young Master can help look after our business in the future."

After the store clerk left, Cui Yuan looked at the table brimming with wine and dishes worth at least five or six silver taels, and then recalled Cui Xie's 'preposterous proposal' just now. He couldn't help sighing a few more times.

Cui Xie just pretended not to hear anything and told Pengyan to carry the food to the kang bed and accompany him to eat. He also instructed Pengyan to keep Coachman Zhao company in the compound's central hall and drink wine. Coachman Zhao still had to hurry off and did not dare to intake too much alcohol. He only drank a few cups of wine alone with some sweet and sour ribs, happily eating four or five bowls of rice. He then said his farewells after a short break and took his payment and carriage back to Tongzhou.

Cui Yuan cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, poured the leftovers into the residence's own dishes, and stored them in the kitchen. He then quietly and stealthily mentioned to his son: "You will need to persuade the Young Master a bit later, he is a great household's Young Master, and isn't some poor scholar. What is this notion of helping one's servants with work! Isn't this just throwing a master and subordinate's hierarchy into disorder?"

Pengyan recalled when on the road when they had encountered the heretics, Cui Xie had first pushed him away and hadn't put on a master's airs when they arrived home. He was inwardly feeling quite happy by this development, but after listening to what his father said, he also felt that this was not in line with the mannerisms an official's household Young Master should possess. After hesitating for a while, he said: "Currently, da-ge is only with the two of us these past few days, not bothering about etiquette. Once he goes to the academy to study for a few days, learn a few of the Sage's teachings, he will naturally be fine."

After chattering a bit more, the father and son pair packed up the leftovers cleaned the plates, and put them back in the wine shop's food boxes. They then prepared to go out to buy a few daily necessities and returned the food box to the wine shop.

Cui Yuan was worried that the Young Master would start doing housework again while they were out, so before heading out, he pushed the book trunk from home next to Cui Xie's bedside, telling him to read books when he felt bored and by all means, not work.

Cui Xie delightedly agreed: "I'll just lie in the room and do nothing, how about that? Don't worry Uncle Yuan, I understand the gravity of the situation."

Now that they were now well-settled here, the problem of finding Cui Xie a teacher for his studies arose. A few days ago at the inn, he was preoccupied with being a spy and tasked himself with collecting intelligence, and had no time to even look at the books. He ought to take advantage of these few days to practice imitating the original owner's calligraphy style and also needed to read up on the entry-level basic core curriculum all the way through—although, just reading it did not mean complete comprehension. At least he had the ability to create PDF files in his mind. In case someone tried to assess him, he could just read the information off if needed.

Cui Yuan gave him an uneasy glance and then went out to set up the carriage.

After a while, outside the residence's main gates, a 'squeaking' noise sounded out a few times. Cui Xie had thought that the father and son pair had already left, so he peeked his head out of the window to take a look. He didn't expect Cui Yuan to suddenly come in through the second gate[4] again and yelled: "I requested for Landlord Zhao's family next door to lend a hand and guard the gate. We will be back before dark. The Young Master should rest well and don't read too late into the night!"

Cui Xie had to repeatedly promise Cui Yuan he would not randomly move about, and then obediently retracted his head into the room. After another while, the main gate was slammed shut with a 'bang' and the small courtyard became completely quiet.

He found the books that the original owner had used since childhood, and sat by the bedside, slowly flipping through it. He actually found a pile of papers containing the original body's handwriting, and his eyes were immediately attracted to the sentence, 'The so-called self-cultivation is to rectify the heart, if the body is enraged, the heart cannot be rectified'. He remembered that a phrase from the《Great Learning》[5], which was: 'those who wish to cultivate their bodies, one must first correct their hearts*.He guessed that 80% of this stack of papers were copied down from teachings in the 《Great Learning》.

The content was hard to understand, so he just inspected the font carefully. It was written in Yan script[6], and it may be that the original owner had been young, so the characters lacked strength. Nonetheless, the characters were well-rounded and rich, and neatly arranged, and were considered quite good, and were not too difficult to imitate.

Under that pile of calligraphic papers, there was a set of semi-new《Four Books, Chapters and Annotations》, a set of original texts of the Five Classics, which were roughly 80% new, followed by the slightly beaten up 《Three Character Classic》,《Hundred Family Surnames》,《Thousand Character Classic》, 《Classic of Poetry》,《Old Style Poetic Forms》…there was also an extremely old, worn copy of 《The Classic of Filial Piety》, which had dense annotations in small print in the classic's margins. [7]

It seemed that this child's efforts had been spent learning filial piety, so it was no wonder that Assistant Liu had looked down upon his degree of progress then. But, the original owner actually liked reading it, so he took a picture of it in his mind. Just in case someone tested him, he could just open the PDF file of it.

Cui Xie pursed his lips and arranged the remaining books. He then opened the《The Classic of Filial Piety》and read it line by line.

The pages of the classic he read were saved into his brain as a PDf, the pages consecutively arranged neatly after another in one long file, instead of generating a separate document for each page he viewed as he had done previously. His eyes and brain were like a scanner: If he read attentively and clearly, the documents in his mind would be scanned clearly; if he swept his eyes over the scriptures quickly, it was like viewing flowers from horseback[8], the characters would turn out inconsistent, the color dark or shallow.

The parts he did not read carefully would be blurry, missing characters and even the entire text would become indistinguishable. But, as long as he reread it carefully, a clearer and legible version of the text would replace the originally blurry scanned part.

After reading the entire book to the end, the file was automatically named '《Classic of Filial Piety and Justice》'and shrank into a PDF icon and quietly entered the hard drive.

