Chapter 20: The only copy is the competition as soon as I open my eyes.
As the year draws to a close, Yunshui Garden, where Ying lives, is very deserted.
She was busy copying books behind closed doors, burying herself in piles of papers and writing all day long.
When Ah He got tired of playing with the deerskin drum, he would come and help her grind ink, or when he saw she was tired, he would run behind her to give her a shoulder massage. From time to time, Cong Ying would tilt her head and say a few words to her, praising Ah He to her heart's content.
Jiang Congqian saw this scene at the door and hesitated for a long time before walking in.
"My brother is here!"
Ah He saw him first and ran over to invite him in joyfully. Jiang Congqian glanced at his elder sister and saw that she was only smiling politely, unlike the cheerful expression she had just had. He immediately grasped the corner of his clothes nervously.
Actually... he is a little afraid of his eldest sister.
"Mom asked me to bring glutinous rice balls to my sister..."
The maidservant following Jiang Congqian opened the food box and brought out two bowls of glutinous rice balls made with rock sugar and lotus root powder. Each ball was round and crystal clear, and it was obvious that they were made with care.
"I came to thank my elder sister for helping me become her disciple. Mother asked me to ask when I can go to the Xie family to study."
Jiang Congqian repeated what Zhao had taught him word for word, and even burped twice because of nervousness.
Cong Ying softened her tone, "It will be soon. Classes at the Xie School won't begin until the New Year's Day. Before then, you should thoroughly study the Thousand Character Classic and the Young Scholars' Classics in preparation for the teacher's assessment, okay?"
Jiang Congqian nodded and said yes, but raised his eyes to look at Ah He and thought: My silly second sister must not understand it either.
Cong Ying had no time for tea or snacks. She only took a bite and asked her younger brother and sister to take it to a small table nearby and eat it slowly. She finished copying the book, simply bound the loose pages, and seeing that it was still early, she packed up her bookcase and went out.
After she left, Jiang Congqian felt as if a yoke had been taken off his shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief.
He first looked around Yunshuiyuan, felt it was boring, and nudged Ah He who was concentrating on eating glutinous rice balls with his elbow.
"Hey, do you know why my eldest sister went out?"
Ah He bit the spoon and blinked: "I'm going to sell books in the bookstore. The spring exam after the New Year is coming soon, and the books my sister copied are selling very well."
Jiang Congqian mocked her and said, "Do you know what the Spring Examination is?"
Ah He: "I know, the Spring Examination is the examination held in spring. If you pass it, you will be called a Jinshi and can become an official in the imperial court."
"Then do you know what the test is about?"
Ah He counted on his fingers: "The exams are on the meaning of classics, current affairs, and poetry. The meaning of classics is about the Book of Songs, the Book of Changes, and the Doctrine of the Mean; current affairs are about government and people's well-being; poetry is about—"
“Alright, alright!”
Jiang Congqian interrupted her impatiently: "You can't take the exam, so why bother knowing these useless things? You are really a little fool!"
After saying that, he put down the bowl, got up and ran away.
"You are the little fool! Sister said I am smarter than you." Ah He proudly scooped up a spoonful of small dumplings and chewed them quickly.
These were the things that her elder sister patiently taught her over and over again while she took breaks from copying books. Fortunately, Congqian didn't ask any more questions, otherwise she wouldn't have understood the rest.
"Oh no! I haven't finished memorizing my lessons yet! Sister said she'll check it tonight!"
Ah He suddenly remembered this, and even the glutinous rice balls in the bowl lost their fragrance. He quickly took out a copy of "Youxue Qionglin" from under the table and began to read it aloud.
＊
He came to Wenqutang from Ying, firstly to take the opportunity of the spring examination to consign the collected and copied books of contemporary literature, and secondly to return the original of "Secret Books of the Former Han Dynasty".
As soon as she entered the door, she was caught red-handed by Du Rupan who was waiting for her.
Du Rupan had just returned from outside the city, exhausted. He held a small camphorwood box in his arms and presented it to Cong Ying with great care.
He said, "Teacher's ambition during his lifetime was to compile and edit the 'Secret Slips of the Former Han Dynasty'. I believe Miss Jiang would also be interested in this."
Cong Ying opened the small camphorwood box and found fragments of a folk copy of "Secret Bamboo Slips of the Former Han Dynasty" in the box.
Du Rupan: "I have a friend who is much older than me, who lives in seclusion in the mountains a hundred miles outside the city. This is a fragment passed down from his ancestors. I thought you might like it, so I borrowed it for you to see."
Looking at the things in the box through the firefly, my heart was filled with emotion.
She said: "Censor Du, this item is valuable, you really don't have to do it for me-"
"Mrs. Jiang is here!"
The owner of Wenqutang came over, invited her to sit down with a smile, and took the bookcase she was holding.
