CH 38
The panic buying tempest caused by the release of the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》lasted for more than half a month and the demand finally began to fall. Eventually, the employees in the study finally had the time to take their holidays in rotation and Wang Xiangzhen was itching to set foot through the gate of the Cui Residence.
At that time, Cui Xie was in the newly-built study located in the West Wing, extracting excerpts from a book’s chapters and summarizing the couplets written in the Four Books. Young Master Wang pushed open the doors to the study and directly entered into the West Wing. Only then did Cui Xie get up and greet the visitor, “Why has Wang xiong come here?”
Xiong: part of shixiong which means big brother disciple/senior/older brother (man). This is usually used by peers to refer to their classmates, members of the same sect/school etc, otherwise it is used to refer to someone senior to yourself. Here, it just means fellow brother.
Wang Xiangzhen complained, “Naturally, it is because I am taking pity on the four beauties and are afraid that they will be bashful and have difficulties in bearing gazes from those who are peeping at them. I wanted to find Cui xiongdi earlier so I can start building a golden house to keep one’s mistress later when I go back.”
Xiongdi: younger brother
A golden house to keep one’s mistress (idiom): a magnificent house built for a beloved women. Here, Wang Xiangzhen is referring to the four beauty portraits not his actual mistress that was mentioned in previous chapters
Was this humor or had this otaku really prepared some two-dimensional residence prepared for the characters? Cui Xie taciturnedly pondered for a moment and then agreed, “Since Wang xiong is in urgent need, then it’ll be best to just take them away. Check over them for any damage or fading colors. Whether it needs repairing or repainting, I will try my best to do them.”
Wang Xiangzhen grinned and said, “No need, I’ve already borrowed those servants you hired to keep guard to continue to watch over the scrolls attentively. If there were any tears or spoiled areas, I would have wanted you to repaint it a long time ago.
He bared his mouthful of ivory white teeth, gleefully declaring, “In fact, my father only wants these four painting scrolls to use as gifts for Lunar New Year. But I wanted to come in advance, so I can enjoy them for a few more days as well as commission someone to trace a copy so I can enjoy them for a very long time.”
Cui Xie glanced at him, and asked him in a strange tone, “Why are you finding others to copy them, won’t it be enough if I just draw another copy for you?”
Young Master Wang faced towards the piece of paper on Cui Xie’s study desk and pouted, “Your studying comes first, how can I just use you casually? I’ll just find a decent paper to sketch it. How much do these four paintings cost?”
Cui Xie laughed, “Based on Wang xiong’s friendship with me, do we still need to care about these few silver taels? Not to mention, you bought so many of my family’s prints and books before, it is not considered too much for me to add these paintings along with them.”
He personally lugged the four huge hanging wall scrolls and handed them over to Wang Xiangzhen’s hands, warning repeatedly, “These painting scrolls weren’t adorned well, only a segment of damask was layered underneath the paper. Later, you should commission some craftsman to add some decorative gold and jade pieces to readorn it. Who asked you to choose works done by me, a painter completely lacking in reputation? Besides, all the drawn things can be barely prestigious enough to look at, let alone be fit to be in the presence of company?”
Wang Xiangzhen unfolded a bit of the scroll, admiring the lifelike and fragrant beauty portrait, smiling to say, “It doesn’t matter. My father is planning on giving these as gifts to Vice-Commissioner Cheng from the Rear Military Commision and it won’t be given to a civil official anyways. Who will pay such close attention to the difference, ‘Drenched in water like Cao’s paintings, fluttering like the sashes in Wu’s paintings‘? Your beauty portraits exuberate vibrant vitality and life.”
Tongzhi: otherwise known as Vice-Commissioners (rank 2b) of the five Branch Regional Military Commissions under the bigger institution of the Five Chief Military Commissions that supervised professional military affairs with the Ministry of War.
The Ming Dynasty government consisted of the six Ministries and the five Chief Military Commissions. The five Chief Military Commissions were the basic military administration. The Five Military Commissions were as such: Front Military Commision, Rear Military Commision, Left Military Commision, Right Military Commision and the Middle Military Commision according to geographic location. Each of the Chief Military Commissions was headed by unprescribed numbers of Commissioners in Chief (dudu, rank 1a), Vice Commissioners in Chief (rank 1b) and Assistant Commissioners in Chief (rank 2a). Collectively referred to as the Five Commissions, these organs had arbitrarily defined geographical jurisdictions, within which they supervised the activities of all military units and concerned with the specialized “professional” aspects of military administration whereas the Ministry of War dealt with problems of personnel and supply. For field operations, Commissioners in Chief controlled tactics by the Ministry determined basic policies and troop dispositions. At the provincial level, were Regional Military Commissions assigned for supervision to one or another of the Chief Military Commissions at the capital. There was an establishment in each of the thirteen provinces and one in each of the three vital areas along the northern frontier. Besides these, there were five Branch Regional Military Commissions. Each Commission or Branch commision is directed by a Regional commissioner (rank 2a), two Vice-Commissioners (tongzhi rank 2b) and four Assistant Commissioners (rank 3a).
Drenched in water like Cao’s paintings, fluttering like the sashes in Wu’s paintings: This phrase refers to two different drawing styles implemented in traditional Chinese paintings when it comes to drawing people. ‘Drenched in water like Cao’s paintings’ is a style originated from Cao Zhongda, a painter noted for painting closely clinging drapery that made his figures look as though they had been drenched in water, the brushwork rigid and thick. The latter half, ‘fluttering like the sashes in Wu’s paintings’ is a style originating from Tang Painter, Wu Daozi noted for his curvy and graceful style that made it seem like the sashes worn by figures in his paintings were fluttering gracefully like as if a wind was blowing.
Ha ha. As expected, just treat my portrait as spring portraits (erotic/yellow paintings) and offer it to those at the top then?
As expected of the Chenghua reign where the Senior Grand Councilor would add some little erotic articles in the Emperor’s court memorials. There was even the case of the “Imperial Censor that Resurrected the Bird”, a Imperial Censor who had presented medicine to the Senior Grand Councilor for treating impotency——everyone in this era had such low moral principles. While there was a smile that traced Cui Xie’s face, in his heart, he firmly pledged that he would not sign his real name on the painting——just let Young Master Wang say that he had invited a famous painter instead. Besides, at this point of time, there was still no such thing as crowdsourcing information for doxing yet.
