There Was Someone Waiting for Brother Xiao

Winter had set in.

The weather grew colder by the day.

Every morning when Xiao Mo got up, he could see a thin layer of frost coating the branches outside.

All this time, Xiao Mo had been studying every day.

He studied from dawn until night, slept, then got up and continued studying.

Xiao Mo felt he had never worked this hard, not even for the college entrance exams in his previous life.

As for daily necessities and the cost of books, ink, paper, and inkstones,

he had saved some silver earlier, which was just enough to get by.

The Village Chief also brought him meals every day, saving Xiao Mo the time and expense of cooking.

One morning, Xiao Mo woke up and felt that it was much colder than before.

He got dressed and went outside to wash up.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw the world outside blanketed in white. Snowflakes as large as goose feathers drifted slowly from the sky. A cold wind swept past, and Xiao Mo couldn't help shivering.

"Brother Xiao, I'm here to bring you food!"

A little girl's voice came from outside the courtyard.

The chubby little girl ran over, carrying a food box.

"Xiao Ying, thanks for the trouble."

Xiao Mo took the food box and patted her on the head.

The little girl bringing him food was the Village Chief's second daughter, Wang Ying.

The Village Chief had originally wanted his eldest daughter, Wang Yan, to bring Xiao Mo his meals.

But four years had passed, and Wang Yan had grown from a nine-year-old girl into a young maiden. Her figure had also begun to mature.

To avoid any suspicion, Aunt Chen had sent the three-year-old Wang Ying to bring the food instead.

Everyone in the village knew each other, and the two households were close by, so there was no danger.

Still, Xiao Mo had been quite surprised three years ago when he learned Aunt Chen was pregnant again. The Village Chief really was going strong for his age.

Xiao Mo took a bun and handed it to Wang Ying. The chubby Wang Ying didn't stand on ceremony. She accepted the big bun from her big brother, and the two of them sat on a rock, taking bite after bite.

"Brother Xiao, I've noticed that whenever you eat, you keep looking toward that mountain. What's on it?" Wang Ying asked curiously, lifting her round little head.

"On that mountain..." Xiao Mo raised his head and gazed at the distant mountain, cloaked in thick snow. "There's someone waiting for Brother Xiao."

"Big sister, have some more."

"Xiao Qing, I can't eat another bite."

"Just one more!"

"I've already eaten so many mice."

"Just a little more, big sister."

"I really can't eat any more."

Inside the cave, Xiao Qing carried two dead mice over to her sister.

The two snakes, one white and one green, had round bellies and looked as if they'd each gained a whole circle.

Ordinary snakes had long since begun hibernating.

But once a snake gained intelligence and embarked on the path of cultivation, its hibernation period shortened. The higher its cultivation, the shorter its hibernation.

Even so, Xiao Qing had started getting sleepy three days earlier.

But she had been worried about her sister and kept fighting sleep.

"Xiao Qing, go to sleep. I'm really fine." Seeing her little sister's head bob with drowsiness, Xiao Bai tried to persuade her.

Xiao Qing shook her head hard. "But, big sister, how could I not worry about you? What kind of snake sheds its skin in winter?"

At that moment, Bai Ruxue's clear, vertical pupils looked as if they were veiled by frosted glass. The edges of the white scales on her belly curled up, cracked like the bed of a dried-up river.

Fine fissures appeared on the scales at the tip of her snout, like cracks in dried clay. Clear mucus oozed out and coated her body, giving it a waxy sheen.

"It's all right. I'm a snake who can take human form. I'm not like an ordinary snake."

"But, big sister—"

"No buts. Go to sleep right now, or I'll get angry." Xiao Bai put on a show of being annoyed.

"I won't."

Thunk!

When Xiao Qing stubbornly refused to sleep, Xiao Bai's tail secretly curled around a stone. Then, while her little sister wasn't looking, she tapped her on the head from behind.

Xiao Qing's eyes rolled, and she toppled over with a soft thump.

"Xiao Qing, see you in spring."

The tip of Xiao Bai's tail stroked Xiao Qing's head. Then she lay down beside her sister, facing the mouth of the cave.

"What's he doing right now?"

"He's probably still studying, isn't he?"

As she watched the snow falling outside, Xiao Bai's thoughts drifted, and drowsiness began to overtake her.

"It's been so long since I saw him."

"Could he have forgotten me?"

Xiao Bai curled up into a ball.

"Will I grow bigger after I shed my skin?"

"I probably will, right?"

"What kind of expression will he make when he sees how big I've grown?"

"Will I be as tall as him?"

As sleepiness grew heavier, Xiao Bai's final thought snapped loose like a kite whose string had broken. She lost consciousness completely and fell into a deep sleep.

Inside the cave, the two snakes lay pressed close together.

Outside, the heavy snow swept over the mountain forest.

After who knew how long, the wind and snow began to ease.

At last, the sky cleared.

Spring arrived.

That day, Xiao Mo was heading to Qingshan County to take the exams.

The country Xiao Mo lived in was called the Qi Kingdom.

The Qi Kingdom's Child Examination was different from the ancient examinations in Huaxia.

The Qi Kingdom held its Child Examination every year. Candidates took three rounds of exams over the course of a month, but all three rounds were held in the same place.

This was done to lessen the burden on candidates, who no longer had to travel back and forth between the county seat and the prefectural capital.

Those who passed the first two rounds became Child Scholars.

Those who passed all three rounds became Talented Scholars.

Those who failed to become Talented Scholars could try again the following year, without having to take the first two rounds again.

Passing as a Talented Scholar meant gaining a certain social standing.

In the Qi Kingdom, Talented Scholars could meet officials without kneeling, were exempt from corvée labor and interrogation by torture, and could open private schools or write documents for others. However, they were not exempt from land taxes.

And because the number of Talented Scholars in the Qi Kingdom kept growing, competition for work at private schools and writing documents had become fierce.

There were plenty of impoverished Talented Scholars in the Qi Kingdom nowadays. The Village Chief was one of them.

"Village Chief, I'm off." At the village entrance, Xiao Mo said goodbye to the Village Chief and his family.

"Take this travel money." The Village Chief stepped forward and handed Xiao Mo a bundle.

Aunt Chen huffed and turned her head away, but she said nothing.

The Village Chief ignored his wife and reminded Xiao Mo, "Do your best. There's no need to put too much pressure on yourself. With your learning, you should be able to pass. I'll be waiting for good news."

"Yes." Xiao Mo cupped his hands in a bow to the Village Chief and his family, then turned and walked away.

The Child Examination was being held in Qingshan County this year. Fortunately, it wasn't far from Shiqiao Village—only a day's journey.

After reaching Qingshan County, Xiao Mo got a good night's sleep.

Two days later, Xiao Mo sat for the examination.

There was no age limit for the Child Examination.

There were children of eight or nine, as well as old men in their fifties and sixties.

Some of those old men had taken the exam year after year and were still only Child Scholars.

The Child Examination alone was so fiercely competitive. The Provincial Examination and the Metropolitan Examination would be even more demanding.

One of the Book of a Hundred Lives' tasks was to "enter the court as an official." This really wasn't easy.

Could it be that I'll spend my whole life taking exams and still never become an official?