“But why?” Feng Wu wasn’t convinced.

Jun Linyuan’s threat was real. She had to get full marks, or her broken star piece would be…

Grand Secretary Fang grumpily jabbed Feng Wu’s forehead with a finger. “Kiddo, you’re asking for too much. Why do you need full marks? In an essay question like this, no matter how excellent your answer is, a point or two will end up being deducted. Forget about full marks.”

“Really?” Feng Wu looked crestfallen.

Grand Secretary Fang was disgruntled. “What more can full marks do for you? You’ll still get the highest score in the exam. Isn’t that enough for you?”

“But I have my reasons —” Feng Wu wailed.

“You have to get full marks?”

“Yes.”

“And what if you can’t?”

“Then I’d rather die.” Feng Wu looked like a deflated balloon.

Grand Secretary Fang was then lost in thought and didn’t speak for a while.

“Old Master, you…”

Feng Wu was about to say something, but the old man waved her off. “Off you go. You’ll see how you did when the results are published.”

After Feng Wu left, Grand Secretary Fang took the paper she just wrote to the imperial palace…

The imperial palace.

Emperor Wu had thought that he would never get to see Grand Secretary Fang again after the old man retired. However, the old man sent a message to ask for an audience today.

Emperor Wu went to greet the old man at the gate. “My dear subject, do come in.”

Come to think of it, Grand Secretary Fang used to be Emperor Wu’s teacher when the emperor was still a crown prince. Hence, Emperor Wu had always had great respect for the old man.

Grand Secretary Fang cupped his fists at Emperor Wu as soon as he entered the hall. “Your Majesty, congratulations.”

“Huh?” Emperor Wu was elated. “For what?”

“Your Majesty, congratulations on discovering another genius in our empire!” Grand Secretary Fang couldn’t suppress the excitement in his voice.

Another? Genius? Emperor Wu was delighted. “Fang, do tell me about it.”

“Your Majesty, Imperial College’s entrance exam took place today.”

“I know. I came up with the last few questions myself.”

“In that case, Your Majesty, please have a look at these answers.” Grand Secretary Fang then carefully placed Feng Wu’s paper on Emperor Wu’s table.

Exactly how talented was this person to make Grand Secretary Fang so excited?

Emperor Wu darted a suspicious look at Grand Secretary Fang, picked up the exam paper, and glanced at it. One look and he was surprised!

Such nice handwriting!

Each stroke was full and powerful and all the characters were of the same size. It was so neat that it looked better than a printed work!

“Nice handwriting!” Emperor Wu already liked the person before reading the answers.

“Of course,” said Grand Secretary Fang proudly, as if he was the one being complimented. “I taught the person myself.”

“Fang, did you take in another pupil?” Emperor Wu knew how strict Grand Secretary Fang was, and only a handful of people were talented enough for the old man to consider them.

“Pupil?” Grand Secretary Fang gave him a wry smile. “I wish I had such a pupil. Unfortunately, I’m not qualified enough.”

Even a great scholar and an experience politician like Grand Secretary Fang considered himself not good enough to be this person’s teacher? Could anyone be that talented?

Emperor Wu began to read the answers.

Everything in section one was right.

Emperor Wu couldn’t get enough of the handwriting. It was said that one could tell what a person was like from their handwriting, and this one had to be a really good-looking person.

Emperor Wu was pleased and he read on.

Section two, full marks again.

The more he read, the more pleased Emperor Wu became. “This is a great kid, so well-grounded in basic skills.”

After praising the answers, Emperor Wu turned to Grand Secretary Fang. “I can tell how prudent and tenacious this kid is. I deliberately chose an uncommon extract from an annotation, but this kid still got it right.”

Grand Secretary Fang nodded inwardly. Xiao Wu was as hardworking as she was pretty. He had never met anyone more industrious.

Emperor Wu moved on to section three.

The multiple choice questions.

“Wait a minute!”

Emperor Wu cried out in surprise. “Candidates lose marks in this section all the time. They pick the wrong option, they don’t pick all the correct options, or they leave one correct option out. But this kid!!!”

Emperor Wu looked at Grand Secretary Fang in amazement. “This kid got everything right!”

Despite so many candidates taking the exam every year, Emperor Wu didn’t think he had met many people who got full marks on the first three sections.

Grand Secretary Fang gloated and said proudly, “Your Majesty, you’re only on section three. Please read on.”

Judging by Grand Secretary Fang’s attitude, could this kid get everything right in section four as well? No way. Section four was an essay question and everyone would lose marks here.

Emperor Wu read the answer attentively, trying to find the tiniest mistake.

The question required the candidate to analyze the theory and application of the “Cracking Ground” stance, then try to make innovations to it.

The answer was so well organized and logically solid in the analysis of its theory that one couldn’t find any excuse to deduct any marks. Moreover, Emperor Wu couldn’t bring himself to deduct any when the candidate had such nice handwriting.

As for the innovation part…

Emperor Wu’s eyes widened!

Wait!

The stance could actually be improved in such a way?! Destruction before construction?

This kid was so dauntless!

But he had to admit that after her improvement, the power of “Cracking Ground” indeed…

As a mage with the earth attribute himself, Emperor Wu knew better than anyone else how brilliant this innovation was!

“This…” Emperor Wu looked at Grand Secretary Fang in disbelief. “This really came from a kid?”

“Yes, a 13-year-old kid.” Grand Secretary Fang smiled.

He was laughing inwardly at Emperor Wu’s shocked face.

Grand Secretary Fang had been equally shocked when he read the girl’s answer for the first time and had taken a while to recover. And that was exactly what Emperor Wu was going through at the moment… Grand Secretary Fang felt so pleased.

Hence, he mentioned Feng Wu’s age on purpose.

“A 13-year-old?!” Emperor Wu smacked the table. “The kid is only 13? It can’t be!”

To make improvements to “Cracking Ground” required a lot of background information, and one had to be able to see the big picture to carry it out!

“The kid really is 13. Well, almost 14.” Crossing his hands behind his back, Grand Secretary Fang raised his chin and felt ennobled.

Emperor Wu was thrilled. “She is so talented… There’s no doubt about it… This is wonderful!”

Grand Secretary Fang nodded. That was right.

Emperor Wu mumbled, “How am I supposed to take any marks away? I have no reason to!”

Grand Secretary Fang nodded again. I agree with you, Your Majesty.

Driven by his excitement, Emperor Wu moved on to the final section.

The last two questions were on auxiliary skills and candidates often performed terribly here.

After all, not everyone paid much attention to these skills, and even if they wanted to, they had to have the potential first.

However…

To Emperor Wu’s disbelief!