Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination Ch. 168

Chapter 168

Growing increasingly at ease, Cui Xie helped himself to the fish, then reached for the other dishes on the table.

The roasted lamb came from young sheep bred beyond the frontier. Its outer skin was crisp, the fat gleamed white as curd, and beneath the meat a charcoal brazier kept the dish warm. The oil had melted and pooled at the bottom of the plate, seeping into the lean flesh, making it both tender and flavorful, without the slightest gamey taste. The venison, though not as tender as the lamb, had been brushed with sauce and seared on an iron griddle; its aroma was something lamb lacked, its texture firmer and livelier, quite pleasing in its own right. The stir-fried chicken, on the other hand, carried the flavors of Sichuan: slick with crimson oil, seasoned with numbing peppercorns, and tinged with pickled pepper oil that lent a faint acidity. The spicy tang stirred nostalgic memories that made him eat several extra bites.

He could not resist adding another chopstickful of chicken, sipping a little yellow wine as he listened to one scholar after another rise to recite poetry. When someone produced a fine verse, the examiners would raise their cups in praise, toasting the line before draining their wine, and sometimes even offering to amend a phrase or two with their own hands.

Among the 135 successful candidates in the Shuntian Prefecture’s provincial exam, there were indeed those quick of wit, able to improvise exquisite lines. But there were also those who lacked such talent, fumbling to patch their verses, and even a few who had come simply for the feast, without a single poem prepared. When their turn came, all they could do was stand and mumble, “Ashamed, I have no lines ready.”

Cui Xie watched, marveling. So even the bright stars of the Great Ming were not all born with poetry at their lips, delighting in extempore verse. He was not at the bottom after all, at least he hadn’t disgraced the Son of Heaven, nor his teacher!

Feeling lighter, he cheerfully lifted his cup, urging the two scholars sharing his table to drink.

After several rounds of wine and a course of soup, a clerk suddenly entered to report that dishes and wine had arrived as an Imperial gift from the palace. The examiners immediately rose together, leading the new graduates to give thanks.

The palace taijian announced the Imperial edict and laid out the delicacies: white-fried goose, iced duck, white-braised pork, pork with lychee, crabs stuffed with orange, along with grapes, golden kumquats, dates, pears, and ruby-red pomegranates–fruit fit to accompany wine. Palanquin-bearers followed with loads of imperial wine, jars trimmed with scarlet flowers.

As dishes were distributed, one inner attendant, smiling, pointedly sent a platter of fried goose–the same as the chief examiners received–straight to Cui Xie’s table, saying warmly: “His Majesty knows well the grievance Cui juren have suffered. His Majesty places high hopes upon you and wishes you to guard your conduct and harbor no restless ambition over mere ranking.”

Cui Xie was baffled as to what grievance he had suffered, but since the Emperor himself said so, he hastened to bow and thank the court, promising:“Cui Xie will devote himself to study and never betray His Majesty’s gracious favor.”

The inner attendant nodded. “If Cui juren holds to that resolve, we shall return and report so to the Emperor.”

When the palace attendants had gone, the eyes of the assembled scholars flicked toward Cui Xie. Master Li gave him a look of commendation before returning to his seat and declaring in a ringing voice:
“Such bounty proclaims the vastness of imperial grace. Let each man here strive harder in his learning and loyalty, lest he shame the court’s favor, or his own calling.”

Thus, from that point on, the poems of the feast ceased to be verses on “Deer Calls in the Wild” and turned instead to odes of gratitude for imperial grace!

Cui Xie felt lucky to have dodged a bullet as he tucked into the Emperor’s gift of fried goose, leaving the later contestants to rack their brains for fresh lines.

His tablemates, and even the scholars at neighboring tables, had no more heart for verse. They poured him wine instead, congratulating him on being “marked by the Emperor’s eye.” Cui Xie endured toast after toast, deflecting their praise with modest words while sighing inwardly: What a humble man I am! And yet, no matter how I try to keep low, the Emperor insists on favoring me so extravagantly. How embarrassing!

