After leaving Dumb House, Chu Yushi couldn’t help but complain several times, saying that jade wengzhong was very ominous and telling him to be cautious and careful.

But Wang Junmin paid no heed to this. Since he liked something, naturally he should like everything about it.

Whether its advantages or its flaws.

The next day’s Upper Hall examination went well for Wang Junmin. After submitting his paper, he knew he would definitely enter the Upper Hall. Chu Yushi, meanwhile, was slumped over his desk sighing and moaning, clearly lacking confidence.

Wang Junmin pondered his life plans. Entering the Imperial Academy’s Upper Hall this year, he certainly couldn’t graduate within one year, so he would definitely miss this year’s imperial examinations. Fortunately, they were now held every two years, so he could wait for the examination two years later.

While contemplating and organizing the writing materials on his desk, Wang Junmin felt someone stop in front of him. Looking up, he discovered it was Zhang Shizheng.

The latter was looking at his waist with an uncertain expression, obviously recognizing the jade wengzhong. Though they were competitors, they had never spoken. Wang Junmin didn’t know how to greet him, and Zhang Shizheng didn’t linger long either, giving him a meaningful look before turning to leave.

“Kanghou, are you alright? You didn’t perform abnormally on today’s exam, did you?” Chu Yushi came over with concern, and only after seeing his friend’s normal complexion did he relax, saying, “Good that nothing went wrong. Sigh, why were you so stubborn about taking a fancy to this jade wengzhong?”

“How did you do?” Wang Junmin knew his friend loved to nag, and if he didn’t change the subject, he would probably talk for a quarter hour without stopping.

“Hard to say.” Chu Yushi sighed, tapping his palm with his folding fan and saying dejectedly, “Forget it, if I can’t enter Upper Hall, I’ll go home to study medicine. You know I most enjoy reading medical books…”

Wang Junmin patted his shoulder, also feeling helpless. People truly each had their own destiny.

Before long, the list of candidates promoted from Inner Hall to Upper Hall was posted. Wang Junmin was indeed admitted as an Upper Hall student, while Chu Yushi’s name didn’t appear on the list.

Wang Junmin also noticed that Zhang Shizheng’s name was right next to his, showing that the academic officials rated them equally. Being able to move into Upper Hall was another step toward his plan, so Wang Junmin was naturally delighted. But separating from his good friend Chu Yushi diluted this joy somewhat.

Chu Yushi didn’t seem to care, saying his family wanted him to continue at the Imperial Academy, so his dream of studying medicine was postponed again.

Upper Hall students each had their own individual residential chambers. After changing to the crow-blue trimmed lanshan robe, Wang Junmin, free from others’ interference, studied even more diligently, gradually showing signs of leading his Upper Hall class. However, he rarely socialized within Upper Hall, so his reputation wasn’t as good as Zhang Shizheng’s.

Wang Junmin didn’t mind. In his leisure time, he was at most dragged out by Chu Yushi for tea, or went home to visit his parents and younger brothers. He didn’t even compete with Zhang Shizheng for Upper Hall Teaching Assistant, throwing himself completely into classical texts and historical records, almost forgetting himself.

More than a year passed in a flash, and soon it would be time for the biennial Upper Hall evaluation examination. The professors grading these evaluation exams were all important court ministers. As long as one performed excellently on the evaluation papers and left an impression on them, it would be tremendously helpful when taking the upcoming imperial examinations.

Everyone at the Imperial Academy tacitly understood that each Upper Hall evaluation examination held before imperial examinations was essentially a mini imperial examination. Those who achieved good rankings, barring poor performance, would definitely make the list in the imperial examinations.

Wang Junmin worked even harder, studying in his chamber until the latest hours every night. This evening, having just finished an essay, he rubbed his dry eyes and habitually used his aching right hand to caress the jade wengzhong at his waist.

This had become his unconscious action. Since the day he bought the jade wengzhong, it hadn’t left his side for even a moment. Whenever his fingers touched that lustrous, smooth jade texture, his irritable and weary mood would immediately calm and settle. It was as if no matter how late he studied, there was always someone keeping him company.

Wang Junmin closed his eyes, using his fingertips to trace the carved lines of the jade wengzhong. Such a fine jade ornament was actually slandered as bringing misfortune to its owner? In fact, since wearing the jade wengzhong, he had smoothly entered Upper Hall, his father’s official position, while not exactly promoted, was sufficient for the family’s expenses. It could be said his life was smooth sailing.

Lost in these thoughts, Wang Junmin, who hadn’t rested properly for several days, fell asleep just like that, until a piercing pain suddenly shot through his right arm.

“Ah! Cough cough!” Wang Junmin awoke from his dream with a start, only to discover in shock that he was actually in a sea of flames. The pain that had awakened him was caused by flames licking his right sleeve.

