Before long, the stir over Thirteenth Young Master's memory gradually faded. After all, the strength of one's memory could not make up for certain shortcomings.
Something else now took its place.
At this time, Thirteenth Young Master stood at a major crossroads in his life: how he should develop in the future, and what nominal profession he should take up—a scholar, a civil official, or something else.
As for why it had to be a nominal profession, that was simple. No one believed Thirteenth Young Master would actually hold a job, nor would they let him do so. They merely needed a title for him—put more nicely, it was for appearances; put more bluntly, it was a matter of face.
Naturally, this choice was to be made by his parents. It was also a headache for Ye Chengtian and his wife, who did not know how best to handle it.
With Thirteenth Young Master's memory, turning him into a scholar brimming with knowledge would not have been difficult, though he might not necessarily be able to tell others what knowledge he possessed.
But Ye Chengtian and his wife did not need him to tell anyone anything, so they invited a renowned great scholar to teach Thirteenth Young Master.
And so, something strange happened. After teaching for a while, that great scholar immediately tendered his resignation to Ye Chengtian and his wife, asking them to seek someone more capable. His reason was that his own abilities were insufficient to teach Thirteenth Young Master.
At first, the couple thought Thirteenth Young Master was simply dull-witted, rotten wood that could not be carved, leaving the great scholar unable to begin. They had no choice but to invite another, this one also a highly renowned scholar.
This time was even faster. In less than three days, the scholar made the same request, asking the Ye Clan to seek someone more capable.
Several more followed, but not one lasted. The time they endured grew shorter and shorter. The last one held on for only half a day before, his face filled with terror and seeming on the verge of collapse, he said one sentence to the couple.
"Your Young Master is a heaven-sent genius. I cannot teach him. In this world, perhaps only a god can."
This made Ye Chengtian and his wife realize something was wrong. No matter how foolish a student might be, these scholars had clearly known the situation before coming, so they should have had suitable measures prepared. They should not have fled in less than half a day.
Besides, under normal circumstances, the scholars who came later should have been stronger and lasted longer. Why had the opposite happened, with their time growing shorter and shorter?
Thus, puzzled, Ye Chengtian and his wife coaxed and questioned Thirteenth Young Master, wanting to know what had happened between him and those scholars to make them behave so strangely.
They did not know until they asked, and when they did, the shock made them jump. Once Ye Chengtian and his wife learned the answer, they immediately abandoned the idea of hiring more scholars. Likewise, they no longer demanded that Thirteenth Young Master become a nominal scholar.
"Thirteenth Young Master, today, let us first learn about the origin of the continent. Before the Divine Calendar, there were originally no living creatures upon the land. The gods descended upon this world, bestowed life upon the earth, and created intelligent races such as us Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and so on."
"Among the many races, we Humans are the race closest to the gods. Since the gods created us Humans according to their own likeness, we are the wisest of all races..."
As the scholar proudly spoke of his race's superiority, Thirteenth Young Master, who had been listening at the side, stared blankly for a while before putting forth an argument.
"Humans were not created by gods. That is only mythology. Humans evolved from apes; it is written in the Theory of Evolution."
The scholar no longer wished to know what the Theory of Evolution was. He was simply stunned by Thirteenth Young Master's claim. It was a challenge to the gods, so he immediately began to correct him.
Yet while he was correcting him, explaining that the existence of the gods could not be questioned, Thirteenth Young Master raised another question: Why could it not be questioned? Had they seen gods? Were they certain gods truly existed?
That made the scholar immediately pack his things and leave. He feared that if this continued, he himself would be dragged into it.
The next few scholars encountered similar situations. For instance, Thirteenth Young Master said the earth was not flat, but a sphere; it was merely so enormous that people could not feel it.
He also said the sun was a huge fireball called a star, and that everyone revolved around the sun, rather than the sun revolving around them.
There was much, much more. To the people of this world, all of it completely overturned the existence of the gods. If the Church learned of it, they would certainly come to demand an explanation at once. Even if it was merely the innocent prattle of a child, there would still be repercussions.
Therefore, once those scholars learned of this situation, they immediately extricated themselves and left. They had no desire to invite trouble upon themselves.
After Ye Chengtian and his wife learned all this, their expressions changed as well. They unanimously decided never to invite another scholar. If Thirteenth Young Master said any more shocking theories, what then?
Yet there was one thing they found very strange—"Chengtian, where did he learn all this messy nonsense? From childhood until now, he has never stepped outside the house even once." Long Anqi was deeply puzzled. Due to his special circumstances, her youngest son had not taken a single step out of the Ye Residence until now. It was simply impossible for him to have come into contact with such messy nonsense.
"Exactly. From childhood until now, apart from us, only a few maids have cared for him, and then there's..." Ye Chengtian was equally puzzled, but as he spoke, he thought of one possibility.
"Ye Lanyu!!"
"What?" Little Lan Yu looked at her parents in confusion. She noticed that they seemed somewhat angry, so she began wondering what she had done wrong today.
"You little troublemaker! It is one thing for you to be naughty normally, but how could you tell your younger brother such messy nonsense? You know perfectly well that he cannot judge truth from falsehood. Whatever you tell him, he will believe."
"What?" Little Lan Yu did not understand. What she did not understand was which matter they were talking about.
Clearly, she had tricked her younger brother more than once.
However, after she learned the whole story, she said one thing with absolute certainty—
"Dad, Mom, it really wasn't me this time!!"
This incident made Ye Chengtian and his wife temporarily abandon their plan to cultivate him into a scholar. From then on, they simply let Thirteenth Young Master read by himself, lest another shocking public outcry arise.
For this purpose, they even specially gathered quite a number of books, of every kind. Naturally, there were absolutely no books containing "subversive doctrines" among them.
Since being a scholar would not work, they would try something else—perhaps becoming a lord of the empire. It was something he would have to do sooner or later anyway, though he might not necessarily take office personally. The Ye Clan would have someone help keep watch over things.
Before you continue