Chapter 68: Two Teachers
Li Xiaonan went to the Prince’s Estate villa for the first time. She got into the cart at the alley entrance, and it sped off. It left the city and ran even faster. Indeed, it only took two quarters of an hour before the cart stopped. Wan Jing got out first, and Li Xiaonan followed. She turned her head to look around.
The place where the cart stopped was a rectangular, large courtyard. The three white walls were over a zhang high. One wall had a round doorway, and two guards were closing the gate. Another side had an undulating parapet wall, also with a round gate, and a brocade-clad guard stood on each side.
In the courtyard, there was a ginkgo tree north and south, each over a **zhang** in girth. At this time, their leaves had fallen and branches were bare, standing silently.
“Don’t look around randomly,” Wan Jing said, pushing Li Xiaonan, who was constantly looking around, as they entered the moon gate.
Inside the moon gate was a camphor forest, deep and quiet.
After entering another round gate, Wan Jing led Li Xiaonan around a corner. They passed two gates and entered a quadrangle courtyard with a wide veranda.
Wan Jing stopped in the entrance hall and first instructed Li Xiaonan, “I can only go this far. You go in by yourself, don’t be scared. Shi Gun said that only Mr. Qian can enter this courtyard now. Shi Gun also said that Mr. Qian is a very timid person.”
Wan Jing peeked her head out and leaned closer to Li Xiaonan, lowering her voice to a whisper, “I haven’t met Mr. Qian. If you feel uncomfortable, don’t go into the room. You can have your lesson in the corridor or in the courtyard. I’ll be standing here, watching clearly.”
Li Xiaonan nodded repeatedly.
Wan Jing patted Li Xiaonan on the shoulder, then raised her voice and said, “Mr. Qian, Teacher Li has arrived.”
“This is what Shi Gun said, to call you Teacher, it’s better than calling you Miss!” Wan Jing shouted loudly, then whispered in Li Xiaonan’s ear, “He said to call you Teacher, it’s better than calling you Miss!”
“Coming, coming!” Niu Cheqian came running out. From across the courtyard, he looked at Li Xiaonan, who was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket and cotton-padded trousers made of home-woven cloth, then at Wan Jing, then back at Li Xiaonan, and hesitated, “Which one of you is it?”
“It’s me,” Li Xiaonan said. She didn’t walk along the veranda, but descended the steps, crossed the courtyard, and ascended the steps.
Niu Cheqian stared at Li Xiaonan, all the way until she reached the steps. Frightened, he retreated two or three steps.
“I am Teacher Li. Didn’t your Young Lord tell you I’m a little girl?” Li Xiaonan looked Niu Cheqian up and down.
This Mr. Qian looked to be in his forties or fifties. He was of medium height, slightly thin, with the corners of his eyebrows and eyes drooping slightly, and his shoulders hunched. He looked like a startled hamster.
“No, he didn’t say. You…” Niu Cheqian raised his hand, but didn’t know whether to point inside or outside.
This was a young girl. If she were to go into the room, it would be a man and a woman alone together…
“What accounts do you need to calculate?” Li Xiaonan’s feet were outside the threshold. She held the doorframe, lifted the curtain, and stretched her neck to look into the room. “Your Young Lord only mentioned some goods and taxes, but didn’t explain clearly. It’s best to know what accounts you need to calculate so that the teaching can be targeted.”
“It’s the throughput of Beixing Wharf over the past few years,” Niu Cheqian said. Looking at Li Xiaonan’s thick cotton-padded jacket made of home-woven cloth, he wasn’t as nervous anymore.
“What do we need to look at from the throughput?” Li Xiaonan asked, retracting her body.
“The Young Lord hasn’t said yet.”
“Then what are you calculating now?” Li Xiaonan continued to ask.
“I’m not calculating anything, just looking.”
“Then what do you want to learn?” Li Xiaonan scratched her head a bit. It was a bit difficult when he didn’t know anything.
“The Young Lord asked me if I could tell if the throughput figures for Beixing Wharf were true or false. I thought they were true. The Young Lord asked me why, and I couldn’t answer. So the Young Lord said he would find someone to teach me. Do you really know why?”
Niu Cheqian looked at Li Xiaonan’s face a few times.
“Did your Young Lord say you are a Xiucai Scholar?” Li Xiaonan asked after thinking for a moment.
“Yes,” Niu Cheqian replied somewhat vaguely.
He had long since been removed from the list of Xiucai Scholars.
“Then how is your Investigation of Things? Is Numerology your best subject? What have you learned?” Li Xiaonan asked.
“Numerology is my best subject. My family was poor, and the teachers at the county school at that time were not proficient in Investigation of Things, so I didn’t learn much. Numerology is my best subject because I can calculate accounts,” Niu Cheqian explained.
