rix_scaedu

This follows on from Returning to the Scene of Someone Else's Crime and comes in at 2,950 words.

From my point of view, the rest of the evening passed without undue incident. Master Que did talk to Master Kung, but he didn’t share anything from the conversation with me. The manager of The Riverside Terrace dropped by our table and said some kind things about our actions the previous week, and I visited Gow Sien Tong at his new stable’s table to pay my respects. On the way back to our table for tea and a plate of sweets I paused to exchange niceties with Master Dang and again to exchange bows with Master and Madam Kung. When I got back to the table, Master Que introduced me to both another of the local Hoshun Masters, Master Yi who was a tall, thin, bald man who kept his hands tucked together in his robe sleeves across the front of his torso, and his associate, Zhu Shu Xu who was emaciated and neither looked nor smelt well. Zhu Shu Xu graciously accepted my offer of tea when the fresh pot arrived, and slowly drank half a cup while the two Masters finished their conversation. When he and Master Yi moved on, Zhu Shu Xu’s gait was almost painfully careful; Master Que and I exchanged glances but said nothing.

( Read more... )

This is now followed by I Manage To Cause Contention.

This follows on from Returning to the Scene of Someone Else's Crime and comes in at 2,950 words.

From my point of view, the rest of the evening passed without undue incident. Master Que did talk to Master Kung, but he didn’t share anything from the conversation with me. The manager of The Riverside Terrace dropped by our table and said some kind things about our actions the previous week, and I visited Gow Sien Tong at his new stable’s table to pay my respects. On the way back to our table for tea and a plate of sweets I paused to exchange niceties with Master Dang and again to exchange bows with Master and Madam Kung. When I got back to the table, Master Que introduced me to both another of the local Hoshun Masters, Master Yi who was a tall, thin, bald man who kept his hands tucked together in his robe sleeves across the front of his torso, and his associate, Zhu Shu Xu who was emaciated and neither looked nor smelt well. Zhu Shu Xu graciously accepted my offer of tea when the fresh pot arrived, and slowly drank half a cup while the two Masters finished their conversation. When he and Master Yi moved on, Zhu Shu Xu’s gait was almost painfully careful; Master Que and I exchanged glances but said nothing.
( Read more... )

This is now followed by I Manage To Cause Contention.

This comes from my September prompt request, here or here, and is in response to zianuray's prompt "Early Master Que and a (water) spring". It came in at 619 words.

Que Tzu took a deep draw on his cigarette, then asked his hostess, “So, what is it that you want me to do, exactly, Madam Cai?” He looked around the unkempt garden that abutted the earthquake tumbled house and added, “I’m a gi fighter, not a handyman.”

The older, taller woman, not that it was too hard to be taller than the national professional gi-champion, replied, “We both know that gi fighters are sorcerers by another name. You are recognised as one of the most powerful currently active, and you are an earth specialist.”

Que Tzu looked particularly disreputable as he mildly interjected, “I’m Hoshun. Earth is one of our elements, but I wouldn’t call me a specialist.” He added, “Ma’am,” and gestured somewhat decoratively with the smoking cigarette.

She looked at him repressively and replied, “Young man, I had not heard anything to suggest that false modesty is one of your faults.”

“Oh, it’s not,” he assured her cheerfully with a puff of cigarette smoke. “I’m more of a generalist in the Hoshun sphere of practice; I could give you the contact details for at least four people who are better with earth gi than I am.”

She nodded in acknowledgement, but said, “You, however, are here. You are also…in need of funds, or so my contacts tell me.” He nodded in acknowledgement of her point. “I need to get this site ready to rebuild upon. I’m sure you can tell that the house was derelict even before the earthquake, but the spring here in the garden is new and in the way of our plans. It needs to be gone.”

“I can’t help you,” replied Que Tzu. He drew in through his cigarette and blew out a long plume of smoke before adding, “It’s a spring. It simply doesn’t pay to mess with them. Haven’t you heard the story about Lei Feng Guan and the Ming Family Village?”

“I’ve never heard of Lei Feng Guan,” said Madam Cai tightly. “What has he to do with this matter?”

“He’s a powerful but foolish sorcerer my first Master used to tell me bedtime stories about,” Que Tzu told her between puffs on his cigarette, the smoke beginning to form a haze around him. “The Mings hired him to move a spring for them, and he shifted it about four times before half the village was swept away by mud and the other half slid down the other side of the hill on a sheet of underlying rock.”

“Can’t you just put things back the way they were before the earthquake?” Madam Cai may have sounded a little plaintive.

“I don’t know how things were before the earthquake,” pointed out Que Tzu. “If I simply block the spring off, then the water is going to work its way out somewhere else, and I have no idea where that might be. You could well wind up with a worse problem than you have now. Frankly, I suggest changing your plans to include a nice garden water feature that you can stock with lucky fish.”

“So, you’re not going to do anything for me?” Madam Cai was beginning to look angry.

“I’m not going to block up a spring for you,” corrected Que Tzu. “I am going to walk around town checking the water here isn’t coming from a broken water pipe somewhere. Just in case fixing your problem is really that simple.”

