Chapter 3: Couplet

Zhao Mama was not a house-born servant of the Jia Prefecture; she was a house slave newly bought by the Rongguo Prefecture steward Lai Da ten years ago.

Ten years ago, Zhao Mama's old master got into trouble, and all the guilty slaves in the prefecture were to be sold. Seeing that she looked decent and honest and was holding a baby who hadn't yet left the swaddling clothes, Lai Da bought her to be Jia Cong's wet nurse.

Zhao Mama's husband died a few years ago, and she and her only son, Guo Zhigui, lived in a bungalow on the back street of the Rongguo Prefecture. Many families of the house-born servants of the Ning and Rong Prefectures lived in this vicinity.

Early in the morning, Zhao Mama sent her son to paste up the couplet written by Jia Cong.

The red nitrate paper used for the couplet was specially bought by Zhao Mama. This paper was vermilion, a low-priced inferior paper, usually bought by ordinary commoners to write couplets, and if you smelled it carefully, it had a pungent odor.

The couplet read: Spring arrives before the hall, increasing auspicious energy; the sun shines upon the courtyard, raising auspicious light.

The characters on the couplet were warm, moist, and elegant, graceful and ethereal, with a superb style that made one feel amazed at first sight.

Not long after the couplet was pasted up, everyone who passed by the gate, whether they were literate or illiterate, couldn't help but take a few looks.

But a middle-aged scholar who passed by stopped in front of the couplet and refused to leave for a long time, his face full of shock and emotion.

Jia Cong had never had much spare money and couldn't afford other miscellaneous books, and before his injury, his attitude towards studying was neither enthusiastic nor disgusted.

The fate of the same-clan junior Jia Zheng, who had the same dull aptitude as him, was heaven and earth apart from his.

Now that he had been severely beaten, he suddenly became diligent in his studies, which made Zhi Shao very happy.

The teacher of the righteous school was Jia Dairu, who had taken the imperial examination all his life but never passed, just an old scholar who was sour, corrupt, and rigid.

Jia Dairu was a sympathetic person, but for someone with such a rigid and conservative personality to have much insight or expression in the classics, it was really not very likely.

According to the residual memories of the original body and Jia Cong's understanding of the records in "Red Chamber," he didn't have much interest in going to the Jia clan righteous school to study.

After saying this, Zhi Shao secretly glanced at Jia Cong, seeing that he didn't show half a grievance, his expression was indifferent, and no joy or anger could be seen.

Just because Jia Daishan gave a last memorial to the Emperor before he died, the academically poor Jia Zheng obtained the official position of a Grade 5B Secretary in the Ministry of Works.

But in the room, besides some enlightenment materials, there were only a few incomplete Four Books.

And Jia Dairu, who came from a side branch, could only live a down-and-out life teaching in the family school to make a living.

He lost his father early, lost his son in middle age, studied hard all his life, and achieved nothing.

This old Confucian scholar was a tragic figure created by this strict and indifferent big clan.

In the narrow courtyard, Jia Cong looked at Zhi Shao, whose face was a bit pale, and asked, "Did you not get the monthly allowance silver?"

Although he strictly disciplined his only grandson Jia Rui, there was no doubt that his education was a complete failure.

He probably knew his situation, that studying was the only way to go, but his aptitude was ordinary, and as for whether he could succeed in his studies, that was another matter.

Since Jia Cong had been recuperating from his injuries, Zhi Shao had discovered that he had suddenly become diligent, reading every book he could find in the room over and over again.

Although it wasn't a high official position, it was a high capital position that many third-rank successful candidates found difficult to reach after a lifetime of hard work.

"If we didn't get it, we didn't get it. We won't starve to death in the courtyard. I'll think of a way to solve the studying matter myself."

Otherwise, he wouldn't have studied until his beard was white without passing the provincial examination.

Jia Rui ultimately had flaws in his private morality; because he lusted after Feng Jie, he was tricked by Feng Lazi and lost his life.

Zhi Shao remained silent, and after a long while, she said hesitantly, "Wang Shanbao's wife said that the Great Master won't let the Third Master study anymore."

What could one study with such a vague scholar? Instead of finding a famous teacher, it was better to study and research on one's own.

In his previous life, he was a history major, and he had quite a bit of exposure to Sinology. In that era when various forums were flooded, he had accumulated some vision and perspective.

Although he couldn't rely on these to pass the imperial examination, his perspective and methods for researching the classics were much higher than those of people today.

Moreover, Jia Dairu's management of the righteous school was loose, and he even let his unreliable grandson Jia Rui manage it on his behalf.

The righteous school had long been turned into a foul atmosphere by a group of disciples who were lazy about studying, and later the playboy Xue Pan also went to the righteous school, but it was for the sake of his pederastic habits. It was better not to go to such a messy place.

