Ning Yi watched as that youth stood up, called out, turned to smile, and finally left resolutely.
Somehow, what first surged in his heart wasn’t the anger of prey escaping, but rather an inexplicable unease—like watching a caged bird spread its wings and fly out, turning its body mid-air and suddenly transforming into a phoenix.
Or perhaps, it was an eagle that had always restrained its wings, just waiting for a certain moment to soar into the clouds, then dive down to strike him?
He shook his head, dispelling this absurd thought, and slowly leaned back in his chair, squinting his eyes as he watched that person walk straight toward the Golden Scroll, the back view slender as a half-crescent moon.
Seeking one’s own death—that was good too…
He should clearly be happy about it.
Yet layers of gloomy clouds remained between his brows, unable to disperse.
Feng Zhiwei walked to the front of the platform and faintly heard someone below cry out in surprise—it seemed to be Lin Shao’s voice. He seemed to want to rush out but was being held back by someone below the stage.
The way people looked at her now was no longer the previous envy, jealousy, or disdain, but rather a kind of regret and astonishment—astonishment that someone would actually seek their own death.
The Scroll of Excellence—for over six hundred years, no one had been able to understand or solve it, and a deeply rooted notion had long formed in people’s minds—it was a heavenly text that ordinary mortals could not answer.
Feng Zhiwei’s gaze was clear and bright. She regarded the various strange looks as nothing and calmly walked forward.
Behind the white gauze, someone let out a slight “eh” sound. The imperial relatives and nobles who had been lazily chatting all straightened up and craned their necks to look, extremely curious about this young man who was the first in many years to boldly attempt the Scroll of Excellence.
“Do you know the rules?” The eunuch holding the golden silk scroll drawled, looking askance at Feng Zhiwei.
“If I cannot answer, I would rather die.” Feng Zhiwei smiled.
Though the tone was light, the meaning shocked everyone up and down. In the officials’ pavilion, Ning Yi sat up straight and frowned.
Acting with thunderous severity while maintaining a gentle and calm attitude—this style was very much like a certain person…
The eunuch turned his head to look inside the gauze curtain, received instructions, and lifted the bright yellow shark-silk covering from the golden silk scroll.
The scroll had three folds, each fold containing one question. Although countless people had tried to answer it in the past, according to court regulations, whoever had seen the questions must not reveal them to outsiders, so these questions still remained secret to the world. Countless curious gazes shot over in unison.
Feng Zhiwei’s eyes fell on it, and the expression on her face… was quite spectacular.
The first question.
“Why is Panasonic not as strong as Sony?”
With great effort, Feng Zhiwei barely suppressed the twitching at the corner of her mouth—this was the number one scroll under heaven that had been famous for over six hundred years? This was the Scroll of Excellence that was said to prove anyone who answered it must be an unparalleled talent of the nation??
Indeed, anyone who could answer it would truly be unparalleled—because these weren’t even questions from this world, were they?
At this moment, everyone was staring intently at her expression. Seeing her raise her eyebrows and bite her lip, appearing to struggle and endure being stumped by the question, they all felt it was as expected, yet also vaguely disappointed—they had thought a miracle might occur today!
Ning Yi supported his cheek with his hand, gazing at Feng Zhiwei from afar. Although the result at this moment was also within his expectations, his mood hadn’t improved. That oppressive and disappointing gloomy feeling seemed inexplicably even heavier.
Moon-white sleeves embroidered with silver bamboo hung down, gently brushed against his cheek by the wind, cool and soft, just like his current mood… Was this person who possessed both small cunning and great wisdom really being forced by him to make such a reckless gamble, to fail and founder here?
Just as he was pondering, he suddenly saw that person on stage relax their brow and smile.
That smile came suddenly. Though the features could only be considered handsome and even somewhat stiff, the divine light in those eyes instantly shone like the sun rising from the eastern sea, illuminating the sky with a brilliance so dazzling it was unbearable to look at directly. An ordinary countenance suddenly became absolutely magnificent.
