Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination Ch. 169

Chapter 169

He had been a student for over ten years, and now, to his surprise, he was going to be a teacher!

Cui Xie was quite excited. He ran to tell Teacher Lu about becoming a teacher and even asked what he should wear and how he should carry himself to establish an image of a dignified and respectable teacher in the eyes of his students. Lu juren, with his clear, stern demeanor, didn’t even need to act, he was already the kind of teacher students feared. But Cui Xie was only seventeen or eighteen, always warm and approachable, he worried the students wouldn’t take him seriously.

Lu juren, reminiscing about the past, recalled how Cui Xie had struggled to manage his two unruly younger brothers before he matured. He snorted and said, “What’s the use of a teacher being strict if the parents don’t cooperate? If you’re too lax, the father complains. If you’re too strict, the students resent it. Then the mothers and grandmothers step in to coddle them. Day in and day out, you can’t even get the students to show up for class. How can anyone expect them to learn anything!”

Cui Xie listened quietly to his complaints, offered a sympathetic “Thank you for your hard work, Teacher,” and asked how his two younger brothers were doing with their studies.

Cui He, being a concubine’s son and raised under Lu juren’s strict guidance from a young age, was obedient and willing to study whatever he was told. Cui Heng, after experiencing some setbacks and a stint in Cui Xie’s merciless “black room” punishment, now treated going to class like a breath of fresh air and no longer complained about heavy coursework. However, both boys had only average intelligence so their essays and couplets were merely passable, which left Teacher Lu a bit disappointed.

He shook his head and sighed, “These two probably won’t achieve what you did, passing the provincial exam in their teens. At the very least, they’ll need another decade or so of refining their writing.”

Cui Xie didn’t mind that at all, it was better that Cui Heng stayed unambitious. A younger brother who tries to outshine his elder brother is the most troublesome. He’d rather raise Cui Heng for life than see him succeed at his expense. Cui He was still young; even if it took him another ten years to pass, he’d only be in his early thirties, not too old to still be considered promising.

What he cared most about now was how to educate the two new students entering under his tutelage.

Seeing how excited he was, Lu juren shook his head dismissively and sat down at the table with 《Notes Essential for the Imperial Exams》, saying, “If you want to be strict, have them live with you. I’ll help teach them during the day, and you can go over their work at night. If you’re not planning to supervise that closely, just leave them some assignments–they’re in a private academy anyway–and check in on them every few weeks.”

Fair enough, both he and Lu juren would be sitting for the metropolitan exams next year, so taking on two kids full-time wasn’t feasible. At least not until after the exams.

Still, Teacher Lu’s idea was good: start with a diagnostic test to assess their current level, then assign them extracurricular work…

Two nights later, Hall Chief Zhang brought six ceremonial gifts and his two sons to the Cui household to formally become disciples.

That day, Cui Xie had taken the afternoon off from school to prepare the feast. He also called his two younger brothers out to help greet the guests. Children tend to communicate more easily with one another, and this way, the Zhang brothers could get an early sense of the household’s study rules.

Seeing the grand reception, the main doors open wide, all the household members coming out to greet them, Hall Chief Zhang was both flattered and embarrassed. He said modestly, “My sons are here to request instruction, how could we impose on you like this?”

Cui Xie smiled, “When I was at school, the Hall Chief took care of me plenty, and I didn’t stand on ceremony then, did I? Today is my first time taking on students, so of course I have to treat my patron and disciples properly.”

Hall Chief Zhang returned the smile and solemnly cupped his hands. “I entrust these boys to you, Cui- xiandi. If they misbehave, don’t hesitate to use household discipline. Even if they’re beaten to death, it’s their own fault for not being diligent!” Then he turned serious and called out, “Heling, Yanling, come pay your respects to your teacher!”

In the Cui family’s main hall, a portrait of Confucius had already been hung in preparation. The boys presented the six formal gifts and bowed to both Confucius and their new teacher, Master Cui.

The last time the boys had come to the Cui household for a birthday celebration, they had been given a full set of the Four Books. They already knew Cui Xie was just as stern and unapproachable as their academy instructors. Now forced by their father to formally enter into apprenticeship, the future looked bleak. One of them couldn’t help crying out, “Father, we don’t want to study anymore! We want to be like Feng Yun and become Jinyiwei, solving big cases!”