“That is…quite practical,” conceded Madam Cai. “A fishpond could be a desirable feature; I will think on it.”

“It could be worse,” pointed put Que Tzu, gesturing with his cigarette.

“How so?” She raised a delicately arched eyebrow.

He smiled. “Someone could be accusing you of stealing their spring.”

Crossposts: https://rix-scaedu.livejournal.com/306967.html

This follows on from It's Not All New Now and runs to 2,663 words. It is also, if I can count correctly, the fifty-fith episode of Nai....

I put down my things, sat on one of the other seats around the small table he was using, and asked, “What do you want to do?”

“I want you to win, of course,” he told me, punctuating this statement by exhaling a stream of cigarette smoke. “I also want to rub a certain young Master’s nose in his own ignorance.”

( Read more... )

This is now followed by In Which the Minutiae of Daily Life Do Not Grind.

This follows on from It's Not All New Now and comes in at 2,663 words. It also seems to be the 55th episode of Nai....

I put down my things, sat on one of the other seats around the small table he was using, and asked, “What do you want to do?”

“I want you to win, of course,” he told me, punctuating this statement by exhaling a stream of cigarette smoke. “I also want to rub a certain young Master’s nose in his own ignorance.”

( Read more... )

This is now followed by In Which the Minutiae of Daily Life Do Not Grind.

This follows on from Social Business and runs for 2,745 words.

Madam He continued to be penetratingly dissatisfied with He Ban first thing in the morning, and I escaped to the bathroom as quickly as I could on waking. I went downstairs for breakfast and provided for the family shrine before I ate my own meal. Master Que was not evident until I came downstairs with my university things to grab my lunch before I left, which was when I found him making a fresh pot of tea in the kitchen.

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This is now followed by Returning To The Scene of Someone Else's Crime.

This follows on from Social Business and runs for 2,745 words.

( Read more... )

This is now followed by Returning to the Scene of Someone Else's Crime.

This follows on from Unexpected Afternoon Episodes and runs for 2,921 words.

We repaired to The House of Internal Repose, which I would never have found on my own as it was in through a side door between two shop entrances on the Boulevarde, and then up a flight of stairs to a large room that was open to the afternoon air over a courtyard or alley on the opposite side of the building to the Boulevarde. The outlook of a wall of apartment windows in a brick wall was partly obscured by a row of ornamental plants along the ledge of the tea house, and I hoped that the large bamboos and jade plants also enhanced the outlook of the apartment dwellers. We were met at the top of the stairs by a lady of the formidable category universally addressed by the rest of us as “Aunty”. Master Dang asked the middle-aged lady with permed hair tied back in a headscarf for a table for five, and in one breath she both introduced herself as Aunty Reng and then flirted with both Master Dang and Mr Li.

( Read more... )

This is now followed by It's Not All New Now.

This follows on from Unexpected Afternoon Episodes and runs for 2,921 words.

We repaired to The House of Internal Repose, which I would never have found on my own as it was in through a side door between two shop entrances on the Boulevarde, and then up a flight of stairs to a large room that was open to the afternoon air over a courtyard or alley on the opposite side of the building to the Boulevarde. The outlook of a wall of apartment windows in a brick wall was partly obscured by a row of ornamental plants along the ledge of the tea house, and I hoped that the large bamboos and jade plants also enhanced the outlook of the apartment dwellers. We were met at the top of the stairs by a lady of the formidable category universally addressed by the rest of us as “Aunty”.

Master Dang asked the middle-aged lady with permed hair tied back in a headscarf for a table for five, and in one breath she both introduced herself as Aunty Reng and then flirted with both Master Dang and Mr Li.

( Read more... )

This is now followed by It's Not All New Now.

This follows on from More Domesticity and Business, and came in at 2,561 words.

After lunch I spent the afternoon in the training room with Master Que revising my forms and reviewing my combat strategies. We finished with a new set of forms, something that hadn’t happened for some time. I’d finished my third run through on my own when Master Que commented, “Very commendable for such an early effort, but enough for today. What were you humming just then?”

I stopped and thought. “The music that goes with those movements. It helps with timing some of the hand gestures.”

( Read more... )

This is now followed by Social Business.

This follows on from More Domesticity and Business, and came in at 2,561 words.

After lunch I spent the afternoon in the training room with Master Que revising my forms and reviewing my combat strategies. We finished with a new set of forms, something that hadn’t happened for some time. I’d finished my third run through on my own when Master Que commented, “Very commendable for such an early effort, but enough for today. What were you humming just then?”

I stopped and thought. “The music that goes with those movements. It helps with timing some of the hand gestures.”

( Read more... )
This is now followed by Social Business.

This follows on from Last Day of the School Week (Part 2) and runs for 3, 089 words.

I got up before the He family next door, that or He Ban was permitted to sleep in on weekends, and quickly dressed before going downstairs to address the family shrine before spending a quiet hour in the garden on my gi forms. When I went back inside for breakfast Master Que was just pouring out tea for both of us, and he had rice with pickles set out on the table for us both.

