Chapter 301: Paper for Home Use

“Magistrate Tian has granted permission for your father and Heng’er to join the County School together after the festival. Little Two, at that time, only your mother, Daya, and yourself will be left at home. Although you are the youngest, in my heart, I do not treat you as an ordinary child.

Since you have learned to drive the carriage, traveling between Crouching Tiger and the village should be no problem in the future. If anything happens, come to Crouching Tiger City to find us. Do you understand?”

Uncle’s words left Yan Yu stunned for a good while.

“Uncle, Dad and Big Brother can both go to the County School? Our family can send two people?” she pressed.

Yan Huaiwen found it difficult to explain the intricacies to Little Two, simply stating: “Magistrate Tian is gracious and willing to offer some patronage, so he granted our family two slots. This is a great opportunity for your father; it must not be missed.”

“Uncle, do you think Dad can pass the exams?” Yan Yu inquired.

She wanted to probe Yan Lao’er’s true depth. Her uncle’s scholarship was exceptional, so he would surely have an objective evaluation of Yan Lao’er.

Unexpectedly, such a simple question stumped Yan Huaiwen.

He knitted his brows in deep thought, remaining silent for a long time.

Seeing his expression, Yan Yu asked tentatively, “Uncle, Dad is so averse to studying. Since I can remember, I’ve rarely seen him touch a book. At most, he teaches me and Mom how to recognize a few characters. Do you know what level my dad is actually at?”

Yan Huaiwen felt a pang of shame.

As an older brother, he had perhaps been too indifferent to his younger brother’s studies. He actually couldn’t recall how far Tianyou had read or how his essays were.

He could only estimate based on age and years of schooling.

“Your father began his primary education at six and studied for ten years. The Three Character Classic[^1], The Hundred Family Surnames, The Thousand Character Classic, Standards for being a Good Pupil and Child, Young Learners’ Encyclopedia[^2], Poems of a Thousand Masters, Anthology of Ancient Prose, Enlightenment on Sound and Rhythm, Augmented Virtuous Words…

He should have these memorized by heart. He might fall short for the Prefectural Examination and still needs tempering, but passing the Tongsheng³ examination should be no problem. Although a Tongsheng is not a full Scholarly Honor, he would still be a proper Scholar. Being called Tongsheng Yan is better than being called Yan the Second.”

Yan Yu deeply agreed with this. Although a name was just a label and didn’t represent much, her father was always called either Yan the Second or Yan Lao’er. Look at Uncle Liang—wherever he went, people called him Tongsheng Liang, and their tone and expression were completely different.

Yan Yu felt her father didn’t need to aim too high; just becoming a Tongsheng would be enough. When traveling outside, he wouldn’t be dismissed as a nobody like before.

More importantly, in a world with a rigid hierarchy, commoners had to kneel upon seeing an official. Guanzhou was not a place where literary culture flourished, so one didn’t need the Scholarly Honor of a Xiu Cai⁴; even with the title of Tongsheng, the high officials would treat you with courtesy. According to her observations, Uncle Liang had never knelt.

A deep bow was something she could accept.

Dad always said he didn’t mind kneeling and that they should “do as the locals do,” but in reality, for them, these customs required a long period of psychological adjustment. It wasn’t that easy to break their inherent modern concepts.

“I’ve memorized all those books, and you’ve tested me on them before, Uncle. So, Uncle, who is better at studying—Dad or me?” Yan Yu seized the opportunity to ask the question she wanted to ask most.

Little Two’s eyes reflected the clouds in the sky, drifting by and leaving only a clear, pure gaze.

Seeing her uncle stuck again, Yan Yu didn’t give up and continued, “Uncle, do you think if I went to take the Tongsheng exam, I could pass?”

Yan Huaiwen found his voice: “Little Two, you want to take the exams?”

Yan Yu was conflicted to death; this was a loaded question.

If she said she wanted to, and her uncle felt she couldn’t take the exams because she was a girl but decided to give her extra tutoring in private, wouldn’t she be digging her own grave?

But if she said she didn’t want to, then why was she asking all these questions?

She took a deep breath and said vaguely, “I haven’t really thought about it. But today, hearing Uncle say that Dad and I studied the same things, and that Dad can pass the Tongsheng exam, I just asked in passing if I could do it too.”

Yan Huaiwen said warmly, “There are still several months until next February. The time is a bit tight, but it’s not entirely impossible. Since Little Two has this ambition, Uncle will assign you more homework. As long as you work hard, even if you cannot enter the examination hall, acquiring true knowledge is the same. Scholarly Honor is merely an external thing; a person’s knowledge and cultivation are not solely reflected by it.

As a girl, you do not need to force yourself onto the path of the Imperial Examination System⁵. One day, you will find that Scholarly Honors are merely the icing on the cake. Whether a person succeeds depends entirely on themselves.”

…

Before Yan Huaiwen entered the Government Office, Yan Yu begged her uncle to drop her off at the bookstore.

