Chapter 31 — Results Posted
Results day came like a thunderclap.
Not in sound.
In movement.
At dawn, the streets filled with running feet. Scholars sprinted toward the compound wall where the lists would be posted. Families chased behind, shouting names, praying, bargaining with Heaven.
Shen Yanci was silent as we walked with the crowd.
His face was calm.
But his hand, holding mine, was warmer than usual.
At the wall, bodies pressed forward.
Men shouted, “Let me see!”
Someone cried.
Someone laughed.
Someone fainted.
The list was a forest of characters.
Shen Yanci’s gaze moved over it steadily, line by line, not rushing, not panicking.
I stood on tiptoe behind him, unable to see.
My heart hammered.
Then Shen Yanci’s body stilled.
Just for a breath.
I felt it through our joined hands.
He stared at one line.
His throat moved.
I couldn’t stand it.
“Is it” I whispered.
Shen Yanci turned his head slightly, eyes still on the list.
“It”s there, he said.
My breath caught. “Your name?”
He nodded once.
A single, controlled nod.
As if he didn’t dare let joy spill out in public.
But his hand squeezed mine—hard enough to hurt, hard enough to prove he was real.
I laughed, and the laugh turned into a sob before I could stop it.
Shen Yanci finally turned fully toward me.
His eyes were bright.
Not wet.
Just lit.
“Nanzhi,” he said softly, voice rough, “we did it.”
We.
Not I.
Not you.
We.
The word wrecked me.
I wiped my face quickly with my sleeve, sniffing like an idiot.
“Don”t look at me,“ I muttered. ”I“m just”wind.
Shen Yanci’s mouth curved.
A true smile.
Small, but unmistakable.
“I”m looking, he said quietly.
Behind us, someone shoved, trying to see the list.
Shen Yanci moved his body slightly, placing himself between me and the crowd, not hiding me—protecting me.
In the noise, I heard a voice nearby hiss, “Teacher Shen? That poor academy teacher passed?”
Another voice answered, awed, “He did.”
The story shifted in real time.
And for the first time, I felt the world tilt in our favor.