Kays Translations

Chapter 143: Misunderstanding

When the setting sun meets the new moon, the night curtain quietly falls.

Due to feeling unwell today, Zhu Ping’an left the words “Quit Drinking” on his desk before returning to bed to sleep. His current state truly couldn’t support practicing calligraphy or reading, as his mind was already unclear.

As the night deepens and all falls silent, everyone drifts into dreams.

The next day, Zhu Ping’an was woken by a loud knocking and banging. Rubbing his eyes, he found that the lingering tipsiness from yesterday had finally cleared. He resolved never to drink like that again—at least not before his capping ceremony.

The Ming placed great importance on ritual. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang personally ordered the restoration of the capping ceremony, and court scholars worked out detailed regulations for it. The rite, which had fallen into decline under the Yuan, revived in the Ming and spread from the capital to the countryside. Among scholars in particular, a young man was expected to undergo the capping ceremony, after which an elder would grant him a courtesy name to mark his adulthood.

Zhu Ping’an didn’t understand why there was such banging outside. He got out of bed, dressed, and scooped a ladle of clean water from the bucket to pour into the basin, preparing to wash up. Just as his hand touched the water, he heard the sound of knocking at the door mixed with the noisy banging.

Who would be so inconsiderate to cause such a disturbance so early in the morning and disrupt people’s dreams?

Zhu Ping’an flicked the water from his hand, walked over, and opened the door. The innkeeper stood there smiling, with two yamen runners behind him. One held a red notice, the other a small copper gong, and both were grinning broadly.

“Officers, this is Young Master Zhu Ping’an,” the innkeeper said, introducing him to the two yamen runners. Then he cupped his hands toward Zhu Ping’an and smiled. “Congratulations, Young Master—congratulations!”

Only after passing all three stages of the Children’s Examination could a tongsheng gain shengyuan status, commonly called xiucai. Since reaching this stage was no easy feat, special yamen runners were sent to deliver the good news.

Zhu Ping’an looked at the yamen runners in surprise. He knew the good news would be delivered, but weren’t they supposed to go to his home? Why had they come to the inn?

“Young Master, don’t be surprised. The runners carrying the notice to your home already left Yingtian yesterday. We brothers are only here to complete the formalities and congratulate you on taking first place in Anqing Prefecture’s academy examination. Young Master, your future is boundless,” said the runner holding the red notice, cupping his hands.

“Thank you both for your kind words, and thank you for making this trip. This small token is my humble gesture. Please, have a cup of tea to refresh yourselves,” Zhu Ping’an replied with a sincere smile, then took two small pieces of silver from his sleeve and discreetly placed them in the attendants’ hands.

The two attendants politely declined a few times before accepting, and as they felt the silver in their hands, their smiles grew even brighter. This young master was indeed generous, as evidenced by his offering.

“Then we won’t stand on ceremony. Ah, I almost forgot the formalities! At noon today, Young Master must go to the Jiangnan Gongyuan and complete your personal declaration: age, native place, three generations of ancestry, and identifying features such as build and facial hair. It is the customary procedure. After you finish, an instructor will review and seal it before it is submitted to the education commissioner. You only need to complete the declaration,” the runner said after putting away the silver.

“Now that you are a shengyuan, you may want to wear the proper shengyuan robe when you go to the Jiangnan Gongyuan this afternoon. That way no one will question your status,” the other runner added.

“Thank you for the reminder,” Zhu Ping’an said with a polite bow.

The scholar’s robes mentioned by the attendant were not simple clothing. The fabric, style, size, color, and workmanship were all strictly regulated by official standards: “The scholar’s robe is made of jade-colored silk, with wide sleeves, black edges, and soft black ties hanging from the waist. The attire for the successful candidates remains unchanged.”

Under the regulations, this prescribed scholar’s attire was tied to formal shengyuan and jiansheng status, and wearing it without the proper qualification could be punished. By this period, however, enforcement was no longer as strict as it had been in the early Hongwu reign.

The long robe Mother Chen had made for him was the sort of robe scholars commonly wore, but it was not the prescribed shengyuan attire. After seeing off the innkeeper and the two yamen runners, Zhu Ping’an decided to find a ready-made clothing shop and buy a proper set. He didn’t want to make a poor impression on his first day as a shengyuan.

Previously, Zhu Ping’an had always focused on restaurants, but he had never paid attention to ready-made clothing stores.

Zhu Ping’an left the inn and casually chose a direction to find a clothing store. The street was lined with many shops, but ready-made clothing stores were quite rare.

After walking quite a distance, he found a fabric store with poor business, almost empty with no customers.

Zhu Ping’an entered, and the shop assistant, lacking energy, greeted him, “Young master, what do you need? Our store has all kinds of fabrics, silks, and satin.”

“I’d like to buy a set of ready-made clothes,” Zhu Ping’an replied.

“Ready-made clothes, we have those as well,” the shop assistant led him deeper into the store. “Please have a look, and let me know if any of these are to your liking.”

“I’d like to buy a set of scholar’s attire,” Zhu Ping’an said, glancing at the clothes the shop assistant had recommended, but shaking his head slightly. None of them were scholar’s attire.

Upon hearing this, the shop assistant’s enthusiasm waned, and he waved his hand. “We’ve never made scholar’s attire. To be honest, I doubt you’ll find any around here. If you really need it, you might want to go across the Qinhuai River. Scholars often visit there, so perhaps you’ll find the scholar’s attire you need.”

