To the Land of Nevernight – Chapter 1

It was the beginning of the sixth month, the sun was blazing overhead.

Bright golden rapeseed flowers bloomed all over the fieldbanks. If one looked from afar it would seem like a patch of golden sea, swaying with the breeze. This patch of rapeseed field was located at the Eastern entrance to the Zhao Clan Village, and was lined up right with a lecture hall in the two-entrance courtyard house.

The Zhao Clan Village wasn’t originally called the Zhao Clan Village, many years ago it produced a master juren for the first time. Seeking to soak up a bit of that Wen Quxing’s (renowned scholar) luck, led by the village elders the village was renamed to Zhao Clan Village, following the surname of that master juren.

(T/N: Juren is a rank given to scholars that have passed the Provincial examinations)

At this present moment in time, there was a lively scene outside the lecture hall.

Two middle-age men wearing duanshan (short-sleeved garments) hefted a wooden box, walking into the lecture hall. It was solemn in the lecture hall, with Ceng-fuzi (pronounced Chuhng) sitting right at the front and a young lad with delicately handsome features stood at his left.

After the two men had carried the wooden box into the lecture hall, a woman led a young boy that looked to be 7 or 8 years old inside.

That woman carefully lifted her head, took a glance at Ceng-fuzi and again shifted her gaze away. Her gaze swept over the handsome young man at the side, letting out a “Yi” sound in surprise. Before she even spoke, she heard Ceng-fuzi say loudly, ”Kneel to the Sage.”

The woman hurriedly replied, “ Son, hurry and kowtow to the Sage.”

What would that boy child know of Sage-a-ma-what-now, but since his mother wanted him to kneel, he just muddle-headedly kneeled. He followed Ceng-fuzi and his mother’s instructions and kowtowed thrice to Confucius’ memorial tablet, then facing Ceng-fuzi kowtowed thrice again.

Ceng-fuzi nodded, satisfied, and reached out his hand.

Tang Shen immediately stepped forward, receiving a red-dipped brush from the child’s family member’s hand, and passed it to Ceng-fuzi. Ceng-fuzi held a red-dipped brush in his right hand, and held a scroll of ‘The Analects’ in his left, circling the first verse with the red-dipped brush, and simultaneously saying loudly, “Confucius said, to learn and then practise withal, is it not worthy of delight?”

The woman could not understand these words, but she had already repeated them to her son many times before coming to the lecture hall. As soon as the child heard these words, he hurried to repeat them along (with Ceng-fuzi).

Ceng-fuzi stroked his long beard: “The boy is worth teaching.”

The people gathered leased a sigh of relief.

The red-dipped brush and scroll in Ceng-fuzi’s hands was handed over to Tang Shen.

And as such, today’s ceremony of “picking up the poet’s brush and breaking ignorance” was considered over.

There were over seventy households in the Zhao Clan Village, and out in the boonies like this it was considered a large village. This month there were two young children that were enrolling into the lecture hall to study; before they could enrol into lessons, they all needed Ceng-fuzi to personally ‘break their ignorance’. Each time this occasion happened, Ceng-fuzi would ask a student to help him, and they would host the ‘breaking ignorance’ rite together. This was considered a good gig to run.

All along the person selected for this role would be his distant nephews, but for some reason these two most recent times it was Tang Shen.

That woman pulled her son to stand from the ground, looking with a peculiar gaze at Tang Shen. She had not even spoken when her elder brother started talking.

One of the men that had previously carried the wooden box said: “Ceng-fuzi, how come it’s always this brat from the Tang family that ‘breaks ignorance’ for people? It’s not me that’s complaining, but this Tang family brat is no longer studying at the lecture hall already, he can’t be a scholar from here on. We’ve requested you to ‘break ignorance’ out of respect for you, but not…” but not a young hooligan that hasn’t even studied!

Ceng-fuzi was the only Xiucai in the Zhao Clan Village, and had rank/honour to his name; he didn’t even need to kneel when he greeted the master County Magistrate. This man didn’t dare to finish that sentence, but within his words the contempt was expressed loud and clear.

