Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The Prefecture Exam
By the end of the third lunar month, Old Master Kuan of the Wang branch sent over one tael of silver, passed along through Teacher Gao.
Including Little Nan, the five siblings gathered around the ten tiny silver pieces and tested them with every trick they’d ever heard—biting, rubbing, listening for the ring.
It was the first time they’d ever seen silver.
Little Nan bit one and frowned in sincere confusion. How could the same metal look so beautiful here—so costly, so dignified, so bright it almost seemed to glow?
In her old life, she’d tossed away pure silver like trash—bracelets, lock pendants, piles of it. Back then it had looked like nothing but clutter.
Truly—different times, different worlds.
The prefecture exam began on April 12.
Ping Jiang Prefecture had far more examinees than a single sitting could handle. Each county tested on a separate day, and Kun Shan County’s date wouldn’t be posted until the day before. The trip could take five or six days if everything went smoothly; if it didn’t, it could drag close to ten.
And April was the busiest time in the fields.
Li Jin Zhu and Li Yu Zhu walked the ridges twice, counted and recounted, and finally made their choice: Li Jin Zhu would accompany Li Xue Dong and Little Nan to the exam. Li Yu Zhu and Li Yin Zhu would stay home. They would take two more silver pieces and rent an ox and a strong farmhand from a neighboring village to plow and harrow the fields, so the planting and seedling work wouldn’t collapse while the others were gone.
Before dawn on the ninth, Li Jin Zhu quietly left Little Li Village with Li Xue Dong and Little Nan. Teacher Gao had found a traveling merchant group willing to let them join, and they set off for Ping Jiang Prefecture.
The next afternoon, they got down at Guo Xiang Town outside Ping Jiang City. After thanking the shopkeeper again and again, they hurried toward the city.
It was the first time any of them had ever left Kun Shan County.
From Guo Xiang to Ping Jiang City, shops and inns and trading houses lined the road, one after another. The bustle and wealth left the siblings gaping.
Little Nan looked left, then right, dazzled. More than once, she forgot her feet were supposed to move.
So this was what a truly prosperous place looked like. The poverty wasn’t the world—it was their village. Their home.
“A Nan,” Li Jin Zhu said, tugging her arm whenever she stalled, “don’t get distracted. Pass the exam first.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” Little Nan nodded while staring at a pastry shop, then began reciting her texts under her breath as if she could nail her mind down with words.
She had to pass.
Only by passing could the five siblings slip free of Third Uncle’s grip. Only then could they live without fear. Only then could they leave that tiny village behind—and only then could she dare to do anything in this world, even something as small as earning a little money.
A licentiate still carried real weight. In Kun Shan County, the Hong family became the county’s leading household only after Hong Er’s second grandfather earned the licentiate.
That night, the three entered Ping Jiang City. Seven or eight streets away from the prefecture school, they found a cheap lodging house and stayed there.
The following morning, Li Xue Dong dressed in his exam clothes and went with Li Jin Zhu to register at the prefectural office.
Only the first day’s main sitting of the prefecture exam was mandatory. The additional sittings were optional.
The schedule had already been posted. Ping Jiang City had enough examinees to run its own sitting; the other five counties were split into three. Kun Shan County and Chang Shu County were assigned together on the third day.
The main sitting followed the county exam’s rules: enter before dawn, begin at daybreak.
When it was time to go in, Little Nan slipped into Li Xue Dong’s exam clothes, took the long-eared exam basket Teacher Gao had provided, and headed toward the prefecture school with Li Jin Zhu, keeping a careful eye on the hour.
After two streets, the road filled with lanterns and hurried footsteps.
Li Jin Zhu instinctively shifted half a step in front of her. Little Nan lowered her head and stayed close at her side.
At the prefecture school gate, they found a patch of shadow and waited.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the great doors opened from within. Two runners with stone faces carried out two straw figures dressed in bright red and green and set them on the left and right of the entrance.
Li Jin Zhu leaned toward Little Nan. “You—”
“Big Sister, don’t worry.” Little Nan cut her off, tightening her grip on the basket. “I’m going in.”
She stepped toward the gate.
“Li Xue Dong! Over here—over here!”
Hong Zhen Ye, Young Master Hong and Kun Shan County’s top scorer, waved his arm like he was trying to flag down a boat.
Under Hong Zhen Ye’s enthusiastic direction, the top five formed a mutual guarantee group, backed by Hong Zhen Ye’s second grandfather, Old Licentiate Hong.
Heart thumping, Little Nan walked toward the other four.
“All set! Let’s go in!” Hong Zhen Ye said, and strode through the gate as if he owned the place.
Past the screen wall, he went up on tiptoe and craned his neck, shouting and waving. “Second Grandfather! Second Grandfather!”
The minor clerk checking names hurried to the side and let them pass.
Hong Zhen Ye rushed to an older man who was murmuring with the deputy prefect. “Second Grandfather, we’re here! This is Zhao Mo Hua, this is Qian Xing Bang, this is Sun Qing Bai, and this is Li Xue Dong! I’m Hong Zhen Ye!”
The yamen clerk checked the register against the four names, then looked to Old Licentiate Hong.
Without even glancing over, the old man waved a hand, impatient as a man shooing flies.
“Go in,” the clerk said, waving them through.
“Come on!” Hong Zhen Ye shot forward to find his seat.
Only then did Little Nan let out a quiet breath.
The hardest gate had passed.
The prefecture exam’s process matched the county exam’s. When Little Nan faced the Investigation of Things paper, she didn’t dare leave it completely blank like she had before. She weighed each line carefully, wrote most of the calculation problems, and on the other questions forced herself to write a few sentences—no more, no less.
She kept an ear on the room, submitted her paper with the main flow of candidates, and made it out.
Li Jin Zhu had been waiting like a person set on fire. She didn’t dare stand too far, but she didn’t dare push too close either. When she finally caught sight of Little Nan stepping over the threshold, she surged forward.
Little Nan’s legs went weak at the sight of her. She stumbled straight into Li Jin Zhu’s arms.
“You’ve worn yourself out, little brother,” Li Jin Zhu blurted, voice shaking, then immediately bent and hauled Little Nan onto her back. “Come on—move.”
The results were posted early the next morning. Li Xue Dong ranked eighteenth.
Little Nan’s scalp prickled with cold sweat.
Ping Jiang Prefecture had only twenty slots to send on to the academy exam. One place lower, and she would have failed.
Of the twenty examinees Kun Shan County had sent, only Li Xue Dong and Hong Zhen Ye passed. Hong Zhen Ye ranked tenth.
Li Jin Zhu looked like she might burst with joy.
Li Xue Dong leaned forward and blinked at Little Nan.
Little Nan finally let out the breath she’d been holding and managed a shaky smile back.
“We’re going home?” Li Jin Zhu asked, still half afraid to believe it.
Little Nan nodded. “Mm.”
“Hurry,” Li Xue Dong said, suddenly alarmed. “I just saw Hong Er. Young Master Hong looked like he was hunting for someone.”
He was terrified of Hong Er’s blazing enthusiasm.
“Then hurry,” Little Nan said, grabbing Li Jin Zhu’s hand.
The three of them turned and ran.
There was no merchant caravan going back to Kun Shan County. They relied on their own legs and walked the long road home.
At noon on the fourth day, they ate a quick meal in Kun Shan County town. Passing Gao Cun Market Town, they delivered Li Xue Dong back to Gao Family School. Then Little Nan and Li Jin Zhu hurried the rest of the way home.