Chapter 82: The Turning of Fate

Wang Erlang and his sister Wang Ge escorted Huan Zhen to the courtyard gate. Yuan Yanshu, dressed in white jacket and robe, stood by the roadside like a rock impervious to the cold. It was unclear when he had arrived, or whether he had been there all along.

The three members of the Wang family saluted Yuan Yanshu as well.

Huan Zhen glanced at Wang Ge with some displeasure. “While I am instructing A Xing in etiquette these days, you may attend as an auditor.”

“Thank you, Master Huan.” Wang Ge’s face lit up with delight, her eyes even more curved than usual.

There it is! Huan Zhen silently counted, one, two...

“Master Huan, I have something to ask you.”

Huan Zhen folded his hands behind his back. “Speak.”

“Just now you mentioned that students of exegetics are all children—what age are they?”

“The oldest are no more than six. The youngest...” He raised two fingers.

Wang Ge’s smile froze. She could already imagine the embarrassment of standing out in a ‘kindergarten’.

Huan Zhen comforted her, “Don’t worry. Among them, you will surely be the most skilled artisan.”

That’s true—soon enough I’ll be the most literate among my peers in the craft! Wang Ge saluted, thanking him for the information.

Yuan Yanshu raised an eyebrow. Master Huan, when speaking with young maidens, had always kept things brief—a question and answer at most. This time, he had said a whole sentence more than he had to the artisan.

Time slipped by quickly, and deep winter arrived.

In Jia She village, the boys only had this month to rest each year. They would only venture into the wild hills together if the sun shone bright and the wind was still. The lazy households suffered, for without gathering firewood, they could only endure the chill.

It was so cold that even Wang Xing couldn’t practice calligraphy; inkstone and brush would freeze upon contact with water. So she recited daily from “Plain Texts” by Fu Qian, which Huan Zhen had left behind.

This time, Huan Zhen had left to participate in the “Town Militia Martial Contest.” For him, this contest was also the first selection for the Youth Guard Camp. In Xunqi Township, Wang Tian participated as well.

Each township’s contest comprised three events: Threefold Archery, Pursuing Game from the Left, and Wrestling.

As long as Huan Zhen won two events, he would qualify for the “Great Martial Contest” among the three townships in May the following year, held in the county seat. Passing the Great Martial Contest in Duyi County would earn him the title of “Guard Youth.” After that, he would go to Shanyin County, the commandery seat, for the commandery contest; passing that would make him a “Quasi-Guard”—much like the “Quasi-Master Craftsman” Wang Ge was preparing to test for next.

Threefold Archery, as the name suggested, consisted of three rounds. The first was a practice round: the township’s best archer would demonstrate, and each participant would follow, but hits or misses were not tallied. In the second, the official round, the township officials kept score with counting rods. For the third, musicians played, drums and singers performed pieces from the Book of Songs, and all contestants had to shoot arrows in time with the rhythm; any shot not in sync, even if it hit the target, did not count.

Pursuing Game from the Left: originally one of the Six Arts—charioteering—but since the township lacked war chariots, the event was simplified to pursuing game on horseback, shooting from the left side. Riding across the field and back once made a round, with three rounds in total. Only those who shot game and retrieved it on horseback achieved top marks. Anyone missing two rounds need not attempt the third.

Wrestling: all the militia were first divided by pavilion, village, and township, then drew lots for one-on-one matches. Before entering, they donned a pair of horned headpieces and removed their upper garments. The bout allowed any use of limbs and force; one could even butt with the horns, but no weapons or hidden objects. Each person had only one wrestling match; a single loss determined their result in this event.

Before Huan Zhen set out, Granny Jia made him twenty sesame wheat cakes with pork fat. The meat sauce Liu Bo had sent, which the family had never touched, was packed in a small jar for him to take along.

Who could have foreseen it? After going so long without much oil or fat in his diet, Huan Zhen ate heartily on the road and, by the time he reached the township and during the contest, suffered intermittent bouts of diarrhea—especially during wrestling!

