Story Summary

Part 1: This episode is from the oral narrative straight storytelling cycle about Magistrate Bao (ca. 11th century), the incorruptible Song Dynasty Magistrate, whose smile was as rare as a clear spot in the Yellow River.

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This episode is about Yan Renmin, a fatherless and penniless young scholar, who hears about the special civil service exam—leading to government service, the goal of all educated men—that will be given in the capital, but despairs of being able to go. His good friend, surnamed Jin (like Jin Shengbo), comes to the rescue by providing: 1. the funds for the trip; 2. a clever young companion, Yu Mo—son of a donkey cart driver, who has had experience of the road all his life—to take care of Yan on the journey to the capital; and funds for Yan’s mother and her old servant caretaker. It is on this journey that Yan is noticed by Bai Yutang (the most talented and elegant of the Heroes, Bai Yutang, disguised as Jin Maoshu, covered in rags and grime) for his good deeds. Bai, who generally dislikes “intellectuals (scholar types)” because they think too much and don’t act, decides that Yan has the potential to be a “hero” and thereupon begins “testing” him. Yan passes each of the three tests brilliantly, after which he and Bai swear brotherhood. When Yan meets with trouble in the capital, Bai comes to his rescue and Yan finally comes out first in the civil service exam.