The Lonely City Closed

Chapter 3

Zhang Chengzhao made punching and kicking motions at the backs of the two men, then spat inwardly before answering, "First, they are eunuchs with ranks; second, they are eunuchs who have entered the Inner Palace Service."

I know that we are just lowly eunuchs without any rank, and that eunuchs in the inner palace are one rank higher than us, but I don’t understand why eunuchs in the inner palace who have entered the inner palace service deserve special respect.

“They are the ones who serve the emperor, empress, and princess! If they just stir up trouble in front of their masters, we’ll be in big trouble.” Zhang Chengzhao said dejectedly, “I was lazy back then and didn’t pay attention to learning etiquette, which is why I wasn’t assigned to the Inner Palace Attendants Department.”

After returning from the Secretariat, Zhang Chengzhao explained to me the importance of entering the various departments of the Inner Palace Service: "Those who directly serve in the Emperor's bedchamber or the Empress, concubines, and princesses are all selected from the Inner Palace Service. Furthermore, the departments under the Inner Palace Service are also quite important: the Imperial Pharmacy, responsible for verifying medical prescriptions and preparing medicines for the Emperor and for supplying the Forbidden City, is the most respected department in the palace; only meritorious eunuchs can be appointed 'Director of the Imperial Pharmacy'; the Inner East Gate Department, responsible for the entry and exit of palace personnel, can not only restrict their movement but also, if discovered..." If someone carries suspicious items, the matter can be directly submitted to the Imperial City Guard or reported to the Secretariat-Chancellery. With their supervision, even the Emperor wouldn't dare to arbitrarily bestow gifts upon anyone. The Contract and Receipt Office is in charge of issuing receipts for items requested from within the Forbidden City. For any special imperial decree, the name and quantity of the bestowed items are listed and handed over to the Office in charge of the Imperial Treasury for retrieval. Imperial gifts must be redeemed through them; who would dare offend them? The Dragon Pavilion, the Yu Chang Pavilion, and the Baowen Pavilion are responsible for storing ancestral writings, books, and auspicious talismans and precious objects—all extremely valuable items. The eunuchs serving there naturally hold a different status.

"Isn't the Inner Palace Service also serving the Emperor? Why must we distinguish between the two services?" I asked him.

"Very different, with varying levels of competence!" Zhang Chengzhao exclaimed repeatedly. "Look at what the various departments of the former provinces do: the Office of Relations with Foreign Countries, in charge of the diplomatic exchanges between Khitan envoys, is usually quite leisurely, but it has nothing to do with the people in the palace, so no one tries to curry favor with them; the Office of the Imperial Garden, in charge of the palace gardens, ponds, terraces, and other horticultural decorations for the emperor and empress's visits, is actually just a group of craftsmen and gardeners; the Workshop, in charge of manufacturing items for the palace and for the weddings of the imperial family, is also quite different." Those who do manual labor; the Military Head's Audience Office, in charge of facilitating the audiences of the Imperial Guards in the side palace, essentially acting as guides; our Hanlin Academy, which oversees the Astronomy, Calligraphy, Painting, and Medicine Bureaus, is slightly better, but even with excellent calligraphy, we'd at most do copying work under the Imperial Academy Attendants, or serve the officials in the Hanlin Academy and the Secretariat-Chancellery, never even getting close to the inner palace..."

I remained silent, then heard him sigh heavily: "Moreover, the salaries of people in the two provinces are different. Take the officials who serve in both provinces, for example. In our former province, the monthly salary of an official serving in the former province is ten thousand, plus five bolts of silk in spring and five bolts of silk in winter, plus twenty taels of cotton in winter. In the latter province, it's twelve thousand, plus five bolts of silk in spring, seven bolts in winter, and thirty taels of cotton... If a vacancy arises in the latter province and someone from the former province fills it, that's a promotion, and the person who gets the promotion is usually all smiles... Look at how well the officials in the latter province dress..."

"No, not exactly," I thought of someone: "Mr. Zhang from the East Gate of the Inner City dressed very simply."

Zhang Chengzhao was speechless for a moment. He scratched his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Maybe he wants to save money, so he lives frugally."

When I brought it up, he suddenly became curious again and asked me, "Did you know? I heard that it was Mr. Zhang who suggested you come to the Hanlin Academy. It's really strange. Wasn't he very good to you? He even gave you your name. Why didn't he let you go to the provincial capital?"

I smiled slightly and said, "I guess you feel this place suits you better. I think so too."

He shook his head disdainfully, his eyes clearly saying, "You're hopeless."