(T/N: Xiucai is a rank given to a scholar that has passed the County Examination)

Ceng-fuzi: “In this Zhao Clan Village, is this old teacher not the only Xiucai?”

The man said: “That you are.”

Ceng-fuzi snorted coldly: “A year ago, that wasn’t the case. I ask you, although Tang Shen isn’t studying over at my place, but isn’t his father a Xiucai as well?”

The man’s expression grew slightly embarrassed: “That…”

“When that Tang-Xiucai was still alive, you all curried favour with him, asking him to ‘break ignorance’ for your children. Now the person has only passed on for a year, and you’ve all forgotten about him cleanly. So when I ask Tang-Xiucai’s son to ‘break ignorance’ for your sons, you guys are rather unwilling?”

The man was rendered speechless, and ashamed he gave Tang Shen a glance.

Tang Shen still had on that face of calm composure, a bright and clear expression in his eyes, lightly carrying a smile, and there wasn’t a bit of change.

When the ‘breaking ignorance’ rite concluded, this family stuffed two red packets to Ceng-fuzi and Tang Shen respectively, and then to each gave a box of glutinous rice cake (‘lianggao’), a basket of sweet dumplings (‘tianzong’),  which collectively signified ‘gaozong’, a homonym for placing highly in the examinations.

Once these people had left, Tang Shen said in a resigned tone: “Xiansheng (teacher) can take care of me for a time, but can’t take care of me forever.”

Ceng-fuzi picked up a piece of glutinous rice cake, and as he ate he said: “You also know this? Thils old pile of dregs (referring to himself in a derogatory manner) already has one foot in the grave, if you really wanted to ease my worries, you brat, why don’t you hurry and return to your studies, and earn yourself scholarly honor in the examinations.”

Tang Shen said innocently: “This brat has but four bare walls for a home, and can’t possibly afford those exorbitant tutor payments.”

Tutor payments, or in other words tuition fees.

Ceng-fuzi said angrily, “Is this old teacher lacking for your payment?” As he said this, he picked up a piece of glutinous rice cake and pelted Tang Shen with it.

The handsome youth let out a laugh as he dodged the rice cake, and after that he didn’t stand on ceremony at all as he took up the red packet, turned and ran. After running halfway he seemed to remember that he’d left something behind, and ran back to take away that box of rice cake and a basket of sweet dumplings.

Ceng-fuzi was so angry his eyes bulged.

Tang Shen had a righteous excuse: “A’Huang likes to eat this.”

“I tell you to get lost!”

“Hahahaha.”

After leaving the lecture hall, Tang shen walked amidst the rapeseed flowerbeds, taking out a piece of glutinous rice cake from the box to try a bite.

“En…red dates, glutinous rice, the taste of the red dates is a bit too heavy, a little like red date ice cream?” After he’d said this, he laughed and shook his head, “It’s far from comparison to ice cream.” Although he said this, as he walked and walked, he took out another piece to eat.

Once he’d walked out from the rapeseed flowerbeds, Tang Shen turned back and lgazed toward the lecture hall.

A blue sky and white clouds, yellow flowers surrounding a farmhouse.

“It’s been two months ah…”

Indeed, since Tang Shen transmigrated into the Zhao Clan Village, becoming this “Tang Shen”, two entire months had already passed by.

He was also called Tang Shen.

Two months ago, he was still one of the PhD candidates at a certain nationally-ranked top no.2 university, and was doing a new renewable resource experiment. This trial of the experiment had just about pressed dry all of the researchers’ energy; Tang Shen hadn’t slept for three days and three nights, and after he’d taken great effort to calculate that bunch of critical data, once he’d closed his eyes and reopened them he found himself here.

When Tang Shen had just arrived in the ancient times he’d been completely stupefied, he hadn’t yet mentally extracted himself from the swamp of experimental data and already he was facing a more important existential problem: there wasn’t any food to eat!

Recalling those bitter experiences of the past two months, Tang Shen cupped handfuls of tears in his heart, and holding those rice cakes and sweet dumplings he walked up to a herbal tea near the entrance of the village. He’d just reached when a crisp female voice resounded: “Tang Shen! Where did you go to loiter again!”

