SMMW | Chapter 10

The medicinal herbs bought back by the Wen family’s merchant caravan, together with the ones Yuan Hao had gifted, were enough to cover Mother’s needs for a whole year. Wen Qing no longer had any lingering worries. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to preparing for the exam, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the eighth month, and the provincial exam had begun.

For the sake of his studies, his mother had endured every hardship, personally supporting the Wen family trading firm alone, hiring famous teachers, establishing a book loft… all of it was for the sake of his achieving high honors and opening up a path of his own.

And now, he sat in the provincial examination hall.

Wen Qing picked up his brush, slowly let out a deep breath, and steadied the waves in his heart. He had studied for so many years, there was no reason not to pass. And the questions, however much they changed, never strayed from the core. He only needed to calm himself and answer.

He poured all his attention into brush and ink. His writing flowed like moving clouds and running water, completed in one continuous stretch, and before long, more than half was already finished.

It was not until a loud kuangdang rang out that he was yanked from that state of complete absorption.

Out of curiosity, Wen Qing looked over, then froze on the spot.

It was Yuan Hao!

While patrolling the hall, an examiner had carelessly knocked over Yuan Hao’s inkstone, and his answer paper had been stained!

No one would ever take responsibility for something like this. It could only be counted as bad luck on your own head. And sure enough, the examiner said something in a low voice, fetched fresh paper for Yuan Hao, and that was all. He simply turned and walked away, paying not the slightest attention to what consequences his carelessness might bring Yuan Hao.

Yet Yuan Hao looked unexpectedly calm. He took the fresh paper, spread it out, and simply continued writing as if he had never been disturbed at all.

“Do not look around!”

After being warned, Wen Qing quickly lowered his head. Worrying was useless. He forced himself to throw himself back into the exam, but no matter what, he could not return to the same state as before. In the end, he could only follow the line of thought he still had, barely write on a conclusion, and hurriedly set down his brush.

The provincial exam results were announced very quickly. Only thirty names were recorded. Wen Qing placed eighteenth, and Yuan Hao just barely hung onto the very end of the list.

That still counted as a blessing in misfortune. After reading the rankings, Wen Qing wanted to go find Yuan Hao and offer him some comfort, but as he walked along the road, he suddenly felt dizzy.

He leaned against a wall and rested for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, he was still in the provincial examination hall.

Looking down, there was the essay he himself had only written halfway. Looking up, the examiner was patrolling the hall.

With a loud kuangdang, Yuan Hao’s inkstone was knocked over.

Only this time, Yuan Hao seemed to have anticipated it long in advance. He happened to lift the pages he had already finished and set them aside to dry, so the spilled ink only splashed onto his clothes and did not stain the examination paper.

The examiner also jumped in fright, muttered something under his breath, and hurried away.

A little mishap that brought no harmful consequences, and the exam could seemingly continue just like that.

Again. It was Yuan Hao again. Even Wen Qing’s breathing had begun to tremble.

No. Not now. This was not the time. He had to finish. Half of it still remained. He had to write it all.

Wen Qing shut his eyes and calmed his emotions. When he opened them again, he had already crushed down every chaotic thought, forcing himself to finish every last part of the essay.

Having already written it once before, it now felt almost familiar and practiced, even easier than before. By the provincial exam ranking board, Wen Qing was placed twelfth, six places higher than the first time.

And Yuan Hao? He leapt from the very tail of the list straight to the very top, becoming the undisputed jieyuan, accepting congratulations from everyone.

Standing outside the crowd, Wen Qing could only see the top of Yuan Hao’s head. It was the first time he had felt that he was standing so far away from Yuan Hao, and that Yuan Hao was so unfamiliar to him.

So back then, had he really taken the county-level exam three times? It was only after Yuan Hao became the top scorer that the strange cycle finally stopped.

And now, he had taken the provincial exam twice, and Yuan Hao avoided the accident and became jieyuan.

And there was more. There had to be something else strange, something he himself had overlooked.

Three times? Right. Yuan Hao had also taken the county-level exam three times. He had failed to pass in the first two. The first time, where had he been? Was he that… was he that person wearing the same patched blue robe?!

Yuan Hao could even change his appearance. Was he… a monster?

If even his looks could change, then could his name be trusted?

Was he really Yuan Hao? Or had some monster occupied Yuan Hao’s body?

But the one I first came to know was him from the very beginning. Maybe I have never even met the real Yuan Hao…

Wen Qing no longer dared remain at the scene. His teeth had started chattering. He felt that at any moment Yuan Hao would be able to see right through him. Fortunately, Yuan Hao was still surrounded by the crowd congratulating him, and had not noticed him.

Wen Qing slowly turned around. Because of fear, his fingers had unconsciously curled tight together. He staggered farther and farther away, until he felt he had finally gone beyond Yuan Hao’s line of sight. Only then did he dare to start running.

