Fan Jin, a middle-aged scholar nearly forty years old, had two small moustaches on his upper lip. His life was overshadowed by the imperial examinations. For over twenty years, he repeatedly failed the examinations and became a laughingstock in the eyes of others, being mercilessly ridiculed as a "good-for-nothing". On the day when the examination results were announced, already nervous and uneasy, he walked towards the list with a perturbed heart, supported by his father-in-law Hu Tieniu and mother-in-law Mrs. Hu. Along the way, he endured the sarcasm and ridicule of other scholars. Those caustic remarks stabbed at him like sharp arrows, making his heart even more painful and inferior.
