Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination Ch. 128

Chapter 128

Cui Xie was hurriedly summoned back to the residence before he could even attend his after-school lessons. On his way back, Cui Liangdong briefly explained that Qin-shi from the Liu family had brought her nephew to visit, and the Old furen was currently entertaining them along with two other shu-born children in the main hall.

Cui Xie had not expected their arrival to be so soon, without any advance notice to prepare accommodations. He quickly instructed Cui Liangdong to arrange their quarters and courtyard for them. Cui Liangdong mentioned, “Our inner courtyard’s guest rooms are occupied by Teacher Song, and the outer courtyard is taken by Little Qi-ge. Would it not be inconvenient to let the relatives stay there?”

Of course, it would be inconvenient.

The Liu family, being his maternal relatives, deserved proper accommodations, and it would not be appropriate to let them stay with other guests. Cui Xie thought for a moment and then instructed, “Move Little Qi-ge‘s belongings to my courtyard. We will have to make do with some crowding for now, like when Little Liang-ge was here. Arrange for my cousin to stay in his courtyard. As for the inner courtyard, we will have to inconvenience Yun-jie for a couple of days. Have her and her mother move to He-ge‘s mother’s courtyard to free up the rooms.”

Cui Liangdong quickly went to inform Cui Qi to return and pack his belongings and arranged for people to help Yun-jie’s mother move. Hearing that Qin-shi was speaking with the Old furen in the main hall, Cui Xie did not even bother to change his attire. He walked into the guest hall wearing his simple blue robes  and fangjin.

The Cui and Liu families had once been very close. However, over the years, following Liu-shi’s death in childbirth and an incident involving the Qin family, their relationship had become strained. In the hall, the two families discussed Cui Xie’s studies cordially, but whenever the conversation veered towards his parents or Xu-shi, it was as if a handful of dry ice had been thrown into warm water, instantly chilling the atmosphere in the hall.

This fluctuating warmth and coldness in attitude left everyone in the Cui Residence feeling uneasy, all hoping for Cui Xie’s return to ease the tension. Before he even entered the courtyard, a maid rushed in to announce his arrival. The Liu family members visibly relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. Qin-shi, in particular, could not focus on her conversation any longer and did not bother to continue. She called for a mirror to check her appearance and helped her nephew tidy up his clothes and hair, determined to leave a good impression on Cui Xie.

The Old furen also felt a weight lift off her chest and smiled, “Xie-ge came back early today. The teachers at the Imperial College all adore him and usually keep him longer for discussions.”

Before she could finish her sentence, the blue cloth curtain at the doors was lifted, revealing the brightly lit courtyard and Cui Xie, dressed in the attire of an Imperial College student.

As soon as he stepped inside, it was as if he brought the sunlight with him, brightening the entire room. His two younger siblings looked up at him, their eyes shining and sparkling,  as if they were seeing their savior.

Qin-shi suddenly stood up and rushed forward, grabbing his arm and examining him closely, her eyes brimming with tears and a smile on her face, “You have grown up! Our Xie-ge  has grown so fast, so tall already?” She had thought of him as a child when she saw his portrait, but now she did not expect to see that he had grown into a handsome and upright young man.

Just as Cui Xie entered, a richly and luxuriously dressed furen rushed to embrace him. He nearly stepped back to avoid her, but quickly realized her identity and restrained his initial reaction, softly calling out, ‘Aunt’.

This was Little Cui Xie and Liu furen‘s kin, and now they were his kin too.

He attempted to kneel and pay his respects, but Qin-shi held him tightly, her grip as strong as a man’s, making it impossible for him to move without exerting some effort.

With tears in her eyes, Qin-shi pulled him to sit beside her, taking out several fine mutton fat jade pendants and attaching them to his belt, saying clearly, “No need for formalities, don’t be a stranger. You once peed on me when you were little; though you were too young to remember, we are family. We have been apart for so many years; do not let formalities hold you back. Come, sit with your aunt, and let your cousin greet you.”

His cousin had been waiting on the side, and upon hearing his eldest aunt’s words, he immediately bowed in greeting.

Cui Xie saw a delicate and pretty young boy bowing to him and quickly returned the gesture. As he straightened up, he heard his cousin ask, “In the portrait, my cousin seemed about my height. How did he grow so much in just a month?”

Well… it was because the person in the painting was depicted a bit younger, and he had grown a few inches in the past couple of years.

However, this cousin was indeed much shorter than him in height, posing a round head and chubby cheeks, making him quite adorable. Cui Xie looked at his cousin’s troubled expression and laughed, “Maybe it is because I have been drinking a lot of milk and eating dairy snacks lately. Cousin should try them sometime, the ones we make at home taste pretty good.”

