The Mystery of Zhang Gong

Zhang Ping Looked Towards the Bamboo Strips and Contemplated For a Moment. The Fire From the Oil Lamp Flickered; From the Door and Window Cracks Came a Sudden, Quiet Sob. 

Zhang Ping drew exam room number 358 – moral principles. 

Chen Chou drew ethics – exam room number 43. 

The exam venue was very big; it was divided into twelve rows, each row consisting of sixty exam rooms. There were a total of 720 rooms. 

The walls between each adjacent exam room were not bricks but an entire stone slab and rooms opposing each other were separated by a water channel, lotus flowers planted in the middle. During this time, a graceful lotus flower outside the window could help examinees soothe their mind. 

To prevent cheating, every row was arranged at a distance from each other. This way, there’d be nobody in front of or behind every exam room, and since examinees in adjacent exam rooms weren’t taking the same exam, this arrangement was the best at eradicating any acts of mutual assistance. 

Zhang Ping entered the third-last exam room in the eleventh row. 

The exam room wasn’t big. In it were a narrow bed, a table and chair, a low tea table, and a square stool. Uniformly distributed on the table were brushes, ink, papers, and ink-stone. The low tea table and square stool were exclusively for mealtimes, to prevent examinees from staining their exam papers. In the corner was a basin stand, on it a washbasin and under it a small bucket of clean water. 

At the entrance of every exam room was a copper bell, the rope passing through the walls to hang by the door; if something happened, the examinees could pull it at any time to call the guards. 

The exam room also contained a toilet in the form of a small compartment. 

Zhang Ping carefully examined the exam room. The ceiling was sealed by thin wood planks and there were no signs of lintel; there wasn’t a bedside rail around the narrow bed and no nails on the walls to prevent examinees from taking things too hard and hanging themselves. 

There were thin and soft mats on the floor. Zhang Ping tried to lift it, but the mats were stuck down. It was probably for convenience as they’d be easier to remove after the exam compared to renovating the entire floor surface. The exam room walls had been whitewashed, and the tables and chairs were also newly painted. 

There was an oil lamp on the low tea table; flint and a mosquito-repellant coil were placed in the drawer.

Outside, guards repeatedly made inspections; they stopped in front of the door and looked at Zhang Ping vigilantly. Zhang Ping stopped looking around and sat on the cold bed before using a cattail-leaf fan to fan himself a little. The guard remained there for another moment, then left. 

»»————-¤————-««

At night, Zhang Ping felt a little tired from answering the examination papers, so he stopped writing and took a rest. When he laid down on the bed, he suddenly found out that the bamboo strips at the head could be removed. 

He removed the bamboo strips and found nicks on their backs. Since the order had been messed up from disassembly, he rearranged them one by one; the nicks actually formed a row of meandering characters. 

Zhang Ping grew up in a Daoist temple, so he knew this was a talisman. This was most likely made by an examinee from one of the previous imperial examinations who wanted to use the so-called god’s powers to help him answer the questions, so he etched it on the bed. Fearing discovery, he broke up the bamboo strips and re-fixed them before he left. These strokes were different from handwriting strokes, so the people in charge of refurbishing the exam room’s furniture didn’t pay it any mind. 

Only, examinees who wanted to do this would typically draw (1) Wenchang talismans, (2) Kuixing talismans, etc. This talisman was for inviting ghosts and was for inviting ghosts who died under tragic circumstances no less. 

Zhang Ping looked towards the bamboo strips and contemplated for a moment. The fire from the oil lamp flickered; from the door and window cracks came a sudden, quiet sob. 

The voice was both far and near. Zhang Ping pushed open the back window to identify who it was but saw a feeble light flashing from the exam room opposite his. 

The sob truly came from the direction of that window. A dark shadow flickered against the window’s paper-screen and the firelight suddenly extinguished; the sob also went still in the night. 

The empty exam room across the water channel stood quietly in the dark night as if everything just then was an illusion from his dreams. 

»»————-¤————-««

In the morning, the examinee neighbouring Zhang Ping was carried out of the exam venue on a stretcher. 