True brothers share in hardship. In Xunqi Township, Wang Tian, seeking to build strength for the contest, spent two days making friends everywhere, trading for wheat cakes, and even agreeing to claim several foster sons on behalf of Lord Wang, the governor in distant Shanyin County. He did regain his strength, but by the time of the contest, he was so bloated that he too suffered sudden, uncontrollable trips to relieve himself—especially during wrestling!

Of course, these were embarrassments yet to unfold.

For now, Wang Ge faced her own awkwardness. Complaining to her grandparents and father, she found, for the first time, that her elders did not sympathize but rather took pride.

During the dead of winter, the court and common folk alike rested from farming and labor. With idle hands, people sought diversions. Young men of marriageable age chose this month to summon their courage and linger outside the homes of renowned maidens, expressing admiration through songs and poetic recitations.

As long as the young men refrained from crude words, the girls’ families would not chase them off or beat them. It was said that for those of especially great repute, even young men from other counties would journey to pay their respects.

Who would have thought the Jin dynasty was even more open in custom than her previous life?

Zhang Cai was the most diligent in pacing before the Wang family gate. In the past two days, he had learned a few lines of poetry from a boy lodging with the widower’s family. Now, after a few deep breaths, he began to shout, “Guan guan cries the osprey... a noble mate for a gentleman. Lush grows the waterweed... waterweed...”

His mother, Madam Sun, kept watch at their own courtyard gate. Seeing her son scratching his head, she hurried over: “Your father finally isn’t watching over you—so call out, quickly!”

Zhang Cai complained, “I’m not shouting anymore! I finally realized that boy tricked me. I’m after A Ge, but every line mentions her brother’s name!”

Inside, Wang Ge, unaware Zhang Cai had already left, kept her ears blocked with cloth. She had already completed a hundred rulers and a hundred squares. The task of inspection was handed over to Wang Shu, allowing him to memorize the rules and measurements through the process.

Back to Huan Zhen.

Having just left Jia She village, he felt strangely unsettled. Not in any hurry to travel, he rode slowly, Iron Wind following behind. Iron Wind pointed disdainfully at a distant, lonely grave and a tumbledown shack among the wild grasses. “That Jia boy isn’t upright at all—he only kept vigil for his father’s spirit a few days before he couldn’t bear the hardship and returned to the village.”

“The world is full of all kinds—so long as one does not commit evil or crime, let them be. Hyah!” Huan Zhen flicked his hemp whip, his pack of wheat cakes still warm behind him.

They passed an inconspicuous fork in the road, where the rarely trodden path was already being reclaimed by grass, vines, and mud, soon vanishing altogether.

A woman in tattered winter clothes trudged along, leading Wang Zhu by the hand. Their heads were often down, and when they looked up again, Wang Zhu could hardly believe they were nearly at Jia She village.

He pointed to the distant, faintly visible hamlet and said to the woman, “Aunt Yang, we’re almost there. Why not come with me to my home? Rest a couple of days before returning to Sha Tun.”

Aunt Yang replied with a faint “mm,” too tired to say more.

Aunt Yang and Aunt Yao were half-sisters on their mothers’ side, so she wasn’t truly Wang Zhu’s aunt. Wang Zhu called her Aunt Yang out of courtesy.

Aunt Yao had remarried and left Sha Tun. The Yao family was unwilling to support Wang Zhu for nothing, especially in winter when there was less farm work and his idleness was more obvious.

Yang was a widow, and had been childless before her husband died; after his death, no one dared marry her. Her natal family was gone, and with no landlords in Sha Tun, she couldn’t even hire herself out as a tenant. She scraped by, selling brambles and firewood, hardship etched into her face, making her look like an old crone.

She was escorting Wang Zhu back to Jia She village because the Yao family promised her two measures of grain—one given now, the remainder upon her return.

At that moment, Wang Erlang was beneath the cowshed, chatting happily with a calf. Anyone unaware might have thought the calf understood human speech. “Ah, the sun’s going down. Come, let’s take you back inside. Back inside now, and tomorrow I’ll cut more grass to fill your belly.”

Moo…

Wang Erlang laughed again, unaware that fate from a former life was looping back around.

Half-sisters: refers to cousins.

(End of chapter)