Zhu Ping’an left this store and tried another, receiving the same response.

Well, it seemed like he would have to make a trip across the Qinhuai River.

Zhu Ping’an gave a wry smile and began walking towards the Qinhuai River. There was only one bridge connecting this area to the other side of the river, the one with the inscription “A gentleman does not cross the bridge, crossing the bridge means you’re no gentleman.” This was Zhu Ping’an’s first time crossing this bridge.

After crossing the bridge, Zhu Ping’an saw its name on the other side: “Wende Bridge.” In Zhu Ping’an’s opinion, this bridge would have been better named “Gentleman’s Bridge” because to the north was the Confucius Temple, which honored teachers and the importance of education, while to the south was the entertainment district, full of brothels and pleasure houses. The direction one chose to go, north or south, to some extent reflected whether one was a gentleman or not.

As soon as Zhu Ping’an crossed the bridge, he heard a tinkling laugh.

“Hee hee hee. I thought you, a half-grown scholar, would be so high-minded, yet here you are sneaking across the bridge. I caught you, didn’t I?”

Zhu Ping’an looked up and saw a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old, her hair tied in a “falling horse” style, smiling mischievously at him.

The girl was quite beautiful, with large eyes and a pleasing face.

“What’s wrong, don’t you recognize me?” she teased. “I was actually thinking of inviting you to my room to play.”

Zhu Ping’an felt a bit speechless and slightly cupped his hands. “Thank you for your kindness, miss. May I ask if there is a ready-made clothing store nearby?”

Hearing this, the girl covered her lips and blinked her big eyes, her teasing growing stronger. “A ready-made clothing store? Hee hee, you’ve crossed the bridge, so why be shy now? This is the worst excuse I’ve ever heard. Were you crossing the bridge to find me? Don’t be shy, if you admit it, I’ll gladly keep you company. We can play however you like.”

Zhu Ping’an didn’t want to engage with her further and cupped his hands again. “In that case, I won’t disturb you.”

With that, he bypassed the mischievous girl and continued on his way to find a ready-made clothing store.

“Hey, where are you going? Don’t you have other admirers here?” the girl said, stomping her foot and chasing after him.

Other admirers? As if I’m thinking about you like that!

Zhu Ping’an ignored her and continued walking. Not far ahead, he spotted a ready-made clothing store. It was quite impressive, with many scholars in scholarly attire entering and exiting, far superior to the fabric stores he had just visited.

“Young master, are you buying fabric to give to this young lady?” the shop assistant looked at Zhu Ping’an and then at the girl chasing behind him. He assumed that the scholar was buying some floral fabric to please the girl, and so he asked enthusiastically.

Hearing this, the girl smiled smugly, thinking that this half-grown scholar was rather naive, thinking of buying fabric to flatter her.

Zhu Ping’an shook his head lightly and said calmly, “No, that’s not it. This young lady and I are not related, so why would I buy cloth for her? I heard you have scholar robes here, so I specifically came to buy a set.”

Upon hearing this, the young lady’s face darkened, her teeth clenched, and she muttered something under her breath, likely cursing Zhu Ping’an, probably calling him something like a fool or a blockhead who didn’t understand romance.

“Oh, I was mistaken. Please, come in, sir,” the shop assistant apologized and gestured for Zhu Ping’an to enter the store.

Inside the shop, there were indeed many scholar robes, likely because scholars frequently visited this ready-made clothing store when heading to the golden halls of the elite.

“Hey, are you crazy? You can’t wear this unless you’re a scholar. If you wear it carelessly, the authorities will punish you,” the young lady followed him inside, seeing that Zhu Ping’an was actually intending to buy a scholar’s robe. She forgot her anger and hurriedly warned him.

“Thank you for the reminder, but I was fortunate enough to pass the academy exam this time,” Zhu Ping’an replied nonchalantly without even turning his head, continuing to browse the clothes.

“Enough, stop daydreaming. How old are you?” the young lady, not believing him, sneered again.

Whether she believed it or not, it was none of his business. Zhu Ping’an didn’t say much more.

Those who passed the scholar exam were mostly adults, and the shop never expected someone like Zhu Ping’an to be a scholar at such a young age. Therefore, the ready-made clothes in the shop were all much too large for him.

This was quite a problem.

“If you ask me, I’ll tailor it for you,” the young lady saw this and approached Zhu Ping’an, blinking as she spoke.

Right, she could tailor it, the young lady’s words were a wake-up call to the daydreaming man.

“Thank you for the reminder, miss. Shopkeeper, please wrap up the smallest one,” Zhu Ping’an thanked the young lady and then instructed the shop assistant to pack up the clothes.

After paying, Zhu Ping’an left with the clothes and walked straight toward the other side of Qinhuai River, where there were also fabric shops. Surely, they could tailor the robe, and if necessary, he could pay a little extra.

“Hey, do you look down on people like us?” The young lady, seeing that Zhu Ping’an didn’t even glance at her and simply walked over the bridge, clenched her teeth. Her face turned pale, and after a moment, she called out to his retreating figure, her voice tinged with resentment.

Look down on her? How could he? If anyone was to be looked down upon, it would be those scholars who read sacred texts but lingered on pleasures and couldn’t tear themselves away.

“No, it’s just that our paths are different,” Zhu Ping’an stopped, turned around, and cupped his hands toward the young lady. “Thank you for your reminder earlier.”

With that, Zhu Ping’an turned and left.

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