Another year passed, and we were both promoted to the rank of Palace Attendant. As a Palace Attendant, Zhang Chengzhao was quite sincere in his pursuit of promotion, counting on his fingers every day the ranks he would have to go through to reach the highest rank of Palace Attendant: "Palace Attendant, High-ranking Palace Attendant, High-ranking Palace Attendant, Palace Attendant Head, Western Palace Attendant, Eastern Palace Attendant, Attendant, Deputy Chief Administrator, Chief Administrator, Chief Chief Administrator... Chief Administrator of both Provinces..." Every time he mentioned "Chief Administrator of both Provinces," he would smile involuntarily, as if he could see this highest-ranking official position beckoning to him, which often made me laugh as well.

I once asked him, "Why do you want to be the head of both provinces?"

“There’s so much money!” he blurted out. “The monthly salary in both provinces is at least fifty thousand, which is fifty times ours.”

I don't understand why he's so obsessed with money: "What do we need so much money for? We can't buy a house, we can't get married, and we have no descendants to leave to us."

This stumped him. After a long pause, he said, "Putting aside money, as the head of two provinces, apart from the Emperor and the Empress, no one dares to hit or scold me. I'm the only one who hits and scolds others... We work hard in the palace, we must be trying to get something out of it, right? If you don't want a promotion, what are you after?"

This time, I remained silent. Back then, I seemed to live each day in a bland and indifferent way, without goals or hopes.

The Lonely City Closes (The Princess Who Fell in Love with the Eunuch) Autumn River, Hibiscus, Two Geese Fly 3. Cui Bai

Chapter word count: 4108 Update time: 08-08-21 15:32

At the age of twelve, I was transferred to work at the Hanlin Painting Academy. My rank remained unchanged, but my main job changed to serving the court painters and obeying the orders of the academy's officials. However, the eunuchs in the Bureau of Calligraphy and Painting were very sympathetic to me, saying that this was actually a demotion, since the Painting Academy was originally one rank lower than the Academy of Calligraphy.

I also know that the people in the Academy of Painting and Calligraphy were not of high status to begin with. Although the fourth and fifth-rank officials among them could wear scarlet and purple robes like ordinary civil officials, they were not allowed to wear fish ornaments. In the eyes of the world, the attendants of the Academy of Painting and Calligraphy were all "those who advanced through their art," and the respect they received was limited. Moreover, the people in the Painting Academy were inferior to those in the Academy of Calligraphy. Whenever the attendants were ranked, those from the Academy of Calligraphy were always at the head, followed by those from the Painting Academy, and only slightly better than those from the Academy of Music, Chess, Jade, and Crafts.

If this was the case for all the proper attendants, then the eunuchs among them were naturally ranked according to the opinions of others. Although they were all eunuchs and palace attendants, those from the Music Academy were not as good as those from the Painting Academy, and those from the Painting Academy were not as good as those from the Academy of Studies.

At that time, the chief official of the Hanlin Academy of Painting and Calligraphy was Ren Shouzhong, so Zhang Chengzhao suggested to me: "Go and ask Mr. Zhang to speak to the Empress and have her order Chief Ren to keep you in the academy."

I remained noncommittal. He winked at me again and laughed, "Go ahead and say it, it's alright. Mr. Zhang is a favorite of the Empress. If he says a word, you won't need to go to the painting academy."

I shook my head at him, rejecting the suggestion. I didn't doubt that Mr. Zhang was highly regarded and trusted by the Empress, but I also knew clearly that it wasn't his style to take advantage of the Empress's favor to make extra demands. His last act of saving me was purely accidental, and I didn't want him to break that rule again. I never dared to hope for, nor did I want to see, anyone begging from others because of me.

The painters of the Painting Academy were divided into five ranks: Painting Master, Attendant-in-Waiting, Art Scholar, Attendant-in-Waiting, and Court Painter. Those who did not receive a rank were Painting Students, whose paintings were for the imperial court or were commissioned to paint in specific places such as temples and Taoist monasteries. This was a quieter place. Every ten days, paintings from the Imperial Collection were retrieved for the painters to appreciate and copy. This day was a little tiring, but there were not many other matters to attend to. Most of the time, I only needed to stand by and listen to the officials of the Painting Academy lecture or watch the painters paint.

Among all the painters, I especially loved watching my student Cui Bai paint. He was from Haoliang and was in his early twenties at the time. He was exceptionally talented, with a free and unrestrained personality and a wild and unconventional way of doing things. He often went his own way, which attracted the attention of the painting academy officials. However, there was a touch of spirituality in his paintings that was rarely seen in ordinary court paintings, which I greatly admired.

One late autumn day, the leaves were falling and rustling in the courtyard of the painting academy. He was sketching alone with a few sparrows on the tree. I stood behind him quietly watching. When he put down his brush to rest, he turned around and noticed me. He smiled and asked, "Does a nobleman also love painting?"