Hall Chief Zhang lost face in front of Cui Xie. He was furious, he snapped “Nonsense!” as he raised a hand to hit them. But the Zhang boys, lively and quick, dodged the blow with a twist and nearly threw out their father’s back in the process.

Zhang Luan, both aching and embarrassed, huffed in frustration and pointed at his sons, shouting, “These two unfilial brats! Their mother spoiled them rotten!”

Watching from the side, Cui Heng looked at the two unruly kids with something like envy, how he wished he could wrap his older brother around his finger like that ah!

Unfortunately, his brother was young and strong. Every time he tried to cause trouble, Cui Heng would just get hauled off and locked up, with a beating thrown in for good measure…

Just like how his brother now grabbed the Zhang boys.

Cui Heng quietly shrank back to stand beside his younger brother, eyes cast down at his toes.

Cui Xie took a step forward, blocking the escape path of the two Zhang boys. He grabbed each one by the collar, dragging them back in front of their father with a smile: “No need to be upset, Zhang-xiong. I actually think the boys have the right idea. Whether it’s studying or taking up official work, isn’t it all for the sake of serving the country, establishing oneself, and bringing honor to the family? If your sons want to become righteous officials who fight corruption, we, as their elders, should support that.”

Hall Chief Zhang stared at them in disbelief and blurted out, “How did you just drag them back like that?”

The two young masters of the Zhang family were just as stunned, they had no idea how they’d been grabbed and tossed back in an instant.

Was this guy really just a scholar?

And a juren at that? Even the Jinyiwei in stage plays weren’t this impressive!

Once they calmed down a bit, Cui Xie bent down slightly and began speaking to them gently: “You want to become Jinyiwei, do you? But did you know that they have to study too? If you don’t study, you won’t be able to read case files. Without that, how could you be like Colonel Xie and deduce the criminal’s methods just from a few clues? How would you do your job well then?”

Zhang Heling glanced at his younger brother, then tried to argue: “W-Well, we don’t have to be high-ranking like Colonel Xie. We could be like Feng Yun, go into enemy camps to collect evidence and fight evildoers. That would be good enough, right?”

Hall Chief Zhang scolded them angrily: “And who filled your heads with that? You don’t focus on your studies at the academy, and instead go off listening to all these ridiculous stories!”

The two boys lowered their heads, lips tightly pressed together, clearly used to causing mischief behind their father’s back.

Hall Chief Zhang felt thoroughly humiliated in front of Cui Xie and began grumbling: “These two unruly boys, just because I’m not at home, who knows how much trouble they’ve been up to! One day their jiejie will marry off, and we old folks will be gone… then what will they do with their lives…”

Cui Xie quickly had someone help Hall Chief Zhang to a chair and pour him a cup of water. Cui Xie tried to calm him down, then placed a firm hand on the boys’ heads, lowered his gaze to meet theirs, and asked gently, “You really want to be like Feng Yun, become Jinyiwei?”

Both boys nodded.

Cui Xie continued, “Then do you know how many other commandants work under Colonel Xie besides Feng Yun?”

In the 《Wang Yao》 case, five nameless guards had lined up behind Feng Yun. Later, in the 《Headless Corpses of Liuying》 case, they’d even been given surnames, Zhang, Wang, Ma, Zhao, and so on. The two boys had clearly not only listened to storytelling sessions but had also sneaked off to watch operas. They knew all of this clearly, though they dared not say so in front of their father. The two exchanged glances.

Cui Xie smiled and asked, “With so many guards under Colonel Xie’s command, why is it that he favors Feng Yun? Why are the other commandants not as capable?”

Well… that’s because the playwright made Feng Yun the main character, not some Zhang or Wang or Li.

But the kids didn’t realize that, blissfully unaware of the manipulative hand of the author, so they thought about it seriously and answered:

“Because Feng Yun has the best martial arts!”

“Because he’s more capable than the others!”

“Because he’s the one who figured out the criminal’s tricks from Wang Yao in the black-cloaked thief case!”

“Right! And he was the first to spot the severed head in the mud during the 《Headless Corpses》 case!”

