3Rainbow Screen Lady Literata

After copying Lu Xuan's manuscript, Shen Cai occasionally added her own literary creations to the end of sections; sixteen in total, comprising twelve shi poems, two ci poems and four prose passages. Often quite simple in construction and language, these lines describe the natural world around her as the seasons pass, drawing the reader into the universe of her inner thoughts and interactions; for example, in the first volume, after the first chapter of the Book of Documents “The Classic of the Emperor Yao” 堯典:

After my Lord drafted Meanings in the Book of Documents, he ordered me, [Shen] Cai, to make a handwritten fair-copy, and for this reason presented me a poem with the following lines:

When transmitting scripture, may your mouth be so brilliantly flowered
That words winding through tangled teeth convey as well
as she who spoke for Fu Sheng1

and also:

An ingenious pen and hairgrip flower2 are never mere playthings
Through them, imperial governance is conveyed to the common people

This is the third draft of Meanings in the Book of Documents, which was written beginning in the bingwu year of the reign of the Emperor Qianlong [1786], the twelfth month, the seventeenth day; by the first day of the Start of Spring [the first of the twenty-four solar terms], rain and snow followed day after day, river plums showed their first buds, the sky was cold and hands trembled, yet not enough to require breathing on the ink stone to thaw.
The Silkworm Cultivating Concubine of Xu Mountain, Shen Cai, records.

主君作〈書義〉，皆命彩手鈔，故嘗贈彩詩有「傳經可有粲花口，詰屈聱牙記伏生」，又「妙筆簪花非玩物，藉傳皇極答蒼生」之句。此三易稿也，始寫于乾隆丙午十二月十七日，爲立春日，時連朝雨雪，江梅初苞，天寒手顫，僅免呵凍雲。胥山蠶妾沈彩識。

Third draft of Meanings in the Book of Documents, handwritten by The Silkworm Cultivating Concubine of Xu Mountain, Shen Cai

An icy winter then gives way to a gentle early spring, and in the second volume, after the third chapter, the following poem by Shen Cai:

Do not tease that my gold hairpins are crude
I am already ashamed having no jade scales
The two princesses assisted ancient Emperor Yu3
The Ten Counselors and Yi Jiang4 also played a role
Sweet rain dampens the fountain grass
A warm wind reaches the photinia
As from within a painting of teaching scripture
Receiving the words of Fu Sheng

In the dingwei year of the reign of the Emperor Qianlong [1787], the first month, the first day, having copied the chapter “The Counsels of Emperor Yu the Great,” I composed a poem in the five-character lü format, hoping that my Learned Master may smile beneficently upon me. [Written by] The Hermit of Qingyao Mountain.

莫笑金釵陋，惟無玉秤慙。
二妃虞帝助，十亂邑薑參。
甘雨滋書帶，薰風到石楠。
授經圖畫裏，恍接伏生談。

乾隆丁未正月上元日鈔大禹謨畢因成五律一章，冀博主人莞爾一粲也。青要山人

Five-character lü format poem written by The Hermit of Qingyao Mountain.

Gentle springtime turns to a more vibrant season of growth, and in the fourth volume, after the seventeenth chapter “Common Possession of Pure Virtue”, appear two of her ci poems:

Having put on my make-up
Seated, laying out the treasury of book-boxes
Half a red morning sun through the drapes, the wind soughing
Wisteria vines on the trellis, swallows singing “ni-nan”
A deep azure sky

晨粧罷，端坐展瑤函。紅日半簾風旖旎，紫藤一架燕呢喃。天色正蔚藍。

Two ci poems by Shen Cai

Having written out a chapter
Carefully proofreading, not dismissing thrice
Confirming no single scribal error
When the characters are carved, it should be noted I took part
Timidly, I write a poem based on the rhythm and rhyme of
“Gazing South of the River”
The Hermit of Qingyao Mountain

書寫畢，細校不辭三。筆誤已知無一字。鐫時應附我同參，聊識望江南。 青要山人

Shen Cai poem based on ‘Gazing South of the River’

In the fifth volume, along with a profusion of early summer flowers:

At the end of the nineteenth chapter “Pan Geng, part 2” 盤庚中:

A musky incense burner, a cup of tea
The pleasure of editing a text can be embellished
The solar term “Grain-Moistening Rain” swiftly passes
Flowers open onto the halls, such are the poppies

The third month, the eleventh day, having finished writing and proofreading, now lazing around, jotting a few lines of jue poetry.

