Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination Ch. 173

Chapter 173

The selection of the Crown Prince’s consort was a matter of national importance. Even before the edict was formally announced to court, the Imperial Guards and Jinyiwei were already being mobilized.

Though Xie Ying had gone to fulfill his duties, he had left behind a household guard skilled in martial arts to continue teaching Cui Xie the Five-Animal Frolics. The instructor was diligent, and the pupil wholly committed. In just one evening, Cui Xie had mastered all five forms with remarkable precision. The instructor couldn’t help but comment in surprise, “Our da-ren has trained troops for years and is no doubt better at teaching than I am. But how is it that Scholar Cui progressed so slowly before, and yet learned so quickly today?”

Xie Shan scoffed, “Naturally it’s because our da-ren had already taught him well. What he’s doing now is merely practicing what he already knows. How could he not be quick?”

Cui Xie replied steadily, “Previously, Xie-xiong adjusted the forms while teaching, so progress was slower. After all, my Junior Brother Li is only ten, and has been frail since childhood. He was bedridden for two months not long ago. Someone just recovering from illness cannot train like a healthy person.”

The household guard felt a little ashamed. “I only know how to teach the standard forms. I don’t know how to make adjustments.”

Cui Xie reassured him, “Don’t blame yourself. Your da-ren was once in charge of training the garrison troops, so he naturally considers these things. Your teaching is very precise. I’ll first pass on what Xie da-ren has modified to my junior brother, and once his health improves, he can resume practice.”

With Xie Ying away, it would be improper for him to linger too long at the Xie residence.

Once home, Cui Xie informed his grandparents of the Crown Prince’s upcoming consort selection, asking if there were any female relatives of appropriate age within their extended family who should be warned to marry quickly. As the head of the Cui household held a fourth-rank official post, the Cui clan did not qualify for the selection, so there was no concern. He simply needed to inquire about his maternal relatives. He also sent a fast rider to inform Cui Yuan in the countryside, to alert the neighbors and craftsmen to prepare accordingly.

Beyond that, the only other connection of note was his former stepmother, Xu-shi’s family, but since the next Empress was bound to bear the surname Zhang, Cui Xie didn’t bother warning them. Instead, he went to speak with Hall Chief Zhang, who did have a daughter seemingly of the right age. Regardless of whether they wished to send her or not, the family would need to make a decision.

Hall Chief Zhang was initially taken aback, then stared at him with a deeply complicated expression.

Thinking the man didn’t believe this insider news, Cui Xie quickly tried to convince him. “The information is reliable. It’s best that the Hall Chief makes plans now. If you don’t wish for your daughter to enter the palace, there’s still time to send her back to your hometown.”

Hall Chief Zhang sighed. “My hometown is Xingji, also one of the regions selecting women. How could we possibly avoid this? The only option is to try and marry her off beforehand…”

Yet the son-in-law he had in mind refused to marry, and the engagement he intended to arrange back in his hometown had not materialized either. Now he was stuck with no way forward.

He wanted to blame Cui Xie for not marrying his daughter earlier, but the boy had made it clear from the beginning that he had no intention of taking a wife. He hadn’t strung them along. And today, he had even come to inform them in advance, giving them precious time to prepare. Truly, they ought to be grateful.

Still… after having once set his sights on Cui Xie who was so young, handsome, accomplished, and improving day by day, how could he ever find another son-in-law to match?

His daughter was bright and beautiful, a worthy match for Cui Xie. Their bond was good, too, it should have been a union made in heaven. But now, their relationship was reduced to that of junior and elder. The difference in generation meant marriage was no longer possible.

Zhang Luan returned to their rented home with a sigh and broke the news to his wife and daughter, urging them to prepare for marriage immediately.

Zhang furen turned pale at the mere mention of “selection” and nearly ran into the street to grab the first available man to wed her daughter to. But Young Miss Zhang remained calm. While her parents grew frantic, she sat gracefully in her chair, holding her mother’s hand and reassuring her: “Don’t be afraid, Mother. This is something we can’t avoid, nor do we need to. If I must enter the palace, then so be it.”