“When Colonel Li investigated the stolen imperial horses, he was the first to notice they’d gone missing!”

“And even in Colonel Xu’s 《Hot Spring Drowning》 case in Changping, he figured out the woman had been suffocated and then thrown into the hot spring!”

“And in Colonel Wang’s Opera Kidnap case too…”

…???

Cui Xie, the original author of the Colonel Xie Investigations》 series, was dumbfounded. He’d only been away from the literary scene for a few months, and now there were so many copycats riding his coattails? And they’d turned his once sidekick male lead, Feng Yun, into a shared male lead across multiple storylines?

These “Colonels” were desperate for fame, weren’t they?

Fuming internally, he still had to maintain a calm and collected face in front of his future disciples. He smiled and said, “You’re not wrong. Feng Yun could solve all those cases mainly because he’s smart, cautious, and good at deduction. But how did he become smart? Can anyone become a clever official without studying?”

It was a good point, but one the children didn’t want to hear. Zhang Heling mulled it over and asked, “But we don’t have to study too much, right? Can’t we just focus on martial arts? People always say military officials don’t need to read books.”

Cui Xie shook his head. “Scholars have to study, and so do martial men. If you want to be military officials, you have to take the martial juren and jinshi exams. Your father can confirm this. I even know Colonel Xie from the plays. He told me that all the Jinyiwei studied at the military academy in Beijing. And right there, displayed in the academy hall, is a copy of the 《Essential Notes for the Civil Service Exams》, a book I wrote myself. If you don’t believe me, go ask the academy yourself–see if there’s a single officer who didn’t study to earn his post or solve a case.”

Cui Xie was a man trained in martial arts, and his eyes were sharper than most. The moment he dropped his smile and began to speak with seriousness, his expression turned sharp and somewhat intimidating.

Which only made him seem all the more believable.

The two young Zhang boys truly hadn’t expected that even the Jinyiwei had to go to school, and worse, study books written by this very teacher. Their hearts sank like they’d been soaked in bitter medicine. They scrunched their faces and said, “Impossible! Why would the Jinyiwei need to study? That’s not how it is in the plays!”

That line gave their father the perfect opening. He snapped, “You’ve been watching opera? Those messy things weren’t told to you by someone else, you skipped school to see them? Where did you get the money?!”

Of course, it was their mother and sister who gave them the money, and the older boys at the academy had taken them along.

The two boys were already emotionally bruised, cornered by Cui Xie with no way to escape. Now being scolded by their father, they lowered their heads, aggrieved and defiant.

Cui Xie, worried that Hall Chief Zhang would become too enraged, quickly had him sit and drink tea. He tried to mediate: “The children are still young. It’s normal for them to love play and mischief. Even Heng-ge used to run wild all over the capital when he was their age. But now he’s become quite diligent, hasn’t he? Let’s first perform the ceremony to formally acknowledge the teacher. I’ll get a sense of their level and draw up a study plan. Bit by bit, we’ll bring them around.”

Hall Chief Zhang took a moment to calm himself. Cui Xie patted the two boys and said kindly, “Come, pay your respects to the Great Sage. You’ve done this in class before, you know the rites. Follow my lead.”

Zhang Luan barked a couple more reprimands. Cui Xie turned and knelt before the statue of Confucius. The two children, still sulking, reluctantly followed and bowed. Then they presented the ceremonial gifts and formally recognized him as their teacher.

Even Jinyiwei had to read his books. If they wanted to become Jinyiwei in the future, they’d have to learn from him sooner or later. Besides, this teacher even knew stories about Colonel Xie, he was clearly better than their dad or those dull old scholars at the academy. Fine, they’d accept him!

Once the boys rose from their bows, Cui Xie brought out two brand-new sets of brush, ink, and paper as gifts. He turned and told Little Songyan, “Bring in two desks and chairs.”

Right away, servants carried in two low desks and stools. Cui Xie arranged them near the wall, laying out writing supplies neatly. Then he smiled and said to everyone in the room, “Now that Heling and Yanling have formally entered under my tutelage, let’s begin with a placement test to see where they’re at. That way I can tailor my teaching accordingly.”

