SMMW | Chapter 8

The Qixi Poetry Gathering arrived in the blink of an eye.

In name it was a competition, but more than that, it was a chance for young men and women to size one another up. The event was held on the first floor of a restaurant. An open space was cleared out in the middle and laid with paper and ink, and that became the competition grounds.

The areas around the open space, as well as the second floor, were for watching the contest. The shy and reserved young ladies especially were generally on the second floor. They had long since prepared handkerchiefs, sachets, and silk flowers to cheer or to convey their feelings.

The first round of the contest was linked-verse on the crown of the line, essentially a poetry relay. The verse had to fit the theme. After the first person finished, the second had to answer using the final character of the previous line, or a homophone of it, as the first character of the next line.

If the first person answered, “I wish to find one faithful heart, and never part till white-haired old age,” then the second person had to begin with a homophone of li, the last sound in parting, for example: “Scattered, scattered stars in the sky, divided as though they could never hold one another.” That would count as passing, and it continued in that fashion.

The thinking time was ten drumbeats. If the contestant had still not answered by the end of the drumbeats, a gong would be struck to signal elimination, and the next person would continue, until only ten remained. Then the contest would enter the second round.

The young contestants stood in a circle in the center. Most of them were academy students. Yuan Hao and Wen Qing stood in adjacent positions.

“Dong!”

With a single clang of the gong, the competition began.

At the start, the relay moved very quickly. After all, they had all studied. Nearly as soon as the previous person finished, the next could answer, and the drum had no time at all to catch up.

By the second and third rounds, people began to be eliminated one after another, or barely answered on the very last drumbeat.

Because repetition was not allowed, the further it went, the fewer usable lines of poetry remained.

On Zou Hui’s side, several helpers were already standing behind him. In the previous round, when he could not think of anything, it had been the people behind him who quietly reminded him. But today was a festive occasion. Either people had not noticed, or they had seen it and did not want to spoil the atmosphere. After all, it was only the first round, so no one exposed him.

“…da, da, dong!”

“Time’s up! Scholar Chen, please step down and have some tea while you rest~”

By the fifth round, more and more contestants were being eliminated for timing out, and the da-da-da of the drumbeats urged them on more and more tightly. Someone answered with, “To know lovesickness is useless in the end, yet there is no harm in cherishing melancholy as passion.”

Most lines containing the word kuang, “passion” or “madness,” tended to express ambition, and very few expressed romantic feeling. No one could think of anything, and on top of that, the urgent drumbeats were pressuring them, so three people in a row were eliminated. Very soon, it was Yuan Hao’s turn.

“Da!” The timing drum sounded. Yuan Hao’s eyes went blank, as if he were thinking frantically.

“Da!” Yuan Hao frowned and said nothing.

“Da!” The drumbeat was still sounding, but… it seemed to be slowing down.

“Da!” The drumbeat continued.

Wen Qing looked around in confusion. Everyone was holding their breath, afraid of disturbing the contestant, yet… it still felt as if the drum was beating very slowly. If it had been earlier, enough time had already passed for it to sound twice over.

Had the drummer decided too many people had been eliminated and was deliberately going easy?

“Da!” The fifth beat sounded.

Yuan Hao suddenly snapped back to himself and answered loudly, “Wild flowers are fragrant for but a moment, evening butterflies twine in lingering affection.”

This line used butterflies and flowers as a hidden metaphor for lovers’ meetings and partings, which fit the theme perfectly. Because he had answered within only five drumbeats, cheers broke out from above and below, and scented handkerchiefs and silk flowers were even tossed down from the second floor. The young ladies’ aim was poor, though, and most of them landed around Yuan Hao rather than directly on him.

“Da-da-da…” The drumbeat started up again.

“Wen Qing? It’s your turn,” Yuan Hao reminded him.

“Da-da-da…”

“Oh, right! It’s the character yi…”

“Da-da-da…”

“Feeling seems near and yet already distant, as though it is about to come and then turns back again.”

Wen Qing had blanked out for a moment. Only after being reminded did he hurriedly answer, just barely landing on the final drumbeat.

“Repeated! Scholar Wen, please step down and have some tea while you rest~”

Yuan Hao laughed. “Hahahahahahaha, what were you spacing out for? That line was already used in the second round.”

“I answered in a panic and didn’t notice. I’ll step down first. Brother Yuan, keep going.”

Wen Qing smiled as well, cupped his hands, and withdrew. He chose a seat not far away and sat there to watch the contest.

