CH 41

Since ancient times, scholars proclaimed themselves to be talented in letters and unconventional in lifestyle. In the early Ming Dynasty, although the Taizu Emperor1 forbade officials from seeking prostitutes. Where there is demand, there is a market, no matter what dynasty or what generation it was, this kind of thing cannot be forbidden. By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was even more popular. It was common for officials to pretend to be a commoner and go to Song and Dance Palaces to meet with prostitutes. Scholars and merchants were even more open and honest about it. Sometimes even if a scandal or two with a certain prostitute would arise, this could still be passed off as a fun anecdote.

Although Zhao Su and the others had achieved scholarly honour, they still hadn’t received their official posts, even if they had some fun in private, normally no one would say anything about it, and everyone present was young, and open-minded, so when they heard the suggestion, they all naturally applauded.

To everyone’s surprise, Zhao Su did not even blush – after all he was not really the inexperienced youth he appeared anyway, he raised his eyebrows and asked Wang Xijue: “Yuanyu-xiong, perhaps you have actually taken a fancy to one of the beauties on the flower boat and you are trying to use me as an excuse. Why don’t you just own up to it and bring the person over here and let us all see the beauty for ourselves?”

Wang Xijue didn’t expect that not only was his joke unsuccessful, but he was actually ridiculed instead. After hearing Zhao Su’s words, everyone turned their mischievous and dubious eyes towards him. “Zhao Shaoyong, you…”

Suddenly amongst the party there was an eruption of scolding words that interrupted Wang Xijue’s words. “Dignified disciples of the Son of Heaven, new jinshi, who will take up their official posts in a few days would actually come together and make such vile and obscene jokes. it is simply unbearable, forgive me for not being able to continue partaking in this, I will take my leave!” Qi Yuanzuo then stood up without hiding his anger, cupped his hands together quickly without much thought and then walked away without looking back once.

Everyone watched as he left, then they looked at each other and were all silent for a while.

Wang Xijue was baffled by this sudden outburst, and as the leader of the group he was upset: “Wasn’t it just a bit of fun, why did Qi Xizhong have such a big reaction!”

Xu Shixing coughed: “Qi-xiong may be tired.”

Originally, Qi Yuanzuo was the first placeholder in the metropolitan exam, but he fell behind the crowd during the court examination. It would have been weird if he had been in a good mood. Yu Youding, who had an equally rigorous temperament, didn’t come to the gathering, presumably for this reason.

The others understood the reason more or less, so they all changed the subject and talked about the interesting things they had encountered.

When Zhao Su was taking the metropolitan exam, he had seen Gao Gong shout at a juzi “Why are you still standing there, sit down and start the exam”. The juzi was so afraid that his face went pale and his legs were shaking. Everyone laughed heartily, Wang Xijue laughed so much he cried and shouted, “Gao daren is really powerful with a threatening aura. You guys probably don’t know this but I have a clan brother who has been to Chun’an in Jiangsu, and heard that there was a County Magistrate called Hai Rui2. Apparently, he shouted at everyone he saw, locals or members of the gentry, so now all those who have been scolded by him, will make a detour if they see him. I wonder between this guy and Gao daren, which one is scarier?”

Pan Yunduan disagrees: “How can a small County Magistrate be compared to our Zuoshi?”

Zhao Su thought to himself that this small County Magistrate will surprise the world in the near future. As a low-ranking official, he even dared to challenge the emperor’s authority and scolded him about everything that everyone in the world would not dare to say. Although he had a lot of defects, in this regard, he was unmatched. Zhao Su thought that he also did not have this kind of courage.

As conversation began to flow, the atmosphere gradually became more relaxed, and everyone began to talk about everything under the sun.

The topic shifted towards their individual upbringing and backgrounds. When it got to Chen Zhu, he first sighed, took another sip of wine in his cup, and then slowly said: “Actually, I’m not afraid that you will laugh at my humble upbringing. Although I come from the Chen clan in Changle, a generation of scholars, I am the son of a concubine, even though my family never shortchanged me on expenses, but a concubine’s son is still a concubine’s son, I will always be different from a legitimate born son, the imprint of this identity will never change, the way that people look upon my brothers and I will always be different.”

