Chapter Forty: The Way Is Said to Be Without Sunshine, Yet Sunshine Remains

Pei Yu felt his chest tighten for no reason at all when he saw Pei Min lift the wine cup in his hand. Just as Xue Yong had said, this poem was not something Pei Yu had dashed off on the spot. Rather, it had been composed the previous spring, when he had gone boating on the lake with his father and chanced to meet the woman of his dreams. At that time he had been riding high, inspiration had struck, and the verses had come pouring out. In the end, his father had even polished and revised them, until the lines were neat and rigorous.

Proud beyond measure of this work, Pei Yu had been utterly confident: just as he had expected, even the runners-up and the second runner-up had fallen one after another, their lance shafts broken before him, defeated by his hand. Seeing victory within reach and his ascent about to begin, he was naturally pleased and said no more. Yet when he saw Pei Min holding that wine cup, a chill inexplicably rose in his heart. He regarded Pei Min as a mortal enemy, but because the opponent was too formidable to ignore, he had no choice but to endure him in silence. Their several clashes had all ended in Pei Yu’s crushing defeat, and Pei Min seemed to him as dreadful as an inescapable nemesis.

Those around them were also watching with expectation. Pei Yu had posed an infuriatingly difficult challenge, which had left them displeased, and Pei Min’s “arrogance” had also rankled them. In short, whoever lost and whoever won, the other jinshi would be happy enough to enjoy the spectacle.

Only Xue Yong cheered for Pei Min. The others did not believe Pei Min’s words, that no one could beat him, but Xue Yong felt that Pei Min had spoken with complete assurance and was by no means boasting idly.

Pei Min drained the wine in his cup and recited, “Green willows fringe the river’s level glass; I hear my lover singing from the riverbank. The east has sun, the west has rain. They say there is no brightness, yet brightness there remains.”

At first there was utter silence. Everyone stared blankly, too shocked to speak.

Pei Yu’s expression froze on his face, as though sealed by ice, rigid as iron.

“Wonderful!” Xue Yong was the first to react. While he shouted approval, he clapped so hard that his palms turned red. “They say there is no brightness, yet brightness there remains. Brightness reflects feeling; where there is no brightness, there is hidden affection. Marvelous, truly marvelous.”

The jinshi around them wore expressions of shame. A moment ago they had thought Pei Min’s words were wild and vain. But now they saw that this was no idle bragging at all: composed on the spur of the moment, it was already a line destined to be recited for ages. Such talent made him worthy, beyond all doubt, of the title of top scholar.

Feng Zhi bowed and said, “Brother Pei, such extraordinary talent. I, Feng, am utterly convinced! A masterpiece has been produced, Brother Pei, and you are truly fit for first place.”

The others all bowed as well. As for Pei Yu, he had already been cast aside.

Pei Yu had deliberately set such a strange challenge, and his purpose was obvious to anyone with eyes. Yet Pei Min had produced a splendid poem in such a short time; the gap between them could not be measured by reason alone.

Pei Yu saw that everyone around him kept their distance, and his vexation deepened. He did not think he had done anything wrong today. Heaven helps those who help themselves; when push comes to shove, one must look after oneself. A man’s life should be planned by his own hand, and means must be used. Take his uncle Lu Cangyong, for example. In years past Lu Cangyong had also passed the imperial examination brilliantly, yet had been unable to obtain an appointment. In order to win favor, he had taken up the life of a recluse in Mount Zhongnan, bragging of his own worth in the hope of drawing the emperor’s attention. When the emperor went to Luoyang, he ran to Mount Song to live in seclusion; when the emperor returned to the capital, he went back to Zhongnan. After repeating this several times, he earned the title of a “recluse who followed the court,” and thus brought Empress Wu Zetian of the time to know what manner of man he was, rising at a bound from obscurity to high office. The saying about the shortcut through Zhongnan comes from this very story.

Such conduct was despised by others, but in Pei Yu’s eyes it was the deed of a true sage. If one wished to stand out above the rest, one had to use stratagems.

