Chapter 301: Reporting, and Prayers

How could one possibly not report it?

Qian Changle watched his elder brother's retreating figure and shook his head to himself.

For the new officials nowadays, aside from following procedure step by step, doing the work at hand well, and striving for a top-grade evaluation, the fastest path to promotion was reporting misconduct. But these reports were not submitted to the capital Tax Office, their direct supervisory agency — they were submitted to the Secretariat.

The first cohort of new officials numbered one hundred in total.

No — ninety-eight now. Two colleagues, sent out on rotation, had unclean hands and were reported by fellow officials; they have already been dismissed. The remaining ninety-eight new officials each have an identification number and may submit official documents to the "Secretariat mailbox" beside the Gate of Accepting Heaven. Those wary of trouble yet still wishing to set affairs right file anonymously.

Those unafraid of trouble, single-mindedly pursuing merit and career, file under their real names.

So long as the matter reported is genuine and credible, not mere rumor-mongering, it will be directly assigned to the relevant office for handling.

And the person who made the report can, moreover, receive rewards ranging from a red mark of merit to extra months of salary.

This whole business, truth be told, was something no one dared to do at first.

But Wu Yanzuo was the one who set the trend!

In mid-December, he suddenly made a move, reporting that seven old clerks in the capital Tax Office were colluding and taking kickbacks.

Once this report was submitted, a resolution came in just three days.

The seven old clerks were each found guilty of varying amounts of graft, dismissed and sent home, barred from ever holding any official post again.

And Wu Yanzuo, because of this, had his probationary period ended early and secured a top-grade evaluation for the first half of the year ahead of schedule.

After that, the whole atmosphere changed in an instant.

Reports came swarming in; many colleagues thereby either had their probationary periods ended early or received year-end bonuses of several extra months' salary — the sight of it truly made Qian Changle burn with envy.

He, the second-ranked trainee in his class, had instead ended up among the slowest to be promoted!

It was just that Qian Changle had, after all, been a country bumpkin from the urban-rural fringe, with only a patchy understanding of affairs in the capital and no family tradition of scholarship to draw on. In the past, he truly wanted to report something, but simply did not know where to begin.

Now this coin-minting matter had, as it happened, delivered itself to his doorstep.

The person minting these coins, ostensibly, was casting auspicious talisman coins for sale.

But if this person possessed such minting skill and had channels to procure copper stock, how could he possibly limit himself to casting these talisman coins?

Could it be that he had no side business — or perhaps main business — of casting coins with sand-filled lead cores? Qian Changle did not believe that for half a moment!

With minting skills like these, distribution channels for the coins, and the audacity to start producing new coinage directly before the court had even begun striking new coins — how could such a person possibly be an upright, law-abiding sort?

If a merchant had assembled all these assets yet sought only to profit a little from talisman coins, that would be the greatest joke under heaven! Qian Changle would be willing to chop off his own head and use it as a kickball.

Talisman coins were not worth pursuing, but a potential gang privately minting debased coinage like this was very much worth going after.

Qian Changle turned the matter over in his mind, weighing and calculating, and the more he thought about it, the more solid it seemed.

As for the hometown ties his brother was worried about — there was no need for concern.

If he were to do this, he would not start from his brother's end, but would seek another avenue to pursue it, and would absolutely ensure his brother was not implicated.

No rush — it happened that he was going into the city today; he would go find Brother Mengju and talk it over first.

This man Wu Yanzuo commanded immense prestige among Qian Changle's cohort of new officials.

In fellowship, he was generous with wealth and loyal to friends, with the manner of a Lord Mengchang;

in keeping confidences, he was tight-lipped as a sealed jar, with the discretion of a golden man;

in breadth of mind, he credited others for achievements and yielded to the capable, with the magnanimity of a gentleman.

Whoever sought his counsel on reporting matters found everything properly handled, and he never claimed a share of the credit — truly he had built himself a towering signboard of golden repute.

This foremost among the new officials was foremost not only in examinations, but also in conduct, winning genuine and wholehearted admiration.

At this thought, Qian Changle stopped his slow savoring and in three or two bites stuffed the remaining water dumplings into his mouth, gulping down the soup and all. The scalding broth slid down his throat into his stomach, breaking him out in a hot sweat.

"I'm done too! Coming, coming! Let's start, quick!"

