The results were posted

The Autumn Examination results were posted, and the Capital City was lively for several days. On the day the list went up outside the Examination Compound, the entrance was packed. Some people lost their shoes in the crush, some cursed when their feet were stepped on, and some squatted right there after reading the list and cried into their hands. Beside one man crying stood another laughing like mad, a fellow townsman who clapped him on the shoulder and said, "We passed, we passed!" The two hugged each other, jumping and shouting. The crowd checking the results spilled from the Examination Compound all the way onto Chang'an Street. In every teahouse and tavern, people were discussing the successful candidates' examination papers.

Gu Hengsheng had passed, placing seventeenth. When Xie Chen received the news, he sent someone to fetch him from the Examination Compound. Gu Hengsheng followed the man and waited in a side hall of the Eastern Palace, still wearing that blue cloth robe washed so often it had gone fuzzy. There was a fresh ink stain on his cuff, acquired while he was writing out policy essays from memory at the inn before the results were posted. Xie Chen came out of the main hall, cupped his hands to him, and said that His Highness had told him to prepare for the palace examination without worry; lodgings had already been arranged. Gu Hengsheng stood, slung his book chest onto his back, and offered his thanks. Xie Chen glanced at the chest, its strap worn nearly through, but said nothing.

Sun Qiwen had passed as well. As an eighth-rank official, he had no need to sit the examination again, but he had entered this year's provincial examination and placed sixth. When word reached the Ministry of Revenue, his superior stood in the corridor for quite some time. After returning to his office, he dug out a Copper Mine Ledger that had been buried in a drawer for half a year and placed it on top of his desk.

In the West Warm Pavilion of Xuanzheng Hall, the papers recommended by several chief examiners had already been laid on the imperial desk. Zhou Zhongping, the left vice minister of rites, knelt before it and presented the three best papers. Qi Xiao picked up the top one and read it very carefully. Zhou Zhongping remained kneeling below. His knees ached a little, but he dared not move. He remembered that the last time he had knelt this long had been during the late emperor's reign.

"This policy essay." Qi Xiao drew out a paper. "The one on replacing canal transport with sea transport. Your assessment was 'well versed in current affairs.'"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"To me, it looks rather like a copy of an old draft by a candidate from the previous dynasty." Sweat broke out at Zhou Zhongping's temples. He had not expected His Majesty to remember even an old draft by a candidate from the previous dynasty. He prostrated himself, his voice tight. "I failed to examine it properly."

Qi Xiao set the paper aside and said nothing more. He dismissed no one from office on the spot, but Zhou Zhongping knew that someone among those examiners would probably be sent to plant trees in the northwest.

The door opened a crack. Before De'an could announce him, Qi Yu had already squeezed through. He carried a plate of osmanthus cakes, eating as he walked, his cheeks bulging. Crumbs clung to the corner of his mouth. He rubbed at them with his sleeve but failed to wipe them clean. Qi Xiao glanced up at him. With a muffled "Father, carry on with your work," he made his familiar way over to the imperial desk and sat in the chair beside his father.

Still kneeling on the floor, Zhou Zhongping froze for a moment when he saw the Fourth Prince enter. He had heard that the Fourth Prince dispensed with ceremony before His Majesty, but seeing a youth walk into the West Warm Pavilion carrying a plate of pastries still took some getting used to. Qi Xiao did not tell Qi Yu to leave. He lifted his teacup, took a sip, and continued to the next paper.

Qi Yu swallowed his Osmanthus Cake and looked down at the papers on the imperial desk. "Father, are these all people who did well in this examination?"

"Mm."

"Which one is best?"

Qi Xiao picked up the top paper and placed it before him. "Take a look."

Qi Yu took the paper and opened it. The policy essay concerned farming settlements for frontier defense, written in neat characters that densely covered several pages. He read one page and wrinkled his nose. "This writing is even smaller than Qin Wei's."

Qi Yu read another page. When he reached the third, he put the paper down. "Father, this person says farming settlements in the northwest could use Yellow River water for irrigation. But the water in that stretch of the Yellow River is muddy and carries a lot of silt. Irrigating with it can easily make the soil compact. The grand tutor specifically mentioned that when he taught Yu Gong."

Qi Xiao took the paper back and turned through the policy proposals in the later pages. There was indeed no mention of managing the silt. He closed the paper and set it aside without a comment.

He picked up another paper and handed it to Qi Yu. "This one."

Qi Yu took it and leafed through it. This essay concerned salt administration. He had read only half a page before he frowned. "Father, the passage he cites from Discourses on Salt and Iron is wrong. The grand tutor just taught this last month. The Han dynasty's salt and iron monopolies were established because they lacked the money to fight the Xiongnu, not simply to compete with the people for profit. He's got the reason backward."

Qi Xiao took a sip of tea and leaned back in his chair, watching him. Qi Yu turned to the second page and found another problem. "And he says illicit salt is widespread because official salt is too expensive. But the grand tutor said it's mainly because inspections are lax, and has little to do with the price. This person..." He glanced up at his father. "Father, has this person hardly ever left the Capital City? What he writes sounds like something he read in books, not like he's actually visited a saltworks."

