Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination Ch. 119

Chapter 119

Steward Liu had not heard from the Liu family for many years. He only remembered that when the Liu family moved to Yulin, only the eldest of the three young masters in the family, Liu Ce, had married, taking Qin-shi, the daughter of a colleague, as his furen. After moving to Yulin, they had corresponded a few times, mentioning that the Second Young Master, Liu Kuang, was recognized for his valor during a Mongol siege and was recognized for his merits by Commander Zhou, who gave his daughter in marriage to him. 

Despite the distance and frequent attacks making the journey from within the pass unsafe, the Cui family still maintained contact with the Liu family back then.

Later, there was the sad news of Liu furen’s death in childbirth. Members of the Liu family traveled from the frontier to offer their condolences. Yulin was no less fraught with danger as the Mouth of Taoyuan, facing constant threat from Mongol raids. The Liu family men had to stay at the camps, ready for duty and could not attend the funeral. However, even the Third furen, who had been married only a few months, came along to pay her respects. 

They had received the news late, and due to the ongoing skirmishes at the frontier, it took several months before they could arrive. By the time they had arrived at the Cui Residence, Liu furen had already been buried. Cui Que had been displeased with the Liu family’s perceived lack of etiquette and was further annoyed that such a significant event had not been overseen by a man, as only a few women accompanied by their servants had come. Preoccupied with marrying his new furen so that he could put his household affairs in order, his anger flared up in private and he refused to meet with the Liu family members.

These middle aged and older ladies from the Liu family felt slighted and harbored deep resentment. The Old furen and Qin-shi, took the younger members of the family to weep at Liu furen’s grave and even brought the Eldest Master to confront Cui Que, forcing the other to promise to treat the son from his first furen well.

After this confrontation, the two families severed their ties and even letters ceased to be exchanged.

Cui Xie filled several pages worth of notes, recording the descriptions and personalities of his three uncles and aunts as Steward Liu recounted them. However, these events occurred over a decade ago. At that time, his eldest uncle was just in his early twenties while the youngest uncle was only fourteen or fifteen at the time. Many years had passed since then and they had been stationed at the most perilous and desolate frontier garrison of the Ming Dynasty. It was likely that both their appearances and temperaments had changed significantly over time.

At that time, his maternal grandparents in the Liu family were both around forty years old. Who knew what changes might have occurred over the years?

Cui Xie pondered silently for a while and then asked Steward Liu, “There is no need to dwell on past events. As a member of the younger generation, I should be the first to express my goodwill and gratitude and not let the elders feel worried about me. What do my grandfather and uncles and aunts like? Should I buy things from the capital, or would it be better to bring some local specialities from our hometown? As well as Eldest Uncle Qin…

Logically, Cui Xie should thank him for standing up for the young Cui Xie, but it would not be appropriate to express gratitude simply because Uncle Qin had confronted his father over such a matter. As Cui Qu’s son, Cui Xie could not send gifts specifically to build rapport over that incident, right?

It would be better to place the acknowledgement on his aunt Qin-shi.

He sighed, quickly jotting down the preferences of his maternal relatives and the items to be sent or purchased. Anything sold by their family’s shops or produced on their land could be used as formal gifts. However, considering the Liu family men were military officers, they may be in need of military gear and battlefield protective equipment.

Cui Xie had learned horseback riding and weaponry at the Wang Residence and had seen soldiers from Xingzhou’s Right Commander wearing padded jackets, cotton armor and leather armor during training. Although ordinary people could not easily or conveniently buy military equipment or steel, the Cui family did produce cotton, which could be sent along with cowhide, to be manufactured into soft armor for them.

The gift list filled an entire sheet of paper to its maximum, detailing items from daily necessities like food, wine, fabrics, cotton and leather, to popular items in the capital like the《The Six Talents and their Commentaries on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms》and various types of colored letter paper. Cui Xie had listed everything he could think of. Finally, unable to come up with any more, he stopped writing and asked Steward Liu, “Is this satisfactory?”