( Read more... )

This is now followed by Unexpected Afternoon Episodes.

This follows on from Last Day of the School Week and runs for 3, 089 words.

I got up before the He family next door, that or He Ban was permitted to sleep in on weekends, and quickly dressed before going downstairs to address the family shrine before spending a quiet hour in the garden on my gi forms. When I went back inside for breakfast Master Que was just pouring out tea for both of us, and he had rice with pickles set out on the table for us both.

( Read more... )
This is now followed by Unexpected Afternoon Episodes.

This follows on from Mostly an Evening Out and runs to 4,725 words.

It was a very pleasant morning, and warm enough to make me glad both that the warmest part of the year was past and that I usually started earlier in the morning than this. On the other hand, the shops were open, and more people were about. I dropped coins in the bowls of a shaven-haired monk, a beggar who looked like he had a wasting disease, and an education charity for foreign refugees. Those donations meant I had no qualms about turning down the opposing political parties touting for business at the University gates – I even managed to escape without copies of their handouts. Ying Li from my tutorial group wasn’t being so fortunate, the young man with a clipboard and pen who had her cornered against the gate wanted her to sign up for something and her body language screamed with discomfort.

( Read more... )
This is now followed by More Domesticity and Business.

This is follows on from Last Day of the First Week (Part 1) - there are two parts because the whole post was too long.

The signs led me to a desk at the western end of the floor where it looked like a room had been demolished and remodelled into an open support area. There were several empty desks, storage cupboards labelled with the names of stationery items, and a board of names with statuses such as ‘teaching’ or ‘out of office’ beside them. A thin, middle-aged woman with a heavily powdered face sat at the desk labelled ‘Reception’. I bowed politely, and said, “Good afternoon, I’m here to deliver some letters of introduction. I realise that the addressees probably aren’t available now, so how should I proceed?”

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This is now followed by More Domesticity and Business.

This follows on from Mostly An Evening Out, and surprised me by coming in at 4,724 words.  This is too large for Livejournal, so this has turned into a two part post. :)

It was a very pleasant morning, and warm enough to make me glad both that the warmest part of the year was past and that I usually started earlier in the morning than this. On the other hand, the shops were open, and more people were about. I dropped coins in the bowls of a shaven-haired monk, a beggar who looked like he had a wasting disease, and an education charity for foreign refugees. Those donations meant I had no qualms about turning down the opposing political parties touting for business at the University gates – I even managed to escape without copies of their handouts. Ying Li from my tutorial group wasn’t being so fortunate, the young man with a clipboard and pen who had her cornered against the gate wanted her to sign up for something and her body language screamed with discomfort.

( Read more... )Last School Day of the First Week (Part 2) can be found here.

This follows on from Halfway Through The First Week and runs to 3,028 words. I may have gotten carried away with the bar....

After chuckling over what might well have been an enormous scandal at the time, I sat down to start my artistic write up of items for my Art tutorial. The first of my three items was the scroll, so I talked about the balance between ink and blank page, made a note to check what colours the ink and page would have been initially, and talked about penmanship. I also tried a trick that Older Brother Hu had shown me when he’d been doing some Classical Studies homework, and looked at the page with an unfocussed eye.

( Read more... )

This is now followed by Last School Day of the Week (Part 1).

This follows on from Halfway Through The First Week and runs to 3,028 words. I may have gotten carried away with the bar....

After chuckling over what might well have been an enormous scandal at the time, I sat down to start my artistic write up of items for my Art tutorial. The first of my three items was the scroll, so I talked about the balance between ink and blank page, made a note to check what colours the ink and page would have been initially, and talked about penmanship. I also tried a trick that Older Brother Hu had shown me when he’d been doing some Classical Studies homework, and looked at the page with an unfocussed eye.

( Read more... ) This is now followed by Last School Day of the Week.

This follows on from An Ordinary Morning and comes in at 3,296 words. Bonus points to anyone who catches the Barry Hughart reference. :)

You may also like to read When The Future Changed.

I was able to escape after carefully repeating the names of all three books, and writing out the names of all three authors so everyone had the right characters for looking them up in the library indexes. Because I was intending to spend a solid slice of the next two hours in the library, I took myself off to the camellia nook to eat my lunch. Sitting among the plants and the odour of moist mulch was very centring, and I enjoyed it quietly for a little while longer after I finished eating.

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This is now followed by Mostly An Evening Out.

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Entries tagged with master que

In Which the Minutiae of Daily Life Do Not Grind

In Which the Minutiae of Daily Life Do Not Grind

Que Tzu and Madam Cai

Returning To The Scene Of Someone Else's Crime

Returning To The Scene of Someone Else's Crime

It's Not All New Now

It's Not All New Now

Social Business

Social Business

Unexpected Afternoon Episodes

Unexpected Afternoon Episodes

More Domesticity and Business

More Domesticity and Business

Last School Day of the First Week

Last School Day of the First Week (Part 2)

Last School Day of the First Week (Part 1)

Mostly An Evening Out