During the Qing Dynasty, there was a scholar named Wang in Qingyang, China, who studied hard for many years in order to achieve success and fame. Despite his efforts, he failed to pass the imperial examination for 10 years and began to lose confidence.
Wang dreamed that he came 21st in the imperial examination
One spring, he had a very clear dream in which he ranked 21st in that year’s imperial examination. Upon waking, he thought it was just a silly dream and told others about it. To his surprise, everyone encouraged him, saying that he was the most talented person they knew and that if anyone could pass the imperial examination, it would be him. They believed that his dream was not a coincidence, but a sign from the gods of his future success. Wang was encouraged by their words and regained confidence.
Soon, news of Wang’s dream spread among all the people he knew, and they all believed it was a good omen. Wang’s family even held a grand celebration in the ancestral temple of the Wang clan, congratulating him on his supposed success and ranking 21st in the imperial examination. Flags were flying and placards were hung, and there was a great celebration with drums and gongs.
At that time, a local official named An happened to pass by the Wang clan’s ancestral temple and learned of the situation. He thought it was ridiculous that they were taking a dream as reality and ordered them to stop the celebration. An also secretly kept this incident in mind.
That autumn, An happened to be the official in charge of overseeing the local imperial exam. According to the Qing Dynasty’s imperial examination system, the personal information filled out for each test paper was sealed and set aside to ensure fairness in grading. Then, after the papers were all graded, they would be sorted in order based on the ranking they received. Next, the chief examiner would review the papers, and if he agreed with the ranking, he would mark them with the word “pass.” As the final step, a specially assigned person would open the sealed personal information for those who passed and copy the names onto the official list.
While supervising the opening of the sealed papers, An suddenly remembered the incident from the spring of that year in which a man named Wang had widely proclaimed that he had dreamed of ranking 21st in the imperial examination. He suspected that this man might have bribed relevant personnel in order to make his dream come true and secretly thought: “I can’t let him succeed.”
An therefore told the chief examiner about the situation, and he said: “This is simple.” The chief examiner then brought the spare papers that had been set aside by the graders and told An to choose one to replace the paper that had been designated for the 21st ranking. An thought this was a good idea and chose a paper at random, which the chief examiner then signed and approved.
Because An supervised the seal-opening process on the spot, there was no possibility of cheating. Later, when the name of the 21st candidate was disclosed, it turned out to be Wang from Qingyang.
Everyone was shocked when they saw the result. Wang’s paper had already been set aside, but An replaced it in an effort to prevent Wang from ranking 21st. However, the paper An chose to replace it with turned out to be Wang’s paper.
This outcome could only be seen as fate, as the gods used An’s hand to place Wang in the 21st rank. It appears that Wang’s dream in the spring was indeed a prophecy of his future, and he was destined to rank 21st. This shows that life is like a play, and a play is like life, full of unexpected and dramatic events, but ultimately, the result is determined by the will of Heaven.
Translated by Joseph Wu
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