The sun was setting soon, yet the outside of the martial arts academy of Qinghe County was still crowded. Countless people were still waiting outside of the academy.
Among these people who were waiting, were the parents, siblings, grandfathers, and uncles of the martial arts examination candidates as well as their servants, stewards, and friends of the same age.
To the citizens of Qinghe County, the annual martial art examination was akin to a festival; a major event in the county. On normal days, as long as any family who had a son of appropriate age, the most commonly asked questions were along the lines of ‘is your child prepared to participate in the martial arts examination this year?’, ‘how’s his performance lately?’ or ‘has he been accepted by the martial arts academy of Pingxi Prefecture?’
This kind of situation was exactly like the college entrance exam in Yan Liqiang’s past life. Every college entrance exam affected the heart of every family.
Among the waiting, restless men that were gathered outside the martial arts academy, there were also a few women. They stood out like red flowers among green bushes. They were matchmakers within the county who were older in age but were still dressed in bright colors. These matchmakers were very sharp-eyed and were really glib. They were gathered here today to exchange news and information in their hands and also to get the results of the exam held in the martial arts academy while making preparations to seek out talented youths.
It was notable that these matchmakers were most busy after the martial arts examination every year because that was when business was at its best.
Apart from these matchmakers, there were also a few messengers dressed in red with their horses that had a gong hanging from the saddles. They stood a distance away from the crowds while they watched from the sidelines. These messengers usually accepted jobs in disseminating information or sending letters to others and were assembled here today for the same reason, to earn some quick money. If they were fast enough on their feet and were lucky enough, they might just be able to snatch the opportunity to disseminate the good news about the top three. The reward they would get from sharing the news might just be equivalent to their one week’s worth of hard work. If they happened to meet a large clan who was generous with their reward, it could even be as much as a month’s worth of their income.
Unknowingly, the crowd that was gathered around the main entrance of the martial arts academy was suddenly in an uproar.
"It’s here, it’s here! The result of this year’s martial arts examination is out…!"
Someone yelled.
Upon hearing this yell, countless people poured forth both consciously or subconsciously towards the entrance of the martial arts academy like tidal waves.
A group of academy bureaucrats from the martial arts academy walked out from the main entrance and formed a circle with experience, blocking the crowds that were pouring forth towards them. They protected the two people who had tools in their hands and were prepared to post up the honor roll in the middle of the circle. While making their way towards the announcement wall at the side, they were also shouting. "Make way everyone, make way! Don’t push, don’t push! The more you push, the slower it will be! Once we post up the honor roll, everyone will be able to see the result of this year’s martial arts examination!"
"Everyone, don’t push, don’t push…"
The people foremost of the crowd also started shouting and eventually, they got the surging crowd that was rushing towards the front to calm down.
The few academy bureaucrats of the martial arts academy finally managed to make it to the front of the announcement wall after squeezing through the crowds until they were hot and sweaty. The few academy bureaucrats and the crowds that were gathered in front spontaneously protected their grounds and stopped others from pushing while the remaining two academy bureaucrats climbed the ladders that had already been previously set up there with lightning speed. They unrolled an enormous red-colored announcement and swiftly pasted it on the wall, somewhere about two meters high from the ground.
As soon as they were done pasting the announcement, the people in the surrounding could no longer hold back and immediately flocked over before they could even remove the ladders. The group of academy bureaucrats hurriedly retreated from the space in front of the announcement to make room for the crowds that had been waiting.
Everyone’s gaze instantly ended up at the top of that honor roll.
"The Great Han Empire, the 12th year of the Yuanping reign, Zhou district, Pingxi Prefecture, Qinghe County, Martial Arts County Trial Examination’s Honor Roll"
Top Three in Martial Arts Examination, First Place: Liuhe Town, Yan Liqiang
Top Three in Martial Arts Examination, Second Place: Qinghe County Town, Shen Teng
Top Three In Martial Arts Examination, Third Place: Langu Town, Shi Dafeng
...
On the ranking list, the first three names were biggest and most conspicuous. After Shi Dafeng were the names of the other seven people who had made it into the top ten. Their names were slightly smaller than Yan Liqiang’s name and the other two. At the same time, they were not ranked but instead, their names were sorted according to the number of strokes in the characters of their names.
After the first ten names, the list was followed by the other forty exam candidate’s name and their place of origin.
Upon seeing this name list, some were happy, some were disappointed, some were so excited that they cheered, some sighed and shook their heads. But spontaneously, a question emerged in everyone’s heart —‘Yan Liqiang, who is Yan Liqiang? Since when did Liuhe Town have such an impressive youth?’
Discussions broke out among the surrounding crowds, especially the few matchmakers. As soon as they saw the top three names on the list, they all started asking the people around them for information on Yan Liqiang, Shen Teng and Shi Dafeng.
"Huh? I think I’ve heard about this Yan Liqiang before…" A middle-aged man in the crowd seemed to have suddenly recalled something when he saw Yan Liqiang’s name. Upon hearing his words, many people from the surrounding instantly flocked over and most pricked up their ears. "Did everyone happen to hear about that method of saving the drowning victims that came from Huanglong County?"
"Are you talking about that method of performing moxibustion on the belly button? Of course! A few days ago, four children drowned in my village. We used that method in the end and managed to save two seemingly hopeless children that had been drowned for many hours!" Realization dawned on that someone as he recalled what had happened.