When the Luming banquet finally broke up, his fellow townsmen, Lu An among them, pressed him with good wishes, then took their leave, pleading that they had been long absent from home and must hasten back. Next spring’s metropolitan exam would bring them all to the capital again, they promised, and then they would feast together at leisure.

Cui Xie tried to persuade them to stay with earnest entreaty, until Lu An at last confessed the truth,
“Our county holds its own Luming Banquet on the fifth day. We must rush to attend, so let all be simple today. We shall meet again in spring, when we come north for the metropolitan exam.”

That reason… was irrefutable. Cui Xie could press no further, but he seized Shen Zheng and Xu Liyan before they could slip away, asking eagerly:

“Will my two shixiong return to the capital together for the examination next year? Our 《Six Talented Scholars and the Three Kingdoms》 is now complete, I’d like to host a poetry gathering with all six gentlemen at its center. Let the readers who adore our edition of Three Kingdoms see you in person, obtain your autographs, and perhaps a line of verse or two… And let those scholars from distant provinces know that Qian’an County produces talents no less brilliant than those of Jiangnan!”

A poetry gathering?

Just to make them compose poems for people?

Guo Yong, a true prodigy, might pull it off, but the others? Could they really dash off lines to astonish the world ah!

Lu An, at least, managed a calm face, but Shen shixiong and Xu shixiong waved their hands in alarm, convinced they were no match for southern literati and terrified of being exposed at the gathering.

Cui Xie coaxed them: “You needn’t compose much, only write the poems you wrote for our Three Kingdoms critique on the title pages of readers’ books. Even if they’re all the same, readers only wish to keep a memento of your calligraphy. In the capital, so many who read our Six Talents’ Commentary long to meet the shixiong. Every day, people come to me in the Imperial College begging for introductions, its a real dilemma!”

Their fellow townsmen, scholars and new graduates alike, saw the fun and egged them on, until the two hesitant talents softened but did not agree directly, promising only that they must first consult the other three.

But those three juren must come north to Beijing for the metropolitan exam next year; if these two agreed, the plan was already half-won.

Seeing the first gleam of triumph, Cui Xie’s voice rang with passion:“True talent deserves renown! And are we Qian’an men inferior in learning? Else why should so many from our county have entered the rolls this year? If not for the six shixiong’s own sake, then at least for the honor of our county’s scholars, step forth and claim the stage!”

His words set blood surging; they pledged to arrive in the capital a month early next spring, lodge in Cui Xie’s residence, and prepare both for the exam and for this grand poetry gathering.

Once the plan was settled, Cui Xie hurried home to order carriages, funds, and travel provisions ready, then escorted his countrymen ten miles out of the city the next day.

Yet oddly enough, though only a single night had passed, something in their faces seemed off. Cui Xie urged them warmly to care for their health and hasten back next year, but they in turn counseled him, voices laden with pity and urged him not to harbor any resentment.

Cui Xie, puzzled, asked “I’m not upset, shixiong, what is wrong? ”

His courtship was going splendidly, already planning wedding robes! He had just placed eighth in the provincial exam, what grievance could there be?

The others, seeing that he held no grievance, ventured cautiously:

 “You truly don’t know? Your ranking in the provincial exam should have surpassed Ou Shizhen’s, but because you are Academician Li’s disciple, it was pressed down.”

After the Emperor sent delicacies, after the taijian whispered that the Emperor knew his “grievance,” these scholars had gone home to puzzle over it by lamplight and pieced together the truth. Not Qian’an men alone; the theory was born in a neighboring inn, then spread from mouth to mouth until it filled every corner of their cohort.

Even Ou Zheng, who had claimed the top in the Classic of Poetry above him, also felt the pressure Xie Qian had felt back then. Sadly like Xie Qian himself, he lived in the capital, with nowhere to hide his shame, only to bolt his doors and read on in silence.

