“I understand what you mean,” Shiyiniang said. She shifted the kang table by the window and sat side by side with Xu Sijie. “Even though your father and I have all we need and have your elder brothers to look after us, you still wish to make your own contribution.”

“Yes, yes, exactly!” Xu Sijie nodded again and again, his eyes brightening. “That is precisely what I mean!”

“And have you thought about — what would you offer, to show your devotion to your father and me?” Shiyiniang asked gently, her gaze resting on him with warmth.

“That is why I want to sit for the examinations,” Xu Sijie said, his voice low, looking a little embarrassed. “That way I could seek a post. With a post, there would be a salary. And then I could buy gifts for Mother.”

If Xu Sijie were to apply himself earnestly as a result of this, and managed to pass the provincial exam or even the metropolitan exam, even if he did not become an official, in the eyes of the world he would be a man of standing — able to meet officials as an equal, exempt from certain taxes — and that would not be a bad outcome at all.

Shiyiniang smiled gently. “To enter officialdom through the examination route, one must pass the metropolitan examination to become a Presented Scholar. To become a Presented Scholar, one must first pass the provincial examination to become a Raised Man. And to become a Raised Man, one must first earn the title of Cultivated Talent. That alone requires three successive examinations. The first is the County Examination, the second the Prefectural Examination, and the third the Academy Examination. The County Examination itself consists of four sessions. The first and second sessions each test one essay and one poem. The third session requires one rhyming prose piece and one poem, and sometimes one policy response and one discourse piece. The fourth session is a follow-up examination covering three or four shorter literary compositions…” She walked Xu Sijie through the entire sequence of examination stages.

Xu Sijie grew more excited as he listened. “Mother, so as long as I learn poetry, prose, and rhyming composition well first, I can pass the County Examination?”

“Indeed,” Shiyiniang said with a smile. “A building begins from laying the foundation, one brick and one tile at a time. The examinations are no different. First learn well what is needed for the County Examination and pass it — then we can work on the Prefectural Examination and the Academy Examination.”

“Mm!” Xu Sijie rose with some agitation and paced back and forth in front of Shiyiniang. “In that case, as long as I study diligently and follow my teacher’s instructions, I can go and sit the County Examination!”

“That is right,” Shiyiniang said with a smile. “Though passing the County Examination is no easy matter either…”

She had not finished speaking when Xu Sijie turned and pulled at her sleeve: “Mother, do not worry, I will endure hardship and persevere, sleep beside a thorn branch and taste gallbladder, hang my hair from the beam to keep from dozing…”

Shiyiniang burst out laughing.

Although there was no knowing what the outcome would be, the determination Xu Sijie was showing at this moment was real — for now, it was better not to dampen his spirits.

“You should also speak of this with Master Zhao,” she said, giving it further thought. “Master Zhao has himself sat for the examinations and has experience. If he knows your intentions, he can guide your studies with greater purpose and focus — and when you sit the County Examination, you will have a better chance.”

While mother and son were talking on one side, Jin Ge’er had long since finished his copywork and was sitting there in mild boredom, flipping through a travel memoir that Shiyiniang had left on the kang table, silently searching out the characters he could recognize.

A’jin brought in cherries: “Young Master, what does this book talk about?”

“Oh,” Jin Ge’er said listlessly, “it is about someone who made a pilgrimage to Mount Putuo.”

Seeing his low spirits, A’jin wanted to cheer him up, and noticing he was flipping through the book, leaned closer and said: “A pilgrimage, is it! I heard Nanny Du say that on the first and fifteenth of every month there are temple fairs, and the women from modest households put on their best clothes and go together to offer incense at the temples. It gets very lively. Since this person writes about going to the temple fair, there must be some interesting parts. Young Master, why don’t you tell me — what does it say?”

