Chapter 1: The xu family, real scholar, fake supervisor

They say the weather in June is as fickle as a child’s face, changing in the blink of an eye, but August is no less so.

Just a moment ago, the sky was clear and cloudless, but now it’s dark and oppressive, and a torrential rain pours down in an instant.

Guiyuan Temple stands to the west of Changmen in Suzhou, built in the Yuan Dynasty, its halls arranged along a central axis, strict in hierarchy and perfectly symmetrical.

The eastern side is dedicated to worship, solemn and orderly, while the western side is for drawing lots and fortune-telling.

A young woman happened to walk out from the west side.

She wore a dark blue broad-sleeved blouse with a deep indigo mamian skirt, a sliver of creamy-white knee-length trousers peeking out from beneath.

The loose clothes concealed her five-month-pregnant belly.

She carried a basket in her left hand and held the hand of a little girl in a pink top with her right.

Seeing how heavy the rain was, she said to the girl, “Zhenzhen, let’s wait under the eaves for a bit. We’ll go when the rain stops.”

“Alright, Mother.”

The girl who spoke looked only seven or eight years old, her face shaped like a goose egg, with a delicate nose, cherry lips, and round eyelids that revealed more white than black in her bright, lively eyes.

She was endearing, but the cinnabar mole at the center of her brows lent her a certain dignity.

As the saying goes, a red mark at the center of the brow is a sign of early wisdom.

This little girl indeed seemed especially clever and spirited, but she wasn’t born precocious—she was a transmigrator.

Originally, she had a master’s degree in acupuncture and tuina, and had just started working at her hometown’s hospital for less than a year.

When a coworker got into trouble with a medical ruffian, she stepped in to help, but ended up being shoved to the ground and passing out.

When she woke, she had transmigrated into the womb of a small household in the Ming Dynasty.

Her grandparents were originally from Huguang.

Because of the switch from rice to mulberry cultivation, Suzhou suffered from a grain shortage, so the old couple opened a small rice shop in Fengqiao, raising three sons and a daughter.

When Miaozhen was born, they still lived in the cramped rooms behind the rice shop.

Later, as their sons married, her grandparents felt their task was complete.

They passed the rice shop to their youngest son—

Miaozhen’s third uncle.

Xu Sanlei, feeling the rice shop was too small and the Huguang clientele unstable, changed it into a small tea and pastry shop.

Miaozhen’s father was the second son.

At nineteen, after passing the prefectural exam to become a Tongsheng, he failed the academy exam, and the family didn’t have the money to support him further.

He first made a living teaching at a community school, receiving grain as payment.

Since his student days, he’d loved reading storybooks, but was always frustrated by their abrupt endings.

In a fit of pique, he began writing his own stories.

He wasn’t taught by a famous master, nor was he from a scholarly family, but he was gifted at writing storybooks.

For the first three years, he earned only two or three qian a month for his manuscripts, but he never gave up.

By the fifth year, it was as if he’d had a breakthrough—he was earning as much as ten taels a month.

With this money, her father could not only take the academy exam but also support the family.

As the academy exam was held twice every three years, her father Xu Erpeng had already taken it five times without success.

This year was his sixth attempt, so her mother, Mei Shi, brought her to Guiyuan Temple to pray for his success.

It was raining outside, and the hall was filled with people seeking shelter.

Miaozhen helped Mei Shi to a seat.

If Xu Erpeng was a classic case of a scholar who failed the exams again and again, Mei Shi was just as unlucky.

When she married, her father Mei Waigong was just a poor Xiucai.

She was the eldest daughter, with seven or eight younger siblings, and her dowry was barely enough for six sedan chairs.

But just after she married, her father passed the Juren exam.

The family immediately acquired a house, servants, and everything they needed.

Her siblings all married into wealthy and powerful families, and one even married into the prominent Qiao Family.

Mei Shi, however, lived a hard life.

She became pregnant with Miaozhen right after marrying, and her mother-in-law, who had a daughter only two years older than Miaozhen, only ever complained about poverty instead of helping with the confinement.

She even stole the eggs her husband bought for her.

Fortunately, her husband was capable.

Over the years, she saved more than two hundred taels, and now she was pregnant again.

All she hoped for now was for her husband to finally pass the Xiucai exam and fulfill his long-cherished wish.

While Mei Shi and Miaozhen sheltered from the rain, a young man in a square kerchief entered from outside.

He was chubby but nimble, and quickly came in carrying two oil-paper umbrellas.

Miaozhen and Mei Shi were both delighted.

Miaozhen hurriedly stood up and called, “Father, what brings you here?”

