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Chapter 34: Graduations and Price Tags Six thirty. The alarm did not ring. His body clock woke first. His eyelids felt heavy, but his mind was clear, as if rinsed in cold water. He sat up. The gauze on the sole of his f...
Chapter 33: Threshold and Echoes 6:30. The rain had not stopped. Wind squeezed in through the window cracks. Carrying the damp, cold smell of earth. Lin Chen woke on his own. His eyelids were heavy. But his mind was cle...
Chapter 20: The Brick Kiln Scale Five in the morning. Dawn had not yet fully broken. Lin Chen opened his eyes. The gauze on the soles of his feet had dried hard, stuck over the cracks, its edges stained yellow brown wit...
Chapter 19: Marks in the Muddy Water Twenty minutes had passed since the bell marking the end of the exam. Lin Chen stood at the edge of a low lying dip in the county road. Rainwater streamed down the bamboo ribs of a b...
Chapter 11: The Weight of the Sack At five in the morning, the sky was still not fully light. Lin Chen pushed open the door, and the cold crept up through his pant legs. He did not light a lamp; he pulled on his rubber...
Chapter 10: Sealed Files and Red Ink The exam papers slid out of the kraft paper bag and landed on the wooden desk in the seventh row. The paper was slightly cool to the touch, carrying the astringent scent of fresh ink...
Chapter 8: The Forty Minute Hourglass The second hand of the wall clock was stuck at the twelve, emitting a dry, clicking sound. Lin Chen stared at it, his pen tip hovering over the composition notebook. The page was al...
Chapter 6: Old Exam Papers and Chalk Dust The morning fog had yet to lift. Grayish white moisture clung to the bluestone flagstones, and the moss at the base of the courtyard wall was so damp it could be wrung out. Lin...
Chapter 5: Firewood Knife and Copper Filings Dawn had barely broken, and a gray blue mist still clung to the ground. Lin Chen was pulled awake by the first crow of the rooster at the foot of the courtyard wall. He opene...