After all, Zhen Ting Yun was brought up by Old Madame Zhen and had over ten years of her teachings. Even when she rationalized that it was better to cut her losses, she became somewhat unwilling when she recalled the silvers she spent; booking a room, hiring a doctor, and paying for the medication. In addition, she had yet to overcome her fright of having her neck strangled by the person this morning… She felt that maybe, Yuan Hui from next door could still be of use, or at least until she recovered her initial cost?
Zhen Ting Yun made her way to the other room, brushing off Old Madame Zhen’s nagging, she brought the bowl of hot porridge with her.
Yuan Hui was still in the same position as before. With his black hair spread out, his handsome face still had a pale complexion. He was leaning against the bedpost with his eyes closed. No one knew what was going through his mind. When he heard footsteps approaching, he raised his gaze to the door.
Noting that it was just Zhen Ting Yun, Yuan Hui lowered his eyes once more, before casually asking, “Why have you come again?”
Remembering that she was nearly strangled just now, Zhen Ting Yun also had lingering fears. She dare not approach so she simply placed the bowl of porridge on the table and pushed it towards him. She gave a casual smile and replied, “I just remembered that you have yet to have breakfast. I brought porridge for you.”
Yuan Hui nodded slightly and took the bowl of porridge but did not eat it immediately. He asked, “Is there anything else?”
Zhen Ting Yun smiled at him. Seeing as he was waiting for her to continue, she tactfully added, “The doctor said that you’ll need more time to recover fully, so it’s not ideal for you to mount a horse and teach me horsemanship. I was thinking, why don’t you jot down a few important basic pointers for me to look through first? I could try to decipher and learn it in advance.”
Yuan Hui did not respond immediately. He glanced at Zhen Ting Yun and suddenly asked, “You’re going to the Imperial City to take the admission examination for the women’s academy?”
Zhen Ting Yun was momentarily stunned, she did not know how to react.
Yuan Hui chuckled, “To want to learn horsemanship as a young girl your age, it’s most likely for application to a women’s academy. In fact, among the six arts, archery and horsemanship are two forms that even many young ladies in the Imperial City are not very proficient in. If you can excel in these two, you’ll be able to make up for what you’re lacking in the other arts.”
Although Yuan Hui hit the nail on the head, Zhen Ting Yun refused to admit defeat and probed skeptically, “And how would you know that I’m lacking in the other arts?”
Yuan Hui glanced at her before sighing, “As the saying goes, a filled granary presides formalities[1]. Only when people have enough food stored in their granaries, can they be bothered to care about having decorum. From the looks of your current situation, I’m assuming that you only managed to read a few scripts at home. Compared to the average young lady, your standard will be better than theirs. However, if you want to get admitted to Jingdu Women’s Academy and Yuhua Women’s Academy in the Imperial City, you’re grossly unqualified. You should know that the young ladies of noble aristocratic families have been taught since young. Their parents would have hired famed tutors to nurture them, the amount of effort and time they put in might even be more than yours. Hence, their caliber is far superior.”
In simpler words, people came from a better background, had better education, some might even be more hardworking, and thus would naturally be far better than you.
Zhen Ting Yun understood what he meant. Although she refused to accept it as the truth, her heart sank deeper. She did not want to be lagging behind. But truth was, the moment her mother, Pei-Shi, left her back at the village, she had already fallen behind others.
With Pei-Shi’s learned background and guidance from her father, she entered Xidu Women’s Academy, one of the top ten women’s academies in the world. In the end, she graduated to become a female scholar. Her eldest sister, Zhen Yi Yun, who was raised by Pei-Shi and Father Zhen since she was a child, was also influenced and benefited from this upbringing. Moreover, Zhen Yi Yun was privy to the plot, matured early, and was highly intelligent. She was knowledgeable in the act of drawing on advantages and avoiding disadvantages. She created an opportunity to ‘coincidentally’ encounter a famed teacher and became his tutee. Under the careful guidance of her teacher, her talent and appearance far surpassed those around her age. At the beginning of this year, Zhen Yi Yun entered the Imperial City with Father Zhen and was directly admitted into Yuhua Women’s Academy. Currently, she was extremely talented and well-known in the Imperial City.
Zhen Ting Yun grew up in the countryside. Although she was a little quick-witted, it only allowed her to squeeze some silvers out of Old Madame Zhen to invite an educated lady to teach her how to read and write. Occasionally, she would purchase some old books for self-study purposes. But when all was said and done, her grasp of knowledge was not deep. Even when she managed to purchase the old unwanted zither from the elderly scholar from the neighboring school with much difficulty, she still needed to borrow music scores and learn how to play the zither on her own. Her understanding of music was shallow; it was definitely not up to standard.
