Chapter Ninety-Three: The Jade Grove Garden

The palace examination of the Song Dynasty was usually held in the third month. In most years, once the results of the provincial examination were posted, the palace examination followed immediately, and afterward the final ranking of the jinshi degree holders was determined. At that time, the jinshi were divided into five grades. The first place in the palace examination was the top scholar, the second was the runner-up, the third was the third laureate. Below them came those of the first class, who were granted the jinshi degree directly; these counted as the second-highest rank. Those of the second class were granted the status of having passed the jinshi examination; this was the third rank. Those of the third class were granted the same jinshi standing; these were the fourth and fifth ranks. Together, these were known as the three classes.

In this palace examination during the Shaosheng era, the top scholar was He Changyan, a candidate from Xiajiang. After winning first place in his thirties, He Changyan was appointed Acting Gentleman for Court Service and Clerk of the Military Governor's Office of Wuning Commandery.

He Changyan secured the top scholar's title with a single line in his examination essay: "The ministers and officials of the Yuanyou years do not understand the righteousness between ruler and subject, nor the grace between father and son..." These words delighted Emperor Zhezong and Zhang Dun, and so he won first place.

Beneath He Changyan came Fang Tianruo, Huanguo, Wang Gongyan, Mao Sui, Gu Ge, and others. Ye Mengde, only twenty-two years old, was ranked twentieth, merely nineteen places below He Changyan, and was therefore appointed only as county magistrate of Dantu County. The distance between them could not have been greater.

In short, this examination ended in complete success. During the provincial examination, all those who had openly attacked the Yuanyou faction, or who had shown sympathy toward Yuanyou views, were rejected and eliminated, just as Li Sanjian had been.

...

Qionglin Garden, Jinming Lake, Yujin Garden, and Yichun Garden were the four great imperial gardens of the Song court.

Qionglin Garden was first built in the second year of the Qiande reign of Emperor Taizu of Song, outside Shuntian Gate in Kaifeng Prefecture. Along the broad avenue leading to it stood dense ranks of ancient pines and strange cypresses, their fragrance drifting with a quiet, elegant stillness both inside and outside the garden. Within the grounds rose simple pavilions and winding groves, revealing the refined grace of the imperial retreat.

That day, Li Sanjian was walking alone along a narrow street leading to Qionglin Garden. The street was paved with green flagstones, and it felt cool beneath his feet.

There were only a few small shops on either side, and the street was sparsely traveled, with only scattered pedestrians here and there, giving the place a secluded air.

Li Sanjian was strolling along at an unhurried pace when he suddenly heard footsteps from the mouth of an alley to his right. A moment later, two bearers came wobbling toward him, carrying a small sedan chair.

Seeing this, Li Sanjian hurriedly stepped aside. Glancing at the brightly colored little sedan, he lowered his head and continued on his way.

"Li Sanjian, where are you going?" As the sedan passed by him, the curtain lifted and a woman suddenly called out to stop him, her voice unmistakably bright with delight.

"You... you... why are you here?" Li Sanjian was stunned the moment he saw her.

Who else could it be but Li Qingzhao?

"You what? Why can't I be here?" After speaking, Li Qingzhao ordered the bearers to set the sedan down. She then sprang out, hurried up to Li Sanjian with her hands on her hips, and said with a grin, "Let's see where you can run off to from me now."

Over the past several months, Li Sanjian had grown quickly in height. Now, if Li Qingzhao wanted to speak to him, she had to tilt her head slightly upward.

It was already close to April. Winter had long since gone, spring had fully arrived, and the weather was unusually pleasant. That day, Li Qingzhao wore a pale green gauzy skirt with a light onion-white open-fronted jacket over it. A small red flower was pinned beside her bun. The collarless jacket revealed a strip of snow-white skin at her chest. Smiling as brightly as a blossom, she looked at Li Sanjian, charming beyond measure.

Li Sanjian felt ashamed and, unable to meet her eyes or the white skin at her neckline, turned his head away and stammered, "I... hiding from you... hiding what? Why would I be hiding from you?"

"You tell me." Li Qingzhao shot him a sidelong glance and asked in return.

After failing the examination, Li Qingzhao had looked for Li Sanjian several times, only to find no trace of him. How could she not have understood by then that he had been deliberately avoiding her?

"That..." Li Sanjian did not know how to explain. He stammered awkwardly, feeling his face grow warm.

"Where are you going? And what are you holding?" Seeing the strange, long tube-like object in Li Sanjian's hand, Li Qingzhao asked again.

"This... this thing is called a thousand-mile eye," Li Sanjian said, fiddling with it.

"A thousand-mile eye? What is that? What does it do?" Hearing this, Li Qingzhao leaned over beside him, peering at the object in his hand in astonishment.

"A thousand-mile eye, a thousand-mile eye—just as the name says, it's an eye that can see a thousand miles away. You're really so stupid," Li Sanjian said, and since she had stopped asking why he had been avoiding her, he finally felt some relief. Relaxing at last, he began teasing her.

By now the two of them had long since become extremely familiar with each other.

"You are the stupid one. You're the biggest fool under heaven," Li Qingzhao protested in a soft, spoiled voice. "Hurry up and tell me what it really is."