He was dazzled by the smile in those eyes and froze for a moment. In that instant, he saw that person unexpectedly step forward without hesitation. Using the brush and ink already prepared, with a few swift strokes, the brush moved like a dragon or snake. Then with a smile, the person stepped back.
The eunuch went over in disbelief, not daring to look at the answer. He took it with both hands and presented it into the white gauze. Inside the gauze, a large group of the most learned scholars and junior compilers from the Hanlin Academy who had been summoned rushed over in a flurry, holding Feng Zhiwei’s answer and staring at it wide-eyed for a long time.
The answer was very simple, very strange, even stranger than the question—a bunch of crooked “symbols”—PANASONIC.
Everyone stared with wide eyes for a long time without understanding. They turned to look at the number one talent under heaven. Xin Ziyan twisted his charming and graceful features and said resentfully, “I’m not a Daoist priest, I can’t understand ghost talismans!”
They had no choice but to send someone galloping to the palace to fetch the treasured answer—the answer had been forgotten since it was never needed.
After a long while, low exclamations came from within the gauze curtain.
On gold-bordered paper, there was the same bunch of crooked ghost talismans, drawn even uglier than Feng Zhiwei’s. Everyone compared them one by one—not a single error. After being stunned for a long while, they passed the answer toward the screen.
Behind the screen, the Crown Prince who was drinking fragrant tea set down his cup. Hearing the servant’s report, he leaned out to look and smiled, “Father Emperor, who would have thought that today someone would actually answer the question.”
The Emperor, with his thin and tall figure wearing bright yellow casual robes, made an “mm” sound and said, “Qingming has been under your management these past few years and is increasingly producing talented people. This trip of mine personally coming here is not in vain.”
The Crown Prince showed an excited expression, remembering his conversation with Sixth Brother some days ago. Sixth Brother had mentioned that recently Great Yue had been frequently pressing at the borders, and matters of Golden Sand sea bandits plundering border people had troubled His Majesty, so why not advise His Majesty to go out and relax. Qingming had produced quite a few talented people these years—His Majesty would be consoled to see them. They might as well make this scholarly examination more grand in scale and spread the word to display our great nation’s prestige and abundance of talent, to reassure the alarmed common people and incidentally intimidate those restless petty troublemakers who don’t know their place. Now it seemed this had truly suited His Majesty’s preferences, but he didn’t want to share this credit with Sixth Brother. The words reached his lips but he pulled them back, and smiled, “Father Emperor works diligently at governing. Our Tiansheng enjoys heaven’s prosperity. All talented scholars under heaven gather in the Imperial Capital. Now with the Scroll of Excellence producing an unparalleled talent, it’s good to let those shortsighted petty troublemakers see and become obedient sooner!”
The Emperor’s expression became even more satisfied, yet he looked up at the Crown Prince and said, “Only answering one question—it’s too early to call him an unparalleled talent.”
“Even if he isn’t, he must be!” The Crown Prince got carried away, set down his teacup with a laugh and said, “If you’re willing, then he is!”
The Emperor glanced at him, the smile at the corners of his lips slightly restrained. Then he waved his hand at the eunuch.
The eunuch lifted the curtain and came out, his shrill voice trembling as he said, “Next question!”
The arena erupted with a thunderous sound. Everyone stood up, revealing expressions as if struck by lightning—the first question had been solved?
Ning Yi was drinking tea. His hand shook and a drop of tea fell on his sleeve. He didn’t wipe away the tea but just raised his head to look at Feng Zhiwei, and for an instant, brilliant light flashed in his eyes.
The second question.
“A and B can transform into each other. B can form C in boiling water. C oxidizes into D in air. D has the smell of rotten eggs. What are A, B, C, and D?”
Feng Zhiwei was much calmer by now—when she saw from afar the somewhat familiar handwriting at the top of the golden silk scroll, she had gained some understanding. When she confirmed the first question, she knew that the so-called Scroll of Excellence, the so-called unparalleled talents all contained within this scroll, was either a mistaken legend, or the owner of this scroll had played an extraordinarily large joke on the world that had lasted over six hundred years.