During the Chenghua reign period of the Xianzong Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the plot and long standing collaboration of Consort Wan and her Eunuchs corrupted the functioning of the Government and led to the decline of State Authority overall. It is said that a ballad which was written at that time describes the existing political situation the best: “The Three Grand Councillors/Secretaries are like paper Puppets, the six Ministers are like clay dolls”. The Three Grand Councilors refers to eunuchs Liu Ji, Liu Xu and Wan An, who history has deemed to be “men of little capability” yet having great talents for subversion, malversion and sycophancy. Wan An was the nephew of Consort Wan and functioned as her spy planted within the Cabinet of Councilors (Grand Secretariat) keeping an eye on the Eunuchs for them. The six ministers in turn were judged to be black sheep, people who merely followed and connived with Lady Wan’s clique in order to further their own positions and fortunes. Meanwhile, the Emperor distracted himself with his (unusual) obsession for the mystical philosophies of Daoism and continuous womanizing, neglecting his duties as Emperor. There was no oversight to speak of. With the Emperor disinterested in state affairs it was increasingly difficult for the Ministers to meet with the Emperor, thus leaving day-to-day Governance to the Eunuch Councilors who had no education and little experience beyond corrupting the Court.
Wan An had a disciple named Ni Jinxian, because of a secret recipe in the family he was successfully promoted to Imperial Censor. Wan An suffered from Erectile Dysfunction in later years and due to his disciple’s timely intervention with the secret recipe, Ni Jinxian was awarded the title of “Imperial Censor that Resurrected the Bird”.
Young Master Wang readily agreed and asked the person next to him to carry the scrolls, saying that he was going to find a renowned expert to make an inscription to raise the worth of the paintings. Just before leaving, he asked Cui Xie, “Would you like to send gifts back to Beijing for Lunar New Year? If you are, just ask my residence’s carriage to lug it over together, and it will also save the trouble of having that old servant of yours running back and forth in the harsh ice and snow.”
Cui Residence….as for the gifts for his parents, there was no need in that regard, but proper gifts should be prepared for his grandfather and grandmother. Moreover, he had received the generosity and help of many people along his journey to Qian’an, and he would need to employ the help of a lot of people. It was time to give these people gifts for the New Year. Young Master Wang is the noble son of a third-grade Guard Commander and had contacts with the capital’s Five Commission’s Commissioners-in -Chief. It was much more convenient for Young Master Wang to find people than if Cui Xie personally acted.
Third Grade Guard Commander is the highest ranked military official under Wei (Guards) which is the highest rank among the Lower levels of the Provincial Level Regional Military Commissions
Reminder of rankings in the Military Organization of Five Chief Military Commissions (National Level):
Commissioners-in-Chief (dudu rank 1a)
Two Vice Commissioners in Chief (tongzhi rank 1b)
Assistant Commissioners in Chief ( qianshi rank 2a)
Provincial Level Regional Military Commissions:
Regional Commissioner (rank 2A)
Two Vice Commissioners (tongzhi rank 2b)
Four Assistant Commissioners (rank 3a)
Lower Levels:
Guards (Wei): each guard under control of one Guard Commander (zhihui shi rank 3a), two Vice Commanders (rank 3b) and four Assistant Commanders (rank4). Each Wei also had two Judges and a military school.
Battalions/Colonels (qianhu): Each battalion had a Battalion Commander (qianhu rank 5a). Two Vice Commanders (fu qianhu rank 5b) and two judges (chenfu rank 6b)
Companies (baihu)
He contemplated for a while and embarrassedly asked, “I have people that I want to give gifts to in Beijing, but I do not know where they live. I only know that it is one of the qianhu or Battalion Colonel’s offices belonging to the Northern Administrative Division and need to invite Wang xiong to help investigate where he is located. Will this matter be too troublesome?”
There are three secret intelligence organizations that popped up in the Ming Dynasty: the Eastern Depot (spy/secret police) run by eunuchs. They were responsible for spying on officials of any rank, including military officers, scholars, rebels, and the general populace. The Eastern Depot would investigate and arrest suspects, and then hand them over to the Jinyiwei for interrogation. The Western Depot was created to search for witches but became a rival to the Eastern Depot. Inner Branch Depot was created to counter the two depots and the jinyiwei.
While all three depots were run by Eunuchs, there were special Jinyiwei agencies based on the two capitals (Beijing (main) and Nanjing (auxiliary). The offices of the Northern Administrative Division are responsible for criminal investigations and specialized imprisonment as determined by the Emperor. The office possesses the rights to imprison, arrest, interrogate, and execute without going through general judicial institutions. This agency was basically seen as the personal spy agency of the Emperor. Whoever is in charge of the Northern Administrative Division has the greatest authority among the Jinyiwei. This is paralleled with the Southern Administrative Division which is responsible for upholding the law, disciplining and military corrections of the jinyiwei themselves. They were responsible for archiving the records and files about judicial and military matters. They acted as agencies that kept each other in check.
Wang Xiangzhen was so surprised that he almost jumped out of his chair, exclaiming, “You have relations with someone in the Northern Administrative Division? Which one of the five qianhu offices is it? This gege is usually a bit clumsy, this kind of personages, one cannot easily make friends with them…” He suddenly slapped his thigh and with an expression as if he had been overwhelmed by a favor from a superior, he inquired, “Did you specifically ask for gege to make this trip for you? Good brother, gege will never forget your kindness!”
Cui Xie smiled bitterly, “What making friends, it was only that he had given a hand to me a few times, and I want to give back one or two favors. I am afraid that the other party will not even bat an eye at the gifts I send over.”
Just now, Young Master Wang had wanted to drag Cui Xie to the nearest temple to become sworn brothers, but after hearing this, his excited state calmed down a lot. He threw out the plan of going to the Lord Guan Temple, but the gifts still needed to be given, so he said, “This is nothing much, just reaching out a hand to give a present. Every year, my Father presents the ice and coal offerings, and doesn’t each and every one of them still recognize us? Receiving gifts, isn’t it always a distinctively delightful event? Oh right, what were you going to send over? A few copies of the Cui paper and a few sets of the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》?”
Lord Guan or Guan Yu is a martial deity widely worshipped. He was a Chinese military general serving in the Three Kingdoms era during ancient China. His moral deeds and qualities make him one Asia’s most popular paradigms of loyalty, righteousness and heroism. During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle credited his success in overthrowing Emperor Jianwen to the blessing of Guan Yu.
Short explanation of ice and coal offerings: Any surplus tax collected that year would go to the local officials personal coffers, but senior officials in the capital who had a hard time collecting county/provincial taxes would have lower level officials send the money over as “ice or coal offerings”, the name ice/coal depended on the season.