“Da-da-da-da-da…”

The drumbeats continued to resound, dense and relentless, mercilessly eliminating quite a few people, and yet whenever it came to Yuan Hao, they seemed to slow down?

Wen Qing swept his gaze across the venue, but still no one said anything. Had his perception been wrong?

Yuan Hao answered as before within five drumbeats. When it came to the next person, even after all ten drumbeats had sounded, he had not managed a single word.

“Time’s up! Scholar Li, please step down and have some tea while you rest~”

“You! You were beating too fast. I didn’t have time to think.” There were not many people left on the floor now, and Scholar Li was obviously unconvinced and wanted to struggle for another chance.

The restaurant owner, as host, naturally knew how to deal with it. With a beaming smile, he said, “The whole room heard it, so how could we dare beat too fast? The people before all answered the same way. Scholar, you’ve been standing for quite a while, so sit and have a cup of tea. The young ladies upstairs are still waiting to keep watching~”

What he really meant was: do not start acting shameless. If the young ladies upstairs saw it, their favor would only fall even more.

The restaurant’s young waiter cleverly ran up to Scholar Li’s side and attentively showed him the way. “Scholar, our shop just got some new tea. Please have a taste. I’ll show you to an elegant seat.”

Scholar Li was not stubborn to that degree. Since a way out had been offered, he took it and left with the waiter.

Very soon, only ten people remained on the floor. Those ten entered the second round of the contest.

Wen Qing took stock of them. Seven were academy students. Of this year’s top five, only Yuan Hao and Zou Hui had entered. He himself had been eliminated for repeating a line, while third and fourth place… seemed not to have participated. Could it really be true that those two were Longyang?

Wen Qing shook his head and thought, do not gossip about others. After correcting himself inwardly, he continued to watch the competition.

The second round was Feihualing, the “Flying Flower Order.” The restaurant owner drew two characters from the lot tube, liu and ge, “willow” and “song,” and required that the recited line of poetry contain both those characters. The number of characters in the line did not matter, and their positions could vary, but repetition was not allowed. The time limit was still ten drumbeats. Five would advance into the third-round finals.

“Da-da-da…”

One after another they answered. When it reached Zou Hui, he was obviously lacking in reserve. Others wanted to tell him the answer, but with so few people left on the floor, it was too conspicuous. They tried whispering, but Zou Hui could not hear clearly. By the time he wanted them to repeat it, the time was up. Zou Hui was eliminated in the very first round of the second stage.

When it came to Yuan Hao, the drumbeat slowed again. Wen Qing no longer suspected it was only his imagination. He was just about to find someone to confirm it, but then worried that his baseless suspicion might instead cause Yuan Hao to be eliminated.

At that moment, Zou Hui came strolling over and stood beside Wen Qing, asking in a displeased tone, “Aren’t you two lovers? Why is he trying to show off like this? That pair didn’t even come.”

Wen Qing was afraid that a direct denial would cause trouble, so he could only answer vaguely, “Just joining in for the fun of it.”

“Tch, joining in for the fun of it. The young ladies upstairs are all staring. Maybe they’ll turn right around and dump you…”

Before Zou Hui could finish being sour, he heard Yuan Hao on the floor answer, “Green, green willow by the river plain, I hear my Wen-lang singing on the river.”

There was willow, and there was song. Cheers rose from both the first and second floors at once.

And there was also Wen and Qing. Zou Hui understood it the instant he heard it. His whole face twisted together, and he instantly lost all appetite for needling anyone. Grimacing, he walked off, terrified that he might get dragged into Longyang rumors too.

Very soon, only five contestants were left on the floor. Yuan Hao was among them and smoothly advanced into the finals.

The third-round finals required the five finalists, within the time it took one stick of incense to burn, to compose a poem on the topic “Qixi Night at Zhuanyu Tower.” Zhuanyu Tower was the name of the restaurant itself. Since it was providing the venue and handling the arrangements, naturally it wanted to leave some reputation for itself, and nobody minded.

Very soon, the five poems were finished. Several enthusiastic scholars who had already been eliminated stepped up and copied multiple versions of the poems, passing them around upstairs and downstairs for everyone to read.

“Dong-dong-dong…”

The gong sounded.

