Just as Hu Shanwei was feeling nervous, a petite girl with a round face and large eyes at the neighboring table raised her hand. “I… I need to use the latrine.”

As soon as she spoke, other female examinees began raising their hands one after another. The supervising female officials ordered the little palace maids to escort them to the privy one by one.

Hu Shanwei watched those female examinees queuing for the toilet, their faces tense with nerves, and thought to herself: This examination determines my entire life. I’m nervous, and others are nervous too. Since I’m already here, I’ll take the test.

When a drum sounded, examination papers were distributed one by one.

Hu Shanwei unfolded her test paper and first looked at the questions.

Test on the Meaning of the Four Books, three questions:

Man can broaden the Way; it is not the Way that broadens man.

Therefore the gentleman is cautious when he does not see, and apprehensive when he does not hear.

All things are like this, but the heart/mind is the most extreme.

Each answer must be at least three hundred characters.

This was only the first test paper, examining mastery of the Four Books. Hu Shanwei opened the second sheet, which tested understanding of the Five Classics with two questions each, totaling ten questions.

The third test paper examined four books: “Women’s Precepts,” “Women’s Analects,” “Biographies of Exemplary Women,” and “Women’s Standards,” with one question from each book.

In total there were seventeen questions. The Four Books and Five Classics accounted for thirteen questions, while examination of women’s behavioral norms comprised only four questions. This showed that the main requirement for female officials was mastery of Confucian classics, emphasizing talent and learning.

Hu Shanwei browsed through all the test questions, then spread out the second paper testing content from the Five Classics. She began with the two questions from the “Spring and Autumn Annals” that she was most familiar with. The first question was “The people of Qi attacked the Mountain Rong,” and the second was “The duke met with the Marquis of Jin and the Viscount of Wu at Yellow Pool.”

Hu Shanwei picked up her brush and wrote: “The Mountain Rong attacked the state of Yan, and Yan appealed to Qi for help. Duke Huan of Qi, to rescue Yan, then attacked the Mountain Rong…”

Beautiful small regular script characters flowed like water, smoothly emerging from her brush. Writing from the heart, gradually Hu Shanwei forgot her nervousness, forgot she was in an examination hall, forgot the sharp-eyed proctors, and forgot the trivial annoyances of household life.

She seemed to return to countless days and nights in the library of the Hu Family Bookshop on Chengxian Street. Whether the streets outside bustled with traffic and crowds, or when lanterns first lit up and weary birds returned to their nests, she always sat at her writing desk, wielding her somewhat worn brush handle, copying books day after day.

Yes, Hu Shanwei was an unpaid copyist at home.

In this era, woodblock printing was mainstream, but those expensive unique editions, fine editions, rare books, and extraordinary volumes all depended on hand-copying, character by character.

A good memory is not as reliable as poor handwriting. Hu Shanwei was largely self-taught. Most of the ancient books in the bookshop’s library bore small seal script stamps reading “Hu Family Collection, for a thousand autumns and ten thousand generations,” clearly indicating that the Hu family was a clan with cultural heritage. How had they fallen to become merchants, married a shrew, and seen their descendants reduced to copyists?

This was truly a long story, like a child without a mother.

Hu Shanwei was originally from Jining, Shandong.

According to her father Hu Rong’s boasts when drunk, the Hu family had been a scholarly household for a hundred years, with family members serving as high officials in both the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Later, to avoid the political turmoil of the Yuan Dynasty, the Hu family moved south from Yuan Dadu (present-day Beiping of the Great Ming) to settle in the prosperous and stable Suzhou. Along the way they encountered several bands of bandits who repeatedly “fleeced” them, finally robbing them of all their gold, silver, and valuables, leaving the Hu family only with boxes of heavy, “useless” books that couldn’t be eaten or drunk.

When Wu King Zhang Shicheng, who had made Suzhou his capital, was hospitable and courteous to scholars, several Hu family clansmen obtained official positions with salaries sufficient to support their families. The entire Hu clan worked hard to abandon their northern accent and learn to speak soft Wu dialect. Guarding their house full of books, they taught the younger generation to study diligently, planning to take root in Suzhou and revive the family business.

As the saying goes, those near mountains live off mountains, those near water live off water. For cultured people, the only path was studying to become officials. In times of war, the classics collected by several generations of the family were extremely important.

But good times didn’t last long. In the twenty-seventh year of Zhizheng, when Hu Shanwei was six years old, Zhu Yuanzhang, another self-proclaimed Wu King entrenched in Nanjing, sent two of his fierce generals—Xu Da and Chang Yuchun—to attack Suzhou and unify the Jiangnan region.

There could be only one Wu King in Jiangnan.