Long explanation: In order to tackle the problem of official corruption, Emperor Yongzheng introduced an “honesty incentive” (yang lian yin system). Tax was payable in silver pieces, silver handed over by taxpayers was cast into silver ingots before being passed onto higher authorities. For a long time, extra tax would be charged in order to compensate for the wastage resulting in the casting process, which is named Huo Hao. Once the correct and accurate amount is handed over, the remainder goes to the local government (haoxian). The part not used to finance public expenditure customarily became the officials personal property to spend. However, since senior officials above county level were usually up in the capital, the local officials would have to distribute the others’ fair share in the form of gifts. These gifts were known under many names: money passed in summer was known as bing jing or ice offering, while in the winter, it was referred to as a coal offering (tan jing). A festival offering (jie jing) was sent on occasion of a public festival and a good wishes offering (zhu jing) in celebration of a senior official’s birthday and a “new year offering” was called at (nian jing). A respect offering was called zhi jing accompanied a visit to one’s teacher or superior An official leaving the capital was presented with a farewell offering (bie jing). But they were all regarded as underhanded practices.
His residence would only give presents to be sent to the capital at the end of the year, and Cui Xie had not properly decided what the present was going to be. As such, he mentioned the name, Xie Ying, and asked Wang Xiangzhen to help him make some discreet inquiries. Wang Xiangzhen’s eyes bugged out and widened, and he clutched his chest dramatically, “The First Battalion Jinyiwei, Colonel Xie?”
Taking the opportune moment, Cui Xie described how he had dazedly assisted Colonel Xie in Tongzhou, who then requested an Imperial commendation for his help. Wang Xiangzhen listened for a long while without so much as breathing and only commented after a long time, “Cui–xiongdi, you are truly fated with having a noble fate to be helped by others. Colonel Xie is a person with face in the palace, and he has handled several big cases. The person who had held my father’s position before him, Guard Commander Fu, had been falsely accused, and that case was investigated by Colonel Xie. At that time, he was only ten or so years old, following Vice Commander Zhao to go out and handle matters….No, this isn’t good, this gege’s heart is beating a bit too fast. I need to go back and have a drink to suppress it. Relax and sit first, just give me the gift before the end of the year.”
Wang Xiangzhen swiveled around and walked a few steps, but then turned around to say, “ It is not serious if you cannot prepare a neat and beautiful gift, gege will help you supplement, and promise to handle this matter dignifiedly and gloriously.”
Young Master Wang was brimming with ambition and quivered three times as he took a step. Cui Xie sent him back and began to brainstorm what he could give. Originally, he had believed that he would be unable to find Colonel Xie and would only be able to wait for the other party’s people to find him. Since Young Master Wang was willing to lend a hand, then he would be able to send the other a gift just in time before the year ended.
But, Colonel Xie would not want these things of his, instead only urging Cui Xie to study hard for his examinations.
He sat back down at his study table thoughtfully, and caught sight of the Four Books’ pages crammed with antithetical couplets, his heart suddenly moving——Wasn’t this the result of his hard work in his studies these past few days? At the present, there were only a few decent antithetical couplet enlightenment primer books out there. If he compiled all of the couplets in the Four Books into a single book, at the very minimum, he would be regarded as a famous supplemental textbook writer, the contemporary Wang Houxiong of this decade.
Wang Houxiang: a special grade teacher in China and a member of countless different nationally famous teaching committees (notably for Chemistry) and a professor and doctoral tutor at the Central China Normal University engaged in university teaching and examination research and he is the director of many other examination-like institutes. He once published a series of practice/testing books that every student taking the college entrance examination would have to use to pass. He is worshipped as one of the “Big Three” before the college examinations by students.
Compiling these couplets would be way more impressive than plagiarizing Zheng Banqiao. In the future, when he meets Colonel Xie again in Beijing, no matter how he would test Cui Xie, Cui Xie should be able to answer it with confidence. In the end, this course of action would be the best compared to if Cui Xie copied out a breathtaking poem for people to read now, then it would be disastrous to only be able to hammer out a barely pieced together passable poem in the future.
He settled down his excited feelings and he slowly perused through his memory for a spell of time. Then, he picked up his brush and continued writing after the most recent sentence: ‘Earnest in what he is doing and careful in his speech’ followed by a ‘maintain firm the will, and do no violence to the passion-nature’. After pondering for a long time, Cui Xie used the ‘maintain firm the will and do no violence to the passion-nature’ as the upper couplet and matched it with the phrase, ‘Abiding in it calmly and firmly, he reposes a deep reliance on it’.
He calmly wrote down the lower half of the couplet. Just at that moment, Clerk Ji who was lending a hand in the rear printing workshop had caught wind that Young Master Wang had snatched the painting scrolls and could no longer suppress or calm his worries. He headed to the front courtyard and asked, “Can the Young Master draw two more of those scrolls? Although there are fewer people buying copies of the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》 , the study could still sell more than ten copies a day, and there were quite a few customers who bought the books and paper just to see the paintings. Just suddenly removing the hanging scrolls, I am afraid that those guests would raise a cacophonous ruckus.”
This couldn’t be helped. They had borrowed Young Master Wang’s workers and even employed a Guard Commander’s power to help with sales. Shouldn’t there be some price to be paid?
Cui Xie gave him a comforting smile, “It is of no matter, I will just inform the guests tomorrow that our store is holding a new event and as such, the beauty scrolls will not be displayed. Instead,I will invite the customers to vote for the top beauty in the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》. After the event is concluded, we will change it to a new erotic….a new painting.”
Clerk Ji just stood there agape and tongue-tied, “What method should be used to choose? No matter how good these four beauties are, they are still merely paintings. They are not true beauties; they can’t play or pluck instruments and have people choose who is the best performer, the queen of flowers ah. Then will we have to find a few theatrical troupes to perform the story of the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》together?”
Queen of flowers (huakui): nickname for a famous beauty or courtesan
His study’s Clerk Ji was truly promising afterall, already possessing the awareness of starting the process of creating intellectual property by remaking theatrical work!
Cui Xie secretly complimented Clerk Ji in his heart and decided to leave the matter to him to deal with once he had the chance. But now was not the time to think about the future, one had to first deal with dismantling the display stands first.
