Kays Translations

Chapter 246: Bookworm

The outside was filled with endless shouting and cursing. Yang Dacheng stood in the courtyard, holding a shovel, confronting the intruders. Inside the house, the mistress was anxiously holding her child, nervously glancing out, her face pale with fear.

The child in the mistress’s arms struggled to break free, trying to grab a broom from inside the room to help his father, which caused the mistress to pull him back onto her lap, slap him, and then hold him tightly in her arms, fearing he would run outside and be bullied.

“Stay quietly inside, I’ll go out and take a look.” Zhu Ping’an put down his bowl and chopsticks, patted the mischievous child on the head in an attempt to comfort him, then stood up and walked towards the door. Out of compassion and reasoning, he felt he had to help this family.

“Young man, don’t go out. Be careful they might involve you in this. These people have no sense of reason,” the mistress said, seeing Zhu Ping’an about to leave, trying to stop him, not wanting him to get involved for no reason.

“It’s alright. Even if they don’t have reason, they still have to follow the law,” Zhu Ping’an replied with a slight shake of his head and walked out of the house.

“Ah…” The mistress called after him, seeing Zhu Ping’an leaving. She thought he was just an innocent scholar, unaware of the dangers of the world, and worried about him.

The mischievous child in the mistress’s arms stretched his neck to watch Zhu Ping’an leave, wanting to go with him, but was firmly held down by the mistress and couldn’t move.

Zhu Ping’an stepped outside the door and saw Yang Dacheng confronting five lazy-looking yamen runners in the yard. Behind them was a middle-aged man with a mustache, dressed in a satin long robe, looking rather sleazy. Despite the cold winter, he was holding a folding fan in his hand, seemingly trying to flaunt his status.

“Hey, who’s this kid?” One of the yamen runners asked, tilting his head and staring at Zhu Ping’an as he came out.

The other yamen runners looked at Zhu Ping’an in a similarly lazy manner, gradually forming a slight encirclement.

“This is just a passing scholar, don’t make things difficult for him,” Yang Dacheng said, holding the shovel, addressing the yamen runners, then turned to Zhu Ping’an and said, “Young man, you’ve eaten, so better be on your way.”

Seeing how much Yang Dacheng cared about Zhu Ping’an and was trying to protect him, the yamen runners began to distrust his words.

“Tsk, tsk, Yang the Cripple is pretty loyal, isn’t he? Is this a relative of yours? I haven’t seen him before. Oh, I remember—doesn’t your wife have a useless younger brother who has been studying? Hahaha! I heard he studied for ten years and still couldn’t pass the county examination, the very first stage of the Children’s Examination. This must be him, right?”

One of the yamen runners seemed to recall something, laughing uncontrollably, and his gaze toward Zhu Ping’an turned filled with contempt.

Think about it: ten years of study, yet he still could not pass the county examination. The Children’s Examination had three stages, and after the county examination still came the prefectural examination and academy examination. If he could not clear even the first stage after ten years, how could anyone say he was cut out for study?

“Hahaha, I say, you might as well stop studying. You’re clearly not cut out for it,” another yamen runner mocked, shaking his head.

“It’s not completely hopeless. See our Clerk Huang? He’s a xiucai and one of the county magistrate’s trusted men. If you take him as your teacher, receive his guidance, and make the right connections, you may still have a future,” the first runner said coaxingly.

“Of course, Clerk Huang is busy with official business and can’t guide just anyone. But if you became family, that would be different. Hehe—if Clerk Huang became your brother-in-law, wouldn’t it be perfectly natural for a brother-in-law to teach his wife’s younger brother?” The runner winked at Zhu Ping’an in a way that made one want to kick his face three sizes larger.

“What nonsense are you talking about? This young man is just a passing scholar,” Yang Dacheng said, his face turning blue with anger.

“Tsk, tsk, Yang the cripple is still as stubborn as ever,” the yamen runners mocked, clearly not believing Yang Dacheng, and firmly believing that Zhu Ping’an was his brother-in-law.