As for Cui Xie, when he learned this, he felt embarrassed. He was no Wang Ao, no paragon whose essays were unanimously hailed as first under heaven. Were those two papers not still debated? Perhaps Ou Zheng’s work truly outshone his!

He must retrieve his own examination paper, print it in this year’s hottest anthology, and restore Ou-xiong’s honor in the same stroke!

He stoutly denied the rumor, saw his friends off, then hurried straight to report his plan to his teacher. Li Dongyang, with a glance, pierced the core of his intent and laughed: “You mean to pair the Collected Examination Essays with your own study guides, don’t you? Go to the Shuntian Prefecture archives and copy your papers, no need to cloak it in such lofty rhetoric!”

Cui Xie’s cheeks stayed cool, his pulse steady, as he bowed in thanks, then broached his hope of attempting the metropolitan exam next spring.

Li Dongyang said: “To observe the field, well and good. But whether you shall make it to the court examinations after depends on the ripeness of your prose. If my disciple, Li Binzhi’s disciple, should fall into the lower ranks, your future will be dark and I shall lose face.”

Though his tone spoke fear of disgrace, those words, “fall into the third tier”, betrayed a teacher’s confidence that his student would, at the least, clear the hurdle of the metropolitan exam.

One must learn to read the truth behind appearances!

Cui Xie smiled cheerfully. He bowed low:“Then your student shall practice more policy essays in the future, striving for a first-rank success, that Master’s illustrious name suffer no stain through me.”

Back home, he penned letters bearing his triumph to his father and maternal kin, ordered Shopkeeper Ji to allocate silver, and dispatched men to the Shuntian Prefecture’s archives to copy his exam papers for rapid printing. He would publish them with this year’s Collected Essays of the Examination Hall, to silence rumors and defend Ou Zheng’s name.

Thanks to the swelling tide of gossip, this autumn’s compilations sold like hotcakes, even scholars who had no need of such volumes either bought or borrowed them. Holding Cui Xie’s and Ou Zheng’s essays, they pored and pondered, splitting into Cui factions and Ou factions, waging pitched battles of rhetoric for weeks.

Ou Zheng kept his study door shut, steering clear of the storm. Cui Xie, bound to his classes at the Imperial College, could not escape. One noon, as he stepped from the instructor’s hall, he heard a voice calling: “Cui Hezhong!”

He instinctively responded, and when he looked up, he saw a group of students in heated debate, books in hand, with quite a few onlookers gathered around.

As soon as he replied, the crowd turned to look at him. Some even shouted, “Cui Hezhong is here!” “Perfect timing!” “Let him judge for himself!” They rushed over and grabbed him, asking him to settle the matter: whose essay was better, his or Ou Zheng’s?

In his own opinion, of course his essay was better. But Cui Xie couldn’t say that outright in front of everyone. Instead, he had to give a fair evaluation of both essays, point out their respective strengths, then humbly conclude that Ou Zheng’s was “vigorously penned, lofty in tone, and full of youthful spirit,” and that he himself still had much to learn.

After a few modest words, he quickly dispersed the crowd and led the classmates who had been arguing in his defense back to the Hall of Sincerity. Among them was even the forty-something-year-old hall Chief Zhang, who, despite his age and poor health, had been fiercely debating with the younger students to uphold the reputation of the Hall of Sincerity’s talented scholars.

Cui Xie had pushed the praise toward Ou Zheng, but Hall Chief Zhang was still fussing like he had suffered a loss on Cui’s behalf. He rambled on about the two essays, clapped Cui Xie’s shoulder, and said, “No matter what others say, I think your essay has the most structure and method. That boy might’ve passed the exam this time because he read that Essential Readings for the Imperial Exam you compiled!”

Several others echoed the sentiment, which made Cui Xie a little embarrassed but also quietly pleased. Keeping his face composed, he replied, “There’s no ‘first place’ in literature, only in martial arts. The examiners have their own standards for selection. My rank this time was a bit lower, perhaps because I fell short in some areas.”

