Three days later, Yan walked to Ashfall’s examination yard before dawn. The morning air still held the night’s chill. His wrist burn was covered with a clean strip, and the dressing across his back sat beneath a loose shirt. Qinghe had checked both the day before. The blisters were healing, though the skin remained tender. His shoulder still ached if he reached too high.
He had rested as instructed. He had also reviewed the examination rules and his old route notes. He had not practiced either forbidden art. The candidates would be tested on judgment as well as strength, and he wanted to see what the grounds actually demanded before using his body to prove a point.
The candidate board stood beside the yard gate. Yan found his name near the bottom of the novice list, written in a hand different from the steward’s. The number beside it was for check-in, not rank. He read the line twice, then stepped aside so another candidate could check the board.
“I’m still a laborer until I pass,” he said to himself. The notice had given him a place beside the novices, not a place above them. He liked seeing his name there anyway.
Bai Jiu arrived carrying breakfast in a cloth bundle. “Does a candidate receive a food allowance?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I’ll negotiate one if you win.”
“If I win, you’ll claim I owe you a fee for breakfast.”
“I already paid the kitchen.” Bai opened the bundle. “The fee is for negotiating.”
Gu He came up the lane with a small case of practice notes. “Do not mistake the first test for the entire examination. You still have later stages.”
“I’m not planning the victory meal yet,” Yan said.
“You were planning dumplings before you opened the notice.”
“That was a separate plan.”
Ning arrived from the sorting room with the clinic appointment card in her hand. She had changed into a clean work jacket but still wore her work shoes. “You nearly left this behind.”
Yan took the card. “I put it beside the notice.”
“And forgot it beside the notice.”
“I was going to return for it.”
“You were going to walk here without the time written down.” She took the card back and tucked it into his coat pocket. “The appointment is tomorrow. Keep it there.”
He patted the pocket. “I’ll remember.”
“I’ve learned to trust paper more than promises.”
She had checked her rota the day before and arranged to watch the opening without missing her shift. She would return to the sorting room after the first bell and ask someone to tell her how the test went. Yan wanted her there, but he had not asked her to trade pay for it.
The group shared breakfast beside the gate. The bread was warm. Bai had packed two eggs and a small packet of pickled greens. Yan ate quickly, then slowed down when Ning looked at his wrist dressing.
“Qinghe said the burn is healing,” he said.
“She also said no heavy work until she checks it again.”
“An examination is not a furnace shift.”
“It can still be a heavy day.” Ning poured him tea. “Eat before the bell.”
Yan finished the bread and thanked Bai. The energy from Blood Ignition remained pleasant and steady; he felt no delayed weakness. His wrist still stung when the cup touched the bandage. The two sensations belonged to different causes, and he did not confuse them.
At the office steps, Elder Zhao watched from beneath the lintel. A bundle of old draught records rested under his arm. He had not carried them into the yard. Yan could see the sealed case through the office window behind him.
“Your name is posted,” Zhao said. “You have earned the opening round.”
“I intend to do well.”
“Good. Be decisive when the rules call for it.”
“I will read them first.”
A slight smile touched Zhao’s face. “That may serve you better.”
The examination steward came out with a paper copy of the candidate list. Zhao took a seal from his pocket and pressed it onto the bottom of the list. The red mark confirmed the posted names. Yan’s name remained where he had seen it.
Zhao handed him a stamped acknowledgment. “Keep this with your notice.”
Yan checked the number and date. “This is the same place in the trial?”
“It confirms you are entered. The steward will call candidates by number.”
The steward said the novice line would form outside the inner hall when the bell sounded. Yan kept the stamped acknowledgment with his notice and waited in the yard. No one offered him a separate seat or special treatment. He was a candidate with a number and a place in the examination.
Bai leaned over the rope. “If they feed you before the movement trial, remember who supplied breakfast.”
“Go sell your buns.”
“After the first bell.” Bai lifted the empty cloth bundle. “I’ll be at the outer desk with the supply box.”
Gu placed the practice notes back in his case. “Pay attention to the exact instructions. The first test may reward a careful answer more than a fast one.”
“I know.”
Ning checked the time on the yard clock. “I have to go back to the sorting room.”
“I’ll tell you what happens.”
“Tell me what happened, not what you think they wanted to hear.”
“I will.”
She touched his sleeve where the clinic card rested, then walked toward the work quarter. Yan watched until she reached the lane and turned toward her shift. She remained in Ashfall, still under her labor contract and still managing her treatment. Passing the examination might give her a public route to care, but that decision was not made for her.
The steward called the candidates to the novice line outside the inner hall. Yan took his place at the end, number in hand. His wrist bandage was clean, and his fingers moved freely when he flexed them. The other candidates shifted forward as the door guards checked their notices. No one had entered yet.
The first bell began to ring. Yan tucked the stamped acknowledgment beside his notice and looked toward the open doors. He could smell ink and boiled tea from inside. The line tightened around him; someone behind him whispered a prayer, and someone farther up asked whether the first station allowed questions.
Yan smiled at that. He had read the notice. There would be time to ask, if the question mattered. The bell’s final note sounded over the courtyard, and Clerk Tao raised his hand to begin the checks.