After speaking, she gave him another fierce sidelong glare, her eyes flashing like lightning, so that Li Sanjian immediately said, "All right, all right, I'm the fool. Listen, Qing'er, this thing is indeed called a thousand-mile eye. It can't really see things a thousand miles away, but it can let you see objects tens of paces, even hundreds of paces, away."

For Li Sanjian, making a crude magnifying lens and then a simple telescope was effortless. He had been able to do it since childhood, and the materials were easy to find.

Li Sanjian had suddenly addressed Li Qingzhao as Qing'er, with intimate familiarity, but she was so captivated by the thousand-mile eye that she did not notice the change, or perhaps she simply did not care.

"Really? Let me see it," Li Qingzhao said excitedly, clinging to his arm.

"Here, look through this end with your eye and you'll see it," Li Sanjian said, holding the instrument up in front of her.

"I see it, I see it! Ah, it's so clear! So beautiful!" Through the thousand-mile eye, Li Qingzhao really did see the distant scenery, and she cried out in delight.

Looking at landscapes through the thousand-mile eye filtered away many impurities, making the scene clearer and even more lovely. Li Qingzhao found it increasingly novel the longer she looked, and the less she wanted to let go of it.

"Have you seen enough? If you have, give it back to me. I still need it." Watching such a beautiful woman squinting one eye, standing on tiptoe, and holding the thousand-mile eye high to gaze into the distance, Li Sanjian found it impossible not to laugh. He snatched it back and smiled.

Li Qingzhao's excitement had already attracted the attention of passersby.

Still looking longingly at the thousand-mile eye in Li Sanjian's hand, Li Qingzhao looked so aggrieved she might have cried.

"What do you need it for? Where are you going?"

"Call me stupid and then refuse to believe it? What else could it be used for besides seeing the scenery?"

"You're the stupid one. You're just a great idiot, the greatest idiot under heaven... Hey, wait for me, I'm going too."

...

Qionglin Garden was an imperial garden of the Song court, so of course its defenses were extremely strict. On the roads leading to the garden and near its gates, many guards patrolled back and forth. The closer one got to the entrance, the tighter the security became, and no idlers were allowed to come near.

However, all around Qionglin Garden were earthen hills, and those were not guarded nearly so tightly. Climb one of the hills, and the entire garden came into view.

At that moment, a young man and a young woman were climbing the hill toward Qionglin Garden. When the guards saw them, they all laughed knowingly. Clearly the pair were lovers, simply out for a scenic outing together...

Perhaps after climbing the hill, they would even lie beneath the open sky and do those other things... The garden guards' thoughts grew filthier the more they imagined.

So handsome a couple, doing such things would surely be graceful beyond measure. In their minds, the guards seemed to see again the spring picture they had looked at yesterday...

The hill was not high, and its slopes were covered with great spreading trees, lush and green, the whole place quiet and elegant beyond compare.

"Can you climb trees?" When the two came to a large tree, Li Sanjian asked Li Qingzhao.

Li Qingzhao shot him a glance, lifted the hem of her long skirt with one hand and gripped the trunk with the other, then scrambled upward in a few swift motions, soon reaching a thick branch.

"Hey, it's your turn," Li Qingzhao said, sitting on the branch and swinging her delicate feet as she looked down at Li Sanjian with a smile.

Li Sanjian stared in astonishment. This... this hardly looked like a young lady from a proper family at all. So thought he to himself. Her movements were clearly deft and practiced; one look was enough to tell she climbed trees often.

By then, however, Li Sanjian had become clumsy beyond measure. Hugging the trunk, he struggled upward, his head spinning, all because of what he had seen the instant Li Qingzhao lifted her skirt...

"Hee hee, and you said I was stupid? Look at you—you look just like a big monkey," Li Qingzhao laughed gaily at his awkwardness.

"Stop mocking me!" Li Sanjian roared in indignation and climbed even harder. But his words only made Li Qingzhao laugh all the more, and he worried she might fall out of the tree.

Amid Li Qingzhao's silver bell laughter, Li Sanjian finally managed to reach her side. With some effort, he sat down on the branch beside her, panting heavily, his face red as a painted cloth—half from exhaustion, half from anger.

To think he could not even climb a tree as well as a woman. Li Sanjian felt secretly indignant.

"Hey, what did you come here to see?" Li Qingzhao asked after a moment.

"Is it about to begin?" Li Sanjian replied with a question of his own.

"What is about to begin?" Li Qingzhao knew they were looking at an imperial garden, but from so far away she could not make out what was below, only vaguely seeing a crowd gathered in the center of Qionglin Garden.

The Feast of Joyful News? Li Qingzhao suddenly thought of it. After the palace examination, wasn't the court supposed to give a banquet for the newly named jinshi? And wasn't it almost always held in Qionglin Garden?

Why... why had he suddenly thought of coming here today to watch the Feast of Joyful News? Hadn't he failed the examination? Li Qingzhao wondered silently.

Thinking of this, she could not help turning slightly to look at Li Sanjian beside her. The face before her, young yet touched with a trace of heroic spirit, was utterly calm, revealing neither joy nor sorrow, and giving no hint of what he was thinking.

Li Qingzhao felt a pang of sadness. She shifted a little and moved closer to Li Sanjian.