Chapter 171
Cui Xie left the Li household with his head full of poetic theory, but in the end, the only thing he clearly remembered was one line: “What matters in poetry is meaning; distant meaning is better than close, subtle is better than intense.”
Master Li had used the poems of Du Fu, Li Bai, and Wang Wei to explain how to achieve that “subtle yet far-reaching” quality. Then he went on to discuss how later poets captured the essence of their predecessors. Then, the father and son went back and forth, one saying Wang Anshi grasped it, the other saying Yang Weizhen did, while Cui Xie just sat to the side smiling listening to their talk of “creating behind closed doors, then reproducing the same verses”, unable to tell how any of those poems were even remotely alike.
Watching how he and his son shared a deep understanding in critiquing Song and Ming dynasty poetry, then turning to see his own student’s wandering eyes and obvious cluelessness, Master Li suddenly felt the same exasperation that Hall Chief Zhang must have felt watching his two sons take their exam.
This child really had no poetic talent.
Master Li sighed bitterly and pointed at Cui Xie: “If you weren’t taking the metropolitan exam next year, I’d make you focus entirely on studying poetic forms. One month per form, all Tang and Han poetry, memorize them, responding only using ancient poetic style, and I’d personally help you revise every piece!”
Oh no, he’s about to turn from a well-rounded educator into a full-on crammer!
Cui Xie bowed and accepted the reprimand. He felt rather guilty towards his teacher and lowered his head: “Since this disciple began studying, this disciple has always focused on the Imperial exams and indeed haven’t read much poetry. After this next exam, regardless of the result, this disciple will wholeheartedly devote myself to poetry so as not to tarnish the name of my esteemed teacher.”
Master Li snorted: “You think it ends there? If you make it into the Hanlin Academy, you’ll still have to study poetry for three more years. I don’t care who they assign to train you as a Bachelor–I’ll make sure they keep a close eye on your poetry. I don’t believe that I can’t turn you into a decent poet!”
His teacher sure was thinking far ahead. If Cui Xie could even make second class in the exam, his family would be overjoyed and he could even be accepted as a Bachelor at the Hanlin Academy…But Cui Xie didn’t argue. He immediately stood up without a word and bowed deeply to thank his teacher for the auspicious words, happily accepting this force-fed poetry curriculum.
Master Li waved him off with a weary hand: “Most students find poetry and couplets easier than essays after they memorize rhyme dictionaries and classical pairings. They’d rather write poems than prose. But you? Always busy writing essays and compiling exam prep books all day long. I ask for one poem and you act like I’m asking for your life. What did you even learn in your early schooling?”
When Cui Xie transmigrated here, little Cui Xie had already finished his basic studies. He only casually memorized a few classics himself. His foundations were mostly from the Four Books and Five Classics, no wonder he was different.
After being emotionally wrecked by his teacher, he returned home and couldn’t help but take it out on someone else. He called his two younger brothers over and started analyzing the flaws in the test questions they had designed last time.
The questions were poorly and unevenly distributed, lacked coverage across key knowledge points, and the difficulty was wildly inconsistent. Some fill-in-the-blanks were even written with incorrect premises–a mistake that, of course, fell on Cui Heng. Raised and personally taught by Teacher Lu for years, he should never have made such an error.
Cui Heng sulked, rolling his eyes:“Ever since you, da-ge, came home, I’ve been reading the Book of Rites. Teacher Lu is teaching us the Four Books now. Who even remembers all that basic stuff from elementary learning?”
You think forgetting it gives you an excuse? Cui Xie shot him a look and scolded: “Elementary studies are the foundation. If you don’t know phonetic categories or paired structures, how can you write poems? How can you write parallel sentences in essays? If you didn’t learn it well, then you’ll learn it again. Would you dare make excuses like that in front of Teacher Lu?”
Try it, and you’ll get smacked!
Cui Heng knew when to retreat. He grumbled a bit and snorted twice, but eventually bowed his head and said honestly: “Da-ge’s teachings are right, I’ll review it properly.”
Cui Xie nodded slightly: “That’s more like it.”
Having scolded the unruly brother, he brought the more obedient, younger one into the conversation too, teaching them the rules of test-making: “Your last set of questions was too crude–whatever popped into your heads went onto the paper. You tested a lot, sure, but you didn’t test anything that really showed the student’s skill. If you’re going to write questions, you need to target the key points–”
“For example, when testing from the Three Character Classic or Thousand Character Classic, focus more on the middle sections and less on the beginning or end, since people tend to memorize the start and end better, while the middle is easier to forget. When testing from historical texts, choose characters or events that connect to the Confucian classics. For rhyme books, have students pick out characters from a group that belong to the same rhyme category. Test broader rhyme groups more, and narrow ones less, since most teachers let students write with broad rhymes and rarely require the narrow ones…”
What he said wasn’t just useful for test design, it was also an efficient way to study. Whether or not his two younger brothers absorbed any of it was unclear. They nodded and agreed to every sentence, but their shifting eyes suggested they were already thinking about what kind of questions to write for their juniors.