Hall Chief Zhang frowned deeply. “The palace is no place for a woman. If you’re chosen, you’ll never be able to leave. Best-case scenario, you become the Crown Prince’s consort. Worst-case… a mere servant or maid. How could your mother and I bear such a fate?”

Young Miss Zhang shook her head. “Becoming a consort isn’t ideal, but is hastily marrying a stranger truly any better? Even if Cui-shu heard the news early, it can’t have been more than a few days in advance. At most, the court will issue the official edict within ten days. You’ve been searching for a good match for me for so long and still haven’t found one. How would you manage to find someone suitable in just three or five days?”

Hall Chief Zhang sighed again. “Even if the outcome is bad, at least you’d have your father and brothers to protect you. But if you marry into the palace… even as Empress, look at the current Empress Wang, has her life brought her any joy?”

Young Miss Zhang lowered her eyes and answered calmly, “Selecting a consort is not the same as recruiting servants. I’ve heard from Teacher Song that when His Majesty chose his own Empress, only one Empress and two consorts were selected, and the rest had their birth charts returned and were sent home. Our family is strict but ordinary, and though I may have a passable appearance, we are still but commoners. There’s little chance I would actually be chosen as the future Empress. When that happens, I’ll simply return to my parents as I was.”

“If I’m truly chosen… the Crown Prince is still a youth, and I’ve heard he’s fond of studying. It wouldn’t be a bad match at all.”  Sitting upright in her chair, the young lady had already resolved to participate in the selection.

Hall Chief Zhang was so anxious he stomped his foot. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, that you’ll be chosen! There’s still that Imperial Noble Consort Wan in the palace!”

The Crown Prince and Imperial Noble Consort Wan had long been at odds, and it wasn’t some recent development. If not for the earthquake in Mount Tai, the Crown Prince would’ve likely been deposed last year already! Just thinking about that powerful consort gave Hall Chief Zhang chills; he wasn’t even worried about his daughter ending up a palace maid. He was terrified she’d become the Crown Princess and get tormented to death by Imperial Noble Consort Wan.

Hall Chief Zhang was so distressed he nearly barged into the Cui residence himself to drag Cui Xie home and force a wedding then and there.

And he wasn’t the only one thinking like that. The rumor of the imperial concubine selection had already spread like wildfire through the capital, it was as if a plague had broken out overnight. Even within the Imperial College, dozens of students were trying to get a hold of Cui Xie, each hoping to drag him home for a swift marriage.

Cui Xie turned them all down politely, unmoved by offers of waived dowries or even reverse-bride-prices. He simply said, “My father is not in town, and without his consent, I dare not wed.” The scholars of the Imperial College still had some sense of pride, and, more importantly, they weren’t the violent sort, so Cui Xie managed to slip through them with ease.

But once outside the Imperial College walls, things got worse. Desperate families, wealthy merchants and petty officials alike, came out in full force. Their household staff took to the streets with ropes in hand, ready to kidnap eligible men. It didn’t matter whether the man was old or young, married or not, if he was male, they were ready to haul him home to the altar.

Cui Xie rode his horse through the crowd, dodging left and right. He nearly had his horse tripped by a thrown rope. When he spotted a squad of patrolling Jinyiwei, he galloped toward them to seek help–only to discover those officers had been surrounded too.

Back in the early days, the Jinyiwei had a fearsome reputation. When the embroidered-uniformed riders appeared, the streets would clear. But now, thanks to all the dramas and plays glorifying them, commoners saw them as heroic figures. Some were so bold as to approach the Jinyiwei patrols, recommending their daughters or even daring to pull at their reins.

The Colonel leading the patrol turned green with rage, his face matching his uniform. He shouted loudly, “The court is not recruiting palace maids! The people should go about their lives in peace, do not force marriages or attempt to abduct Jinyiwei officers!”

