Chapter 93
From the first day of May, after two days of lectures and one day of recitation, in the blink of an eye, it was the start of the Dragon Boat Festival. When Cui Xie awoke in the morning, nevertheless, he quietly took out that bundle of multicolored thread, tying it up high on his left arm. When his robe sleeves were rolled down, others would not be able to see it. When it started raining, the thread was to be thrown into water, as according to tradition. It is said that doing as such will allow any ailments and illness to flow away with the water.
Cui Xie was not that kind of superstitious person and he did not pay much attention to customs when he was a real child in his previous life. But, this colored thread had been a gift from someone else and they had intended for him to wear it.
There was no school holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival and when he was leaving, Cui Xie instructed someone to take zongzi1 and wrap it up nicely according to the procedure when Advisor Cui had been present to send as gifts. Add some exquisite aihu2 and send a generous amount to the Xie Residence.
With his schoolbag, Cui Xie headed towards the Imperial College carrying a basket full of zongzi and a spiced sachet bag meant to ward off evil was tied to his waist. The Imperial College had also instructed the workers to hang bulrush shaped into dragons and wormwood shaped into a tiger. The weaved tigers had plump and short bodies, with two small ears popping up, just like the clay tigers commonly seen in folkart. With those kinds of tigers, the ornaments were so fragrant that the whole school was full of aroma and there were fewer flies flitting about in the rooms during summer.
Cui Xie first set the basket full of zongzi down in the hall and then followed the Hall Chief to the lecture hall to listen to the review lecture.
The lecture on the second day was given by Chancellor Qiu Jun personally. He lectured on the first chapter of 《Analects·Xian Jin Chapter 11》, where” Confucious said: ‘The men of former times, in the matters of ceremonies and music, were rustics’ ” which perfectly coincided with the prompt of their first essay, “The men of former times, in the matters of ceremonies and music”, on the Four Books from the examination last month. From his observations, the process resembled the teaching practices in later generations of elementary and middle school. After taking an examination, a teacher would reteach the main points of the text and analysis to strengthen their student’s knowledge.
Qiu Jun finally lectured to the second chapter where “Confucius said: ‘Of those who were with me in Chen and Cai, there are none to be found to enter my door,’” at long last, Cui Xie was picked from the draw to answer the prompt. After tarrying for so many days and cycling through dozens of students who answer the questions during the review lecture, it was finally his turn….it was because he was unlucky.
As Cui Xie walked to the stage, he looked at the 600 and more black square caps in the hall as well as the serious and reserved faces of the teachers up on the stage. He felt that he had been picked to go to the stage to answer a question because he had played too much by going to the Xie family’s farmstead on his first day of break and lost all his luck.
Fortunately, he had memorized all his notes. While he was reviewing, he had also drawn a mind map and had kneaded the relevant information into an expandable place. After drawing from these notes, he could last for at least three questions, right?
He bowed to the Chancellor, Director and instructors before turning to face the rest of the hall and first loudly recited, “Confucius said: ‘Of those who were with me in Chen and Cai, there are none to be found to enter my door,’. After reciting this passage, he would start with the story of Confucious, Chen and Cai.
In the 《Analects》, there were only a few sentences that truly refer to Chen and Cai, like the small phrase, “The Duke Ling of Wei asked Confucious about tactics”. Cui Xie first quoted the passage where Confucious educated Lu, “The superior man may indeed have to endure want, but the common man, when he is in want, gives way to unbridled license” , “the Sage should do what needs to be done without any worries”, “entrenched in one’s poverty”, “without regrets”.
After quoting chapters and sentences from the 《Analects》, Cui Xie began quoting from the 《School Sayings of Confucious》. Although the 《School Sayings of Confucious》had long been concluded the text was a forgery since the Song Dynasty, in the 《Collection of Conservations of Master Zhu》, a mere chapter later, in the story of 《Nan Rong frequently repeating the lines about a white scepter stone》, there was an annotation that said, “See the 《School Sayings of Confucious》and it will be clear”. This clearly showed Zhu Xi’s recognition of the historical relevance and materials in the 《School Sayings of Confucious》.
Zhu Xi was now a sage respected by scholars, so Cui Xie dared to use what he had used.
Cui Xie recounted the reason why Confucious was in Chen and Cai from the volume containing《Zai’e Chapter 20》as well as detailing the dialogue Confucious had with his disciple, Zi Lu:
After Confucious left the Duke Ling of Wei, he was invited by King Zhao of Chu to go to the state of Chu. The officials of the Chen and Cai states thought that Confucious was a wise and holy sage. If he were to be appointed as an official in the state of Chu, voicing concerns about the ills of the day, it would surely make the state of Chu prosperous and would not benefit the two countries, hence, the officials rejected Confucious.
