Great Tang Idyll

Chapter 107 The Talented Magistrate Critics Paintings And Calligraphy

Magistrate Jia noticed that the waiter did not show the slightest expression of surprise on his face when he saw him. Magistrate Jia immediately knew that the news of his arrival had been leaked out from early on, but he had no intention of pursuing this matter. He followed the waiter inside, and when he got to the inner door, another waiter greeted him and led him upstairs.

"All of you can go eat." Magistrate Jia entered a room on the second floor that had a view of the outside. He ordered the bailiffs who followed him. He planned to stay here himself.

The bailiffs left obediently. Their meals had been prepared already, and they didn't want to eat in a restrained manner in front of the Magistrate.

The waiter immediately served four dishes. They were all cold platters– two meat and two vegetarian dishes. The hot dishes were being cooked, and would be served later. Before the waiter retreated back to the door, he was stopped by Magistrate Jia.

"I came here today to ask a few questions. Stay here. Don't tell lies, otherwise I'll save a spot for you in the prison."

"Understood. My lord, please ask. I will tell you everything I know." The waiter replied politely, showing a frightened look.

Magistrate Jia liked seeing how this waiter acted. He smiled briefly and pointed at a plate of garlic cucumbers on the table with his chopsticks and asked, "Do you know where this cucumber comes from?"

Magistrate Jia picked up the goblet and took a sip. He picked up a piece of cucumber that had a lot of minced garlic on it with his chopsticks, and tossed it into his mouth. He chewed it carefully, and nodded slightly, "Good. This garlic is strong but not spicy, and the cucumber is refreshing but not cold. How is it made? "

"My lord, I don't know how to make it. Master Ni is the one who takes care of this. Should I go help you ask? My lord, please have a taste of this eggplant. I know about this one. The eggplant is first steamed inside the wok, and after it has cooled down, it is tossed with sauce, green onion, and coriander. The skin of the eggplant has been peeled off, so it's very tender when chewed in the mouth."

The waiter shook his head this time and introduced a new dish to Magistrate Jia. Magistrate Jia asked him rhetorically. Even if the Magistrate learned how it was made, he wouldn't make it himself. He nodded and said, "This is beef tendon, right? Beef is often available here?"

The waiter nodded, and then shook his head. He said, "It is beef tendon. Normally it can't be eaten, but since it is my lord who has come, we took some out from before. Ever since the manors obtained that mountain, people would go there to let their cows graze there. However it is dangerous. The Zhang manor had said that they must be extra, extra careful."

"Really?"

"Of course it is true. If not, then my lord can throw me into jail, and not allow the jail guard to give me food." The waiter swore.

Magistrate Jia looked at the waiter's appearance, and felt happy. Staying in prison was perhaps better than living outside. Would the bailiffs at the Administrative Office even listen to the Magistrate? The waiter was not honest. He raised his head to look at the surrounding layout and happened to see a calligraphy painting hanging on the wall.

The painting was a picture of plum trees in the snow. The painting was average, but had a little bit of character to it. There was a poem written on it, ‘Winter plum trees are not arrogant in the snow; having joy in the bitterness of life. The heart, dedicated to being red for the autumn, adding color to snow`.'

Magistrate Jia saw that the painting was signed by Zhang Zhong, and he knew that he was the owner of Zhang manor so he began to nitpick.

The waiter stared blankly, and said after a while, "My lord has a good eye indeed. Normally, people would not notice. My lord, what does four consecutive flat tones mean? I don't quite understand. Later, I will talk to Housekeeper Zhang to ask our master to change the poem. What does my lord think of the painting?"

"Hmm, you should slowly learn this in the future. You wouldn't understand it even if I explained. As for the painting. The plum flowers in the painting have blossomed a bit too early. Why are there only pink colors and no white? White compliments the snow. A failure." Magistrate Jia spoke reservedly.

"Yes, yes, what the lord said is correct. There should be white. Even if the flowers are pink, it would be white when snow falls on it. My lord, please have a look at this." The waiter went along with the Magistrate's words and flattered him. He then pointed at another poem on another wall. The words were written through learning the Wang font.

Magistrate Jia turned his head to look, and saw that it was also a painting that had a poem on the side,"'Multiple plum branches in the corner of the wall; invading the cold to blossom alone. After shaking, realizing that it is not snow; hidden fragrance coming forth. '

He shook his head and said, "No good. Why do these characters look so weak? Oh, it's not elegant, absolutely not. Oh, this was also written by Zhang Zhong. The strokes were changed too quickly. It needs to be fixed. The plum blossoms in the painting are not that good either. There should be some snow in the corner of the wall, not just on the wall only.

Waiter, tell me, how can the fragrance of the plum blossoms in the corner be detected in the distance? When the wind blows, the scent will be blocked by the wall. A failure. It cannot be made into a poem at all."

"My lord, this was not written by my master. There are still a few smaller characters below. Take a closer look. Below the characters ‘Zhang Zhong' are the characters ‘daughter-in-law Wang Juan', right?" The waiter pointed there and said.

"Oh~! It turned out to be a little girl. No wonder that when the poem was written, it was not taken into consideration that the wall would block the wind." Magistrate Jia was now more confident about the comments he just made. Before the waiter had a chance to speak, Magistrate Jia looked at another painting that was on the side and began to laugh loudly.

