Madam

In the waterside pavilion, the youths who had handed in their test papers stared fixedly at a white wall before them. Behind that wall was a room lined with bookshelves.

At the center of the room stood a black wooden desk. Mr. Shen and Steward Wu stood before it, heads lowered as they flipped through the others' papers.

After a long while, the two looked at each other, both shaking their heads with sighs.

"Most of them did not remember even a tenth of it. The better ones probably remembered only twenty or thirty percent."

Manager Wu said with a bitter smile.

Mr. Shen picked through the stack of papers and drew out four test papers.

"These few remembered around forty percent. They can be considered promising seedlings."

Steward Wu picked up those papers and looked them over, nodding. Then he sighed. "You were right, sir. These belong to those three Elementary Scholars, and the other one has studied for six or seven years as well."

"That is perfectly normal." Mr. Shen was not surprised. "Apart from true geniuses, the more one learns, the better one becomes at learning. To say nothing else, after several years of basic education, one would more or less have grasped some methods for memorizing texts."

"As for geniuses born knowing all things, how could they be encountered so easily?"

As he spoke, he casually rummaged through the pile of papers.

After a while, he pinched one test paper between his fingers, his brow furrowing faintly.

"Could there be a pearl left behind?" Seeing his expression, Manager Wu curiously leaned over for a look, only to find the paper strangely familiar.

"Isn't this, isn't this... Zheng Fa's?"

Manager Wu's impression of Zheng Fa could not have been deeper.

He had even specifically paid attention to the other's test paper. After reading it, he had only one thought—what the hell was this!

Not a single character was right!

Remembering how confidently he had declared that Zheng Fa had something in his belly, even Manager Wu, experienced as he was, felt a trace of embarrassment.

Mr. Shen ignored him. He merely studied the test paper in silence for a long while before suddenly raising his head and cupping his hands toward him. "Brother Wu, I have truly witnessed your discerning eye!"

"..." Manager Wu lowered his head and looked at Zheng Fa's paper again. No matter how he looked at it, it only stung his eyes. Naturally, his face darkened. "Mr. Shen, I know having you test these bookboys is like using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken, and you are unhappy about it. But being all yin and yang at me like this is unfair! We are both merely following orders."

Seeing that he had misunderstood, Mr. Shen waved his hands and explained with even greater sincerity, "I truly admire your judgment!"

How could Manager Wu believe his nonsense? He only felt that scholars truly had a knack for angering people—mocking someone to their face with a perfectly serious expression. Who could stand that?

"Yes! I know, I misjudged him! I should not have thought highly of that boy surnamed Zheng. My eyes have gone blind today, is that it?"

"Brother Wu, you do not know this, but Zheng Fa's test paper has something extraordinary about it!"

"What is extraordinary about it? It looks like he wrote so many characters, yet not half a character is right..."

Facing Zheng Fa's Horrible to See test paper, Steward Wu could only feel that Mr. Shen was cursing him for being blind.

"It is precisely because half the characters are right!" Mr. Shen clapped his hands together in praise.

"...Huh?"

Mr. Shen set Zheng Fa's test paper aside, then took out the original text of the Classic of Purity and Tranquility and compared the two.

"Did you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"The Classic of Purity and Tranquility Zheng Fa wrote down appears, at first glance, to contain not a single correct character. But look carefully!" Mr. Shen pointed at Zheng Fa's test paper with one hand and the original text with the other, comparing them character by character.

"...Half the characters really are right?"

It took Manager Wu a long while to see it.

Zheng Fa's test paper was peculiar. Almost every character had only part of it written correctly.

Without looking carefully, it was difficult even to understand what had been written on the paper.

"What do you see?" Mr. Shen's tone was slightly excited.

"I see... an illiterate child, desperate but hardworking?"

"...It shows that this child truly has talent!" Mr. Shen pointed at Zheng Fa's test paper. "Though every character he wrote is wrong, when compared side by side, he has written nearly ninety percent of the original text correctly!"

"Photographic memory?" Steward Wu began to understand what Mr. Shen meant.

"Yes. For someone who cannot read to remember these characters in such a short time, photographic memory is the only explanation."

"So you really were not mocking me..."

"Of course not! Though photographic memory is somewhat remarkable, to be honest, I have heard of such people before. But there is something else that makes me feel this child is extraordinary."

"What?" Manager Wu was interested as well.

"Look. Every character he wrote seems to be missing strokes and lines, but upon closer thought, one discovers that these characters have their own rules. I even have the feeling that—he has his own way of writing every character, and this method has preserved almost all of each character's essential parts."

Hearing this, Manager Wu found it even harder to believe.

Creating a writing system all by himself?

That could no longer be explained by genius. That was monstrous.

"Could it be that he simply did not remember the correct character forms?"

"This..." Deep in his inner heart, Mr. Shen also felt that Manager Wu's words made more sense. His own conjecture was perhaps far too absurd.

At this thought, Mr. Shen shook his head. "No matter what, if we speak of talent, I believe Zheng Fa should rank first among this group."

Manager Wu immediately laughed. "I told you, how could my eyes be wrong? This boy is talent!"

"Yet this test paper also shows that his family background is likely ordinary. He has never received much schooling, and he is already rather old. Even with some talent, he may not amount to much in a short time. I fear Madam will not favor him." Mr. Shen said regretfully.

At this moment, it was instead Manager Wu who placed Zheng Fa's test paper among the four papers selected earlier and held them in his hand.

"Then you do not understand our Madam." He smiled as he walked outside. "To Madam..."

"Family background." Through the wall, he pointed at the youths still craning their necks in anticipation. "Whether they are poor or rich, they are all merely servants' children."

"Learning." He turned and pointed at himself, then at Mr. Shen. "It is nothing more than this. Those who are useful are used; those who are not are replaced."

"I dare wager that among these people, the one chosen will certainly be that boy surnamed Zheng. Our Madam cherishes talent."

Holding the test papers, he walked all the way toward the depths of the estate, passing the lotus pond and then crossing the rear garden.

Until he arrived beneath a two-story small building.

From upstairs came waves of silk-and-bamboo music.

He ascended the agarwood stairs to the second floor. Layer upon layer of curtains hung there, and through the veils, one could see a soft, graceful figure reclining upon a broad low couch.

The woman supported her head with one hand, listening to the performance of three young women in the corner, while lazily playing with the golden hairpin in her other hand.

Steward Wu did not dare raise his eyes, nor did he make a sound.

He merely stood silently before the curtains.

After a long while, the song came to an end.

The woman lifted her hand and lightly struck the Jade Ring hanging from the curtain with the tip of her golden hairpin.

Clang~

The clear, ringing sound passed through layer upon layer of curtains.

Steward Wu knew that he could speak now.

"Madam, today we selected bookboys for Seventh Young Master. There are several test papers that are passable, and this little person has brought them."

Clang~

A young woman slowly walked out, took the test papers from Steward Wu's hands, then turned and returned to the couch.

She handed the several test papers to the person reclining upon it.