A figure wearing ash-gray cloth garments slid and scuttled in front of Tang Shen.

It was a short, small and skinny little girl with skin tanned darkly, looking to be about 8 or 9 years of age,but was an entire head-and-a-half shorter than thirteen-year-old Tang Shen. She stood on her tiptoes as he glared at Tang Shen. Her forehead was covered in sweat and her clothes were also soaked with sweat. “You weren’t here the entire morning, (the stall) sold a lot of fruit juice, and it was all sold by me alone.”

Tang Shen shook the bundle of rice cakes and sweet dumplings: “See what this is, I went over to Ceng-fuzi’s place.”

The girl’s eyes lit up: “I’m hungry.”

“It’s all for you to eat.”

Tang Huang picked up a piece of rice cake, and devoured it like a famished beast. “The dumplings, wait till we get back and I’ll heat it up for you to eat.”

Tang Shen: “You just eat it yourself. How much money’s worth of fruit juice was sold this morning?”

The little maiden was originally happily eating the rice cake, but once she’d heard those words she stared guardedly at Tang Shen, like a mother wolf protecting her young pups: “What do you want to do? I tell you, you’re not allowed to touch even a single copper coin of that money, it must all be saved up for your tuition fees, you need to return to studying!”

 Tang Shen didn’t reply, he looked at the young maiden’s clothes that had been soaked by sweat, and wrinkled his brow: “Why didn’t you drink a bit of fruit juice to relieve yourself from the heat.”

“Won’t drink, that’s meant for selling!”

Tang Shen simply poured a glass of fruit juice and passed it to A’Huang, at first the little maiden wasn’t willing, but in the still received it. She took a careful little sip, and her eyes crinkled up in contentment.

The lady boss of the herbal tea shop laughed: “Little fellow from the Tang family, you’re here? You can be reassured, your family’s A’Huang sold quite a lot of fruit juice this morning. Those hoodlums were thinking of bullying your family’s A’Huang seeing as you weren’t around, but I didn’t even need to speak when they were frightened away by your family’s A’Huang. The little maiden appears thin and weak, but when she’s protecting the stall she can be quite ferocious.”

Hearing the words “hoodlum”, Tang Shen’s expression changed. He coldly lifted the corners of his lips, and though he was smiling and it was a summer day, that expression still somehow gave people goosebumps.

“They still dare to come?”

Just when he’d said the words aloud, a few hoodlums happened to walk up to the village entrance. They were originally thinking of finding trouble for A’Huang, but suddenly seeing Tang Shen, the few of them froze. The head hoodlum spat some vulgarities, sat his butt on the stone, and watched Tang Shen unmoving.

Tang Shen laughed.

The hoodlum gritted his teeth, not daring to move.

This scene looked really strange. A group of seventeen or eighteen-year old hoodlums were scared stiff by one youth of twelve or thirteen years. No matter who perceived this they’d probably have a hard time comprehending it, finding it inexplicable. But if they knew that two months ago, this group of hoodlums were chased by this youth wielding a cleaver all the way from the village’s east entrance to the western entrance, they probably wouldn’t find it odd anymore.

Till this day the hoodlums can still remember the likeness of Tang Shen in that moment. Although he clearly was so thin he didn’t have much flesh on this bones, but both his eyes were reddened like that of a demon, holding a cleaver in his hand, extremely fierce as he chased after them. Until they were so frightened they jumped into the ricer to escape for their lives, did Tang Shen stop chasing them.

Tang-xiucai had just been dead for a year, and only the brother and sister duo were left in the Tang Family, with no one to depend on. The hoodlums were constantly bullying them, and back then it wasn’t a big deal, but two months also Tang Shen nearly died from illness, and after he’d recovered he seemed a completely different person.

He was no longer so subservient, cowardly and unconfident.First he scared off the hoodlums, and even attained Ceng-fuzi’s favour. The most impressive thing was, he plucked the fruits from that sour-fruit tree no one wanted in front of their own front door, brewing it into some sort of peculiar “apple juice”. This fruit juice was sour-sweet, and was great for relieving heat during the summer, selling pretty well in the village.