Cui Xie instructed, “You go and prepare four big boxes like those merit boxes often seen in the temples and then. On each box, respectively paste the characters, ‘Goddess Product’, ‘Immortal Product’, ‘Demon Product’, and ‘Underworld Product’. Ask Worker Huang to use the table of contents in our book as a reference as he prints the characters on the boxes and then places them outside the store. Tomorrow, if a customer inquires why the hanging scrolls are not on display, tell them that there is an event to choose the top beauty going on. Any customer who buys a copy of the book can place a vote. The beauty with the most votes will be displayed on the wall, to preserve their beauty forever.”
Merit (gongde) boxes (xiang): This is a box in which visitors of the temple are free to donate money. These boxes are targeted to raise money for internal temple funds.
“Then how will we differentiate between who bought the book and who hasn’t? How do you know if someone has already voted or not?” Clerk Hi bitterly grumbled, “There have been too many orders these past few days, and this small one cannot remember all the transactions. What if there is someone who sends their servant with their book to come vote in their stead numerous times?
Wasn’t it normal for fans to try to vote multiple times? That was but a common occurrence. Just keeping the readers from making too much trouble would be just fine. Cui Xie slightly grinned, “Do you remember the flower printed on the corner of the backside of the title page? Ask the voters to cut the flower out and put it in the box to vote. It doesn’t matter too much if no one votes. Besides, it is just a method to delay some time and distract them away from the scrolls being withdrawn from the display. I’m afraid I won’t have time to paint any new scrolls until after the New Year.”
Clerk Ji arranged the matter in fear and trepidation. He originally thought there would be a lot of dissatisfaction with the matter, but after taking down the displays and switching it to the voting method, while there were some guests who made a fuss, many customers would return to buy more copies just to vote for the beloved heroine, so she could be elected as the ‘Number 1 Beauty’ and have the painting be permanently displayed in the study.
The emergence of this marketing method rejuvenated the previously bustling sales, which caught the employees off guard. Shopkeeper Ji’s waist and back straightened again as he busily moved around, his beard quivering from the effort. Even though his old arms and legs were stiff with fatigue, once it came time to count that day’s sales in the evenings, his heart was full of satisfaction and gratification.
After the Laba Festival on the Eighth Day of the Twelfth Month of the Lunar calendar, it was Lunar New Year. On the day when each family was preparing for the New Year’s rites and various ceremonies, Cui Xie’s 《Couplets in the Four Books》also came to a finish.
Laba Festival: traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the 8th day of the La Month or the twelfth month of the CHinese calendar, It is customary to eat Laba congee on this day and this is also known as enlightenment day as it celebrates the enlightenment of the Buddha. This year, it would have occurred on January 20th, 2021. Note: Chinese New Year is typically celebrated in late January and early February (typically lasts for a month).
He used the study’s top-notched whitewashed paper grinded out of fine powdered paper and copied his manuscript carefully in accordance to the Taiga script style. He then called people to bind the paper into a book and wrote his own signature on it. The book was composed of two-character paired couplets all the way to eight-character paired couples, with a total of more than five hundred pairs, chock full of the Sage’s words, dignified and restrained. Along with the book, it was also accompanied by a thin volume of paintings–not in the comic strip style, but was rather a genuinely meticulous gongbi style that used heavy colors and finely particulate lines. He used countless layers of paint to spread out light and shadow components turning into a three-dimensional and extremely realistic picture of Colonel Xie gallantly riding his horse. He then inscribed it with his newly engraved seal that he had personally commissioned the making of with his own funds.
Taiga script: finest chancellor script popularized by Shen Du. Shen Du was a calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty, and his characters are well-shaped, his brushstrokes clean and calm. His brother was similarly well known for his excellent calligrapher, known together as the “Two Shens”. Emperor Yongle praised him greatly and entrusted him with the transcription of the most important official documents.
Here is an example:
Gongbi style: Traditional Chinese painting method characterized by meticulous brush technique and detailed description
He did not know why, but what he most vividly remembered about Colonel Xie was precisely his appearance when he was riding his horse. It was to such an extent that he became interested in horse-back riding purely to see if he could be as handsome and cool riding a horse like the Jinyiwei did.
Before painting the picture, he was worried that he would be unable to recall what Colonel Xie looked like. When he couldn’t remember the exact details, he would ask the Cui Yuan father and son duo for help and he even went to the officials in the county yamen who had received the Imperial envoys that day. But when he really started to paint, he clearly remembered the other’s glistening eyes and plump lower eyelids, the naturally upturned lips and that manner of speaking that was light and gentle to the point of it seeming gentle and soft.
Cui Xie suddenly realized, it wasn’t that Colonel Xie was handsome while riding horses, but rather the other was just handsome by himself. Cui Xie’s own appearance when riding a pony, when compared to the other’s good looks and charm….it was probably miles apart.
He had never been good at drawing horses. To paint this portrait, he had spent a few days sketching other people’s postures and figures when riding horses on the Wang Residence’s racecourse. He also squatted next to the horses to closely observe up close the small movements of muscles and bones, which wasted and cut into his exercise time quite a bit. But in the end, when he was finally able to paint this portrait. He felt that all the work spent these past few days had been worth it. This was truly something worthy to give as a gift!
Cui Yuan helped him to find a artisan to mount the painting and then caught sight of the thin volume of the 《Couplets in the Four Books》and could not help but persuade a few words, “These two ceremonial gifts seem a bit too lackluster, does the Young Master want to add few dozen sets of the books or even beauty paper?”
Cui Xie recalled his previous exchanges with Xie Ying before and laughed, “Colonel Xie is a pure and upright figure. Don’t give him novels in which commoners stumble upon a goddess or immortal that the laymen are fond of reading. Instead, you can prepare a few boxes of papers, but do not include any sets of the Cui Beauty paper. Instead, just include those small prints with flowers and fruits on it inside, so we can save face when we take them out.”
This way, it would make him appear to be a seriously cultured and refined person and that he was not on the same level as those yellow (erotic/romantica) pictures.
He sealed the thin books, paintings and papers into a small trunk and sent them to Guard Commander Wang’s residence and asked them to help him give it to the other party. Wang Xiangzhen weighed the box in his hands lightly and said with a smile, “The gifts you scholars give are truly not very economically profitable. Fine, this gege will add some gold, silver and jade later on and promise to not let your gifts pale in comparison to the others.”
Cui Xie broke into a bitter and wry smile, “Colonel Xie has always known that I am poor, so I do not care much about that. Wang shixiong should just send it like this. As a scholar, I can only give this kind of gift. Adding any more to it will not be good.”
Young Master Wang squinted at him and grinned, “That’s true, if he was willing to help you back then, he would not squabble about whether your gifts are too meager and belittle you for it. Isn’t it enough just to have a piece of your good intentions?”