I stepped back and bowed slightly, saying, "Huaiji, you have been abrupt and have spoiled Young Master Cui's enjoyment."

“No, not at all,” Cui Bai said with a smile. “I’m just curious why the Imperial Nobleman doesn’t go to see the painters at the Painting Academy to paint, but always pays so much attention to my humble work.”

I thought for a moment and said, “I remember the day Huaiji first entered the painting academy, he saw that all the painting students were copying Huang Jucai’s flower and bird paintings with the painting master. Only you were an exception. You just turned your head to look out the window and painted birds flying on the branches in the courtyard.”

Cui Bai waved his hand and smiled: "Huang's flower and bird paintings are exquisite and magnificent. I can never learn them in this lifetime, so I might as well just scribble them myself."

I smiled and said, "Young Master Cui's writing is spontaneous and effortless, requiring no ruler or measuring tool, yet his strokes are perfectly in accordance with the rules. I have always deeply admired him."

"You flatter me, Your Excellency." After saying this, Cui Bai slowly picked up his brush again, and before putting pen to paper, he suddenly asked me, "Does anyone in this painting academy still need to use a ruler and string when painting?"

Of course, even the head of the painting academy does it occasionally. But I just smiled calmly and didn't answer.

Perhaps he already had his answer, Cui Bai didn't press further. With a haughty smile, he commented with three words: "I despise it!" He then turned around and continued painting. A few strands of hair that were never properly combed still hung down his forehead, occasionally fluttering against his face as he moved his brush, but his gaze remained focused on the painting, completely ignoring them.

We gradually became acquainted and would often meet to chat about calligraphy and painting. He noticed my interest in painting and offered to teach me, which I was very happy to do. Whenever we had free time, we would learn painting from him.

One day, he taught me to paint partridges in a spring forest using the boneless technique. A painter from the painting academy happened to be passing by our studio and was surprised to see me painting. He went inside to take a look. I immediately put down my brush and bowed to him as usual. He did not respond but walked straight to my side and carefully examined my painting.

Since their ancestors' time, the Imperial Painting Academy of the Qing Dynasty has exclusively adhered to the Huang Family Academy style of painting, created by Huang Quan and his son Huang Jucai. When painting flowers, bamboo, and birds, they first sketch with charcoal, then outline the contours with extremely fine ink lines, and finally repeatedly fill in the colors, resulting in meticulous and richly detailed paintings with a vibrant and expressive style. However, the painter Zheng saw that my painting had a refined and elegant color scheme, and that the partridge in my work was not entirely outlined with ink lines; the details of its feathers were mostly rendered with different shades of ink and ochre, which was quite different from the Huang Family Academy style, which was considered the standard of the academy. His face immediately darkened, and he coldly said to Cui Bai, "Did you teach him to paint like this?"

Cui Bai nodded and said leisurely, "Painting birds doesn't always have to involve outlining and piling up colors. Occasionally, mixing in boneless light ink dots can also create a rustic charm."

The painting master suddenly slammed his hand on the table and raised his voice: "You're misleading students!"

Cui Bai was neither afraid nor angry. He simply bowed to him solemnly and stood with his eyes lowered.

Hua Xuezheng suppressed his anger and turned to me, saying, "If you, a nobleman, wish to learn painting, you can consult the Imperial Academy's painters and art scholars. When you first begin learning, you must carefully choose a good teacher and not be led astray by those who are ignorant and incompetent."

I bowed respectfully, as if to receive instruction. The painting master glared at Cui Bai again before turning and leaving.

After he walked away, Cui Bai turned his head to look at me, deliberately speaking in a serious tone: "Please choose another good teacher, Your Excellency, and do not follow this ignorant and incompetent person astray."

My answer was: "If Young Master Cui has led me astray, then I will never walk the right path again in this life."

We smiled at each other, and afterwards became even closer. At his suggestion, we stopped being so formal with each other; he called me by my name, and I called him by his courtesy name, "Zixi."

The painting academy grew increasingly disgusted with Cui Bai, repeatedly discussing his painting skills and conduct with his colleagues, expressing many disparaging remarks. As a result, Cui Bai was frequently suppressed by the painting academy, and his paintings were always rated as inferior in every competition, never having the opportunity to be presented to the emperor for his perusal.

Cui Bai didn't care and continued to paint and sketch in his own style, paying no attention to the teachings of the painting academy officials. Whenever there was a lecture, he was either absent or late. Even when he sat in the hall, he didn't listen carefully. He would often look out the window and daydream, or simply fall asleep at his desk. Only after the painting academy officials finished speaking would he stretch out his arms, yawn, get up leisurely, and walk away under the officials' angry glares.