The Hour of the Rabbit.
The heavy snow over the capital had stopped.
At the lowest-ranked dormitory of the Imperial Academy, a poor scholar pushed open half of a drafty wooden door.
He pressed against his chest the battered sheet of paper he had begged for the previous night, its surface covered in ink, and shivered violently from the cold.
He had originally intended to go to the adjoining dormitory and ask a familiar fellow student to help him decipher the key to those few fragmentary passages.
But the instant his toe crossed the threshold, he stopped.
The sight outside left him rooted to the spot.
On the steps of the inns lining both sides of the main street and along the stone-paved road, more than twenty unsuccessful candidates stood in several clusters. Every one of them clutched a sheet of yellow paper of similar quality.
In a sheltered corner at the mouth of the alley, five or six scholars in thin robes had gathered together. The man in the middle held up a sheet of yellow paper and read in a voice loud enough to carry through the cold wind:
“Human nature is inherently pure and perfectly good. Yet the nature shaped by one’s physical endowment may be hard or soft, slow or swift, talented or untalented. Thus, the greatest benefit of learning lies in seeking to transform one’s inborn disposition!”
“What a fine phrase—‘transform one’s inborn disposition’!” A tall, lean scholar beside him could not help applauding. “The old masters spoke of inherited bloodlines, but this essay bypasses blood altogether and speaks of the gathering and dispersal of qi. If such a grand principle can stand, how will the aristocratic clans preserve their foundations?”
“This man is utterly reckless! The entire essay says nothing of benevolence or morality. Where does that leave the bonds between ruler and subject?”
“Hmph! You old fossil!”
“How is this essay reckless? Everything it says is a deduction of the actual principles by which Heaven and Earth operate. Every sentence lays bare the nature of the world. Why should it be forbidden to discuss such things?”
The argument grew louder and louder in the street, with everyone spitting as they gesticulated.
The poor scholar did not linger. He plunged straight into the crowd.
With his reddened, freezing hands, he tugged at the torn half of a manuscript held by one of the men, lowered his head, and desperately examined the latter portion of the original text, joining the debate over the source of heavenly principle.
……
The Hall of Impartiality, within the examination compound.
There was none of the commotion from outside in the main hall.
Two braziers of silver-thread charcoal glowed red, driving away most of the chill inside the room.
Yan Yuan, Academician-in-Chief of the Hanlin Academy and chief examiner, sat upright in the seat of honor.
The autumn provincial examinations of Great Qian were a massive undertaking, with countless procedures and responsibilities. The Ministry of Rites had sent over mountains of miscellaneous affairs.
For the past several days, Yan Yuan had worked without rest to deal with the accumulated problems in examination papers from the outer provinces. He slept no more than two hours a night and had been unable to spare the time to examine the controversial paper that the Court of Judicial Review had separately locked away.
Now, the iron chest marked with the character “A,” returned yesterday by the First Prince, sat on his desk.
Yan Yuan reached out and tore away the tung-oil seal before lifting the chest’s heavy lid.
He moved several ordinary examination papers from the top aside and drew out the one whose ranking had yet to be determined.
It was the very paper that the assistant examiners from the Ministry of Rites had reported but dared not grade: “On the Void as Qi.”
The paper lay spread across the rosewood desk.
Yan Yuan lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the words at the beginning of the essay.
“The Great Void is qi.
“The Great Void is formless; it is the fundamental substance of qi.
“Its gathering and dispersal are merely the transient forms produced by change.”
Yan Yuan’s brows drew together, and his hand stopped as he held the paper.
He turned the pages one by one, taking half a quarter of an hour to turn a single page.
But when he reached the section discussing yin and yang within qi, the speed at which he turned the pages abruptly increased.
His gaze clung to the spacing between the characters as it raced downward.
After reading the final eight characters—“To understand that the Great Void is qi is to know that there is no nothing”—Yan Yuan slapped the paper back onto the desk.
Unable to contain himself any longer, he began pacing back and forth across the room, his face troubled as he murmured under his breath.
He let out a long sigh, then stood before the desk and read the essay again from beginning to end.
When he finished the second reading, Yan Yuan came to a halt.
At that moment, footsteps sounded outside the hall.
It was Song Zhiyuan, who had been transferred from the Ministry of Revenue to serve as Vice Minister of Rites and deputy chief examiner.
He entered the room without so much as a greeting. His eyes swept over the ink-covered paper spread across the center of the desk. Only after recognizing the inscription at the top did he turn his head toward Yan Yuan.
“Chief Examiner,” Song Zhiyuan said, a trace of wariness in his voice. “You’re reading this heretical work returned by the Court of Judicial Review?”
Yan Yuan cast him a sidelong glance and asked, hands clasped behind his back, “You call it heretical?”
“The entire essay makes no mention of the proper bonds between ruler and subject. Every word and sentence seeks to overturn the subtle meanings handed down by the sages.” Song Zhiyuan took half a step forward, his sleeves sweeping through the air. “Who knows what impoverished backwater this sour, rotten scholar crawled out of? He dares spout such nonsense at the empire’s grand selection of talent, presuming to discuss the origin of creation. He is trying to sever the very roots of the court.”
“As chief examiner, we should simply mark this paper as a failure and disqualify the candidate. Then we should hand it over to the Court of Judicial Review, investigate the candidate’s background, and uncover whoever is directing him from behind the scenes!”
