Chapter Twenty-Six: The Humiliations of the Past Are Nothing to Boast About!

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“Finally, he made it…”

When Zhou Liang saw that this stubborn fool had actually managed to pass after all, he could not help praising him:

“Damn, that’s impressive!”

“Back then, I only sat for the examinations three times. I dragged it out for ten years, and that was enough to drive me to a mental breakdown. But you—nine attempts over twenty-four years… That is simply beyond ridiculous!”

“You knew perfectly well that whether you passed the provincial examination had nothing to do with how well you performed. You would pass only if the powers above wanted you to pass. If they did not, you could study until your head split open and still fail… And yet, under those circumstances, you managed to persist for twenty-four years…”

Zhou Liang did not know whether to mock the man for being impossibly stubborn or praise him for his extraordinary resolve.

The only thing separating this fellow from Fan Jin was a complete nervous breakdown!

“But now that I think about it, if he should have passed every time, why did he keep failing?”

Zhou Liang could not help pondering the matter.

One failure could be blamed on bad luck, two on coincidence, and three on being cursed with terrible fortune… But to fail eight times in succession could not possibly be a matter of luck. Someone had clearly been deliberately targeting him!

The problem was, this fellow had no feud with the officials of Xi’an. Why would they target him?

And even if they had chosen to target him, why had they suddenly stopped this time?

If Zhou Liang’s guess was correct, then some secret backroom deal must have taken place!

“I hope he can continue walking this path. This time, he should try his best to unravel these mysteries… Once he understands them, he can find a way to rise to a higher level. I do not expect him to accomplish anything earth-shaking in life. I only hope he can clear away as much of the world’s fog as possible and build a complete worldview for himself.”

“I have lived for more than fifty years, yet all my life I have merely been the leader of assassins operating around Shaanxi and Bashu. In truth, I have never genuinely understood this Great Ming Empire… I hope you can do better than I did, and that one day you will know more than I ever could…”

With a helpless sigh, Zhou Liang, filled with hope, continued the simulation.

…

[“A joyous announcement for the honorable Zhou Liang: he has achieved the highest rank in the Shaanxi provincial examination, becoming the provincial laureate! His name has been entered into the imperial register!”]

[The herald shouting the good news rushed to your doorstep. A banner had already been unfurled, and the scarlet announcement proclaimed in bold letters that you had passed the examination!]

[“Ah! Wonderful! I passed!”]

[You clapped your hands with a foolish grin, tears slowly spilling from your eyes…]

[At that moment, you suddenly understood how Fan Jin had felt. To labor for many years without the slightest reward, only to succeed in a single stroke one day—the gulf between those two extremes was far beyond what an ordinary person could endure.]

[There was the fulfillment of finally reaping the fruits of one’s efforts, the satisfaction of having one’s achievements recognized, the bitterness stirred by memories of every previous failure, and the excitement of being on the verge of gaining both power and wealth…]

[Fan Jin’s madness was, in truth, perfectly normal.]

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[You, however, would not go mad. Although your experiences resembled Fan Jin’s in certain respects, you had died twice and witnessed the spectacular collapse of the Shaanxi bureaucracy… As the saying went, once one had seen the vast ocean, lesser waters could no longer impress; once one had seen the clouds of Mount Wu, ordinary clouds no longer seemed worth looking at. Your perspective had long surpassed that of an ordinary man like Fan Jin, and this little disturbance was not enough to drain your sanity completely…]

[Even so, this was still a joyous occasion. It proved that your twenty-four years of effort had not been wasted. So long as you did not stop, the road ahead would continue to unfold!]

[And so…]

[“Liang, what are you doing up there?”]

[Your equally delighted parents could not help patting you, the man who had become a star in the heavens. “Hurry and go tell your teacher! We’ll choose an auspicious day and set out several tables for a feast!”]

[“All right!”]

[You answered with a smile. It was probably the most carefree smile you had worn in all your twenty-odd years…]

[“What? You passed?!”]

[Your retired teacher, now living quietly at home, nearly sent the white beard beneath his chin flying with shock!]

[After his surprise, he could not help letting out a long sigh. The money tree had finally grown large enough to shower him with gold!]

[But he had long since passed the age of greed. Now over seventy, he wanted nothing more than to spend peaceful days with his grandchildren. Even though the money tree had matured, he no longer wished to shake it…]

[Still, you had been his disciple for more than twenty years, and the two of you were already as close as father and son. He sincerely congratulated you and, in a rare display of generosity, gave you fifty silver ounces as a gift.]

[After that, you made a special trip back to your old rural hometown and brought your grandfather, grandmother, numerous aunts and uncles, and all your cousins and other relatives to the county seat. Together, you reserved the entire dining hall of a restaurant in town. Everyone ate whatever they wanted and drank whatever they pleased!]