一炷幽香一盞茶，謄書清韻亦堪誇。
不知穀雨匆匆過，開到庭前禦米花。
三月十一日書畢校訖戲題絕句。

A few lines of jue poetry written by Shen Cai after finishing proofreading

After the twenty-third chapter “Charge to Yue [of Fuxian] part 3” 說命:

I have scoured the kitchen for “salt-plum” and “fermented-sprout”5
“Smiling, snapping the blossomed branch,”6 in the orchard, I am never foolish
“How could it be said I have no clothes”; I can abandon pen and ink
And with the sprouting mulberry feed the newly-emerged silkworms for an entire month

The Silkworm Cultivating Concubine of Xu Mountain, Shen Cai, extemporizes:

鹽梅麹蘖我曾探，笑折花枝不是憨。
豈曰無衣拋筆墨，青桑一月飼紅蠶。
胥山蠶妾沈彩口占。

Poem after the twenty-third chapter “Charge to Yue [of Fuxian] part 3”

Having reached high summer and the sound of crickets, at the close of the twenty-fifth chapter “The Chieftain of the West [King Wen]’s Conquest of [the State of] Li” 西伯戡黎:

Remembering my first taste of Yu Shen broth7
On square-ruled paper, copying out the “Pan Geng” chapters8
From the Book of the Yin Dynasty, having concluded “The Conquest of Li”9
Purple bean flowers opened and crickets sang10

The Plum Valley clerk Shen Cai wrote this South of the Flowers, North of the Water Pavilion, also recording it in a jue poem:

記得初嘗玉糝羹，烏絲畫就寫盤庚。
殷書甫到戡黎畢，紫豆花開蟋蟀鳴。
梅谷侍史沈彩書于花南水北亭中幷識一絕。

A jue poem by The Plum Valley clerk, Shen Cai

Summer passes and the darker sultrier days of early autumn arrive; in the seventh volume, at the end of the thirty-third chapter:

A bronze lamp, its antique chicken-foot stand
A gold inlaid inkstone box, purple-tipped lion mane’s pen
Amidst the fragrance of night-cooled osmanthus
In kai script, columns of characters, writing out the chapter
“The Lü Barbarians’ Ao Hound”

In the evening of the eighth month of the seventh day, having finished writing, penning these lines of jue poetry. Written by the Rainbow Screen Lady Literata, Shen Cai.

一盞銅燈雞足高，鎗金硯匣紫猊毫。
夜凉叢桂花香裏，小字烏闌寫旅獒。
八月初七夜寫畢却題絕句，虹屏女史沈彩。

Poem after the seventh volume, thirty-third chapter

As autumn deepens the shadows lengthen and the frost comes; nearly a year has passed, so, in the ninth volume, after the forty-third chapter:

Sun and moon are revolving axes
Heaven and earth will not cease
Moving my pen, writing across tiers of bamboo strips
Suddenly feeling the need for an extra layer of clothing
A chill frost covers the late chrysanthemums
From the north, the wind blows cold evening sunbeams
In the courtyard, leaves fall from the trees
Amidst the clouds, migrating geese fly past

Having finished the chapter “Against Luxurious Ease,” jotting down a poem; Shen Cai.

日月如轉轂，天地無停機。
載筆親書策，忽復當授衣。
清霜蔽晚菊，朔吹冷夕暉。
庭際木葉脫，雲中征雁飛。

書〈無逸〉畢偶題，沈彩。

Poem after the ninth volume, forty-third chapter ‘Against Luxurious Ease’

Notes

  1. Fu Sheng 伏生 (dates uncertain, but possibly 268–178 BCE). As the only record of the Book of Documents to survive Qin Shihuang’s burning of books, Fu Sheng’s memorized text was spoken on his behalf by his daughter to those chosen to record it, as at that time he was already ninety and his voice was feeble and difficult to understand. ↩︎

  2. The “hairgrip flower” also refers to Shen Cai and is used three times by her in the text. ↩︎

  3. The two princesses and the Emperor Yu are mythological characters. They are Ehuang 娥皇 and Nüying女英, daughters of Yao 堯, the fourth of the Five Emperors, and later wives of Shun 舜, the fifth Emperor, also known as Yu 虞. ↩︎

  4. The Ten Counselors refers to luminaries who assisted the founding emperor of the Zhou dynasty, Wu Wang 武王 (?–1043 BCE; r. 1046–1043 BCE); Yi Jiang 邑姜 was Wu Wang’s empress. ↩︎

  5. “Salt-plum” 鹽梅 and “ferment-sprout” 麹蘖 are uncommonly used words found in historic texts; their etymological origins remain obscure. Both terms appear in close proximity in the same passage of the Book of Documents, chapter 23 說命下, translated by James Legge (1865 and 1879) as “The Charge to Yüeh.” ↩︎

  6. This precise citation is hard to pin down, but the poem Divination and Prophecy 卜算子by the Song dynasty poet Lu Zugao 盧祖皋 (1174–1224) is an early usage. ↩︎

  7. Yu Shen broth 玉糝羹. Another literary citation, this time from a poem known as “The Day When My Son Guo Suddenly Decided to Make Yu Shen Broth from Sweet Potatoes, Whose Colour, Fragrance, and Taste Were All Particularly Wonderful” 過子忽出新意以山芋作玉糝羹色香味皆奇絕天 by the poet Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037–1101). ↩︎

  8. The “Pan Geng” chapters of the Book of Documents (chapters 18–20). ↩︎

  9. The Book of the Yin Dynasty is presumably the later chapters of the Book of the Shang Dynasty 商書 (Book of the Shang Dynasty: Book of Documents, chapters 10–26). ↩︎

  10. This citation is from a poem entitled “At the Fourth Hour, the Happiness of Reading” 四時讀書樂 by the Song dynasty poet Weng Sen (dates uncertain). ↩︎