I Follow in the Footsteps of Those Who Came Before

The crippled gentleman, his legs useless, picked up a wolf-hair brush and drew a map of the entire capital on a sand table. The children at the private school, bobbing their heads as they read, had no idea that this odd man who often leaned against a bamboo couch and stared into space had once been a rare genius, the first in the Great Yan Dynasty in a century to top all five imperial examinations. Only the final palace exam had stood between him and the title of top scholar before the emperor.

Ink spread across the yellowed essay, and the teacher lowered his eyes with a faint smile. "What makes a gentleman?" As the boys chattered over one another, he hid his twisted fingers in his sleeve, turning court intrigue and noble-family secrets into amusing tales of the countryside.

Nobody knew why he had fallen from the clouds. They only knew that the children he guided went on to become generals whose names struck fear along the frontier, incorruptible censors who impeached powerful ministers, and even his most unruly young pupil, who slapped an imperial gold-inlaid saber onto his desk and cried, "Teacher, show me how to change this world!"

As youthful fists became the strength to defend the land, the creak of wheels rolling over blue bricks at last joined the bells of the imperial palace, forming an epic song that shook the world.