(Fanart
At that time, Cui Xie was in the newly-built study located in the West Wing, extracting excerpts from a book’s chapters and summarizing the couplets written in the Four Books. Young Master Wang pushed open the doors to the study and directly entered into the West Wing. Only then did Cui Xie get up and greet the visitor, “Why has Wang xiong come here?”
Xiong: part of shixiong which means big brother disciple/senior/older brother (man). This is usually used by peers to refer to their classmates, members of the same sect/school etc, otherwise it is used to refer to someone senior to yourself. Here, it just means fellow brother.
Wang Xiangzhen complained, “Naturally, it is because I am taking pity on the four beauties and are afraid that they will be bashful and have difficulties in bearing gazes from those who are peeping at them. I wanted to find Cui xiongdi earlier so I can start building a golden house to keep one’s mistress later when I go back.”
Xiongdi: younger brother
A golden house to keep one’s mistress (idiom): a magnificent house built for a beloved women. Here, Wang Xiangzhen is referring to the four beauty portraits not his actual mistress that was mentioned in previous chapters
Was this humor or had this otaku really prepared some two-dimensional residence prepared for the characters? Cui Xie taciturnedly pondered for a moment and then agreed, “Since Wang xiong is in urgent need, then it’ll be best to just take them away. Check over them for any damage or fading colors. Whether it needs repairing or repainting, I will try my best to do them.”
Wang Xiangzhen grinned and said, “No need, I’ve already borrowed those servants you hired to keep guard to continue to watch over the scrolls attentively. If there were any tears or spoiled areas, I would have wanted you to repaint it a long time ago.
He bared his mouthful of ivory white teeth, gleefully declaring, “In fact, my father only wants these four painting scrolls to use as gifts for Lunar New Year. But I wanted to come in advance, so I can enjoy them for a few more days as well as commission someone to trace a copy so I can enjoy them for a very long time.”
Cui Xie glanced at him, and asked him in a strange tone, “Why are you finding others to copy them, won’t it be enough if I just draw another copy for you?”
Young Master Wang faced towards the piece of paper on Cui Xie’s study desk and pouted, “Your studying comes first, how can I just use you casually? I’ll just find a decent paper to sketch it. How much do these four paintings cost?”
Cui Xie laughed, “Based on Wang xiong’s friendship with me, do we still need to care about these few silver taels? Not to mention, you bought so many of my family’s prints and books before, it is not considered too much for me to add these paintings along with them.”
He personally lugged the four huge hanging wall scrolls and handed them over to Wang Xiangzhen’s hands, warning repeatedly, “These painting scrolls weren’t adorned well, only a segment of damask was layered underneath the paper. Later, you should commission some craftsman to add some decorative gold and jade pieces to readorn it. Who asked you to choose works done by me, a painter completely lacking in reputation? Besides, all the drawn things can be barely prestigious enough to look at, let alone be fit to be in the presence of company?”
Wang Xiangzhen unfolded a bit of the scroll, admiring the lifelike and fragrant beauty portrait, smiling to say, “It doesn’t matter. My father is planning on giving these as gifts to Vice-Commissioner Cheng from the Rear Military Commision and it won’t be given to a civil official anyways. Who will pay such close attention to the difference, ‘Drenched in water like Cao’s paintings, fluttering like the sashes in Wu’s paintings‘? Your beauty portraits exuberate vibrant vitality and life.”
Tongzhi: otherwise known as Vice-Commissioners (rank 2b) of the five Branch Regional Military Commissions under the bigger institution of the Five Chief Military Commissions that supervised professional military affairs with the Ministry of War.
The Ming Dynasty government consisted of the six Ministries and the five Chief Military Commissions. The five Chief Military Commissions were the basic military administration. The Five Military Commissions were as such: Front Military Commision, Rear Military Commision, Left Military Commision, Right Military Commision and the Middle Military Commision according to geographic location. Each of the Chief Military Commissions was headed by unprescribed numbers of Commissioners in Chief (dudu, rank 1a), Vice Commissioners in Chief (rank 1b) and Assistant Commissioners in Chief (rank 2a). Collectively referred to as the Five Commissions, these organs had arbitrarily defined geographical jurisdictions, within which they supervised the activities of all military units and concerned with the specialized “professional” aspects of military administration whereas the Ministry of War dealt with problems of personnel and supply. For field operations, Commissioners in Chief controlled tactics by the Ministry determined basic policies and troop dispositions. At the provincial level, were Regional Military Commissions assigned for supervision to one or another of the Chief Military Commissions at the capital. There was an establishment in each of the thirteen provinces and one in each of the three vital areas along the northern frontier. Besides these, there were five Branch Regional Military Commissions. Each Commission or Branch commision is directed by a Regional commissioner (rank 2a), two Vice-Commissioners (tongzhi rank 2b) and four Assistant Commissioners (rank 3a).
Drenched in water like Cao’s paintings, fluttering like the sashes in Wu’s paintings: This phrase refers to two different drawing styles implemented in traditional Chinese paintings when it comes to drawing people. ‘Drenched in water like Cao’s paintings’ is a style originated from Cao Zhongda, a painter noted for painting closely clinging drapery that made his figures look as though they had been drenched in water, the brushwork rigid and thick. The latter half, ‘fluttering like the sashes in Wu’s paintings’ is a style originating from Tang Painter, Wu Daozi noted for his curvy and graceful style that made it seem like the sashes worn by figures in his paintings were fluttering gracefully like as if a wind was blowing.
Ha ha. As expected, just treat my portrait as spring portraits (erotic/yellow paintings) and offer it to those at the top then?
As expected of the Chenghua reign where the Senior Grand Councilor would add some little erotic articles in the Emperor’s court memorials. There was even the case of the “Imperial Censor that Resurrected the Bird”, a Imperial Censor who had presented medicine to the Senior Grand Councilor for treating impotency——everyone in this era had such low moral principles. While there was a smile that traced Cui Xie’s face, in his heart, he firmly pledged that he would not sign his real name on the painting——just let Young Master Wang say that he had invited a famous painter instead. Besides, at this point of time, there was still no such thing as crowdsourcing information for doxing yet.
