"Who made it?" Zhu Cici asked curiously.
"Well..." Just as Xia Wei was about to answer, a sly glint flashed in her eyes. "I'm not telling you yet. You'll find out soon enough anyway."
"You little brat, leaving a story halfway—you're asking to lose your tongue!" Zhu Cici reached out to tickle the girl under her arms.
"Ahahaha, stop, stop! I won't say it, I just won't!"
Seizing an opportunity, Xia Wei escaped from Zhu Cici's "clutches" and ran toward the academy.
"Brat, don't let me catch you!" Zhu Cici laughed as she chased after her.
The two girls playfully ran toward the academy, their laughter echoing in the air.
As Zhu Cici neared the study hall, she quickly dropped her lively demeanor.
With hands neatly folded in front, she became poised and graceful, exuding an air of elegance befitting the scholarly atmosphere.
Before the hall, under a willow tree by the inkwell, sat the renowned scholar Wang, an elder of Bailu Academy.
Before him were a dozen students, all princes and nobles from the various royal courts of the world.
Elder Wang was responsible for teaching these elite scions.
Though Zhu Cici was the personal disciple of Bailu Academy's headmaster, she never let her status exempt her from attending such lessons.
In fact, Zhu Cici greatly enjoyed listening to lectures from different teachers.
Each teacher had their own unique interpretations of Confucian classics, and Zhu Cici believed that by gathering diverse perspectives, she could deepen her understanding. Every lesson brought her new insights.
The young princes and noble heirs by the inkwell brightened upon seeing Zhu Cici.
"Girls truly change as they grow," they thought.
Every time they went a few days without seeing her, Zhu Cici seemed even more stunning, her figure even more graceful.
"Teacher."
Zhu Cici and Xia Wei walked to the willow tree and respectfully bowed to Elder Wang.
"Hmm," Elder Wang nodded. "Find a spot on the grass to sit. The weather is lovely today, so we'll have our lesson here instead of in the hall—it's too stuffy inside."
"Yes, Teacher."
Zhu Cici and Xia Wei found a place to sit.
With great tact, Xia Wei positioned herself between Zhu Cici and a nearby prince, subtly shielding her dearest friend.
"Today was supposed to be a day off," Elder Wang began, "but I recently came across an excellent piece of writing. I couldn't resist calling you all here for an additional lecture. I hope you won't mind."
"You're too kind, Teacher," the group responded quickly.
Elder Wang was the head scholar of Bailu Academy, a figure of immense stature.
The only reason he was teaching this group of young nobles was sheer coincidence—it happened to be his turn to instruct worldly royals, and they were fortunate enough to be in his class.
Many people would give anything to hear him lecture, and now that he was offering extra lessons, how could anyone complain?
Although, truth be told, a few of them weren't exactly thrilled about the extra class.
"May I ask, Teacher, what masterpiece inspired such joy in you?" The eldest prince of Qi, seated at the front, eagerly asked, trying to make his presence known.
The others also looked at Elder Wang with curiosity.
What kind of writing could excite him so much that he couldn't wait to share it?
"Hahaha," Elder Wang chuckled, stroking his beard. "To be precise, it's a memorial to the throne, written by a minister of the Wu Kingdom for their emperor."
"A memorial?" The group grew even more intrigued.
Memorials from ministers to rulers were rare to begin with, and even fewer had been preserved as timeless classics. To this day, only a handful had achieved such status.
"Hmm." Elder Wang nodded slightly. "This person should be no stranger to all of you, as one of his poems is far too famous."
His gaze swept across the crowd, pausing briefly on Zhu Cici. "This person is none other than the current top scholar of the Wu Kingdom—Xu Ming. The article in question is a memorial he wrote to the emperor, titled Memorial of Rejection of Marriage."
"Xu Ming?"
"Xu Ming became the top scholar?"
"How old is Xu Ming?"
"Wait! Wasn't Xu Ming already the provincial examination champion before?"
"Did Xu Ming actually achieve the rare feat of being the provincial, metropolitan, and palace examination champion all at once?"
"I heard Xu Ming joined the Blood Asura Battalion. When did he have time to study?"
"Don't tell me the Wu Kingdom's scholars are so mediocre that even someone like Xu Ming, after wasting four years in the Blood Asura Battalion, could become the top scholar?"
The crowd erupted into discussion.
It wasn't that they looked down on Xu Ming. Rather, they looked down on the scholars of the Wu Kingdom.
For someone like Xu Ming, who had supposedly neglected his studies for years, to become the top scholar—it seemed the Wu Kingdom's intellectuals must indeed be lacking.
Still, every so often, a genius seemed to emerge from the Wu Kingdom.
Right now, it was Xu Ming.
Before him, it had been Xiao Mochi.
On the other hand, Zhu Cici was momentarily stunned upon hearing that Xu Ming had written a widely celebrated piece. She thought she had misheard.
Sitting beside her, Xia Wei gently poked Zhu Cici's waist and covered her mouth with her hand, whispering, "Cici, now you know who it is, right? Turns out it's your special someone! And he's written yet another masterpiece!"
Zhu Cici's delicate, fair cheeks flushed with a tinge of red. Embarrassed, she swatted Xia Wei's mischievous hand away. "Don't talk nonsense."
Xia Wei grinned even more. "What? He's not your special someone?"
"You keep talking, and I'll—" Zhu Cici's voice faltered as her embarrassment deepened.
Still, deep down, a ripple of joy spread through her like a bubbling stream. To have written something even Elder Wang praised so highly—what an achievement!
But then, Zhu Cici quickly caught onto something—Memorial of Rejection of Marriage?
"Rejection of marriage?"
She unconsciously clenched her delicate fists under her sleeves, her soft lips tightening.
Could it be that Xu Ming had been betrothed to someone?
The same thought occurred to the rest of the group, who, after their initial surprise, started piecing it together.
A memorial of rejection? That meant there had to have been a betrothal in the first place.
Xu Ming rejected a marriage? Whose marriage did he reject?
Noticing their curiosity, Elder Wang smiled and began to explain the context behind the article.
"Not long ago, Xu Ming participated in the Wu Kingdom's metropolitan examination, emerging as the metropolitan examination champion. He then achieved first place in the palace examination, becoming the youngest triple champion in Wu Kingdom's history.
In light of his accomplishments, the Wu Emperor decided to betroth his only daughter, Princess Zhaowen, to Xu Ming.
This memorial is Xu Ming's response to that decree.
Take a look for yourselves."
With a wave of Elder Wang's hand, sheets of paper filled with elegant calligraphy floated into everyone's laps.
Curious, the group immediately began reading.
The very first sentence left most of them dumbfounded.
"Your servant Xu Ming respectfully submits: Humbly receiving your imperial decree to wed me to Princess Zhaowen, such an honor exceeds my station and surpasses any conceivable grace bestowed by the throne..."
At first, they assumed he had rejected the marriage proposal of some noble or princely family's daughter.
But no—he had rejected a royal marriage to the princess of the Wu Kingdom?
If memory served, the Wu Kingdom only had one princess.
How could he dare to do this?