The Goddess of Autumn (7)

"At that time,  the Autumn Goddess was sitting on a parasol tree while I was sitting under that tree studying. She told me that if I go ahead and worship her, I could become a top scholar. And now, it seems like the words have come true," said Ye Wenqu.

I pondered.

This was something that I could have possibly done, so I thought about it deeply, trying to remember it.

"But that might just be a dream I had when I was a child. After all, I can't even remember the appearance of the goddess," Ye Wenqu added.

At this moment, a servant came in and told Ye Wenqu, "Top Scholar, the second and the third ranked scholars have already gone to the banquet in the Qionglin, and only you are left."

"Miss Qiu, I'll be leaving first," Ye Wenqu said to me.

I nodded. I had remembered what Ye Wenqu mentioned before.

Turns out the child I had encountered at that time was him.

That day, I was lying on a parasol tree in the mortal realm, sleeping soundly. Then I suddenly heard a child reciting a poem under the tree.

"Confucius said, Learning without thinking leads to perplexity. Thinking without learning leads to trouble. Confucius said, The mind of the superior man is conversant with righteousness, while the mind of the mean man is conversant with gain."

This child's endless 'Confucius said' interrupted my sleep thus waking me up. Feeling annoyed, I shouted from the tree, "Kid, stop reciting."

The seven or eight-year-old Ye Wenqu heard my voice and looked up.

"Who are you?"

I didn't want to pay any attention to him. So I closed my eyes, intending to go back to sleep. But unexpectedly, Ye Wenqu climbed up the tree and sat next to me.

Sensing the movement, I opened my eyes, ready to scold him, but he blinked his sparkling eyes and said, "You're so beautiful! Even more beautiful than my mother. Are you a fairy?"

I choked back on what I was about to say. This child's words were really irritating but also somewhat endearing. Noticing his cute and lively appearance, I felt like teasing him. I pinched his little face and said, "No, I am the Goddess of Autumn from the heaven."

"Wow!" he exclaimed in astonishment.

"So, you should listen to the words of the goddess and stop studying."

"But my father said the county examination is coming, and I have to study hard. In the future, I will have to participate in the college examination, the provincial exam, and even the palace exam..."

"Do you want to be the top scholar?"

Little Ye Wenqu nodded.

I smiled and said, "Then go to the temple of the Goddess of Autumn tomorrow and worship more, then you can become the top scholar."

"Really?" he asked me with his sparkling eyes.

"Of course! How could the goddess lie to you!" I continued to fool him.

"Okay, then I'll ask my father to take me to the temple of the Goddess of Autumn tomorrow."

"Good. Now, quickly go back."

"Alright." Little Ye Wenqu replied and then he climbed down the tree, took his book and went home

Watching his lively figure leaving, I cast a spell on him to make him forget my appearance. I leaned against the tree and closed my eyes again.

'Silly child, if you don't study hard, how could you become the top scholar? You can look forward to being scolded by your parents when you reached home, but at least I can sleep peacefully now.'

Thinking about this, I couldn't help but feel relieved for Ye Wenqu. Fortunately, he didn't listen to me back then, otherwise he wouldn't have become the top scholar.

It rained in the mortal realm,. These mortals thought that I was angry so they hastily tidied up my temple. They kneeled in front of my statue, offering incense, praying for good weather and abundant harvests in the upcoming year.

My temple was bustling for the first time. The faces of these mortals truly changed in a flash.

It was raining heavily outside, so I could lie down comfortably in the temple and sleep.

.

.

After a few days, I strolled through the streets and saw a woman crouching on the roadside, crying. She looked somewhat familiar, so I walked over.

As soon as I approached, the woman knelt at my feet.

"Goddess, the slave regrets it."

I took a closer look and realized she was the fairy who begged me to descend to the mortal realm that day.

"Did that man treat you badly?" I asked.

"He once said he only loved me, but later ...... he fell in love with someone else."

"Now that you know what kind of person he is, you should return to the Qiuwu Palace."

"Yes, thank you Goddess."

The fairy who was kneeling prepared to get up. I felt like helping her but when I touched her, she quickly shrank back.

Feeling something was wrong, I rolled up her sleeve and saw that her hands were covered in scars. I furrowed my brow, staring at the fairy and asked, “Did that mortal cause this?"

The fairy nodded.

"Although your magic power is a bit low, but how could you be bullied by him?"

The fairy lowered her head and didn't speak. I also didn't say anything more. I pulled her hand, headed towards that mortal's residence.

When I kicked open the door,the mortal was hugging two women in his arm with his clothes disheveled. 

This fairy's vision was so bad that she fell in love with such a worthless man.

"How dare you! Who let you in..."

Before the mortal could finish his words, I stepped forward and kicked him to the ground, effortlessly dislocating one of his arms.

The mortal let out a pig-like scream.

"You take the other arm. " I said, looking at the fairy standing in the doorway.

After hearing my words, the fairy walked towards the mortal with her eyes full of hatred.

"Don't... don't come over..." The mortal was terrified.

With a crisp sound, the mortal's other arm was broken. I also broke both of his legs. Then, I took the fairy and left.

I let the fairy return to the heaven while I continued to stay in the mortal realm.

 

[Note:]

This chapter kinda gave me headache :)

Here are the original poem text: “子曰,学而不思则罔,思而不学则殆。子曰, 君子喻于义,小人喻于利。”

Thanks to this site and this site for the poem translation. Keep in mind that different website would probably have different translation but the meaning will stay the same.

Lemme walk you through a bit for 子曰. As far as I know yue (曰) is similar to say and the character before yue refers to the name of the person saying it. In this case Confucious - Kong zi - zi(子). So Ziyue means confucious said, some translates it to Master said and it's not wrong either! :D

And this is the Keju System, also called Imperial Examination System -> examination to select officals, which was multi-tiered.

More explanation here.

[In case for some confused people, top scholar = the participant who ranked first in the exam]