Hidden Shadow – CH 021

Chapter Twenty-One: The Clan School (1)

The clan school was built on a mountain overlooking the water, its buildings perched precariously on the edge of a cliff. Bamboo groves covered the south-facing slope, and eight identical stone steps extended from the bamboo thicket; it was unclear which one led to the teaching building.

Yao-Ye and Dan-Yue knew the way, saving Mei Jiu and Mei Ruyan the trouble of finding their way, but even so, by the time they reached the teaching building, they were exhausted, like puddles of mud.

Mei Jiu said with a bitter face, “Does this mean we’ll have to climb mountains every day from now on?”

“Young Lady, I don’t want to discourage you,” Yao-Ye said, slightly out of breath, “but the truth is, not only will we have to climb mountains, but we’ll also have lunch at the back mountain!”

“The back mountain?” Mei Ruyan, leaning on a bamboo pole, asked in surprise, “Is it the house on that cliff we just saw?”

“Yes,” Dan-Yue said, “I heard the path is just two iron chains with some planks laid on top.”

Mei Jiu’s face turned pale. This was a mountain sixty or seventy feet high! One wrong step and she would be smashed to pieces!

Mei Ruyan asked, puzzled, “Isn’t our family a royal merchant family? How can things be so strange?”

Mei Ruyan had been inquiring about the Mei family for the past two days. The Mei family was a royal merchant family, and because of a curse, many of their descendants died young. Therefore, the family had a rule that their children must practice martial arts to strengthen their bodies.

The Mei family started from scratch a century ago, rising to become one of the most powerful merchants in the Song Dynasty in just over a decade. They must have done many heinous things behind the scenes, and divine retribution was understandable. But shouldn’t they have valued the lives of their clansmen more? Why would they risk their own lives in their own village?

“You two must be Fourteenth Young Lady and Fifteenth Young Lady?” a fair-skinned servant boy asked, peering out from the crossroads.

Yao-Ye breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief and quickly replied, “Indeed.” The servant boy bowed respectfully. “The master has been waiting for a long time. Please follow me, Young Ladies.”

Yao-Ye said, “This servant cannot stay on the mountain. We will come to fetch you two young ladies after school this evening.”

Mei Jiu and Mei Ruyan replied, “Alright.”

“Please, Young Ladies.” The servant boy was about the same age as the two, but his mannerisms resembled those of an old scholar.

The vast courtyard was completely bare, devoid of any trees or flowers, save for a few potted plum trees under the eaves, one of which already bore tiny buds.

The dozen or so classrooms all had intricately carved elm wood doors and windows, unpainted. The straight, rugged grain of the elm, with its simple color, added an air of elegance to the otherwise sparsely furnished courtyard. Suddenly, the sound of reading aloud filled the air, instantly transforming the courtyard into a scholarly and refined space.

A servant stopped in front of one of the classrooms, telling them to wait on the steps. He would announce their arrival before inviting them in.

The teacher sat cross-legged on his mat. Seeing the two girls already standing at the door, he tapped the door a few times with his ruler, then turned to them and said, “Please come in, young ladies.”

Mei Jiu followed Mei Ruyan into the room, staring at her toes, too afraid to look up.

“Are your bound feet beautiful?” An Jiu asked coldly.

Mei Jiu, unsure how to respond, could only timidly reply, “Not beautiful.”

An Jiu laughed, then suddenly roared, “Not beautiful? Can you even see a flower in it? Look up!”

Mei Jiu trembled in fright, then heard low laughter coming from ahead. She looked up and saw that almost all of the twenty-odd boys and girls in the room were staring at her, their laughter carrying different emotions.

Mei Jiu was shocked. Men and women were actually mixed together here! It was truly… utterly indecent!

An Jiu’s surprise stemmed from something entirely different. The Mei family had fewer than seventy members, and this room alone held twenty-seven boys and girls of varying ages—almost half of the Mei family’s members. Subtracting the head of the family, the five elders, the two old ladies, the sons-in-law who had married into the family, and the concubines, the Mei family had very few able-bodied men left! In other words, most of these children’s parents were probably deceased.

The teacher tapped the ruler again, speaking with a slight Shaanxi accent. “Young Ladies, you will be studying together with everyone from now on. You are all like brothers and sisters, so please help each other.”

The teacher didn’t elaborate, only offering a few simple words of instruction before pointing to a few empty seats in the last row and saying, “Please, sit wherever you like.”

