Struggle in Ancient Times

Liao Tingyu would go out and socialized if he had nothing to do. The friendship between classmates also deepened. When he wasn’t out, he would stay in the room and wrote novels. Sometimes, he would go out for a stroll and looked at the place the yamen would drop the list.

He knew it wasn’t the time to release the news but he thought about his family and fellow villagers waited for it so much, his attitude also changed. Huang Hao laughed at him, he thought he was sick; it wasn’t released yet but he still went there.

The teachers told him, they were confident about his passing. They said, if he passed the exam, he could stay and taught in the school. This was a rare good thing.

When Huang Hao found out, he was so envious of him, “Why are you so lucky? The teacher has nothing to say about me. I’m not as good as yellow cabbage.” Huang Hao said then picked up a pastry and stuffed it in his mouth.

.

In the tense atmosphere, under everyone anticipation. The announcement was sent out and posted. Because they stayed in the county town, the news was learned fast.

In the morning, before dawn, Liao Tingyu was dragged out of bed by those excited students. They stood at the gate of yamen office and waited. There was slight chill from the autumn wind but blown away by everyone excitement. There were many people gathered in the street.

Suddenly a sound of gong was heard; a yamen came out and shouted, “Everyone, please retreat behind. The list will be posted on the blue brick wall.”

Several yamens solemnly posted the list, all of the students stood on their tiptoe to find their names. Liao Tingyu was dragged by Huang Hao; they moved nimbly and squeezed the crowd. Liao Tingyu touched his painful scalp and messy hair.

“Slow down, my hair is being torn.” He shouted at Huang Hao.

But he was ignored, “I told you earlier to tie up your hair, you deserve it.”

“Let’s wait until they are done. There will be fewer people.” Liao Tingyu grimaced and tried to control his tangled hair enduring the pain.

“You think so good; if you don’t read it now, don’t even think about going later.” Huang Hao had taken the exam twice and was very experienced. He thought the same at the beginning, although he failed the exam. But he suffered a lot just to find his name.

“Hurry up, I didn’t know you were such a person before. I called you so early but you are so lazy, now there are a lot of people here.” After went through all kind of hardships, they finally….

Huang Hao stood firmly in front of him, he looked so good and strong but his momentum was destroyed as soon as he opened his mouth, “Liao-xiong, look quickly. That’s your name, you ranked ninth. This isn’t bad, you are awesome. Hey, where’s my name? why could I find me?”

Liao Tingyu pointed to the second line and said, “Number forty.”

Huang Hao looked at it, hey! It was really his own name. His ranking was considered very high among hundreds of people, he was so happy that his speech a little incoherent.

“Okay, that’s good. Very good, haha, I think I’m still great. I don’t know what kind of reward my uncle will give me.” Huang Hao laughed happily as he thought about his bright future when he went home.

His happiness made other students beside him angry, “Hey, leave when you are done. Don’t block us.”

“That’s right.”

He didn’t want to cause a scene and walked out. Along the way, he dragged Liao Tingyu to the east and west; they shopped and walked for an hour. Liao Tingyu didn’t want to disappoint him and followed behind. After all, happiness needed to be vented.

“Come, you have to come home with me. My uncle said, if I pass the exam, he will hold a big banquet for me in his house. My uncle is a businessman, much richer than my family. When he was young, he was very capable….” Huang Hao kept talking as if he was drunk.

Liao Tingyu was troubled, he kept accepting people gazes; either envious or pity. Well, this one friend kept talking so excitedly but the other was calm as if nothing happened.