"Sigh, Elder Chen... is so biased..."
"Isn't that the truth? If only he'd been a little kinder to that mother and son from Mute Bay..."
"I heard the boy lives on a rundown boat and never knows where his next meal is coming from..."
Xiaohai, however, was completely oblivious. He clutched the few copper coins he had and cheerfully followed the crowd away.
In the blink of an eye, the Chen Family's once noisy, festive, and jam-packed courtyard was left with nothing but a mess on the ground and a bone-chilling emptiness.
Elder Chen stood transfixed beside the basin of shimmering golden soybeans. His withered hand unconsciously grabbed a handful, only to let them rustle through his fingers, as if the "good fortune" he had just grasped was slipping away with them.
......
A rare, warm sun shone on the filthy waters of Mute Bay, casting a deceptively golden shimmer on its surface.
"He passed! He really passed! A Martial Scholar! Chen Qing became a Martial Scholar!"