"That’s right. That’s the method I am talking about. A few days ago when I went to Huanglong County to purchase goods, I heard someone talking about it at a restaurant in Huanglong County. That person was saying that a youth by the name of Yan Liqiang seemed to have known this wondrous method of performing moxibustion on the belly button method to save drowned victims because some deity had imparted the knowledge to him in his dreams. I wonder if this Yan Liqiang is the very same one here…"
"Oh? There’s such a tale…?"
"The surname Yan is a minority and there aren’t many people with the surname Yan in our Qinghe County too. It’ll really be too much of a coincidence if there’s someone else with the exact same name and surname…"
"True, true, true. It’s probably the same person..."
Another person chimed in, "I vaguely recall the son of Blacksmith Yan from the Liuhe Town seems to be called Yan Liqiang..."
The surrounding crowd was suddenly in an uproar.
The few messengers quickly and invariably got on their horses after getting a clear look at the names of the top three on the list. Then with their fastest speed, they hurriedly dashed in the direction of Liuhe Town, Langu Town, and towards the other side of the county town.
The messenger who was fastest on his horse took a shortcut through a small road halfway and made it first to Liuhe Town. As soon as he arrived on the streets of Liuhe Town, he picked up the gong that was hung on the horse. While still riding on his moving horse, he hit on the gong to attract the attention of the people around him. With his loudest and most resonant voice, he started to shout along the way. "Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today…"
"Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today…"
The good news swept across the streets like the wind. When the merchants along the streets and pedestrians walking on the street heard this news, many of them could hardly believe their own ears for a split second.
Naturally, everyone knew of Blacksmith Yan’s son, but none of them expected his son to actually be ranked among the top three in the martial arts examination today. It had been too long since any youth in the entire Liuhe Town made it to top three ranking in the martial arts examination.
"Big brother, do you know which way to Young Master Yan Liqiang’s residence? I intend to bring the good news to his family. There’s finally a top three candidate from Liuhe Town…" When that messenger who carried the good news saw a butcher standing on the streets in a daze, he stopped his horse in front of the meat stall and happily asked that butcher.
Butcher Liu, who was in a daze, suddenly jolted back to reality before he quickly plastered a smile on his face and pointed towards the bank of Willow River. "Y-Young Master Yan’s residence is by the river bank. There’s a blacksmith workshop at his residence, just look for the one with the tallest chimney…" Butcher Liu swallowed hard when he finished speaking. He then lifted his head up and cautiously asked, "Oh right… Well… you were saying that Yan Liqiang is on the honor roll. Are you sure you didn’t see it wrongly…?"
"Haha, Young Master Yan’s name and this place, Liuhe Town were written in the first place on the honor roll that had been posted outside of the martial arts academy. Everyone who saw it was talking about it. How could I possibly make a mistake? If I can even be mistaken about something like this, I should just gouge my own eyes out and quit being a messenger…" That messenger said, but without any delay, he once again squeezed the horse on its flanks and brought it to a gallop towards Yan Liqiang’s house.
"Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today…!" The messenger hit the gong as he loudly announced and vanished before Butcher Liu’s eyes in just a blink of the eye. Only the sounds of his gong and shouts could be still be faintly heard.
Although the sun was about to set and the temperature was gradually lowering, Butcher Liu looked as if he had lost his soul while listening to the sound of the good news that was growing distant, his face was pale and his eyes were lifeless. In just the blink of an eye, his gleaming and oily forehead was covered with a sheen of sweat. When he recalled how he had treated the father and son of the Yan Clan in the past, Butcher Liu’s hands trembled.
"Father… who was that shouting and hitting the gong outside just now…?" Butcher Liu’s son came out from the room behind the meat stall. He was holding a cooked pork leg in his hand and was chomping on it until his face was all oily.
When he saw his son at this moment, Butcher Liu was suddenly overcome with anger. He abruptly slapped his son and yelled at him. "You’re still eating? All you know how to do is eat. I’ve been telling you to practice martial arts since you were young but you’d whine for days as soon as you tried doing the Horse Stance. You can’t even hold it for five minutes. How could I have a son like you…"
Butcher Liu’s son was instantly stupefied from being slapped by his father. He only reacted after a few good seconds had passed and then started crying loudly.
...
In the Yan Residence, Zhou Hongda and his wife had already finished preparing a meal along with a pot of chicken soup and were waiting for Yan Liqiang’s return.
Yan Dechang and Steward Lu were in the courtyard, chatting with each other while waiting.
But instead of Yan Liqiang, it was a messenger with good news who greeted them.
"Clang… clang… clang… Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today…!"
As soon as both of them heard the voice, they looked at each other, both thinking that their ears were tricking them. However, this voice had drawn nearer to them, growing clearer all of a sudden.
"Clang… clang… clang… Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today…!"
Yan Dechang was still finding it a little hard to believe, but Steward Lu had already stood up with a very excited look on his face.
"Clang… clang… clang… Good news, good news! Young Master Yan, Yan Liqiang of Liuhe Town has made it to the honor roll of Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three today…!"
The voice had already reached outside of their residence. Soon after, a series of knocks on their main door was heard. Zhou Tiezhu had already hurried over to open the door without waiting for Steward Lu’s order.
A messenger who was holding a gong with a big smile on his face was already standing on the other side of the door. The neighbors around the Yan Residence had also gathered around to see what was going on.
"I am humbly here to announce good news on behalf of Young Master Yan. Young Master Yan is on the honor roll in today’s Martial Arts County Trial Examination as one of the top three. He will surely achieve meteoric success in the future with his brilliant future prospects!"
Seeing Yan Dechang excitedly reward the messenger who arrived with the good news with two taels of silver, Steward Lu immediately called over a guard from the Lu Clan and sent him off on a rhinodrake steed to Huanglong County to inform the Lu Clan...