rattlerofthestars:

Jim placed his hands on his hips while cocking his head to the side. He held an lopsided smile as he watched Ping gulp down the water as if it were the last on Earth. He didn’t even realize he was that thirsty. How hard did they work this guy? Now that he thought about it, why wasn’t Ping with the rest of the army? It was a bit strange that he was by himself.

“Sure, sure.” Jim said in response to the foreign words. He didn’t know what they meant, but he assumed it was a thank you. Shrugging his shoulders, he prepared himself to proceed down the mountain with the soldier as his guide. His steps didn’t even falter when he heard the burp. Instead, he laughed and cast a boyish grin at the other’s flushed expression. "Nice one! Ahaha!“ 

They walked along in silence for a bit. It was strange. He figured the solider would be on the defensive. Perhaps interrogate him a bit. Nope, not one question. Was he really that embarrassed from the burp? Like, whatever. Jim would ice him in a burping contest.

Then came the first question.

"Uhh…” Jim tousled his hair between his fingers. His cheeks puffed out humorously as he tried to think of a simple answer. “School emblem?”

“Oh,” said Ping thoughtfully, looking at Jim with new interest.  Everybody knew that only young men from the right families had the wealth and leisure to become scholars.  He had heard that the imperial examination was as difficult for the mind as training to be a soldier was for the body - and as painful.  It was one thing to feel that you were clever, which Ping mostly did, but it was another thing to understand how clever you really had to be to become a shì dàfū.  If Chi Fu, the Emperor’s consul, wasn’t so scowly all the time, Ping would have had no trouble feeling the utmost respect for a man who had gone through those examinations and risen as far as a scholar could go.  As it was, his respect for this stranger rose instead.  No wonder Jim could expect an audience with the captain, who would surely have the same respect for a scholar that Ping did.  Maybe even more.  After all, Ping’d heard it said that Li Shang, too, had had to prepare for military examinations.  How else could he have become captain?

Emboldened by Jim’s sudden friendliness…even about Ping burping…the recruit wanted to know more about it all - and who else was he going to have the chance to ask?  "Are you training to be a scholar?  Or a soldier?“