At first, the Hu family was confident in Wu King Zhang Shicheng. Not because they particularly admired Zhang Shicheng, but because they heard that the other Wu King, Zhu Yuanzhang, was merely an illiterate peasant from the Fengyang countryside. His so-called fierce generals were mostly farm boys who had herded cattle and tilled fields together.

Simply put, they were just a group of bandits who had rebelled to fill their stomachs—nothing to worry about. The Hu family searched through their collection of historical books, asking: in history, which bandit had ever become emperor?

Never happened.

Meanwhile, their Zhang Shicheng constantly composed poetry and prose, had a reputation for virtue, and attracted scholars from all over.

So the Hu family ordered their clansmen to remain in Suzhou city, forbidding flight, to earn a reputation for loyalty. In the future, the Hu family would have merit for supporting the dragon, and would surely rise to prominence.

The Hu family had survived political turmoil and bandits’ swords and spears, but the scholars’ arrogance and prejudice toward peasants brought catastrophe to the entire clan!

Suzhou was besieged for three full months. The city walls changed hands repeatedly, corpses lay everywhere, until finally Xu Da and Chang Yuchun entered Suzhou city through the Chang Gate and Qi Gate respectively.

When the city fell, Wu King Zhang Shicheng asked his wife: “I am defeated and about to die. What will you do?”

Madam Liu was Zhang Shicheng’s second wife, young and beautiful, who had borne two little princes.

Zhang Shicheng asked his wife this because at that time, Jiangnan was divided among three powers: Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhang Shicheng. Zhu Yuanzhang had first eliminated Chen Youliang, and not only that, he had taken Chen Youliang’s most beautiful concubine, Lady Da, into his own harem, who bore him three sons, thus humiliating his opponent.

Given Zhu Yuanzhang’s preference similar to Cao Cao’s “I shall care for your wife and children,” Zhang Shicheng worried that after his death he too would be cuckolded like Chen Youliang, so he simply hinted that his young wife should commit suicide.

Madam Liu was clever and understood immediately, saying: “My lord, do not worry. Your concubine will never betray you.”

Madam Liu embraced her two young sons and ordered all the concubines, little princes, and princesses of the Wu King’s palace to enter Qiyun Tower together. She locked the doors and set it ablaze.

The ministers of the Wu King’s palace saw Qiyun Tower become a tower of fire—even the women knew to die for their country. Xu Da and Chang Yuchun’s great army was about to storm the royal palace, especially Chang Yuchun, known as the “Killing General.” When he encountered cities that refused to surrender, once the city was breached, Chang Yuchun would massacre the entire population!

This was Killing General Chang Yuchun’s consistent style, with no exceptions. Therefore, when people heard Chang Yuchun’s name, they were terrified and abandoned their cities to surrender.

Suzhou had held out for three months without surrendering. How could Chang Yuchun possibly spare Suzhou? He would certainly massacre the city to vent his anger.

Since death was inevitable anyway, the ministers all followed their lord Zhang Shicheng—those who hanged themselves hanged, those who slit their throats slit, competing to drink poisoned wine.

Thus all the Hu family men who held office died.

Only Hu Shanwei’s father, Hu Rong, because he was somewhat less talented and hadn’t obtained any official position, stayed idle at home, usually spending his time painting his wife’s eyebrows and teaching his six-year-old daughter to read and write.

When Hu Rong heard the city had fallen, he quickly put Hu Shanwei in a book chest and carried it on his back, pulling his wife along as they fled through the door.

Outside, Chang Yuchun indeed began his frenzied massacre, and Suzhou city was filled with wails of anguish.

Hu Rong, carrying his daughter on his back and pulling his wife, ran toward Wofo Temple. It was said that before Zhu Yuanzhang became a bandit, he had been a monk, so he always treated Buddhist and Taoist figures with great courtesy. Wofo Temple housed the eminent southern monk Master Dao Yan. Hiding in the temple, they had an eighty percent chance of surviving the disaster.

But too many Suzhou residents had the same idea. The crowd flowed like water toward Wofo Temple. Hu Rong and his wife were separated in the crush, and he watched helplessly as his wife was trampled underfoot by the crowd.

Sitting in the book chest, Hu Shanwei heard her mother’s last words: “Don’t mind me! Take Shanwei and run!”

Chang Yuchun’s army had just reached this area in their massacre. While everyone else ran toward the temple, only Master Dao Yan from the temple walked against the flow of people, standing guard at the temple gate. He helped up the fallen, weeping Hu Rong and Hu Shanwei, who had been thrown from the book chest.

Hu Shanwei heard the monk say: “Carry the child inside and find a place to hide.”

Hu Rong picked up his daughter. Hu Shanwei lay against her father’s shoulder and saw Master Dao Yan standing like a reef in turbulent waters, unmoved and unshakeable.

