Gao Qi stood straight and proper behind Gao Qiao, his eyes fixed ahead. When he saw Gao Qiao look back, he withdrew a scroll from his sleeve, holding it with both hands as he stepped forward from the ranks.

He walked to Feng Wei’s side, bowed to Emperor Xingping, then turned to face the civil and military officials and numerous distinguished scholars who had been permitted to sit below the observation platform for a close view of the contest. Taking a deep breath, he proclaimed loudly: “This scroll was written personally by the Minister. Before unsealing, no one except the Minister knows the contents. The Minister declares that a son-in-law of the Gao family must be accomplished in both literary and martial arts—lacking either is unacceptable. Therefore, this examination will consist of three trials.”

He raised one arm high, pointing to a pavilion standing atop a mountain peak several dozen zhang away: “Everyone, please look.”

Following his gesture, the crowd raised their heads to look. Only then did they notice that at the top of the mountain pavilion, a bundle of dogwood had been tied and secured. The mountain wind blew, causing the dogwood to sway left and right atop the pavilion.

“The Minister declares that to suit today’s occasion, dogwood shall serve as the prize. The two contestants will answer questions and set off together. Whoever can first pass through the three trials and climb to the summit to pick the dogwood shall become the Minister’s son-in-law. The loser will also receive Quehu Mountain Villa as a gift from the Minister, as a token of his regard.”

Having finished his announcement, Gao Qi handed the paper scroll to Feng Wei.

The scroll was sealed with oil wax.

Given Gao Qiao’s reputation, since he had made such a public declaration, naturally no one would suspect him of secretly revealing the questions in advance to secure a suitable son-in-law.

The surroundings fell silent as magpies, with countless pairs of eyes all focused on the scroll in Feng Wei’s hands.

Feng Wei carefully unrolled it, scanned through it once, then read aloud exactly what was written on the paper.

Although there were only three questions today, a total of four checkpoints had been established—two literary and two martial.

The four checkpoints were as follows:

The first checkpoint was literary, mandatory, testing the two men’s memory. The location was right here on this observation platform. Here, Gao Qiao would present a thousand-character parallel prose piece for both men to read aloud together. After memorizing it, each would compete to recite it with their brush. Whoever could first recite it completely from memory, verified without error, could set off for the second checkpoint. If interrupted mid-recitation or if errors were made, they could look at the original text again, but would have to start over from the beginning. This trial had no time limit, but one must pass this checkpoint to continue upward and participate in the next test.

The second checkpoint was martial, also mandatory, testing archery skills. At a distance of thirty zhang, a target would be set up with a zhu coin embedded in the bullseye. Whoever could first drive their arrowhead through the exact center of the coin’s hole without damaging the coin would pass and could continue to the third checkpoint—the final trial.

For fairness, the final checkpoint offered a choice between two options. The literary test was scholarly debate, the martial test was Tiger Mountain. The two contestants could each choose according to their strengths.

Whoever could first successfully pass through the three trials and obtain that bundle of dogwood from atop the mountain pavilion would be today’s victor.

As Feng Wei read the questions, busybodies were already repeating the contents, quickly spreading them to the foot of the mountain.

Below the mountain, among the spectators, besides common folk watching for excitement, there were quite a few sons from second-tier aristocratic families, poor scholars, and military officers.

Normally these people could barely be connected by eight poles, but today they had all gathered here, though their camps were clearly distinct.

Scholar-officials on one side, humble origins on the other, with a clear divide between them like the Chu and Han rivers, with no one in the middle.

Today being the Double Ninth Festival, besides His Majesty and high court officials, the event had also attracted quite a few noble ladies who had come to observe upon hearing the news. Among them, besides Eldest Princess Qinghe and Madam Lu, there was reportedly also the Princess Consort of Yulin.

The noble ladies’ seating was naturally separated from the men’s, chosen on another level ground halfway up the mountain where curtained pavilions had been erected. The people sat inside, screened by various colored draperies. They could see out from within, but outsiders couldn’t see clearly inside. From a distance, only shadowy figures could be glimpsed moving about. But if one’s luck was good enough, when the mountain wind lifted the curtains, one might still catch a glimpse or two of what lay within.