For seven days, Confucius was starved of food and received no help outside and his followers all fell sick. His disciple’s confidence and faith in his ‘Dao’ (path) had been shaken, but he was still able to fervently give lectures and his zither and song rang out, unfaltering. Confucius still called students to teach by himself and inquired whether his path should be practiced or not in the world, and how he had come to fall into such straitened circumstances. It was his disciples, Zi Lu, Duanmu Ci, and Yan Hui, these three, who individually left their answer and imparted their teachings.
In the chapter , “The Duke Ling of Wei asks the state of Chen”, Zhong Zilu asked his master, Confucius, “Does the superior man likewise have to endure in this way?”. This question was the origin of this prompt.
After referencing the original texts from the 《Analects》, it was time to move to the annotations. Zhu Xi’s phrasing and explanation was similar to the original. They all said that the disciples who accompanied Confucious while being trapped by the state of Chen and Cai were not under the sect at that time and Confucious missed his fellow sect brothers while facing such tribulations.
After this passage of Confucious’ words, there were the ‘Ten Philosophers’ recorded by his disciples, that is, the ten most outstanding individuals among the disciples of Confucious at that time: The philosophers of the ‘path of morality and conduct’ were Yan Hui, Min Ziqian, Ran Boniu and Zhong Gong; philosophers of the ‘path of oration’ included Zai Wo and Duanmu Ci; philosophers of the ‘path of government affairs’ included Ran You and Zi Lu while the philosophers of the ‘path of literature’ included Zi You and Zi Xia.
In this chapter, one must disentangle the relationships between the four disciplines and then explain the identities of the ten philosophers respectively.
Cui Xie first recited the chapters and sentences containing the relevant information and then quoted from the 《Comprehensive Collection of the Four Books》: ‘Zhu Xi said that virtue is the foundation of action’, ‘virtue is has both internal and external components that is stringed together to explain the entire matter’, and ‘the three disciplines are a part of one larger discipline’. This explained why virtue was regarded the most important out of all four disciplines. Then, using the Four Books for the interpretation, Cui Xie explained why it had been further divided into the other three disciplines: oration, government affairs and literature: Oration referred to being an expert in diplomacy and rhetoric, government affairs referred to being an expert in aiding monarchs and governing the people, literature referred to understanding the meaning of poetry, rites and music.
Based on his disciples’ personal strengths, Confucius separated them into their respective disciplines and taught them in accordance with their aptitude so they could each achieve their own achievements. And these Ten Philosophers were the best and most knowledgeable about these four disciplines.
Just who were these Ten Philosophers? Although everyone had memorized such figures, when speaking, in order to delay the time, Cui Xie still had to talk about them in detail. Cui Xie did not care whether his classmates were bored to death hearing him speak at length and just sincerely quoted the identities of these ten disciples, their teachings and deeds from the《Records of the Grand Historian·The Historical Biography of Confucius’ Disciples》.
After reciting all of them, Cui Xie quotes, “Confucious says: Out of seventy, there are seven people who have inherited all teachings from their master” and he also extracted from annotations describing the time period, “The worthy disciples of the sage were not limited to just these named few.” Zengzi expounded on the wisdom of ancient sages and taught Zisi and Mencius, who passed down the most orthodox version of the Confucian school of thought. However, among the Ten Philosophers listed in this chapter, there was no Zengzi, who was a great missionary sage. Hence, the works of that time period regarded these four disciplines and Ten Philosophers were merely theories and secular sayings, which are not enough to be employed as the truth.
Speaking of this, the chapter finally concluded. If one insisted, they could also pull out Xu Gan, one of the seven sons of Emperor Xian in the Han Dynasty, who said in the《Analects ·The Way of Wisdom》, that Zengzi ‘could not be compared with the others in the four disciplines, because his talent was not as good’. Then, when speaking of how Zengzi disseminated his teachings to Mencius, a sage who was above the ‘virtue’ discipline, he reversed Zengzi’s virtuousness and talents, forcibly slapping the other in the face with such talent.
However, Cui Xie had been talking for a long time and it would be meaningless to rebut himself so he took the opportunity to cease talking, turned around and saluted, telling the instructors that he had finished answering.
Chancellor Qiu Jun nodded with a smile, and encouraged, “Contrary to what one might expect, you do not have any stage fright and this answer to this lecture can be regarded as well-prepared.”
Director Fei also chimed in, “The answer was relatively detailed. I think the rarest thing is that at his age, he possessed such calm steadiness. Ordinary students suffer a little stage fright when they are called up for the first time and even if they had memorized everything well, they may blank on certain parts. But, he is still able to control what he wants to say, cites from multiple sources and talks eloquently. From what I can tell, there are still some unfinished analyses and meanings from what you have said….”
He gave Cui Xie a onceover and asked, “There are so many instructors and senior students here, are you not afraid?”
Not afraid. The main reason was because Cui Xie used to be a representative for a variety of things. He had received national grants and scholarships and spoke a lot on stage before, so he was long used to it.