Jin Ge’er had not yet learned enough characters to understand what the book actually said. Seeing A’jin gazing at him with hopeful eyes, he felt a small stab of uncertainty, but was unwilling to show his ignorance before her: “Hmm, it just says he went to Mount Putuo, the sacred site of Guanyin!” Then, fearing A’jin might not believe him, he quickly spread the book open and pointed to characters within it: “Look, here it says ‘Grand Treasure Hall,’ here it says ‘Homage to Guanyin,’ and here it says ‘green shade pressing to the ground’… So it means that in summer, he went to Mount Putuo and offered incense to Guanyin Bodhisattva!”

“Not bad at all,” A’jin said with pride, looking at Jin Ge’er. “Young Master has truly had his learning awakened by a teacher — he can already read passages from such a thick book.” She gazed at Jin Ge’er with reflected pride.

Jin Ge’er shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and looked away, then tilted his head back and tossed a cherry into his mouth.

A’jin then stared at the book and muttered: “Young Master, where is this Mount Putuo? I have never heard of it before. Can it be farther than the Western Hills?” She had served in the household from childhood, and the farthest she had ever been was the Western Hills.

Jin Ge’er had not heard of it either.

“Not necessarily,” Jin Ge’er said, his mind turning quickly. “This person says he went there by donkey. If it were far, he would have gone by carriage, or taken a boat from Tongzhou. So it cannot be all that distant.” He speculated: “Perhaps it simply has no great reputation, which is why neither of us has heard of it.”

“Young Master makes a good point,” A’jin nodded with genuine seriousness. “I heard Nanny Du say that our Dowager Marchioness once traveled all the way to Mount Hua to offer incense, and you are always going out with the Dowager Marchioness and the Marchioness and seeing the world — if even you have never heard of it, this Mount Putuo must really have no reputation to speak of.”

Xu Lingyi, who had come looking for Shiyiniang and was standing in the doorway, could simply not listen to any more of this.

What a muddle of nonsense.

Just like the ignorant prattle of some common, uninformed woman from the back alleys of the market.

He frowned slightly and gave a quiet, deliberate cough.

The occupants of the study were immediately alert.

“Father!”

“Marquis!”

One came rushing over with excitement, the other curtsied respectfully.

“Father, look — doesn’t it look nice?” Jin Ge’er took Xu Lingyi by the hand and led him into the study, pointing up at the Shu brocade on the wall. “It is Fourth Elder Brother’s birthday gift to Mother.”

“Very nice indeed,” Xu Lingyi said, giving it a brief, perfunctory glance. “And what did you give your mother?” Then: “Where is your mother? Why did she leave you here alone? Weren’t you supposed to be practicing copywork this afternoon?”

“I gave Mother an ivory folding fan!” Jin Ge’er smiled with a hint of pride. “Mother loved it — she put it right beside her pillow.” Then he ran to fetch his copywork to show his father. “I finished my copywork long ago.” He leaned affectionately against Xu Lingyi. “Mother and Fifth Elder Brother are talking next door.”

Xu Lingyi saw that the characters were written neatly and uniformly, and gave a small nod of approval. “Have you recited the passages your teacher assigned?”

“I recited them ages ago,” Jin Ge’er said, then began to recite the content in a swaying, rhythmic manner for Xu Lingyi.

Perfectly fluent, with not a stumble.

Xu Lingyi tested him on a few lines.

He answered with clarity and precision, and went on to make a long commentary drawing in all manner of connections.

It was evident that everything Master Zhao taught him was something he grasped with ease.

“Since all your lessons are done, why not go out and play?” Xu Lingyi said, quite satisfied, lifting the cup of tea A’jin had offered and taking a sip.

“Mother said not to go wandering,” Jin Ge’er said with a touch of dejection. “But Mother is talking with Fifth Elder Brother. I have to wait until they finish, and then let Mother know.” Then he brightened again. “Father, I should tell you — my dog is about to have puppies. Once she has them, I want to give one to Third Cousin from the Yu Family, and one to Ji Ting, and one to Grand Dowager Marchioness Gan…”

Xu Lingyi looked at his son’s face, alight with animation as he spoke of the things he loved, and then thought back to the dejected droop of his head a moment before…

Ever since Shiyiniang had given Jin Ge’er that thorough dressing-down, Jin Ge’er had become far more obedient. His temperament had improved considerably and he had grown more sensible; the domineering manner of before was gone, as was a certain sharpness of spirit that Xu Lingyi had once admired.

