Only those with nothing to do felt that time flew like an arrow. With something to look forward to and diligence that never slackened, the days seemed to pass slowly. Chen Caozhi practiced calligraphy and recited poetry every day, gathering in the evening the blossoms of the morning. Sometimes he felt as though time had stood still. A single day held so much, and as he lay on his pillow before sleep, looking back over it, he felt deeply gratified. Mm, I learned so much again today. I've finished Wang Bi's Dao De Jing Essentials, and reached the Great and Venerable Teacher Chapter in Guo Xiang's Commentary on Zhuangzi. The Commentary on the Book of Changes is the most difficult; I'm still studying the Appended Remarks. The character "zhi" I wrote today was quite lively and flowing. It's said that Wang Xizhi deliberately raised a flock of big white geese to perfect his "zhi," observing how they curved their necks as they paddled through the water...
Should we raise a flock of geese at Chen Family Cove, too? Thinking this over, Chen Caozhi fell asleep.
Day followed day. Summer departed, autumn arrived, and the scenery changed. Nine Luminaries Mountain went from lush, dripping green to dusky greens and yellows. When he climbed the mountain in the early morning, fallen leaves covered the paths. Standing on the summit, he felt a bleak, rustling wind blowing from the great lake to the north, already carrying a bitter chill.
One day at noon, two oxcarts unexpectedly stopped outside the gates of the Chen Family Cove stronghold. It was already the fifth day of the ninth month, and Ding Youwei had sent people to bring Chen Caozhi and his nephew and niece to gather at the Ding Household villa.
Xiao Chan and Qingzhi naturally went along. Since Chen Caozhi also had to attend the elegant mountain-climbing gathering on the ninth day of the ninth month, his mother, Lady Li, told Lai Fu to take Lai De and Ran Sheng along as well, so there would be more people to help look after things.
Once again, they reached Maple Forest Ferry. The ferryboat was still on the northern bank, but this time the maple leaves had all turned red. Cluster upon cluster, mass upon mass, the broad swaths of red resembled fiercely burning flames reflected in the river, leaving half its waters emerald and half red.
Run'er looked expectantly at Chen Caozhi. After a while, she asked, "Ugly Uncle, will you play the xiao?"
Xiao Chan laughed. "Run'er is hoping someone else will give Young Master Caozhi another treasure, isn't she?"
Everyone laughed.
Resting a hand on the crooked willow, Chen Caozhi told Run'er, "Ugly Uncle will wait until there's a boat on the river before playing. With it so empty, wouldn't I just be wasting my effort?"
Run'er thought this made sense and nodded repeatedly, blinking her eyes, utterly adorable.
Everyone laughed again. Just then, the two boats on the opposite bank, one large and one small, came across. The oxcarts went aboard the large boat, while the people boarded the small one. The boatman pushed his long pole against the bank, and the small boat drifted lightly away from shore. He laid the pole along the outside of the gunwale, then worked the sculling oar, steering toward the middle of the river.
The current in this stretch of the Qiantang River was gentle, but the river was broad. There were four li of water between the southern and northern banks, and the ferry crossing took half an hour.
The river rippled gently beside the gunwale, flowing onward without pause, day or night. Spray splashed onto their arms and cheeks, its coolness refreshing them to the core.
Chen Caozhi took out the Keting Flute and played "Remembering an Old Friend" toward the river's autumn waters. The flowing water lent its aid to the xiao's lingering, plaintive, winding notes. Had the man of free and easy bearing who had given him the flute four months earlier been there, he would certainly have discerned that Chen Caozhi's fingering had grown more proficient, that his breath and tone had captured every subtlety, and that his range had broadened considerably, giving his music greater expressiveness and power to move.
As they approached the northern bank, the boatman suddenly exclaimed, "I was so lost in your music, young master, that I drifted some way downstream without noticing. Please forgive me." He adamantly refused to accept the fare.
Chen Caozhi had Lai Fu lay forty Wuzhu coins along the gunwale, then went ashore and boarded the cart. Toward evening, they reached the Ding Clan villa on the eastern outskirts of Qiantang County's town.
They had arrived slightly earlier than last time. Dusk had only just fallen, and a dark red glow still lingered in the western sky. Beneath the loquat tree with its thick, fleshy leaves outside the villa's side gate, a graceful figure in plain white stood craning her neck in anticipation. It was Ding Youwei.
Zongzhi and Run'er were much livelier than on their previous visit, calling out joyfully from afar, "Mother-Mother-"
Chen Caozhi watched his sister-in-law, Ding Youwei, lightly lift the hem of her plain skirt and hurry out from beneath the loquat tree with quick little steps. He had the feeling that she had been standing under that tree waiting for them ever since their last parting.
That night, Ding Youwei sat down with Chen Caozhi and his nephew and niece in the upstairs study. Zongzhi and Run'er delightedly presented their mother with their offerings, reporting what they had learned during the four months apart. Run'er could already recite the entire Analects from memory and had begun copying the Cao Quan Stele. On their previous visit, Ding Youwei had given her beloved daughter a book of rubbings of the Cao Quan Stele, a copybook she herself had used as a child. The Cao Quan Stele's calligraphy was elegant and lovely, its character structures flat and well-proportioned, expansive and transcendent, graceful in bearing, with both long and short strokes fully realized. Among Han clerical scripts, it was foremost in beauty and flowing grace, making it especially suited for women to practice. Run'er practiced every day, and her writing was beginning to take shape. At least her brush no longer produced nothing but fat blobs of ink.
