Early the next morning, Changmei brought Li Diudiu to wait outside Zhou Huaili’s gate. All along the way he had repeated instructions — countless reminders and warnings — that when they met the illustrious Master Gao, Li Diudiu must not embarrass himself, must rein in all his nonsense, must not be insolent.

Li Diudiu’s expression was not particularly agreeable. He did not want to go to any Four Pages Academy. He wanted only to stay with his master.

“Is Master truly throwing me away?”

“Away, away — I am.”

Changmei waved a hand dismissively: “A rare opportunity, and I finally get to be rid of you.”

Li Diudiu asked: “Will Master leave Jizhou after this?”

“That… no, actually.”

Changmei thought it through and shook his head: “There is a monastery in Jizhou — the Wuwei Monastery. The abbot there is also an old acquaintance of mine. Once I’ve sent you to the academy, I’ll go register at the monastery. You live your fine life; I’ll live mine.”

“Oh…”

Li Diudiu hung his head. After a long moment, he forced a smile: “Master, you still need me around, you know — who else will boil your water and wash your feet? You’ll be lost without me.”

“At a monastery they naturally have people to see to such things. My seniority is high enough.”

“Master, I can help you read people’s faces! Look at how well we worked together before — perfectly seamless.”

“Deception is not a sustainable trade. I will no longer deceive anyone. Nor should you.”

“Oh…”

“Master, I…”

“Not another word!”

Changmei’s tone suddenly grew firm. He fixed Li Diudiu with a steady gaze and spoke each word deliberately: “Can you not show some ambition? If you complete your studies and make something of yourself, wouldn’t that mean you could look after me?”

“Ah?”

Previously his master had said he didn’t want him anymore, but now he had suddenly mentioned having Li Diudiu take care of him when he was accomplished — and something in Li Diudiu stirred.

“If you finish at the Four Pages Academy, you really will have good prospects?”

“Of course. Master Gao of the Four Pages Academy is considered the foremost scholar in all of Great Chu. His students are a gallery of exceptional talents — the Military Governor of Jizhou, Governor Zeng, is one of his students. As for you: I do not expect you to become a military governor. I only want you to have a proper standing in the world.”

Changmei softened his tone: “Master hopes you can become a person of integrity and dignity.”

“All right.”

Li Diudiu nodded vigorously: “A person of integrity and dignity.”

An hour later — the Four Pages Academy.

The moment Li Diudiu stepped through the gate with Zhou Huaili, his eyes didn’t know where to look first. The academy was vast: pavilions, towers, corridors, and gardens everywhere he turned, all of it beautiful. Most striking were the students themselves — every one of them appeared so clean, so refined, dressed in moon-white academy robes, some walking in pairs and groups, others reading beneath the trees. Compared to the fields full of displaced refugees outside the city walls, this place seemed like a realm from another world — Li Diudiu almost had the sensation that he was no longer on earth at all.

“In a moment, remember: do not lose your composure. Answer Master Gao’s questions directly, and do not babble nonsense. Master Gao does not like people without manners.”

Zhou Huaili spoke as he walked: “The others you will meet today are: one is the grandson of the Jizhou military affairs vice commissioner, surnamed Sun; one is the son of the Jizhou prefecture co-administrator, surnamed Liu; and one is the grandson of the Jizhou water administration director, surnamed Zhang. Those three…”

Zhou Huaili looked at Li Diudiu and sighed: “Never mind. Do your best.”

After a few more steps he asked: “What has your master taught you?”

“Reading and writing, the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, character reading and fortune telling…”

“Stop, stop, that’s enough.”

Zhou Huaili looked to the heavens with a long exhale: “What a waste of that *Ascending Sparrow Tower* piece.”

Little Li Diudiu muttered under his breath: “And medicine, acupuncture, swordsmanship… Master is truly remarkable.”

“However remarkable your master is, he still has to send you to the Four Pages Academy, doesn’t he?”

Li Diudiu didn’t like this man called Zhou Huaili, but his master had told him: when someone is doing you a kindness, you don’t show them a sour face. Still, hearing him disparage his master was not something he could just let slide.

“What if my master had Master Gao’s station in life?”

He asked Zhou Huaili: “Would my master then need to beg anyone for anything? My master may well be no less capable than Gao Shaowei — only one’s origins are not of one’s own choosing.”

Zhou Huaili stopped walking. He turned, face stern: “Are you addressing me? Do you know what your own position is?”

Li Diudiu opened his mouth — and swallowed it back down.

Zhou Huaili raised a hand toward the main gate of the Four Pages Academy: “If it were not for a favor your master once did for me, do you think I would be here putting my own face on the line to arrange this for you? If you are dissatisfied, turn around and leave. Otherwise, be quiet.”

Li Diudiu chose to be quiet. In his ten-year-old heart, he told himself: someday, if he made something of himself, he would give his master a moment to hold his head high.

He followed Zhou Huaili deeper into the academy grounds, all the way to a small, separate courtyard — it was here that Gao Shaowei, known throughout the realm as a great Confucian, lived and worked. Zhou Huaili told Li Diudiu to wait outside while he went in alone, his voice when he spoke to Li Diudiu flat and clipped, as though he might strike someone.

Once inside the study, Zhou Huaili was relieved to see the others had not yet arrived. He smiled and bowed: “Master, I have brought the child.”

“Wait a moment — once everyone has assembled, I will assess them together.”

Gao Shaowei rose: “Come, sit first and let us talk.”

Zhou Huaili did not sit down but remained bent at the waist in a posture of humble deference: “Master, this child is an orphan, with an untamed nature, and his words lack any proper measure or restraint. But he is clever and has learned a great many things. If he is at all impertinent or presumptuous before you today, I beg Master to make allowances.”

