Two years passed in a flash. This time’s Upper Hall evaluation examination naturally went to Wang Junmin as the sole top-tier Upper Hall student, and then the Jiayou sixth year Xinchou imperial examination arrived amid everyone’s anticipation.

At twenty-five, Wang Junmin was already considered quite old at the Imperial Academy. If he didn’t pass the examination this year, he would have to withdraw from the academy and become an insignificant clerk, or stay at the academy as an ordinary academic instructor or recorder, earning a meager salary.

His younger brothers at home had grown up, and expenses were increasing daily. He could no longer burden his family.

Moreover, he had always used studying as an excuse to avoid marriage, partly because his family probably couldn’t afford the betrothal gifts.

While packing his examination supplies, Wang Junmin opened the lacquered box and saw the jade wengzhong he hadn’t worn for a long time. After playing with it in his hands for a moment, he finally took it out and placed it in his writing supplies box.

The metropolitan examination went as smoothly as Wang Junmin had expected. When he finished his papers, he knew he should make the list. As for his ranking, that truly needed heaven’s arrangement.

After sleeping hard for two days in his chamber, before the palace examination list was announced, Wang Junmin went out planning to visit home. But after leaving, he suddenly felt that every person passing by him was vaguely pointing and whispering about him.

He had always been a loner and naturally wouldn’t care about others’ opinions.

But almost every student he encountered at the Imperial Academy looked at him strangely, making him inevitably slow his pace with doubt. Gradually, discussions reached his ears.

“They say someone is spreading rumors that this Wang Junmin is this year’s top scholar!”

“Maybe so – Wang Kanghou is the top person in the Imperial Academy’s Upper Hall!”

“But that’s not right… The golden list isn’t out yet, and such rumors are already spreading everywhere. I think someone definitely doesn’t want him to pass.”

“Exactly! If the chief examiner wants to avoid suspicion, or thinks Student Wang is deliberately creating momentum for himself, he really might eliminate him!”

“Precisely! This Xinchou examination’s chief examiner is Wang Anshi, Master Wang Jiefu, who most despises those who seek fame and reputation. Someone’s in for trouble this time!”

Wang Junmin listened to those voices of envy, disgust, cold mockery, and sarcasm, feeling like someone had punched him in the back of the head. His mind buzzed white and blank, nearly losing the strength to stand.

He gritted his teeth to avoid embarrassing himself in front of others, barely managing to turn and walk step by step back to his room. Sitting cold and motionless at his desk for a long time, Wang Junmin finally raised his hand to wipe his face, finding his palm wet – whether from sweat on his cheeks or his palms, he couldn’t tell.

“Those who aren’t envied are mediocre” – he naturally understood this principle. But the problem definitely lay with him, otherwise why would rumors only spread about him and not others?

Two years ago in the previous examination, Zhang Shizheng was in a similar situation, but no one tried to sabotage him.

So… everything for nothing? In this situation, no normal person would let him pass the jinshi examination. The enormous pressure suppressed in his heart for years completely exploded – Wang Junmin had essentially bet everything on this examination.

Nearly twenty years of hard study would ultimately be wasted? Perhaps it was his imagination, but the discussions outside seemed even louder, making his head spin.

Mentally broken, he could no longer control the resentment in his heart. He stood up and swept his sleeve across the desk, scattering the scholarly ornaments. For a moment, crisp clanging and crashing sounds rang out continuously, finally silencing the discussions outside.

Wang Junmin panted heavily as he collapsed back into his chair, catching sight of a familiar jade wengzhong spinning and sliding to his feet.

When people are vulnerable, they instinctively want to blame heaven and others. Wang Junmin immediately thought of the misfortune rumors about this jade wengzhong, then remembered that nothing had happened to him these past two years until he put it in his writing supplies box for the examination, and now… now this was happening… Though he knew this had absolutely nothing to do with the jade wengzhong, if people could always remain rational, the concept of displaced anger wouldn’t exist.

Wang Junmin bent down to grab the jade wengzhong from the floor, about to smash it against the wall as if to vent his fury. But when his palm touched the lustrous, delicate jade, that long-forgotten sensation immediately brought him back to his senses.

He took a deep breath and slowly opened his fingers, looking down at the jade wengzhong lying quietly in his palm. The wengzhong’s cord was already dirty and bore blackened burn marks.

Since the fire, he hadn’t thought to replace its cord.

Wang Junmin nostalgically caressed the jade wengzhong, feeling the originally cool jade gradually match his body temperature.

Perhaps from just falling to the ground, there were several more cracks than he remembered.

Wang Junmin sighed softly. His agitated mood finally calmed down. He picked up the writing supplies box, first placing the jade wengzhong back inside, then gathering up the scattered items.