Cui Xie was satisfied with their attitude and nodded with a smile. He added: “Your juniors will be visiting again at the end of the month. As their elders, shouldn’t each of you prepare a full exam paper to show your care? Go review your primers and redo your test drafts. Attach an answer key and notes on what each question is meant to assess. Every time your juniors visit, give them a new set. Whoever writes the best exam, come New Year’s, I’ll have a Romance of the Three Kingdoms costume made for him. He can choose any character he likes. And next year, when the Six Talents head to the capital, I’ll ask them to write a poem for the winner too.”
Huh?
So it wasn’t just torture—there was a reward?
They’d get to wear Three Kingdoms hero outfits? Wouldn’t that be like turning into human dress-up dolls?!
Just imagine–them dressed up as Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, or Lü Bu, with a poem written by one of the Six Talents in hand. If they went out like that…even Cui Heng, who had been sulking, cracked a smile. He shot a sidelong glance at his brother and sincerely said, “Don’t worry, da-ge, we’ll definitely write good questions for our juniors.”
Thus, between the two younger brothers, an invisible war of exam papers quietly ignited.
Cui Xie, for his part, didn’t care who won. He simply sent them off to hit the books and had someone commission a large wooden board, half the height of a wall, with thirty grids marked across it. Above each grid, he wrote a date, turning it into a full-fledged study schedule.
The Ebbinghaus memory method followed the forgetting curve. It was not as simple as reviewing something daily or weekly. With just vocabulary words, it was already easy to mix things up, let alone reviewing five or six entire books at once. A single slip-up could lead to memorizing the wrong content. Better to use a visual calendar: make a plan at the start of the month, and have the two boys follow the schedule, sign off each day, and keep pace with their review.
Honestly, he was going all out for these two students–he’d never worked this hard even for himself.
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With all the tasks assigned and organized, the next day after school, he leisurely rode his horse to visit Xie Ying.
The Xie Residence had been upgraded from a Colonel’s residence to a Commander’s residence, but nothing major had changed. The gate was still the same five-bay, three-section entrance–just like the Cui family’s.
Xie Ying’s official rank was technically on par with Cui Laoye’s, but he was much younger—still in his twenties and already a lower fourth-rank official, while Cui Laoye was in his forties and only just the same rank. The gap in future prospects was enormous.
And this wasn’t just any office. Xie Ying was a commander of the Northern Pacification Division of the Jinyiwei, the most powerful intelligence bureau. He was favored by the Emperor himself! Who knew, maybe one day he’d be promoted to Deputy Commander, Vice Prefect or even Commander-in-Chief.
At that point, even more people would be lining up to see him.
Cui Xie stood outside the gate and saw a whole row of servants gathered outside, with a doorman inside waving people away with a wary expression. It gave him a strong sense of just how popular Xie Ying had become after his promotion.
But he had important business today and wasn’t going to be easily turned away. Forcing his way through the crowd, he pulled out a name card and handed it over to the gatekeeper with commanding presence:
“I am Cui jiansheng, an acquaintance of your family’s Colonel. I’ve come today on important business. Brother, please announce me.”
The gatekeeper was new and didn’t recognize him, but as soon as he heard the name “Scholar Cui,” his eyes lit up and he beamed. “So it’s Young Master Cui! Our da-ren has been waiting for you!” He hurriedly pulled Cui Xie through the gate and turned to shoo the waiting crowd away: “Our da-ren has a guest today, please come back another time, all of you!”
With the side gate shut behind them, the murmurs and complaints of those seeking an audience with the Pacification Commander were sealed outside.
Cui Xie discreetly took out a piece of broken silver and handed it to the doorman as a tip, then asked in a low voice, “Why are so many people here to see Xie da-ren? Did he take on some big case and arrest someone of note?”
If that were true, Master Li would have to intervene–even if he didn’t, he’d at least owe him a heads-up, wouldn’t he?
But the gatekeeper just shook his head and smiled.
“Our da-ren has officially assumed the post of Northern Pacification Commissioner at the Northern Surveillance Division. Of course people are scrambling to pull strings and offer gifts. But our da-ren won’t accept any of them–so they can only come again and again, hoping to wear him down.”
Thinking of the lavish gift lists those visitors had submitted, the gatekeeper looked both regretful and proud.
“Our da-ren is truly as pure as clear water, as bright as a polished mirror–just like Bao Zheng the Just1 of the previous dynasty! Why don’t they write a few more dramas about our ‘Xie the Just’ instead of writing stories about that Feng Yun character? They even rewrote Feng Yun as someone from another office!”
Exactly! Why change the lead? Why not just rename him Yuan Fang and be done with it?
