Chapter 4: Waiting for the Examination Results with a Heart Like Boiling Water — Talking Geomancy with Wild and Baseless Claims

In that year of Bingwu, the Guangdong provincial examination results were to be posted on the ninth day of the ninth month. When the eighth arrived, Ling Guixing fell into a great stir of activity. He pulled Zongkong aside to discuss the menu and to arrange for wine banquets and celebration drinks. He fetched the almanac to look up an auspicious date for the congratulatory ceremony. He went in to tell Lady He to prepare silver for the reward-bearers. His newly purchased Beijing-style boots — concerned they might not fit properly — he put on and walked several turns across the hall to try them out. That evening he could not manage to get his dinner down. By the first watch of the night, he was suddenly hungry again. By this time Zongkong had already come to help for two or three days; hearing that Guixing was hungry, he ordered food and wine brought in and sat with him to drink. Guixing suddenly gave a start and said, "They must be writing up the results list right now — I wonder if they have written the three characters 'Ling Guixing' yet?" Zongkong replied, "Young Master, just eat and drink in peace. When the name is written, the congratulatory runners will naturally come to report it."

At that moment, Guixing did not know why, but he suddenly thought: what if he did not pass? What then? He muttered to himself, "If I don't pass, I am finished!" Zongkong was busy selecting the choicest morsels to eat and drinking deeply, and had not quite caught those words. Guixing suddenly stamped his foot and said, "If I truly don't pass, what shall I do!" Zongkong replied, "Young Master, have no fear — Ma the Half-Immortal's words are never wrong. The other day I went to get my own fortune told, and he said that throughout my life I shall depend on the support of a great benefactor. Consider how poor I am — if it were not for your care, young master, where would I find food and clothing? That statement about a great benefactor has already come true, has it not? It is now the second watch; let me go and see to it that they light up the candles and lanterns both inside and outside, so we can wait in proper style for the good news to arrive. It takes a blaze of candlelight to look like a household expecting celebrations!" He rose and busied himself with arrangements. In no time the whole place was lit up as bright as day. Guixing could not help breaking into laughter and said, "When I do pass, I wonder how greatly I shall put you to work, Uncle!" Zongkong replied, "It is entirely my duty and privilege. If you pass as Number One Provincial Graduate, that will be a credit to me as well." Guixing sighed and said, "I am past hoping for Number One — I will be content simply to see my name appear on the list."

They were still talking when, from outside the gate, came a sudden gong-stroke, followed by the noise of a crowd. Guixing was overjoyed, thinking it was the runners arriving. Zongkong leapt to his feet and hurried out in three great strides — only to hear the voices and gong fade gradually away into the distance. Guixing's heart lurched into confusion. He thought, "I was a first-time candidate — perhaps success will not come so easily. But if I don't pass this year, what about next time?" Then another thought struck him: "Never mind Ma the Half-Immortal's predictions — I have already paid thirteen thousand taels for the examination pass. How could I possibly fail!" At this, his spirits lifted again — but then another thought: "I did work those few characters into my essay. But it seemed rather forced; I wonder if Minister Wang will be able to spot them. What if he cannot, and the whole thing falls apart!" And then another: "Those characters are common ones — what if, quite by chance, someone else has used them in his own opening lines without intending any such signal? If the examiner reads that man's paper first and takes it for mine, and awards the place to him instead, will not my affairs be ruined?" At this thought he broke out in a cold sweat. He could not sit still; he went to his bed and lay down, then in a moment was up again and pacing. He calmed himself once more: "Those particular characters are known only to me — surely no one else could have written them by accident?" But then he turned the thought over: "Strange things do happen in this world — what if by some extraordinary coincidence this very thing occurred, what then?" He listened. Outside, the third watch had already been struck. "Ah! If I hadn't entered the examination at all, I could be sleeping peacefully right now. And yet — having waited through the whole night, tomorrow I could put on my fine clothes and hat and go to pay respects to my examiners, wear flowers, and attend the Deer-Cry banquet — that too would be a joy! I am only twenty-five this year; by Yongzheng's sixty-fourth year, I will be eighty-five and could celebrate the Deer-Cry banquet once again!" At this he could not help breaking into a sudden laugh. Zongkong asked, "Young Master, what are you laughing at now? Those runners are truly vexing — listen, so many groups have already gone past outside, and not one has come here. Truly vexing! When one does come, I'll hold back his reward and give him a good scolding first. Listen — could that be someone coming now?" The voices outside had risen again, but they too faded into the distance.