During the Chenghua reign period of the Xianzong Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the plot and long standing collaboration of Consort Wan and her Eunuchs corrupted the functioning of the Government and led to the decline of State Authority overall. It is said that a ballad which was written at that time describes the existing political situation the best: “The Three Grand Councillors/Secretaries are like paper Puppets, the six Ministers are like clay dolls”. The Three Grand Councilors refers to eunuchs Liu Ji, Liu Xu and Wan An, who history has deemed to be “men of little capability” yet having great talents for subversion, malversion and sycophancy. Wan An was the nephew of Consort Wan and functioned as her spy planted within the Cabinet of Councilors (Grand Secretariat) keeping an eye on the Eunuchs for them. The six ministers in turn were judged to be black sheep, people who merely followed and connived with Lady Wan’s clique in order to further their own positions and fortunes. Meanwhile, the Emperor distracted himself with his (unusual) obsession for the mystical philosophies of Daoism and continuous womanizing, neglecting his duties as Emperor. There was no oversight to speak of. With the Emperor disinterested in state affairs it was increasingly difficult for the Ministers to meet with the Emperor, thus leaving day-to-day Governance to the Eunuch Councilors who had no education and little experience beyond corrupting the Court.
Wan An had a disciple named Ni Jinxian, because of a secret recipe in the family he was successfully promoted to Imperial Censor. Wan An suffered from Erectile Dysfunction in later years and due to his disciple’s timely intervention with the secret recipe, Ni Jinxian was awarded the title of “Imperial Censor that Resurrected the Bird”.
Young Master Wang readily agreed and asked the person next to him to carry the scrolls, saying that he was going to find a renowned expert to make an inscription to raise the worth of the paintings. Just before leaving, he asked Cui Xie, “Would you like to send gifts back to Beijing for Lunar New Year? If you are, just ask my residence’s carriage to lug it over together, and it will also save the trouble of having that old servant of yours running back and forth in the harsh ice and snow.”
Cui Residence….as for the gifts for his parents, there was no need in that regard, but proper gifts should be prepared for his grandfather and grandmother. Moreover, he had received the generosity and help of many people along his journey to Qian’an, and he would need to employ the help of a lot of people. It was time to give these people gifts for the New Year. Young Master Wang is the noble son of a third-grade Guard Commander and had contacts with the capital’s Five Commission’s Commissioners-in -Chief. It was much more convenient for Young Master Wang to find people than if Cui Xie personally acted.
Third Grade Guard Commander is the highest ranked military official under Wei (Guards) which is the highest rank among the Lower levels of the Provincial Level Regional Military Commissions
Reminder of rankings in the Military Organization of Five Chief Military Commissions (National Level):
Commissioners-in-Chief (dudu rank 1a)
Two Vice Commissioners in Chief (tongzhi rank 1b)
Assistant Commissioners in Chief ( qianshi rank 2a)
Provincial Level Regional Military Commissions:
Regional Commissioner (rank 2A)
Two Vice Commissioners (tongzhi rank 2b)
Four Assistant Commissioners (rank 3a)
Lower Levels:
Guards (Wei): each guard under control of one Guard Commander (zhihui shi rank 3a), two Vice Commanders (rank 3b) and four Assistant Commanders (rank4). Each Wei also had two Judges and a military school.
Battalions/Colonels (qianhu): Each battalion had a Battalion Commander (qianhu rank 5a). Two Vice Commanders (fu qianhu rank 5b) and two judges (chenfu rank 6b)
Companies (baihu)
He contemplated for a while and embarrassedly asked, “I have people that I want to give gifts to in Beijing, but I do not know where they live. I only know that it is one of the qianhu or Battalion Colonel’s offices belonging to the Northern Administrative Division and need to invite Wang xiong to help investigate where he is located. Will this matter be too troublesome?”
There are three secret intelligence organizations that popped up in the Ming Dynasty: the Eastern Depot (spy/secret police) run by eunuchs. They were responsible for spying on officials of any rank, including military officers, scholars, rebels, and the general populace. The Eastern Depot would investigate and arrest suspects, and then hand them over to the Jinyiwei for interrogation. The Western Depot was created to search for witches but became a rival to the Eastern Depot. Inner Branch Depot was created to counter the two depots and the jinyiwei.
While all three depots were run by Eunuchs, there were special Jinyiwei agencies based on the two capitals (Beijing (main) and Nanjing (auxiliary). The offices of the Northern Administrative Division are responsible for criminal investigations and specialized imprisonment as determined by the Emperor. The office possesses the rights to imprison, arrest, interrogate, and execute without going through general judicial institutions. This agency was basically seen as the personal spy agency of the Emperor. Whoever is in charge of the Northern Administrative Division has the greatest authority among the Jinyiwei. This is paralleled with the Southern Administrative Division which is responsible for upholding the law, disciplining and military corrections of the jinyiwei themselves. They were responsible for archiving the records and files about judicial and military matters. They acted as agencies that kept each other in check.
Wang Xiangzhen was so surprised that he almost jumped out of his chair, exclaiming, “You have relations with someone in the Northern Administrative Division? Which one of the five qianhu offices is it? This gege is usually a bit clumsy, this kind of personages, one cannot easily make friends with them…” He suddenly slapped his thigh and with an expression as if he had been overwhelmed by a favor from a superior, he inquired, “Did you specifically ask for gege to make this trip for you? Good brother, gege will never forget your kindness!”
Cui Xie smiled bitterly, “What making friends, it was only that he had given a hand to me a few times, and I want to give back one or two favors. I am afraid that the other party will not even bat an eye at the gifts I send over.”
Just now, Young Master Wang had wanted to drag Cui Xie to the nearest temple to become sworn brothers, but after hearing this, his excited state calmed down a lot. He threw out the plan of going to the Lord Guan Temple, but the gifts still needed to be given, so he said, “This is nothing much, just reaching out a hand to give a present. Every year, my Father presents the ice and coal offerings, and doesn’t each and every one of them still recognize us? Receiving gifts, isn’t it always a distinctively delightful event? Oh right, what were you going to send over? A few copies of the Cui paper and a few sets of the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》?”
Lord Guan or Guan Yu is a martial deity widely worshipped. He was a Chinese military general serving in the Three Kingdoms era during ancient China. His moral deeds and qualities make him one Asia’s most popular paradigms of loyalty, righteousness and heroism. During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle credited his success in overthrowing Emperor Jianwen to the blessing of Guan Yu.
Short explanation of ice and coal offerings: Any surplus tax collected that year would go to the local officials personal coffers, but senior officials in the capital who had a hard time collecting county/provincial taxes would have lower level officials send the money over as “ice or coal offerings”, the name ice/coal depended on the season.