“I saw it was raining and worried you two would get wet, so here I am,”

Xu Erpeng said, glancing at Mei Shi.

“Are you alright?”

Mei Shi quickly shook her head.

Xu Erpeng, with his slightly plump figure, looked good-natured and gentle, but he was a man of perseverance.

Besides diligently writing storybooks every day, he devoted himself to preparing for the imperial exams, vowing not to give up until he became a Xiucai.

Xu Erpeng said, “I heard from Father this morning that Eldest Brother is coming back from Yunnan. It’s only been a bit more than a year—who knows why he’s returning so soon?”

Mei Shi, upon hearing this, was worried about something else.

“Will Eldest Brother’s family be staying with us when they get back?”

Four years ago, the Xu Family grandparents had the sons pool their money to buy a house in Fengqiao, just three li from Guiyuan Temple.

Thankfully, house prices in the Ming Dynasty weren’t high.

For fifty-six taels, they bought a two-story house with four rooms on each floor.

There were eight rooms in total.

Each of the three brothers got two rooms, the old couple took one, and the last was used as a kitchen.

Although Eldest Brother wasn’t home at the time, he contributed twenty taels when he heard the family was buying a house.

The second branch lived in the two rooms on the east side upstairs.

Xu Erpeng and Mei Shi had one, and Miaozhen, once she was older, lived in the other.

They only occupied two rooms.

But when Xu Laotai’s daughter, Xu Siniang, grew up, she took a big room for herself.

The third son, Xu Sanlei, who ran the tea and pastry business, used another big room for storing flour and molds, turning it into a storeroom—taking up yet another room.

Xu Erpeng laughed and said, “Eldest Brother passed the Tongsheng exam at fifteen and was chosen as a son-in-law by a pearl merchant surnamed Fang. When he failed the academy exam, they sent him to study at Jinling Academy and registered him in Yingtian Prefecture, saying the exams there were easier. Even though he failed twice in a row and the Fang merchant’s daughter later passed away”

“Eldest Brother allowed her to be buried at our family’s place, and the Fang Family gave him the thousand taels of dowry they’d prepared for her. Think about it—Eldest Brother became a Banggong in Yingtian Prefecture, then went to Yunnan as an official. He’s not short on money. Why would he care about these two rooms?”

“That’s true.”

Mei Shi couldn’t help but smile.

Xu Erpeng added, “Actually, I don’t want to stay here much longer either, but let’s wait a bit. Once we have more money, I want to open a Bookshop.”

Miaozhen was puzzled.

“Father, why do you want to open a Bookshop?”

“Ming Huiyao, Volume 26, records that in the first year of the Hongwu reign, the imperial edict abolished book taxes. There’s no tax on selling books. Besides, I don’t want to run a private school. Teaching at a community school only earns eight qian a month, a tael if you’re lucky, and the children are rowdy. Even if I become a Xiucai, I don’t want to run a school.”

Xu Erpeng had always liked reading books like Bao Gong’s Strange Cases, and many of his own stories were about solving cases, which had quite a following.

Miaozhen thought about how their home in Fengqiao was on the nine-li road outside Changmen, and Changmen was the most famous hub for book carving and publishing in Suzhou.

The books from the carving shops there, known as Wu-printed books, were famous throughout the land.

No wonder her father was learning woodblock carving in addition to writing books.

So it was all preparation for opening a Bookshop!

“Father, Mother just prayed for you and drew the best fortune stick!”

Miaozhen said with a smile.

In fact, Mei Shi had drawn two bad fortunes before finally drawing a good one.

Xu Erpeng never really believed in such things, but hearing his daughter, he just said, “I’ve hoped for so many years and been disappointed so many times. If I fail again this time, I’ll give up completely in another two or three years.”

He wanted to become a Xiucai more for the recognition of his status.

Although the grain stipend for Xiucai was long gone, a Xiucai could travel freely, didn’t have to kneel in court, and had other privileges.

As the three of them chatted, they saw the rain had stopped.

Xu Erpeng led his wife and daughter home, only to find several carriages parked at the door.

It turned out that Eldest Uncle Xu Yiming had returned with his wife and children.

Miaozhen looked at her eldest uncle, who wore a crepe gauze tile hat, a blue-green patterned silk robe, pale moon-colored silk trousers, fine white summer socks, and thin-soled Chenqiao shoes.

He was handsome and well-dressed, and just standing there, he brought a touch of elegance to their modest home.

Eldest Aunt Huang Shi, on the other hand, seemed less impressive.

Even though she wore silk clothes, her complexion was sallow, a crease between her brows, and she always looked troubled.

Eldest Uncle’s family had only one daughter, named Miaoyun, who was already a refined young lady and had impeccable manners.