Guixing said, "I am done waiting — I am going to sleep." He went to the inner room and lay down fully clothed, yet could not sleep at all. In less than a quarter-hour he was back up and out again. He saw Zongkong lying on a bed, snoring soundly. Alone, listlessly, he stared at the leftover food and wine in silence. After a while he went and shook Zongkong awake: "Uncle! Listen — it is past the fifth watch already. I think there is no more hope!" Zongkong scrambled up and said, "Young Master! Did you not say you were going to sleep? Why are you back out?" Guixing replied, "I don't know why, but I simply cannot sleep." Zongkong said, "Young Master! I have just thought of something. I heard it said that when they write out the results list, they begin from the sixth name down. Only after the whole list is complete do they write in the top five. Your Master is placed as Number One Provincial Graduate, and that name is written last of all — so the report comes latest of all." Guixing had a sudden revelation. He thought: "I paid for a jing kui placing, with hopes of being Number One. Whether I am Number One or not can wait — even as a jing kui, being placed in the top five, the name would naturally be written in last. How had I not thought of that? I was anxious for nothing all night. If I had thought of it earlier, I could have gone to sleep peacefully. But now it is the fifth watch, nearly time to be writing in the top five names — and so I cannot go to bed after all! Well, one more watch and I shall know one way or another." Zongkong, now up, rambled on with idle chatter. Guixing had no heart to engage; he composed himself and turned one ear to listen, gradually finding the surroundings utterly silent. He looked up and saw that daylight had begun to show. Guixing was now frantic, wringing his hands and stamping his feet. Suddenly, from outside the gate, a voice called aloud: "New-Season Number One Graduate Examination Record!" (This was a Guangdong custom: on the eve of the posting of the results, those who had gone to scout the list would note each name in turn; once the full list was complete, it would be set in movable type and printed through the night. Hawkers would sell it along the streets — this was called the shilu (examination record). At this point the official notice had still not been posted.) Zongkong hurried out to buy a copy, but the vendor had already gone far away, and he could only turn back inside. Guixing sighed, "If the record is already out, all hope is surely gone — what would I want to see it for now!" Zongkong replied, "Perhaps the runners simply cannot find your address. And by now, I expect the official list is posted. Young Master, why not go and look yourself?" As he spoke, Zongkong watched Guixing — and saw that he was shaking. "Unc... Uncle, you... you go and look. I... I... I feel a little afraid to look myself!" Zongkong replied, "Young Master, have no fear — I will go and check. I guarantee you a top provincial placing. Ma the Half-Immortal would not lie to me." And off he went.

Guixing fretted and fumed. The sky grew fully bright; the sun had risen. In ill humor, he went to his room and buried his head in sleep. He slept until afternoon before he rose. Seeing the red-paper silver packets prepared for the reward-bearers still sitting untouched where he had left them, he felt foolish and went to the study to sleep again. He began to wonder whether that man named Chen had been a swindler all along — a pity he had handed over the silver without demanding a receipt, otherwise he might have had grounds to take him to court. And yet, he thought, unless Chen never set foot in Guangdong again, if he came back, he would certainly not let him off. His thoughts ranged in all directions, and he drifted back to sleep. That whole day he never ate a meal.

Three full days passed before Zongkong returned. The moment he arrived he said, "Young Master, do not grieve — I have been genuinely angry on your behalf these past two days. I am sure there is some particular reason for this." Guixing asked, "What reason?" Zongkong replied, "As the old saying teaches: to achieve success in examinations, five things must all be in place. Those five things have been handed down from antiquity: 'First, fate; second, luck; third, geomancy; fourth, accumulating hidden virtue; fifth, study.' As I see it, given what Ma the Half-Immortal has read of your fate, your destiny is as good as it can possibly be. As for accumulating hidden virtue — I can only speak to my own case, a poor distant uncle who receives your kindness at every hour of every day; surely that counts as hidden virtue. And as for study — I have often heard you speak with the fluency of a ready pen, even in casual speech your words are full of classical allusions; surely you can write an essay well enough. The one thing I suspect might have some deficiency is the matter of geomancy — there may perhaps be some unfavorable element there."

