Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 134: Bright Violet Qi

[T/n: note on chapter title]¹

The next day, when Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng rose to wash up, Old Man Chen informed them that Ji Yuan had already left by boat, and would wait for them at the Zhuangyuan Ferry.

Meeting at the Zhuangyuan Ferry and taking it to the other side of the river definitely made more sense than going to Zhuangyuan Ferry by boat.²

After having breakfast at the Chen’s house, Chen Jinghong, Old Man Chen’s son, brought the two scholars to the Zhuangyuan Ferry. He originally wanted to drive an ox cart, but even that was not as fast as simply walking would be.

Chen Jinghong was a natural-born countryside villager, and the two scholars had long become accustomed to long-distance travel for the imperial examinations, so the three of them walked quite fast, and covered the distance of over ten li in just over an hour.

The closer they got the Zhuangyuan Ferry, the more people there were. It seemed like people were slowly converging on this location from all directions. Not all of them were imperial scholars; rather, most had come to the River God Temple to worship the River Goddess.

Before they reached the Zhuangyuan Ferry, the son of the Chen family stopped and pointed at two spots in front of them, turning to speak to the two scholars:

“The building with the white walls and black roof tiles over there is the River God Temple of the Tongtian River. Although it is not the largest temple on the entire length of the river, it is one of the most popular, particularly because many scholars leave poems there. And over there is the Zhuangyuan Ferry. Mr. Ji is likely at the small pier to the north. You can head over there to look for him!”

After Chen Jinghong finished his speech, he prepared to leave. He had nothing left to do there, so there was no need to follow the two scholars all the way to their destination.

“Yes, thank you, Brother Chen. When I become an official in the future, I will definitely repay this kindness!”

“Haha, well then, I wish you both luck in the examination. I’ll be taking my leave, take care!”

Chen Jinghong smiled. Seeing the two of them bow, he returned the salute before turning and leaving. He had seem many scholars like those two, each of them dreaming of becoming the next top scholar after crossing the Zhuangyuan Ferry.

Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng waited until Chen Jinghong left before they tightened their book-bags and walked towards the Zhuangyuan Ferry in the chilly wind. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to visit the River God Temple, but they didn’t want to keep Ji Yuan waiting for too long.

Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng had both visited the Chunhui Prefecture’s Wharf. In their eyes, the Zhuangyuan Ferry pier was naturally far inferior to the Chunhui Prefecture Wharf.³ However, they glanced at the wharf that was vaguely visible on the opposite bank: that was the nautical transportation hub of the Capital Prefecture, even more magnificent than the regional port of Chunhui Prefecture.

However, unlike in Chunhui Prefecture where there were several cruise ships, the Capital Wharf was a real cargo hub, with very few leisure boats. In addition, it was the middle of winter, so there weren’t many cargo ships, only one or two occasionally docking.

​​…

The awning boat was moored by a small pier to the north. Although the boats next to it were smaller than those in other places along the piers, they were still enormous compared to the awning boat.

Ji Yuan sat at the bow of the boat, reading “Imperial Discourse” by himself as he listened to the surrounding noise from the ferry terminal and the port.

It seemed that, because the ferry was named Zhuangyuan,⁴ it carried a literary atmosphere. There were vendors selling study materials, calligraphy tools, and paintings. As Ji Yuan looked up occasionally as he read, he unexpectedly discovered that, among the mixed auras surrounding him, there was a faint violet aura,⁵ which stood out like a crane among a flock of chickens.

‘Could it be that there is a favored prince aiming to board this Zhuangyuan Ferry? ’

Although this violet Qi was faint, it appeared to be very pure, without too many other colors mixed in. This indicated that this person’s mind had not been contaminated by the stagnant and decadent nature of the court. At the current moment, this person born with the violet Qi could be regarded as embodying “clarity” or “brightness.”

Ji Yuan frowned and thought for a moment, then looked in the direction of the wharf.

