Great Tang Idyll

ey caused people to be unable to disbelieve it.
They said that it was to let him gift to others, was it even necessary to ask who he could be giving to?

He couldn’t possibly reject such a good deal.
A promotion, ~ah! Once the auspicious sign appeared, whatever his superiors thought, they would all follow along in asking for credit.
By then, a future of his own could be had for the taking.

Having thought of it here, Magistrate Cheng nodded his head as he said: “That’s fine.
While it’s before the New Year, pick a few more cucumbers.
Wait until it’s close to two days before the New Year and I’ll sell them off.
Zijin hasn’t eaten yet, right? Perfect, let’s use three cucumbers to make two dishes.
Zijin can try them with me together.”

Magistrate Cheng no longer treasured them.
Since there was more, then the several other cucumbers for his family wouldn’t be lacking.
First, eat three.
The other three could be sent to the back and his family members could try them, too.

Song Jing-gong didn’t hurry to leave this time and gladly obeyed.

The chilly wind blew past from time to time.
Even so, it still didn’t cause the people from the two manors of Zhang and Wang to feel anything.

That old ox belonging to Chen Hao’s family was killed.
Also, one of the several oxen that Zhang Xiaobao had previously made people buy and bring back was killed, too.
This ox really couldn’t avoid being killed as just after the one from Chen Hao’s family had died, it actually fell into a ditch and broke its leg.

Once the two oxen were killed, the meat was plentiful.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan discussed it for a bit and had the people of the two manors eat a meal together.
It could be considered to be promoting the good qualities of the master-family.

They naturally couldn’t eat just beef as the meat from the two oxen really weren’t enough to serve.
Besides, some of it had to be kept to be eaten for New Year’s.
So they could only add some large radishes inside and make several cauldrons of beef with simmered radishes to call over the people of the manor to eat together with wotou [cone bread]9 made out of millet flour.
Then, several kinds of pickled vegetables10 were prepared along with some lightly flavored stewed vegetables to be eaten while hot, which was not so bad in this winter.

This way, the two oxen weren’t needed.
A single ox, not counting the tendons, ligaments, and other assorted things, was enough with just the meat.
Add a bit of beef tallow and a pot of stewed vegetables didn’t require too much beef.

The peasants weren’t picky, either.
To have something to eat was good.
That aroma from within several of the cauldrons didn’t even wait for the meat to be done, ~ne, and had already drifted outward.
The adults were a bit better and could endure it but the little kids sniffed up their snot while anxiously gulping down their drool.
There were some who had more daring that even moved to the front of the pots to see.

For the sake of not letting everyone freeze, several fires had been piled up in the empty space outside.
The peasants of the two manors surrounded them as they talked and laughed until the meat was ready.
Then, they rose to do stuff to help out.

Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, the two of them had also rushed over here by this time, intending to eat a meal together with everyone.
Wang Juan was even holding a bit of dried parsley in her hand while Zhang Xiaobao was carrying spicy sauce.

The Chinese text says that Magistrate Cheng didn’t see that the cucumbers as having any “qian kun” (乾坤), which is likely based off of an idiom “nei you qian kun” (內有乾坤) or “inside has qian kun.” “Qian Kun” (乾坤) itself is usually translated as “universe or heaven and earth” because it is a term derived from the name for 2 of the 8 trigrams of the Bagua(八卦) with qian/乾 representing heaven and kun/坤 representing earth.
So qiankun/乾坤 itself has a broad range of possible interpretations and meanings depending on the context it is used in.
The idiom of “nei you qian kun” (內有乾坤) usually applies to objects or people whose external appearance are contrary to their interior or contents like a bag of holding that looks like a normal bag on the outside but is really a pocket dimension on the inside or Xiaobao who outwardly looks like a pure and innocent toddler but in actuality, possesses the mentality of a middle-aged con man with a heart of gold.
In this case, qiankun is being referred to as being absent so I chose to translate for the meaning. 

Similarly to Steward Zhang using “shang mian” (上面) to euphemistically refer to paying taxes, Magistrate Cheng uses “shang mian” (上面) or “upper layer” to refer to his superiors since they are literally above him. 

“Tian ya hai jiao” (天涯海角) literally means “sky shores, sea corners” and is used to describe the extreme reaches of the earth and the very boundaries at which it meets the sky and sea.
This expression actually has its origins in an eulogy Tang dynasty essayist Han Yu (韓愈) wrote for his dearly beloved nephew who died just before Han Yu was about to reunite with him.
The nephew died far away from Han Yu who still insisted on traveling there with the funerary offerings though the distance was intimidatingly long for the time.
[Baidu] 

“Nian Ye” (年夜) literally translates to “Year Night” but it basically refers to the night beforeChinese New Year.
Traditionally on this night, families will dine together on symbolically lucky foods and stay up all night to greet the new year. 