Among these people, the frivolous young wastrels had originally been craning their necks to gaze toward where the noble ladies were seated. Suddenly hearing these four questions, they stopped looking at the women and began clamoring on both sides.

The scholar-officials’ sons were mostly cheering, while those of humble origins were shouting that the Minister’s questions were unfair, clearly favoring Lu Jianzhi. The noise became overwhelming.

Such was the scene below the mountain, and halfway up it was the same.

After Feng Wei finished reading the questions, he presented the question paper to Emperor Xingping as witness.

Lu Guang let out a long sigh of relief, unable to contain himself as his face showed slight satisfaction.

Xu Mi immediately stood up, smiling without warmth: “Jingshen, forgive me for being nitpicky, but your questions, while appearing fair, are actually biased. All three questions benefit Young Master Lu! Young Master Lu is gifted with intelligence, composing prose at age seven—everyone knows this. He is also skilled at archery, so the second martial checkpoint also suits Young Master Lu’s abilities. The final choice of scholarly debate is even more Young Master Lu’s strength. If Li Mu also chose philosophical debate, leaving aside whether he even knows what profound learning is, if his opponent deliberately makes things difficult, how could he win? If he switches to Tiger Mountain and struggles through that difficult trial, while Young Master Lu happens to encounter someone inclined to assist him in debate, wouldn’t he pass smoothly and reach the summit early? As for the first checkpoint, it seems fair, but it’s not that I don’t trust you—who can guarantee that Young Master Lu hasn’t already read the prose you’ll present?”

“Unfair! Unfair!”

Xu Mi sneered and kept shaking his head.

Lu Guang’s expression turned displeased: “What do you mean by this? Are you questioning whether Brother Gao secretly leaked the questions to Jianzhi? Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Jianzhi had previously happened to read the prose Brother Gao presents, that would be due to his usual broad learning and strong memory. Since it’s a literary test, what’s wrong with that? As for the so-called unfairness of scholarly debate, that’s even more absurd! If Li Mu luckily passes the first two checkpoints but loses at this one, he can only blame his own lack of talent. Moreover, didn’t Brother Gao set up an additional Tiger Mountain checkpoint? He can well avoid his weaknesses and play to his strengths in a final showdown with Jianzhi!”

As the two argued on the platform, the officials and scholars below also whispered among themselves in low discussion.

Gao Qiao slowly rose from his seat.

With his standing, the surroundings quieted down again.

“Does the Minister of Personnel recall that I once invited you to serve as judge together? For the prose used in the first checkpoint, please lend me your assistance. Let the Minister compose a piece on today’s Double Ninth Festival theme on the spot. Using the Minister’s impromptu composition to test these two men’s memory—what do you think?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Only then did Xu Mi smile and say: “Then I shall make a fool of myself.”

His eyes shifted again: “But for this third checkpoint, I wonder who this scholarly debate expert you’ve invited might be? If he has intentions to show favoritism, I fear Li Mu will suffer.”

Gao Qiao smiled faintly: “The renowned profound learning scholars of our time are all present here today. If both men choose to pass this checkpoint, the Lu family may select one scholar to examine Li Mu with questions, while the Minister may select one scholar to examine Jianzhi with questions. How about that?”

Xu Mi pondered for a moment.

For the first checkpoint, he could almost certainly conclude that Li Mu would definitely set off later than Lu Jianzhi.

Gao Qiao’s placing this checkpoint as the opening question seemed unintentional, but upon closer examination, it held quite intriguing implications.

Lu Jianzhi was gifted with intelligence, even renowned for photographic memory. For Li Mu to compete with Lu Jianzhi in this checkpoint, his chances were truly slim. Once Li Mu fell too far behind in the first checkpoint, he would surely become agitated. By the time he reached the second checkpoint, Lu Jianzhi would already be far ahead. Under such circumstances, no matter how exquisite his archery skills, he would be affected.

If his predictions were correct, Lu Jianzhi would definitely choose scholarly debate for the final checkpoint.

Among today’s assembled contemporary profound learning scholars, there were naturally quite a few who were on good terms with him. Even if Lu Jianzhi excelled in this field, as long as that person was eloquent and deliberately prolonged his time at this checkpoint, then even if Li Mu had fallen behind earlier, he could use this opportunity to catch up.

