Chapter 18: No Words for a Genius

Liu Fuzi’s heart was in turmoil. The other teachers, upon seeing the name, slapped their thighs and said, “Yes, it’s Shen Xiuyan. He’s the new student who came a few days ago. I remember Liu Fuzi personally took care of him.”

Everyone’s surprised gaze turned to the stunned Liu Fuzi. “Liu Fuzi, do you know this person?”

Liu Fuzi awkwardly said, “Yes… I saw his handwriting was good, so I made an exception and let him enter the academy.”

“Liu Fuzi, you have a good eye!” One of the teachers praised, then joked, “But it’s a bit hard to explain that you didn’t recognize this handwriting, considering you brought him in because of his good calligraphy.”

Liu Fuzi: “……”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed the handwriting, he had been so busy admiring a few pieces of calligraphy that he completely forgot about the person…

But if this person had such talent, why hadn’t he passed the Xiucai exam before?

No, he needed to ask him right away.

With this thought, he was about to leave but then heard the others discussing, “Now that the name is out, how will the rankings go?”

Since the name had been revealed, fairness had been compromised.

Upon hearing this, Liu Fuzi stopped in his tracks. “Everyone else can proceed with the rankings as usual. As for Shen Xiuyan, whose name was revealed, just place him lower in the rankings. One time won’t matter. I’ll talk to him about it.”

“Alright, alright.” Liu Fuzi’s sense of fairness was truly something to learn from!

After saying this, Liu Fuzi quickly left. He needed to find Shen Xiuyan and get to the bottom of this.

At this moment, Shen Xiuyan was packing up to go home when Liu Fuzi called out to him.

“Master, do you need something from me?” Shen Xiuyan respectfully bowed.

“Come with me!” Liu Fuzi called him to the side with a kind demeanor. “You’ve been in Qingcheng Academy for a while now. How do you feel about the lessons?”

Shen Xiuyan was naturally quite satisfied. “It’s been good. The lessons taught by the masters are easy to understand.”

Liu Fuzi: “……”

Easy to understand?

He looked at Shen Xiuyan, truly amazed. Even Qiu Heyu, who ranked first every time, never said such things. How could Shen Xiuyan dare to say that?

“Since that’s the case, let me test you on a few questions.” Liu Fuzi then said, “The one who is born knowing is the superior…”

Shen Xiuyan pondered for a moment before perfectly answering the question.

Liu Fuzi paused while stroking his beard, then continued, “The Master said: If you act according to profit, you’ll have many complaints…”

Shen Xiuyan continued with a flawless answer.

He asked several more questions, none of which stumped Shen Xiuyan. Liu Fuzi’s gaze toward him began to shift uneasily.

Finally, Liu Fuzi asked one question he thought was very simple, but Shen Xiuyan confidently replied, “I don’t know!”

Liu Fuzi: “……”

It felt like Shen Xiuyan was teasing him…

He had answered difficult questions on the Four Books so smoothly just now, so why couldn’t he answer this simple one?

Faced with Liu Fuzi’s questioning gaze, Shen Xiuyan grew even more confident, “Master, you’ve been teaching us the Four Books these past few days. You haven’t taught us anything else!”

“……”

Liu Fuzi was mentally exhausted.

That wasn’t even a good excuse! He didn’t believe Shen Xiuyan hadn’t learned such simple questions at Longmen Academy!

But seeing his determined expression, Liu Fuzi’s heart sank…

He really hadn’t learned it…

This child had truly been delayed…

In just a few days, he had comprehended the difficult Four Books. What else could he possibly not learn?

Longmen Academy truly deserved its reputation as the lowest-ranked academy in the county. It was an utter disgrace, wasting such a promising talent!

Fortunately, it was not too late for him to discover it now!

Poor Longmen Academy, burdened with such an unjust reputation!

Liu Fuzi, who had been calm for many years, now felt a ripple in his heart.

He was deeply moved, but his face remained indifferent. “Come with me.”

Shen Xiuyan followed him into Liu Fuzi’s room.

He rummaged through and pulled out a few books. “Take these back and read them. I’ve written some annotations on them. If you don’t understand anything, feel free to come ask me.”

“Okay!” Shen Xiuyan nodded excitedly.

This was more like it; he finally looked the part of a teacher. What he needed most right now were books with annotations!

When the results came out the next day, Shen Xiuyan successfully ranked seventh.

This made everyone at Qingcheng Academy look at him with more respect.

Even the students in Class D, who had previously looked down on him, now gathered around him in groups.

“Brother Shen, impressive skills! You actually ranked seventh, you completely stepped on the faces of the students from Classes A, B, and C.”

“Yeah, in the past, it was rare for anyone from our Class D to even make it into the top twenty. This time, thanks to Brother Shen, we shot straight to seventh place and made them stop looking down on us.”

“Exactly, Brother Shen really helped us vent years of frustration. But we’re curious—how did you study? Any tips? Teach us!”

Shen Xiuyan opened the book in front of him and gestured, “Actually, it’s quite simple. We just need to read and memorize more. While understanding the meaning, we memorize the entire book.”

The onlookers: “……”

Someone took a deep breath and quietly asked, “You can memorize the whole book?”

Shen Xiuyan nodded, “Isn’t that the most basic thing?”

That person: “……”

Tired, didn’t want to speak.

What does it mean that memorizing the whole book is the most basic thing!

It’s not possible, okay? Maybe one or two books, but definitely not more than that.

“After memorizing dozens of books, don’t you get confused?” Someone couldn’t help but ask.

Shen Xiuyan shook his head, “No, if I’ve already memorized something, how could it get confused? If it gets mixed up, it means you didn’t memorize it completely.”

Everyone: “……”

Alright, alright, let’s go.

As expected, there’s no shortcut to success—either it’s hard work or innate talent.

They had nothing more to say to a genius!