The restaurant owner stood in the center of the floor. “Everyone, next I will call the scholars one by one. When I call a scholar’s name, that scholar will come to the middle and read his own poem aloud once. If you think the poem is written wonderfully, then if you’ve got the strength, cheer for him. If you are willing to reward him, then throw your gifts into the middle. In the end, whichever scholar gets the loudest cheers and the most gifts will be the winner!!!”

“Alright!!!” The crowd’s enthusiasm was stirred up immediately, and everyone was very willing to join in.

“The first one, Scholar Han~”

Scholar Han walked to the center. He had an auspicious-looking baby face. Grinning, he read his poem aloud, and at the end he even looked up toward the second floor to canvass for support. “I’m young, so if the poem I wrote isn’t very good, I hope the older sisters will take pity on me~”

“Hahahahahahaha…” That was the sound of the young ladies upstairs laughing.

“Oooh~~~” That was the sound of the scholars downstairs booing.

“Older sister pities you!” came a voice from somewhere, and with it, a bracelet struck Scholar Han right in the chest. He quickly caught it in both hands, the smile still hanging on his face, and in the very next instant a boot landed by his feet, scaring him into dodging two steps to the side.

“Older brother pities you too! Hahahahaha…” The men on the first floor roared with laughter, making no effort to hide their jealousy.

In the end, Scholar Han was driven from the stage by a mixture of cheering and catcalling.

“The second one, Scholar Ma~”

Scholar Ma looked a little reserved. He stammered through his poem, bowed to those above, below, left, and right, flustered but very polite. In the end, he also won a round of kind applause.

“The third one, Scholar Wang~”

Scholar Wang had a broad, sturdy build and looked more like a martial man than a scholar. Expressionless, he stepped onto the floor, read his poem in a completely flat tone, and then immediately stepped back down. Everyone was left staring in bewilderment, and in the end it was still the owner who stepped in to smooth things over. “Scholar Wang came down too fast, everyone didn’t even get the chance to cheer yet~”

But there was no chance to give him one now. The owner directly called the next name.

“The fourth one, Scholar Kang~”

Scholar Kang had the standard appearance of a scholar. He stepped onto the floor with easy confidence, first greeted the audience, and then read his poem aloud with rich feeling. At the end he even talked about his creative thoughts and inspiration.

The people both upstairs and downstairs had a good impression of him, and he received the loudest wave of cheering so far.

“The fifth one, and also the last one, this year’s top scorer of the county-level exam, Scholar Yuan~”

Because he was first place in the exam, the owner deliberately said a few extra words when introducing him. But he did not need any help asking for support. Earlier, when there had been many people on the floor, everyone had stood far away and could not see clearly. Now that he was standing right in the center, the power of Yuan Hao’s handsome face came fully into view.

Not to mention how the scholars on the first floor sulked inwardly, the young ladies on the second floor had already gone wild. One of them took the lead, and then the others all threw off their reserve as well, showering things down like raindrops. They were far too enthusiastic, to the point that Yuan Hao had to raise a hand to loosely shield his head as he smiled and said, “Thank you, thank you, ladies, but perhaps allow Yuan to finish reciting the poem first.”

“Hahahahahahaha…” The young ladies laughed and finally stopped throwing things.

Yuan Hao read his poem aloud. As expected of the top scorer, in realm and rhythm it was clearly a whole level above the others. Though the scholars on the first floor were jealous that Yuan Hao had looks on his side, even they had to admit that judged by the poem alone, Yuan Hao’s was also the best.

At the end, Yuan Hao stood in the very center, drowned in applause and showered with gifts. Silk flowers, scented handkerchiefs, sachets, earrings, all manner of things rained down on him. In every way, he was a man of literary grace, and a man of romantic grace as well.

There was no dispute at all. First place in this Qixi Poetry Gathering went to Yuan Hao, with a reward of 1000 qian. Scholar Yuan stood on the stage smiling openly and brightly. It was obvious that he was genuinely happy, and the sight so enchanted the young ladies that they threw down another wave of things.

Second place went to the courteous Scholar Kang, who received 500 qian.

Third place went to baby-faced Scholar Han, who received 200 qian. Though he was only third, Scholar Han did not mind. He still lifted his head to the second floor and sweetly called out, “Thank you, older sisters~”

The poetry gathering ended in perfect satisfaction. Men and women who took a liking to one another exchanged glances full of meaning. Wen Qing was a little tired and was just about to leave when someone grabbed him and pulled him into a secluded corner.

“Shh~ It’s me.” Yuan Hao pulled Wen Qing along, lowering his voice and acting all secretive.