How interesting: Yin Zhaoxian’s righteous spirit was equally conspicuous, and the two energies seemed to connect and pull at each other as they rose.

‘It seems that what “A Historical Account from Outside the Tao” mentioned was correct: those with ‘bright’ violet Qi will attract wise ministers! ’

Ji Yuan leaped from the bow of the boat onto the dock, ready to go see if there would be an interesting encounter.

…

Next to a booth selling stationery, a man in his thirties walked along and stopped every so often, observing his surroundings. He could be regarded as having a divinely handsome appearance, and was accompanied by an entourage of several members.

One of the servants saw the man rubbing his hands together and breathing on them, and immediately exclaimed in concern.

“Third Young Master, if you feel cold, we can go back to the boat. There are heaters and fur coats inside…”​

“Hey! Don’t keep spoiling my fun!”

The man waved his hand to stop the servant from talking too much, and ambled forward once more. He had originally come to the River God Temple today to see if there had been any new exquisite poetry inscriptions, but had found nothing, so he came to take a look at the Zhuangyuan Ferry.

The largest number of scholars who came to the Capital to take the imperial exam would be gathering here at this time. They were all people who had passed the exams solely on talent in their respective counties. It was very interesting to see these so-called talents from various provinces looking like mere pilgrims when faced with the Zhuangyuan Ferry. It would be even more interesting if he could find one or two intriguing talents.

At this moment, the man noticed Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng, who just walked onto the dock, carrying their book packs. Judging by how red their faces and hands were from the cold, it seemed that they had walked here completely by themselves.

The nearest market to Zhuangyuan Ferry was thirty li away, and the nearest village was twenty li. These two scholars, who had walked such a long distance in the cold wind, were the first two to arrive this early in the morning.

The man pointed at the two scholars and asked his entourage, “do you think these two came here on foot or by carriage?”

The servant next to him looked closely at the scholars, who were now no longer that far away, and and answered after a moment:

“To answer Third Young Master, although these two people’s gaits are relatively steady, their footsteps are weak. They most have walked a long way, to already have evident signs of fatigue.”

The man simply said, “oh,” and noticed the two of them walking towards him. He glanced around at the calligraphy and paintings displayed in the stalls next to him, but did not stop walking.

Just as he was about to pass the man, Yin Zhaoxian suddenly stopped and looked at him, then unexpectedly took a few steps forward, approaching dangerously close. Several servants around the man narrowed their eyes.

Several fierce-looking men focused their attention on this scene, making Shi Yusheng panic. He hurriedly pulled Yin Zhaoxian away.

“Sir, is there something on my face?”

The man asked Yin Zhaoxian. As Shi Yusheng pulled him away, he seemed to wake up from a trance, and apologized repeatedly.

“Please forgive me. Just now, I was distracted. I felt that this young man looked very familiar, but I had never seen him before. I just felt very strange…”

Yin Zhaoxian lowered his voice, and suddenly found that there were two servants standing behind him and Shi Yusheng. These two people immediately grabbed their arms, and one even opened his book pack and rummaged through it.

“What are you doing? Stop it! Stop it!”

Shi Yusheng shouted in panic. Yin Zhaoxian was calmer, but his expression was not very good either. He thought that he had caused trouble just by looking at someone a couple times. His eyes kept wandering around the dock, searching for Mr. Ji. He knew that the man was likely to be nearby, so he wasn’t panicked at all.

The surrounding vendors and bystanders obviously held the belief that it wasn’t any of their business, and guessed that these two scholars had offended some powerful individual. This kind of thing was not uncommon near the Zhuangyuan Ferry.

After searching the two book packs and their bodies, they found no weapons. A servant handed the official documents of the two scholars to the Third Young Master, who opened them and took a look. He then asked the two men:

“Who is Yin Zhaoxian?”

“I am!”

After Yin Zhaoxian responded, the Third Young Master looked him up and down with great interest.