[As the newly minted provincial laureate, you were not stingy in the slightest. A triumph was meant to be celebrated, and because you celebrated so lavishly, everyone became even more enthusiastic toward you.]

[You had already been a famous prodigy and one of the most notable figures in your hometown. Now that you had passed the examination in a single leap, you became an even more desirable person to curry favor with!]

[Some wished to offer you land, some wanted to become servants in your household, and others saw that you had neither wife nor children and decided to play matchmaker for you… Besides your relatives and close friends, local gentry and notable gentlemen also sent calling cards. Along with their congratulations came gifts, all of them brimming with sincerity as they sought to draw closer to you…]

[For a time, you experienced nearly everything Fan Jin had gone through. You could not help exclaiming: What prestige! What magnificence! No wonder everyone wanted to become an official!]

[Still, you appropriately declined their offers. You accepted ordinary congratulatory gifts, but firmly refused those who wished to donate land or become your servants. You were not the sort of man Fan Jin was.]

[Some were delighted, while others were disappointed. They would no longer be able to curry favor with you, this newly honored scholar!]

[After celebrating properly with your relatives and friends for several days, you quietly brought some food and wine outside the city, to several desolate graves…]

[They were the graves of Li Laiheng and the others. Even back then, Li Laiheng and his companions had already been old. Now, in the blink of an eye, twenty-four years had passed, and that entire group of old men had naturally died one after another.]

[They had left behind neither descendants nor friends. Ever since the catastrophe of the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen era, they had lived in isolation, and now they had died in isolation as well, accompanied only by a few old comrades…]

[You divided the food and wine among their graves. Then you sat before Li Laiheng’s tomb and looked at the completely blank gravestone, unable to keep yourself from sighing.]

[“Even to the very end, I never learned your real names… You were not Li Laiheng. You were merely an unnamed old rebel.”]

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[“You wanted to conceal your identities—I understand… But you concealed them so thoroughly that I do not even know what ought to be carved upon your gravestones… Your names are known to no one, and your deeds cannot be verified…”]

[“Blank gravestones… The several of you have, in a way, received the treatment reserved for emperors.”]

[You poured Li Laiheng a cup of cloudy wine and murmured, “But this works out perfectly. If your gravestones identified you as rebels, then sooner or later someone would dig up your graves and desecrate them. It is better to leave them blank… So long as no one knows who you were, no one will come digging up these desolate graves, not even after eight generations…”]

[“By the way, I finally passed the examination this time. I am a provincial graduate now… Though that means nothing to you, I have at least completed the task you gave me. Consider it something to be happy about. And if you are not happy, well, that is fine too…”]

[“Oh, and one more thing… Do not expect me to do anything remarkable for Great Ming. I certainly will not rise to any lofty position in this lifetime. At best, I will muddle along and pass the days. Do not place too much hope in me…”]

[“And another thing…”]

[You rambled on before the graves for a long while, without caring whether they could hear you.]

[After a very long time, when you had finally finished talking, it felt as though you had laid down a burden weighing a thousand pounds. Your expression was incomparably relaxed…]

[“All right. I have said everything that needed to be said.”]

[You smiled and poured out the last cup of cloudy wine, as though bidding them farewell… Yet it also seemed that you were bidding farewell to your own life of more than twenty years.]

[You knew that, from this day onward, you would formally step into the power structure of Great Ming and embark upon a path distinct from that of ordinary men. With one step forward, you would enter an entirely different world…]

[…]

[In the seventy-second year of the Chongzhen era, corresponding to the Western year 1699 and the lunar year of the Earth Hare, the Shaanxi provincial examination finally came to an end!]

[You, Zhou Liang of Mizhi County in northern Shaanxi, had claimed the position of provincial laureate in a single stroke!]

[In the ninth month of that year, the newly appointed Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commissioner, Ning Bufan, summoned the successful candidates of this year’s examination and held a Scholars’ Banquet at the provincial administration office!]

[As the provincial laureate, you naturally knew what the Scholars’ Banquet signified. It meant that you finally had the opportunity to meet the highest-ranking official in all Shaanxi—the Provincial Administration Commissioner—in person. As the provincial laureate, you might even have the honor of speaking with him.]

[Of course, the banquet had a second significance as well. It meant that the Provincial Administration Commissioner would personally bestow divine power upon you and teach you the relevant details and knowledge, opening the path to transcendence!]

[You finally had the opportunity to formally come into contact with the supernatural and personally unravel the questions that had troubled you for more than twenty years…]

[What surprised you, however, was that before you had even had the chance to resolve any of your questions about the supernatural, the newly appointed Provincial Administration Commissioner had first summoned you for a private meeting and, with great interest, begun discussing the secret behind your repeated failures and your sudden success at last…]

…

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