In the end, in the eyes of outsiders, Zhen Yi Yun and Zhen Ting Yun were as different as cloud and mud.
~~~~
Thinking about this, Zhen Ting Yun could not help but recall how the Zhen Yi Yun from her dreams looked at her. Her gaze was filled with such contempt and disdain as if staring at the dirt by her feet.
Watching as Zhen Ting Yun’s expression kept changing, Yuan Hui remained unmoved as he lowered his head and ate a few mouthfuls of porridge. Then he continued, “However if you really want to enter the women’s academy, it’s not completely impossible for you.”
Zhen Ting Yun suddenly felt that this man in front of her was no different from the fortune-telling blind old man in the village. First, he would say some alarming things, and when one expressed their uneasiness, he would give them hope by highlighting his role and wait for the other party to bite the bait and request for his help.
However, despite knowing that this was a ploy, Zhen Ting Yun was unable to endure as Yuan Hui hit the nail directly on her head. She softly pleaded, “Then do you have a solution?”
Even though he could not remember anything else, his ability to read another was instinctual. From the moment Zhen Ting Yun stepped into the room, he was able to tell what she was planning. Unfortunately, due to his lack of memory and poor health conditions, he currently still needed to depend on Zhen Ting Yun. It would be best if he could join her on her journey to the Imperial City. He vaguely knew that his destination was also the Imperial City.
And because of it, he phrased his words in such a manner.
Upon seeing that Zhen Ting Yun had bit the bait as he predicted, Yuan Hui nodded slightly before asking, “Do you have a brush and paper?”
“Yes, yes, I do.” Zhen Ting Yun originally wanted Yuan Hui to write some pointers for horsemanship. Hence, she had mindfully prepared a brush and paper before coming to his room. Now that Yuan Hui requested for them, she immediately handed them over with both hands.
However, Yuan Hui shook his head, “It’s not for me. First, you should write a few words for me to have a look.”
Zhen Ting Yun stared at him in bafflement, not understanding where he was going with this.
Yuan Hui dug out his patience and slowly explained to her, “A written test is the first component of the entrance examination for any women’s academy. Only when one’s words are written neatly, can one catch the eye of the marker. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people are judged based on their appearances. Hence, it bred the habit of judging a person based on the words they wrote. If you’re able to write a neat and beautiful script, you might just be able to capture the teachers’ attention and get a higher score. Therefore, I want to examine your penmanship first.”
As Zhen Ting Yun had the habit of practicing her calligraphy every day, she felt that her characters would not be too horrible in this aspect. Without further ado, she lifted the brush and wrote a sentence.
[The esteemed blinded to its bad, the detested blinded to its good.][2]
Yuan Hui scrutinized her calligraphy and shook his head, “Firstly, you learnt the basic regular script, but from the beginning, your foundation is weak and you randomly tried to incorporate scripts of other styles from books you read. Your script is a mess.”
Zhen Ting Yun glanced at the characters she wrote and muttered, “But I feel that my characters are quite good.”
Yuan Hui pursed his thin lips, “That’s probably because you’re blind…”
Zhen Ting Yun felt her temples throbbing as she gritted her teeth in anger.
Yuan Hui ignored her as he calmly continued, “Currently, there are two types of calligraphic style. The first is Ou Script, it is the most even in character forms, its eight points are balanced, and each and every stroke can be used as the foundation of your script and polish your rough edges. The second is Wei Bei Script. Although your current calligraphy is a mess, it’s still better than practicing Tang Script. I believe that you have a bit of foundation in this script. Thus, if you practice Wei Bei Script, you’ll be able to see results faster. After all, Tang Script has more ‘rules’, the brush strokes need to have a fixed and meticulous structure, and there is no margin for error. On the contrary, Wei Bei Script is more flexible, allowing you to develop your style. Since you’re planning to take the women’s academy admission examination, I doubt you have much time left. I would suggest your practice Wei Bei Script.”
Zhen Ting Yun took in his words before tentatively saying, “I heard that women are more suited to practice ZanHua Small Script[3]?”
Yuan Hui cast his eyes in her direction, he plainly stated, “ZanHua Small Script has the most distinctive form. If written well, it would be comparable to Madame Wei’s. People praised her script to be like an ikebana of dancing girls, the wavering of a hibiscus. They also said her script was like a beauty on stage illuminated in celestial glow. Some even praised that it was like a red lotus flooding in the green pond; a beautiful reflection of multicolored sunlight. However, if it is written poorly, it would be as what Madame Wei said – those who have good writing strength have more bones, while those who do not, are more fleshy; those who have more bones and little flesh are learned, while those who have more flesh and little bones are inked pigs.