He hurriedly beat at himself everywhere, fell to the ground and rolled to extinguish the fire on his body. The pain in his right arm and the temperature as if he were in hellish lava made him clearly realize this wasn’t a dream. He tried to call out loudly, but opening his mouth only resulted in choking coughs from the thick smoke, quickly giving him a suffocating sensation.

How could this be? He had only taken a short nap – how could he wake up about to be burned alive? Could he still be dreaming?

As consciousness gradually faded, in his daze Wang Junmin vaguely felt someone desperately pulling him toward the outside, but that person’s strength was truly too small, really moving like a snail.

Who could it be? Could it be a classmate from the study chambers? But he remembered being the only one burning the midnight oil studying.

Wang Junmin’s limbs were weak and strengthless – he felt like dead weight.

He opened his mouth wanting to tell that person not to worry about him and leave first, but before he could say a word, he fell into darkness.

“Oh my, Kanghou, you must look on the bright side. The Imperial Academy’s Administrator doesn’t hold you responsible, so just focus on healing.” Chu Yushi looked with lingering fear at Wang Junmin lying in bed recuperating. Such a large fire, yet his good friend only injured his right arm – truly a narrow escape from death.

But seeing his deathly expression, Chu Yushi sighed and comforted: “Your right arm was burned, and though it didn’t damage bones or tendons, you can’t participate in the Upper Hall evaluation or next month’s imperial examination. Don’t mind it – you’re still young, there’ll be another chance in two years!”

“It’s all my fault.” Wang Junmin closed his eyes. His throat was hoarse from inhaling large amounts of smoke. He didn’t much care about missing the exams – when a person has struggled on the edge of life and death, naturally he would view other matters much more lightly.

Though the Administrator who had just come to visit him had humorously said they could finally take this opportunity to rebuild the study chambers, Wang Junmin, who had nearly caused a great disaster, still felt deeply remorseful. He unconsciously gripped the jade wengzhong placed beside his pillow.

Understanding him, Chu Yushi’s eyes turned, and he said seriously: “Actually Kanghou, I always felt there was something strange about this incident. Only you were in the study chamber at the time. If the fire was caused by the oil lamp on your desk, how could you have only injured your right arm? You would have become charcoal long ago.”

“Only me?” Wang Junmin was startled and quickly asked: “I remember someone rescued me. How is that person?”

“Ah? You mean Zhang Shizheng? He’s fine. They say when he rushed in, he found you at the study chamber entrance, only singeing some hair and robe corners.” Chu Yushi’s words were full of suspicion. “Kanghou, don’t blame me for overthinking, but there’s only one spot for top-tier Upper Hall student, and only you have the talent to compete with Zhang Shizheng. Could he have secretly harmed you? Making you injured so you can’t take the evaluation, or at least frightening you to disturb your peace of mind. Then seeing the fire was serious, he rushed in to save you? Otherwise, how could he be there so coincidentally in the middle of the night?”

At the entrance? Not beside the desk? Wang Junmin was stunned, only belatedly realizing his friend was enthusiastically engaging in conspiracy theories. He couldn’t help but gently scold: “Hefu, don’t talk nonsense. This time I owe much to Brother Zhang. After I recover, I must visit to thank him.”

Chu Yushi smiled awkwardly, his gaze falling on Wang Junmin’s left hand, exclaiming: “I know – it must be this jade wengzhong that’s made you so unlucky! Quickly throw it away!”

Wang Junmin’s left hand trembled, then he smiled unnaturally: “What nonsense are you talking? I’m tired. You should go review too – the Inner Hall examination is in these few days.”

After sending Chu Yushi away, Wang Junmin didn’t rest but looked down at the jade wengzhong in his hand.

Perhaps from rolling on the ground in the sea of flames, perhaps from getting too close to fire and being unable to withstand the high temperature, the jade wengzhong had even more cracks. Those discolorations that looked exactly like fresh blood made the jade wengzhong appear even more battered.

He truly loved this jade wengzhong, even remembering with closed eyes how many original cracks it had and where they were located. Running his fingertips over the scarred jade wengzhong, Wang Junmin still tied it back to his belt.

In this year’s Upper Hall evaluation, Zhang Shizheng received top rating.

Wang Junmin had always wanted to personally thank Zhang Shizheng for saving his life, but afraid of disturbing his studies, he waited until after the imperial examinations ended before bringing thank-you gifts to visit his chamber.

Actually, Zhang Shizheng’s chamber was diagonally across from his, but this was Wang Junmin’s first time knocking on the door. When Zhang Shizheng opened the door, Wang Junmin saw he was packing things – not the manner of temporarily returning home, but methodically placing books from shelves into boxes stack by stack.