Cui Xie gave a cold snort.“Now that Xie-xiong is the Pacification Commissioner, even if those Colonel characters are solving cases with Feng Yun, they’re still under the jurisdiction of the Surveillance Office. Might as well say the Pacification Commissioner’s personal guards lent them a hand…”
As he spoke, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him.
Since Xie Ying had been promoted before those dramas about Colonel officers solving cases came out… why couldn’t he write a grand crossover drama that brought them all together?
Like the Avengers or Justice League films–each Colonel had their own standalone plays, but in this new story, they’d all be working under Commissioner Xie’s orders, uniting to fight a conspiracy to bring down the Ming dynasty…
Well, maybe that setup was a bit too ambitious. Cui Xie could just blame it on the White Lotus cult again, they were always the go-to villain. The cult stirs up terror everywhere, and the Colonel (with borrowed character models from Feng Yun) unite under Commissioner Xie’s command to defeat the threat. That would work just fine too.
—Wait, would he even still need Feng Yun?
Cui Xie was deep in thought, mulling over plot twists as he walked. Before he knew it, he’d reached the receiving hall. The gatekeeper invited him to sit and wait, then rushed to the inner residence to announce his arrival.
Before long, Xie Ying appeared, leading a few house servants bearing trays of tea and refreshments. He gestured for them to set things down, then took the host’s seat with a warm smile.
“Dear Cui-xiandi, I imagine your studies keep you busy–what brings you to my humble home today?”
Cui Xie was still mentally sketching out how the Commissioner Xie Leads the Colonel drama would unfold, so he blurted out: “Do you remember how many plays there are on the market featuring Colonels solving cases with Feng Yun?”
Among the fourteen Colonels–even the one from the Elephant Training Office, Colonel Xu, had eagerly written a play. Other than Yao Jing, who succeeded Colonel Xie in his former post, every single one had gotten in on it.
Xie Ying thought for a moment, then replied honestly “Quite a few. Why? Did some talented young man write another one about me? What a shame. I’ve been holed up in the Surveillance Division recently, not handling any high-profile cases. Just conducting inquiries into a few derelictions of duty, or reprimanding officials for court infractions or improper memorials. Hardly anything worth writing about.”
The nearby servants all perked up their ears, hoping to hear something about a new drama involving their master.
Cui Xie, having asked his question, finally remembered the true purpose of his visit. He clapped his hands together.“Wrong question–I got distracted just now thinking about stringing those Colonel plays into one grand production. But I almost forgot why I came.”
He stood up and cupped his hands in formal greeting.“My teacher, Academician Li, has a son–Zhaoxian, who is my junior brother. The boy’s health is poor, and I want to help him build strength through martial arts. The problem is, I only know how to wield swords, spears, and staves. He’s too young and frail to learn that sort of thing. So I’ve come to beg Xie-xiong to teach me a set of fitness-focused boxing or palm techniques.”
Xie Ying immediately put down his teacup and stood to support Cui Xie’s arm. “No need for such formalities, xiandi. We are kin in spirit, what’s with all the bowing and politeness?”
He glanced back at the servants and gave instructions:“No need to linger here. Go arrange supper in the main hall, and prepare two sets of practice clothes. After dinner, I’ll practice with Cui-xiong indoors by lamplight.”
The servants, disappointed that the visit wasn’t about a new play but martial arts instead, trudged off to carry out their tasks.
Once they had disappeared into the courtyard, Xie Ying let out a small sigh, then turned to glance at Cui Xie with a raised brow, “Tell me honestly. Did you really come this late just to learn martial arts for your junior brother?”
Cui Xie nodded solemnly.“Of course it’s for my junior brother! If it weren’t for him, why would I skip study hall, sneak away after class, and show up at Xie da-ren’s doorstep uninvited?”
Xie Ying chuckled and gently took Cui Xie’s hand, turning it palm-up and running his fingers across it.
“You scholars always have such fine, delicate hands. Your bones aren’t even fully set yet. We’ll just practice the forms indoors, no smashing bricks or breaking tiles like those street performers. Injuring your hand would be a terrible loss.”
Cui Xie hummed in agreement. “That’s exactly what I fear for the boy. He’s got soft bones, and if I teach him wrong, he could be seriously hurt. So when you teach me, Xie-xiong, I hope you’ll be extra careful–make sure my forms are precise, so I can pass them on properly.”
Xie Ying slid closer, the two of them now squeezed together in a single chair. He covered Cui Xie’s hand with his own, gently curling the fingers into a fist and raising it to his lips.
“Don’t worry, xiandi–I’ll teach you hand-to-hand, every step of the way.”
Footnotes:
- Bao Zheng: known for his honesty and uprightness. He is honored as the cultural symbol of justice in Chinese society ↩︎
TN: Hi everyone!! It has been snowing like crazy here, so I’ve been holed up at home working remotely. Hope everyone stays safe during the winter season!
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!
Twin Dragons Translations 
Thank you for the wonderful translation as always!
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