“No!” Zhi Hao exclaimed. “AfterI pass the exam, my future will be assured. I will have status and an appointment.”
“Depending on how high your score, yes. But appointments can take more than a year to come.” Master Gao shook his head. “China’s bureaucracy is as large as China itself.”
It was an exaggeration, obviously, but not a large one.
“Still, my future will be assured,” Zhi Hao repeated. “And once I pass, I will be an excellent choice as a bridegroom.”
“And you think to marry the Song girl?” Laughter tore through Master Gao hard enough that he grabbed his belly. “You, with no family claim to greatness and only a eunuch uncle who begged me to help you. The earl will have a thousand suitors better than you.”
“Not if I pass the exam!”
Master Gao grunted rather than agreed. Then he stared hard at his student, his brow furrowing as he let his hand bang down hard on the desk. “Perhaps you should apply yourself to passing the exam before you start thinking of girls.”
Zhi Hao knew his teacher was right. He could not allow himself to be distracted. And yet his gaze kept returning to the garden and his mind kept thinking—
Master Gao’s curse blistered the air. “Zhi Hao, what has happened? You were not this way before. You were diligent andattentive. Suddenly you cannot put two words down without making a mess of it.”
Zhi Hao looked at the smeared characters on his paper. Master Gao was right.
“Did something happen?” the man asked. “Last night, what changed?”
“Nothing,” Zhi Hao said. “I am merely thinking of—”
“Flower petals and creamy skin.”
Well, yes.
“And the Song girl.”
Zhi Hao swallowed. He had to give the master something or the man would never leave this topic. “I had a dream last night,” he finally said. “It was of her and me. Of us married and—”
“A dream,” the master said, leaning forward with a sharp movement. “What kind of dream?”
Zhi Hao shot his teacher a glare. He knew what kind of dream. Every boy past the age of eleven knew.
“I see,” the man said, his words slowing as he clearly thought deeply about something. “Have you ever seen this dream woman before?”
“What? No.”
“And how do you know it was the Song girl? Have you ever met her?”
“You know I have not,” he lied again. Then he frowned. “She said—”
Again a curse blistered the air. “Think, boy!” the Master said with another heavy thunk of his fist on the desk. “Think logically about this dream.”
“It was just a dream,” Zhi Hao lied.
“You are not a man who stares out the window because of a dream.”
No, he wasn’t. He was a man who had experienced something incredible last night.
“And in this dream,” the master pressed. “Did you release your seed?”
Zhi Hao refused to answer, but the heat in his cheeks likely told the tale.
But the master would not let him evade the question. “Answer me! Did you expend your chi? Your life force releases with your cum. So says the Yellow Emperor. Did you—”
“Yes!” Zhi Hao bit out. “Yes, I did.” And it had been wonderful.