The boys hadn’t yet begun formal study of the Four Books, so Cui could only test their knowledge of miscellaneous characters, rhyme books, analogy texts, 《Guwen Chuan Deng》, 《Elementary Enlightenment》, math rhymes, and basic primers like the 《Three Character Classic》, 《Hundred Family Surnames》, and 《Thousand Character Classic》. Cui Xie hadn’t read all of these himself, but luckily his two younger brothers had studied them from childhood. Whether they learned well was another matter, but even remembering a line or two was enough to generate exam questions.

He beckoned to his younger brothers sitting quietly and said, “Heling and Yanling are now my disciples, which makes them your shidi. As elder brothers, you should help your juniors. Each of you write up an exam paper like the ones I usually give you, nothing too tricky or odd. This is a test of them, but also of you. If the questions are poor, I’ll be assigning extra homework later.”

Cui Heng trembled all over.

Heavens! What kind of cruel and heartless person was this?

He hadn’t even lifted a finger and had already inflicted suffering on four people!

Terrified and resentful, Cui Heng walked to the desk to write the exam, unaware that the Zhang brothers were staring back at him with equal parts fear and fury.

It wasn’t just that they now had a teacher, the teacher had two henchmen brothers who were giving them exams right in front of their father. Their cover was completely blown!

Only Cui He remained calm, happily drafting his test paper just like he normally did, basking in the thrill of being a teacher and examiner.

While the brothers were composing questions, Cui Xie had food and wine brought in and invited Hall Chief Zhang and the two students to dine. The Cui brothers were hunched over their desks, writing rapidly, while the Zhang boys could barely eat, glancing nervously at the table where the stack of blank paper was visibly shrinking.

They wanted to drown their sorrows with wine, but their cups held only freshly pressed pomegranate juice. Tasty or not, they had no appetite left.

The two young masters of the Zhang family barely ate a thing. Seeing this, Cui Xie had someone escort them to the courtyard to admire the chrysanthemums and digest a bit before the test.

Hall Chief Zhang watched as Cui Heng and Cui He steadily stacked up completed exam papers. His heart was filled with relief and joy. He smiled and said, “Hezhong, you’re truly dedicated to teaching these two unworthy sons of mine, and even your younger brothers are so eager to help. I really entrusted them to the right person. If they ever make something of themselves, I’ll be sure they repay your kindness and serve you like your own sons.”

Cui Xie smiled and shook his head. “Not at all. I’m merely following the example set by my own mentors. Please don’t praise me too much.”

While the children were overwhelmed with dread, the two adults chatted cheerfully. By the time the meal ended, the Cui brothers had finally finished writing their questions, just barely. Cui Xie reviewed the stack with Hall Chief Zhang, made a few edits, and then called the Zhang boys over to take the test.

Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling were nearly in tears. Grinding their teeth, they said, “This is way too much! We can’t finish it!”

Hall Chief Zhang scolded, “What do you mean you can’t finish? If you don’t finish today, you’ll finish tomorrow. You’re now disciples of Cui xiandi, you can’t just loaf around like you did at the academy!”

Cui Xie invited his brothers to the table and served them fresh hot dishes as a reward for their hard work. Then he said to Hall Chief Zhang, “There’s no need to rush. It’s natural for the children to panic seeing such a thick stack of questions. They clearly won’t finish tonight. Why don’t you stay the night here and supervise them as they work? They can do as many as they’re able…”

Just as the Zhang brothers were about to nod in agreement, they heard him add:

“For the questions they can’t finish, let’s consider them as ones they don’t know. They can copy each of those ten or twenty times after they go home to reinforce their memory.”

No, no, no! Father, you can’t agree to this! You’re our actual father!

They wanted to throw themselves at Hall Chief Zhang’s feet and beg, but Zhang Luan kept a cold face and wouldn’t even look at them. He nodded toward Cui Xie and said, “Hezhong is absolutely right. The women at home are ignorant and only know how to spoil these two brats. It’s better if they’re disciplined here in your household.”

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TN: Hi everyone!! I hope you guys had a great holiday season and Happy New Year! I’m sorry to have been on hiatus the last couple of weeks, I ended up deciding to take a good rest 🙂 I hope the holidays were just as restful for all of you!

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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