She repeatedly promised not to wander off, and the bookstore shopkeeper also said with a smile that he would help look after her. Only then did Yan Huaiwen leave.

This was Yan Yu’s second time entering Crouching Tiger City.

After the city lockdown was lifted and Crouching Tiger reopened, there were many more people than the last time she came. The shops on the streets were very lively.

Since the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, many merchants had pasted red paper on their goods and placed them in the most conspicuous spots in the shops, easily visible to anyone passing by.

There were also stalls on the street, with peddlers’ cries rising and falling in a bustling symphony.

Yan Yu kept her promise and didn’t leave the bookstore, but that didn’t mean she didn’t lean against the doorframe to peer outside.

The bookstore’s location was quite good, adjacent to a major intersection.

Every business was thriving except for the bookstore, which was quite deserted. She stayed for a good while, and only two people dressed as scholars walked in.

Through her careful observation, neither scholar was there to buy anything. One was there to deliver books he had copied for the shop; the shopkeeper settled the payment with some copper coins—at a glance, only a few dozen, less than her own pocket money.

The other was there to inquire about the book-copying work. The shopkeeper had him test his brushwork, but his writing was likely not up to par, and he left looking quite disappointed.

Once she had seen enough of the excitement outside, she wandered around inside the bookstore. The shopkeeper didn’t mind her, merely signaling a young shop assistant to follow behind.

He was likely afraid she would damage the books but found it awkward to say so directly, so he sent someone to watch her.

Yan Yu browsed casually, flipping through one book after another.

Most were hand-copied; woodblock-printed books were rare.

For the same introductory books, like the “Three-Hundred-Thousand⁶” series, the prices varied greatly depending on the paper used, whether the cover was exquisite, and if the calligraphy inside was better.

There was nothing truly cheap in the bookstore; as long as it had words on it, it usually started at a hundred wen⁷.

Brushes, ink sticks, and inkstones were all categorized by quality. Yan Yu looked at the cheapest paper, which still had bits of straw residue in it. It was likely made with coarse materials and lacked refinement; the paper quality was truly mediocre.

She estimated it wasn’t even as good as the best sheets of Recycled Paper her family had produced.

At least her family’s pulp was very fine. She had applied even pressure on those few sheets, and aside from the color, the thickness and absorbency were quite good.

“Shopkeeper, can I write a few lines? See if I can take on some copying work for your shop.”

“Of course you may.” The shopkeeper did not look down on her. Who in Crouching Tiger City didn’t know Registrar⁸ Yan now? The Magistrate relied on him heavily, and it was said he had excellent calligraphy that even the Magistrate had praised.

Yan Yu wasn’t intimidated at all. She picked up the brush and wrote, reciting a line from the Young Learners’ Encyclopedia.

At the Winter Solstice, the reed ashes fly; at the Start of Autumn, the phoenix tree leaves fall.

After looking at it, the shopkeeper gave a serious critique: “The young master seems to have just started practicing this style. The strokes show some greenness, and you need to practice for more days… However, this strength of stroke, at the young master’s current age, is quite rare.”

(End of chapter)

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Translator’s Notes

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1. The Three Character Classic: A 13th-century Confucian primer (Sanzijing) written in three-character couplets, used for teaching literacy and core moral values to children. ↩
2. Young Learners’ Encyclopedia: The ‘Young Learners’ Encyclopedia’ (Youxue Qionglin 幼学琼林) was a widely used elementary textbook in late imperial China. Written in rhythmic parallel prose to aid memorization, it covered a vast range of topics including astronomy, geography, social relations, and mythology, serving as a comprehensive cultural primer for young students. ↩
3. Tongsheng: Literally ‘child student,’ this was the entry-level rank for candidates who had passed the local preliminary exams but had not yet earned a formal degree (Xiu Cai). ↩
4. Xiu Cai: A ‘Xiu Cai’ (秀才), or ‘distinguished talent,’ is a candidate who has passed the entry-level examinations (the college exam). This was the first significant rank in the civil service hierarchy, granting the holder the legal status of a scholar and exempting them from certain taxes and the requirement to kneel before local magistrates. ↩
5. Imperial Examination System: The Keju system used to select candidates for the state bureaucracy. It was the primary route for social mobility, though almost exclusively restricted to men. ↩
6. Three-Hundred-Thousand: The ‘Three-Hundred-Thousand’ (San-Bai-Qian 三百千) is a collective shorthand for the three foundational primers used in traditional Chinese education: The Three Character Classic (San Zi Jing), The Hundred Family Surnames (Bai Jia Xing), and The Thousand Character Classic (Qian Zi Wen). These texts were used to teach literacy, history, and morality to children. ↩
7. wen: The smallest unit of currency, usually a copper coin with a square hole in the middle. Often referred to as ‘cash’ in English translations. ↩
8. Registrar: A low-to-mid-level administrative official (zhubu) responsible for records, taxes, or local logistics within a county government. ↩