Kays Translations

Chapter 89: Jingxian Poetry Gathering (I)

Anqing Prefecture’s city exudes an extraordinary atmosphere, like a tiger lying in the flatlands, with its tall city gate tower resembling a tiger’s mouth, swallowing any passing pedestrians and vehicles.

If Huaining County is affluent, then Anqing Prefecture’s city is bustling.

Even at night, it is vibrant and lively, with the night market filled with crowds, making the scene resemble a city that never sleeps.

Unless one truly lived in this era, it was hard to imagine a dynasty could be this prosperous. And this was merely a prefectural city; above it were provincial capitals and the imperial capital. It was difficult to imagine how magnificent the Son of Heaven’s capital must be. Naturally, this prosperity had an ancient character quite different from modern prosperity, but it was all the more striking for it.

The prefectural examination was held in Anqing Prefectural City, drawing together the scholars who had passed the county examinations in the various counties. With a wider field, the literati’s habit of looking down on one another became even more obvious. They paid no heed to sayings about there being no first place in literature: candidates from each county and even each town formed cliques, looked down on outsiders, and competed both openly and covertly.

Zhu Ping’an, one of the top fifty candidates on Huaining County’s first-class list, had attracted special attention from students of other counties and towns. Thus, the poem about being bitten by a snake while hearing birds chirp, as well as his habit of eating lunch and napping during the exam and living in a shabby room, had all become common gossip.

Then, the students from other counties and towns became excited, as if they had drunk half a jin of old wine.

“He can’t even compose a poem, yet he eats and drinks during the exam and even takes a nap—hahaha! Someone like that can still make Huaining County’s first-class list. If he were in our county, he wouldn’t even pass the first round. So this is the level of Huaining County.”

Isn’t this just a target bestowed upon us by heaven?

There were only so many places available in the Anqing prefectural examination. If Huaining County’s reputation suffered, the prefect would naturally have to take that into account, giving candidates from the other counties a better chance.

Thus, the eager students from other counties began to inquire about Zhu Ping’an’s information, including his appearance and preferences, waiting for a chance to make Huaining County a laughingstock.

With diligent effort paying off, just on the fifth day after Zhu Ping’an settled in Anqing Prefecture’s city, while he was being pulled by his uncle and a few villagers to meet a friend of his uncle at a restaurant, he was unexpectedly blocked by several students from other counties.

His uncle’s friend was the same acquaintance from the county town whose teacher had served as an instructor at a county school. The friend had passed both the county and prefectural examinations and become a tongsheng, but he had repeatedly failed the academy examination. Since a tongsheng did not need to retake the county or prefectural examinations, he had been enjoying himself in Anqing Prefecture while waiting to travel to the provincial capital for the academy examination.

The restaurant was a well-known establishment in Anqing Prefecture, named “Jingxian Tower,” located in a prime area of Anqing Prefecture. It was grand in scale, lavishly decorated, with exquisite furnishings inside, where elegantly dressed maidens and servants moved about continuously, attending to the guests ascending the tower.

As Zhu Ping’an entered Jingxian Tower with his uncle and the others, he suddenly heard a joyful cheer and was promptly blocked.

“Finding you is like stepping on iron shoes without a place to seek. Aren’t these a few great talents from Huaining County?”

“Just in time! The poetry gathering of the students from Taihu, Wangjiang, and other counties is in full swing. What’s missing is you Huaining folks; encountering all of you at this moment is truly like finding sweet rain after a long drought.”

Several young scholars, holding folding fans and dressed elegantly, blocked Zhu Ping’an and his companions’ paths, insisting on escorting them upstairs.

Downstairs was the human realm; upstairs was paradise.

As Zhu Ping’an went upstairs, he happened to see a singer performing the red sleeve dance. She was light as a swallow, with graceful steps swaying in the breeze. Suddenly, her water sleeves flicked open, dancing in the air like a celestial maiden descending to the mortal realm, her willow waist twisting as she stepped lightly, resembling an immortal touched by the mortal world, stirring up feelings of spring.

Completely different from modern performances, Zhu Ping’an couldn’t help but glance a few more times in curiosity.

But in the eyes of those with ulterior motives, this is simply a country bumpkin from a remote area who has never seen the world. Just a singer, yet they are already mesmerized, unable to ascend to any grand occasion.

Sure enough, what we inquired about matched exactly. The scholars from other counties upstairs exchanged knowing smiles.

“Ahem, we have come this time to meet friends; we’ll come again next time to join in the poetry gathering,” Uncle Zhu Shouren said, noticing that there were several tables of scholars from other counties upstairs. He felt something was amiss and politely declined.

A scholarly youth from Jiangning County laughed heartily upon hearing this: “We are here to make friends through poetry; everyone here is a friend. Where are your friends? We can call them all over.”

The other scholars at the table also crowded around, pulling and tugging, forcibly surrounding Zhu Ping’an and the others at the large central table, greeting them with warmth as if they were long-lost relatives, especially casting curious glances at Zhu Ping’an, as if he were a rare treasure.

Uncle’s friend was also enthusiastically invited out from a private room. The scholars from other counties were eager for a larger crowd; the more people there were, the more embarrassing it would be for Huaining County, and the commotion would draw more consideration from the local magistrate.

Uncle’s friend was a stout man with a small pair of eyes that were so squinted they seemed to vanish. He appeared to be someone who had indulged excessively.

After everyone exchanged greetings, the stout man sat next to Uncle and began whispering with him and the others, ending with several odd glances thrown at Zhu Ping’an. Then Uncle and several local villagers’ faces turned slightly awkward, their gazes toward Zhu Ping’an filled with blame and complaint.

It seemed they already knew what the scholars from the other counties were truly up to.

When soldiers come, generals block; when water comes, earth covers.

Zhu Ping’an, as if nothing were amiss, began to deal with the plate of drunken crabs in front of him. He had long drooled over the drunken crabs from Shanghai while watching “A Bite of China,” but had never had the opportunity to try them until now. With the crabs right in front of him, how could he resist?

Indeed, as the rumors suggested, he was greedy and a glutton.

The scholars from several other counties cast sideways glances at Zhu Ping’an, who was using both hands to devour two large crabs in an unrefined manner.

Uncle Zhu Shouren and the others also wanted to distance themselves from Zhu Ping’an, their faces flushed with embarrassment.

The poetry gathering at Jingxian Tower had been planned well in advance by scholars from Tongcheng, Taihu, Wangjiang, and other counties. It was not originally organized specifically to target Zhu Ping’an and the other Huaining scholars. They had merely intended to get acquainted before turning their attention to Huaining. Then they heard that Zhu Ping’an and several other Huaining scholars were heading toward Jingxian Tower. The others quickly decided that there was no need to wait for another day: today would do perfectly for making Huaining embarrass itself.

Thus, some went downstairs to block the entrance in case Zhu Ping’an and the others were merely passing by; others went to summon more people, reasoning that good entertainment was better shared; and still others used personal connections to invite several respected figures from the prefectural city, hoping their judgments would lend the occasion greater weight.

Since the messengers hadn’t returned yet, the scholars from other counties held back their frustrations but planned to unleash a thunderous blow on Zhu Ping’an and the others once everyone had arrived.

So now, everyone was enjoying lively exchanges, and the atmosphere was very pleasant, which they referred to as warming up the scene.

With singing and dancing in full swing, the tension was palpable.

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