His mind conjured an image of Xu Sijie’s docile, gentle-mannered eyes, as soft as a young girl’s.

“Jin Ge’er,” he said, lifting his son into his arms, “would you like to go riding with Father?”

Jin Ge’er’s eyes lit up for an instant, but then a hint of hesitation surfaced.

“Father,” he glanced with the corner of his eye at A’jin standing to one side, then leaned in close to Xu Lingyi’s ear and whispered, “I do not want to go riding right now. Could you tell me instead where Mount Putuo is?”

Xu Lingyi was momentarily caught off guard.

Then he burst out in a hearty laugh.

“Alright,” he said, and as he carried Jin Ge’er toward the door, he instructed A’jin and the others: “No need to follow. If the Marchioness asks, tell her the Young Master and I are in the study.”

Xu Lingyi took a purple sandalwood box from the storage alcove behind the study and carefully opened it, withdrawing the Nine Provinces Atlas kept within, which he spread across the large yellow pear-wood writing table.

“See here — the thick black lines are rivers, the thinner, fainter lines are roads, the pointed shapes are mountains, the ones that look like clusters of clouds are lakes, and the ones that look like fish scales are the sea… You see this cluster of small islands along the coastline — Mount Putuo is among them. It is one of the four great sacred sites of Chan Buddhism, along with Mount Wutai, Mount Emei, and Mount Jiuhua…” He pointed out the other mountains for Jin Ge’er as he spoke. “Mount Putuo is in Zhoushan, in Zhejiang…” He pointed to a small mark not far from Zhoushan. “That is Yuhang.” Saying this, the corners of his mouth turned up of their own accord. “Your maternal grandfather’s family is there. Your mother grew up there. She was thirteen years old when she came to the capital…”

Jin Ge’er stared wide-eyed: “It is so small!”

“This map was drawn at a scale of one to five thousand,” Xu Lingyi said with a smile, measuring with his fingers. “Here is Yanjing, and here is Yuhang. Yet the journey from Yanjing to Yuhang takes more than a month.”

Jin Ge’er grew excited: “Father, Father — where is Tongzhou?”

“Find it yourself!” Xu Lingyi said with a smile. “Did I not just explain how to read the atlas?”

Jin Ge’er bent over the great writing table to search.

In this era, an atlas was a treasure that money could not buy. Moreover, the one in Xu Lingyi’s possession was a military atlas, more precise and clearly marked than an ordinary one. He had always treasured it dearly. When he left his post, he had deliberately made a show of not noticing it and failed to turn it in. His deputy generals, of course, also pretended to hear nothing and see nothing. The Ministry of War officials did not dare say anything in front of Xu Lingyi, and when they grumbled in front of those deputy generals, no one paid them any mind — and so the matter had simply faded away. Xu Lingyi had kept this atlas carefully stored in his study ever since.

“Father,” Jin Ge’er soon pressed his finger down on one small mark, “Tongzhou.”

Xu Lingyi was a little surprised.

“The journey from Tongzhou to Yanjing takes only two days,” Jin Ge’er said with a small note of self-satisfaction, “so I just looked near Yanjing.”

“Well done, well done!” Xu Lingyi said with great satisfaction.

Jin Ge’er then measured across the map: “Yanjing to Yuhang takes more than a month, and Yuhang to Zhoushan is this far again… So from Yanjing all the way to Mount Putuo, would that not take more than two months?”

Not everyone could read an atlas.

Xu Lingyi could not help but raise his brow slightly, and the gaze with which he looked at his son took on a new gravity.