Steward Liu took the list, glanced at it and shook his head, “This is far too much. No grandchild would send so many gifts to his grandparents’ residence. The Liu family…does not lack these items. The Old Colonel and Old furen just miss their grandson. Just a letter from the Young Master would make them extremely happy.

If Cui Xie could visit them in person, allowing the elders and his uncles and aunts to see him, the Liu family would be even more delighted.

While Steward Liu knew that Cui Xie was studying at the Imperial College and had to care for his disabled paternal grandparents and several younger siblings, it was also impossible for Cui Xie to make a trip to the frontier at this time. Yet, he could not help but release a breath, “Young Master really takes after your maternal family appearance-wise. With such a fine appearance, if they could see you just once, how could they not be pleased?”

What Steward Liu said was a little too blunt. If he looked like his uncle, he would be liked, but if he looked like his father, he would be disliked?

Cui Xie touched his face, contemplating whether to send a self-portrait along with the letter. Yet, a sudden thought crossed his mind: wasn’t it his late mother, the daughter married off from the Liu family, whom they truly longed to see?

With this in mind, Cui Xie twirled the pencil in his fingers and leaned forward, asking, “Do you remember….does anyone in your family remember what my mother looked like? I would like to hear them describe her.”

Steward Liu nodded emphatically, “Yes, they remember! My wife used to help your mother with her hair. She often talks about her and everytime she does, she ends up crying for a spell…she came with me to pay her respects to the Young Master. If the Young Master wants to see her, I will call her in right away!”

On this visit to the Cui Residence, Steward Liu had brought only the Liu family’s retainers, not the tenants. Cui Xie invited the group to sit inside the hall and exchanged a few pleasantries before leaving only Steward Liu’s wife behind to inquire about Liu furen’s appearance.

The woman had been a maid accompanying Liu furen from her dowry. They had grown up together for several years, and now, as she spoke, it seemed as if Liu furen’s image vividly resurfaced in her mind. “Furen had a small, round face with cheekbones hidden beneath the curves, giving her a delicate and refined demeanor. Her eyebrows were naturally fine and arched like little hills, and her eyes were bright and lively, sparkling like flowing water when she looked around…”

Cui Xie had to interrupt her artistic description. With a wooden board propped up as a temporary easel beside the table, Cui Xie began sketching a half-length portrait while asking detailed questions. “Was my mother’s face round, oval or heart shaped? Was her nose high or low? Was the tip of her nose rounded or pointed? Were  her nostrils wide? How large or small were her eyes? Did she have single or double eyelids? What did her lips look like without makeup…”

He had Steward Liu’s wife beside him to correct any mistakes as he drew, erasing and redrawing any inaccuracies on the fly.

The pencil’s soft lead core wore down quickly, so he frequently sharpened it with a small knife, carving the tip into a slightly flat and pointed trapezoid shape that could produce lines of varying thickness with just a slight turn of the wrist.

Midway through this process, the features and contours of the eyes and nose took shape, and with some shading on the brows and nose bridge, the portrait began to resemble a living person.

Steward Liu’s wife watched in utter amazement as Cui Xie’s stroke brought her remembered Young Mistress to life. She exclaimed, “How is Young Master able to draw like this? How is that her likeness was captured so vividly from my words alone? Could it be true that the Buddha, moved by your filial piety, has guided your hand to depict her true form?”

Cui xie did not want to indulge in such superstitious notions and shook his head, stating, “Every person has one nose and two eyes, although there are small differences, the overall structure will be the same. Though I have never seen my mother, I have imagined her countless times in my heart, picturing various facial features. Now, I am simply combining those imagined features, making it naturally easier to capture her likeness.”

Having just invented the pencil, he did not want to be too radical by fully introducing sketching techniques. He paused his work and asked Steward Liu’s input about late Liu furen’s cheekbones, muscle contours and typical makeup, jotting down notes on the edge of the paper. He planned to add further details and color at a later point before including the portrait in the gifts to be sent to the Liu family.