“Okay, then let’s start with the most basic Numerology. In the room, or outside?” Li Xiaonan lifted the curtain.
It was much warmer inside than outside. It was cold to the hands outside.
“Teacher Li, there’s a distinction between men and women. That young lady is over there. How about outside?” Niu Cheqian said vaguely.
“Then let’s do it here. Are there any tables and stools that can be moved out from inside?” Li Xiaonan reached her hand into the curtain.
“There are chairs. I’ll go get them.” Niu Cheqian went into the room, brought out two chairs, and also brought out paper and writing brushes.
Li Xiaonan simply sat on the threshold, spread the paper and brushes on the chairs, and said to Niu Cheqian with a smile, “Can this curtain be hung up? Let the warm air from inside blow on us, so our hands don’t get cold. Your Young Lord is very rich, he definitely won’t mind the cost of this charcoal.”
Niu Cheqian chuckled, “Yes, yes, yes. How about we hang up the curtain, and Teacher Li sits inside the threshold, and I sit outside?”
“Let’s both sit inside the threshold. Your clothes are so thin, you must be colder than me.”
Niu Cheqian hung up the curtain, and Li Xiaonan dragged the chair inside the threshold.
“Where is Teacher Li from? And your family background?” Niu Cheqian was no longer nervous at all. He moved the chair inside the threshold and sat down.
“Xiao Li Village in Kunshan County. My family used to be very poor. After my brother became a Xiucai Scholar this autumn, things have gotten much better. Our family has opened a preserved egg business, and it’s very profitable. The preserved eggs used at this villa were sent by our family,” Li Xiaonan said with a smile.
“I ate a dish of them this morning. They were delicious,” Niu Cheqian said with a smile.
“Where is your family from? Listening to you speak, you don’t sound like a northerner. Northerners speak in a harsh and heavy tone,” Li Xiaonan said, while quickly writing and drawing on the paper.
“Huzhou,” Niu Cheqian paused, then added, “Changxing.”
“I know Changxing. It’s a good place, just like our Kunshan County. So are your family members here now, or in Changxing?”
“In Changxing. My son is nine years old this year. He looks a lot like me.”
Speaking of his son, Niu Cheqian’s face was full of smiles.
“Your son is only nine? How many children do you have? Is the youngest one a son?” Li Xiaonan asked casually.
“I only have one son. I haven’t been home for many years,” Niu Cheqian sighed.
“Huh! Then how old are you this year?” Li Xiaonan was surprised.
“Thirty-four,” Niu Cheqian replied.
“Uh!”
Li Xiaonan let out a loud “Uh!” This “Uh” was too conspicuously surprised. Li Xiaonan decided to tell the truth directly, “You look like you’re over forty.”
“The past few years were too agonizing,” Niu Cheqian’s eyes reddened. Facing Li Xiaonan’s confused gaze, Niu Cheqian said with a bitter smile, “Teacher Li, you’re not an outsider. When I was young and foolish, the first time I took the provincial examination, I thought my essays were so flowery that I was bound to pass. When the results were posted, I failed. I was resentful and was instigated by someone, so I caused trouble and smashed the Imperial Examination Hall.”
Niu Cheqian paused, then after a moment, he said with a bitter smile, “An imperial envoy came from the Capital City and, together with the three judicial departments, investigated and found no corruption.”
“Was there really no corruption, or did the investigation conclude there was none?” Li Xiaonan pressed.
“At the time, I thought it was collusion among officials. Years later, when I sobered up and carefully re-examined the essays that were admitted that year, I think there really wasn’t any,” Niu Cheqian said with a pained expression.
Li Xiaonan made a sound of understanding and then sighed.
“Smashing the Imperial Examination Hall was a serious crime, so I fled from Huzhou. Alas,” Niu Cheqian sighed along with her.
“Does your Young Lord know about these things?” Li Xiaonan asked, holding her breath.
“Yes, yes,” Niu Cheqian nodded repeatedly. “Our Young Lord is wise and mighty, unparalleled in his wisdom, skilled in both civil and military arts. What is there that our Young Lord doesn’t know!”
“Your Young Lord!” Li Xiaonan corrected him first, then asked, “What you just said about being wise and mighty, was that sarcasm?”
“How could it be sarcasm! These are my heartfelt words!” Niu Cheqian patted his chest forcefully.
“I’ve always felt he was like a swindler,” Li Xiaonan raised a hand to cover her mouth and lowered her voice, “Let’s speak frankly. I don’t think he’s mighty or wise at all.”
Niu Cheqian stared at Li Xiaonan, stunned for a while, then suddenly burst into laughter.
The first time he met the Young Lord, when he thought back on it that night, it felt like a dream. He had also wondered if the Young Lord might be fake.
