On the day of the gaokao, I accompanied my younger brother to the exam site. Just because Mom said, “Your brother will panic if he comes out and can’t see anyone,” I stood under the blazing sun for two days in forty-degree heat. After the exams, his scores were disappointing, so I pulled strings everywhere to get him into a decent college. But he thought a vocational college was an insult to his intelligence and refused to go. He even blamed me for blocking his good fortune, just because I hadn’t worn a qipao on the day of his exams.