Yan Yuan turned and strode back to the desk.
He brought his palm down heavily on the paper, making the nearby brush holder give a sharp, faint chime.
“Defying the sages? Severing the roots of the court?” Yan Yuan lifted his head and stared directly at Song Zhiyuan. “You’ve been studying books for half your life, yet your mind is filled with nothing but those stale rules and regulations. Have you become unwilling even to recognize whether an essay is true or good? Look at this passage where he deduces the interaction of yin and yang qi.”
Yan Yuan crooked his index finger and rapped twice, hard, against the lines on the paper.
“‘The gathering and dispersal of qi bring the alternation of cold and heat.’ He has explained the laws governing the operation of Heaven and Earth with perfect clarity. The argument closes upon itself, and there is not a single gap in its logic.”
“The imperial examinations select men for the sake of the principles of the world and test the genuine substance of governing an age. This essay strikes directly at the source, with evidence and reasoning to support every claim. Why should it not be accepted?”
“Master Yan!” Song Zhiyuan took half a step back, his tone stiff. “No matter how sound its reasoning, it cannot cross the boundary of proper moral order!”
Yan Yuan ignored his objections and turned toward the bookcase on the right.
He pulled out five bound examination papers written by the top candidates of previous examinations and carried them back to the main desk, laying them in a row beside On the Void as Qi.
Bending over, he pointed to the one on the far left.
“This is the paper submitted in the previous examination by a son of the Wang clan of Taiyuan. Its prose is ornate, filled from beginning to end with obscure classical allusions.”
His hand moved to the right as he indicated another.
“This is the paper of a son of the Chen clan of Jinling. Its composition is devoted to antithesis and parallel structure; every rule has been followed down to the smallest detail.”
Yan Yuan shoved all the old examination papers aside and slapped the paper without a ranking.
“Look at the force of this handwriting and the power of its brushwork. Which of the supposedly brilliant young men from the great clans of the capital or Jiangnan would write in such a manner, casting aside every convention?”
Yan Yuan straightened and looked at Song Zhiyuan.
“Several months ago, a handbill titled ‘On Investigating Things and Rectifying the Mind’ circulated outside the Imperial Academy. It argued that principle resides within material things, causing an uproar throughout the capital and nearly destroying the academy’s reputation.”
“Now look at today’s On the Void as Qi. Its approach of breaking with the old and establishing the new, its fundamental ideas and direction—this essay clearly comes from the same lineage.”
Song Zhiyuan’s expression changed dramatically, and his body stiffened where he stood.
“Since you have identified him, you should all the more strike this paper from the record!” Song Zhiyuan leaned forward, his neck thrust out as he spoke sharply. “You must understand that the consensus of the aristocratic clans cannot be defied! If you rank this heretical, treasonous essay as the provincial examination’s top paper, then on the day the results are posted, the scholars of the entire Great Qian will come and smash down the gates of this Hall of Impartiality!”
Song Zhiyuan leaned forward, closing the distance by half a foot.
“Yan Yuan! This dispute over the proper school of thought is a matter of life and death! If this fire catches, the top-ranked essay will become the greatest piece of evidence against you.”
“Not only will your future be ruined, it may even drag the entire Yan family down with you, forcing them all to be buried alongside Xu Zijin!”
Yan Yuan fell silent.
He walked to the wooden lattice window at the back of the hall.
Outside, snow filled the sky. Not far away, row upon row of tightly shut examination cells lay buried beneath the snow, silent and lifeless.
The blade of the New Learning had nearly been sharpened to a gleaming edge. It was only a matter of time before it stirred up a storm.
If Xu Zijin were raised high and placed directly in the position of Top Graduate, he would be thrust into the center of everyone’s attention.
That would be no different from setting up the most conspicuous target in the entire realm.
Those conservative old scholars clinging to the dying embers of the Old Learning, as well as the powerful clans whose interests would be harmed—all the overt attacks and hidden arrows would be aimed at this young man who had come first on the list.
A troubled look crossed Yan Yuan’s face. He stared at the snowy ground outside for a long while.
Then he turned around and strode back to the purple sandalwood desk.
He reached for the cinnabar brush resting in the brush stand, pressed its tip into the nearby red inkstone, and saturated the bristles with vermilion ink.
At the top of the examination paper, the grading section had originally been outlined faintly in lead powder. It bore the words “First in Grade A.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Yan Yuan set the brush to the paper and drew a red line across it.
He completely erased the two characters meaning “first,” covering them until they could no longer be seen.
Then, beside them, he wrote the two characters for “second.”
The vermilion characters stood out starkly against the black ink and white paper.
Yan Yuan tossed the cinnabar brush aside and said to Song Zhiyuan, “This paper will be ranked Second Graduate.”
Song Zhiyuan looked at the alteration on the desk and silently nodded, clearly in agreement.
“I, Yan Yuan, have the authority to decide the ranking of the finest essays under heaven.” Yan Yuan gazed at the vivid red characters. “We’ll place him second.”
“That will give the essay the position it deserves, while allowing the title of Top Graduate to stand in front of him. This way, we can avoid drawing the full fury of the Old Learning, preserve his path through the imperial examinations, and protect him. As his examiner and mentor, this is the only way I can carve out a path of survival for him.”
He paused, as though he had thought of something. Then he shook his head with a smile.
“If Xu Zijin can win this battle… I can’t even imagine it. I truly can’t.”