With his martial prowess, smoothly passing through Tiger Mountain and then competing with Lu Jianzhi for the dogwood shouldn’t be too difficult.

In other words, while such an arrangement couldn’t guarantee Li Mu’s victory, at least it could give him a chance to fight in this examination where he was clearly at a disadvantage.

Having finished his deliberation, Xu Mi reluctantly nodded.

“We’ll follow Lord Gao’s arrangements!”

As Gao Qiao returned to his seat, two gazes swept over Lu Jianzhi and Li Mu standing side by side in the center of the field.

Lu Jianzhi was handsome and spirited, graceful as a jade tree, perfectly matching the masculine appearance and bearing that everyone currently admired.

From the moment he appeared at the foot of the mountain this morning, the gazes of women along the roadside had frequently fallen upon him, and even men cast envious glances his way.

But Li Mu…

He was the complete opposite extreme.

Gao Qiao’s gaze lingered for a moment on this silent—or rather, deeply calculating to the point where he found him somewhat inscrutable and even felt a vague unease—young man.

These past days, Gao Qiao increasingly had a feeling.

Li Mu was like a sharp blade whose edge was hidden by a thick, crude scabbard. Once given the chance to be unsheathed, he would certainly test his blade with blood.

This was also the first time in his life that Gao Qiao felt he couldn’t see through a person.

Therefore, even without considering the difference in status, from the depths of his heart, he was increasingly unwilling to marry his daughter to this man.

Feng Wei stepped forward with a smile: “Young Master Lu, General Li, if you gentlemen have no objections, the examination shall begin.”

Lu Jianzhi’s expression was solemn as he bowed and agreed.

Li Mu remained expressionless, only nodding slightly.

Feng Wei then turned to Xu Mi: “Please trouble the Minister to compose the prose.”

Several young servants in green robes carried up two desk tables, placing them in the open space left in the middle of the observation platform. They set out paper, ink, brush, and inkstone, then quickly withdrew.

Although Xu Mi’s literary talent was nothing outstanding, composing a thousand-character parallel prose piece on the spot was not difficult for him.

He approached the desk, rolled up his sleeves, picked up the brush, pondered for a moment, then wielded it freely, quickly writing out a thousand-character autumn prose piece.

Feng Wei read through it once, praised its excellent literary merit, then said to Lu Jianzhi and Li Mu: “You gentlemen may begin.”

The surroundings became silent as crows, with only the sound of mountain wind passing through the forest, creating waves of pine song in their ears.

Lu Jianzhi gazed intently at that autumn prose piece, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and quickly moved to a desk equipped with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Under the surprised and admiring gazes of everyone, he picked up the brush and began reciting from memory.

Lu Guang glanced at Xu Mi across from him, saw his face looked rather unpleasant, and couldn’t help feeling pleased.

Unexpectedly, almost immediately after—practically following on his heels—Li Mu also came to another desk and began writing swiftly with his brush.

The spectators were clearly quite surprised by this, and a murmur of low discussion arose around them.

Xu Mi’s spirits lifted immediately as he stared intently at Li Mu.

Both men, with no pause whatsoever, wrote continuously in one breath, and finally almost simultaneously set down their brushes.

Feng Wei and Gao Qiao each reviewed one piece.

Feng Wei quickly announced that Lu Jianzhi’s recitation from memory was correct and accurate, granting him passage.

He displayed it to everyone. The characters on the paper flowed gracefully like swimming dragons, drawing forth a chorus of praise.

Lu Jianzhi turned and ran along the mountain path toward the archery range where the second checkpoint was set up.

Gao Qiao also quickly finished reading Li Mu’s ink-drenched handwritten piece.

The characters were craggy and forceful, penetrating through the paper, but by the aesthetic standards of contemporary calligraphy, they were far from superior.

Gao Qiao raised his gaze, his eyes falling on that figure who was quietly awaiting his approval. Suppressing a hard-to-describe emotion that welled up in his heart, he said flatly: “Li Mu may proceed to the next checkpoint.”

“Li Mu, quickly!”

Xu Mi was overjoyed, almost jumping up from his seat, constantly urging him on.

Li Mu gave Gao Qiao a slight bow, turned around, raised his head to gaze at the direction of the next checkpoint, took a breath, and hurried after him with quick steps.