So be it – he should leave. Staying here would only be embarrassing. The academic officials would probably feel uncomfortable seeing him too. He’d wait until the golden list was announced before coming to bid them farewell.

What a… pity to disappoint the Administrator’s high hopes…

Dejectedly packing his belongings, Wang Junmin endured everyone’s gazes as he returned home, closed his doors to visitors, and slept with his head covered.

He muddled through several days like this. On announcement day, listening to the continuous sounds of congratulations, firecrackers, and gongs along the streets, his expression was unpredictable.

After an unknown time, he suddenly heard firecrackers exploding at his courtyard gate, with someone loudly congratulating: “Passed! Passed! Young Master passed!”

Everything happened too suddenly. By the time Wang Junmin fully came to his senses, he had already completed the palace examination, paraded through the streets, drunk celebratory wine – it was several days later.

“Kanghou, you’re finally awake?” Chu Yushi teased. He found his friend truly amusing. But thinking from another perspective, if he could enjoy such glory today, his behavior probably wouldn’t be much better.

“Did I… did I really become top scholar?” Wang Junmin still couldn’t quite believe it, but in his hazy memories, there were indeed scenes of giving thanks in the front palace, picking famous flowers in renowned gardens as the Flower-Picking Envoy with two other young men on the same list, and attending the Flower-Picking Banquet at Apricot Garden.

The scenes of toasting and drinking were like blurry paintings, making it difficult for his hangover self to connect them all.

“Yes, yes, yes – first place in the first rank, what else could that be but top scholar? Wang the Top Scholar!” Chu Yushi handed over a bowl of freshly made hangover soup, smiling as he examined this new top scholar.

“This time we really owe much to Master Linchuan. If he hadn’t taken a liking to your essay and strongly recommended you, this top scholar position might have been in danger.”

Wang Junmin drank the slightly bitter hangover soup in one gulp, his headache easing somewhat.

Master Linchuan was Minister Wang Anshi. Wang Junmin still harbored resentment over the pre-examination rumors, frowning: “Wouldn’t this put Master Linchuan in a difficult position?”

“No problem. Kanghou, you have real talent and learning. Before, someone deliberately spread rumors to harm you, but this actually gives it a sense of heavenly destiny, making it a beautiful story to tell.” Chu Yushi said dismissively.

His gaze fell on the open writing supplies box nearby, just seeing that memorable jade wengzhong, and he couldn’t help saying disapprovingly: “Kanghou, why do you still keep this jade wengzhong? You nearly burned to death, nearly died from rumors – you were almost forced to prove your innocence through death. What scholars value most are reputation and life, and you nearly lost both. Isn’t this the misfortune brought by this jade wengzhong? I think it’s better to throw it away.”

“…” Wang Junmin held his head. He wasn’t fully awake yet. He heard his friend’s voice but his brain was working slowly and couldn’t understand.

After a long while, he stammered: “Maybe… I should return it to that antique shop owner…”

“Return it to him for what? To let this jade wengzhong continue harming people? Forget it, if you can’t bear to throw it away, I’ll throw it away for you.” Chu Yushi decisively scooped up the jade wengzhong, determined to free his friend from the shadow of misfortune.

“This…” Wang Junmin’s words to stop his friend paused, and he couldn’t help asking himself – didn’t he really have thoughts of sending this jade wengzhong away?

Admit it – in fact, he also felt plagued by misfortune, just unwilling to personally abandon the jade wengzhong, unwilling to be the villain.

So he quietly watched his friend walk out of the room and slowly closed his eyes.

Yes, he was already the new top scholar. After a good sleep, when he opened his eyes again, his life would be completely different from before.

Chu Yushi actually wanted to smash this jade wengzhong directly, but he was also afraid this ominous jade ornament would attach itself to him. So after leaving the Wang family, he found a corner in an alley and carelessly threw the jade wengzhong away.

Not long after Chu Yushi left humming a song, a man wearing Qin-Han period black wrapped deep robes walked here and stopped, bending down to pick up the jade wengzhong. He gently brushed away the dust on the jade wengzhong with his hand, looking at the new cracks on it, and sighed deeply.

“Foolish child, you block disasters for people yet are mistaken for an ominous object. What suffering is this…” The man seemed to speak to the jade wengzhong, yet also seemed to mutter to himself.

After a moment, he suddenly looked up toward somewhere at the alley entrance. Empty. Was he indeed overthinking?

2013 AD

“Oh my! We nearly got discovered by the previous boss spying on us!” The doctor gasped heavily. Having just experienced space travel, he simply lay on Dumb House’s floor, his whole head dizzy.

