The preliminary examination in Qinghe was held on the third day of the third month.
The almanac called it auspicious.
Lin Chu noted it was a Tuesday.
Neither auspicious nor inauspicious.
Simply chosen.
He accompanied Danian.
This had not been the original arrangement.
The original arrangement was twice-weekly winter sessions — classical analysis, essay structure, administrative precedent, formal reasoning.
Danian had taken to it better than expected.
The accompanying happened because two days before the examination, Danian appeared at his gate with tightly controlled composure and something dangerously close to panic underneath it.
"I need to go early," he said. "To see the hall. Before the day."
Lin Chu recognized the look.
He had seen it in junior officials before their first major presentation.
Preparation was not the problem.
Imagination was.
"I'll come with you," he said.
"You don't have to—"
"I know. I'll come anyway."
They walked two hours through cold spring air.
Danian was quiet.
Not comfortable quiet.
Tight quiet.
Lin Chu let him be.
Presence was useful.
Advice was not.
The examination hall sat by the river.
Solid.
Unadorned.
Worn steps suggested fifty years of nervous feet.
"It's smaller than I thought," Danian said.
"Most important places are," Lin Chu replied. "The size is in what happens inside."
Danian studied him.
"Are you always like this?"
"Like what?"
"Like you've already seen how everything turns out."
Lin Chu considered.
"Not always," he said. "But often enough."
The tightness eased slightly.
They ate pork and cabbage dumplings by the river.
Those were, unquestionably, the best kind.
— * —
The examination lasted four hours.
Lin Chu spent them at Zhao Meifeng's practice.
They were testing a medicinal combination he had identified in a classical treatise.
She had doubted it.
He had written an analysis.
She had asked six questions.
Now they tested.
Results came after two hours.
Consistent with his reasoning.
She reread his analysis.
"Where did you learn to think about medicine this way?"
"The text," he said carefully. "If you read structure rather than conclusion."
"I know how to read," she said. "I did not see this."
"You were reading what was written. I was reading what the author knew but didn't state directly."
A pause.
"I have a colleague in Jingcheng," she said. "Imperial Medical Bureau. He needs a research assistant. He has interviewed eleven candidates."
Lin Chu was silent.
"He would take whoever can do the work," she said. "If introduced."
"I'm twelve," he said.
"In the spring."
"He would not want a twelve-year-old."
"He would want competence."
"When?"
"Autumn. He visits Qinghe."
Lin Chu looked at the river.
Thought about Wuming.
Chen Yulan.
Firewood stacked correctly.
Danian currently inside a hall discovering his limits.
"Not this autumn," he said.
"Next autumn?"
"Possibly. I have obligations."
"What obligations does a twelve-year-old have?"
"The same kind anyone has."
She studied him.
"I'll tell him next autumn is possible."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Finish the translation."
He did.
— * —
Danian waited outside the hall when he arrived.
Hands between knees.
Looking at the ground.
They sat.
"How was it?" Lin Chu asked.
"I answered everything. I don't know if it was correct."
"What was the essay question?"
Danian explained.
Standard administrative precedent.
Framework-based.
They had practiced it six times.
"What did you argue?"
Danian walked him through it.
Correct structure.
Appropriate precedents.
One example Lin Chu would have chosen differently.
Still valid.
"That's a passing answer," Lin Chu said.
"You're certain?"
"Yes. Ranking depends on others. But that passes."
Danian exhaled deeply.
"If I pass… the next exam is in Jingcheng."
"Yes."
"That's far."
"It is."
They watched the river.
"Thank you," Danian said carefully. "For the winter. For today. I know I wasn't good to you at the beginning."
"You were testing."
"That doesn't make it right."
"No. But it makes it understandable. I don't hold understandable things against people."
Danian looked unsettled.
"You're very strange."
"I know."
"Does that bother you?"
Lin Chu thought honestly.
"It used to," he said. "Less now."
Danian nodded slowly.
"I'm hungry," he said.
"Very," Lin Chu agreed.
They found noodles near the market.
Hot broth.
Simple satisfaction.
Danian ate with the appetite of someone who had finished something difficult.
Lin Chu ate with the appreciation of someone who had skipped lunch and found good noodles waiting.
Outside, the river ran clear.
Spring was properly here.
Things were moving.
End of Chapter 9