Everyone gradually stopped talking and laughing but listened quietly instead.

Although Zhao Su knew that Chen Zhu was also a son of a concubine, the Chen family had always seemed to treat the legitimate-born sons and concubine-born sons equally, but Zhao Su would never have expected that deep down in Chen Zhu’s heart, he also had such a secret pain. In a large clan, as there are many people, there will inevitably be a lot of disputes and in-fighting. It was indeed too hard a thing to to hold a bowl of water level3.

“Since we were young, our father told us that we must make progress in our studies and get ahead. I studied hard, hoping that one day I can make others respect my mother, but later I learned that the son of a concubine is the son of a concubine and the concubine will forever be the concubine. This fact will forever hold true… So I told myself that in the future, I will definitely not take any concubines and only marry one wife. In this way, there will be no concubine-born sons among my children, and they don’t need to be like …. like me…….”

He shook his head, did not say continue speaking, he seemed to be laughing at himself for being too foolish.

Zhao Su said warmly: “Bo Xun, you have already achieved jinshi now. No one can look down on you. Even if you go home now, you are still returning home in glory. They’ll be too busy trying to curry favour with you, who would dare to disrespect you.”

Only then did Chen Zhu remember Zhao Su’s origin. What he said must have touched the deep wounds in the other’s heart. He could not help but stammer: “Shao Yong, I, I didn’t mean to talk about…”

Zhao Su laughed and said, “Why are you being so prudent, I have never put much emphasis on my background. What if I am a son of a concubine from a poor family, this cannot be changed, but I can change the future through hard work. We have just passed the Imperial Examinations with jinshi, we are amongst a table of worthy friends, why not just be satisfied?”

Aside from Lady Chen and Zhao Nuan, he had never ever considered any of the other people from the Zhao clan as “his family.” In the end, those self-important clansmen from this time period had no place in Zhao Su’s heart, as long as they didn’t rip into him and kept up the appearance of harmony, whether those clansmen were dead or alive, really held no importance to him. There must be reciprocity, since when he and his mother were in dire straits and the clansmen did not lift a finger to help them, then why should he bother to care about what they thought about him and let them affect his mood.

Pan Yunduan exclaimed loudly: “We have just passed the Imperial Examinations with jinshi, we are amongst a table of worthy friends — well said! Shao Yong is indeed open-minded, we are humble in comparison, come, let’s have a drink!”

Everyone agreed, and they all toasted and drank.

If there were no exceptional incidents, these people would be closely linked together in their lives as officials for half a lifetime. They had the friendship of being fellow scholars, but they were also natural political allies. For example, If there was one person here who can enter the Grand Secretariat in the future, then all those people that he once guided, the friends that he made along the way, as well as his teacher and the other students will all form his backing, firmly supporting him. This was an unspoken rule of being an official of the Great Ming.

After three rounds of drinking, they were all a little bit drunk, unconsciously, they all began to feel closer to one another. When it was Xu Shixing’s turn to speak, he was a little drunk and looked at others mysteriously: “Did you know, my last name is Shen, not Xu…”

Everyone ah’d in surprise, whilst Wang Xijue patted him on the shoulder: “You must be drunk, right?”

“I’m completely sober!”

Xu Shixing frowned and pushed Wang Xijue’s hand away, and then laughed mockingly at himself: “Before I turned twenty-six years old, I always thought my surname was Xu, but one day, my father suddenly told me that I was not from the Xu family and my surname is Shen. My father, not my real father, my mother… I don’t know where she is either …”

Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard this secret, and they didn’t know what to say.

He might be really drunk, or maybe this had been heavy on his heart for too long, so he took this opportunity to vent, his face did not have the usual gentle expression, and he sounded like he was crying yet laughing.

“Rumo, then, what about the Xu family, what about your adoptive father?” Wang Xijue inquired whilst mumbling.

