"Little brother! Are you ready yet? It's time to leave!"
Early that morning, before Zhao Er had finished practicing his Halberd Art, Zhao Da was already outside the courtyard in a carriage, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Do we have to go this early?"
With both halberds on his back, Zhao Er glanced outside. The sun had only just risen, and he could not understand why his elder brother was so eager.
"Come on, it's not early anymore! If we go now, we'll probably spend the whole morning in line. Then we can take the preliminary test in the afternoon."
Zhao Da was nowhere near as unhurried as Zhao Er. He grabbed his brother and tried to pull him along.
"What?"
Hearing that, Zhao Er stopped dead and asked again, unable to quite believe it.
"I said it's not early anymore! Oh, you mean waiting in line all morning...
"That's perfectly normal. Our county town isn't that big, but if you include all the towns and villages under it, there are plenty of young martial artists.
"Lots of martial artists will be waiting at the Prefectural Office first thing in the morning. If we arrive late, we'll have to wait until tomorrow."
The preliminary test for the Grand Exam required throwing a two-shi stone, weighing roughly 360 jin, three times to pass. In practice, however, plenty of people hoped to fish in muddy waters, coming to try their luck even without reaching the Bone Tempering Realm.
"I remember the preliminary test lasts two days, right? Will there be this many people on the second day too?"
Zhao Er wondered whether he had remembered wrong.
"Yes, just two days. But most people finish on the first day, so there won't be nearly as many on the second."
"Then we'll