Liu Yunshou shook his head, “I drink milk at home too, but this is just how tall I am. My two cousins on my mother’s side are both tall, but they say it is not about what they consume, rather it is because they’ve fought on the battlefield and seen bloodshed. I am just waiting for the day the Mongols come again so I can go to battle and fight alongside them.”

Such high aspirations, though perhaps a bit premature. Could someone his age really go to war? Cui Xie glanced at his cousin’s short arms and legs with some concern, then sneaked a look at his Qin-shi, who gazed at her nephew with a proud and loving expression, as if she were looking at a future general or marshal.

Well, ‘A man should carry himself with dignity and be domineering’,  especially a warrior. Even someone like Xie Ying, a Jinyiwei dedicated to protecting imperial power, harbored dreams of battlefield glory and heroism, did he not?

Cui Xie reminisced, thinking that if he had not gone to university, he might have joined the military too. If he had become a soldier, he might have learned to repair tanks by now and would not have ended up in the Ming Dynasty just by fetching a cup of water…

With a touch of melancholy and internally sighing in his heart, Cui Xie patted his cousin’s shoulder and encouraged him, “Cousin possesses heroic ambitions. One day, you will be as brave and strong as our uncles.”

After chatting with his aunt and cousin about their family’s recent events, a maid suddenly came in to announce, “Old furen, Steward Liu has brought Er-ge.”

Qin-shi knew that Er-ge, Cui Heng, was the son of Xu-shi. Her expression changed slightly as she stood up, saying, “Our Liu family has our own nephew. I brought my nephew to see my sister’s child, not Xu-shi’s son. Old furen, there is no need to call him in. Even if that child had become a deity, it has nothing to do with our Liu family.”

The Old furen sighed and said, “That is not what I meant. Heng-ge and his mother had wronged Xie-ge and caused him to be punished by his father, who sent him back to the old ancestral home in the countryside. I was not aware of this before, but having learned the truth, I wanted him to apologize to Xie in person.”

Wronged Xie-ge?

Qin-shi‘s expression contorted immediately. “I wondered why Xie-ge had to go back to the countryside to take the Imperial examinations instead of staying in the capital. So, it was all because of that wretched child… Old furen wants him to apologize in front of us to force Xie-ge to be a good brother and generously forgive him? What about the hardships my nephew had endured in the countryside for the past two years?”

She was overthinking, for Cui Heng had no intention of playing the repentant sinner and prodigal son who returned to the Cui Residence, seeking forgiveness forcefully in public. He only knew that his grandmother called him to apologize to his elder brother. At the time, to leave the small courtyard, he had agreed to everything when complaining to his grandmother. But when he saw people who could support him, he reneged on his promises.

As soon as he entered, he shouted, ‘Grandmother’, and complained loudly about Cui Xie keeping him locked up, forcing him to do assignments every day, and begged her to seek justice for him.

Old Cui furen’s face turned pale. She pointed at him for a long time and said ‘you’ for a long while before finally speaking, “You scoundrel! Did  you not just tell Zhang-mama that you knew you were wrong, that you should not have listened to your mother and pretended to be sick, causing your father to punish your gege and send him to the countryside?”

Qin-shi, enraged and sneered angrily, pulled Cui Xie into her embrace and looked at Cui Heng, saying, “And you still keep such a person in your house? You let him study properly? According to the rules at the border, he should have been beaten until his legs were broken, so he would never dare to stand up straight in front of you again in this life!”

Cui Heng, stubbornly raising his neck, retorted, “It was my father who beat him, not me. I fell and hit my head too, causing a big hump to appear! If he has the ability, he should go beat my father. Why take it out on me?”

Liu Yunshou, infuriated, rushed forward and punched him in the jaw, cursing, “Just you wait! I will beat you first, and then I will have my father beat yours!”

Cui Xie was busy comforting his aunt, not expecting his cousin to start a full-scale brawl. He quickly stepped in, catching Liu’s punch with an outstretched palm.

Liu Yunshou looked frail, but his delicate body hid an immense strength, far surpassing Cui Xie’s hastily acquired skills. If Liu Yunshou had not felt Cui Xie’s hand intercepting and quickly pulled back his force, he might have struck Cui Xie’s hand along with Cui Heng’s face.

Cui Xie, not caring about his own hand, firmly gripped Liu Yunshou’s fist to prevent another blow and urgently said, “Cousin, hold your hand!”

Liu Yunshou looked at him in shock. “This wretch and his mother bullied you, and I am standing up for you, yet you stop me for his sake?”

…I’m not doing it for him, but for you.