The previously written wine-brewing recipe and Cui Yuan's letter to Colonel Xie were both files listed before the recently-copied book. However, they did not have a formal file name and were just named after the first few words of the content contained in the documents.

Was the naming convention of these documents the same as WORD? Could they be deleted? If he read a single character, would it just generate into a PDF file, which would take up his hard drive's memory for nothing?

He was reluctant to delete such a long document on filial piety, so he tried to select the wine-brewing recipe and concentrated on dragging it out of the hard drive. As expected, it promptly disintegrated into fragmentary powder once it hovered out in his mind's open space! And the creation of these files had a consistent, regular pattern: if he turned the pages and read something, a continuous document would be generated; if he closed his eyes after reading a page or a few lines, those texts would be pasted onto a newly-generated, separate document. All of these documents were automatically saved to the hard disk.

This was not much worse than the WIN10 system. He enjoyed himself quietly and thought: Although reading books would generate fragments and were a bit messy, as long as he deleted them promptly afterward, all would be good. In the future, he planned on slowly engraving those trunks of books onto the hard disk. Whenever the time came, he just needed to open the correctly-named file, and maybe he could pass himself as a genius with a highly retentive and photographic memory.

Footnotes:

Xiucai: a scholar who has passed the entry-level examination to study at a college; a shengyuan.

Studious seed; Chinese idiom which is referring to prospective scholars, who inherit the knowledge of previous generations and inspire future generations.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a registry system set up consisting of three different types of 'artisan households'. This centralized management and convergence of various talents gave rise for inspiration and stimulation in the crafts. The status of these registered artisans were hereditary and individuals of special distinction could become government officials or hold equivalent office titles if their talents were greatly recognized by the Emperor. There were members of the Ming's learned class, at the top rank of the traditional Chinese social hierarchy of four classes, (learned, farming, crafts, trade in this order) who did not think beneath themselves to engage in such projects. As such, certain artisan households found them in equal standing to literati households.

second gate or "flower-hung gate"entrance to inner courtyard and rooms.

'Great Learning' is one of the Four Books in Confucianism. It was extracted by brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi of the Song Dynasty from a chapter in the Book of Rites, which formed one of the Five Classics. Zhu Xi co-edited and commented on 'Great Learning', 'The Doctrine of the Mean', 'The Analects', and' Mencius', otherwise known as the Four Books. The principal teachings is that achieving a state of balance, setting priorities, and knowing what is important is essential in one's quest for moral refinement. As such, one must bring his affairs and relationships into order and harmony and do that through self-cultivation. The expansion of one's knowledge is called the 'investigation of things'. It basically suggests that each and every man is capable of learning and self-cultivation regardless of status and one must treat education as an intricate system and strive from balance by making sure not to isolate any forms of learning or cultivating a single aspect.

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.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, not only was Confucius' Four Books and Five Classics the primary focus of education, the Three Character Classic, along with Hundred Family Surnames and Thousand Character Classic formed the basis of elementary education. This group came to be known as San Bai Qian (Three, Hundred, Thousand) from the first characters in the titles. It was the universal introductory literacy texts for students written mainly by Wang Yinglin. The Classic of Poetry is the oldest existing collection of the Chinese century and has traditionally been said to be compiled by Confucious (one of the Five Classics) and then studied and memorized by scholars in China. It is a rich source of chengyu (four-character classical idioms) that is still part of the learned discourse and modern society today. Old Style Poetic forms The Classic of Filial Piety is a treatise giving advice on filial piety and gives basic moral messages to young scholars.

Flower viewing from horseback: idiom; means a fleeting glance in passing. One will only have a superficial understanding from cursory observation.

Ch.9

After Cui Xie was done trying out all of the hard disk's functions, he reopened 《The Classic of Filial Piety》, he checked for any discrepancies compared to the printed copy in his hands.

See, see, see, see, he suddenly found a problem—

These words, he recognized all of them! And looking at the vertical blocks of texts that were filled with small, cramped handwritten notes in the margins, he suddenly felt that they no longer felt awkward or difficult to read. His speed of reading was not much slower than when he previously used to read simplified Chinese books with horizontal lines of text!

Before he transmigrated, he rarely used or read traditional Chinese characters, and as for the vertical versions of the book, he was even more lazy and reluctant to read such works. How could he suddenly read them so fluently? Could this be the instinctual reflexes of the original body? Even though the body's spirit and soul had changed, it could still recognize all the words it should know?

Then what about the books that had been memorized before?

Cui Xie was a little bit expectant and was looking forward to it. He closed the PDF file projected in front of him and tried to recall the content of the large characters he had just read: Chapter 1: Setting the Theme and Illuminating Its Meaning. Confucius was at leisure in his home and Master Zeng was attending to him. The Master said, "Do you understand how the former kings were able to use the model of their consummate excellence and their vital way to bring the empire into accord…."

Master Zeng refers to Zeng Zi, one of Confucius' disciples; presumed editor/author of the Confucian classic, the 'Great Learning'.

What were the next few lines again?

He opened the book again and passed over a section of text before seeing the small phrase "how the civilians were able to attain harmony", and the gears in his head turned and he automatically connected and followed it with the subsequent phrase "to live with each other as good neighbors so that those above and below alike did not resent each other". After recalling a few more memorized phrases, he encountered another missing part and then had to roll his eyes up and ponder over it again before he continued to recite. After rolling his eyes so many times, he finally bumpily stumbled along and finally memorized the book all the way to the end.

It seemed that he had not inherited any memories from the original owner, furthermore, the book had to be memorized by himself.