“The sixth month of next year would be the commencement of the women’s academy admission examination. In such a short period of time, you wish to master ZanHua Small Script? I’m afraid the script you write will look like an inked pig[4].”
Zhen Ting Yun’s face became even hotter when she heard him describe her script as a fat pig made of ink. Fortunately, she had a clear understanding of her current circumstances, she asked, “I’ll go with your suggestion and practice Wei Bei Script. What copybooks will I be needing?”
Yuan Hui casually replied, “You can start with <The Records of Shi Ping Gong> or <The Twenty Characters of Dragon Gate>.”
After Zhen Tingyun benefited from his advice, she concluded that Yuan Hui was still somewhat useful and not a complete waste of her money. She was a pragmatic person. Seeing that Yuan Hui was worthy, she definitely needed to treat him well. In a blink of an eye, she asked earnestly, “Are you done with your porridge? Do you want another bowl? What about some small side dishes to go with it?”
Even though Yuan Hui had anticipated it, he still lamented, ‘Sure enough, she’s really realistic. To give priority if there’s a use, and to push aside if useless.’
After lamenting, at this time, he still needed to put on airs.
Since Zhen Ting Yun took the initiative to be courteous, Yuan Hui raised his chin and acceded, “En, bring another bowl and some side dishes. My tastebuds are feeling a little bland.”
Zhen Ting Yun hurriedly went out, calling for Ba Zhen and instructing her to bring Yuan Hui more hot porridge and some side dishes. Then she turned back to look at Yuan Hui again.
He saw her tender cheeks and cherry lips. Her apricot eyes were like crescent moons dipped in icing sugar. His gaze was dazzling, how could people not be moved by her looks?
Yuan Hui understood the meaning behind her gaze. He pondered before informing her, “For calligraphy, you can start practicing Wei Bei Script first. As for archery and horsemanship, we’ll discuss it again after my recovery… By the way, for your music component, what instrument have you chosen?”
Zhen Ting Yun did not hide it from him and honestly replied, “It’s the zither. However, I didn’t learn from a zither master, I picked it up myself and I also didn’t study many zither manuscripts. Currently, I only know how to play a few folk tunes.”
Although Yuan Hui had long expected it, he still could not help but raise his hand and pressed it against his forehead when he heard her words. He secretly sighed, ‘Based on your current abilities you want to get admitted into a women’s academy? Your goal sure is lofty! It’s better to sleep earlier at night, tug yourself inside a warm quilt, and dream instead.’
However, Yuan Hui always kept to his word. Since he promised to help Zhen Ting Yun, and she was sincere in learning, he took a moment to ponder before pursing his lips, “I also know how to play the zither, and I recall a few zither scores. Since I’ve nothing to do this afternoon, I can guide you through some basics.”
Zhen Ting Yun was overjoyed. How she wished she could bow to Yuan Hui, who was as omnipotent as silvers like she would to an ancestor.
However, after her short moment of rejoicing, she found it strange and questioned, “Didn’t you say you don’t remember anything? How come you could recall a few music manuscripts?”
Yuan Hui frowned at her question. He raised his hand to massage his temple while seriously considering her words. Then he replied, “I’m not sure myself. But such trivial matters aren’t something that one forgets… For example, even if you forget everything else, wouldn’t you still know how to eat, drink, and talk?”
So did it mean that something like memorizing zither manuscripts was as easy as eating and drinking to him?
Zhen Ting Yun became even more astonished, ‘This man is excellent in horsemanship and is extremely knowledgeable. Maybe he’s not an ordinary horse thief.’
Could it be that he was the leader of a gang of horse thieves?
Currently, Zhen Ting Yun concluded that he might have been the son of a fallen aristocratic family and had no choice but to become an outlaw. As a result, when the horse thieves had an internal strife, he was once again in troubled waters.
I’ll be very honest and admit that when it came to translating the description of the types of scripts… I was so lost I don’t even know if what I wrote made sense…
(´×ω×`)
[1] <仓廪实而知礼节, 衣食足而知荣辱> It means that the people will only care about things like etiquette when they have enough to fill their stomachs. Frivolous things like honor and shame are only important to those who have clothes to wear and food to eat.
[2] The author wrote <好者知其恶, 恶者知其美> but the actual proverb should be <故好而知其恶, 恶而知其美者, 天下鲜矣>. This means that there are few in the world who can find the drawbacks of those they love, and see the beauty of those they hate.
[3] This is a sub-script of Ou Script.
[4] It means that the calligraphy is crude and the strokes are without vigor.