Cui Xie watched the scene for a moment, then silently raised his sleeve to cover his face and spurred his horse away.

The journey home was a treacherous one. He was blocked in the streets more than once, and if not for his excellent riding skills, he might not have made it back at all.

Just as he reached the estate, he saw Teacher Lu being escorted, half-dragged, toward his door. Upon spotting Cui Xie, Teacher Lu craned his neck and cried, “Hezhong! Save your teacher!”

The men holding Lu turned to look. When they saw this handsome, scholarly youth riding a white horse, they hesitated for a moment and began to loosen their grip on Teacher Lu, clearly tempted to grab the younger one instead.

Alarmed, Cui Xie tugged hard on the reins and charged his horse toward them. Startled, the group released Teacher Lu and scattered. As Cui Xie reached Teacher Lu’s side, he yanked the reins, causing the white horse to rear. With one arm, he seized Teacher Lu by the collar and hauled him across the saddle, urging his horse to whirl around and dash through the Cui residence’s gates.

The moment the horse’s hooves crossed the threshold, both men shouted in unison: “Close the gate, now!”

The household servants, who’d scrambled inside amid the chaos, slammed the side gate shut. Panting, one of them thumped his chest and muttered, “This bride selection… it’s ruining lives!”

Lu juren still draped facedown across the saddle and jostled into dizziness, tried to lift himself and defend the Imperial court: “How is it the selection that ruins lives? The Crown Prince is nearly of age, it’s only proper to choose a bride and ensure heirs for the royal line!”

Cui Heng, who’d come out to watch the excitement, sighed earnestly. “Teacher, why’d you run? It’s rare to get swept up in one of these mass marriage frenzies! That family looked pretty well-off too, if it were me, I’d have agreed on the spot. Would’ve gotten a concubine for free!”

Teacher Lu didn’t even have a wife yet and Cui Heng felt genuinely sorry on his teacher’s behalf.

Mr. Lu’s face, already pale from the jostling ride, turned an even darker shade at this remark.

Without a word, Cui Xie ordered his attendants to haul Cui Heng off to copy texts as punishment. He then dismounted, carefully supporting Teacher Lu as he got down from the horse, and asked how he’d ended up in such a predicament.

Panting, Mr. Lu explained, “I was out with some fellow provincials today. We donated graphite pencils and wooden boards to the orphanage, hoping to help those children learn to read. On the way back, we ran into some families out snatching bachelors, completely shameless. They tied me up on the spot and said they were dragging me home for a wedding!”

Thankfully, he had the presence of mind to shout out the Cui family’s name and convince them to follow him back under the pretense of retrieving his birthcard. He’d counted on the Cui household to step in and rescue him, but to think this student of his would come thundering in alone on horseback and rescue him like a hero in an opera! At least he’d been spared the indignity of “entering the flower fields in his twilight years.”

With a long sigh, Teacher Lu muttered, “Too much chaos in the capital… If I fail the metropolitan exam again next year, I really must go home for a while. After all, you’ve got a new teacher now, and your two brothers are quite capable of taking notes and doing exercises at home. There’s little use in me lingering here.”

It was clear that today’s incident had truly frightened Teacher Lu.

Cui Xie offered a few words of consolation, summoned a servant to bring some calming tonic, and escorted Teacher Lu back to his room. He then called for Cui Liangdong. “Have the coachman drive you out early tomorrow. Go to the Imperial College and request a leave of absence from Proctor Lin on my behalf. For the next few days, we’ll keep our gates shut tight. Apart from necessary errands, no one’s to go out.”

After all, the Imperial decree forbidding civil marriages was surely on its way. Once it arrived, it would be safer to step outside again. A few days’ leave at home would give him ample time to design his next publishing project: 《Renowned Imperial College Scholars Explain the Classic of Poetry》.