The fame of the foremost courtesan of the capital was, to Pei Yu, much like a shortcut through Zhongnan: by means of her dazzling renown, he would complete his own literary reputation. Even offending a host of jinshi would be worth it. Yet after all his calculations, he had still not reckoned that Pei Min, who had never been famous for poetry or essays, would open his mouth and produce a line for the ages, ruining everything at the last moment and losing both the woman and the horse.

Pei Min was not surprised by the result. In the hands of a group that could barely be called more than children in the world of verse, if Liu Yuxi’s Bamboo Branch Verse could not stand above the crowd, then perhaps even the Liu Yuxi of a hundred years later would cross time itself to settle accounts with him.

The Bamboo Branch Verse had overwhelmed all challengers without question, and Pei Min was beyond dispute the champion of the wine-cup contest.

The Qujiang banquet for this year’s jinshi had already drawn great crowds of spectators, and with the appearance of the Bamboo Branch Verse it spread with astonishing speed. The memorable line, “They say there is no brightness, yet brightness there remains,” became known everywhere in an instant.

Pei Min walked over to Jiao Chen. Facing this foremost courtesan, he made a gentlemanly inviting gesture.

The onlookers and the gathered jinshi all cried out their approval.

A gifted scholar and a lovely maiden were a match made by heaven. That the top scholar should wander Qujiang together with the capital’s first courtesan would, once it spread, become a fine tale indeed. Among those nearby, some felt envy, some jealousy, but all knew that from this day on, Jiao Chen’s position as the foremost courtesan of the capital would be even more unshakable.

Pei Min and Jiao Chen boarded the flower boat together, while the remaining jinshi each chose companions according to their own preference and set out to tour the lake at Qujiang.

The flower boat had three levels and was enormous in scale. Not to mention more than twenty pairs of talented men and beautiful women—even twice that number would have been easily accommodated.

With their own beauties beside them, the others sensibly dispersed to different parts of the boat and enjoyed their private worlds.

As the top scholar and champion of the contest, Pei Min was the first to board the flower boat, and he chose the deck on the third level, the highest seat and the finest view. From the front edge of the deck, the scenery along both banks of Qujiang lay open before him. Looking at the teeming crowds and the splendid Furong Garden, Pei Min suddenly felt that his life had not been lived in vain. Yet he also knew that winning the top scholar’s title was only the first step in life. Still, there was no doubt that he had begun perfectly, that he had made an excellent start, and that the road ahead would rise in magnificent splendor from this point on.

Feeling the breeze on her face as it lifted a few strands of her long hair, Jiao Chen glanced at the young man beside her, who was several years younger than she, and could sense his current mood. She asked, “Is Young Master Pei very happy?”

“Of course I’m happy!” Pei Min said with a smile. “I’ve won the top scholar’s title, and now I have a lovely companion by my side. There is no greater success in life than this.”

Jiao Chen nodded. “Young Master, you jest. I have heard compliments and flattery since I was little. No matter how sincere and heartfelt they sound, I can always tell truth from falsehood. But flattery as false and unadorned as yours, Young Master, is truly the first of its kind.”

“Haha!” Pei Min laughed. “Miss Jiao Chen dares to speak the truth. This land and these mountains and rivers are so magnificent; for those of us who stand in this world, if we cannot protect these people and this beauty from foreign insult and destruction, then would we not be wasting our lives?”

The prosperity of the High Tang was known to all, but the brevity of that prosperity left behind countless regrets. As one who had come from another age, Pei Min knew full well the course of history after the High Tang’s decline. Though there were rulers such as Zhao Kuangyin and Zhu Yuanzhang who preserved the imperial line, far more common were the rule and domination of the Yuan and Qing, like a system of bondage, until the great mountains and rivers fell under foreign hands.

Pei Min had no wish to be a savior. Yet if, within his power, he could do what national heroes such as Yue Fei and Zheng Chenggong had done and defend his mountains and rivers, then his journey through the Tang would not have been in vain.

Jiao Chen turned her gaze to him and nodded. “Young Master has lofty ambitions. Jiao Chen is deeply impressed. I would like to play a zither piece to congratulate you on your rise to greatness.”