Fortunately, this body was still 13 or 14-years-old, an age where the brain was the most active and the ability of rote memorization was quite strong. In addition, his soul was already an adult, naturally, his comprehension and concentration would be much better than an ordinary child's. He had also learned some ancient Chinese when he was younger and memorizing the book went smoothly and without a hitch. Later, if he just followed after Ebbinghaus' curve* to consolidate the new information a few times and did a few more sets of mock questions, wouldn't he have firmly memorized all of it?

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve is a psychology theory hypothesized by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885. It hypothesis that over memories of meaningless information is lost shortly after learning and that this 'forgetting' initially plunges and then levels-off slowly until it declines until completely forgotten. Constant rehearsal of information will result in better memory retention.

There were only four trunks of reading material and questions from previous years' exams. In his previous life, he had been learning arithmetic and English since kindergarten; compared to the textbooks, exercise books, and test papers he had used for so many years, these trunks were not any more than that!

Cui Xie encouraged and hyped himself for a while and then shut his eyes to resume memorizing and reciting. He repeated this process two or three more times and after feeling that he was about done, he conjured the PDF file from his sea of consciousness and then concentrated his energy on memorizing and reciting the small commentaries at the end of the main text in the book.

After an unknown amount of time, the main gate suddenly 'creaked' and it seemed that someone was talking outside in the outer courtyard, the voice was also quite high-pitched and raised. Cui Xue thought it was Cui Yuan who had returned and thinking of Cui Yuan's hen-like nagging before he left, Cui Xie quickly threw himself onto the bed. He pulled a quilt over himself and pretended to look like he was obediently resting. He then closed his eyes and continued to memorize the book.

But, the voices outside were getting closer and closer. He gradually realized that it was not Cui Yuan and his son who were back, but was an old married couple talking in his courtyard. Both individuals were quite loud, and their voices poured straight into the room. It seemed like they were talking about him—

"The Cui Family's old servant only asked us to lend someone to watch their gates to help them look after their little Master. Just picking a nimble and clever servant to come over is enough, but you as an old lady, just why are coming over to see what the Young Master is doing!"

….Could it be that he was so handsome, that even elderly ladies wanted to take a look at him? But usually, those who peeked at the transmigrators were all beautiful little ladies. How come when it came to him, they suddenly became old ladies?

Knowing that it was not Cui Yuan, but rather a neighbor, he pulled down his quilt, the edges of the material overlapping again.

He hurriedly scrambled up and folded up the quilt, hearing the old lady outside shouting: "Little Official Cui is sick in bed, how can a simple servant suffice? I am the Matriarch of the Zhao family and at the time Madam Qian….Old furen also often interacted with me. The matter of me coming to visit the junior official is justified! You haven't even put on all the newly-made clothes designated to welcome guests and still want to visit others. The other is the incarnation of the Wen Qu constellation*, what words can you, an old village chief, have to say to him!"

Wen Qu Constellation: Wen Qu is a Daoist deity in Chinese mythology, known as the God of Culture and Literature. He is physically represented by the constellation of six stars near the Big Dipper. Those who are born under the Wen Qu Constellation are seen as lucky stars with an affinity/talent for literature and art.

夫人(fū ren): the mistress/wife, also a general term to refer to an official's wife/madam.

This was the neighbor Cui Yuan entrusted the residence to right? Really…what a refreshing old elder…..

Cui Xie folded the quilt at lightning speed, got up to dust off his clothes, and went out to the courtyard to welcome the guests. In the courtyard, an old married couple was angrily glaring at each other, and two young married women trailed behind them, carrying baskets, kettles, and other baggage in their hands, silently laughing into their sleeves.

Cui Xie quickly rushed down the steps and cupped his hands in greeting: "Greetings to these two elders, this junior is Cui Xie who just moved here today. This junior should have come to visit, but troubled the elders and two older sisters to personally pay a visit instead."

The two elders immediately stopped quarreling, turning to look at him. The four people's gazes, eight eyes in total, fell onto him, their eyes shining. However, no one spoke for a long while, their fixated gazes making him feel embarrassed and at a loss. Cui Xie stiffly put down his arms, awkwardly smiled and motioned to the hall, and said, "This is not a convenient place to talk. Elders, please come with me to sit in the hall."

Landlord Zhao sighed twice as if he had just come back to his senses and twirled his grizzly beard to lament: "As expected of a capital official's son, with such an outstanding appearance and bearing, there really isn't a more handsome little junior in the entire county."

Old Zhao furen was long accustomed to squabbling with her husband, so upon hearing him say this, she subconsciously retorted: "If you don't know how to speak then don't open your mouth! What can't be found in the entire county? Isn't Official Cui from our county? Although the furen was said to be from the Fucheng county (county in Hebei), she was still our county's married woman for years. If it was me, I say if it wasn't for this little official acquiring some of our Qian'an's feng shui and spiritual influence, how could he have such a delicate and refined appearance!"

Since she had said the furen had been from Fucheng, then this meant that this old neighbor personally knew the original owner's biological mother. In the future, he would have to ask about his biological mother and his maternal family's matters. Cui Xie squinted his eyes and beamed: "Landlord and furen are too polite. We are all neighbors, no need to call Official or Little Official, just Junior Cui Xie is fine. The sun is too strong in the yard, please quickly rest in the hall."

Landlord Zhao smiled so hard, that all his wrinkles squeezed together and he kept saying: "What Landlord and furen, if Little Xie-ge wants to get closer, just call us Grandpa Zhao and Grandma Zhao."

-ge: means older brother but is used as an affectionate endearment this case and the household servants , friends, family refer to the Young Masters of the house by their age, so Cui Xie is the eldest son of the Cui Household

Cui Xie hummed in agreement and invited them into the hall.