"What kind of painting is this? The plum blossoms look like a big tree. The branches and leaves are lush. Interesting, interesting. This poem, ‘All of the fallen fragrance solitarily announces its beauty; occupying all of the grace, growing towards the garden. The diagonal shadows, the clear shallow water; hidden fragrance floating in the moonlight at dusk. The frost bird wants to steal a glance first, and butterflies would be mesmerized if they knew of the blossoms. Fortunately, accompanied by a slight humming; no need for hardwood clappers and golden goblets.1' Not good."

"Look, it says that other flowers have withered, and the plum blossoms have bloomed. If it occupies all of the grace, then why is it not planted in the center of the garden? Keep looking. The day is this cold, how come the shallow water did not freeze? Since it's dusk, it should be a scene where the sun and the moon appear together. When the sun and moon is present, how can there be frost? The last part is even worse. There's no point mentioning it. Oh, let me have a look. This is the son of Zhang Zhong? That's Xiao'bao, right? Sure enough, he is a little boy, he doesn't understand anything."

"My lord is correct. I don't understand. This broken poem is hung here just to make people happy. My lord, I will go bring you food." The waiter continued to praise the Magistrate. Regardless of what the Magistrate said, the waiter always claimed that the Magistrate was correct. He heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway and he knew that the dishes had been delivered, so he hurried to the door.

After receiving the tray, which had four hot dishes on it, he brought it to the front of Magistrate Jia. He placed them down one by one, then returned the tray. He filled the wine goblet with wine, and waited to be asked questions.

Magistrate Jia picked up a piece of roasted venison, swallowed it with wine, and nodded, "The dishes are cooked very well, but the interior design is a bit poor, especially the three paintings and the three poems on the paintings. It should be set up like this. Oh wait, this is The Between The Water And Clouds. Never mind, never mind."

He wanted to get someone to remove the paintings, but he suddenly remembered what place ths was.

The waiter continued to agree, "My lord is right. It should be taken down. My lord, why don't you leave behind your calligraphy for others to view?"

"Sure. Hurry up and grab a brush, ink, paper and inkstone." Magistrate Jia, who was ecstatic because of the waiter's praises, agreed without even thinking about it.

The waiter ran out in a hurry, and came back after a while. He pulled another small table over for writing on and spread out the paper. Then, he began to grind the inkstick. When he was done, Magistrate Jia picked up the brush and dipped it into the ink. He pondered and said, "I will only write a poem that also talks about plum blossoms."

After speaking, he started to write. It seemed like he was in the peak state of art creation. After he finished writing the poem, he took out a small seal from his sleeve and pressed it on the ink pad on the side. He pressed the seal down and then asked the waiter, "What do you think?"

"Good. My lord's calligraphy is really extraordinary. There seems to be a plum-blossom-like vigor coming from your written characters." The waiter made a surprised expression. His eyes were widened and his hands and feet trembled with excitement.

"It is very well written. It's a good poem. Through this poem, I am able to see the blooming of plum blossoms and countless wanderers who have stopped to admire the scenery. My lord is really amazing. With only one poem, people can..."

"How is it blossoming? It is obviously budding, and there are not so many wanderers. There are only two people sitting and drinking." Magistrate Jia was a little dissatisfied with what the waiter said. The expression on his face sank, and he interrupted the waiter.

The waiter hurriedly moved closer and nodded vigorously. He said, "I made a mistake just now, please forgive me, my lord. I understand now. The branch is covered with fallen snow, but the plum blossoms have not bloomed. Each of the buds are growing, and there are two hero-like people eating large bites of meat and drinking large bowls of wine. The wind blew by, and hua hua the snow on the branches fell down, and the two people went wah wah ."

"What fallen snow on branches? There is no snow, and there is no strong wind. A man and a woman are sitting opposite each other. Do you understand or not?" Magistrate Jia was angry and asked while staring at the waiter.

The waiter lowered his head and replied back with a quiet voice, "My lord, I don't know how to read. I have no idea what you wrote. How about you read it out for me? In the future, even if I forget about other words, I will have this poem memorized."

"So it turns out that you can't read. Fine, listen to me read it to you. This poem is ‘the winter has arrived but it has yet to snow; the budding plumblossoms are unaware. A man and woman humming to each other; wanting to see the flowing water but the river is frozen. Toasting wine with regret; the ice will only melt when spring comes. At the time, attracting each other again; the late plum blossom perhaps may bloom." Magistrate Jia had to read the poem out by himself.

"Good poem. My lord is able to write better than ordinary people. Let me tell you, a lot of people recite poems in this restaurant, but I normally don't understand them. Today, hearing my lord recite this poem, I immediately understood. My lord, I don't know what to say. I will immediately find someone to frame the calligraphy."

The waiter's body trembled even more intensely. He stepped forward to pick up the paper, but was stopped by the Magistrate Jia, "There's no rush. It is fine to wait until I leave. There are still things I want to ask you about."

Magistrate Jia happily sat back down at the table and drank all the wine in the goblet in one gulp.

Translator's Notes

1. This is a poem written by the Northern Song poet, Lin Bu.