“You’re… moving away?” Wang Junmin asked unconsciously, then recalling Zhang Shizheng’s courtesy name, he smiled: “Congratulations, Brother Buyi, you’ll surely achieve high honors on the golden list!” Such careful packing meant either he had done poorly and would no longer attend the Imperial Academy, or he had done so well he no longer needed to attend. Though Wang Junmin wasn’t good with words, he naturally wouldn’t think Zhang Shizheng had done poorly.

Joking aside, how could a top-tier Upper Hall student do poorly? Thinking that he couldn’t even participate in the examination, Wang Junmin couldn’t help but feel downcast, but still forced himself to be spirited and sincerely thanked: “That day I owe much to Brother Buyi’s rescue. I was afraid of being too bothersome these past days, so I come to express thanks today.” He then offered the thank-you gifts.

Zhang Shizheng naturally declined, saying courteously: “Saving people is duty-bound. Even if it were someone else inside, I would have rescued them too. Kanghou needn’t do this. Moreover, when I found you, you were already at the entrance – I merely lent a hand.”

“At the entrance?” Wang Junmin was stunned. Chu Yushi had mentioned this before, but he thought his friend had remembered wrong and hadn’t paid much attention.

But now the person involved mentioned it again, making Wang Junmin have to believe it. Could that person have been a hallucination he experienced in the sea of flames? The Administrator hadn’t mentioned anyone else being injured either. In such fierce flames, if someone else had rescued him, they certainly would have been burned too.

Wang Junmin suppressed his doubts and insisted that Zhang Shizheng accept the thank-you gifts.

Actually, they were both scholars, so what he gave wasn’t gold or silver, but several rare books Wang Junmin had specially sought out. Not particularly valuable in monetary terms, but things money couldn’t buy.

Zhang Shizheng couldn’t refuse and reluctantly accepted. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the jade wengzhong at Wang Junmin’s waist and sighed as if making casual conversation: “Kanghou, don’t mind my speaking out of turn. I also wore this jade wengzhong for a while out of disbelief, and truly everything went poorly. Once on the street I nearly got hit by a spooked horse cart. If that cart hadn’t tripped on a stone and fallen first, I might have had my neck trampled by that mad horse.”

Zhang Shizheng spoke while still shaken, obviously deeply frightened: “Now though you barely saved your life, you ultimately missed this imperial examination. In the past under Taizu’s reign there was one examination yearly, under Zhenzong’s reign one every two years, and later there might be one every three years or even longer.”

Wang Junmin pressed his lips tight, not knowing what to say. Just then other classmates came to visit. Zhang Shizheng had the best connections at the Imperial Academy. Wang Junmin felt unable to integrate into their circle and simply took his leave.

Returning to his own chamber, Wang Junmin touched the jade wengzhong at his waist. When his fingers touched the scars on it, Zhang Shizheng’s words flashed through his mind, unavoidably causing some melancholy. The jade wengzhong was so damaged – it probably wasn’t suitable to wear every day anymore.

Finally giving the jade wengzhong one last tender touch, Wang Junmin placed it in a lacquered box beside him, completely unaware that the originally lustrous jade wengzhong instantly dimmed…

Later, the imperial palace examination results were announced. Zhang Shizheng was promoted to first rank and granted jinshi degree, but didn’t become the top scholar.

Their senior Liu Hui claimed the top prize.

This senior, only twenty-seven this year, was also a legend at the Imperial Academy. His writing style was ornate and flowery, piling up classical allusions as fashion, pursued by the world, having become a famous scholar in the capital several years ago.

But the previous imperial examination was presided over by Ouyang Xiu as chief examiner, who deeply detested this superficial literary style and advocated plain, simple writing.

It was said that in that examination, when Ouyang Xiu reviewed essays – though names were naturally covered – he immediately recognized Liu Hui’s style and criticized it from beginning to end with his red brush.

Having failed the examination, Liu Hui resolutely resigned from the Imperial Academy, returned home to study hard, experienced the people’s hardships, and his writing gradually became mature and solid. Finally this year he was greatly praised by the palace examination supervisor Ouyang Xiu and claimed the top prize in one stroke.

Wang Junmin obtained a copy of the top scholar’s essay from others and studied it repeatedly, finding himself inferior.

Chu Yushi’s ranking in the imperial examination wasn’t ideal either, so he left the Imperial Academy to return home and study medical books.

Others thought him foolish, but Wang Junmin actually subtly envied him deep down.

Being able to find something interesting to oneself and firmly pursue it was, in a certain sense, quite remarkable.

Wang Junmin focused wholeheartedly and studied even more diligently. But this time he didn’t just read books mechanically – while reviewing, he tried to visit as many places as possible.

The “Xunzi · Confucian Effects” says: “To hear but not see, though broad, must be mistaken; to see but not know, though knowledgeable, must be deluded; to know but not act, though sincere, brings trouble.” He gradually came to understand through personal experience what those words in books meant, not just understanding them literally.