At the time when Wang xiucai canceled his lease on the residence on account of the calamitous flooding, he had been embarrassingly short of money, so he left a portion of the tables and chairs he had bought behind to use to pay for the cancellation fee. Hence, the furniture in the hall was complete. Cui Xie welcomed the guests into the main hall and settled them into chairs. He then tried to pour some water to serve the guest, but the two woman servants brought by the Zhao family hurriedly placed the bamboo baskets and the teapot on the tea table. From the bamboo baskets, they took out a plate of freshly-picked walnuts, a plate of pickled pear strips, a plate of pear-leaf crabapples, and a plate of milky flaky pastries. They then poured a cup of hot water for the three of them.

Xiucai: a person who has passed the county-level imperial exam

The old furen smiled and spoke: "Little official…Little Xie-ge, quickly try it. This is our own family's personally manufactured fragrant jasmine refreshment, and can't be found outside in the markets."

Cui Xie held up the teacup, a fresh and clean fragrance wafting into his nose. The water tasted slightly of honey, light and sweet, that refreshing scent was thoroughly steeped into the water. When he swallowed it, Cui Xie felt a lingering fragrance in his mouth. It tasted a bit like modern jasmine-honey tea, but the water was pure and transparent, and he could not perceive that there was any tea in this concoction.

When he first transmigrated over, he had actually thought of selling some delicious delicacies to take the people of the Ming Dynasty by storm, but just a sip of water had him amazed by the people of the Ming Dynasty instead. Cui Xie took another two sips and remarked: "It's very fragrant, is this infused with jasmine?"

Zhao furen, looking quite pleased and proud of herself, began to elaborate: "The inside of the teacups were coated in honey beforehand and then placed upside down with some freshly-picked jasmine inside. Once the fragrance has been fully absorbed, the water is added to make such an infusion. This technique is not difficult, but in a small place like Qian'an, only a few families can grow this jasmine native to Southern China. This old woman just happens to have a jasmine tree, if Little Xie-ge likes, I can ask the gardener to separate a tree root and give it to you."

Cui Xie smiled and responded: "How can I take something Grandma loves? Besides, my residence only has three men, all careless and clumsy. I am afraid that we will not be able to raise such a precious flower."

Zhao furen swept her eyes across the entire house and suggested: "Yes, you have few family members, even if flowers were planted, I am afraid that you will have no time to take care of them. I know of a broker surnamed Qian, once she trains a few good maids, you can buy a few to help you plant flowers and even bring tea and pour water. Don't people like red sleeves adding fragrance?

There was something called the Three Aunts and Six Wives, describing the several occupations or professions of ancient Chinese folk women. This phrase came from the second chapter of a novel on manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the Late Ming Dynasty, 'The Plum in the Golden Vase'. The broker or yapo profession sells rouge, perfume, and other women's products; also an intermediary for human trafficking for slaves, concubines, and prostitutes.

The phrase 'red sleeves adding fragrance' is referencing a line from a poem, 'The Immortal of the Magpie Bridge', written by a Song Dynasty poet. It basically refers to a beauty wearing red sleeves attending a scholar during late-night reading sessions. It has very sentimental/romantic connotations.

Master Zhao coughed heavily a few times and scolded: "What red sleeves adding fragrance, your son is just negligent in his studies, always having a young maid flying around him and making him confused! Don't take out your feminine notions and accidentally mislead Little Xie-ge, he is the Young Master of one of the great families in the capital! For the sake of studying well, they are not allowed to have servant girls to attend to them!"

Cui Xie swiftly picked up the teapot to refill the cups of the two elderly people. Interrupting their quarrel, he wryly smiled and then commented: "I understand Old furen's kind intentions, but Father is a clear-headed and pure official in the Ministry, governing the family extremely strictly. At home, only some young boys were allowed to be used as manservants and the household did not dare to purchase people as one wishes. Besides, when we left, we did not bring too much money with us. Can't say for sure, but I may have to ask the servants to start some business in the future. At the time, I will have to ask these two elders to look after me."

The old couple could not care to continue bickering and looked at him in shock. Stupefied, they asked, "Really? How could this be? Isn't your Master a fifth-rank official? In our county, your household would be considered to be the local wealthy landlords. Did studying to become an official make the household fall into poverty?"

Cui Xie really hated that he could not expose the true face of the Official Cui couple at the moment. Unfortunately, this era emphasized the principle, 'the son cannot accuse the father of his fault'. If he really told the truth, others may sympathize with him, but they would immediately turn around and accuse him of being unfilial behind his back.

Moreover, as a minor, he arrived at the ancestral home with two no-status servants, which would make it easy for others to take unfair advantage of them. The status of an eldest Di son favored by a fifth-rank official compared to the status of a son born from an unfavored ex-wife was vastly different.

Di: this label is given to children born to the first wife/current madam

Shu: label given to children born to concubines

If people were to learn that he had been abandoned by his father, who knows, maybe someone would dare to blackmail him or bully him.

He sighed, enduring the wave of disgust he felt wash over him, and spoke, "Us two families are considered close neighbors. You can see how our household is living just by looking at this residence. I also do not want to slap one's face until it's swollen in an effort to look imposing and forcefully wave around an official's son's mannerisms. My Father is honest and upright, a valuable official, and in the capital, rice is as expensive as pearls and firewood is as expensive as osmanthus. My grandfather and grandmother are still in poor health, and there are many younger brothers and sisters in the family….although my family has some properties, we have to live our days frugally."

slap one's face until it's swollen in an effort to look imposing: phrase meaning there is no point in keeping up vain appearance when one cannot really afford to do so

Hearing Cui Xie's words, the expressions of the two elders fluctuated a few times. They interjected with a few sounds of shock and sighed a few times, not knowing how to respond.