The Emperor is watching us.

The chief taijian’s nephew personally approached him to show concern for his brother. Who knows if there were any spies from the Depot and Guards here? It was better for everyone to remain calm and avoid leaving a bad record in the Imperial archives.

Cui Xie shook his head. “Cousin, you are destined to be a general who defends our country. Why bother with an ignorant child? Heng-ge was only twelve then; what could he have known? He simply followed the orders of adults. Now that his mother has been exiled, no one will lead him astray. If I guide him properly, I can set him straight.”

Qin-shi gazed at him and sighed deeply at him. “Why are you as soft-hearted as your mother? If your mother had not endured all that from this family, she would not have passed away so early. Now you are the same, even letting a married woman bully you…”

Cui Heng, startled by the near blow of the fist in front of his, sat on the ground wailing for his ‘mother’,  as if releasing all the grievances he had accumulated from the exile and since returning home.

Liu Yunshou clenched his fist and commented, “He still has the nerve to cry? His mother caused you to be sent to the countryside, and you have not let me teach him a lesson yet… gege, your timing and strength when you blocked my punch just now were excellent. Have you trained in the martial arts before?”

He did not really care where Cui Xie learned it, only that he was a trained martial artist. How could he not have beaten this wretch into submission every three meals?

Cui Xie was reluctant to hit him, but the Old Cui furen had made up her mind and was determined. She slapped the table heavily and ordered the nurse, “If his da-ge will not punish him, I will! This child has been thoroughly corrupted by his mother. Even after the exile, he still does not know his wrongs! Bind him. We will beat him just as his father beat Xie-ge back then, for following his mother in lying and deceit, causing Xie-ge to be wrongly punished!”

Cui Heng immediately stopped crying, his eyes wide with grievance: “You are going to have me beaten too? You all bully me because I do not have my mother to protect me!”

Old Cui furen, her eyes full of reluctance, nevertheless gritted her teeth and shook her head. “In theory, family shame should not be exposed. But our Cui family has wronged the Liu family. If I were to let Cui Xie keep this matter from his maternal relatives for the sake of our reputation, I would only be further wronging this child.”

She had the nurse and maid lead the two shu grandchildren to the inner room and called in the servants to hold Cui Heng down on the wooden bench, delivering forty strikes with a large bamboo board.

“It may be unclear whether Xie-ge pushing Heng-ge was real or not, but his father should not have punished him so severely. This was all instigated by your mother, who taught you to feign illness and deceive others. If you do not understand your fault, I will punish you the same way to give Xie-ge some justice!”

Cui Heng finally experienced the helplessness and desolation his elder brother had once felt that year, with no one to rely on, looking around painfully in distress and fear. Clutching Cui Xie’s robes, he tearfully confessed his wrongdoings and how he should not have listened to his mother to pretend he had fallen and hurt himself to frame him. He continued begging for forgiveness and pleaded for his elder brother to intercede on his behalf with their grandmother.

Old Cui furen, fearing her eldest grandson’s soft heart, waved her hand. “Pull him away from da-ge! Beat him!”

The bamboo board’s ‘pa pa’ sound echoed as the nursemaids rushed to restrain Cui Xie, and Liu Yunshou also stepped in front of him, afraid he might take the punishment for Cui Heng. Qin-shi, seeing the brat who had caused her nephew such suffering finally receiving his comeuppance, was relieved for her sister-in-law and nephew. She held Cui Xie’s hand and made him stay beside her to watch.

Cui Xie watched for a while, his heart flipping in turmoil. Ultimately, he did not intervene but instead instructed, “Have a medicinal decoction prepared and call for a skilled physician specializing in treating sprains and injuries. Get the best and spare no expense.”

If this were about any other matter, Cui Xie would have intervened for the sake of Emperor Chenghua. 

But this incident…

Back then, it was that beating that ended little Cui Xie’s life, bringing Cui Xie to this world. The punishment had been ordered by Cui Xie’s father but was instigated by Xu-shi and his younger brother had conspired to fake injuries and incite Official Cui’s anger, leading to such severe beatings that it took a life.

Little Cui Xie was only fourteen years old then, and Cui Heng was now a few months older than he was at that time. Given his education, Cui Xie would not actively seek revenge on a child himself. But today, it was Old Cui furen who ordered the beating. According to Ming Dynasty rules, it was natural and perfectly justified. Regardless of his age or role in the household, he could still be beaten.

Comparing the two situations, it seemed like the wheel of karma had turned.

He touched his own beating heart, eyes open, and watched until the very end.

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TN: Have a good rest of your week everyone and enjoy the chapter 🙂 Be happy and stay safe ❤

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