The servants had come to deliver breakfast, but nobody answered the door. They pushed open the door, only to see the examinee foaming at his mouth, collapsed on the floor and unconscious. 

The doctor came to check on him and said it was epilepsy, that it was fortunate he hadn’t bit his tongue, but he could no longer continue with the exam; his examination papers could only be handed in and the person himself carried out of the exam venue. 

The examinee laid on the stretcher. His hands slightly twitched, then he suddenly sat up and shouted, “There’s a ghost! There’s a ghost!”

Several guards pressed him down on the stretcher and hurried forward. A venue patrol turned his head and saw Zhang Ping, along with some other examinees, standing by their doors. He frowned and waved his hand. “All of you, go back in. In which imperial examination does this not happen once or twice? If you step out, you either have to hand in your examination papers or be punished for cheating.” 

Zhang Ping and the other examinees returned to their rooms. 

Zhang Ping remembered that the room with the firelight last night was the vacant exam room opposite exam room number 356. 

»»————-¤————-««

After this incident, there was peace in the exam venue. No more strange events happened, up until the end of the exam. 

After three days, Lan Jue was released from the small courtyard. A sedan chair carried him inside the Imperial City Wenguan Pavilion; he and every other minister who was to participate in grading the examination papers were to be locked up here once more until they’ve finished. 

According to reports, this year’s imperial examination was extremely successful; except for one examinee who was taken away from the exam venue due to illness, the rest smoothly completed their papers. 

Lan Jue and the other ministers were very pleased to hear this. But right at this time, Lan Jue’s immediate superior, the backbone of this year’s exam and the Chief Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Gong Songming, was sent back to Fuzhong for recuperation due to a summer cold and dysentery. He could no longer participate in the grading. 

After Minister Gong fell, two ministers as old as him also fell. The Imperial Court had no choice but to transfer other people to grade the papers, so they temporarily sent over a pair of young and vigorous Hanlin Academy graduates. However, Minister Gong’s position was far from ordinary; they needed to find someone at least the same rank as him. Lan Jue and the other ministers all guessed that Grand Tutor Yun would have to show up and keep everything under control. Unexpectedly, the young Emperor’s imperial edict actually dispatched the Ministry of Justice’s Chief Minister Tao Zhoufeng to substitute Gong Songming’s position and preside over the grading. 

In all fairness, among former Grand Tutor Liu Xian’s disciples, Tao Zhoufeng was the most knowledgeable and could be considered the greatest scholar in his generation. Serving this position was far more suitable compared to serving in the Ministry of Justice; in addition, Tao Zhoufeng had a good temper and never liked making decisions on his own – he loved letting his subordinates take charge. The ministers evaluating and grading the papers had their authority limits broadened, so they were delighted and sincerely willing, elated and excited, feeling as if the young Emperor was grand and wise. 

Wenguan Pavilion was at the southwestern nook of the Imperial City. Lan Jue and the other eight ministers would sleep in the side hall at night and grade in the main hall during the day. The main hall was separated into four inner rooms; two ministers would review papers in each room while Tao Zhoufeng stayed outside to drink tea and kept watch. 

For the first review, ten papers needed to be recommended from each of the four categories: one’s moral principles, ethics, virtue and understanding of the law. The second review was to be presided over by Tao Zhoufeng; from fourty exam papers, he would select three, placing the examinees on the list and sending it to the Emperor for preparation of the (3) court examination. 

Lan Jue was the one who came up with the questions for the ‘understanding of the law’ exam and his nephew, Liu Tong, took the ‘virtue’ exam, so he could only review the ‘moral principles’ and ‘ethics’ exam papers. Lan Jue had wanted to review the ‘moral principles’ papers, but the graduate who had once impeached him, Li Fangtong, also wanted to review the ‘moral principles’ papers. Li Fangtong was the Head of Secretariat, Li Yue’s, nephew, and Li Yue’s daughter was a soon-to-be conceiving Princess Consort; in other words, Li Fangtong was soon to become the Emperor’s uncle’s wife’s father’s nephew. He could even be considered a generation higher than the Emperor. 