Cui Xie picked up the teapot and filled the two cups with fresh water, comforting with a smile: "These two elders do not need to be polite, just say what you want to say. Treat us as if I were your junior."

Landlord Zhao first dismissed the servants and instructed them not to leak the Cui family's situation to outsiders.

Turning around to glance at Cui Xie, he saw that the boy's body seemed to possess an even stronger feeling of tension and restraint. He felt that the boy was kind, but had been dealt a pitiful fate. His brows and eyes were no longer scorchingly bright and luminously delicate like before, this aura made others dare not approach.

Landlord Zhao kindly smiled: "Little Xie-ge rest your worries, neither my wife nor I are too talkative. Once we return home, I will teach them and instruct them not to let outsiders here so much as the slightest noise. Our two families are also considered close friends. This may be a bold line, but this old man will treat you like a dear grandson in the future. If there are financial problems, just tell us, don't treat us like outsiders."

Cui Xie grinned, "Grandpa Zhao has overthought it. I only brought two servants and a few trunks with me. I will definitely have a hard time in the future, how can my neighbors not see it? I have read the Sage's teachings since I was a child and am not ashamed of being poor. Rather than letting others conjecture about my poverty-stricken state, it is better to make it clear from the start to avoid people guessing behind my back and spreading some rumors instead."

Chapter 10

After listening to Cui Xie's words, Old Zhao furen's eyes turned red and she distressingly comforted: "Yes, yes, a real man will never worry about ending up alone…cough, cough, do not worry over financial matters! Then, I think that the windows in your residence should have their papers* switched out. The pillars and four walls also need to be resealed as well. My family has a paper mill and we produce the finest white mulberry parchment. Later, I'll have Zhao Kui send a few rolls over to paste on the walls and windows."

夫人(fū ren): the mistress/wife, also a general term to refer to an official's wife/madam.

This phrase a real man will never worry about ending up alone is said by Zhao Yun during the Three Warring Kingdoms era. This phrase essentially says that a real man should worry about having a successful career rather than worry about getting married. It emphasizes that ambitious men accomplishing great things will not have their love life adversely affected by the overall situation.

Since glass was not commonly used for windows, architecture often involved a wooden lattice covered by pasted refined/crafted paper instead. The paper was often produced to be waterproof and fireproof. Below is a good picture of what it should look like and I also included a rough diagram of how paper was made in ancient China.

Cui Xie, fighting back a grin, bowed his head in thanks: "Many thanks Grandma Zhao. Once Uncle Yuan returns, I will send him over with the payment."

Old Zhao furen could not help but to pat his arm softly and beamed: "My house only has a small paper workshop and all these papers were crafted in my own shop. My own windows were also carelessly pasted by servants, it's not worth your special thanks. Speaking of which, my family's paper mill is quite profitable and even borrowed a lot of your family's Official's reputation for the sake of business!"

She proceeded to make a great show of looking earnest, lifting her sleeve to block her mouth, lowering her voice to whisper to Cui Xie: "If it wasn't for your family's Master getting admitted as a jinshi, uplifting the feng shui of this street and even mortgaging the residence to Master Wang to open up a primary school, how could so many scholars come here to buy residences, or rent a courtyard? My family's paper was luckily sold to those scholars. Otherwise, with so many other paper shops in town, this old body and my eldest son would not be able to do any business. Just where could we continue our family business?"

Cui Xie was conveniently searching for a nearby place to attend school and smoothly followed up: "Oh? There are scholars living near here? Are they all Mister Wang's former pupils? Are they rutong or shengyuan? Do the two elders know how deep their knowledge is, can they teach students?"

Rutong; nickname meaning Confucius' child, basically referring to scholar

Shengyuan: scholar preparing for imperial examinations

I know the Imperial examination titles can be quite confusing so here is a diagram and definitions pulled from Wikipedia.

Entry-level examinations were held annually and accessible to educated individuals from their early teenage years.

These were held locally and were collectively called Tóngshéng shì (童生试, "Child Exam") or Tóngshì (童试). Tóngshì was broken down hierarchically into the Xiànshì (縣試, "County Exam"), the Fǔshì (府試, "Prefectural exam") and Yuànshì (院試, "college exam").

Provincial exams: Xiāngshì (鄉試, "township exam") were held every three years in provincial capitals.

Metropolitan exams: Huìshì (會試, "conference exam") were held every three years in the national capital.

Palace exams: Diànshì (殿試, "court exam") were held every three years in the Imperial palace and often supervised by the emperor himself.

Degree Ranks Exam Times Held

Tongsheng:(童生, lit. "child student"), an entry-level examinee who had passed the county/prefecture exams. County/Prefectural Annual(February/April)

Shengyuan (生員, lit. "student member"), also commonly called xiucai (秀才, lit. "distinguished talent"), an entry-level licentiate who had passed the college exam. Xiucai enjoyed officially sanctioned social privileges such as exemption from statute labour, access into local government facilities and limited immunity against corporal punishments. They were further divided into three classes according to exam performance. -Linsheng (廩生, lit. "granary student"), the first class of shengyuan, who were the best performers in the college exam, and got to receive government-issued rations and pay for their academic achievements. The top performers within this class would get accepted into the Imperial Academy as gongsheng (貢生, lit. "tribute student"), who will then be eligible to sit the provincial or even the national exam (案首, lit. "first on the desk"), the highest ranking linsheng, and thus the top shengyuan who ranked first in college exam.-Zengsheng (增生, lit. "expanded student"), the second class of shengyuan, who performed less well than linsheng and enjoyed similar legal perks, but not the material allowance.-Fusheng (附生, lit. "attached student"), the third class of shengyuan and considered substitute recruits outside the official quota of enrollment. They were considered passable in exams but needed more improvements. College Triennial (twice)

