The woman by the lake slowly turned around. She looked like a girl of sixteen or seventeen, yet her eyes were like a lake of spring water, stripped of a maiden's greenness and brimming with a sage's radiance.
"Isn't today the Provincial Examination? Why aren't you guarding the examination hall? What are you doing here?"
"That person has come!" Qiu Mochi was somewhat excited.
"Who?"
"The one who wrote 'Bring in the Wine' and sent my teacher into the Literary Heart Extreme Realm!"
"It's him?" Blue ripples stirred in the girl's eyes. "What has he come for?"
"To take the Provincial Examination!"
"What? He's taking the Provincial Examination this year?"
"I was surprised too. He said he was only here to get a feel for the atmosphere. Aunt, should I bring him to see you after the examination? Didn't you want him to write a Painting Poem?"
Aunt had immersed herself in the path of painting all her life. Her paintings had already neared the realm of Separation of Virtual and Real, yet she had never managed to truly divide the two, lacking a final trace of hidden mystery.
Aunt was a tragic figure. Why tragic? It had nothing to do with love itself, but because, as a woman, she was destined to find it difficult to fulfill her ambitions in this society.
She loved literature and painting, and her talent was exceptional. Had she been born a man, she would long since have broken through the civil examinations and soared straight up the Green Cloud Road. But she was a woman. Women could not walk the road of civil examinations and could only explore on their own.
Without renowned teachers, all things between heaven and earth became her teachers.
Without guidance, she sought her own guidance within the classics of the Hundred Schools of Thought.
For the first ten years of her life, she rode a small boat through the watery towns of her homeland, leaving behind countless fresh and unworldly paintings.
During the next ten years, while still a child of ten, she traveled far and wide to visit the famous mountains and great rivers of the realm.
In the last ten years, she drew a prison around herself, sealing herself within Qiankun Academy. Gathering a hundred rivers and blending heaven and earth, she carved out her own path of painting...
More than once, she had used paintings as a medium to request an audience with the great figures of the Literary Altar. Yet Deng Xianchu, the master of painting, had never met her, sending back only one sentence: the path of painting was merely a side branch of the literary path; without understanding the literary path, how could one speak of the path of painting...
What did that mean? Deng Xianchu would only discuss the path of painting with scholars. You were a woman, not even a scholar—what could you possibly know about painting? Yours was nothing but a wild and crooked path, unfit for the halls of elegance!
She had thought she could only continue her bitter exploration alone for the rest of her life. But more than twenty days ago, Mr. Bao Shan, who had stood at the same realm as her, had broken through to the Ultimate Literary Heart and taken that crucial step.
Mr. Bao Shan's step had been closely connected to one man's wine and one man's poem. Thus, she too hoped to meet this person...
That person had come to Qiankun Academy today to take the civil examination.
Aunt slowly rose to her feet and paced in two circles. In the end, she still shook her head. "Mr. Bao Shan's breakthrough came down to finding good wine. The good poem was only an aid. Besides, wine poems are easy to find, but Painting Poems are hard to create! He does not specialize in the path of painting, so he cannot possibly write a Painting Poem. To meet him rashly and disturb him would only stir up a pool of spring water for nothing."
The Golden Bell rang four times!
Flowing light suddenly rose throughout Qiankun Academy!
The flowing light sealed off all four directions. No one could transmit any information any longer. In this day and age, strange arts and unusual abilities emerged one after another; transmitting messages across a thousand miles was commonplace. If the examination rooms were not sealed, the exam questions would soon leak out. The families of those examinees could simply hire several experts to quickly send back the answers. Then there would be no point in holding an examination at all.
Lin Su raised his gaze and stared at the oil lamp in front of him.
At night, the oil lamp was a lamp. By day, however, it served another purpose.
A line of golden words appeared above the oil lamp: Write one poem, a seven-character regulated verse, expressing longing between two places and hearts reflecting one another.
A very common topic.
Everyone was familiar with it.
Scholars, after all, shared one trait: they were rather flamboyant, weren't they? Even without a lover, they could rhyme one into existence. Much less those romantic talents—who among them did not have a few lovers?
Thus, this question was basically free points. Nearly everyone had already drafted something in their minds. It could be said that sunlight shone upon all.
Dozens of poems flashed through Lin Su's mind in an instant. He had to admit, scholars really were flamboyant...
Today was only the Provincial Examination. Should he use something at the level of a trump card? He could casually produce any poem and pass, but before the examination, he had made a grand wager with twenty-four people. This wager could only be won, never lost!
Even if they played a three, he would throw down a pair of jokers! What, bite me...