Long explanation: In order to tackle the problem of official corruption, Emperor Yongzheng introduced an “honesty incentive” (yang lian yin system). Tax was payable in silver pieces, silver handed over by taxpayers was cast into silver ingots before being passed onto higher authorities. For a long time, extra tax would be charged in order to compensate for the wastage resulting in the casting process, which is named Huo Hao. Once the correct and accurate amount is handed over, the remainder goes to the local government (haoxian). The part not used to finance public expenditure customarily became the officials personal property to spend. However, since senior officials above county level were usually up in the capital, the local officials would have to distribute the others’ fair share in the form of gifts. These gifts were known under many names: money passed in summer was known as bing jing or ice offering, while in the winter, it was referred to as a coal offering (tan jing). A festival offering (jie jing) was sent on occasion of a public festival and a good wishes offering (zhu jing) in celebration of a senior official’s birthday and a “new year offering” was called at (nian jing). A respect offering was called zhi jing accompanied a visit to one’s teacher or superior An official leaving the capital was presented with a farewell offering (bie jing). But they were all regarded as underhanded practices.
His residence would only give presents to be sent to the capital at the end of the year, and Cui Xie had not properly decided what the present was going to be. As such, he mentioned the name, Xie Ying, and asked Wang Xiangzhen to help him make some discreet inquiries. Wang Xiangzhen’s eyes bugged out and widened, and he clutched his chest dramatically, “The First Battalion Jinyiwei, Colonel Xie?”
Taking the opportune moment, Cui Xie described how he had dazedly assisted Colonel Xie in Tongzhou, who then requested an Imperial commendation for his help. Wang Xiangzhen listened for a long while without so much as breathing and only commented after a long time, “Cui–xiongdi, you are truly fated with having a noble fate to be helped by others. Colonel Xie is a person with face in the palace, and he has handled several big cases. The person who had held my father’s position before him, Guard Commander Fu, had been falsely accused, and that case was investigated by Colonel Xie. At that time, he was only ten or so years old, following Vice Commander Zhao to go out and handle matters….No, this isn’t good, this gege’s heart is beating a bit too fast. I need to go back and have a drink to suppress it. Relax and sit first, just give me the gift before the end of the year.”
Wang Xiangzhen swiveled around and walked a few steps, but then turned around to say, “ It is not serious if you cannot prepare a neat and beautiful gift, gege will help you supplement, and promise to handle this matter dignifiedly and gloriously.”
Young Master Wang was brimming with ambition and quivered three times as he took a step. Cui Xie sent him back and began to brainstorm what he could give. Originally, he had believed that he would be unable to find Colonel Xie and would only be able to wait for the other party’s people to find him. Since Young Master Wang was willing to lend a hand, then he would be able to send the other a gift just in time before the year ended.
But, Colonel Xie would not want these things of his, instead only urging Cui Xie to study hard for his examinations.
He sat back down at his study table thoughtfully, and caught sight of the Four Books’ pages crammed with antithetical couplets, his heart suddenly moving——Wasn’t this the result of his hard work in his studies these past few days? At the present, there were only a few decent antithetical couplet enlightenment primer books out there. If he compiled all of the couplets in the Four Books into a single book, at the very minimum, he would be regarded as a famous supplemental textbook writer, the contemporary Wang Houxiong of this decade.
Wang Houxiang: a special grade teacher in China and a member of countless different nationally famous teaching committees (notably for Chemistry) and a professor and doctoral tutor at the Central China Normal University engaged in university teaching and examination research and he is the director of many other examination-like institutes. He once published a series of practice/testing books that every student taking the college entrance examination would have to use to pass. He is worshipped as one of the “Big Three” before the college examinations by students.
Compiling these couplets would be way more impressive than plagiarizing Zheng Banqiao. In the future, when he meets Colonel Xie again in Beijing, no matter how he would test Cui Xie, Cui Xie should be able to answer it with confidence. In the end, this course of action would be the best compared to if Cui Xie copied out a breathtaking poem for people to read now, then it would be disastrous to only be able to hammer out a barely pieced together passable poem in the future.
He settled down his excited feelings and he slowly perused through his memory for a spell of time. Then, he picked up his brush and continued writing after the most recent sentence: ‘Earnest in what he is doing and careful in his speech’ followed by a ‘maintain firm the will, and do no violence to the passion-nature’. After pondering for a long time, Cui Xie used the ‘maintain firm the will and do no violence to the passion-nature’ as the upper couplet and matched it with the phrase, ‘Abiding in it calmly and firmly, he reposes a deep reliance on it’.
He calmly wrote down the lower half of the couplet. Just at that moment, Clerk Ji who was lending a hand in the rear printing workshop had caught wind that Young Master Wang had snatched the painting scrolls and could no longer suppress or calm his worries. He headed to the front courtyard and asked, “Can the Young Master draw two more of those scrolls? Although there are fewer people buying copies of the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》 , the study could still sell more than ten copies a day, and there were quite a few customers who bought the books and paper just to see the paintings. Just suddenly removing the hanging scrolls, I am afraid that those guests would raise a cacophonous ruckus.”
This couldn’t be helped. They had borrowed Young Master Wang’s workers and even employed a Guard Commander’s power to help with sales. Shouldn’t there be some price to be paid?
Cui Xie gave him a comforting smile, “It is of no matter, I will just inform the guests tomorrow that our store is holding a new event and as such, the beauty scrolls will not be displayed. Instead,I will invite the customers to vote for the top beauty in the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》. After the event is concluded, we will change it to a new erotic….a new painting.”
Clerk Ji just stood there agape and tongue-tied, “What method should be used to choose? No matter how good these four beauties are, they are still merely paintings. They are not true beauties; they can’t play or pluck instruments and have people choose who is the best performer, the queen of flowers ah. Then will we have to find a few theatrical troupes to perform the story of the 《Integrated Fragrant Diaries》together?”
Queen of flowers (huakui): nickname for a famous beauty or courtesan
His study’s Clerk Ji was truly promising afterall, already possessing the awareness of starting the process of creating intellectual property by remaking theatrical work!
Cui Xie secretly complimented Clerk Ji in his heart and decided to leave the matter to him to deal with once he had the chance. But now was not the time to think about the future, one had to first deal with dismantling the display stands first.
Cui Xie instructed, “You go and prepare four big boxes like those merit boxes often seen in the temples and then. On each box, respectively paste the characters, ‘Goddess Product’, ‘Immortal Product’, ‘Demon Product’, and ‘Underworld Product’. Ask Worker Huang to use the table of contents in our book as a reference as he prints the characters on the boxes and then places them outside the store. Tomorrow, if a customer inquires why the hanging scrolls are not on display, tell them that there is an event to choose the top beauty going on. Any customer who buys a copy of the book can place a vote. The beauty with the most votes will be displayed on the wall, to preserve their beauty forever.”
