The Tang Dynasty’s Female Forensic Doctor

Zaixia = A humble way of addressing yourself

Laoxiu = A way of self-reference used by an old man

One Sichen = 2 hours

Wen = A unit of cash; it was usually equivalent to 1 coin during Tang Dynasty. From what I read, during this time 1 tael = 1000 wen.

Sang Chen took the drawn record of the game and stuffed in the old man’s hand. Then he took the chess pieces and the chessboard and stuffed inside his basket. He disregarded the money he could still collect and hurriedly slung the basket over his shoulders, “Miss, zaixia has packed everything.”

Ran Yan nodded and turned around, walking away from the crowd.

“This Young Master.” The old man holding the game record stood up and called him out loud.

Sang Chen stopped and looked at him puzzled, “Why has Senior called out this Junior?”

The old man tossed his sleeves and bowed with his hands clasped, “Young Master is gifted with extraordinary talent. Laoxiu is full of admiration, and wonder if Young Master could share his name?”

Sang Chen promptly replied with courtesy, “Zaixia is Sang Chen, courtesy name is Sui Yuan. I am the newly arrived teacher in Zhoujia Village.”

“Sang Sui Yuan?” The old man’s eyes shined, and because of his high incredulity, he had to inquire, “I wonder who is Young Master’s teacher?”

Sang Chen briefly thought it over. He has had many teachers, inside the Imperial College alone he had all those academicians, and there were even the scholars from Chang’an. But there was only one person who had truly taught him, and so, he answered, “This Junior’s beloved mentor is the Master [1] of Xing Shan Temple, Huai Jing.

The old man displayed a delighted face and turned to say, “It’s been a long time since I wanted to meet with you. After two days, laoxiu will surely visit you.”

Sang Chen replied, “In two days, this Junior will certainly be patiently waiting for Senior’s visit.”

The two carried out their respectful salutations until it could be finally counted as completed.

The group of people was also gradually disbanding along with the conclusion of the game. Surprisingly, seven carriages were hindered at a corner, unable to move, and one of the carriages was the Ran Fu’s carriage.

After Ran Yan and Wan Lu entered, Sang Chen went to sit at the side of the coachman.

The carriage began to move slowly, making a smooth journey.

Wan Lu has long noticed that Sang Chen was interested in Ran Yan. Since the journey was boring, she leaned against the hanging screen in the carriage and inquired, “Mr. Sang, is your teacher a Buddhist monk?”

Sang Chen’s clear voice came from the outside, and he seemed to be in a good mood, “As a child, zaixia was raised in Xing Shan Temple. Literacy and education were all taught by Master Huai Jing. Although Master wasn’t formally a teacher, in my heart he is a teacher and a father.”

Ran Yan had heard about his identity from Ran Yunsheng. He certainly was a di son from the Cui clan but was abandoned in the house of his mother’s parents. It seems that they were also unwilling to raise the child, so he was thrown in the temple. It is only natural that he would have this kind of temperament seeing the way he was brought up.

Wan Lu, however, did not know about his identity, and hearing he was raised in the temple, she asked, “Was Mr. Sang put in foster care at the temple because of your bad birth numbers?” [2]

“This… Zaixia doesn’t know. Master Huai Jing [3] also never said anything about it, he only told zaixia to take a wife and have a child before my eighteenth birthday, but…” Sang Chen was somewhat frustrated, “Zaixia’s family is poor, and my future is uncertain, perhaps no Miss is willing to marry zaixia.”

Ran Yan pursed her mouth slightly. The Cui clan from Boling is a poor family? Even the number one scholar for four years has an uncertain future? Ran Yunsheng had said that Sang Chen is considered the most ideal husband in the minds of the noble ladies from Chang’an. If he appears, there is no way of knowing how many ladies will be fighting to decide who will marry him.

From the way Sang Chen spoke, he probably has never considered himself a child from the Cui clan.

“Why have you gone to the East entrance to play an endgame?” Ran Yan suddenly asked.

Sang Chen heard Ran Yan’s voice and was momentarily stunned, then his face soon broke into a wide smile, “I had previously borrowed a kiln from someone and its proprietor never collected the money. Afterward, the price turned out to be rather high. Zaixia and that proprietor are not familiar with each other, so it is hard to ask such a heavy favor, therefore, I arranged that chess endgame to earn some money.”

“I will send you twenty taels later, that kiln can also be considered as my expense.” Ran Yan drily said.

“That’s out of the question.” Sang Chen immediately retorted, then switched to a tender tone, “There’s bound to be a day when zaixia will pay it back.”

Ran Yan asked, “How much did you receive in this one game you arranged?”

“Ten wen.” Sang Chen pursed his lips and quickly calculated how many years will it take for him to repay the twenty taels.

Ran Yan fixed her mood before continuing her question, “Where have you been playing these chess endgames?”

Sang Chen could faintly feel that Ran Yan wasn’t very happy, so he timidly answered, “When zaixia has free time, zaixia would think about some gameplays for self-entertainment. Because zaixia was particularly free these last few years, zaixia has thought about it a lot.”

Ran Yan was dumbfounded, being angered by him to the point of helplessness, and in the end, she laughed. “After wasting all that mental power just for an endgame against another person, at least you made ten wen in this last sichen? Don’t you know something called worth?”

Ran Yan was straight out cold and insipid with Sang Chen. Sitting outside, Sang Chen felt as if he was sitting on pins and needles after triggering such an outburst of anger, and cautiously explained, “Originally, it was to be fifteen wen, but, that Senior said it was too expensive.”

“Fifteen. You are definitely going places.” Ran Yan said through clenched teeth.

It is both upsetting and laughable at the same time. Ran Yan wasted a good while only to restore her mood. However, as soon as she thought about it, why does it matter to her if he doesn’t want the money, wouldn’t it be fine if she just tossed some at him?

“Wan Lu, when we get out of the carriage, take twenty taels from the consultation fee we just received and give it to Mr. Sang.” Ran Yan coldly said.

Sang Chen stubbornly replied in a low voice: “Zaixia does not want it. Zaixia is a dignified…”

Ran Yan interrupted his words, strongly stating: “Since I’ll give it, you will want it! Do not throw it away.”

Sang Chen shrank back and used the lowest voice possible to mumble: “Miss is too fierce. <Admonition for Cultivated Ladies> says: The feminine virtue is gentleness, incorporating such standard will determine the auspiciousness. <The Women Biography> has also expressed: To guard carefully her chastity; to control circumspectly her behavior; in every motion to exhibit modesty; and to model each act on the best usage; this is ‘womanly virtue’.” [4]

[1] Master = 法师 (fashi) = used for Buddhists or Taoist priests who have mastered the sutras and are proficient in the teachings of Buddha.  

[2] She is referring to the Eight Chinese Characters which combines the year, month, day, and hour of someone’s birth to make fortune-telling. Here is the wiki page for it.  

[3] Master = 师父 (shifu); here he changed the way he addresses his master, and this word is a combination of teacher+father; it is also used for Buddhists or Taoist priests who havemastered the sutras and are proficient in the teachings of Buddha.  

[4] Admonition is a genre of prose that “probes” the effects of a particular action, warning against harmful or ill-considered behavior and exhorting to better conduct. (I went to the dictionary because I also didn’t know lol). The second one can be said to be an old way of writing to explain, elaborate and interpret the classics, be it the Confucian classics or religious scriptures; it is usually translated as biography, annals or commentary.