Qian Changle set down his bowl, wiped the sweat from his brow, and hurried out after them.

By now, Qian Changping was already standing at the door of the main hall, gripping that heavy door bar in his hands.

Madam Wang had long since wrapped the door bar carefully in a piece of red cloth.

This was called "dropping a thousand in gold" — a homophone for "gaining a thousand in gold."

By the capital's New Year custom, on New Year's Day one must drop the door bar to invite good fortune.

The three of them each held one end, or supported the middle. Qian Changping drew a deep breath and shouted:

"One, two, three!"

The three of them heaved the door bar upward, tossing it into the air.

"Thud!"

The door bar leaped high, then crashed heavily to the ground with a dull boom.

At once the three of them shouted in unison: "First drop — fair winds and timely rains, fields and crops flourishing!"

Qian Changping picked up the door bar, and the three of them heaved it high once more.

"Thud!"

"Second drop — free from illness and calamity, bodies strong and sturdy!"

Up again, and down again.

"Thud!"

"Third drop — flesh and bone reunited, as enduring as heaven and earth!"

When the three drops were done, the three of them shouted together:

"Good fortune in all things! Auspicious New Year!"

With this final New Year rite completed, Qian Changping then said:

"Come, let us offer incense to Father and Mother, then go into the city."

In a side room were enshrined the spirit tablets of the Qian parents.

The incense altar had been wiped perfectly clean, laid with a few simple offerings.

The two brothers knelt side by side, with Madam Wang kneeling behind them.

Qian Changping lit three sticks of incense and, with the utmost reverence, placed them in the incense burner.

Wisps of pale smoke curled upward, coiling among the beams and pillars.

The three pressed their palms together, closed their eyes, and prayed in silence. Qian Changle bowed his head and murmured in his heart:

"Father, Mother. This year I will surely save my salary carefully."

"That way, when Sister-in-law is with child again, she won't have to go wash clothes for the gentry, and when her time comes, we can hire the best midwife in town."

"This time, everything will go smoothly — both mother and child safe and sound."

"Elder Brother has been married for many years; it is time he had an heir. He cannot keep pouring all his thought into me."

What Qian Changping recited, however, was his deepest worry of late:

"Father, Mother. Ah Le has now entered the yamen, and your son is truly afraid in his heart…"

"An official has two mouths — who knows if today's blessing is not tomorrow's calamity?"

"Ah Le's nature is hard and unbending, and he always wants to accomplish great things. Your son does not fear that he will grow greedy — I fear that he wants too badly to be a good official, and will instead bring great disaster upon himself." "I only beg you, Father and Mother, to protect him — that after this year, he may settle into his nature, learn to hide his talents, and that peace and safety may be the greatest blessing of all."

Madam Wang knelt at the back, and her prayers were more homely still:

"I beg my father- and mother-in-law to watch over my husband, that his back and legs may stop aching — this whole winter he has grudged even buying a medicinal patch…"

"Watch over Ah Le, that he may find a good wife who knows when he is cold and when he is warm — the girl need not be a great beauty, only kind-hearted and able to get on with others."

"For this family of ours, I do not ask for great wealth or rank — I ask only that year after year, we may all be as we are today: harmonious and content, peaceful and joyful." The three knelt on the old prayer mats, each with different wishes in their hearts.

Yet not one of them prayed for gold or silver, not one for advancement, and still less did any of them pray for themselves.

At that moment, the fifth watch had just passed, the vault of heaven was still dark, and inside this low, humble farmhouse, it was dimmer still.

Only the single bean of oil lamp upon the spirit shrine, together with the three crimson points of burning incense in the burner, flickered and glowed in the darkness.

In this cramped space, so still that only the sound of breathing could be heard, no light clearly streamed in from without — yet who knows why… it seemed as if the whole room shone with radiance. There are some households in this world that, though they now stoop in the faintest glimmer, need only wait for the day when they rise upon the wind.

And the fortune in this does not depend entirely on wit, wealth, or power.

Sometimes, the root of character handed down through the generations is enough, in itself, to summon the finest luck.

Truly it is said:

With wife and children in loving accord,

As lute and zither harmonize in one chord.

Brothers united in deep affection,

【87】 Their joy and concord know no dearth or defection.

【88】 — from *The Book of Odes*, "Lesser Odes," "The Catalpa"