Chapter 6 (2/2)

Water Point Poetry Conference was the gathering for the true gifted scholars in the Qinhuai Region. The host was the Pan Family which was a true scholarly family. Three generations of Hanlin Imperial Academy scholars. In this generation, Pan Ming Chen was a scholar of the Hanlin Imperial Academy as well as an a.s.sistant minister of the Ministry of Rights. There were many students that came in hopes of getting a good ranking. Of course, other than some gifted scholars that were famous already, those that could attend the poetry conference had to have a certain level of talent or background.  Before each year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, there would be many gifted scholars that would send their cards to the Pan Compound, present their poetry in the hopes they could receive favor. Other than this, there would also be many pleasure towers that thought it was an honor to receive an invitation to the Water Point Poetry Conference. It was completely different from the meaning of the Pu Park Poetry Conference that paid a large amount in order to invite people.

“Since you are prepared to attend, has Little Friend Li Heng prepared any poetic works? If you are interested, I have some friends in the Pan Family and can request an invitation.”

After Elder Qin finished speaking, he looked at Ning Yi on the opposite side of the table. Ning Yi shook his head with a smile, “I do not understand poetry and am going purely to see the spectacle of Pu Park.”

His refusal was simple and light. Elder Qin did not have anything else to say. After eating the morning meal, the sun was high in the sky. Ning Yi had to bid farewell and go to the Mount Yu School. After seeing him off at the gate, Yun Niang asked Elder Qin with a smile, “Master, does this Young Master Ning really not understand poetry?”

“Xiao Yun’er, what do you think?”

Yun Niang blinked her eyes. “He is lying.”

“Haha, even I do not know if he understands or not. If he said this in the first few days, I would believe it, but now, it is hard to say.” Elder Qin shook his head with a smile, “I have seen many people in this lifetime, seen young people that only have the reputation or those that really have the talent, of those that have true talent, there are those that walk the orthodox path of Confucius and Mencius, humble and polite. There are also unorthodox mad students that are flamboyant in their conduct, rebellious, but those are also truly talented and will shock people at every turn. But no matter what, those are all the same. But this boy, this Ning Family son, I really cannot see what he thinks.”

“When I first played weiqi with him, I felt that he was unorthodox and each of his actions were pressuring. However, they can always get people to think. I a.s.sumed that this was a young person with a flamboyant personality, gifted and nimble of thought, and there was not much we touched on in conversation. However, after playing for a long time, I found that his play can be orthodox or strange, completely unrestrained by the rules. After chatting for a while, I feel this young Ning is casual in his speech, but inside, he is calm. He would occasionally say things that causes deep thought, are strange to hear, but they do not leave behind the orthodox path.”

“I remember when he said he was going to teach at the school a few days ago, he said a few words. Teaching was not to teach people how to do things, but why to do them. The ancient great ones wrote books that, at the core, are about the ways of the world, how the world runs and how people’s minds work. After understanding this, one should know why one should do something. That is what a true scholar is. He said it casually, and if it is heard by people that are shallow, they would accuse him of being a mad scholar. However… … the rationale, this really is the rationale. See the mountain, it is the mountain, see the water, it is the water. See the mountain, it is not the mountain, see the water it is not the water. Once you turn back, you see the mountain and it is the mountain, you see the water, it is the water.[1] That is a person that truly understands the books. En, do not tell others about his words, otherwise, people would make trouble for him.”

“This servant knows.”

“We have not been acquainted for a long time, and it is too early to conclude anything profound. However, he also said a few phrases of poetry when we were playing. That poetry line was very good but I never heard them before. If it is just poetry, if he says he does not understand, ha, I don’t believe it.”

Elder Qin turned to leave. Yun Niang followed. “When does this Young Master Ning stay so low-key all this time, no matter what … …”

“This is what I do not understand. However, there is one thing that I understand,” When he spoke of this, Elder Qin’s brow furrowed slightly and then he shook his head, sighing lightly, “if it is like what you say, some young people are talented or deliberately conceal themselves to rest, they might be able to endure the loneliness, and the temptation. This is all in hopes of getting more results in the future, to leap the dragon door to ascend, however, any person that desires to do this will not chose to marry into a merchant family before they accomplish anything. In history, how many that are zhuixu have accomplished something? Oh, if he really has great talent, then it is a pity … …”

When he mentioned this, Elder Qin still felt slight pity. It was normal for men to have ambitions. In these days of interaction, Ning Yi would not have married into a merchant family if he had one bit of ambition. At this time, there was not a lot of intelligence among the people. It was very simple to see the difference between those that were uneducated and the scholars that were. Regardless of whether if he really had talent at all, just a person like this who has such presence and manner of speech, he wouldn’t die if he did any profession. Why did he go marry into a family?

[1] Buddhist saying about enlightenment.

There are three stages of life.

The first is when one first comes into the world and everything is new. The person is naive and thinks everything is true.

The second is when a person becomes experienced in the world. They start to learn more and then a mountain and water are not just mountains and water, also, there are many illusions in the world so what is seen is not always the truth.

The third is when one sees through the illusions and returns to seeing the mountain and water as they truly are.

Translator Ramblings: I thought I understood the Buddhist saying, then I researched, and then I confused myself. I hope the general gist made it through.

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