Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination Ch. 135

Chapter 135

When lecturing the Crown Prince, the lecturers had to enter the hall first and wait. Upon entering, they stood in two rows on the southern side of the hall: the east row for those lecturing on the Four Books and the west row for those lecturing on the Five Classics. The order was strictly maintained with lectures on the Four Books first, followed by the Five Classics. Cui Xie, having been specially assigned, did not take time from the regular lecturers but instead was added in as a short segment after the academician finished lecturing on the《Classic of History》.

Following this, there would be lectures on the 《 Instructions by the Ancestor of the August Ming》,《Taizu’s Imperial Writings》and other foundational texts, as well as histories such as the 《Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government》,《Essentials About Politics From The Zhenguan Reign》,《Veritiable Records of Emperor Ruizong》《Precious Instructions》 and the annals and treasures of various dynasties. After the classics, there were Imperial scribes who taught calligraphy, sometimes even poetry, music, painting, and arithmetic, and other miscellaneous subjects, making the workload quite heavy.

One benefit, however, was the quality of the meals. While not as legendary as the food served to the Emperor during those lectures, the food was far better than what was served at the Hanlin Academy or the Imperial College. After pointing out the key points for the lecture, Li Dongyang gave a special reminder: “Make sure you eat well at lunch. The palace food is much better than what you have at your college. With more than two years until the dingwei metropolitan exam¹, without another imperial summons, it would be hard for you to eat like this again.”

Cui Xie was deeply touched—such a down-to-earth reminder from a senior scholar! Even reminding him to eat more when eating and drinking with public funds! He solemnly nodded and replied, “Many thanks to the academician’s advice, this student will remember it.”

Li Dongyang, seeing the reverence in Cui Xie’s eyes, where even casual remarks were taken seriously, he could not help but smile and shake his head. “There’s nothing to thank me for, you are quite a serious student.”

Although Li Dongyang might not have been successful in his official career, he was a prominent poet and literary leader outside the Hanlin Academy. It wasn’t known just how many countless young scholars revered him. Cui Xie’s attitude was not that unusual. Li Dongyang did not notice that Cui Xie looked at Xie Qian and Liu Jian with the same enthusiasm. Thinking of him as a devoted follower, Li Dongyang took extra care of him, ensuring he followed closely during the lecture during their duties.

Soon, the Crown Prince summoned everyone into the hall. Cui Xie followed behind the academicians, entering the hall and bowing to the Crown Prince.

The future Hongzhi Emperor was still a young man of fifteen or sixteen, slightly thin, with a pale complexion, and possessed a pair of exceptionally bright and resolute eyes. After the officials paid their respects, he immediately said, “Please, rise, gentlemen,” gently and politely inviting everyone to stand.

One by one, the blue-robed lecturers rose. The Crown Prince’s gaze swept over the lineup and, upon reaching the end, he noticed someone wearing a green scholar’s robe and fangjin, standing incongruously among the officials in their official robes. Realizing who this must be, he curiously glanced at him.

Cui Xie, around the same age as the Crown Prince, was taller and healthier. He stood there with a straight posture and a radiant complexion, his demeanor, though modest with downcast eyes, exuded a clear and earnest spirit that made him appealing.

Zhu Youcheng, the Crown Prince, was not particularly favored by the Emperor and was physically frail. Having grown up in Empress Dowager Zhou’s palace, he rarely interacted with boys his age. It was rare to come across a youth as energetic and vibrant as Cui Xie, which stirred a bit of envy in him. However, given the solemnity of the lecture hall, it was not appropriate to speak casually with outside officials. After a few glances, the Crown Prince retracted his gaze and refocused on his desk, preparing to listen attentively.

Today was a lecture day and the lecture was particularly important, with the hall set up with two desks. After the officials rose, they took their places behind the desks in two groups, placing their lecture outlines on the desks.

Cui Xie followed the academician readers-in-waiting and stood with Li Dongyang and the others in the western group. Once everyone was in position, an academician reader-in-waiting stepped forward to prepare the Crown Prince’s book, using a ruler to press the pages and guide his reading with a finger. The Crown Prince read 《The Great Learning》 and the 《Classic of History》 ten times each, after which two lecturers took turns explaining.

Today, Xu Pu lectured on《Explanations of The Great Learning》 while Li Dongyang spoke on “The Nine Divisions” from “The Book of Documents.”