"etc--"
Before Cong Ying could stop him, the boss had already opened the bookcase, and the original palace scroll and manuscript of "Secret Letters of the Former Han Dynasty" were clearly displayed in front of Du Rupan.
When he saw the book, the smile on Du Ruban's face slowly froze.
After a while, he closed the camphorwood box he had brought with him and smiled half sadly and half embarrassedly: "Sorry, I thought...it turned out that Madam Jiang had found the palace manuscript. I was rude."
Cong Ying didn't know how to comfort him for a moment. After thinking it over, she said, "I still have a copy of this manuscript at home. If Censor Du is interested, I will send someone to deliver it to your residence."
Censor Du shook his head: "You know, it's not books I want."
…
The entire scene was seen by Prince Jin who was sitting in the compartment on the second floor.
Given his status, it was difficult for him to meet Cong Ying often. Knowing that she often came to Wenqutang, he could only wait for her here early in the morning and look at her from afar to ease his longing for her.
Unfortunately, there are people who share the same idea as him.
In his previous life, Du Rupan also gave Aying a fragment of a letter. At that time, Aying was already his wife.
He took the trouble to prepare a birthday gift for Aying, ordered the Fengchen Guards to tighten the night curfew and urge the Wan family to turn off the lights in their mansions, and then set off fireworks on the city wall for a full hour and invited her to watch them together.
But Ah Ying was not happy and advised him not to mobilize so many people and use public resources for personal gain.
But she smiled at the few pieces of bamboo slips sent by Du Rupan, and even called him "Brother Du".
This is simply outrageous.
He was young and impulsive and did not consider Aying's temperament for disturbing the people by setting off fireworks. He should not have quarreled with Aying for this. During the fifteen years of his widowerhood, he had deeply reflected on this matter.
However, Du Rupan added fuel to the fire and pushed him into the mud with just a few broken bamboo slips. This incident made him feel resentful and he still couldn't get rid of it.
So in this life, he was one step ahead of Du Rupan and found the complete printed version of "Secret Bamboo Slips of the Former Han Dynasty" in the imperial palace library.
Seeing Du Rupan's ashamed look, King Jin sneered in a good mood.
He tapped the wooden box beside him with his fingers, and continued to add fuel to the fire, saying to the waiter, "Go and deliver this box of books to Madam Jiang."
…
Ah Ying didn't want to hurt others with her cold words, but she also didn't want to be too intimate and cause some inappropriate emotions.
This time she was silent for a long time before she spoke: "Censor Du, my grandfather and I both hope that you will have a smooth career and rise to the top. Your Majesty went to great lengths to transfer you back to the capital from Luzhou, hoping that you could succeed your grandfather. She absolutely does not want to see you obsessed with personal feelings and lose your position..."
"Let's put aside these external factors and these so-called circumstances," Du Rupan stared at Cong Ying, "I just want to ask you, what are your selfish motives?"
Before Cong Ying could answer, the bookshop clerk came to her with a box of books.
The boss, who was eavesdropping on the side, took the opportunity to interrupt them and said to Cong Ying, "This is the new collection of books sent by the young master. Miss Jiang, please copy it for you. It's still the same rules. I will pay you ten times the market price, and you can keep the copy for yourself."
Cong Ying took a subconscious glance, and when he saw the inscription on the cover of the book clearly, his eyes changed from casual to shocked.
She no longer cared about Du Rupan, and carefully picked up a book from the box and looked at it carefully.
"The private seal of the Chao Family Library... Is this the 'Three Dynasties National History' annotated by Chao Jiong of the previous dynasty?!"
Du Rupan: "Madam Jiang..."
Cong Ying: "After the Chao family was exterminated in the previous dynasty, this book was also listed as a banned book. After a hundred years of chaos, although there are copies in private hands, they are full of errors and omissions. I didn't expect to see the Chao family's original today. Censor Du, have you ever seen it?"
Du Rupan sighed and shook his head: "I haven't seen it."
Zong Ying's mind was already wandering, and now it was even more distracted. Her eyes were shining, but she was only staring at the book.
Du Rupan recalled her teacher's half-resigned, half-flattering assessment of her: "My granddaughter is a good writer, still fond of classics, history and ancient treatises, and enjoys collecting rare ancient books. She has the ingenious demeanor of Wang Xizhi, who dipped his brush into ink and used it as a writing brush, or Zuo Si, who used his brush as a chopstick."
He was moved when he saw the "History of Three Dynasties" annotated by Chao Jiong, let alone Mrs. Jiang who was crazy about books.
Forget it. Du Rupan thought, today is not the right time, the wrong place, and the wrong gift... Maybe he should try to please her another day, after he finds Gu Ben.
He said goodbye in disappointment. King Jin watched him leave in defeat, and his gaze fell back on Cong Ying.
She was still holding the book, biting her lip and sighing with emotion, her expression bright and lively.