Xu Shixing drank another cup of wine, calmed down a little, and said indifferently: “My adoptive father has passed away, and the Xu family knows my real identity. They believe that my identity as an illegitimate child is disgraceful, and detrimental to the Xu family’s reputation so they refuse to recognize me. As for the Shen family, after I passed the provincial exam, they finally sent me a letter, asking me to recognise my ancestors.”

Pan Yunduan slapped the table: “How could that be! As the saying goes, birthright cannot overtake nurture. How can the Shen family be like this? Rumo, just ignore them. What can they do!”

Xu Shixing shook his head and smiled bitterly: “The Xu family no longer wants me, and I can no longer go back. I can only go back to the Shen family.”

He earned the place of Zhuangyuan and became famous overnight, it should have been the most glorious moment of his life, but who could have known that he had such a torturous family history behind him.

Zhao Su understood that everyone, including himself, more or less had their own pasts and things that should have been kept behind closed doors, but it was precisely because of this, that this feeling of having a heart-to-heart felt in all honesty really good.

Everyone was silent for a long while, trying to help find a solution, but they couldn’t think of a better way.

Xu Shixing regretted saying it, but he also felt like he had taken a load off his shoulders, so just bowed his head and drank silently without speaking.

Unexpectedly, one hand was pressed down on his shoulder, it was Zhao Su.

“In life, not everything will go to plan but we must always look forward. Nothing will change the fact that you are the son of your adoptive father and also our friend. Now you have scholarly honour and the Emperor even bestowed the title of Zhuangyuan upon you, the Shen family won’t dare to do anything to you, even if they abandon you one day, there will still be this group to support you.”

Everyone came back to their senses, and they all agreed with him, with everyone coming together trying to comfort him. Xu Shixing’s heart warmed: “Thank you, Shaoyong, thank you everyone.”

Wang Xijue also said: “Shaoyong is right, Rumo, you don’t have to take care of the Shen family. If they really want to recognize you, why didn’t you see them appear before you passed the imperial examinations? Seeing that you are exceptional, they wanted to gain a share of the pie, what shameless people!”

Zhao Zhao Su was speechless, Wang Yuanyu was a little too much, although it was true, there was no need to be so blunt. The others seemed to have pacified the situation, but his words were just adding fuel to the fire.

Chen Zhu said, “Speaking of which, I was once awakened by Shao Yong’s words, enlightened by his perfect vision, that I actually realised that I was too narrow-minded before…”

Xu Shixing knew that he was deliberately trying to change the subject to stop Xu Shixing being too absorbed in his own emotions. So he asked, “What did he say?”

Zhao Su had no idea what he was talking about, and asked mockingly: “Bo Xun is expecting too much from me, I’m no ancient prophet. How could I enlighten you with just a few words?”

Chen Zhu glanced at him, smiled slightly and said: “Back then during the provincial exams, I got Yayuan, and I was somewhat self-satisfied with myself but I inadvertently heard you speak of the Wukou running amok, the Tartar wreaking havoc in the North. The world appears to be at peace, but the lives of the common people get worse day by day. There could be an unexpected calamity happening at any moment. This is the moment I realised what it is to become an official of the Imperial court, we must be extremely prudent, any inattentiveness will result not only in the loss of our official post, but also our conscience and cost lives.”

Zhang Tingchen was provoked by his words: “No one disagrees, all the officials in the world did not think about prosperity and wealth at first. There were always a few who wanted to do something practical, but as time goes by, everyone around them is greedy. If you are not greedy, your superiors will not notice you, and your colleagues will treat you differently, and there is no other way except to resign.”

Pan Yunduan added: “Nowadays, the Yan faction is running amok and corrupt officials are everywhere. Even if we are assigned to the Imperial Academy, we will be released after three years. By then, we will not be able to hide from these things.”

Xu Shixing coughed falsely: “Watch your words, watch your words.”

Pan Yunduan didn’t take him seriously: “Rumo, you are too careful. There are only a few of us here, and there’s no ears present from the Yan faction. Besides, this is a fact, so why can’t we talk about it?”