Juren (舉人, lit. "recommended man"), a qualified graduate who passed the triennial provincial exam -Jieyuan (解元, lit. "top escorted examinee"), the juren who ranked first in provincial exam. Provincial Triennial

Gongshi (貢士, lit. "tribute scholar"), a recognized scholarly achiever who passed the triennial national exam -Huiyuan (會元, lit. "top conference examinee"), the gongshi who ranked first in the national exam. Metropolitan Triennial

Jinshi (進士, lit. "advanced scholar"), a graduate who passed the triennial court exam -Jinshi Jidi (進士及第, lit. "distinguished jinshi"), graduates ranked first class in the court exam, usually only the top three individuals were qualified for this (狀元, lit. "top thesis author"), the jinshi who ranked first overall (榜眼, lit. "eyes positioned alongside"), the jinshi who ranked second overall just below (探花, lit. "flower snatcher"), the jinshi ranked third overall.-Jinshi Chushen (進士出身, lit. "jinshi background"), the graduates who ranked second class in court exam, ranking immediately after the tanhua.-Tong Jinshi Chushen (同進士出身, lit. "along with jinshi background"), graduates ranked third class in the court exam. Palace Triennial

Grandma Zhao did not understand, so she had to take a few glances at her husband.

Landlord Zhao picked up the cup and savored a mouthful of the refreshing beverage, exhibiting some arrogance in front of his wife. He then narrowed his eyes to concentrate on talking about ancient times: "If one were to talk about the scholars here, then one must start from the year when Official Cui became a jinshi. Because he was awarded a jinshi title and moved to the capital, people said that he had been affected by the good feng shui in the residence. Only after moving here was he able to land himself into one of the rankings on the two lists* and become a high-ranking official in the capital. Therefore, this entire street's residences were all in high demand by scholars who wanted to rent out the courtyards. Wealthy households with studious sons put forth high prices to purchase—not to conceal it from you, but if it were not for my family having two unpromising grandsons attending school and thinking of borrowing your Master's feng shui, we would have also set our residence out onto the market."

It turned out that even in the Great Ming Dynasty there were school district residences*, the speculation was even quite hot. He was currently living in the center of such a feng shui holy land, should he rent out a few rooms to earn some rent money?

Reminder:

Two lists: Scholars who passed both the juren and jinshi examinations; considered to be very impressive and high achieving.

In the imperial examination, the jinshi examinations were divided into A and B subjects, which is the so-called 'two rankings'. In the Ming Dynasty, the A examination was the jinshi examination and the juren examination was the township/provincial examination. They were called the A list and the B list collectively called the two lists. In the imperial examinations, the list of candidates for juren is called the B list, and the list of jinshi is called the A list. Anyone who passes the B list and then passes the A list to become an official is called 'born of the two lists'.

After China loosened its birth policies, it ignited parent demand for 'school district houses', which were literally houses in a district in which education authorities required that families enroll their students into public schools based on these designated areas. As a result, more parents are eager to buy property near these key, elite schools for children, leading to skyrocketing prices.

Or should he manufacture some objects scholars commonly used instead and open a small store in the outer courtyard to earn some money?

Seeing that it was not the right time to ponder over such matters, he temporarily gave this thought a rest, humbly requesting: "Not to keep this from the two elders, but this junior is planning on taking the examinations at the ancestral home and needs to find a teacher to learn Confucian scriptures and essay composition. Is there a suitable scholar here with good knowledge? The payment for a private tutor can be pooled together by the household, so long as the knowledge learned is genuine and real."

Landlord Zhao frowned, his brows wrinkling to say: "This…after Teacher Wang left, his former pupils were transferred to a Teacher surnamed Lin. Our family's second grandson is currently studying there and says that it is not as good as the previous Teacher Wang. Other scholars do not teach students. In former years, there were indeed some who passed, but for the most part, most curry favor with others to obtain a governmental official position, not in the mood to take in students. You had been under the tutelage of a Teacher from within the capital and studied under him. Compared to these local, shabby literati who receive guests all day, they will not necessarily be as good as what you are used to."

Cui Xie helplessly chuckled: "Not at all. I was raised by my grandmother's side since childhood. Ever since my grandmother fell ill, I have spent more time attending to her illness and less on seriously continuing my studies. Even now, I have yet to read the Five Classics. The former juren maternal Uncle who taught me became an official two years ago…"

Juren: the qualified graduate who passed the triennial provincial exam

Five Classics and Four Books by Confucious was an integral part of a scholar's education and one needed to master the material to pass the Imperial examinations at multiple levels.

Landlord Zhao asked with a dazed look: "That Liu family's maternal uncle was admitted as a juren? A wujuren right? After speaking, he suddenly raised his hand to his mouth, his lips twitching. He frowned and remarked: "I must have remembered wrong, Colonel Liu* was transferred to defend the Yulin (city in Shaanxi province) garrisons in early years, how could he have been in the capital to teach you…then is it the brother of that later second wife? One must realize how difficult it is to be chosen as a juren. If it was not for your father's status, how could he have been chosen as a county head magistrate? Not even properly instructing your studies, truly an improper son of a man!"