“What are you trying to do? How can you speak like this? This is a disgrace to culture!” Zhu Ping’an stood next to Yang Dacheng, pointing at the yamen runners, his face flushed with anger, looking every bit the naïve scholar.

Zhu Ping’an’s words, along with his scholarly appearance, made the yamen runners laugh. This kid was clearly someone who had studied so much that he had become a fool. He was a useless waste of a scholar.

“Land held by the people must render tax to the ruler; such is the established system.”

“Taizu once said: ‘Those who are subjects should know their proper duty. Land tax and labor service are rendered upward as their share.’”

Clerk Huang, without minding the cold, opened his folding fan and waved it twice. Then, he opened his mouth and began speaking in a formal, classical bureaucratic tone, acting as if he were following proper procedure.

“Therefore, corvée service is a rule laid down by our Taizu, and we are merely acting according to the Yellow Registers. Yang Dacheng, it is your turn to go serve at the Great Wall. Refuse, and you will be defying state law—the lighter punishment is prison, and the heavier one can cost you your head.”

Clerk Huang closed his folding fan, extended his right hand to stroke his mustache, and looked at Yang Dacheng, speaking with righteous indignation.

Seeing how skilled Clerk Huang was at quoting ancient texts, concocting fabricated charges, and then threatening with them so effortlessly, without even breaking a sweat or losing composure, Zhu Ping’an realized that this man had likely been doing this kind of thing for quite some time, and not just for one or two years.

The county magistrate is not as immediate as the man who directly controls the matter. Sometimes misconduct at the lowest level is even worse—and does greater harm.

Because their negligence and abuse of power directly affect the common people!

The corvée system needed reform. The petty-clerk system needed reform too.

Zhu Ping’an silently made a note of this in his mind as he observed the scene.

“Ridiculous, I only served for the river dredging corvée labor in the spring, and now in the winter, you want me to serve at the Great Wall? This is clearly abusing power for personal gain, this is too much! The spring service was your scheme to deliberately injure my leg! And now, you still want me to serve at the Great Wall? Is there no law at all!” Yang Dacheng glared angrily at Clerk Huang, nearly bursting with rage, wishing he could rush up and tear Clerk Huang into pieces with his own hands. This scoundrel was only after his wife, wasn’t he? If he gave in to this villain, he would no longer be a man!

“Law?” Clerk Huang stroked his mustache and let out a contemptuous laugh, “What I’m talking about is the law. Heh, your serving at the Great Wall as a corvée laborer is the law!”

What I’m talking about is the law!

Even a county yamen’s dianshi was an unranked functionary, and Huang’s zandian clerkship ranked lower still. Yet a man like this dared to proclaim, “What I say is the law.” The emperor was far away indeed, leaving petty local power free to run rampant.

“Taizu issued rules exempting certain people from corvée: the noble, the worthy, the capable, those engaged in public service, the elderly, and the infirm, with their status entered into the yearly records. Brother Yang’s crippled leg plainly places him among those entitled to exemption.”

After hearing Clerk Huang finish, Zhu Ping’an curled his lips and spoke up.

As soon as Zhu Ping’an finished speaking, the courtyard fell silent for a few seconds. The several attendants exchanged glances, then burst into laughter.

“This kid really got too absorbed in his studies!”

“Yeah, he really thinks a few phrases can help him point out the problems in the world.”

“Hahaha… what an idiot.”

“The infirm can indeed be exempted, but which ailments qualify, and how severe they must be, is for our Household Office to decide. The Tatars are raiding the frontier, and men are needed. Yang Dacheng’s leg trouble is minor; he should put state affairs first and hurry north to serve the country repairing the Great Wall,” Clerk Huang declared.

“Did you hear that? Clerk Huang is a xiucai and a gentleman. How could a half-baked scholar like you compare with him?”

“Heh heh, exactly, this is like showing off a big sword in front of Guan Yu, truly laughable.”

The attendants, after hearing Clerk Huang, openly mocked Zhu Ping’an without restraint.

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