Lord Feng (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

"Copy these onto three sheets of paper." Feng Yuan extracted a passage from each of the three pages he had selected and instructed his attendant to transcribe them.

The Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy was a compendium compiled by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites of the Great Qin Dynasty over several years, blending poetry, historical records, political governance, and military tactics into a single volume.

It could be said that if one were able to fully grasp even a small portion of the Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy, they would be able to earn a scholarly title and bring prosperity to their region.

However, the trade-off for such a dense amalgamation of content was that the material was incredibly obscure and difficult to comprehend.

Even though he had only selected three fragments totaling less than a thousand words, it was highly unlikely that anyone could memorize them all within two hours.

Furthermore, the three passages he chose were not selected at random; there was a specific intent behind them.

The first passage combined poetry with military strategy—the most difficult to memorize—and he had deliberately placed it on the first page.

The second and third passages covered historical records and political governance, which were relatively simpler, and were placed on the subsequent two sheets.

This was a trap; anyone who fixated on the first, most difficult passage would inevitably waste a significant amount of time, thereby failing to attend to the remaining two pages.

While it appeared to be a test of memory, it was, in reality, a test of adaptability.

"Would Mr. Lu Hong care to take a look?" Feng Yuan picked up the three transcribed sheets and pushed them toward Lu Hong.

"Very well."

Lu Hong had already been curious about this newly compiled Poetry, Politics, and Military Strategy, and since these were exam questions set by Feng Yuan, he was eager to preview them.

But as his eyes fell upon the content of the first page, his expression shifted; when he looked at the second and third pages, his features softened slightly.

"Lord Feng is truly wise."

"Heh, heh, are you not worried, Mr. Lu Hong?"

Feng Yuan twirled his teacup, his gaze fixed on Lu Hong like a hawk.

There was, in fact, another reason for adding these extra exam questions: among the candidates for this Academy Exam was the son of a private tutor.

And the questions for this Academy Exam had been set by Lu Hong himself.

Private schools were the most rudimentary level of talent selection in the Great Qin Dynasty, and because they were established in small places like Willow Town, management was often lax, and instances of favoritism and cheating occurred frequently.

Although he was well-acquainted with Lu Hong and had even been a fellow student for several years, human nature was unpredictable, and he detested deception above all else, which was why he had added the extra questions.

Upon hearing this, Lu Hong was startled into a shiver. He hurriedly stood up, trembling as he said, "Lord Feng, this Academy Exam has strictly followed the requirements of the Great Qin Dynasty. Aside from myself, no one knows the questions..."

This Lord Feng was testing him!

Feng Yuan folded the papers without looking up. "Why the panic, Mr. Lu Hong? I am merely asking you: how are these three pages of content? Do they serve the purpose of an exam?"

Lu Hong looked at the four sets of transcribed papers and felt a bitter ache in his heart.

You are the official, and your word is law.

Besides, you have already ordered them to be transcribed; why ask me now if they are meaningful?

"Lord Feng, the content is highly representative. Especially the military strategy section on the first page—the difficulty of memorization is secondary; the most important aspect is that it tests one's ability to adapt..."

In the outer hall.

The youths participating in the Academy Exam, who had initially been frolicking with Huang Lu, grew increasingly impatient as the waiting time dragged on.

"Why haven't we started yet?"

"Exactly, it's driving me crazy. My mother is waiting for me to go home for dinner."

"They aren't going to cancel it, are they?"

"Don't say that! The sooner we start, the sooner we're done!"

"..."

Just as the crowd was whispering among themselves, Lu Hong walked in with a stack of papers, his expression solemn.

"They're here, they're here."

The youths immediately found their desks and sat up straight.

Chu Ming chose a seat at the very back and sat down, waiting for the papers to be distributed.

Truth be told, it really did feel like the exams from his past life.

But he was only momentarily affected by the atmosphere before returning to his usual calm and natural state.

In his previous life, he had endured countless major exams, minor exams, monthly tests, and final exams; he was long since accustomed to this.