Merit (gongde) boxes (xiang): This is a box in which visitors of the temple are free to donate money. These boxes are targeted to raise money for internal temple funds.
“Then how will we differentiate between who bought the book and who hasn’t? How do you know if someone has already voted or not?” Clerk Hi bitterly grumbled, “There have been too many orders these past few days, and this small one cannot remember all the transactions. What if there is someone who sends their servant with their book to come vote in their stead numerous times?
Wasn’t it normal for fans to try to vote multiple times? That was but a common occurrence. Just keeping the readers from making too much trouble would be just fine. Cui Xie slightly grinned, “Do you remember the flower printed on the corner of the backside of the title page? Ask the voters to cut the flower out and put it in the box to vote. It doesn’t matter too much if no one votes. Besides, it is just a method to delay some time and distract them away from the scrolls being withdrawn from the display. I’m afraid I won’t have time to paint any new scrolls until after the New Year.”
Clerk Ji arranged the matter in fear and trepidation. He originally thought there would be a lot of dissatisfaction with the matter, but after taking down the displays and switching it to the voting method, while there were some guests who made a fuss, many customers would return to buy more copies just to vote for the beloved heroine, so she could be elected as the ‘Number 1 Beauty’ and have the painting be permanently displayed in the study.
The emergence of this marketing method rejuvenated the previously bustling sales, which caught the employees off guard. Shopkeeper Ji’s waist and back straightened again as he busily moved around, his beard quivering from the effort. Even though his old arms and legs were stiff with fatigue, once it came time to count that day’s sales in the evenings, his heart was full of satisfaction and gratification.
After the Laba Festival on the Eighth Day of the Twelfth Month of the Lunar calendar, it was Lunar New Year. On the day when each family was preparing for the New Year’s rites and various ceremonies, Cui Xie’s 《Couplets in the Four Books》also came to a finish.
Laba Festival: traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the 8th day of the La Month or the twelfth month of the CHinese calendar, It is customary to eat Laba congee on this day and this is also known as enlightenment day as it celebrates the enlightenment of the Buddha. This year, it would have occurred on January 20th, 2021. Note: Chinese New Year is typically celebrated in late January and early February (typically lasts for a month).
He used the study’s top-notched whitewashed paper grinded out of fine powdered paper and copied his manuscript carefully in accordance to the Taiga script style. He then called people to bind the paper into a book and wrote his own signature on it. The book was composed of two-character paired couplets all the way to eight-character paired couples, with a total of more than five hundred pairs, chock full of the Sage’s words, dignified and restrained. Along with the book, it was also accompanied by a thin volume of paintings–not in the comic strip style, but was rather a genuinely meticulous gongbi style that used heavy colors and finely particulate lines. He used countless layers of paint to spread out light and shadow components turning into a three-dimensional and extremely realistic picture of Colonel Xie gallantly riding his horse. He then inscribed it with his newly engraved seal that he had personally commissioned the making of with his own funds.
Taiga script: finest chancellor script popularized by Shen Du. Shen Du was a calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty, and his characters are well-shaped, his brushstrokes clean and calm. His brother was similarly well known for his excellent calligrapher, known together as the “Two Shens”. Emperor Yongle praised him greatly and entrusted him with the transcription of the most important official documents.
Here is an example:
Gongbi style: Traditional Chinese painting method characterized by meticulous brush technique and detailed description
He did not know why, but what he most vividly remembered about Colonel Xie was precisely his appearance when he was riding his horse. It was to such an extent that he became interested in horse-back riding purely to see if he could be as handsome and cool riding a horse like the Jinyiwei did.
Before painting the picture, he was worried that he would be unable to recall what Colonel Xie looked like. When he couldn’t remember the exact details, he would ask the Cui Yuan father and son duo for help and he even went to the officials in the county yamen who had received the Imperial envoys that day. But when he really started to paint, he clearly remembered the other’s glistening eyes and plump lower eyelids, the naturally upturned lips and that manner of speaking that was light and gentle to the point of it seeming gentle and soft.
Cui Xie suddenly realized, it wasn’t that Colonel Xie was handsome while riding horses, but rather the other was just handsome by himself. Cui Xie’s own appearance when riding a pony, when compared to the other’s good looks and charm….it was probably miles apart.
He had never been good at drawing horses. To paint this portrait, he had spent a few days sketching other people’s postures and figures when riding horses on the Wang Residence’s racecourse. He also squatted next to the horses to closely observe up close the small movements of muscles and bones, which wasted and cut into his exercise time quite a bit. But in the end, when he was finally able to paint this portrait. He felt that all the work spent these past few days had been worth it. This was truly something worthy to give as a gift!
Cui Yuan helped him to find a artisan to mount the painting and then caught sight of the thin volume of the 《Couplets in the Four Books》and could not help but persuade a few words, “These two ceremonial gifts seem a bit too lackluster, does the Young Master want to add few dozen sets of the books or even beauty paper?”
Cui Xie recalled his previous exchanges with Xie Ying before and laughed, “Colonel Xie is a pure and upright figure. Don’t give him novels in which commoners stumble upon a goddess or immortal that the laymen are fond of reading. Instead, you can prepare a few boxes of papers, but do not include any sets of the Cui Beauty paper. Instead, just include those small prints with flowers and fruits on it inside, so we can save face when we take them out.”
This way, it would make him appear to be a seriously cultured and refined person and that he was not on the same level as those yellow (erotic/romantica) pictures.
He sealed the thin books, paintings and papers into a small trunk and sent them to Guard Commander Wang’s residence and asked them to help him give it to the other party. Wang Xiangzhen weighed the box in his hands lightly and said with a smile, “The gifts you scholars give are truly not very economically profitable. Fine, this gege will add some gold, silver and jade later on and promise to not let your gifts pale in comparison to the others.”
Cui Xie broke into a bitter and wry smile, “Colonel Xie has always known that I am poor, so I do not care much about that. Wang shixiong should just send it like this. As a scholar, I can only give this kind of gift. Adding any more to it will not be good.”
Young Master Wang squinted at him and grinned, “That’s true, if he was willing to help you back then, he would not squabble about whether your gifts are too meager and belittle you for it. Isn’t it enough just to have a piece of your good intentions?”
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