Chapter 27: Blood and Backbone

Fei Ruhe ended up returning to the classroom after all, because it was nearly time for class to end.

For common folk at the bottom of late Ming society, even two meals a day was a struggle.

But in prosperous regions, people generally ate three meals. Even if grain was scarce, they'd boil stones in plain water just to make smoke rise from the chimney, so as not to be looked down on by neighbors and kin.

The daily schedule at Hanzhu Private Academy ran roughly as follows—

Morning recitation: the teacher led the reading, the class chanted in unison, and individuals were called on to read aloud.

Breakfast time.

Calligraphy practice: one hundred characters in inch-sized regular script.

Classics exposition: explanation of the Four Books and Five Classics.

Lunch time.

Recitation from memory: reviewing the lesson texts and memorizing passages.

Literary composition: lectures on poetry, on couplets, on classical prose.

Dinner time.

Evening self-study: reviewing the day's lessons, with occasional instruction on writing exercises.

…

"Sir!"

"Come in."

Fei Ruhe's nosebleed had already stopped. Having obtained the teacher's permission, he swaggered into the classroom.

Fei Chun, however, was bruised and swollen about the face. He followed close behind, covering his face with his sleeve, terrified that someone would see his sorry state.

Zhao Han, by contrast, was entirely unharmed. He strolled into the classroom and sat down next to Fei Chun.

The teacher was called Pang Chunlai, an old xiucai who seemed to be nearsighted. At that moment he was lecturing on the classics.

Paying no attention at all to what the students were doing, he held the textbook two inches from his eyes and sat at the lectern, swaying his head back and forth: "Confucius said: 'The gentleman has three cautions. In youth, when the blood and qi are not yet settled, he is cautious about lust. In his prime, when the blood and qi are at their fullest, he is cautious about strife. In old age, when the blood and qi have declined, he is cautious about acquisitiveness.'"

"What, then, are blood and qi? They are that upon which the body depends for life — blood is yin and qi is yang. That is to say, for a person to remain alive, he must have blood and qi, and yin and yang must be in harmony…"

Suddenly, a student raised his hand: "Sir, what does 'cautious about lust' mean?"

"Ha ha ha ha!" The children all burst out laughing.

Fei Ruhe joined in the jeering: "I know — 'cautious about lust' means staying away from women!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

The students laughed even louder, and the classroom was filled with a merry atmosphere.

Zhao Han asked Fei Chun in a low voice, "Who's that troublemaker?"

"Fei Yuanjian, from over at Henglin," Fei Chun whispered back. "In terms of seniority, he's our young master's grand-uncle, and a clan cousin of our old master."

Well, that was seniority enough — Fei Yinghuan's uncle's generation.

Having had his lecture interrupted, Pang Chunlai was not at all angry. Stroking his beard, he said, "You are all youths and boys, your blood and qi not yet settled; you must not become tainted by female charms. You ought to be cautious!"

Fei Yuanjian, who looked to be twelve or thirteen and was also a seasoned repeater, went on disrupting: "If a youth does not go near women, then won't he be unable to have children? There are three unfilial acts, and having no heir is the greatest. Sir, you've definitely got it wrong!"

"Right, he's got it wrong!" Fei Ruhe joined in the heckling.

This class had over twenty students, and Fei Yuanjian and Fei Ruhe — this 'grandfather and grandson' pair — seemed to be the class tyrants.

When they stirred up trouble for the teacher, their respective underlings joined in the clamor.

In an instant, the classroom was as noisy as a marketplace.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Pang Chunlai finally lost patience and rapped the desk with his discipline ruler, his beard bristling and eyes glaring: "Silence, silence! 'Cautious about lust' here means one must not become addicted to female charms. Eating and sex are part of human nature — eating to fill the belly, marrying a wife and having children, these are innate human drives; how could they truly be renounced? However, gluttonous overeating and licentious pleasure-seeking are human desires. The 'caution against lust' here is not a caution against human nature, but a caution against human desire!"

Fei Yuanjian was still singing a contrary tune: "Sir is talking nonsense. Master Zhu's collected commentaries say no such thing."

"Exactly — if Master Zhu didn't say it, then Sir is talking nonsense!" Fei Ruhe chimed in, arguing for the sake of arguing.

The two played off each other, making quite a lively scene.

Zhao Han carefully observed the situation and noticed that the whole class was joining in the jeering — only one student in the very front row was silently bent over his book the entire time. Moreover, this student was thinly clad, clearly from an impoverished family.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Pang Chunlai pounded madly with his discipline ruler, but the classroom was already a din of noise. Finding himself utterly helpless, he could only shout, "Self-study! No wandering around! Wait for class to end!"

"Waaaa… oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!"

The students cheered in unison, as if celebrating a victory, and then began roughhousing with one another without restraint.

Pang Chunlai could no longer be bothered with these little bastards. Putting on a kindly expression, he said to the impoverished student in the front row, "Xu Ying, come up here."

The student called Xu Ying immediately went over and asked respectfully, "Sir, what instruction do you have for me?"

Pang Chunlai asked with concern, "Do you understand everything that was taught today?"

"I understand," Xu Ying nodded.

Pang Chunlai reminded him, "The 'caution against lust' and 'caution against strife' that Confucius spoke of are not the ordinary cautions against women or against fighting, but rather the restraint of the desires within the heart. Where the blood and qi stir, there desire points. What the sage shares with ordinary men is blood and qi; what sets the sage apart from ordinary men is will and spirit. You should yearn to emulate the sage — nurture your will and spirit while subduing your blood and qi. Only thus can you achieve great things."