After pondering for a moment, he put brush to paper and wrote "Yesterday":
"Yesterday's Stars, Yesterday's Wind; west of the painted tower, east of the cassia hall. Without the wings of phoenixes flying side-by-side, hearts have telepathy, understanding at a single touch."
When it came to flamboyance, Li Shangyin still took the crown. No one could match the sentiments in that fellow's poetry!
Half of "Untitled" was enough to crush every enemy!
After roughly five minutes, he was sitting there biting his nails. Where was the next question? Bring it already!
He waited for a full incense stick before the oil lamp lit up:
The second poem: use "painting" as the subject of the poem, five-character verse.
The moment this question appeared, it formed a sharp contrast with the first. The whole academy had rejoiced at the first poem, but now the whole academy wailed.
How could a painting be placed into poetry?
With an actual painting, one could at least write a poem while looking at it. But there was no painting before them at all. How were they supposed to compose one?
Painting Poems were rare to begin with, and standing out with one was even harder.
Today's questions were far too obscure. Who had set them?
Not to mention the wails of the students—Lin Su himself felt his heart give a jolt...
There truly were not many poems about paintings throughout history. He remembered fewer than thirty, and even fewer among them were especially outstanding...
After pondering for a moment, he wrote.
"Painting":
"From afar, mountains bear color; close by, water makes no sound. Spring departs, yet flowers remain; people come, yet birds are not startled."
Not a single word for painting appeared in the entire poem, yet after reading it through, it was clearly describing a painting. Like a riddle, yet also a poem—fresh, unworldly, and truly brilliant...
Heh, praising himself again.
After the two poems came the main course: the policy essay!
Lin Su did not dare take the policy essay lightly. He had read countless policy essays and remembered every type of them. But this society differed from an ordinary Feudal Society. A policy essay was, in truth, the students offering strategies and plans. If it became divorced from the form of society, then the policy essay would be nothing but wastepaper.
The policy essay prompt appeared above the oil lamp:
"The National Fortune of Han, Chu, Lü, and Jin, four nations over a hundred years, was destroyed in a single day. Take this as your topic and write a policy essay."
Lin Su slowly raised his head and gazed at the sky. Han, Chu, Lü, and Jin were four nations, all northwest of Great Cang, wedged between Great Cang and Great Corner. For years, these nations had paid tribute to Great Corner, bowed their heads as vassals, ceded land year after year, and sent gifts, money, and women. Yet even with such a low posture, they still could not gain peace and prosperity. Thirteen years ago, when Great Corner's New Emperor ascended the throne, an army of a million swept across the four nations and swallowed them all whole.
With the four nations lost, Great Cang lost its northwestern shield and directly bordered Great Corner, bringing immense security risks to Great Cang.
Lin Su let out a long breath and wrote: "'On the Four Nations'... The destruction of the four nations was not because their weapons were weak or their battles poorly fought. The calamity lay in bribing Great Corner..."
Words flowed from his brush by the thousands, vast and unrestrained. The earthshaking masterpiece "On the Six States," once written by Su Xun, was reenacted beneath his brush, displaying another kind of splendor...
No one was unaware of Great Corner's wolfish ambitions.
It was not as though no one in the four nations had resisted back then. Yet the mainstream of society was filled with spineless cowards, terrified of angering a powerful enemy and having the armies at their borders cost them their lofty positions, their delicate wives and beautiful concubines, their gold and jewels, and their ten thousand acres of fertile land. Thus, they would rather trade away territory, wealth, and the women of the common folk for temporary peace.
What would be the result of using such things to buy safety?
Great Corner would receive your supplies and grow stronger.
The people would lose their spiritual pillar, and their hearts would scatter.
If your nation did not perish, heaven's justice would not permit it!
Therefore, the destruction of the four nations served them right!
The four nations had already perished, and no one wished to summon their souls. The main purpose of this policy essay was not to summon the souls of the four nations either, but to use the past as a mirror for the present. How similar was today's situation to that of the four nations? Great Corner occupied the northwest and looked down upon Great Cang, yet the high officials of the Imperial Court repeatedly satisfied Great Corner's unreasonable demands, allowing Great Corner to advance eastward all the way, seizing cities and land while the people of the northwest could barely survive.
Minister of War Zhang Wenyuan was the representative figure of the peace faction.
It was also because Lin Dingnan's political views conflicted with his that he had plotted to kill Lin Dingnan.
Wind rose beneath Lin Su's brush. His emotions poured into his writing, and the more he wrote, the more absorbed he became, as though he had truly become a member of the Lin family, standing atop the golden palace and speaking with impassioned righteousness...
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