“Thank you, Master.” After thanking him, the two walked along the wall to the last row and chose two adjacent seats.

Mei Jiu’s seat was by the window, offering a view of the lush, verdant backyard, its branches and leaves obscuring the view—a scene unlike any autumn landscape. Mei Ruyan’s seat was right next to hers.

Just as they sat down, a servant brought them books.

There were five books in total: The Great Learning, Mencius, The Book of Rites, The Book of Changes, and The Book of Documents.

An Jiu remembered that she couldn’t understand the archaic language of the ancients and couldn’t write traditional characters, so she decided to study with Mei Jiu. Before she could even open her mouth, she found that she could already understand them!

Just as Mei Jiu acquired many of her abilities, An Jiu also acquired this skill when Mei Jiu began reading these books.

Mei Jiu had studied these things before, and apart from not understanding the I Ching at all, the others weren’t too difficult for her. Regardless of the depth of her understanding, she could at least memorize them in their entirety.

An Jiu felt no excitement at this unexpected windfall. She and Mei Jiu were increasingly forced to share things, which wasn’t something to be happy about.

An Jiu strongly resisted accepting things from others for free, because her entire past life’s experiences proved one thing: what goes around comes around!

If she had a choice, she would rather put in the effort and time to learn herself. There was no reason she couldn’t learn these things if she put in the effort. Thinking it over, this matter was more of a worry than a joy!

After the students recited a passage from Mencius repeatedly, nodding and swaying their heads six or seven times, the teacher gave them a break.

Mei Jiu was captivated by the scenery behind her and was about to lean towards the window when she heard the tutor behind her ask, “What books have you two read before?”

Mei Jiu quickly stood up and bowed. “Sir.”

The tutor raised his hand. “Sit, sit, sit; no need for formalities. I don’t appreciate such things.” His voice had a slight Shaanxi accent, sounding both rustic and friendly. Mei Jiu couldn’t help but look up at him more closely.

The tutor was about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, very tall, and wearing a faded gray-blue robe. He had a dark complexion and a neatly trimmed beard, and his already narrow eyes were squinted sharply, making him resemble a fox—a black fox.

The comical appearance lessened Mei Jiu’s timidity somewhat. “Master,” she said, “I’ve read all the books except the I Ching.”

Mei Ruyan replied shamefully, “I’ve only read Mencius.” At that time, visiting prostitutes was rampant, and scholars used it as a form of romantic pursuit. The highest-ranking prostitutes were called “Heads of the Court,” and they not only had to be beautiful but also cultured and learned. When Mei Ruyan was kept in the brothel, she had a tutor, but he mostly taught her poetry and prose to please the customers.

The tutor wasn’t surprised by the difference in the two sisters’ abilities. “If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me anytime. I only teach once every five days. If you want to learn well, you’ll have to study on your own.”

“Only once every five days?” Mei Jiu remembered that he came every day!

“You’ll have other lessons as well,” the tutor said, bringing his face close to the books, reaching for a stack of papers, and examining them closely.

Seeing that he was practically pressing his face against the paper, Mei Jiu realized his eyesight wasn’t very good and gently reminded him, “Master, it’s blank paper.”

He smiled, put down the blank paper, and said, “Each of you write a few words for me to see. Hmm, just write a poem you like.”

“Yes.” Mei Jiu and Mei Ruyan each took paper and pen and carefully wrote down a poem.

After both girls put down their pens, the tutor pressed his face close to Mei Jiu’s writing, squinting at it for a long while before reciting:

“A lone oar in the spring breeze, a lone leaf in the boat;

A lone line, a thread of silk, a light touch of the hook.

Flowers fill the islet, liquor fills the goblet;

Amidst the vast expanse of waves, freedom is obtained.”

He read it without comment, then turned to look at Mei Ruyan’s writing:

“Seeking spring must begin early; see flowers before branches are wrinkly.

A pale jade cup held high; on its clear surface, gliding wine.

Why not laugh often; spring returns late to the forbidden garden?

In leisure, together getting drunk; composing poems with the beating drum.”

“Interesting,” he said, folding both pieces of paper and putting them in his sleeve. He stood up and said, “A lone oar in the spring breeze, a lone leaf in the boat—you can go and pay respects to Master Qingming. Seeking spring must begin early—you can go and pay respects to Master Mo. Someone will take you there in a moment.”

Mei Jiu, not understanding the etiquette, was about to ask when she saw the tutor already getting up and bumping his way to the head of the table.