Cheering from the Sidelines: Kong Yiji, Medicine Summary

In Kong Yiji, the narrator gets a job at a wine shop. He does not do many of his tasks well and so he ends up with the boring job of warming the wine. The only excitement that ever cheered him during this monotonous work was when Kong Yiji, a learned yet uncertified elderly man, came for a drink. He wore the clothing of the gentry, yet it was tattered and torn. He spoke like that of a well-educated man, yet he had failed his civil service examinations. So, he was taunted and teased at this local wineshop. The only person he felt he could talk to was the young narrator of this story, who did not seem to care for him any more than the rest of the patrons. What...