“You are actually the Jieyuan of Ji Province? Interesting… Let them go!”

Hearing his command, the two servants untied the scholars’ hands. The first thing the two men did was rub their arms quickly, then they put down their book packs and picked up the books that had been scattered on the ground.

The Third Young Master glanced at some of the books on the ground and noticed some of the strange titles, and he crouched down out of curiosity.

“What kind of famous book is this? I’ve never seen it before!”

When Yin Zhaoxian saw what he was pointing at, he answered:

“‘On the Subject of Birds’ and ‘Understanding Justice’ are my own humble works, they are not books by famous authors.”

The Third Young Master directly picked up the book from the ground. The cover had, “On the Subject of Birds – An Exam Candidate’s Response” written in beautiful calligraphy. Looking at the other three books, their titles read, “On the Subject of Birds – Midnight Wanderings,”⁶ “On the Subject of Birds – A Humble Scholar’s Response,”⁷ and “On the Subject of Birds – The Phoenix Singing in the Parasol Tree.” It appeared to be a series.

Just flipping through a few pages of the book in his hand at random, his first impression was that the handwriting was clear, and the calligraphy was exquisite. His second impression was that the contents were quite novel and intriguing.

“Yin Jieyuan from Ji Province, how about you sell these books to me?”

Third Young Master asked to Yin Zhaoxian very seriously. The latter and Shi Yusheng were stunned for a while.

“Uh… how many coins are you willing to pay?”

Yin Zhaoxian could write a few more copies of this book at any time. Currently, the two of them were very short on money, so it would be excellent if they could indeed sell it.

The Third Young Master beckoned to his servant, who immediately removed two silver ingots from his purse. Judging from their size, each ingot should be valued at about four or five taels.

“Are these enough?”

“These are a bit too much…”

“It’s enough, it’s definitely enough!”

Before Yin Zhaoxian could finish speaking, Shi Yusheng rushed to answer. The man smiled, took the silver from the servant, and placed it on Yin Zhaoxian’s book pack, then held out a hand. Yin Zhaoxian hurriedly handed him the three volumes of “On the Subject of Birds” and the single volume of “Understanding Justice.”

When the group of people left, Yin Zhaoxian and Shi Yusheng were still left doubting reality. These books had actually sold for ten taels of silver. This would make spending the winter in the capital much easier.

Ji Yuan stood in the crowd, far away, just like any other person watching the excitement from afar. However, when the bystanders saw that no conflict had arose, they dispersed, while kept looking in the direction that the prince had departed.

When the so-called “Third Young Master” had taken the book written by Master Yin, the violet energy above his head had surged slightly. Although the change was not obvious, it was nonetheless powerful.

1. 紫薇 (zǐwēi): crape myrtle, OR 紫 (zǐ): violet, 薇 (wēi): fern. I shortened it to Violet since the color is the more important part. Symbolism-wise, the crape myrtle represents the palace of the God/the capital/the seat of government. From the point of view of an English translation, violet is often associated with royalty, which is what the crape myrtle signifies here, so all the more reason to leave it at the color.
2. Presumably because there’s a pedestrian road that goes directly there, instead of finding a place to moor the boat then getting in line.
3. In case you were wondering, a wharf runs parallel to the shoreline and a pier runs perpendicular to the shoreline
4. 状元 (zhuàngyuán): top scorer in the palace examination (highest possible rank)
5. See chapter title footnote 1.
6. 巡回 (xúnhuí): to roam around, 夜游 (yèyóu): to go somewhere at night/to sleepwalk
7. 弱 (ruò): weak/inferior, 冠 (guān): hat/crown/to put on a hat/to be the first/to dub (someone/something) — translated to “scholar,” 书 (shū): book/letter/document, 对(duì): right/correct/regarding. MTL tried to convince me it was either “A Dialogue from the Age of Weak Crown,” or “A Young Adult’s Treatise” but I am NOT convinced.