The couple that ran the herbal tea shop found the children pitiful, and allowed them to set up a stall outside their own store to sell fruit juice. How much fruit juice could two children possibly make, they wouldn’t  be stealing much business in the end, so they still felt it within their means to help look out for them a little.

The little maiden had finished eating the rice cake: “Tang Shen, did you send (give) some fruit juice to the village chief this morning?”

“En, what’s the matter?”

“That cup of fruit juice is worth two copper coins!” What a loss!

Someone came to buy apple juice, Tang Shen used a cup to fill it for him, and turned back as he said: “What do you know, Tang Huang, that’s called advertising.”

A’Huang huffed angrily: “What advertising, I think you’re just one of those wealth-distributing children next to the Great Guanyin (deity). Also, I always get the feeling you have a strange expression when you call my name, you used to always call me A’Huang, never Tang Huang.”

Tang Shen said unperturbedly: “What does a young child like you know, that’s called artistry.”

Once it was the afternoon, the weather was scorching, and the villagers that came to drink tea at the herbal tea shop increased in number.

Herbal tea was cheap, fruit juice was expensive, but fruit juice was better at relieving heat and better tasting. Occasionally there would be someone to buy fruit hjuice, and the brother-sister duo would then earn enough money to eat. When it reached evening, the fruit juice was almost sold out, and Tang Shen started to pack up the stall.

Distantly, a carriage appeared from the little road at the village entrance, driving over. The shaft of the carriage let out creaking noises.

The Zhao Clan Village was located near the border of  a few other villages, and frequently there were outsiders that passed by, but it was rare to see a carriage, perhaps only one would be seen each month. A’Huang curiously pressed near to see, Tang Shen also followed to take a look.

Perhaps because the weather was too hot, that carriage stopped in front of the herbal tea shop.

The carriage blinds lifted, a straight-cut black-clothed young man first got off the carriage. Once he alighted he turned back to receive the person behind him. Behind him, an aged man got off the carriage slowly

He was already well on in years, both his temples adorned with white hair, but his eyes were bright and piercing, his back was bolt-upright and he emitted a stately air.

The villagers could not tell what origins these visitors had, but they felt that this elder person was exctremely impressive, not daring to make direct eye contact. Tang Shen had previously had the opportunity to meet with high-ranking national leaders in his previous life, so he could tell this old person had the disposition of one who’d occupied a high position for a long time. Tang Shen’s gaze turned apprehensive, and took a cautious look at the other party.

Tang Shen: “Let’s go home earlier.”

A’Huang: “Ah? But we haven’t finished selling the fruit juice.”

“Bring back and drink it for ourselves.”

“……”

“Tang Shen! You carry on being so extravagant like this, and that bit of family savings of ours will sooner or later be squandered by you!”

Tang Shen thought in his heart: Just that bit of private savings of yours doesn’t even bear being squandered by him, all summed up together it’s not even enough to buy three taels of lantern oil!

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T/N: Yeah, no, I’m not translating anymore of this story. Happy April fool’s! 

1. If we’re going by Lunar calendar, that’s around early July. [Return]

2. Fuzi is the respectful term of reference for the scholars back then that took on personal students and also taught in lecture halls. [Return]

3. ‘Sage’ was a title ascribed to Confucius. [Return]

4. 朱笔 – writing brush dipped in red ink for marking students’ papers or officiating papers. [Return]

5. 孺子可教也 – Idiom that’s basically, ‘you could be taught yet, young’in’ which is the catchphrase of every pretentious teacher ever [Return]

6.开笔破蒙 This refers to rite where the student learns to write his first poem or essay, and henceforth he begins on his journey as a ‘learned person’. [Return]

7.十里八村 [Return]

8. The Chinese equivalent of this saying literally translates to, “half a foot is already in the soil”. [Return]

9. A idiom meaning to be so poor you can’t afford furniture or things. [Return]

10.狼吞虎咽 – literally, ‘swallow like a wolf and inhale like a tiger’. [Return]