Faster and faster, faster and faster. He forgot that he was only a frail scholar. His throat tightened, his breathing turned ragged, yet he kept running, still running.

His legs grew softer and softer. He stepped on a stone and fell to the ground. Only then did he realize that because his breathing had gone so wrong, he was on the verge of suffocating.

He simply collapsed flat onto the muddy ground without the slightest care, dizzy as he stared at the sky, gasping for breath, coughing, coughing until his face turned red, and tears fell without warning. He coughed while crying, and cried while coughing.

Why? Why would he be a monster?

Maybe I’m overthinking it. Maybe I’m just too tense from the exam…

But I remember it clearly. I took it twice. Before that, I took it three times. He was the only one who was different. Only his result changed.

At the poetry gathering, only his drumbeats slowed down, so he was able to keep answering and take first place.

That time when I was blocked in, I clearly heard the sounds of him being beaten, but there was not a trace of injury on him afterward.

When he came to my house to eat pastries, I clearly heard him eating, but of all the pastries, only one piece was missing. How could it be possible that he only ate one piece?

Tears blurred his eyes. Wen Qing lifted a hand to wipe them away, but no matter what, he could not wipe them clean. In anger, he let out a loud shout, like a wounded little beast. After venting once, he began crying again. This time he did not even bother wiping anymore, letting the tears flow all the way into his hair.

He, he also treated me to pastries, to fermented rice dumplings, soy-braised roast duck, osmanthus wine, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. One meal like that cost five hundred qian.

He only had the money to treat me because he won prize money at the poetry gathering. But don’t monster turn leaves into gold? How could a monster be that poor, and still have to wear clothes full of patches?

His house was also shabby. His mother was sick. He could only go dig medicinal herbs himself. He even had to copy books and sell them before he could scrape together enough tuition. Is that what a monster is like…? Or maybe he is the kind of monster that only has a tiny bit of magic?

That’s it. That must be it. He could not even beat Zou Hui. He could only blurt out nonsense to get out of it. He only has a tiny bit of magic, and can only use it in important situations, like the exams. If he does badly, then he uses his magic to take them again. That’s why I got dragged into taking them several times too.

The face can be explained too. After all, what monster does not love beauty? He… then he ought to really be Yuan Hao, not someone who took over another person’s body. Otherwise there would be no way to change his face, and there would be no reason to. He would have to keep the original appearance, so his family would not notice.

At the poetry gathering, he deliberately slowed the drumbeats to give himself twice as much thinking time. That way he could win the prize money. He is a poor monster. He needs money.

And the pastries too. He definitely did not want anyone to discover he was greedy, so he tasted every kind, then restored them to how they had been before.

A monster who loves beauty, loves food, loves money, has very little magic, whose supernatural ability is related to time, and who uses spells only rarely so as not to be discovered by… Daoists.

He even gave me baiweizi, and was afraid I would get beaten, so he stepped in for me. He is filial, and knows how to care for a sick mother… Could his mother be a monster too?

I heard she raised him all alone. And the place they live is very remote…

But can monster get sick?

Maybe he is not her birth son, but rather Aunt Yuan’s adopted child?

Perhaps Aunt Yuan saved him by sheer accident, so he is repaying her kindness. He is learning how to be human. He is going along with Aunt Yuan’s wish by studying and taking the imperial examinations.

No, no. Why did I jump straight to the conclusion that he is a monster? Maybe I really am just thinking nonsense. I need to verify it.

Find a Daoist?

No, no. What if the Daoist takes him away? He has never done anything bad… at most he cheated on exams. That does not deserve to cost him his life. It must have been terribly difficult for him to cultivate himself into human form.

Wait for the next exam?

The next one would only be the spring metropolitan exam. That was too far away, and besides, the setting would be wrong.

Then what other way is there?

Lying in the mud, Wen Qing anxiously tore at the grass.

“Right!” Wen Qing suddenly sat bolt upright. He had thought of a way.

Yuan Hao is greedy for food and still cares about saving face. When it comes to pastries, he always asks clearly about them, tries each one, restores them afterward, and in the end only actually eats one kind. The first few times he came to my house, he was very wordy every time pastries were served. Later, once he knew which ones were good, he would choose directly.

So if I just find several kinds he has never eaten before, he will definitely have to use magic again!

Once Wen Qing had thought it through, he did not hesitate any further. Wearing his dirty robe, he ran straight to the pastry shop and bought an entire food box in one go. On top of that, he specially prepared a needle. His plan was that every time Yuan Hao ate one kind, he would secretly prick himself once. And he would prick a different finger each time. That way it would be easy to count, and hard to mix up.

If Yuan Hao used magic to restore the pastries to their original state, then there would definitely be ten blood-prick marks on his hands. If Yuan Hao used time magic, then there would only be one.