"Old man, post it quickly!"
"Yes, post it! Everyone is waiting!"
"Please, just post it!"
Outside the Vermilion Bird Gate, a dense crowd of examinees and their families anxiously awaited the four clerks from the Ministry of Rites to post the results list.
The elderly clerk, urged incessantly, puffed his beard and glared, tempted to shout, What's the rush!
However, he understood the examinees' anxious feelings and quietly quickened his pace, dipping his brush in the glue bucket and starting to post the list, still placing names from worst to best.
"Two thousand five hundredth place: Africa, Duan Zhiren!"
As soon as the list was posted, a member from the Advanced Scholar Group in the front row shouted out the rank.
In the crowd, one scholar burst into tears, embracing his classmates and weeping.
"Two thousand four hundred forty-ninth place: Yongzhou..."
"Two thousand four hundred forty-eighth place..."