Wujuren: successful candidates awarded special titles for those who obtained the top three rankings in the juren examinations

Reminder: The Liu family is Cui Xie's maternal family!

*Whenever Colonel comes up, remember that this is just the English translation of the term, qianhu. A Colonel in charge of 1,000 men. The Ming Dynasty had multiple marshal offices and administrative offices set up under high commanding officers. Qianhu, is one of many types of administrative titles given to senior and junior Colonels. There were a total of 17 Qianhu offices, each office and their Colonel in command of 1,000 households.

It was only now that the old furen finally understood the gist of things and exclaimed in surprise, "What? He did not properly instruct your studies? What a cruel heart! There is another woman filling in as the second wife, and the younger brother is not a good thing either. So, they treat the former Madam's Eldest son like this?"

Landlord Zhao hurriedly patted her hand and scolded: "Look at what nonsense you are spouting! Such remarks that instigate disagreements would be easily told to the ears of those little officials!"

Old Zhao furen also became anxious: "But you said it first! It was your mouth that was flapping the most…"

The two of them started squabbling with each other again, and Cui Xie's head was bowed, silently watching over them like a Daoist Master untethered to the mortal world, as if he had not heard anything. The clamoring couple suddenly remembered that they were at someone else's residence and the victim was sitting next to them. Both of them awkwardly coughed, lowered their heads, and smoothed down their clothes.

Whenever I see Buddha face, I think of this ICONIC Haikyuu picture

Landlord Zhao's psychological predisposition was a bit stronger and more resilient. Stroking the collar on his robes, he started talking about the proper business at hand: "If you really want to find a mentor, it is best to go to Fucheng. Two years ago, my eldest grandson was lucky enough to enter an academy there and is now an affiliated student at the official academy in Fucheng. There are many scholars there, all with profound knowledge. There is also the Lonely Bamboo Academy situated outside the city. It is said to be passed down from the era of Boyi and Shuqi, a place in which Sages are created!"

Boyi and Shuqi were two brothers who lived in China at the time of the transition between the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. They are remembered in Chinese literary culture for their personal and moral virtue, loyalty, and pacifist idealism. They were the sons of Ya Wei, the Ruling Lord of the Guzhu state, or the Lonely Bamboo Kingdom in English.

Fucheng? Cui Xie considered it for a while and shook his head.

Currently, they only had thirty taels of silver in their possession. If they wanted to move to Fucheng, they would have to rent a residence for at least ten taels per year. The remaining money would not be enough to make ends meet, let alone fund his studies.

Besides, they had been banished by the original owner's father. While the Cui family could care less about his food, clothing, housing, life, or death, they definitely would not allow him to leave at will. Even if he really went to Fucheng, as long as the Cui family couple said a few words, he would have to obediently move back. Otherwise, it would be considered unfilial and would be a criminal charge that would harm his future prospects.

It would be better to take it step-by-step. Besides, there were scholars here as well. Disregarding teaching quality, teaching him how to write eight-legged essays would also work.

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.

Seeing that Cui Xie did not agree, Landlord Zhao knew he had suggested the idea of moving to Fucheng just now a bit too prematurely. He patted the back of his head and said: "I must have misunderstood. After all, you are still young and will not necessarily feel at ease in your ancestral home, how could you possibly just relocate outside so suddenly. Then, you might as well lay a foundation at Teacher Lin's place first."

"Next year, the Autumn Examinations will occur. Talented scholars are all now preparing for the Autumn Examinations, it'll be hard to find a good Teacher. Wait until that group of scholars comes back from the examinations, there will definitely be people seeking postings. At that time, I will ask my household to recommend the one with the most solid knowledge. Then, us two households can invite them home, and it won't cost you that much!"

Ming-era exams are held every three years-each autumn in the provinces, then each spring in the major cities for level two exam, and then immediately after, level three exam in the imperial place.

Cui Xie thanked him for his kindness and then asked how much money it would cost to study with Teacher Lin.

Landlord Zhao had some expertise in this area, so he explained how he had paid for his grandsons' tutoring fees, ceremonial festival gifts, quietly teaching Cui Xie how to pay the lecture fees: "It will be the Mid-Autumn Festival soon. You should wait until after the Mid-Autumn Festival ends before going to formally request to be a pupil. You can also save two or so silvers on the festival gifts. If you are not in a hurry, just wait for the Sage Confucius' birthday on the 27th and save some more money."

The Mid Autumn Festival is the second-most important holiday after Chinese New Year, it's history dating back to when dynasties worshipped the moon for bountiful harvests. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month, where the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size. Lanterns of all sizes and shapes are carried/displayed as beacons to light the way to prosperity and good luck. Mooncakes, rich pastries with sweet-bean and lotus-seed paste are traditionally eaten. They are often gifted to friends and family, multiple ceremonial rites one would have to follow.

Confucius's birthday falls on the 25th day of the 8th lunar month and is officially celebrated in Taiwan as Teachers' Day on the 28th while Mainland China observes it there on the 10th instead. Here, the date is off since the ancient Chinese lunar calendar was not accurate.

Cui Xie profusely moved his head up and down, silently making note of the amount of money and the proper dates of gifting he needed to follow. He was not afraid to attend school a little bit later. This is because, before attending school, he would take time to memorize the books the original owner knew and imitate the boy's handwriting again. Even if he were to spend a month on this task, it would not be easy.

While they were talking, the Zhao family's maids came over to refill the tea table with new plates of freshly-cracked walnuts in addition to pine nuts mixed with crystallized sugar kumquats for tea. All of this was paired with a bamboo steamer with mutton-stuffed willow-leaf dumplings and a plate of deep-fried buns coated with a layer of icing sugar to serve as dessert.