Thanks to the Emperor’s favor, Cui Xie could listen to an entire session taught by an all-Hanlin lineup—an opportunity rare even for regular officials. The only downside was that he couldn’t take notes, and the lecture outlines were too far away for him to see clearly. He had to rely on his memory and consoled himself that he could borrow the outlines from the lecturers at a later point.

After Li Dongyang finished lecturing on《Hongfan·Nine Categories》 it was Cui Xie’s turn to lecture on the Book of Songs.

Summoned and specially appointed by the Chenghua Emperor, Cui Xie’s lecturing protocol differed slightly from the regular lecturers. He had to start by reading the text aloud. Taking a deep breath, he followed the ceremonial steps to pay his respects he had practiced over the past few days, walking to the desk and bowing. After rising, he stood by the desk and turned to the page for《Odes of Cao·Turtledove》 , personally guiding the Crown Prince in reciting it.

“The turtle dove is in the mulberry tree, And her young ones are seven. The virtuous man, the princely one, Is uniformly correct in his deportment. He is uniformly correct in his deportment, His heart is as if it were tied to what is correct.”

His voice carried the clear, youthful clarity of a young man, with precise enunciation and a standard intonation that exemplified the highest level of Ming Dynasty official Mandarin of the Central Plains.

The Crown Prince, though possessing a weaker voice, also read with clarity and accuracy, pronouncing each word correctly. Some characters in the poem had ancient pronunciations different from the modern ones—for instance, the fourth line’s ‘tie (jie)’ was pronounced not as the common rising tone ‘jié’ of the fourth tone but as [yè qì lì fǎn]². He read without hesitation, showing how well he had practiced the poem from the Classic of Poetry and it had been done many times.

Cui Xie recited the entire poem ten times, lowered his head and glanced at his lecture notes and began explaining the annotations, starting with ‘turtledove’.

The ‘turtledove’ refers to the cuckoo bird, who, ‘In the morning it follows from top to bottom, in the evening from bottom to top, maintaining balance’. The poet used the turtledove as inspiration symbolizing the integrity and consistency of a gentleman, who behaves as a model for others, both in private and public, and adheres to proper decorum in dress and manners, serving as a paragon for all.

The Chenghua Emperor specifically chose this poem for the Crown Prince, hoping he would understand the Emperor’s painstaking intentions and become a gentleman of consistent character both outwardly and inwardly, maintaining humility and prudence even when ascending to the throne and having changed status.

Cui Xie had rehearsed this lecture countless times with Chancellor Qiu, and at home, he was privately correcting his posture, expression, and pronunciation in front of a mirror. He had prepared thoroughly.

Standing in the Hall of Literary Glory, lecturing the Crown Prince with so many officials and attendants watching him, he actually felt a bit nervous. However, his practiced performance concealed his anxiety. His expression and demeanor were deliberately adjusted to a confident lecturing state, and his memorization of the notes was impeccable. To the audience, he appeared to lecture effortlessly, freely and precisely, with no one noticing his slightly tense posture and legs.

The Crown Prince listened attentively to the passage, then nodded and said, “A gentleman should indeed be like this. Cui jiansheng, Gu understands most of your explanation³, but there is one part to be grasped.”

Cui Xie bowed and said, “Please, Your Highness, ask your question.”

“You mentioned that ‘A gentleman should have a constant measure and a consistent heart’. What, then, should be the measure?”

The Crown Prince’s question was not actually about the poem itself, but rather a way to express that he understood the Emperor’s intent and aspired to be a ‘virtuous gentleman’.

Cui Xie replied, “Always take benevolence and empathy as the measure. It is said: ‘Zi Gong asked⁴, saying, “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” The Master said, “Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others’. 《Shuowen Jiezi》states that ’empathy is benevolence’, and the《Book of Rites》says, ‘When superiors and inferiors love one another, we have the condition of benevolence’. A gentleman’s heart is deeply benevolent and straightforward, showing affection to his parents, siblings, and friends⁵. Therefore, ‘Yes; when the ruler, as a father, a son, and a brother, is a model, then the people imitate him. This is what is meant by saying the government of his kingdom depends on his regulation of the family’.”

Cui Xie instinctively glanced at the Crown Prince, noticing that the Prince was also looking at him, with a somewhat listless expression.

Cui Xie quickly lowered his head, waiting silently for the Crown Prince to continue his questions.

Perhaps the Crown Prince was feeling somewhat ashamed of being inferior to him and was not eager to continue such serious discourse after expressing his loyalty. However, the Crown Prince was reluctant to let this rare interaction with a peer slip away as a youth of the same age entering the palace was rare. He picked up the exam paper and asked, “Did you create these questions? How should they be answered? Will completing them help me understand the poem?”