Neighbors came by to join the excitement, all calling Eldest Uncle

“Yan Gongsheng,” while Grandfather Xu Laoxin sent someone to fetch Third Uncle’s family from the tea and pastry shop.

Miaozhen noted that while her father was fair and plump, and Third Uncle was a bit chubby with a ruddy face, Eldest Uncle really didn’t resemble the rest of the Xu Family.

The women in the kitchen prepared a lavish meal: pig’s head meat, whitebait, carp, tripe, lungs, chicken, duck, and more—enough to fill the whole table.

Even the usually stingy Xu Laotai brought out yunpian cake and assorted candies for everyone.

The Xu Family had long since split households and cooked separately, but with Eldest Uncle back, they all came together.

The children ate at a small table.

Miaozhen sat sideways, with cousin Miaoyun and Xu Siniang (Xu Laotai’s youngest daughter, just ten years old) on her left, and Third Uncle’s two children, Miaolian and Zhang Ge’er, on her right.

Miaolian was a year younger than her, and Zhang Ge’er was three this year.

The children, who rarely had such a feast, ate with gusto, while the adults’ table was much more restrained.

When Xu Yiming heard that his brother was still taking the Xiucai exam, he couldn’t help but say,

“Aren’t you being a bit too persistent?”

“I’m not just taking exams and doing nothing else,” Xu Erpeng replied, not feeling there was anything wrong with pursuing the imperial exams.

“I’m not like you, Eldest Brother. You’re a stipend student in Yingtian Prefecture, and then a Banggong studying at Guozijian. You wouldn’t understand the hardship we go through. It’s not just me—even Third Brother only gave up after two or three tries.”

With that, Xu Yiming had nothing more to say.

Xu Laoxin asked, “I heard you went to Yunnan as an official. Why have you come back so soon?”

Xu Yiming quickly waved his hands.

“I was just a clerk, nothing grand. I only went because of Zhang County Magistrate. Now that he’s resigned, we’ve come back. By the way, Father, we’d like to stay at home for a while, if that’s alright…”

“Of course, of course, I’ll have someone tidy up for you,” Xu Laoxin said at once.

Huang Shi, sitting beside him, was quite upset.

Her father was also a Xiucai, and she’d been educated since childhood, was skilled in needlework, and had gone to Jinling to be a girls’ schoolteacher.

She’d deliberately gotten close to Xu Yiming, admiring his handsome looks, gentle temperament, and elegant dress, and married him, only to find that the Xu Family’s circumstances were not as good as her own.

Her father didn’t earn much from teaching, but her uncle ran a silk floss shop, lent out money, and stored up grain.

With no daughter of his own, her uncle treated her as his own.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Xu Erpeng quickly said, “Eldest Brother, what does your Jiansheng certificate look like? Show us so we can have a look.”

“I put it at the bottom of my trunk. It’s hard to get to. I’ll show you once I unpack,” Xu Yiming said, feeling guilty.

When he was studying in Jinling, he acted like a young lord, spending money freely.

In the end, he barely scraped by in the prefectural exam.

To give the family an explanation, he planned to donate for a Jiansheng title, but ordinary people needed three hundred and fifty taels for such a donation, plus another fifty taels to grease the wheels.

When he saw that others’ certificates had “donated” written on them, he felt it wasn’t worth it, and besides, he didn’t have much money left.

So he spent a few dozen taels to get a fake certificate.

Xu Yiming was afraid of being found out, so he was always uneasy, but still couldn’t resist the vanity of being a Banggong.

He quickly changed the subject, asking Xu Erpeng and Xu Sanlei what they did for a living.

When he heard that Xu Erpeng wrote storybooks, he disapproved, but praised Xu Sanlei for being practical.

Just then, several yamen runners came in, beating gongs and drums, all smiles on their faces.

“Congratulations to Master Xu Erpeng for passing the Suzhou Prefecture academy exam in fifty-sixth place, and being listed in the capital’s imperial bulletin!”

Miaozhen exclaimed, “Father, you passed the Xiucai exam!”

Xu Yiming, who had just been talking so confidently, dropped his chopsticks and stared in shock, while Xu Erpeng hurried to get some coins to reward the bearers of good news, modestly saying, “Eldest Brother is a Gongsheng, I’m just a Xiucai, I’m not even close.”

Xu Erpeng truly felt he was no match for his eldest brother, but he never expected that Xu Yiming would actually envy him.

After all, Xu Erpeng’s Xiucai title was genuine—he could travel freely without fear—while Xu Yiming’s fake Jiansheng certificate made him constantly anxious about being found out.