Lin Daiyu: Surprised? I Can't Do It Either!
You had to know, Jia Baoyu had always detested official careers and worldly affairs, and had even less patience for tedious practical matters and calculations. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone around all day spouting phrases like "fame-seeking hypocrites" and "traitorous parasites living off the state."
But although he detested such things, he was still rather proud of his own learning. He believed his natural talent was no less than anyone else's; he simply disdained showing it off or studying those subjects.
After all, he had always thought he had a gift for poetry and song, for romance and beauty. He could write a few graceful, unusual lines and short pieces, and he had assumed he could probably manage an essay for the Immortal Selection as well.
But now he had seen the questions. They tested one's understanding of immortal formations, insight into the affairs of the Three Realms, deductions based on yin and yang and the five elements, comprehension of the relationship between heaven and humanity and of personal cultivation, as well as practical planning, analysis, decision-making, and other broad abilities.
These weren't all the "worldly affairs" that Jia Baoyu found most frustrating and wanted nothing to do with, but they were things he simply couldn't write about. He had no idea how.
Any one of them would have given him a headache for quite some time, let alone a set of complicated questions combining them all.
Just as Tanchun had said, even if he had two whole hours—let alone two—he might make no progress, even if he spent two years buried in these questions and studying them day and night.
Because he didn't know how. There were no answers in books, no references to consult, and his small measure of cleverness