Outside the window there was some noise. Yu Qing took one look and quickly pulled his head back in. He had no interest in getting to know anyone.
For him, he had to consider the possibility that Ash Heng might one day make a comeback. So the fewer people who knew him on this trip, the better. Ideally, everyone would simply overlook him.
It did not matter if the fake ‘Ash Heng’ was seen by others, as long as he left no lasting impression. In a few years, no one would clearly remember him.
Yu Qing therefore understood deeply that this journey would be lonely. He had to keep a low profile.
After a period of quiet, footsteps came from outside the door. Someone muttered to themselves, “Ash Heng?” The tone carried doubt. Then the footsteps faded away.
In the following days, more and more candidates arrived. Yu Qing realised his room might actually be in too good a spot. Too many people came to the door to check if anyone was staying here. He started to regret choosing this place.
Later on, he did not even want to step outside anymore.
For other candidates, chores like cleaning were handled by their bookboys. Errands were run by bookboys. Even meals were fetched from the Chenxiang Pavilion by bookboys. But he had to do everything himself. He felt rather conspicuous.
There were also candidates without bookboys, but they carried themselves with ease. He, on the other hand, felt a bit guilty.
This was one of the harder periods in his life.
On the fourteenth day, a group of footsteps came from outside, along with voices in discussion.
“Ash Heng? Does anyone here know him?”
“He is definitely not in the top thirty of the provincial examination.”
“I heard only one hundred and seventy-five people from this year’s provincial examination are coming to the capital. One hundred and forty-three are repeat candidates from previous years. That makes three hundred and eighteen in total taking the metropolitan examination. I wonder if this one is a repeat candidate.”
“Does anyone have a copied list of the provincial results? Take it out and check.”
What the hell? Yu Qing, who had been sleeping like the dead inside the room, suddenly sat up. He had no idea what was happening outside.
“Found it. Look, Ash Heng, ranked one hundred and six.”
“Heh, over a hundred. What is he even doing here for the examination? He should go back and study more.”
A wave of low, mocking laughter arose.
The mockery had a reason. The Jin Kingdom had forty-one provinces. Each metropolitan examination drew over ten thousand participants. After the metropolitan round, only two to three hundred were usually selected as jinshi. Of course, it depended on the overall quality of the candidates. If there were many high-quality ones, the number could reach four or five hundred. If the quality was low, it could drop to just eighty or ninety.
In other words, anyone ranked below one hundred in the provincial examination had almost no hope. They had virtually no chance of crossing the threshold to become a jinshi.
Nothing was absolute, but those who underperformed in the provincial round and then shone brilliantly in the metropolitan one were extremely rare.
Yu Qing raised his hand to stroke his ponytail, but touched nothing. He remembered his hair was now tied up in a bun. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave a cold snort. He had no idea what these scholars were thinking. They had only achieved a little fame and had not yet succeeded, yet they already acted with such arrogance, treating themselves as important. He wondered where all their book learning had gone.
Someone hushed them. “Gentlemen, that is enough.”
The snickering stopped. Then came knocking at the door.
Knock knock, knock knock knock. The knocking repeated.
Yu Qing originally did not want to bother, but remembering he was now Ash Heng, he went and opened the door.
Several scholars crowded at the doorway, each looking full of spirit. When they saw Yu Qing after the door opened, they all cupped their hands in greeting. “Brother Shiheng, this is Su Yingtao, this is Fang Wenxian, this is Zhang Manqu, this is Pan Wenqing.”
Their provincial rankings were fairly high. They had assumed announcing their names would earn admiration from the other party.
But the expected reaction did not come.
Yu Qing did not know who they were, had no interest in knowing, and did not even care to remember their names. He returned the greeting with cupped hands and said calmly, “Do you have business?”
The anticipated admiration, flattery, and chatting did not happen. The four men’s expressions stiffened at the same time. The request they had come to make suddenly became hard to voice.
They wanted to ask Yu Qing to give up this well-positioned room. If the other party admired them and flattered them, it would naturally follow. But now, how could they say it?
Seeing they did not speak, Yu Qing moved to dismiss them. “I still need to study. If there is nothing else, I will not see you out.”
The four really did not know how to bring it up. Were they supposed to say outright, your rank is lower than ours, you do not deserve a good room?
The academy allowed candidates to choose rooms on a first-come basis precisely to avoid showing favouritism. They understood that someone who did poorly in the provincial might not do poorly in the metropolitan. There was no point in making enemies.
The words stuck in their throats. They truly could not say them.
Seeing they still did not speak, Yu Qing ignored them and closed the door.
In the end, Su Yingtao, whose face clearly showed dissatisfaction, reached out to hold the door open. He spoke up. “We would like to ask Brother Shiheng for a small favour.”
Yu Qing did not want to get involved in anything else. He could only brush them off. “My abilities are limited. I am afraid I cannot help much.”
“For Brother Shiheng, it is just a small effort.” Su Yingtao spoke politely. He waved to the others to make way. He himself stepped aside and pointed downstairs towards a refined scholar surrounded by a crowd of people, treated as the centre. “That is this year’s top provincial candidate, Zhan Muchun. Brother Zhan has only just arrived and has not yet found a place to stay. You can probably imagine the situation. When the high officials from our province come, they will certainly pay visits. Most likely they will come to see him.”