Eighth place was already higher than he could have imagined. Besides, the metropolitan exam was just around the corner. Once he passed that and became a jinshi, who would still care about what place he ranked as a juren?

Since he had an open mind and didn’t cling to pride, the debate gradually died down. On the contrary, it earned him a reputation for graciousness and humility.

Later, Hall Chief Zhang sought him out privately. First, he lavished praise on Cui Xie’s essay and scholarly ability, then spoke highly of the book he compiled, saying it would surely benefit students across the realm… and as he went on, he hesitated slightly before asking, “Hezhong, would you be willing to offer a bit of guidance to my two wayward sons? They’ve been enrolled in school for some years and are certainly intelligent, but they’re a bit unruly and refuse to study seriously.”

Cui Xie didn’t really have time to teach students himself, but he did have experience managing unruly children. He paused to consider, then asked, “May I ask which texts they’ve studied so far? And how strict is their teacher with discipline?”

Hall Chief Zhang sighed, “I’m just a lowly jiansheng. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hire a good teacher, so I sent them to study at Cuiwei Academy outside the city. I’ve often tried to urge them to study hard over the past two years, but… they just don’t put their hearts into it.”

Not only did they lack focus, they were worse than their Father when he was at that age. At least he had studied enough to pass the county exams, slogged through the provincial rounds, and made it into the Imperial College before he started slacking off. But those two boys never liked books to begin with. They were already ten years old and hadn’t even touched the Four Books or Five Classics.

After hearing their ages, Cui Xie rubbed his nose thoughtfully and said, “That’s not too late. My younger brother and I didn’t like studying when we were little either, we didn’t get serious until we were fourteen or fifteen. Just these past few months, my brother’s really taken to studying. No one even needs to push him anymore, he picks up assignments and finishes them on his own.”

Even a little rascal like Cui Heng had become obedient after being locked up for two or three months. He now studied quite diligently. Whether he fully understood or not didn’t matter, he at least had the right attitude. But since these were someone else’s children, Cui Xie couldn’t take a hard stance outright, so he cautiously asked, “How does Zhang-xiong usually discipline your sons?”

Hall Chief Zhang recalled the usual interactions between him and his children, furrowed his brows, and sighed in frustration: “Their mother and jiejie dote on them too much, how can I manage them? And I’m usually at the College. On my days off, they’re still away at school. Even if I wanted to discipline them, I barely see them. Those two boys have been completely spoiled by the women in the household!”

Cui Xie nodded empathetically. “Children really shouldn’t be spoiled by their mothers. They need to be scolded—ah, I mean taught—by fathers and older brothers. That’s the only way they’ll amount to something.”

He cleared his throat and said solemnly, “To be honest with you, Zhang-xiong, I’m very strict with children. If they disobey, I lock them indoors and make them copy books. Even if they cry while copying, I don’t let them off. If you’re willing, send them over for a few days during the New Year. I’ll let them study with my younger brothers.”

What was strict about copying books in a room? Even getting whacked with a stick was a sign of a teacher’s affection! Hall Chief Zhang’s mood lifted immediately. He clasped his hands and bowed deeply: “If Hezhong is willing to teach them, that’s all I could hope for. Even if you beat them to death, it would be their own fault for not improving! In fact, no need to wait, I’ll call those two brats back to the city in the next couple of days and send them to your home to become your students!”Cui Xie hurriedly declined, saying he was still young and unworthy of being anyone’s teacher. But Hall Chief Zhang was resolute: “Even teaching them a single word makes you their teacher, besides, teaching character is far more important than teaching books. We must formalize the teacher-student relationship so you can… ahem, so you can properly teach them!”

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TN: Hi everyone!! I hope you guys had a great week and Happy Thanksgiving! I apologize for missing last week, I was traveling and had a ton of deadlines to finish for work and just wasn’t able to post on time, I hope you guys can forgive me ❤

Announcement: We have set up a kofi and patreon account! If you would like to support us or get early access to advance chapters to my current works (TMD and Spring Tree North fo teh Wei River), 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!

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