"Yes," Xu Wan gave a thumbs up. "Great medical skills!"
Zong Jincheng slept until it was dark outside.
He got up from the bed, stretched, and called out with his eyes still closed, "Shunzi, I'm hungry!"
"Coming, young master! The food will be served right away!"
Zong Jincheng yawned and asked, "What time is it now?"
"It's just past 9-11 pm. The lights in the madam's courtyard have already been turned off."
"Oh, she really sleeps early," Zong Jincheng remarked as Buyan helped him wash up and prepare for his meal. He grabbed a steamed bun and took two big bites.
Once he felt less hungry, he suddenly remembered another question. "Has Zong Wenxiu gone to bed yet?"
Shunzi replied, "Not yet. Young Master Wenxiu usually stays up until after 11 pm - 1 am."
"What?" Zong Jincheng frowned. "Staying up so late and waking up so early, doesn’t he feel awful? Is he still studying?"
Shunzi answered, "Yes, ever since Young Master Wenxiu returned to the Marquis Manor, this has been his daily routine."
It had been three months since Zong Jincheng started studying with Zong Wenxiu, yet he only now thought to ask about his sleep schedule. It seemed he paid little attention to others’ lives.
Unlike his young master, Shunzi loved hearing gossip. There wasn’t a single secret or important matter in the entire Marquis Manor that he didn’t know about.
Zong Jincheng then recalled the scene he had witnessed outside the Qin Mansion’s walls that morning.
Was Qin Ye also burning the midnight oil like Zong Wenxiu?
The thought made Zong Jincheng feel uneasy, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint why.
If Xu Wan knew, she would have accurately told him, "Congratulations, kid, you’ve been caught up in the competition."
The third bun in his hand suddenly didn’t taste as good. Zong Jincheng gulped down a bowl of chicken soup, grabbed a handful of peeled lychees, and ran outside.
The candle in Zong Wenxiu’s room was nearly burnt out. A servant came in to replace it, and the dim room brightened again.
The little troublemaker stood outside his window, munching on lychees but not entering.
The window was closed, so from outside, he could only see the flickering shadow of the candle and Zong Wenxiu’s movements as he flipped through books and wrote.
Zong Jincheng spat out lychee seeds as he watched, and soon the ground was littered with them. Since the courtyard was cleaned daily, Shunzi didn’t bother to stop him.
Curious, Zong Jincheng asked, "Shunzi, how long do you think it’ll take for him to catch up to Qin Ye’s progress?"
Shunzi was stumped.
This was a tricky question to answer.
Seeing his hesitation, Zong Jincheng immediately scowled. "Just tell me the truth."
Shunzi wanted to be honest, but the truth wasn’t pleasant. "I think… Young Master Wenxiu might never catch up to Qin Ye’s progress…"
"What did you say?!" Zong Jincheng was furious and kicked Shunzi’s leg. "Why are you boosting their morale and dampening our own? Whose side are you on?"
Shunzi clutched his leg, yelping in pain, but Zong Jincheng glared at him to keep quiet. "You told me to be honest…"
Zong Jincheng raised his foot to kick him again, but seeing Shunzi instinctively protect his leg, he stopped and asked, "Why can’t he catch up? Zong Wenxiu is even two years older than Qin Ye!"
Shunzi sighed. "Studying has nothing to do with age. Some people pass the provincial exams in their teens, while others remain entry-level examinees even at eighty."
"What’s an entry-level examinee?"
"It’s the lowest rank in the imperial examination system, two levels below a provincial graduate."
"Oh… So even with all his effort, Zong Wenxiu can’t surpass Qin Ye?"
Shunzi reminded him, "Qin Ye is also working very hard."
Zong Jincheng was puzzled. "Zong Wenxiu studies to have more options in the future, but why does Qin Ye do it? Isn’t he the eldest son in his family? His father is still young and holds a decent position as a fifth-rank official."
Shunzi thought for a moment. "Maybe he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. Qin Ye was only two when his father became the top scorer in the imperial examination. He probably grew up watching his father study diligently."
"Following in his father’s footsteps…" Zong Jincheng murmured. "My father became the top scorer in both civil and military exams at fifteen. He’s much more impressive than Qin Ye’s father."
Shunzi nodded in agreement.
Zong Jincheng looked up at the sky. "It seems I’m the only one who can compete with Qin Ye for the title of top scorer."
Shunzi: "?"
Zong Jincheng continued, "This family really can’t do without me."
Shunzi: "??"
Zong Jincheng turned back. "Let’s go. It’s time to work hard for the birth of the next top scorer!"
Shunzi: "???"
Are you okay? Are you sleepwalking or something? I…
Shunzi, still in shock, hurried after him but slipped on something smooth, landing hard on his backside.
"Lychee… lychee seeds…" Shunzi didn’t make it to the next day’s cleaning.
The world had dealt him pain, but he responded with a song.
Shunzi sang a mournful tune in the manor physician’s room.
Zong Jincheng didn’t return to his room directly. Instead, he went to the main study, which he hadn’t entered in two days. Still, after studying there for three months, he knew exactly where each book was.
He picked up a book at random and started reading. Buyan helped him grind ink while Zong Jincheng focused on writing, completely unaware that Shunzi had gone to see the manor physician about his bruised backside.
The next morning, Xu Wan stood at the study door, surveying the chaos. Books were strewn everywhere, and ink stains dotted the floor, evidence of the reader’s frustration. What had made him so agitated while studying?
Buyan explained, "Young Master studied until 11 pm - 1 am and fell asleep on the small couch in the study."
Xu Wan picked up one of the books from the floor and flipped through it. The content was dense and difficult, with none of the phonetic annotations she had prepared earlier. Given Zong Jincheng’s limited vocabulary, he must have stumbled over many unfamiliar words.
No wonder he grew more frustrated as he read.
She turned to Cui Zhi and said, "Have someone annotate all the books in this room with phonetic guides. Also, bring the translated versions and number the pages of both the original and translated books so Jincheng can easily cross-reference them."
"All of them? These belong to the young marquis…" Cui Zhi hesitantly reminded her. "He never allows anyone to touch his things."
Xu Wan waved it off. "It’s just annotations. If he minds, we’ll buy him new books later."
The main study contained a comprehensive collection of books, and replicating it elsewhere would be challenging.
Cui Zhi: "…Alright then."
After all, the madam was now in charge of the Marquis Manor. Her word was law.
Xu Wan added, "Invite two of this year’s provincial graduates to tutor Jincheng."
"Provincial graduates?" Cui Zhi was surprised. "They’re qualified to hold official positions. Even the prestigious Hanlin Academy struggles to hire a few provincial graduates as tutors, and you want two… both from this year?"
Xu Wan smiled. "Ordinary people might not be able to hire them, but we can."
"How?"
"With money."
