Winter came.
The weather turned colder and colder.
Every morning when Xiao Mo got up, he could see a thin film of frost glazing the branches outside.
All this time, Xiao Mo did nothing but read.
From first light into the night, and after a sleep, he would get up and read again.
Xiao Mo felt that even in his last life, he had never studied this hard for the gaokao.
As for daily expenses and the cost of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones—
Xiao Mo had put aside some silver earlier, and it was barely enough.
The village chief brought over food every day as well, which saved Xiao Mo the time of cooking and a sum of money besides.
One morning Xiao Mo woke early and felt that the day was much colder than any before.
He got dressed, went outside, and washed up.
The moment he opened the door, Xiao Mo saw the world outside clad in silver, goose-feather snow drifting slowly down from the sky. A cold wind blew past, and Xiao Mo couldn't help but shiver.
"Brother Xiao... I brought you your food..."
A little girl's voice came from beyond the courtyard.
The little girl was chubby, and she came running over hugging a food box.
"Xiao Ying, thank you."
Xiao Mo took the food box and rubbed her head.
The little girl who delivered the meals was the village chief's second daughter—Wang Ying.
The chief had originally meant to have his eldest daughter, Wang Yan, bring Xiao Mo his meals.
But four years had passed, and Wang Yan had gone from a nine-year-old girl to a young lady of thirteen or fourteen, her figure filling out.
To avoid any appearance of impropriety, Aunt Chen had the three-year-old Wang Ying bring the food instead.
Everyone in the village knew everyone anyway, and the two houses weren't far apart, so there was no danger to speak of.
Still, when Xiao Mo learned three years ago that Aunt Chen was pregnant again, he had been rather startled. The village chief really was as vigorous as ever in his old age.
Xiao Mo took a steamed bun and handed it to Wang Ying; chubby Wang Ying did not stand on ceremony. She took the big bun from her big brother, and the big one and the little one sat on a rock, munching away bite by bite.
"Brother Xiao, I've noticed that when you eat, you keep looking at that mountain. Is there something on that mountain?" Wang Ying lifted her round little head and asked curiously.
"On that mountain..." Xiao Mo raised his head and gazed at the distant mountain wrapped in thick white snow. "There's someone up there waiting for Brother Xiao."
"Sister, have a little more."
"Xiaoqing, I can't eat another bite."
"Just one more mouse!"
"I've already eaten so many mice..."
"Sister, just a little more."
"I really can't eat anymore..."
Inside the cave, Xiaoqing carried two dead mice over to her sister's side.
Two snakes, one white and one green, both with bellies so round they looked a size plumper.
Ordinary snakes would long since have begun to hibernate.
But once a snake awakened its spirit intelligence and set foot on the path of cultivation, its hibernation grew shorter—the higher the realm, the shorter the sleep.
Even so, three days ago Xiaoqing had started to grow drowsy.
But Xiaoqing was worried about her sister, and she kept forcing herself to stay awake.
"Xiaoqing, hurry up and sleep. Sister's really fine." Watching her little sister's snake head nod off again and again, Little Bai tried to coax her.
Xiaoqing shook her head hard. "But sister, how could I not worry about you... What snake sheds its skin in winter?"
By now Bai Ruxue's clear vertical pupils looked as if they had been covered in frosted glass, and the edges of the white scales on her belly had curled up, like the cracks in a dried-up riverbed.
Fine fissures had opened in the scales at the tip of her snout, like drying clay; the transparent mucus she secreted wrapped her whole body in an oily, waxy sheen.
"It's fine. Sister is a snake who can take human form—I'm not like ordinary snakes."
"But sister..."
"No buts. Go to sleep, or sister's going to get angry." Little Bai pretended to be cross.
"I won't..."
"Bonk~"
When Xiaoqing stubbornly refused to sleep, Little Bai quietly curled her tail around a stone, and while her sister wasn't looking, struck her from behind.
Xiaoqing's eyes spun, and with a "plop" she keeled over.
"See you in spring, Xiaoqing."
Little Bai's tail tip stroked Xiaoqing's head, and then she too lay down beside her sister, her head pointed toward the mouth of the cave.
What is he doing right now?
He's probably still reading...
Watching the heavy snow outside the cave, Little Bai's thoughts drifted, and drowsiness crept over her.
It's been so long since I saw him...
Will he forget me?
Little Bai curled her body into a ball.
After I shed my skin, will I have grown up?
I should, right?
What kind of face will he make when he sees me all grown up...
Will I be as tall as him?
As the drowsiness grew heavier and heavier, the little white snake's last thought went slack like a kite with its string cut; she lost all awareness and sank into her sleep.
Inside the cave, the two snakes lay pressed close together.
Outside the cave, the snow swept through the mountain forest.
Who knows how long passed; the wind and snow grew lighter and lighter.
Until the sky cleared.
Spring came.
On this day, Xiao Mo was setting out for Qingshan County to sit the examination.
The country Xiao Mo lived in was called Qi.
The preliminary examination in Qi was not the same as that of ancient Huaxia.
In Qi, the preliminary exam was held every year, with the three rounds spread over a month, all three held in the same place.
This too was done to lighten the burden on the candidates, so they wouldn't have to run back and forth between the county town and the prefectural city.
Pass the first two rounds, and you were a tongsheng.
Pass all three rounds, and you were a xiucai.
If you failed to make xiucai, you could try again the following year, and you didn't have to retake the first two rounds.
Making xiucai meant you had a certain standing.
A xiucai of Qi could meet officials without kneeling, was exempt from corvée labor and from torture during interrogation, and could open a private school or write documents on others' behalf—but he could not be exempted from the land tax.
And because Qi had more and more xiucai, private schools and document-writing were cutthroat work as well.
In Qi nowadays there was no shortage of poor xiucai—the village chief, for instance...
"Village Chief, I'm off." At the village gate, Xiao Mo took his leave of the chief and his family.
"Take this traveling money." The chief stepped forward and handed Xiao Mo a bundle.
Aunt Chen huffed and turned her head away, but said nothing.
The chief ignored his wife and instructed Xiao Mo, "Do your best. Don't put too much pressure on yourself—with your learning, you ought to pass. I'll be waiting for good news."
"Yes." Xiao Mo bowed to the chief's family and walked away.
This year the preliminary exam was held in Qingshan County; luckily it wasn't far from Stone Bridge Village—only a day's journey.
Once he reached Qingshan County, Xiao Mo had himself a good sleep.
Two days later, Xiao Mo sat the examination.
The preliminary exam had no age limit.
There were children of eight or nine, and old men of fifty or sixty...
These old men had been taking the exam for all those years, and they were still nothing but "tongsheng"...
A single preliminary exam was already contested this fiercely; the provincial and metropolitan exams beyond it went without saying.
One of the Hundred Lives Book's tasks was "take office at court"—that really was no easy thing...
Am I going to spend my whole life taking exams without ever becoming an official?
Xiao Mo thought to himself.