The two further discussed gifts for the ladies and Cui Xie added a few more items to the list beneath the drawing. Holding the list and sketch, he thanked her, “Thanks to Liu-sao, this drawing was possible. Now, I will need to trouble Steward Liu to make a trip to Yulin. I apologize for inconveniencing your family, but I will make sure to send extra silver as compensation to your household.”

Steward Liu’s wife quickly waved her hands, exclaiming, “How could we deserve such a generous gift from the Young Master? Just seeing the Lady’s likeness again is a blessing accumulated from a past life. If you wish to reward us, please let my husband see the finished portrait.”

Cui Xie smiled and said, “Once the portrait is complete, I will show it to him. It is getting late, you all should rest. Collect the silver tomorrow before making your trip back home.”

After sending the Liu family retainers away, Cui Xie returned to his quarters and continued to refine the sketch according to Steward Liu’s wife’s descriptions. Then, using the sketch as a guide, he designed a composition and created a colored portrait of Liu-furen standing among flowers and rocks, holding a child.

Naturally, that child was young Cui Xie.

Using his own reflection in the mirror as a reference, he first drew a self-portrait as the based draft. However, he deliberately made the face rounder and the eyes slightly larger, setting the body proportions to approximately six heads tall, appropriate for a thirteen or fourteen year old boy.

While this portrait may not compare to the two he had drawn of Xie Ying before and it may not entirely resemble Liu furen, it was a fairly realistic depiction by Ming Dynasty standards. He hoped that when the Liu family’s elders saw this portrait, it would provide some comfort and a means to remember their daughter and grandson.

And now, his household also had a portrait of Liu furen for future generations to remember her by.

With a sigh, Cui Xie rolled up the colored portrait, placed it in a paper tube meant for storing scrolls and carefully wrapped the sketch in oil paper before storing it meticulously in a cabinet.

After attending to these tasks, he changed his clothes and went out to preside over the Cui Residence’s Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.

Although the household was missing both the Laoye and furen and one of the Young Masters, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a night of family reunion, still needed to be properly observed.

Teacher Lu had originally planned to celebrate the festival at the Cui residence. Having moved to the capital to try his hand on the Imperial examinations and repeatedly failing, he had spent the past few years with the Cui family. However, this year, with Advisor Cui absent, the household was left with Cui Xie and mostly women and children. Feeling awkward, he decided to join a few fellow northern scholars to drink and spend the evening out before returning the next day.

With his absence, the household was truly left with only the elderly, women and children. Even Cui Xie, the Eldest Young Master and the head of the household, had not yet come of age, and by traditional convention, was not considered an adult. Although Teacher Song was widowed, she was in her forties and was no longer bound by the strict observances of younger widows. On this rare festive day, Teacher Song joined them at the banquet.

Even Old Patriarch Cui came out to the open courtyard, enjoying basking in the moonlight outdoors for the first time in many years.

Cui Xie had people move the paper screens, setting up a dedicated pathway in the courtyard with wide paper pavilions. The tops of the pavilions were covered with the thinnest, most translucent oil paper, with lanterns, made out of crushed sea shells turned into translucent thin materials, hung both inside and outside the pavilion, flooding the entire area with light while simultaneously making it convenient. 

The paper was so thin that it was almost transparent, blocking the blowing winds without obstructing the view, allowing the moonlight to be seen clearly.

Though their household had not arranged for music accompaniment, the neighbors were playing their instruments and singing. The breeze carried melodies over the walls of the residence, faint and intermittent, adding a unique charm to the festive evening.

The Old Patriarch occupied a pavilion by himself while the others gathered at the table placed below him. The Old furen sat at the head of the table with He-ge and with Teacher Song, as a guest, sitting at the lower end. Cui Xie and Yun-jie sat opposite each other in the middle of the seating arrangement.

Even the concubines had their own table at the lower end, making the courtyard lively and bustling as they ate and admired the moon.

