Chinese Traditional Story: The Returning Pearl

A long time ago, there was a poor scholar living at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. His name was Shanmin. Shanmin's father died when he was a child, so the family relied on his mother’s spinning and weaving to support his reading. Shanmin was very smart and liked to read the Analects of Confucius, writing excellent papers on them as well.
The imperial examinations were coming up this year, so his mother prepared the fees to send him to the capital. Before he left, his mother said, “Dear son, you are going to attend the examinations. If you pass, that means my efforts on you weren’t wasted in the past few years." Shanmin left his mother with tears in his eyes and experienced many hardships on his way to the capital.....