Guixing replied slowly, "That seems unlikely. While my father was alive, he was most particular about geomancy — the orientation of the stove and the placement of doors were all fixed according to direction, and even small matters like digging a drainage channel were chosen on an auspicious day. This must simply be my ill luck. What has geomancy to do with it?" Zongkong replied, "Perhaps so, but it may be that while the yang-dwelling (the house of the living) is good, the yin-dwelling (the tomb of the ancestors) may not be quite perfect. I have heard that Ma the Half-Immortal is extraordinarily skilled at reading geomancy sites — he is nicknamed 'Stone-Piercing Drill.' Why not invite him to come and look at the ancestral tombs? The cost would be small, and you are not a man to begrudge that." Guixing said, "Very well — I ask you, Uncle, to go and invite him, and we will go look together." Zongkong was only too eager. He went at once to find Ma the Half-Immortal and agreed on a fee of five taels for the site inspection. Zongkong extracted a rebate of ninety-five percent for himself. They all came to Guixing's home and took a boat to Tan Village.

Guixing's ancestral tombs were buried at Tan Village. The boat moored at the bank, and Guixing, Zongkong, and Half-Immortal all went ashore together and came to the tomb site. Ma the Half-Immortal opened his geomancer's compass, studied the orientation, and surveyed the surrounding terrain. Then he launched into his wild and groundless pronouncements: "Your honored family's yin-dwelling here has high ground rising in front and behind, with a low depression in the center — this is the configuration called 'Cat Stretching in Repose.' The flow of the main passage and the drainage of water are perfectly suitable. I can confidently declare this to be a site where literary and military honors will flourish, and both the family's people and its wealth will grow." Guixing replied, "If there are any shortcomings, I hope for your guidance — do not simply flatter me." Ma the Half-Immortal replied, "I am merely following the classical texts — there is no flattery here. The geomancer who originally selected this plot had real skill; he placed the burial precisely within the coiling dragon's body. To the east, the Literary Brush peak is prominent; to the west, the Official-Urging star is vigorous; behind, the Black Warrior rises high; before, the Vermilion Bird spreads level and clear. The four directions are firm, the eight generals return to the hall. This site should produce one Number One Scholar, three jinshi degree-holders, and a steady stream of examination graduates and degree-holders for generations to come." Guixing asked, "If that is so, why did my examination this year go poorly?" Half-Immortal sighed and replied, "The one truly vexing problem is that stone building over there — it falls precisely on the position that provokes a harmful influence. The ground before this tomb must be level and open; any height is damaging. I do not know whose house that is, but if you could persuade them to relocate, this site would be perfect in every respect." Guixing replied, "That is the house of my relative, Liang Tianlai." Half-Immortal said, "Since he is a relative, surely he can be reasoned with. Your Honor..."

At this point, Zongkong pulled Half-Immortal aside by the sleeve and led him a few steps away. Half-Immortal did not know why, but followed along. Zongkong whispered, "When you speak to my young master, you should call him 'young sir' — that is not beneath you. Why are you addressing him as an equal?" Half-Immortal quickly replied, "Yes, yes, of course!" He turned back to Guixing and said, "Young sir! Do not spare the small expense — you must find a way to take possession of it and level it completely. It will not only ensure the safety of all people in the household but will also guarantee uninterrupted examination success for generations. On no account pass up this opportunity!"

Guixing was pleased. He paid Half-Immortal his fee and sent him on ahead. Zongkong hurried onto the boat to collect his rebate. He then returned to Guixing's home to claim the task, eager to go to Liang Tianlai and negotiate the purchase of the stone building.

Would this errand succeed or fail? Read on to the next chapter.