The main table luxuriously held twelve dishes, six bowls and six types of dim sum, including fish, chicken, goose and crab, along with southern delicacies like mussels, ham and shark fin. Many of the dried goods were gifts from the Xie family, superior to those typically sourced from their own shop in previous years. The wine had also been distilled multiple times for purity and mellowness, resulting in a crisp and pure flavor.

Teacher Song could not help but praise, “I have often had distilled spirits at the Zhang Residence, but none have tasted like this. The quality of your household’s provisions is truly exceptional.”

Yun-jie quickly stood up to pour wine for her teacher. As she rose, a fragrant breeze wafted around and her finely painted eyebrows and eyes were clearly illuminated by the light of the lanterns nearby. Sitting across from her, Cui Xie observed her slightly wide but large and bright dark eyeliner, he asked, “Have you been learning new makeup techniques from our neighbors again?”

Yun-jie cupped her face, lowered her head shyly and said softly, “It is not from learning from Xu-jiejie or Chang-jiejie. Today, when my teacher took me to visit elder brother’s classmate, Mister Zhang, it was Zhang-jiejie who did my makeup. I heard this eyeliner paste is a new product from the Hall of Glorious Brocade and is very hard to come by. Her brother had specially got it for her.”

Young Lady Zhang was quite the skilled technical talent, this eyeliner paste had only been out for a few days, but she had already become proficient enough to apply it on others!

Could Yun-jie be hinting that she wanted some as well?

Since it was their own product, made from pure Chinese herbal ingredients and gentle on the skin, Cui Xie promised to get her a few more boxes to play with or give away as gifts. After reassuring his younger sister, he raised his cup to toast Teacher Song, “My sister is still young and naive, only interested in having fun and playing. I hope Teacher can continue to guide her well.”

Teacher Song smiled faintly, “Yun-jie is a sensible and well-behaved child. Eldest Young Master need not worry. There is not much I can teach her, but I will try to instill some etiquette, poetry and social skills so she may broaden her horizons and outlook.”

Cui Xie, not well-versed in how to properly educate girls in this era himself, noted that his sister’s demeanor had noticeably improved and she spoke with more confidence. He felt that Teacher Song was doing an excellent job and entrusted her further, “Then I must trouble Teacher to take my sister out more often. Given our family’s situation, she does not have many close friends she can call upon, and it is inevitable that she feels lonely at such a young age.”

Teacher Song replied, “Being a widow, it is not convenient for me to visit unfamiliar households. Fortunately, I am quite well acquainted with the Zhang family, and their daughter is around the same age as your sister and get along quite well. In the future, there might be opportunities to invite someone to accompany your sister. Would Eldest Young Master agree to that?”

Cui Xie beamed, “That would be a good thing. However, since our household is small and the Old furen is in poor health. If we do have guests, I will need Teacher’s assistance in hosting them.”

Teacher Song replied, “I understand Eldest Young Master’s difficulties. I only hope you will marry soon, so the household can be more complete.”

Cui Xie already had someone in mind for marriage, but he could not reveal it at this moment yet. He simply smiled and said, “You know of our family’s situation, Teacher Song. As the eldest brother, I need to ensure my younger siblings are settled before making plans for myself. I cannot marry first and deplete the family’s resources, leaving them with nothing.”

Cui Xie smiled gently, his expression causing Yun-jie to feel both shy and annoyed while He-ge remained bewildered. Teacher Song, understanding the bitterness attached to his words, compassionately said, “I am older so I am not afraid to say this—Eldest Young Master’s fated one may have yet to appear. But, when they do appear, you will find someone who cares not for wealth or status, but for you.”

Yes, there is already someone like that.

After dinner, as the womenfolk worshiped the moon in the courtyard, Cui Xie perched on a rock in the small garden, gazing at the moon and quietly hummed a tune underneath his breath.

What did it matter if they could not marry or meet for now. Whether they were inside or outside the Imperial Palace Walls, they still shared the scene of the same bright moonlight shining down on them.

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TN: Hope you all are doing well! Enjoy the chapter ❤

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