Unlike 《The Great Learning》 or 《The Analects》, which are single-author texts easily printed in one volume, the 《Classic of Poetry》 commentary was co-authored by both an erudite and an appointed instructor. If he split them up, one set for the erudite, another for the appointed instructor, wouldn’t all the readers end up buying only the erudite’s volumes?

In this day and age, books weren’t just sold in sets, you could buy them one booklet at a time. Their commentaries weren’t some boxed collector’s edition, so readers would definitely pick and choose!

And if the erudite’s notes sold while the appointed instructor’s notes languished on the shelves… Would that not wound the pride of Teaching Assistant Xie? The very same Teaching Assistant Xie who placed third in the “Three Kingdoms Scholar-Beauty” tournament? Was his writing not worth reading?

Unacceptable!

As the chief editor, Cui Xie had to outwit the readers and ensure they bought the complete set.

Yet printing the two men’s notes together posed a challenge. If both were typeset in the same font and ink color, the alternating lines of “Erudite Lin says,” “Teaching Assistant Xie says”, would feel chaotic and visually jarring. But if he used different colors for each? In previous publications, he had used colors to highlight key points. Changing that now might mislead readers into thinking one set of notes was more important than the other.

He drafted several layout plans, none of which felt quite right, until he struck upon a solution: double-front binding. One side would begin with Proctor Lin’s notes, the other with Teaching Assistant Xie’s, printed in reverse order and meeting in the middle. Each side would have its own cover, with the scholar’s name printed in vermilion. It didn’t matter if the thickness was uneven, so long as the page counts roughly matched, it would do.

To help readers track their place, he’d even design two decorative stamps, each one printed on the page margins to mark which scholar’s notes they were reading.

Pleased with the plan, he handed it off to Cui Liangdong and instructed him to deliver it personally to Clerk Xie. Young, delicate Cui Qi was far too at risk of being kidnapped on the streets these days; Cui Liangdong, with his age and rougher features, was a much safer bet.

While Cui Xie remained indoors, diligently tending to his work, Cui Liangdong exaggerated the recent attempted bride-snatching incident as he ran errands, just enough to excuse the family’s decision to hole up, so no one could accuse the Cui household of panicking over nothing.

Proctor Lin, aware of how many in the Imperial College were eyeing Cui Xie as a potential son-in-law, knew well that public chaos was par for the course whenever the court announced a consort selection. With a knowing smile, he readily approved the leave request.

Academician Li Dongyang, upon hearing the tale, laughed heartily. “Your young master nearly got snatched for marriage? That’s one thing. But even that dark-faced, bony old juren of yours was targeted?”

Cui Liangdong sighed with feeling. “At this point, no one’s safe. It’s not just my Young Master and our juren–even squads of Jinyiwei are getting swarmed and dragged off to be sons-in-law!”

Li Dongyang was astonished. “Surely not! Have the people no fear of the Jinyiwei? Don’t the Imperial Guards drive them off?”

Cui Liangdong replied, “My young master saw it himself, one of the squads belonged to Colonel Zheng, that same Colonel Zheng who helps poor scholars. He’s generous, gallant, and loyal, how could he bear to hurt honest folk? Letting one’s daughter marry into his household would be an honor, even as a concubine!”

Apparently, what the operas said, the common people believed, and, perhaps more alarmingly, the Jinyiwei themselves had started believing it too. These days, they were beginning to act more like righteous heroes than enforcers of Imperial will.

Academician Li stroked his beard, chuckling and shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. But then his expression grew grave. “This time it’s the Eastern Palace selecting a Crown Princess, not just palace maids. The candidates are supposed to be presented by their parents, and those not chosen are formally returned with their documents in hand. How has it devolved into such madness? It must be some eunuchs deliberately leaking the news to extort bribes…”

Though not an official censor or member of the Ministry of Justice, Academician Li still possessed a firm sense of duty. He resolved to call on some friendly Imperial censors the very next day, he would get to the bottom of this!

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TN: Hi everyone!! I think this chapter was so funny! Poor Teacher Lu ~ XD

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