Xu Ying pondered this carefully, then asked, "But Sir, you once said that a true man cannot be without blood and qi."

Pang Chunlai explained, "The blood and qi spoken of there are human desire; to subdue blood and qi is to subdue desire. But when we say a true man cannot be without blood and qi, we mean his mettle, his backbone. To fight with others over nothing is a contest of temper, not a contest of mettle." He pointed down at the class. "These obstinate louts here — their blood and qi are excessive, yet they have no mettle whatsoever. You apply yourself to your studies, do not contend with them, and do not let your own talents go to waste. But neither must you lose your mettle, nor be without unyielding pride."

Xu Ying hastily bowed with clasped hands: "Many thanks for Sir's instruction."

The classroom was a chaos of roughhousing, but the teacher paid it no mind, giving a private tutorial only to that impoverished scholar.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang!"

Before long, the bell sounded.

The students cheered in unison and swarmed out of the classroom like a hive of bees.

Those who lived close to the academy ran straight home to eat, while the boarding students all rushed to the dining hall.

There were also day students who lived neither far nor near; they took out the lunch boxes they had brought and ate right there in the classroom.

Fei Ruhe bolted for the door like a prisoner released at the end of his sentence, then suddenly spun around and pointed at Zhao Han: "That… that what's-his-name…"

"Zhao Han," Zhao Han said with a smile.

"Right, Zhao Han. Come eat with us," Fei Ruhe said.

Just as they were leaving the classroom, that impoverished student Xu Ying also hurried off, clutching a small bundle.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. The moment he stood up, someone blocked his way. Four or five people surrounded him, making sure the teacher, who was still packing up, wouldn't see.

The one leading them was none other than Fei Yuanjian.

Unwilling to fight, Xu Ying lowered his head and turned to leave, but was immediately shoved back.

Fei Ruhe suddenly grabbed Zhao Han and said with a grin, "No rush for food — let's watch a good show first."

With his textbook and ferule tucked under one arm and leaning on a cane with the other hand, Pang Chunlai finally tottered out of the classroom.

Seeing the teacher gone, Fei Yuanjian said in a mocking tone, "Our great talent Xu, what are you eating today?"

Shielding the small bundle that held his lunch, Xu Ying answered with his head down, "Wheat cakes."

"Your family still hasn't paid the rent they owe, and yet you can afford wheat cakes?" Fei Yuanjian laughed even harder as he reached out to grab it. "Open it up, let me see."

Xu Ying shook his head repeatedly, hugged the bundle, and crouched down, bracing himself for a beating.

Faced with Xu Ying just lying down and waiting to be hit, Fei Yuanjian instantly lost interest. He turned and walked off, saying, "How boring!"

The other students added a few punches and kicks each, then drifted away one after another.

After the beating, Xu Ying actually breathed a sigh of relief. Clutching his things, he dashed off at top speed.

Zhao Han had witnessed the whole thing without lifting a finger. He asked, "Young Master, aren't you going to right a wrong and lend a helping hand?"

"Help my ass," Fei Ruhe said irritably. "That idiot is the same generation as my grandfather. You think I can beat up an elder?" Then he added, "Still, I really can't stand him. Once he goes too far someday — say, beats someone half to death — then it'd be perfectly justified for me to step in."

Fei Chun immediately flattered him: "The Young Master has both courage and strategy, and a chivalrous heart. You'll surely become a great knight-errant one day."

"Hahaha," Fei Ruhe beamed with satisfaction. "Well said. This young master will definitely be a great knight-errant someday!"

Zhao Han was momentarily speechless. A direct-line scion of a powerful clan, and instead of aiming for the civil examinations — or at the very least harboring ambitions to be a general — he fantasized about being a wandering knight? What the hell?

He must have read Water Margin one too many times!

The three of them headed together toward the dining hall. After a few dozen paces, they could faintly make out Xu Ying crouching beneath the railing of a pavilion.

Zhao Han said, "Young Master, I'll go take a look."

"What's there to see? He's definitely crying. Every time that fellow gets bullied, he never fights back — just hides somewhere and cries alone," Fei Ruhe said with a curl of his lip.

Fei Chun explained, "The Young Master did try to help once, but that kid doesn't know what's good for him and stubbornly refused."

Zhao Han approached with soft steps and, sure enough, heard the sound of sobbing.

Xu Ying was crouched outside the pavilion railing, wiping away tears with one hand while gnawing on a wheat-bran cake. His family were semi-landowning farmers, with only a few mu of land between them — certainly not enough to feed themselves. They had to rent additional land to farm and occasionally take on odd jobs just to survive.

A semi-landowning, semi-tenant family like his — if a famine struck one day, the little land they had would inevitably be swallowed up.

Sensing someone behind him, Xu Ying didn't dare turn around or stand up. He frantically stuffed the remaining half cake into his mouth, swallowed it down, then wrapped his arms around his head, ready for another beating.

Zhao Han felt a surge of pity. He fished out a few copper coins and said, "At your age, you're still growing. Eating nothing but bran cakes won't do. Take these and buy something proper to eat."

Seeing the coins held out to him, Xu Ying finally raised his head slowly. He had no idea who Zhao Han was. He rose and bowed with clasped hands, saying, "I appreciate your kindness, sir, but one cake is enough to fill me."

Stubborn indeed. Zhao Han saluted with clasped hands and left, hurrying to catch up with Fei Ruhe.

"Well?" Fei Ruhe asked with a grin.

Zhao Han said, "He's got backbone."

(End of chapter)