“Look, the early arrivals have already taken the best rooms at the front. Brother Zhan can only look for rooms further back. That would be fine normally, but Brother Zhan is the top provincial candidate after all. When the provincial officials arrive, they will definitely want to meet him. Living far away would be inconvenient. Whether it means making the officials wait a long time or making Brother Zhan run back and forth long distances, neither is proper in terms of reason or courtesy. We are all from the same examination batch. With the bond of fellow candidates, when such a situation arises, should we not help each other?”
The reason sounded good. The other three all smiled and nodded.
Fang Wenxian said, “Brother Su speaks reasonably.”
Zhang Manqu said, “Indeed, that is the logic.”
Pan Wenqing said, “Brother Shiheng, since we are fellow students, we should show mutual understanding.”
What nonsense logic? Yu Qing was not stupid. These fellows clearly wanted to flatter the top candidate, yet they dressed it up with a bunch of refined-sounding reasons. As expected, there were many hypocrites among scholars. Yu Qing really wanted to kick them down the stairs, but on the surface he simply nodded and said, “Fine.”
He said nothing more. He immediately turned to pack his things. Just one bundle, plus the sword at his waist. He picked them up and left. He also removed the sign from the door.
Su Yingtao and the others were delighted at how easy-going Yu Qing was. When they entered the room, they were a bit stunned. They had no idea what kind of candidate this was. He had not even brought bedding. His belongings were ridiculously few and simple.
Shabby! Precisely because of this, they looked down on Yu Qing even more.
“I will go see Brother Shiheng off. You lot tidy up the room.” Su Yingtao gave instructions. After getting a response, he quickly went out.
There was actually nothing much to tidy in the room. Just put the disturbed items back in place. Fang Wenxian picked up the paperweight on the desk and laughed. “That Brother Shiheng is quite agreeable. He agreed as soon as we asked. If we had met someone stubborn, we would all have been embarrassed.”
Pan Wenqing snorted. “You think he is really agreeable? That is called having self-awareness. Try it with someone ranked even lower than him. I doubt he would be so easy-going.”
Zhang Manqu agreed. “Ranked after one hundred, facing people like us, he naturally has no confidence. He probably knows in his heart he is just coming to the capital to try his luck. Once he hits a wall, he will give up. In the future he will understand that honestly seeking an official post in our province is the right path.”
On the stairs outside, Su Yingtao caught up with Yu Qing as they went down. He called out, “Brother Shiheng, let me accompany you to find a suitable room.”
Yu Qing could sense the other’s attention was not really on him at all. He politely declined. “No need to trouble yourself. You go about your business.”
Su Yingtao had already seen this was someone who did not mix well. He knew the other would not let him accompany. He immediately went along with it and smiled. “Fine then, as you say. See you later. Once you find a good room, feel free to come join us for a gathering.” By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, the conversation ended. He quickly cupped his hands and hurried off.
He went straight to the crowd gathered together. Pushing in, he smiled at the top provincial candidate surrounded in the middle. “Brother Zhan, we have already cleared a superior room for you. It should be one of the best locations in Chaoxi Garden. Why not go see if it suits you?”
“Brother Su is too courteous. Then I will accept with respect rather than refuse.” Zhan Muchun cupped his hands in thanks. He was refined and gentle, warm like jade. But being surrounded and flattered by so many people, he truly lived up to his name, basking in spring breezes. The smug satisfaction on his face showed he had already accepted that he was the most outstanding person here.
The group chatted and laughed as they escorted the top candidate to see the room. Birds of a feather, all full of springtime pride.
Yu Qing, walking deeper into Chaoxi Garden, also glanced back at that top candidate a few times.
In the past he had occasionally gone down the mountain to wander. From operas he had heard stories of scholars heading to the capital for examinations encountering romantic adventures with beautiful young women along the way. Secret promises of lifelong love, gradually loosening sashes with no regrets, vows as eternal as mountains and seas, returning after topping the palace examination to marry her, and so on.
Yu Qing had been quite interested in such tales. But when he told Ash Heng, Ash Heng had laughed heartily.
After Ash Heng explained, he understood. Those who passed the provincial examination were already semi-official candidates. It was absolutely impossible for a frail scholar with the status of a prospective official to trek over mountains and ridges alone or spend nights alone on the road. It was far too dangerous.
Those going to the capital for the metropolitan examination had already entered the court’s selection process. The court wanted to choose talent from among them through the metropolitan round. How could they allow this group to easily encounter danger? Each province sent escorts to deliver these candidates safely to the capital. That was why the top provincial candidate was called ‘jieyuan’, the one who ‘solves’ or leads. So the chance of romantic encounters like those in operas happening on the road was practically zero.
Where to stay?
Chased out of his room by a group spouting righteousness and morality, Yu Qing had no choice but to wander Chaoxi Garden again to find another room.
By now, most of the candidates had arrived. The good-positioned rooms were already taken.
Fortunately, only a little over three hundred were taking the examination, and there were plenty of empty rooms here. As long as he did not mind the hassle, there was still a lot of choice left.