Landlord Zhao had spoken for an entire afternoon and was both hungry and thirsty. He took a sip of tea and picked up his chopsticks, indicating that Cui Xie should eat some of the light refreshments.

Old Zhao furen hadn't been able to speak a word for an entire half of a day, and finally, caught someone who wasn't talking about studying and instructed her: "Go home and take a few rolls of the wallpapers, a stack of window papers, two newly muslin-pasted window lattices, as well as a few pearl-beaded curtains to hang up. See if there is enough water in the courtyard, and ask Zhao Kui and the others to fill it up…"

Cui Xie hurriedly interrupted: "My family's Cui Yuan and Pengyan have already gone out to shop, they will naturally buy these things. I do not dare to take the Zhao family's things."

Grandma Zhao's mouth lifted up, and she refuted: "This is all my own family's things, not worth much. Your residence has many rooms and courtyards, even if you were to buy too much, you can put it aside. Just treat it as being prepared just in case." She continued with her orders: "Fetch the jasmine pot under my window and give it to Little Xie-ge to fumigate the entire residence. Once you are done with that, come back to make dinner and let Ah Ji make the meal at our residence."

The servant woman gave a noise of agreement and went back to do her tasks. She came back, clasping a handful of jasmine flowers in a pot, and put them underneath the window. She also brought another manservant with her to install a pearl-beaded curtain in the bedroom in the main room. A layer of oiled paper was pasted onto the window lattice, and then the muslin-gauze window frame was buckled in from the inside. It was just that the house was too old, the walls had an ashy surface and the pasted wallpaper had long started peeling off. The wallpaper could not be pasted up, it would have to wait until someone reapplied a layer of mortar and white powder to reseal the surface.

Cui Xie felt a little embarrassed, but he still received it, tanking the two elders and saying: "These two days, my residence's well will be dredged and cleaned out. People will be coming in and out. I am afraid I will disturb the neighbors, I will have to ask Grandma and Grandpa Zhao to help appease the neighbor's complaints. Once we settle down here, I will arrange for a wine-tasting reception inviting the distinguished neighbors to come to visit, a small token of my sincerity and intention to become closer."

Landlord Zhao and his wife were all people who liked to attend such lively events. After exchanging a few pleasantries, their faces immediately began to flush with light, both smiling from ear to ear: "These are all trivial matters, they will be covered by this old couple. You moved here alone and everything in the residence must be personally watched over by yourself. How can you have the time to handle all these busy matters! It is better to leave the banquet to us, we will definitely handle it decently and gloriously, no need for you to spend more money."

Cui Xie quickly got up to them, solemnly entrusting them with these few tasks.

The couple talked contentedly and since they seized the important event of handling the house-warming banquet, this major event, they were anxious to go back to make plans. After sitting for a while, they got up, leaving only a servant behind to help him make dinner.

In the evening, when Cui Yuan and his son came back, they saw that the residence was very different from when they had left it: there was a roaring fire in the stove, half-warmed dishes placed in the pot, the tables, chairs, and trunks inside and out of the house had been polished brightly until they shined. Additionally, the windows had been buckled over with a clean, green muslin frame and a new pearl-beaded curtain hung from the door. All of this finally gave the house some semblance of homeliness.

Both of them were a little worried that Cui Xie had done something inappropriate at home and hurriedly unloaded the carriage to check upon him. But, they did not expect that after entering the room, Cui Xie was very honestly resting with his eyes closed, not even reading a book.

Cui Yuan nodded with satisfaction and probed: "Young Master, why is the residence so clean? Who sent over these window screens and beaded curtains?"

Cui Xie first ordered them to go to the kitchen to carry back the goods and during the meal, he told them about the Zhao family's visit. After listening, Cui Yuan set down his chopsticks, worriedly commenting: "Young Master did not properly handle this matter. You talking about your family's matters with family is nothing much, but how can you exaggerate the faults of our family in front of others. If the Master hears the word of this, see if he doesn't call people to severely beat you at once!"

Cui Xie grinned and assured: "Even if we don't say anything, won't people will still wonder why I, the son of a fifth-ranked capital official, brought only two servants and drove a small, broken carriage back to thr ancestral home? The family is not poor, only we are, then doesn't that indicate a rift between father and son, meaning either the Master or the furen is unkind? Or I was kicked out of the house for being stubborn and unfilial?"

Seeing Cui Yuan gaping at him and unable to refute a word, he continued with a knowing smile and said: "I'll make a bet with you. The day someone from the family is sent over to give us our monthly allowances, they definitely will complain about how hard it is to live in the capital and will thus unable to squeeze out any money for us. Do you dare to bet?"

Pengyan whispered, "Who knows if anyone will send it anyway. Who in the inner courtyard doesn't fawn after the furen…"

Cui Yuan gave a smack on the back of his son's head, but he couldn't help sighing and murmured: "If we are standing upright, there is no need to fear a crooked shadow. The neighbors will naturally realize what sort of person the Young Master is and won't randomly gossip." When he saw that Cui Xie's eyelids did not move, he knew that Cui Xie did not think there was anything wrong with the way his father had arranged things.

'If we are standing upright, there is no need to fear a crooked shadow': idiom; No matter how upright or honest a person is, the shadow is still crooked. If you are upright, there is no need to be afraid of those who say bad things and provoke you from the shadows.

Ai, since the Young Master was beaten, his temperament had also changed a little. He wouldn't really be at odds with the master, right?

He did not dare to ask Cui Xie about this, nor could he tell his son, so he could only hide it in his heart and stuffily continue eating.