“Biao gong” (表功) is actually an abbreviation in Chinese for “showing off one’s exploits.” So it’s essentially an action that is asking for credit for one’s meritorious service.
Since Chinese officials get graded on a yearly basis, usually as either one of three choices of exemplary, passing, and lacking, officials would make reports asking to be given credit for their good deeds and then the political struggle to ensure that they receive all the credit is an integral part of ancient Chinese politics (some might argue that it is still a part of modern Chinese politics). 

“Gao shan yang zhi” (高山仰止) is actually an idiom with a play on words as it is literally evoking the image of a mountain whose full height can’t be seen as well as the image of someone gawking upward in awe at said mountain because yang/仰 can mean “to raise one’s head” or “to admire, rely on.” Since mountains are considered symbols of strength and dependability in Chinese culture, this only deepens the dual metaphor of this expression. 

“Xiang rui” (祥瑞) is the term given to things that were believed to be “auspicious signs” in Chinese culture that Confucian scholars tended to consider to be ways that Heaven can signal its approval and were of benefit to people.
Thus, natural phenomena such as rainbow-hued clouds, double-eared rice paddies, a natural spring of sweet-flavored water, the appearance of various star formations, or exotic animals with different associated meanings such as giraffes (explaining why an old Chinese name for “giraffe” is qilin/麒麟 which are only supposed to show up when a sage is about to be born/die or if the current ruler is enlightened) and white hinds that are also a sign of Heaven’s favor to a ruler could be considered to be signs of fortune.
The reverse could be true as well though with other phenomena like comets or meteors. 

“Neng qia hui suan” (能掐會算) breaks down to mean “can pinch, knows how to count” and since a lot of 4-character couplets actually separates and recombines two 2-character word combos to make a new meaning in Chinese, this expression intersperses neng/能 or “able” and hui/會 or “know how” in between the characters making up “qia suan” (掐算).
“Qia suan” (掐算) itself needs to be explained as it literally means to “pinch count” and describes an ancient Chinese behavior where they counted using their fingers by bending them in a pinching motion.
This behavior can go hand in hand with Chinese astrology and fortune-telling as numerology and arithmetic calculations makes up a large portion of these practices.
Chinese fortune-telling itself is called “suan ming” (算命) in Chinese, which literally means “to calculate life.” So a stereotypical image of a Chinese fortune-teller or astrologist is one who makes these needed calculations by pinching their fingers together in this fashion.
Especially intelligent and cunning strategists who can make uncanny predictions of the future to the point that their side business might as well be fortune-telling could also be portrayed as having this mannerism as it fits the traditional Chinese stereotype of such a character.
So if you’re watching a Chinese drama or movie that has some occult subject matter of some sort and you’re wondering why the Daoist priest, mystical formation expert, or cunning strategist is making those weird hand gestures, that’s why.
To see a picture for an example, go here.
Sorry, I couldn’t find a specific video of an instance where you could see the gesture in action but the gesture appears a lot across a wide variety of genres in Chinese dramas and film because it serves as excellent visual shorthand for the Chinese viewer.
Anyway, because of the reasons that I’ve explained above, I translated “neng qia hui suan” (能掐會算) as “know how to fortune-tell.” 

“Wotou” (窩頭) or “wowotou” (窩窩頭) literally means “nest head” and is so named because of the conical nest-like shape this bread has.
It is a steamed bread that is typically made out of wheat or millet flour and was a staple food for poor Chinese peasants.
When corn was later imported into China, cornmeal was used to make wotou, explaining why it is sometimes translated as “Chinese cornbread.” It later became an imperial delicacy during the Qing dynasty (清朝) when by happenstance, Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) got to taste them and liked them enough to order the Imperial Kitchens to reproduce them with richer ingredients, causing them to become a food that was no longer just consumed by the impoverished.
I chose to use the pinyin with [cone bread] in an editorial aside because it’s perfect as a lame pun as well as reminding people of their shape.
For pictures, you can visit the Baidu page here. 

“Xian cai” (鹹菜) literally means “salted vegetables,” the name due to the fact that salt is necessary for the pickling process.
Chinese cuisine usually treats pickled dishes as appetizers and they are more of a staple of northern Chinese cuisine since they would need to preserve vegetables for the winter.
They can also be used as part of the raw ingredients of a cooked dish, too.