Six Records of a Floating Life (Chapter two: Relaxation of Leisure 08)

    Among the friends at Hsiaoshuanglou, four things were tabooed: firstly, talking about people's official promotions; secondly, gossiping about law-suits and current affairs; thirdly, discussing the conventional eight-legged essays for the imperial examinations; and fourthly, playing cards and dice. Whoever broke any of these rules was penalized to provide five catties of wine.

    On the other hand, there were four things which we all approved: generosity, romantic charm, free and easy ways, and quietness. In the long summer days when we had nothing to do, we used to hold examinations among ourselves.

    At those parties, there would be eight persons, each bringing two hundred cash along. We began by drawing lots, and the one who got the first would be the official examiner, seated on top by himself, while the second one would be the official recorder, also seated in his place. The others would then be the candidates, each taking a slip of paper, properly stamped with a seal, from the official recorder.

    The examiner then gave out a line of seven words and one of five words, with which each of us was to make the best couplet. The time limit was the burning of a joss-stick and we were to tease our brains standing or walking about, but were not allowed to exchange words with each other.

    When a candidate had made the couplets, he placed them in a special box and then returned to his seat. After all the papers had been handed in, the official recorder then opened the box and copied them together in a book, which he submitted to the examiner, thus safeguarding against any partiality on the latter's part.

    Of these couplets submitted, three of the seven-word lines and three of the five-word lines were to be chosen as the best. The one who turned in the best of these six chosen couplets would then be the official examiner for the next round, and the second best would be the official recorder.

    One who had two couplets failing to be chosen would be fined twenty cash, one failing in one couplet fined ten cash, and failures handed in beyond the time limit would be fined twice the amount. The official examiner would get one hundred cash "incense money. "

    Thus we could have ten examinations in a day and provide a thousand cash with which to buy wine and have a grand drinking party. Yun's paper alone was considered special and exempt from fine, and she was allowed the privilege of thinking out her lines on her seat.

    One day Yang Pufan made a sketch of Yun and myself working at a garden with wonderful likeness. On that night, the moon was very bright and was casting a wonderfully picturesque shadow of an orchid flower on the white wall. Inspired by some hard drinking, Hsing-Ian said to me, "Pufan can paint your portrait sketch, but I can paint the shadows of flowers. "

    “Will the sketch of flowers be as good as that of a man?” I asked.Then Hsing-lan took a piece of paper and placed it against the wall, on which he traced the shadow of the orchid flower with dark and light inkings. When we looked at it in the day-iime, there was a kind of haziness about the lines of leaves and flowers, suggestive of the moonlight, although it could not be called a real painting. Yun liked it very much and all my friends wrote their inscriptions on it.