But not wanting to go to the righteous school to study didn't mean he didn't want to study.

Studying was the only way for him to turn things around now. If he couldn't study anymore, he would have to continue to be trampled on in the East Road Courtyard, and wait until he was fourteen or fifteen to be rightfully driven out of the Jia Prefecture to fend for himself.

He didn't want to finish his life in such a cowardly and lowly way.

He had to think of some ways to make himself rightfully study. If the Jia She couple insisted on being stumbling blocks, it wouldn't be a big deal to move them aside quietly.

He was reborn, and although he wouldn't have any disobedience towards this couple on the surface due to filial piety and righteousness, he didn't have any parental affection in his heart. Moreover, they were also bent on trampling on him.

Rapid footsteps came from the courtyard, and Jia Cong saw Zhao Mama walking in with a face full of smiles.

Jia Cong asked curiously, "Seeing how happy Mama is, did you encounter any happy events?"

Zhao Mama smiled and said, "It's a happy event. The Young Master hasn't had his monthly allowance for a long time, and the recuperation from his injuries has been costly. Now the famine can be solved."

As she said this, she took out a ten-tael silver ingot and placed it on the desk, saying, "Young Master, take it to use. Buy whatever paper, brushes, and good food you need."

Jia Cong knew that this ingot of silver was almost worth half a year's allowance for Zhao Mama. Because he had implicated her, her monthly allowance was also often deducted by Lady Xing.

Fortunately, her son was a coachman in the West Prefecture, so the monthly allowance there wouldn't be short, otherwise, it would be hard for them to live.

So she couldn't have come up with so much silver herself. Jia Cong knew there was another reason for this.

"It's not just about scholars being precious. The Young Master wrote a couplet, and I just pasted it on the gate. Many people stood there looking at it."

"Later, an old scholar passed by, liked the couplet so much that he insisted on spending ten taels of silver to buy it."

Jia Cong and Zhi Shao were both stunned after hearing this. The ten-some characters he wrote yesterday were actually worth ten taels of silver.

Just yesterday, the two of them were sulking because Wang Shanbao's wife deducted the two-tael monthly allowance.

"That old scholar also said the characters on the couplet were divine products, the best he had ever seen, and asked whose master's ink treasure it was."

"Later, when he heard it was written by the Young Master of the Rongguo Prefecture, and that the Young Master was only ten years old this year, he wouldn't believe it even if he were beaten to death, repeatedly saying that the younger generation is to be feared."

Zhao Mama laughed happily. The young master she had raised had such ability, so she had shown her face for once.

Jia Cong was confused in his heart. That old scholar should be a learned man; could it be that he couldn't tell whose calligraphy style he was imitating?

In his previous life, his maternal grandfather was the most famous mounting master in Jiangnan.

Those who were good at mounting were always good at calligraphy and painting, with deep learning and the ability to draw inferences about other cases, otherwise, they couldn't become famous mounting masters.

His maternal grandfather was such a person, especially good at calligraphy, and he had followed his grandfather since he was a child to lay a solid foundation in calligraphy.

Later, when he worked at the provincial museum, he accidentally came into contact with an incomplete nameless book of calligraphy.

That book had both regular and running scripts, inheriting the two Wangs, following the Wei and Jin dynasties, and absorbing the essence of many famous Song and Yuan masters, already forming his own sect.

The font was exquisite and unique, and compared with many famous calligraphers in the Song and Yuan dynasties, it was not inferior at all.

The person who could write such calligraphy should have been famous, but because the book itself was incomplete, the writer could no longer be verified.

One could only start from the testing of the paper of the book, concluding that the writer was a person from the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

Although "Red Chamber" hid the dynasty and year, it was nothing more than a background of the Ming and Qing dynasties, close to the era in which the nameless calligrapher lived.

Every student who studied and became an official needed to practice good calligraphy, so such an exquisite and unique font should be widely known.

He originally thought that people in this era might recognize whose font this was.

But that old scholar was only surprised that it was written by a ten-year-old child, as if he didn't recognize whose calligraphy it was imitating either.

He was slightly moved in his heart. Since he woke up, he had been trapped in this narrow, dilapidated small courtyard.

He knew nothing about what dynasty the outside world was in, or how much it deviated from the history in his memory.

To survive better in this world, he must know this information.

"Now that we have silver, my body hasn't fully recovered, and I can't go out for a while. Tomorrow, Mama, please help me buy some books and xuan paper."

Zhao Mama said, "This is easy. There is the largest bookstore in the Divine Capital on Wenhan Street, which has books, paper, and brushes. You can buy them as soon as you go."

(End of chapter)