Xu Shixing sighed, then stopped talking to him.

“In fact, corrupt officials may not necessarily be evil and greedy, and righteous officials may not be a benefit to the people.”

Zhao Su said this lightly. Seeing that everyone else was watching him, he continued: “Qi Jiguang daren and Hu Zongxian daren, you must have heard of the two of them? They are both attached to Yan Song and accept bribes. This is an indisputable fact. But they also guarded the Southeast, killed the Wukou, and made great achievements, but they never harmed the common people.”

Wang Xijue shook his head: “Corruption is corruption. It is said that Hu Zongxian was embezzling military pay, spending extravagantly, and even required sixteen people to carry his palanquin. This kind of person, even if he was killed a hundred times over, it would not make up for his crimes.”

Zhao Su smiled: “I didn’t mean to excuse him. I just wanted to say that nowadays, corruption in the imperial court has become commonplace, and will continue despite repeated prohibition, and it cannot be stopped with just one or two laws. The only thing that we can do under these circumstances, is to be like Hu and Qi daren4, and do everything in their power, but still be despised and rejected by others. In this case, if one’s reputation is completely destroyed, what benefit would that have for the people and the world?”

His words caused everyone to fall into deep contemplation, and even Wang Xijue seemed to twitch his lips, but didn’t refute him again.

Chen Zhu smiled bitterly: “Is there no way to have the best of both worlds?”

Zhao Su said without thinking: “Yes, when you are able to make rules, and be able to make others follow your rules, otherwise before then, you still have to abide by their rules. ”

Xu Shixing sighed: “Shaoyong is not as youthful as he looks.”

Zhao Su laughed, “That’s right, because I’m actually the fox under the pagoda tree that has cultivated enough to attain human form!”

He’d barely finished speaking when someone had already grabbed him by the chin.

Wang Xijue looked right and left, he laughed and said: “If you hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have noticed. Here it’s not fully formed, but after another two years, I think that half of the girls in the city will be after you. Why don’t we set you up, my wife is giving birth soon, if I have a girl, I will betroth her to you, that way you’ll have to call me father-in-law!”

“… Yeh that’s right, let’s do that!”

Everyone burst out laughing.

From the beginning of this small gathering, Zhao Su slowly established relationships with the others building a tight network.

Among the three of them in the first rank, Xu Shixing was prudent but lacked courage, whilst Wang Xijue was too irritable. There was only Zhao Su, who although was still young, was the most calm and steady. Whatever happened he would keep a cool head, and willing to help others in need, and give other people confidence in his words, and a natural born leader, but this was later.

Speaking of which, not long after the announcement of the honours list, their individual official positions were announced, they didn’t even have the time to go home to visit relatives.

As expected, all those who were ranked within the first rank and top of the second rank in the Court Examination had all been assigned to work at the Hanlin Academy.

Xu Shixing was given the post of Senior Compiler in the Hanlin Academy, a sixth-rank post.

Wang Xijue, Zhao Su, Yu Youding, Chen Zhu, Qi Yuanzuo, Zhang Tingchen, and the others, were all given the post of Junior Compiler at the Hanlin Academy, which was a seventh-rank post.

And Zhao Su had an additional part-time job, which was to teach his Highness, the little princely heir of the Prince of Yu Manor.

If right now, the Emperor only had the one son, Prince of Yu, then this job would surely have aroused a lot of jealousy, but there was still the Prince of Jing, the decision still very much rested upon the Emperor, and there was no indication of which prince he would choose to inherit the throne. Plus, the Prince of Jing Manor had recently released the news that one of the concubines was pregnant, so it was still very difficult to predict what would happen in the future.

[End of Arc 1]

Author Note:

Please note: 1- Xu Shixing’s background, there is one part that is false and one part is true, he really was surnamed Shen and he was an illegitimate child, another part that is unofficial history + I made up myself.

2 – I originally wanted the steamed bun to make an appearance, but in the end I couldn’t squeeze it in, and had to release the chapter. I can’t believe I wrote so much about just one meal, but I had to let Zhao Su and the others build up a relationship.