A Letter Sent to Director Jo Chung (趙冲)投趙郞中冲書
月日。某聞豐肌膩理。一笑千態者。天下之美女也。此則雖千百人媒之娉之。尙不肯輕許。脫得嬖於鉅公貴人。亦不甚痛喜者。豈恃其姿色之靡曼歟。椎顙齞脣。旁行傴僂者。天下之醜婦人也。其所與嫁。不過傖父販兒耳。旺旺然丈夫誤而一御。則彼婦人喜不自已。更加塗澤。益飾簪珥。常詫於人矣。丈夫聞之。不勝其恥。更遇焉。深矉且唾。莫肯一廻眄而去。彼婦人不自知其醜也。日夜啼泣。聲殷隣里。至令人環聚而唁焉。丈夫懼其不已也。更厚遇之。贈之以金帛之資。遂館而置焉。天下之有色倡婦。皆多其有信。各自謀曰。某丈夫御一醜婦。猶不忍棄。況如吾輩者乎。於是曳羅縠蘊蘭麝。爭先焉猶恐其後。不數年。吳娃宋艶之美。皆萃於其家矣。今僕之凡庸固陋。不啻若椎顙齞脣之醜矣。明公之豪焰赫勢。不啻若旺旺丈夫之美矣。曩者。明公不以僕爲無似。自妙年與之遊之甚款。至輪寫肝膽。約爲兄弟。僕竊不揆賤陋。增飾言貌。承意媚諛。意其交之已固。唊唊噍噍。常詫人曰。士之受知於明公者。凡莫我若也。以是每一行一步。常若有扶之者。僕之自負於閣下也如此。未審果恥而矉且唾耶。抑慮其不已也。而卒與之爲好耶。若終恥而不眄。則僕之啼泣怨訟之聲日益殷。而明公之好士之名。不得不少減矣。如不忍遺舊。匿瑕掩醜。刻畫無鹽。借一言之雌黃。廓然開始從仕之路。俾小子歷金門上玉堂。受調羹玉床之食。則彼丈夫之館置醜婦。厚以金帛之資。又何足導也。夫然後天下之士。皆高閣下之義。相與言曰。某閣下遇一不才如某者。猶不忍遺之。其提奬如此。況若吾儕乎。於是錦肝繡心襲德服義之徒。星奔影騖。猶恐後至。何顔騫曾史之不出於明公之門下者歟。明公接人下士之名。亦列于惇史。亘萬世不朽矣。伏惟明公以僕之是言。微逮於岳公相國。則想必謂之何如耶。萬一笑而頷焉。僕之幸也。惟閣下裁之。恃舊煩聒。不宣惶懼。
On a certain day of a certain month. I have heard it thus.
One whose flesh is ample and whose skin is glossy, and from whose single smile a thousand aspects arise, is a beauty of the world. Such a one, though a thousand men and a hundred act as go-betweens and ask for her with full ceremony, will still not lightly consent; and even when she comes to be loved by a great lord or a man of rank, she is still not much delighted. How should this not be because she trusts in the loveliness of her own form and color?
One whose brow is like a mallet, whose lips are drawn back so that the teeth show, who walks sideways and is humpbacked, is an ugly woman of the world. The place she marries into will be no more than a bumpkin or a trader's boy. Yet if a spirited and handsome man by mischance comes near her once, that woman is so glad that she cannot stop of herself, and she paints herself the more and adorns herself the more with pins and earrings, and is always boasting of it to others. The man, hearing this, cannot bear the shame of it, and when he meets her again he knits his face deeply and spits and will not look at her even once, but goes away.
That woman, not knowing of herself that she is ugly, weeps night and day, so that the sound of it rings through the neighboring village and people come gathering round to comfort her. The man, fearing she will not stop, treats her thickly again and gives her gold and silk and at last provides a house and sets her in it. And then all the colorful courtesans of the world make much of that man's good faith, and each reckons to herself and says: "Such a man came near one ugly woman and could not bear to cast her off. How much more such as we?" And so they come trailing silk and gauze and bearing orchid and musk, striving to be first and fearing to fall behind, until in not many years the fair ones of Wu (吳) and the beautiful ones of Song (宋) are all gathered in that man's house.
Now my commonness and my boorishness are worse than the ugliness of a brow like a mallet and teeth that show. Your Lordship's lofty spirit and shining power are greater than the handsomeness of that spirited man. In former days Your Lordship did not hold me unworthy, but from your youth kept company with me very thickly, so that we poured out all that was within us and came to pledge ourselves as elder and younger brother. I, in my heart unable to reckon my own lowness and boorishness, adorned my words and my looks the more and flattered and bore up your purpose, and holding that our friendship was already firm, I chattered and was always boasting of it to others: "Of scholars who have been known and valued by His Lordship, there is none like me." And so at every step and every pace I felt as though there were always one holding me up. Such is my confidence in Your Excellency.
I do not know whether you will indeed feel shame at it and knit your face and spit, or whether, fearing that I shall not stop, you will keep on good terms with me after all. If you feel shame at the last and do not look upon me, then the sound of my weeping and complaint will ring the louder day by day, and Your Lordship's name as a lover of scholars cannot but be somewhat lessened.
But if you cannot bear to cast off our old friendship, and hide my flaw and cover my ugliness, and — as one carves and paints a portrait of Wuyan (無鹽) — lend me one word of amendment and throw wide open the road of a first office, so that this little one may pass the Golden Gate (金門) and ascend the Jade Hall (玉堂) and receive at a jade-adorned table the meal in which the broth's flavor is brought to balance: then what is there to speak of in that man's providing a house for the ugly woman and giving her gold and silk thickly?
And after that the scholars of the world will all exalt Your Excellency's righteousness and say to one another: "His Excellency so-and-so met one talentless man like so-and-so and could not bear to cast him off. His drawing him up and praising him being such as this, how much more such as we?" And then the company of those with livers of silk and hearts of embroidery, who would receive his virtue and follow his righteousness, will run like stars and race like shadows and fear to be late. How should men like Yan Hui (顔回) and Min Ziqian (閔子騫), Zeng Shen (曾參) and Shi Qiu (史鰌), not come out of Your Lordship's gate? And Your Lordship's name, as one who welcomes men and lowers himself to scholars, will likewise be entered in the Records of Virtue (惇史) and be unrotting through ten thousand generations.
I pray that Your Lordship will quietly extend these words of mine to the Chancellor, Lord Ak (岳公); and what, I wonder, will he surely say? If he laughs and nods his head, it is my good fortune. May Your Excellency alone weigh it. Trusting in our old friendship I have clamored at troublesome length. Here I stop, in fear.