Qi Kingdom's Imperial Examination for Children was similar in format and content to the imperial examinations of China's ancient Ming dynasty, though there were many differences as well.
The first round was relatively simple. It tested candidates on reciting the Four Books and Five Classics from memory, along with annotating several passages. Finally, they were given a prompt from the Four Books and asked to write a complete eight-legged essay, which followed eight sections: breaking down the topic, introducing the topic, beginning the discussion, and so on.
The second round was not difficult either. Candidates had to recite longer passages from the classics and write another eight-legged essay, though the prompt was more challenging and drew on the Four Books and Five Classics. At the end, they were given several passages from the classics and asked to explain their understanding of them, with no restrictions on format.
Xiao Mo passed the first two rounds without a hitch and had become a Child Scholar.
The third round would be held fifteen days later, giving the candidates some time to rest.
After thinking it over, Xiao Mo decided not to return to the village.
He would stay in Qingshan County and prepare for the third round.
Meanwhile, at She Mountain, north of Shiqiao Village...
Inside a cave, a White Snake slowly opened her eyes.
Her vision was blurry, and the thing clinging to her body felt terribly uncomfortable.
The White Snake rubbed herself hard against a nearby rock.
After considerable effort—and even scraping off a few of her newly grown scales—she finally wriggled free of her shed skin.
"I'm so long!"
Bai Ruxue looked over her body and estimated she was about seven feet long. She was much thicker than before, too.
With a twist, she transformed into human form.
The girl ran out of the cave and came to a pool.
The pool was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the girl's slender, graceful figure.
"Wow, I'm so tall! And I'm so pretty!"
Bai Ruxue turned around twice beside the pool, her skirt fluttering. She was very pleased with how she looked now.
"I'm taller than him now, right?"
"Next time he sees me, he'll be so surprised."
A faint joy welled in Bai Ruxue's heart. She was already imagining the astonished look on Xiao Mo's face when he saw her.
She skipped back to the cave. Xiao Qing was still asleep.
"Xiao Qing, you have to grow tall too when you wake up~"
Bai Ruxue gently patted Xiao Qing's head, then skipped out of the cave again.
She went to the narrow path Xiao Mo was bound to take up the mountain and sat on the same rock beside it.
Resting her chin in her hands, she gazed into the distance and waited for him to return.
One day.
Two days.
Three days, four days...
Bai Ruxue waited and waited, tossing pebbles again and again.
She had no idea how many pebbles she'd thrown away.
She had no idea how many blades of grass she'd pulled up.
She had no idea how many mice passing by she'd eaten.
But she still hadn't seen him come back.
"Did he forget about me?"
"Will he come back?"
"He'll come back!" Bai Ruxue shook her head hard, clenched her little fists, and cheered herself on. "He said he would come back to play with me. He'll definitely come back!"
Another ten days passed, and Bai Ruxue still hadn't seen him.
"Stinky Xiao Mo, if you don't come see me soon, I'm going to get mad!"
That was what the girl said that day.
But Xiao Mo still didn't come back.
On the twentieth day of waiting for Xiao Mo, at sunset...
Bai Ruxue stood on the rock, cupped her pale hands around her mouth, and shouted down the path below, "Stinky Xiao Mo! I'm giving you one more chance! If you don't come, I'm really going to get mad!"
On the twenty-first day, the sun set, and night slowly spread across the sky.
The girl was still standing on the rock, shouting, "Xiao Mo, this is your very, very last chance. If you don't show up tomorrow, I'll really get mad!"
The twenty-second day.
"Xiao Mo, I'm really, really, really mad now! You can't make it up to me!"
The girl's voice echoed through the forest.
The twenty-third day.
"Xiao Mo! I'm never speaking to you again!"
The twenty-fourth day, the twenty-fifth day...
Every day, Bai Ruxue sat on that rock and waited.
When she left at dusk, she always shouted curses at Xiao Mo, her voice echoing through the forest.
"Xiao Mo... where are you?"
On the night of the twenty-sixth day, night covered the whole sky. The girl sat on the rock with her arms wrapped around her knees, her head buried against them.
"Why haven't you come back yet?"
Crystal-clear tears slowly dampened the girl's dress.
High in the night sky, stars glittered, as though the Creator had scattered countless grains of shining sand across the heavens.
The moonlight drifted down, outlining the girl in a faint halo.
The girl didn't know when she fell asleep.
She didn't know how many times she'd called Xiao Mo "stinky" in her heart.
But she was still waiting there, not going anywhere.
He'd said he would come back.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp."
On the morning of the twenty-seventh day, the sky turned bright again.
Birds chattered among the trees.
A lizard crawled to the girl's feet and looked up at her. But, as though it had sensed something, it darted away in a flash.
A man appeared on the narrow path.
Xiao Mo walked forward, step by step.
He should have come back much earlier after the exams. But the newly appointed county magistrate had insisted that the newly minted Talented Scholars attend a meal, and had held all kinds of banquets as well.
How could Xiao Mo refuse the man?
As a result, after the exam results were posted, Xiao Mo had stayed in Qingshan County for six extra days.
"I wonder if she's been waiting long."
Thinking of the little White Snake, Xiao Mo quickened his pace.
When he reached halfway up the mountain, he looked up and saw a girl sitting on a rock with her arms wrapped around her knees, her little face buried against her thighs.
She seemed to be asleep.
Xiao Mo wasn't sure if she was Ruxue.
Judging by her figure, this girl looked like a young woman, not a little girl in the bloom of youth.
Xiao Mo walked up and called softly, "Miss?"
At the sound of his voice, the girl's shoulders trembled slightly, as if she had woken up.
She lifted her eyes, and Xiao Mo's mind went blank.
The girl looked about sixteen. Her eyes were like spring breezes passing over branches and coaxing a whole tree of blossoms to bloom. Their outer corners naturally tilted upward, like the most charming curve at the tip of a peach blossom petal.
Her irises were a clear, gentle ink-black, yet seemed to hold a pool of water deep within.
Her long, thick lashes were like butterfly wings, casting a soft shadow beneath her eyes whenever they quivered. Her gaze shimmered, rippling with light, and held the clarity and innocence unique to a young girl.
When her eyes shifted, a natural hint of allure slipped through, but the pure light in them held it in check, leaving only a captivating liveliness and gentleness.
She gazed drowsily at the man before her.
As the girl made out his face, her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
But faint tear tracks marked her pale cheeks, and the corners of her eyes were reddened from crying.
"Ruxue?" Xiao Mo asked.
Bai Ruxue's throat bobbed as she tried to answer.
But in the end, she turned her head away like a sulking child and pouted resentfully.
"I'm not Bai Ruxue."
"Stinky Xiao Mo, I don't even know you."
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