Zongzhi had memorized the Book of Songs as far as the "Lesser Court Hymns," and Chen Caozhi had also begun explaining Ma Rong's Collected Explanations of the Analects to him.
Seeing both children so bright and eager to learn, Ding Youwei's brows and eyes blossomed with smiles. She said to Chen Caozhi, "Mm, after four months apart, you've grown another stretch, little brother. You must be nearly seven chi tall now, and your studies must have advanced a great deal, too. Last time Lai Fu came to the county town, he made a special visit to me at your instruction. I know everything that happened at Chen Family Cove. With the illustrious Ge Zhichuan appreciating you, your sister-in-law is truly happy for you."
Ding Youwei was as thin as ever, seeming scarcely able to bear the weight of her clothes. Her hands resting on the desk, with their long, slender joints, looked particularly thin. But her face was more radiant than last time. Her complexion was no longer pale, and her skin had the faint luster of fine porcelain.
Chen Caozhi told his sister-in-law about his studies over the past four months, what books he had read, and how Master Ge had resolved his doubts whenever he encountered difficulties, relating it all in a gentle, unhurried manner.
Ding Youwei said, "I didn't know Master Zhichuan was living in seclusion on Precious Stone Mountain. You truly had a fortunate encounter, Caozhi. Had you met some other proud recluse, he might not have valued you so highly. Master Zhichuan is different. Seeing you, he must be reminded of the hardships of his own studies. He, too, lost his father in childhood, and his family fell into decline. It's said that, to copy a single book, he once walked a thousand li from Jurong in Danyang to Kuaiji. His devotion to learning is known throughout the land."
Chen Caozhi said, "Master Ge treats me extremely well. Compared with his early years, I'm much more fortunate."
Ding Youwei said, "I originally thought that after this mountain-climbing gathering, you could go to Wu Commandery and study under Xu Zao. Now that you have Master Zhichuan, there's no need to shoulder your book chest and travel in search of learning. In another two years, you can go straight to Jiankang."
Chen Caozhi said, "That's what I thought, too. At home, I can attend to Mother, and Zongzhi and Run'er want my company as well."
For the next three days, Chen Caozhi remained in Ding Youwei's little courtyard, practicing calligraphy and reading as usual. He also asked his sister-in-law about the elegant mountain-climbing gathering. When Ding Youwei was fourteen, she had accompanied her father, then a sixth-rank assistant court official, to one such gathering held in Qiantang County on the ninth day of the ninth month. That was when she had happened to meet Chen Qingzhi-
Chen Caozhi asked, "Sister-in-law, how do the provincial and commandery rectifiers discover talented men at these gatherings and select them for a rank? Do they compose poems on the spot, or debate the meanings of Confucian and metaphysical classics?"
Ding Youwei smiled. "Composing poems and debating are part of it, but sometimes the rectifiers choose talent in very peculiar ways. It might simply be because something you say accords with metaphysical principles, or because you sit on a mountain rock or lean beneath a pine with a lofty, singular bearing, free and natural, and catch his eye-"
Chen Caozhi could not help laughing. That sounds much like a man and woman falling in love at first sight. This must be what the people of Jin call subtle appreciation.
Ding Youwei laughed too, then said, "But catching a rectifier's eye doesn't necessarily mean you'll receive a rank. He must also send people to make inquiries in the county and your neighborhood, examining your family background, family register, moral character, and reputation. Those considered suitable then go to the commandery for personal assessment by the Yangzhou rectifier, who submits a request to the Grand Minister over the Masses to issue a certificate granting rank."
Chen Caozhi knew the criticisms later generations leveled at the flaws of the Nine-Rank System. Since all rectifiers came from high-class gentry families, and the great gentry houses shared honor and disgrace through their marriage ties, it went without saying that they favored gentry sons and excluded those of humble and common birth. As the saying went, "Today, selection at court merely stops up ears and eyes; when the nine ranks seek men, they ask only the rectifiers. Thus those who occupy the high ranks are either descendants of dukes and marquises or brothers of those who hold power." This failing became especially severe in the Southern Dynasties after the Eastern Jin.
Ding Youwei understood what was on her young brother-in-law's mind and reassured him. "Caozhi, you needn't worry too much. Rectifiers must care about their reputations, too. If a scholar they promote to a rank is later found to have poor conduct, inferior talent and learning, or even to have broken the law, the rectifier also bears collective responsibility. So although gentry sons will certainly be favored, men of truly outstanding talent will also be selected. Of course, it's impossible for you to be assigned a high rank, but obtaining any rank will be enough. It isn't one assessment that determines your whole life; you can be assessed again after three years. I hope that by then you will have brought the Qiantang Chen Clan into the gentry. With your talent and looks, it won't be difficult to receive a high rank then."
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