Exam Prep! Exam Prep! Exam Prep!

There were only a few days left until the exam. Since he had talked such a big game, he had to take action.

After dinner, Dong Xuebin went home and shut himself alone in his little room. He rummaged through boxes and cabinets, eventually digging out a stack of answer sheets and blank paper he had used in high school from a small camphorwood chest beneath his bed. He set them on his desk, prepared an eraser, 2B pencils, and the like, then began memory training. ABCD, 1234—his head was filled with answer choices.

This was the only way he could think of to pass the Civil Servants exam. Though the odds were only ten or twenty percent, he had to give it a try.

The next morning.

Dong Xuebin climbed up from the living room sofa, which was covered in answer sheets, and threw himself back into practice. "AABDDCCABDC..." With his eyes closed, he muttered away like a madman.

Mom found it rather baffling and asked, "Xuebin, what are you doing?"

Dong Xuebin coughed. "Exam prep. Exam prep."

Mom blinked. "Didn't you already buy the study materials for this year's exam? What use are those little slips of paper?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I know what I'm doing." As long as Back could still be used on exam day, all this effort would not be wasted.

Practice... practice... practice...

One hour... two hours... three hours...

Ring, ring, ring. His phone rang. Dong Xuebin picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number. "Hello? Hello?"

"Hello, is this Little Dong?" An elderly voice came from the other end.

"Sorry, may I ask who this is?"

"My surname is Hu."

Dong Xuebin went, "Oh. Are you Grandpa Hu? How are you feeling?"

"Thanks to you, I'm doing quite well. Hehe, are you free today? If you're not busy, come sit with this old man for a while at the hospital?"

"Uh, sorry, but the Civil Servants exam is in a few days, and I haven't finished studying."

The voice on the other end sounded surprised. "You're taking the Civil Servants exam? The Capital City one that's accepting applications for the first half of the year?" After a pause, Grandpa Hu mused, "Hmm. If you're not very confident about the written exam, come find me in the General Oncology Department at Tumor Hospital. Don't let my condition fool you—I can still teach you a few answering techniques for the Civil Servants exam, especially for essay questions. What do you say? Interested?"

Dong Xuebin froze. "Huh? Really?"

"Of course. Hehe, would this old man lie to his lifesaver?"

Dong Xuebin already had a way to deal with the Administrative Aptitude Test, but he had no confidence at all when it came to essay questions. "All right, I'll come right over. Thank you."

After hanging up, Dong Xuebin called out to let Mom know, then took his study books and headed out.

Capital City Tumor Hospital.

Dong Xuebin had never worked, so money had been tight lately. On the way over, he bought some inexpensive seasonal fruit from a fruit stand. After asking around in the inpatient building, he finally found the General Oncology Department on the west side of the third floor, next to the Radiation Oncology Department. He stopped outside Room 3016 and knocked twice.

"Come in." Grandpa Hu was sitting on the bed by the window, wearing reading glasses as he looked at a photograph.

Dong Xuebin walked over and set the fruit on the table with a smile. "Grandpa Hu, I wish you a speedy recovery."

"You came all this way, why did you bring gifts?" Grandpa Hu smiled cheerfully, pulled him over to sit down, and touched the family photo with his hand. With deep emotion, he turned it toward Dong Xuebin. "This is my eldest son, this is my daughter, and here, this is my youngest son and daughter-in-law." The woman in the photo had a prominent belly and seemed to be pregnant. "...Sigh, I almost didn't get to see my newborn grandson. Little Dong, that day, you were the one who pulled me back from death's door. This old man thanks you. Thank you."

"You're giving me too much credit."

Grandpa Hu's eyes grew a little moist. "Sometimes, I think this lung cancer of mine can't be cured anyway. Dying early would bring peace of mind. But when death really came close, there was suddenly so much I couldn't let go of. Living... I still have to keep living."

Thinking of how he had completely changed Grandpa Hu and Qu Yunxuan's fates, Dong Xuebin felt deeply moved as well.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Grandpa Hu suddenly said, "You brought your essay study materials, right? Come on, what parts don't you understand? I'll explain them."

Dong Xuebin quickly asked about several questions that had been puzzling him.

After thinking it over, Grandpa Hu answered, "If you answer the question you just mentioned in such an overly subjective way, it won't be very good. After all, it isn't an argument that has been refined over countless trials. There will always be little errors, little problems. In the hands of the graders, those will cost you a few points."

Dong Xuebin asked in confusion, "Then how should I answer? Say empty things? Spout lofty slogans?"

Grandpa Hu laughed. "Little Dong, don't underestimate those three words, 'fake, grand, and empty.' Sometimes, using them well isn't easy, and they can add points and flair to your argument. Be fake when you need to be fake, grand when you need to be grand, and empty when you need to be empty. That goes not only for the Civil Servants exam, but for officialdom as well. Come, come, let this old man explain..."

Dong Xuebin listened attentively all afternoon.

Sure enough, Grandpa Hu was truly knowledgeable. Everything he said was clear and well reasoned.

Later on, Dong Xuebin gradually became more familiar with him and spoke with fewer reservations. "Sigh, those people who write the exam questions... why do they have to make them so hard? Aren't they deliberately making things difficult for us?" Dong Xuebin had been holding this grievance in for a long time. "I've done the essay questions from every province from the past few years up through this year. Every one is harder than the last, and every one is more outrageous. Sigh, it's easy for the people setting the questions—they just have to flap their lips. But what about us? Who did we offend?"

Grandpa Hu frowned and said nothing.

Dong Xuebin hesitated. Had he said something wrong?

After a while, Grandpa Hu finally said, "You can't put it that way. If all the questions were easy enough for everyone to answer correctly, what would be the point of the Civil Servants exam? Don't you agree? Even if everyone got perfect scores, there would still only be one or two positions afterward. There would still be competition. It's all the same." He opened a reference book containing past provincial exams and pointed to a page. "My son and I are both scholars. He's more capable than I am—he earned his doctorate long ago. Look, more than half the essay questions on last year's Shanghai Civil Servants exam were written by him."

Only then did Dong Xuebin realize that his earlier rant had dragged Grandpa Hu's son into it.

Pah, pah. Look at this stupid mouth of mine...

Right, I haven't used today's Back yet.

Back

The instant time flowed backward, Dong Xuebin felt his lips moving. He must have been in the middle of speaking. Across from him, Grandpa Hu was frowning as he listened. Seeing Old Master Hu's expression, Dong Xuebin knew he had used Back a little too late. "Um, Grandpa Hu, where was I?"

Grandpa Hu gave a wry smile. "You said the people who set the questions were deliberately making things difficult for you."

"Right." Dong Xuebin's mind whirred, and he continued in the same tone. "They're making things way too difficult."

Grandpa Hu's brows drew together even more tightly.

"But..." Dong Xuebin changed course, picking up the collection of essay questions. "But the essay questions from Beihe Province the year before last and Shanghai last year were both very interesting. Look at the questions they came up with—they were clearly written by people with skill. They were difficult, very difficult, but they were interesting. If this year's Capital City Civil Servants exam has questions like those, I won't have any complaints even if I can't answer them."

Grandpa Hu stared blankly for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Little Dong, let me tell you, most of the questions on last year's Shanghai essay paper were written by my son."

Dong Xuebin feigned surprise. "Huh?"

"My son has always been more capable than I am." Deeply gratified, Grandpa Hu stroked his beard, his face beaming. "Hehe, come on, Little Dong. Let me give you a proper lesson on essay questions. I guarantee you'll score high this time."

"Really?"

"Of course. If you don't pass, come settle the score with me!"