“Fortunately the compass was timely.” Lu Zigang wasn’t in much better condition but still stood up to get two bottles of mineral water.

The doctor got up and took a bottle, gulping down several mouthfuls before gaining some energy, grinning: “Ancient costume boss – this is the first time seeing that! Last time we traveled to the Tang Dynasty we didn’t see the boss at all.”

“We must be careful in the future. The boss always has continuous memory. If he gets an impression of us, history might branch off, and our crime would be great.” Lu Zigang tirelessly reminded.

“Got it, got it.” The doctor casually agreed. For him, the missing boss was the real boss – the ancient boss had no memories of him and wasn’t really his friend.

“By the way, what was that thing the boss was holding just now?” Lu Zigang had good eyesight. After recalling, he said: “Should be that jade wengzhong.”

“Jade wengzhong?”

“Yes, I still remember when I was at Dumb House in my previous life, the boss once chatted with me about it. That jade wengzhong was originally an evil-warding object personally worn by Emperor Wu of Han. Later it passed through many hands. Though cracked everywhere, unlike ordinary jade ornaments that could be possessed by evil things, it could still protect its owner from misfortune.” Lu Zigang drank some water, then sighed: “But unfortunately, every person who owned that jade wengzhong thought it brought misfortune. Though the boss would always explain beforehand that cracked jade attracts evil things, every person who claimed not to care would eventually abandon it. People are like this – they never see the truth clearly. Looking at those people’s clothing on the street, it should be mid-Northern Song period. The jade wengzhong’s owner then should have been a top scholar. After death he was falsely accused of unclear relations with a brothel woman, of chaos and abandonment, ultimately haunted by vengeful ghosts, losing his life and reputation completely ruined. Such a pity for all those cracks the jade wengzhong developed for him.”

Lu Zigang of that era was the world’s top jade craftsman, naturally extremely fond of jade objects. Recalling that scarred jade wengzhong, Lu Zigang was inevitably influenced by his past life’s resentment, his tone full of indignation.

“Ah? Why didn’t the boss tell customers the truth?” The doctor expressed confusion.

Lu Zigang immediately looked at him like an idiot: “Selling a broken jade while eloquently saying this jade can block disasters – wouldn’t that make you a swindler? Only fools would believe it!”

The doctor indicated he believed it, excitedly standing up to look around: “Where is it? Such a good thing, this jade wengzhong! I want one too!”

Lu Zigang tightened the bottle cap, showing a mocking smile, saying lightly: “Who knows! Maybe it’s somewhere in Dumb House… maybe it’s still wandering in different people’s hands…”

Every antique in Dumb House has its own story, carrying many years with no one to listen. Because they cannot speak…

Epilogue: The Wang Junmin, Chu Yushi, and Zhang Shizheng appearing in this story are all real historical figures. This text borrows their life stories, though the jade wengzhong is fictional. Everyone might wonder what happened to these three people later, so I’ll share some additional notes.

Wang Junmin died two years later from a bout of madness. After becoming top scholar, he went to Xuzhou as a judicial officer, then was transferred to Nanjing the following year to temporarily oversee imperial examinations. Everything was normal at first, but suddenly he told supervisory officials that candidates were making noise and cursing him outside, when clearly nothing of the sort was happening.

After this happened three or four times, he suddenly showed fearful expression and grabbed a paper knife from his desk to commit suicide. After being rescued, he remained mentally confused. His family even hired Taoist priests to treat him, making quite a commotion.

Chu Yushi rushed over upon hearing the news. Chu Yushi really became a doctor – he was the most famous of these three later, authoring several renowned medical texts. Chu Yushi prescribed medicine for Wang Junmin and stayed with him until Wang Junmin passed away… then… Chu Yushi became a monk… This really meant something! I was shocked researching this!

Zhang Shizheng became an Imperial Academy Grand Academician and later wrote “Kuoyi Ji,” which included accounts of Wang Junmin’s madness. This incident was gradually distorted by people, and later someone wrote a drama called “Wang Kui’s Betrayal.”

This drama was very popular! Kui means top scholar – it was clearly naming Wang Junmin specifically. The content was simple: Wang Kui and a brothel woman loved each other, but after becoming top scholar, he abandoned her for higher connections.

Later the brothel woman committed suicide and became a vengeful ghost haunting Wang Kui, ultimately taking his life for revenge. When “Wang Kui’s Betrayal” became popular, Chu Yushi was furious.

In his published “Essential Prescriptions for Health Maintenance,” he used lengthy passages to clear his friend’s name, even criticizing Wang Junmin’s younger brothers for not defending their elder brother. “Kanghou was upright and stern by nature, pure as jade, never understanding crude marketplace language…” …original text… this is the original text…