The infirmary annex smelled of boiled rice and bitter leaves. Candidates sat along the wall while Nurse Mei checked their pulses after the day’s stations. Lin was near the window with one hand on her forehead. Her face had gone pale beneath the freckles across her nose.
“I’m dizzy,” she said. “It started after I drank the broth.”
Qinghe moved to her side. “What broth?”
Lin pointed to a covered bowl beside her bag. “A sponsor brought it. The label said salted broth with a cultivation tonic. I thought it would help me recover.”
The paper seal on the lid had been broken. Qinghe did not touch the bowl. “When did you drink it?”
“Just before the examiners called us here. I took three mouthfuls.”
“Did you eat anything else?”
Lin shook her head.
“Yan, bring water from the clean jar. Not the broth.”
He filled a cup and brought it to Qinghe. She checked Lin’s pulse while she asked about the dizziness, the warmth in her face, and whether she felt sick. Lin said her stomach was settled but her head swam when she stood. Her hands were warm and dry.
“The label lists ordinary salt and a mild tonic,” Lin said. “The sponsor said it was from the same kitchen as the candidate meals.”
“Did you see the seal break?” Yan asked.
“No. It was already open when they handed it to me.”
“Was the sponsor still there?”
“He said I should drink it quickly. He left when the examiner called our names.”
Qinghe asked Mei for a clean spoon and used it to lift a trace of broth from the edge of the bowl. She smelled it, then set the spoon aside. “There’s a strong warming powder in this. It isn’t on the label.”
Lin looked down at the cup. “I thought I was being helped.”
“You were given an unmarked mixture,” Qinghe said. “That is different.”
She brought a small counterdrink from her kit and read its label aloud. “This is the ordinary treatment for excess heat from a warming powder. It may ease the dizziness. I want you to sip it slowly and stay seated while I check your pulse again.”
Lin hesitated. “You know what’s in this one?”
“I prepared it this morning. Mei checked the seal.”
Mei showed her the narrow blue mark across the cork. Lin took the cup. After a few sips, she rested against the wall. Qinghe remained beside her and asked her to describe each change. The heat in Lin’s hands eased first. The dizziness took longer, but it stopped worsening.
Yan stood near the bowl. It was ordinary outside interference, a mixture put into food without Lin’s knowledge. He had no reason to expect his own gift to protect someone else from it.
“Do you want the examiner to hear about the packet?” he asked.
Lin closed her fingers around the cup. “Will they send me home?”
“I can ask before you decide,” Qinghe said.
“I don’t want to withdraw. I want them to know the sponsor put something in the broth.”
“Then we’ll report exactly what you drank and what you felt,” Yan said. “They can keep the rest of the bowl sealed.”
Lin took a deeper breath. “I’ll report it. If he gave it to me, he might give it to someone else.”
Qinghe nodded. She placed the bowl in a covered container and sealed it with a strip from her kit. Lin kept the cup she had used. The sponsor’s mark remained on the bowl, partly smeared where the original seal had been opened.
Luo arrived with the clerk who handled candidate complaints. He listened while Lin gave her account. He asked whether she had seen the packet added, whether anyone else had been offered the broth, and whether she wanted to continue after resting.
“I didn’t see the packet,” Lin said. “I only know the label was broken before I drank it. I want to continue if Nurse Mei says I can.”
Mei checked her pulse again. “She can rest and return to the hall. She should eat plain food tonight and come back if the dizziness returns.”
“I’ll do that,” Lin said.
Luo turned to the clerk. “Close the sponsor’s food table until the mixture is reviewed. Use the sect kitchen for candidate meals. Keep the bowl and wrapper together.”
“He’ll object,” the clerk said.
“He can make his objection in writing.”
Lin looked at Yan. “I accepted it because I thought it would improve my score.”
“You were trying to be ready.”
“I should have checked the seal.”
“The sponsor should not have handed you an open bowl.”
Qinghe adjusted the blanket over Lin’s knees. “Both things can be true. You still get to decide what happens next.”
Lin drank the last of the counterdrink. “I want plain rice.”
Yan went to the kitchen window with her ration token. The cook set a bowl of rice and steamed greens on a tray. Yan brought it back carefully, avoiding the crowded stools.
“You don’t have to sign for food,” he said as he set it beside her.
“I want a receipt.” Lin took the clerk’s slip from the table and wrote the date, meal, and amount herself. “If anyone asks, I want it clear that I ate the sect meal after the sponsor’s broth.”
“Fair.”
She signed and set the slip beside the covered bowl. The food was plain and hot. Lin ate a few bites, waited, then ate more. The dizziness did not return.
Qinghe packed her kit. “You can go back to the candidate hall when you finish. I’ll check you again before the next test.”
“You’re staying?” Yan asked.
“I was asked to review the candidates. That is my work today.”
“Then I’ll carry the kit to the gate.”
“It’s not heavy.”
“It is when you’re holding the door too.”
She allowed him to take the case. He carried it beside her to the annex gate. Behind them, Luo pinned a notice that candidates must bring sealed food or use the sect kitchen. The sponsor had come back to argue, but the clerk directed him to the office instead of the table.
Lin returned to the hall after she finished eating. She was steady on her feet. Qinghe watched her walk the corridor, then turned toward the infirmary.
“The treatment worked,” she said.
“She’ll be all right?”
“I’ll check her again. The dizziness eased and her pulse is settling. The unmarked powder is still a problem for the examiners.”
Yan set the kit down at the gate. He was glad Lin could continue. He was less glad that someone had used food to get an advantage, whether or not the mixture had been meant to harm her. He looked back toward the hall and saw her enter under her own strength, carrying the receipt in one hand.