Lan Jue pondered and determined he couldn’t afford to provoke an imperial relative. Minister Li had an impulsive temperament and hated evil as one would their enemy; if he stayed away from the other, it’d be harder to provoke him – which would be the best for everyone – so Lan Jue chose the ‘ethics’ papers. 

Lan Jue’s choice was proven to be very shrewd. Several days later, Minister Li and Minister Liu, who was reviewing the papers with him, started fighting; they fought all the way to Tao Zhoufeng. 

Lan Jue cautiously surveyed from inside the ethics’ room. Li Fangtong and Minister Liu were disputing over two exam papers. There was only one vacancy left in the ‘moral principles’ recommendation list; Minister Liu looked upon one paper whereas Li Fangtong looked upon another. They demanded Tao Zhoufeng to make a judgement. Tao Zhoufeng tried to smooth things over by saying, “The Emperor’s imperial edict says that this imperial examination selects talents for promotion, so there’s no need to rigidly adhere with trite. Although choosing fourty exam papers is an old practice, there are always exceptions; just like how although I am only the Ministry of Justice’s Chief Minister, I can still sit here. Since it’s so difficult for the two of you to decide, it’s clear both examinees have outstanding qualities. Therefore, we can allow eleven recommendations from the ‘moral principles’ exam and make a decision from fourty-one exam papers.” 

Tao Zhoufeng wrote an accordion booklet over 5000 characters long, and the young Emperor responded with five words – Everything is up to (4) qing. 

Tao Zhoufeng held the official reply in both hands. The remaining thirty-nine papers had also been recommended; it was time to review them. 

When reviewing, Tao Zhoufeng held up a paper from the virtue exam; he caressed it admiringly and clicked his tongue in amazement. The two ministers that presided over the virtue exam papers had endlessly praised this paper, describing it to be a beautiful literary work with sage-like and vigorous calligraphy; the examinee had to be the imperial examination’s top scorer and be immediately selected. 

After the selection, Lan Jue also went to take a look at the exam paper. 

It was, indeed, written with a fair hand, the answers not bad, and the literary work was distinct and outstanding; it could be considered perfect. He opened the seal. Displayed was an expected name – Liu Tongyi. 

The next twenty-eight papers were quickly eliminated, up until he reached the two exam papers Li Fangtong and Minister Liu were fighting for. Liu Fangtong and Minister Liu each stuck to their own versions. Tao Zhoufeng was very hesitant between these two papers; the seals of the remaining twenty-nine papers had been opened and a copy of the list had already been made, reading to be announced, yet Tao Zhoufeng still hadn’t finished hesitating yet. 

Among the twenty-nine people that’d been selected, Lan Jue didn’t see Zhang Ping; he felt a slight sense of regret. Maybe the youth had an excellent mind, but it just wasn’t suitable for the imperial examination. This was unfortunate for the Imperial Court.

Thinking of this, Lan Jue found it slightly funny – if Zhang Ping entered the court, it must be into the same ministry as Li Yan and Li Fangtong. Then he wondered what business he had with this matter; since when did he work himself up over this kind of concern? 

In the side room, Li Fangtong and Minister Liu had already begun mutually attacking each other, each questioning the other whether he’d accepted bribery for candidate selections. 

In the end, Liu Fangtong said, “How about this – we’ll open the seal for both exam papers first and publicise their names, then have everyone review and decide together?” 

When the seals for both exam papers were opened, Lan Jue was just as stunned as Tao Zhoufeng when he saw the names, followed by a sense of joy.

The person Li Fangtong selected was Zhang Ping.

The exam paper recommended by Minister Liu was written by an examinee called Ma Lian. 

(1) Wenchang Talisman – used by people who wish for comprehension and academic abilities. 

(2) Kuixing Talisman – used by people who wish for their wisdom and intelligence to be enhanced.

(3) Court Examination – the top-grade imperial exam.

(4) Qing – a term used by the Emperor when referring to his subjects