In any case, this joke had fooled everyone in the world, but it fulfilled her.
The answer to the second question was passed in. People no longer waited carelessly but stood on tiptoe, craning their necks nervously watching the gauze curtain. After a while, the curtain lifted, and the eunuch’s shrill voice, astonished and excited to the point of nearly changing pitch, pierced the nerves of everyone present—”Third question!”
People began unconsciously pushing forward, all wanting to personally witness the birth of an unparalleled talent that had been in question for six hundred years. Ning Yi could no longer sit still and strode over with a flick of his sleeve.
He brushed past Feng Zhiwei on stage. Turning his head, his slanting eyes flashed with a sharp gaze. Feng Zhiwei lowered her eyes with a gentle expression, but at the moment he was about to leave, she said softly, “Your Highness, serving at court together with you will truly be a fortunate thing.”
Ning Yi’s shoulders obviously stiffened for a moment, then he drifted past. Feng Zhiwei looked at his back and suddenly felt her mood greatly improve.
After being bullied and oppressed by him for so long, always at a disadvantage, she could finally hold her head high and feel proud for once.
The third question.
“A Heavenly Mandate Divine Stone from the Celestial Vault Eternal Youth Divine Temple, said to be related to national fortune, thrown into the Luocha Island waters of E Sea at the third quarter of the hour of the dragon on a blood moon night—what will happen?”
The great masters of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau and Hanlin Academy had already glimpsed the question. One by one they pulled their beards and scratched their heads, employing their vast ocean-like learning to solve this problem from various profound angles such as astrology, celestial phenomena, the Book of Changes, geomancy and feng shui… and so on. One great master of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau clasped his hands, trembling as he said, “Unfathomably profound, unfathomably profound…”
Everyone showed expressions of being used to such strangeness. These three questions had, in earlier generations, been carefully studied throughout a lifetime by great Confucian scholars of the time who were deeply learned. The final conclusion was that although the questions seemed strange and childish, they contained infinite profound meaning. The three questions encompassed the most mysterious and profound supreme principles of the human world such as formation transformations, star chart calculations, and the ultimate return of heavenly mandate. Not to mention that the answers were impossible to find—just these three questions alone had consumed his entire lifetime. At that time, the white-haired great Confucian scholar slapped his leg and sighed greatly—truly worthy of being the work of the astoundingly talented Great Cheng Emperor, truly only an unparalleled talent of the nation could accomplish this!
At this time, Feng Zhiwei also saw the third question and was actually startled in her heart. She had never seen this question in the booklet before.
However, having answered two questions, she had long since figured out the devious mindset of this question-setter. She just needed to think from the simplest direction and come up with the simplest, most absurdly laughable answer.
Feng Zhiwei’s answer was passed in.
After a while, inside the white gauze came the repeated sounds of thump thump—human bodies falling to the ground.
The gauze curtain lifted, and the eunuch came out covered in sweat. Standing there with his belly protruding, he opened his mouth several times but couldn’t make a sound.
Success or failure hung on these words. Everyone held their breath in unison, looking up at that terrible mouth, waiting for the birth of an unparalleled talent, or the fall of a brilliant person.
The vast Discourse Hall with several thousand people became as quiet as a graveyard in an instant.
Only Feng Zhiwei stood before the hall with hands clasped behind her back, a faint smile on her face. The three-foot golden silk scroll fluttered between her snow-white fingers, its sound soft and broken, as if someone beyond the clouds in the sky were letting out a low, soft laugh.
Ning Yi turned around before the hall, gazing at that slender youth, his eyes complex.
As the silence and oppression reached the final moment, when everyone was about to lose patience, that eunuch finally caught his breath and strode toward Feng Zhiwei, bowing deeply to the ground.
“Please—”
“Unparalleled Talent—”