He took a sachet from his chest and held it beside Wen Qing’s ear, shaking it hard. Sha-sha. It was the sound of coins squeezed together, colliding with effort. Excitement was impossible to hide from Yuan Hao’s voice. “One thousand qian!” There was none left of the noble, clear, worldly-detached bearing he had shown onstage. He was nothing less than a complete money-grubber.

Smiling, Wen Qing raised a hand in congratulations. His own voice was also light. “Congratulations, congratulations. Brother Yuan’s family fortune is now abundant. In days to come, do not forget to lift up your little brother too.”

“Hahaha…” Yuan Hao was so pleased he practically started bubbling over. Sticking out his chest and acting like the elder brother, he said, “No need to wait for later. Today I’ll treat you to something good. Come on!”

Like a thief, Yuan Hao looked left and right. Seeing no one paying attention, he dragged Wen Qing toward the back door and ran. He had long legs and big strides, and because he was always digging herbs in the mountains, he had excellent stamina. Wen Qing had a hard time keeping up and panted as he ran. “D-do we really have to run?”

“I can’t be bothered exchanging polite nonsense with them. We’re almost there, just ahead.”

Yuan Hao led Wen Qing to the snack street and rolled up his sleeves as he started buying. Fermented rice dumplings, yangchun noodles, soy-braised roast duck, osmanthus wine…

They bought as they went. Whatever Yuan Hao could not carry, he handed to Wen Qing. By the end, the two of them were holding a heap of food as they found a shop and sat down.

At first, the waiter was unwilling and disliked that they had brought their own food, but Yuan Hao only had to say, “Bring us a pot of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall,” and the waiter immediately broke into a wide grin and skipped away to pass on the order.

One pot of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall cost 300 qian. A single serving was worth a whole day’s takings for the shop.

Wen Qing looked at the table full of food and quickly calculated in his heart. Added together, it was at least 500 qian, which meant half the prize money was already gone. He knew Yuan Hao’s family circumstances were poor, and he felt some heartache on his behalf.

“Usually when I pass by here, I never have time to stop. Today I finally do, so I figured I might as well try everything once. Don’t dislike it just because they’re street stalls.”

“No, no,” Wen Qing said hurriedly, waving both hands. “Mother never allows me to eat food from outside, so this is my first time trying any of it. It’s all very novel.”

Smiling, Yuan Hao pushed the food toward him. “The fermented rice dumplings, try some?”

Wen Qing picked up a spoon and ate one dumpling. The wine flavor was very light. The dumpling was soft, sticky, sweet, and delicious. He could not help taking two more bites, and he felt as if all the fatigue of the day had dispersed at this moment.

Yuan Hao rummaged around in his chest again. Inside the herb pouch was one stalk of baiweizi. “I just dug this up. I forgot to give it to you during the day, so I’m giving it to you now.”

“This…” Wen Qing took it, only to feel as if it burned his hands. Yuan Hao was simply too good to him, so much so that he could hardly bear it. Right there and then, he moved to take out his money pouch.

Yuan Hao pressed his hand down and said, “Don’t rush. Between us there’s no need for these things. What was that line again?”

Yuan Hao poured himself a cup of osmanthus wine and then poured one for Wen Qing as well. Without regard for anything else, he clinked cups and drank his in one gulp. Only then did he finally remember. “You throw me a peach, I repay you with fine jade.”

Wen Qing immediately followed, “It is not repayment, but forever…”

…to regard one another as dear.

We exchange gifts, not for thanks or formal courtesy, but to show how deep the bond between us is.

He did not finish it. Having studied from childhood, how could he possibly fail to continue the line? It was only that… this was not right. The timing was wrong, the atmosphere was wrong. Two people rumored to be Longyang, on the night of Qixi, with he himself having just received a gift, and then they were going to recite this poem facing one another?

Wen Qing grew a little flustered, and also raised his own cup and drained it.

Seeing that he had not finished, Yuan Hao naturally continued, “It is not repayment, but forever to regard one another as dear. Between us, there’s no need to count things so carefully.”

Wen Qing stared at Yuan Hao blankly. Only after several breaths did he come back to himself, lower his head in a fluster, refill both their cups, clink them together, and drink again.

It is not repayment, but forever to regard one another as dear.

He recited those words in his heart. The osmanthus wine was sweet and mellow, sweet all the way into his heart.

On this day, the moon was full, the wine was fine, and people came in pairs.