Cui Xie replied calmly, “It is precisely because I am in front of the instructors and my peers that I am not afraid. If I am correct, I am not afraid to expound on my thoughts. If I am wrong, I can correct myself immediately if the instructor corrects me on the spot. This is such a good thing, why should I be afraid?”
Chancellor Qiu Jun beamed, “That is right, young people must possess such vigor. Watching him, it makes me think of Zichong. I will ask him to come up with the next question. It is more interesting if two young people are giving lectures.”
The clerk called Fei Hong to go up to the stage.
When Cui Xie came down from the stage, he happened to encounter Fei Hong in front of the stage. He cupped his hands in greeting and shot him a sympathetic look. Fei jieyuan3 did not seem to be bothered by the sudden request to come onto stage to give a lecture and he bowed lowly to Cui Xie. He walked up to the stage full of energy and continued talking about the next chapter, ‘Confucius said: “Hui gives me no assistance. There is nothing that I say in which he does not delight.’”
Fei Hong spoke very naturally, with a resonant voice. He spoke a little fast, revealing his quick thinking and he seemed to have an abundant source of knowledge on the scriptures and history hidden in his mind. The other jiansheng4 who came up after him could not compare to him. Cui Xie slacked a little in his note-taking, only noting down the citations and skipped the explanations added by the students themselves.
The day passed with these review lectures and those who had already gone once were not to be picked again. Cui Xie listened to these lectures for half a day and returned to the Hall to share his basket of zongzi with his classmates. When walking towards the Hall of Sincerity, he saw a few students gathered in the corridor, as if watching something.
Could the examination results have been posted?
Cui Xie remembered the little Fei jieyuan he had met during the lecture and was also curious about what the other’s writings looked like. Hence, he squeezed into the crowd and looked at the papers on the wall through the empty spaces between the student’s heads.
Judging from the handwriting, the papers had been rewritten in the style of one of the Four Great Calligraphers of the Early Tang, Ouyang Xun. It seemed that the examination papers had been transcribed by the instructors in the Imperial College, so it was impossible to tell who it was. In addition, the names had been removed. Cui Xie could not force his way in so he asked from behind, “Whose essay is it, can someone read it out?”
The person in the front said without looking up, “Ouyuan Xun style calligraphy….don’t squeeze, I am copying here. I’ll pass it on to everyone once I am finished.”
Some kind-hearted students also replied, “Not only here, but there is one pasted outside each of the six Halls. It will be posted for three days. If you are not in a hurry, you can take a look later or find someone to copy off their copy. Those who are congregated here have to finish copying it before they will leave and even then, they will not leave so easily.”
Since there were many people here, Cui Xie was not in a hurry to read it. Besides, the Hall Chiefs possessed a copy. He had let others borrow his notes so many times, naturally, there must be someone willing to lend him a copy.
Cui Xie thanked the crowd, but ultimately decided to head into the Hall to get to his zongzi first. As he walked further along the corridor, within a few steps, he heard someone chanting, “ ‘The Sage, in ritual and music, states what people of the time should value, and expresses what he himself does.’ ” A faint voice of praise floated into his ears, praising how this sentence broke the topic extremely appropriately, fair, honest but also gentle.
He also felt that the opening was written well and the atmosphere in the beginning was good, there was a lot of room to write unconstrained and freely later on. What would the chengti or the amplification look like? Unconsciously, Cui Xie halted in his tracks, wanting to listen to a few more words, but these people were only commenting on the opening. Eventually, the just about finished their assessment and were about to start reading the part of the amplification, but a somewhat inharmonious voice cut in–
“Although this sentence is well broken, the three phases of the opening lengthened the rhyme and rhythm, which is insufficiently powerful. I see that this essay has the opening, ‘The Sage states the detriments of what the people value, and reveals the values most used’, I think this opening is much more thorough.”
This sentence…this sentence was written by Cui Xie!
How could his examination paper be posted!
Why hadn’t he run away quickly when he could have? Why did he insist on staying here to listen to the papers being read!
- Zongzi: traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves, or sometimes with reed or other large flat leaves. They are cooked by steaming or boiling ↩︎
- Aihu: traditional medicine using the meat of steppe polecat. It has the effects of dispelling cold, relieving spasms, promoting blood circulation and dredging blood. Commonly used in epilepsy, paralysis, hemiplegia ↩︎
- Jieyuan: first-placed candidate in the provincial imperial examinations ↩︎
- Jiansheng: University student having passed the provincial examination ↩︎
TN: Hope everyone is doing well, long time no see!! I am finally back from hiatus and planning on resuming my normal schedule of posting once a week on Sundays for TMD. I’m sorry it took me so long to come back, I’ve been super busy with grad school applications and my senior year, but I am glad to be back 🙂
Huge 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 college 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 
Oh boy >w<
Thank You for the new chapter (∩˃o˂∩)♡
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so cute. He’s so shy about being in the limelight lol
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