Cui Xie replied, “I must confess, Your Highness, these questions were devised by the esteemed scholars of the Imperial College and Hanlin Academy. This student’s knowledge is insufficient and can only create some questions suitable for young scholars. The questions are indeed comprehensive and cover what was explained today. If Your Highness can answer all these questions within two hours, it means that the poem has been thoroughly understood.”

The Crown Prince was surprised, “In such a short time? Have you answered them yourself? Can you finish them?”

Cui Xie, of course, had answered them. After the Chancellor Qiu and his team devised the questions, Cui Xie was among the first to attempt them, and his performance was used to adjust the difficulty level.

Unconsciously, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he replied, “This student has attempted them and can finish them, although some mistakes were made. For example, in a multiple-choice question that asked for the correct interpretation of a verse, I missed selecting ‘A single-minded person can serve a hundred lords, but a person with a hundred minds cannot serve one lord.’ Additionally, there was another question regarding the application of this poem to current politics and this student’s answer was not very comprehensive.”

It was the first time the Crown Prince had discussed studying with someone his age. Seeing that Cui Xie, unlike the stern instructors, also made mistakes and admitted them so frankly, he felt a sense of camaraderie and smiled slightly, “If Gu has some free time, Gu shall try answering your questions.”

Since the time and content of the lecture were predetermined, the attendants signaled that the session was ending. The Crown Prince nodded and said, “Cui Jiansheng, by my Imperial father’s order, you have lectured me today. You deserve a reward. Bestow ten taels of silver and two banknotes.”

Cui Xie knelt to express his gratitude. Immediately, a young eunuch brought a tray with ten taels of silver and two Ming Dynasty banknotes.

Cui Xie accepted the money and returned to his place, continuing to listen to the other officials’ lectures on the 《 Instructions by the Ancestor of the August Ming》 and 《Essentials About Politics From The Zhenguan Reign》as well as other historical books. These historical lessons did not delve into political affairs or current events but merely advised the Crown Prince to study diligently and show respect and filial piety to the Emperor, Empress Dowager, and Empress.

After the historical lessons, a calligraphy tutor assisted the Crown Prince with writing practice, relieving the lecturers of their duties.

The Crown Prince sat upright in his chair and kindly said, “Gentlemen, enjoy your meal.” The lecturers then bowed and took their leave. Though Cui Xie could not look up at him, he could imagine the pitiful and lonely figure of the Crown Prince, a child left behind, watching them leave for the sunlight outside, while he remained confined to the hall practicing calligraphy.

It wasn’t easy for him.

Cui Xie glanced at the bright sky outside, sighed silently for the Crown Prince, and then followed the officials to the banquet.

---

Footnotes:

1. Dingwei: 44 year D8 of the 60 year cycle ↩︎
2. [yè qì lì fǎn]: ancient method of phonetic notation. This is part of the fanqie system of sound transcription that describes the sound of one character by using the initial and the final sound of two other characters.  ↩︎
3. 孤 gu: how a king or crown prince refers to himself, similar to zhen (朕) for the Emperor  ↩︎
4. Zi Gong: also  known as Duanmu Ci, was a disciple of Confucius ↩︎
5. Shuowen Jiezi: Chinese dictionary compiled by Xu Shen during the Eastern Han dynasty and featured the first comprehensive analysis of characters in terms of their structure, and attempted to provide a rationale for their construction. It was also the first to organize its entries into sections according to shared components called radicals. Learn more on wikipedia! ↩︎

---

TN: Have a good rest of your week everyone and enjoy the chapter! Excited for Christmas and the New Year’s coming up, happy holidays! 🙂

Update 12/23/24: I just updated it so that all my advance chapters for TMD are up on patreon! Sorry for being so lazy with it and apologies for taking so long to do so. I had to organize a lot of my random documents after a long hiatus last year.

Announcement: We have set up a kofi and patreon account! If you would like to support us or get early access to advance chapters for Blood-Sucking Empress OR TMD, those options are available for you (in support us page)! I have just added a patreon tier for Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examinations in which patreons can have access to a google document with ALL of my advanced translated chapters for the novel. Since I am a grad student, there should usually be at least 10 advance chapters in the document at a time, but depending on my schedules, there may be fewer or more. I’m currently extremely busy, but I have translated out some new chapters for you all! But, I will still post each week with the same schedule. Thanks!

< Previous | TOC | Next >