"You've never visited a saltworks either. How do you know?"

"The grand tutor taught me," Qi Yu said with complete assurance. "I took notes while he was teaching." Sitting beside the imperial desk, eating osmanthus cakes as he critiqued the candidates' policy essays, and every remark hit the mark. Zhou Zhongping did not know whether to blush for those candidates or for himself. These old bones of his had spent most of a lifetime in the Hanlin Academy, yet a child had pointed out an error in the Discourses on Salt and Iron citation in a paper written by one of the students he had trained.

Qi Xiao set that paper aside, picked up the bottom one, leafed through it, and handed it to Qi Yu. This time, he did not ask whether it was good. He said only one word: "Read."

Qi Yu took it. This policy essay was very short, less than half the length of either of the previous two. It opened with this year's drought in Henan Circuit, describing common people dismantling their doors to pay their taxes and county yamen runners coming to collect levies in the twelfth lunar month. It then discussed how to reduce or waive taxes, how to resow winter wheat, and how to dig channels to bring in water. From beginning to end, it quoted no classics and flaunted no book learning.

Qi Yu finished reading and closed the paper. He did not speak at once, but looked down at the name on it. The handwriting was not particularly attractive, but every stroke was firm. He laid the paper on the imperial desk and raised his head.

"Father, this person talks like someone who's worked the land."

Qi Xiao looked at the paper and remained silent for a while. Then he reached out and stroked Qi Yu's head. His palm rested on the youth's crown, carrying a faint warmth. The touch made Qi Yu's head dip forward a little. He looked up at him, the corners of his mouth rising again.

"Father, why are you stroking my head?"

"No reason." Qi Xiao withdrew his hand and placed that paper by itself at the far right of the imperial desk. That was the place for the palace examination list.

Qi Yu saw where he had put it, and his eyes curved. He picked up the last osmanthus cake on the plate, broke it in half, and offered the larger piece to his father. Qi Xiao looked at the half cake, accepted it, and took a bite. Kneeling on the floor, Zhou Zhongping watched His Majesty eat half an osmanthus cake broken off by the Fourth Prince. He lowered his head even further. De'an was grinding ink nearby. As he worked, the corners of his mouth lifted just a little. He kept his head down. The ink was already thick, but he went on grinding.

That afternoon, when Zhou Zhongping emerged from the West Warm Pavilion, the back of his robe was soaked. Several examiners waiting in the corridor crowded around to ask how it had gone. He waved a hand and left without a word. After a few steps, he stopped and looked back toward Xuanzheng Hall. He remembered that during the late emperor's reign, there had also been a prince who sat beside the imperial desk reading examination papers. He had still been young then and had caught a distant glimpse from outside the hall. Later, that prince had become Crown Prince, then emperor.

A few days later, the palace examination list was released. Gu Hengsheng's name was on it. So was Sun Qiwen's. On the morning of the palace examination, Qi Yu rose unusually early. He sat on the bed and let Chun He dress him. When Chun He asked why he was up so early, he said the palace examination was today, and he wanted to watch his father examine people. A Ping passed him his belt from the side and muttered, "Your Highness, you just want to watch the excitement, don't you?" Qi Yu ignored him.

In the main chamber of Xuanzheng Hall, the palace examination candidates filed in. They knelt below the throne, each with a low table before him, blank answer sheets spread upon it. Qi Xiao sat on the throne. Qi Yu did not enter the main chamber. He stood behind the curtain at the side door, peering out through a gap. De'an stood beside him, pretending not to see.

Gu Hengsheng sat toward the left in the third row. He still wore that blue cloth robe, but it had been washed, and its collar was starched smooth and neat. His hand did not shake as he ground his ink. Qi Xiao set a policy essay question concerning frontier Tuntian and new salt and iron policies. Gu Hengsheng did not immediately begin writing after hearing the question. He sat there thinking for quite some time. Qi Yu watched for a while, then quietly slipped out through the side door. He went to the West Warm Pavilion, sat in his father's chair, and picked up the original policy essay he had read before. The handwriting was still just as ugly, yet the longer he looked, the more attractive he found it. He set the draft on the desk and leaned over it, his chin resting on his arms, looking out the window.

After the palace examination ended, Qi Xiao returned to the West Warm Pavilion and found Qi Yu asleep over his desk, his cheek resting on that policy essay about Henan Circuit. Drool had soaked a corner of the paper, seeping into the word "dismantle" in "dismantle their doors." Qi Xiao stood before the desk and looked down for a while. He gently drew the paper out from under Qi Yu's face, dabbed the drool stain with a handkerchief, placed it in the drawer on the right side of the imperial desk, and closed the drawer. Then he bent down, gathered Qi Yu into his arms, and laid him on the couch. Qi Yu rolled over in his sleep, mumbled "door," then "Father," and buried his face in a cushion. Standing beside the couch, Qi Xiao tucked the cushion further into his arms and swept his loose hair behind his ear.