Gao Shaowei glanced at him: “He is truly a child of your old friend?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

Zhou Huaili continued: “The year I was transferred from Yongqing County to a post here in Jizhou, my wife fell seriously ill on the road. It was this child’s master who saved her life and escorted us safely all the way to Jizhou. The child is an orphan whom my old friend took in, and that friend has raised him as his own son.”

Gao Shaowei said reflectively: “And Master Songming’s *Ascending Sparrow Tower* piece — that was also a gift from your old friend. You brought it here for this child’s sake.”

Zhou Huaili replied: “Master, the Chan school teaches that saving one life surpasses building a seven-storied stupa. This child has a light in his eyes, and he is willing to endure hardship and study hard. His master saved his life — that is building seven stories of a stupa. But to change the course of a life? Master, you are the one who can change the course of his life. You are the one who has transformed the fate of every student in this academy.”

Gao Shaowei considered for a moment, then nodded: “If he is truly a talent worth cultivating, I will keep him in the academy regardless of his origins. If he is beyond teaching — well, I will still keep him here as a helper. It is better than wandering in the elements.”

Zhou Huaili bowed again: “Thank you, Master.”

Shortly thereafter, the other candidates arrived one by one. There were four in total. Li Diudiu was the youngest. The eldest was Sun Rugong, who was also from the most distinguished background — his grandfather held a formal rank of the fourth grade. Zhang Xiaolin was half a head taller than Li Diudiu and clearly had been training in martial arts for some time, his build noticeably solid. Liu Shengying was about the same height as Li Diudiu. The three boys wore fine clothes; Li Diudiu’s were entirely patched, though every patch was clean. Standing beside the other three, he still looked as though he came from a different world entirely.

“I will present a topic. You will respond. Say whatever comes to mind — there is no need for excessive caution.”

Gao Shaowei looked at the four children, then waved his hand: “Everyone else, please step outside. Leave only the four children.”

The others filed out with a few words of encouragement to their children. Zhou Huaili cast a glance at Li Diudiu and said only one thing before walking out the door.

“Do not bring shame upon your master.”

Gao Shaowei settled into his chair. He had the four children line up before him, thought for a moment, and then said: “First question. If you were traveling alone and encountered an injustice on the road, should you intervene or not?”

Zhang Xiaolin answered first: “Of course you intervene when you see an injustice. If a person with any useful quality in them doesn’t dare to intervene in an injustice, how can he ever find the courage to go to battle?”

Sun Rugong smiled lightly: “That is brute valor. Of course you intervene — but you must not act rashly. You should first assess the cause and nature of the situation before deciding whether to act. Use your head.”

Liu Shengying said: “I am still young. I should go home and tell my family, or report it to the authorities.”

Gao Shaowei looked toward Li Diudiu, who had remained silent, and waited for the boy’s answer.

Li Diudiu considered for a moment, then replied: “Intervene if you can, don’t intervene if you can’t.”

Gao Shaowei’s brow furrowed.

The other three boys all looked at Li Diudiu — contempt on every face. To them, what Li Diudiu had said was nothing more than a worthless truism.

Gao Shaowei shook his head and continued: “Second question. If I now gave each of you one tael of silver but asked you to buy something worth five taels, would you do it?”

Sun Rugong said: “If Master wishes to purchase something, why should Master need to pay at all?”

Liu Shengying said: “I would have to go home and ask my parents for more silver first.”

Zhang Xiaolin said: “Never mind five taels — even ten, and I would buy it.”

Li Diudiu shook his head: “If that is the kind of master you are, why would I need to come to this academy at all?”

Gao Shaowei’s brow furrowed further.

“Third question. In your opinion, is it more important to study literature or to train in martial arts?”

This time the three boys answered in unison: “Study literature.”

Even Zhang Xiaolin, who had trained in martial arts since childhood, did not answer otherwise.

Li Diudiu was still thinking carefully. Both his master and Zhou Huaili had told him not to speak carelessly, so he turned each question over several times before answering.

“Train in martial arts.”

Li Diudiu answered.

The three boys looked at him again. This time alongside the contempt, there was also something resembling pity. This was an academy — and yet he had said martial training was more important. Only a boy with no sense could give such a foolish answer. *To cultivate virtue and establish character; to pursue learning and govern affairs* — these were the two lines carved into the academy’s spirit wall. Great Chu was governed by civil authority: it was said that those who pursued learning ruled others, while those who pursued martial training were ruled by others. Though Chu had been founded through military conquest, that was centuries ago. The highest civil rank was first grade — even super-first grade — and appointment was accompanied by flags and fanfare. But the highest military rank a general could attain was third grade, and even a martial examination top-scorer received no rank at all — he merely reported to the Ministry of War to await assignment. Great Chu had gone several centuries without a military officer above third grade.

“If you wish to train in martial arts, why have you come to an academy?”

Gao Shaowei looked into Li Diudiu’s eyes and asked.

“My master hopes I would come.”

Li Diudiu answered honestly.

Gao Shaowei’s brow drew tighter and tighter. This child… he had taken a dislike to him. That single line — *my master hopes I would come* — made him want to send the boy out the door immediately.

But he asked one more question: “Why do you think martial training is more important?”

Li Diudiu was quiet for a moment, then answered: “Those three think literary study is more important because they have no need to train in martial arts — they travel with people to protect them. I am different. Without martial training, I have no way to protect myself. Without martial training, I have no way to protect my master. My master is already very old. Ten years ago he could carry me on his back and walk. Now he walks with a cane.”

And then he added one more thing: “Besides — studying books is too easy. Martial training is a bit harder.”

Gao Shaowei, whose expression had only just softened a fraction, immediately widened his eyes: “Reading is *easy*?! A child should not be so recklessly arrogant!”

……

……

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