The other youths, however, were not so composed; some were tense, while others were shaking with nerves.

Chu Ming looked at Huang Lu to his side; the boy was pressing down on his desk so hard it was nearly buckling.

The closer it got to the distribution of papers, the worse it became; once the questions were actually in their hands, they would likely settle down.

"The duration of the Academy Exam is two hours. You are not permitted to leave midway. Once you receive your papers, write your names first. Do not whisper to one another. Violators will have their scores voided and will be barred from participating in the Academy Exam for three years!"

"..."

Lu Hong recited the rules of the Academy Exam as per custom before beginning to distribute the questions.

Chu Ming looked at the exam paper on his desk, his expression calm.

The content of the Academy Examination was the same as in previous years, testing three books: General Theory of the Book of Songs, Essence of Classics and History, and Complete Book of Agricultural Administration.

Possessing the ability to read ten lines at a glance, he quickly finished reading the questions on the three test papers.

The first two sheets were recitation questions; translated into the language arts exams of his past life, they consisted of sentence segmentation, fill-in-the-blanks, poetry spelling, and passage memorization.

The first half of the third sheet was the same, with only the final two questions being comprehension-based.

While called comprehension, the essence of the test was still how well one remembered the content of the three books and whether one could apply them correctly.

For Chu Ming, these naturally posed no difficulty whatsoever.

However, the other youths could not set pen to paper with the same ease as he.

Take the tall youth from before, for instance; he held his brush, writing a few lines here and a few lines there. It was clear he did not know much, so he was writing down whatever he could still recall before he forgot it.

Beside him, Huang Lu was struggling to hold down his desk, which was trembling due to his nervousness. As for his brush, aside from the crookedly written name and the first few simplest questions, he could not recall a single thing that followed.

Looking at the other youths, there were no shortage of those scratching their heads, chewing on their brush tips, staring blankly at their papers, or scribbling nonsense.

In the entire outer hall, apart from Chu Ming, it was Chi Lin, Guan Chong, and Lu Xian who were the most composed, either leaning back in deep thought or bowing their heads to write.

Every move of the youths fell into the eyes of Lu Hong, who sat in the hall.

He had set these exam questions himself; although he had not leaked them, he had frequently given Lu Xian deliberate hints and key points during their daily lessons.

If nothing unexpected happened, Lu Xian would undoubtedly take first place in the Academy Examination.

The only thing that worried him was the additional questions added by Feng Yuan, but upon second thought, Lu Xian's memory was the strongest among these youths—if his son could not remember them, no one else could either.

Lu Hong's gaze swept across the room, keeping a close watch on every youth.

Meanwhile, in the small courtyard, Feng Yuan sat upright on a stone bench, holding a cup of tea, his eyes looking toward the outer hall with unparalleled sharpness.

Time passed, and before two hours had even elapsed, Chi Lin, Guan Chong, and Lu Xian finished their work one after another, their expressions hiding excitement; it seemed they had answered well.

The three glanced at the others with disdain in their eyes, but when their gazes met one another, they became sharp and hostile.

Subsequently, more than a dozen other youths finished, but the expressions on their faces were somewhat uneasy, clearly indicating they had performed only averagely.

Chu Ming, however, was repeatedly checking his papers and had not yet put down his brush.

He was not checking for mistakes, but rather looking for places where he could intentionally introduce errors.

After all, getting everything perfectly correct would be a bit too flashy, so he decided to deliberately get a few places wrong to maintain a facade.

Yet, he dared not change too much, as he did not know the level of the others, so he only modified a few minor spots.

He drew a line through a correct answer, wrote a wrong one, then crossed that out to write the correct one again, and finally crossed it out once more to write the wrong one, giving the impression of someone who was unsure of the answers and kept revising.

After making his changes, Chu Ming glanced at Huang Lu beside him, only to find that this fellow had actually fallen asleep on his desk...

Soon, the two hours were up.

"Everyone put down your brushes and leave your papers on the edge of the desks," Lu Hong said sternly, beginning to collect the scrolls.

"Master Lu, he is still writing."