What a remarkable monk.

After an unknown amount of time, Master Dao Yan opened the temple doors and said: “General Xu Da has persuaded Chang Yuchun not to massacre the city. Everyone can go home now.”

Hu Rong tremblingly carried his daughter home. The streets and alleys were indeed covered with military orders: “Massacre forbidden, robbing civilian property forbidden, disturbing civilians forbidden. Those who violate these orders will be executed.”

Once Xu Da issued his military order, no one dared disobey, and Suzhou city escaped disaster.

Historical records state: “On the day Suzhou city fell, Chang Yuchun entered through Qi Gate, slaughtering nearly everyone in his path. Xu Da entered through Chang Gate, killing no one. When they met at Wofo Temple, only then did Da restrain Yuchun from killing.”

Behind these simple forty-one characters lay countless lives and sorrows and joys.

The Hu family members either died for their country, were slaughtered by Chang Yuchun’s army, or like Hu Shanwei’s mother, were trampled to death. This century-old scholarly family from Jining, Shandong was nearly annihilated.

Father Hu Rong was scared out of his wits. Fearing that the Hu family’s history of serving under Zhang Shicheng would bring calamity, he simply burned down the Hu family ancestral hall and genealogical records, destroying traces of the family heritage.

Only the books passed down through generations he dared not burn, fearing to anger the Hu family ancestors.

The following year, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne as emperor, establishing the dynasty called Great Ming with the reign name Hongwu. That year became the first year of Hongwu. Hu Rong, carrying his daughter Hu Shanwei and loading a boat with books, came to the feet of the Son of Heaven—the Great Ming capital of Nanjing. He never dared have any connection with Suzhou again, fearing others would dig up old accounts.

Hu Rong could neither serve as an official through scholarship nor as a soldier through martial prowess, but as one of only two family survivors, his survival skills were still quite good.

The Imperial Academy, examination halls, and other institutions were all located in Yingling Ward in northern Nanjing, where scholars gathered. Hu Rong opened a bookshop on Chengxian Street in the ward, registering as a merchant household.

The downstairs shop sold ordinary new books printed with woodblocks, while the upstairs library displayed rare books accumulated by generations of ancestors—for viewing only, not for sale. If customers insisted on buying these old books, Hu Rong would sell identical hand-copied versions, reproducing even the occasional typos exactly.

Hu Shanwei began copying books in the library at age six. When she was twelve, Hu Rong arranged a marriage for her. The groom was of military registration, the same age as her, a hereditary centurion who had lost his father at seven and inherited his father’s position along with a centurion’s salary.

Hu Rong, whose courage had been shattered by his family’s near-extinction, thought this marriage was excellent. With his future son-in-law’s hereditary perpetual salary as an iron rice bowl, his daughter would have stable security after marriage, guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood.

After the engagement was set, Hu Rong began preparing his daughter’s dowry. But when Hu Shanwei was sixteen, her fiancé was conscripted to the battlefield.

Hu Shanwei saw off her fiancé and received in return an urn of ashes and an iron military tag engraved with her fiancé’s name.

Hu Shanwei became a “gate-gazing widow,” and several times wielded a paper-cutting knife to chase away every matchmaker who came to the Hu Family Bookshop.

But the matchmaker was truly dedicated. Unable to persuade the young one, she made matches for the old one.

Father Hu Rong was thirty-four, in his prime, refined and handsome, with modest property—good conditions. The matchmaker found him a sixteen-year-old virgin, a merchant’s daughter, a typical delicate and lovely Jiangnan beauty named Chen Shi.

Since becoming a gate-gazing widow, Hu Shanwei had grown increasingly silent. Hu Rong hoped his daughter would choose another good man, but Shanwei refused. Father and daughter quarreled repeatedly over this, gradually growing apart.

Meanwhile, young wife Chen Shi’s youth and charm greatly comforted Hu Rong after his life of hardships, and he gradually became obedient to his beloved wife’s every word.

At first, Chen Shi tried hard to be a good stepmother, making clothes for Hu Shanwei and cooking meals. But once Chen Shi became pregnant, especially when the doctor said it was a son, Chen Shi seemed to transform into a different person and began abusing Hu Shanwei. Hu Rong, fearing his young wife might harm the fetus, kept urging Shanwei to be patient.

Hu Shanwei knew it was time to leave this home.

Over these years, Hu Shanwei had copied all the books in the library completely, yet hadn’t received a single copper coin in wages. Without money, there was no way to survive.

When she saw Emperor Hongwu’s decree recruiting female officials, Hu Shanwei thought: The opportunity has come. I may not have money, but I have knowledge.