She stared at the book intently, and King Jin also stared at her intently. Through a window gap as narrow as a Dharma door, his gaze was deep and burning, and his emotions were mixed as the past events emerged.
Even though the gaze was real, it failed to disturb her from her concentration.
...this little nerd.
Prince Jin thought slowly in his heart that this time he had finally arrived at the right time and at the right moment. It was unlike his previous life, when he was always treated coldly and had to compete with a bunch of dead things for no reason.
But such cold treatment and quarrels were also a rare and dreamlike good time in the fifteen years of dead silence that followed.
＊
Due to the death of the old Censor Jiang, the Jiang family had a quiet New Year.
During ancestral worship, the eldest of the Jiang family would rather invite distant relatives to fill in the shrine than allow the women of the second branch to enter the ancestral hall. Cong Ying did not argue with him and set up a memorial tablet in the courtyard alone, along with wine, food, and fruits, to worship grandfather and father together with his mother, younger brothers, and sisters.
In front of the brand new tablet, Cong Ying said to his mother, Zhao, "This is all good. I plan to turn the side room into a small ancestral hall. They can worship theirs and we can worship ours."
Zhao disagreed: "It's not legitimate, and others will see it as a family split. How can it be so shameful?"
Cong Ying thought that if the family could really be divided, it would be peaceful.
Zhao added, "Besides, the blessings of our ancestors are bestowed upon those who worship them. This year, your cousin is taking the imperial examination, and your aunt is afraid that others will take away his blessings, so she won't let us go. She'll allow it next year."
"Cousin is going to take the Spring Imperial Examination?" Cong Ying didn't know about this. "Isn't the eldest son planning to buy an official position for him?"
Zhao shook her head. "Perhaps the money for the official position hasn't been collected yet. Alas, it's exactly what we lack, our 150,000 taels."
Cong Ying didn't believe this was the reason.
She asked Ji Caibing to help find out, and learned that at the last court meeting before the New Year, due to the dispute between the noble lord and Prime Minister Xie, the national policy for the new year's spring examination changed.
"You mean to say that the Emperor agreed to your Lordship's proposal to allow the sons of the aristocracy to take the imperial examinations together with the scholars from humbler families, and to judge their performance based on their writing?"
Ji Caibing nodded, recalling the gossip she had heard in her own restaurant: "And he even let your master take charge of this matter."
This is a strange thing, thought Ying, holding the teacup.
There are two ways to become an official in the Great Zhou Dynasty. One is to be born into a prominent family and follow the old system of the previous dynasty. After coming of age, as long as one can pass simple clerical or martial arts tests, he can be appointed as an official by virtue of the family's favor, such as the children of the Xie family.
Secondly, although they came from a poor family, they studied hard and took the exams all the way from the county to Yunjing. With their great talent, they passed the imperial examinations and became officials in the court, such as Censor Jiang and Censor Du.
The former is from an aristocratic family, while the latter is from a clean family. They have two different paths and two different backgrounds, and they are clearly divided and opposed to each other in the court. Whenever they quarrel, they attack each other as "ignorant dandy" or "rude and uncouth."
Cong Ying analyzed, "Perhaps the Emperor is fed up with the conflict between these two factions and plans to use the imperial examination system to select officials and gradually abolish the system of favoritism among aristocratic families. Most of your supporters are from humble backgrounds who are incompatible with the aristocratic families. Of course, your Lordship would welcome this, but how could Prime Minister Xie easily agree?"
Ji Caibing: "Maybe it's because Minister Xie is a good person."
Cong Ying shook her head slightly.
Prime Minister Xie is indeed known for his virtue, but his virtue is not uncontested.
She thought of someone else and asked Ji Caibing, "I heard that after Prince Jin woke up from his coffin, he became quite different and even attended court regularly. Sister, do you know his attitude towards this matter? Does he agree with Prime Minister Xie or with your Excellency?"
Speaking of Prince Jin, Ji Caibing's first thought was the incident in which she attacked Third Young Master Xie in a dark alley.
“He…”
Ji Caibing looked embarrassed and thought to himself, since Prince Jin and Xie San have a feud, he should support your lord.
She said, "I heard that the Prince of Jin fell ill at the end of the year and did not appear at the court meeting this time."
"Are you sick again?" Zong Ying was startled, and a pale and thin face appeared in her mind.
The sickness emanated from his bones, and he seemed to be hanging on to his last breath. If it weren't for his pair of deep phoenix eyes, which gave him a bit of tenderness when looking at people, he would have looked like a ghost forced to stay in the world.
In the past, hearing that Prince Jin was often ill was like hearing an anecdote, but now, after several interactions, he has become a living person in Cong Ying's heart.
I couldn't help but feel a little touched.
Next time I go back to Xuandu Temple, I should pray for the health of His Royal Highness Prince Jin. Cong Ying thought to herself.
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