At that moment, Yun Chuhuan remained blissfully unaware that his Fifth Elder Sister had already decided to sit back and enjoy the spectacle of his failure. She was waiting to see how spectacularly he would crash and burn.
Brimming with confidence, Yun Chuhuan glanced at the branching paths ahead and casually pointed to the nearest one.
"I shall begin with medicine!"
"Very well."
Yun Shu gave a calm nod and led Yun Chuhuan straight into the medical courtyard.
"Your Highness the Crown Princess! Sixth Prince?"
One of the imperial physicians, in the midst of his work, looked up and blinked in disbelief. For a moment, he thought he had been seeing things.
He quickly set aside what he was doing and moved to bow in greeting.
Yun Shu lifted a hand to stop him.
"Imperial Physician Chen, no need for formality. This Princess merely came to take a casual look, and brought Sixth Younger Brother to try the assessment."
"His Highness is here for the test as well?"
Imperial Physician Chen was momentarily stunned. His gaze swept the courtyard, which was already packed with children seated shoulder to shoulder.
"In that case, shall this old subject prepare another seat?"
"No need."
She knew exactly what kind of questions were used in this assessment. Chairs and tables were hardly essential.
Yun Shu said offhandedly, "Just give him a copy. He can stand here and work through it."
"...Yes, understood."
Since Her Highness the Crown Princess had spoken, and His Highness the Sixth Prince had no objections, Imperial Physician Chen certainly would not create unnecessary trouble.
He quickly fetched a thin booklet and handed it over to Yun Chuhuan with the utmost respect. Then he turned away and began instructing the young, mostly illiterate children in the courtyard on how to use the booklet for the test.
"Turn to the first page in your booklet. As you can see, there are nine illustrations. Among them, eight are exactly the same. Only one differs, though the difference is extremely subtle.
Your task is to find the one that does not match, and use the quill in your hand to circle it.
On the second page, there are ten images with two that differ. On the third page, eleven images with three differences, and so on.
Please be mindful that you have only one stick of incense's time to complete this test.
When the incense burns out, whether you have finished or not, the test shall end!"
Yun Chuhuan blinked. "...What?"
Wait a moment. Since when did assessments look like this?
Why was he supposed to find the one odd leaf among a page of identical plants?
He could read and write. Did that count for nothing?
Only now did Yun Chuhuan realize he had completely misunderstood the nature of the test. He stood frozen, the booklet clutched in his hands, his expression dazed and baffled.
Seeing his thunderstruck face, Yun Shu could not help but chuckle quietly.
"What are you still standing there for? The incense has already been lit.
If you do not start now, and fail to finish in time..."
A prince, trained in the palace's upper Academy, sent to Tian Sheng Academy for an entrance assessment—if he failed and word got back, would Imperial Father not be so enraged he would fine him thousands of taels again?
The mere thought made Yun Chuhuan shiver. He quickly lowered his head and focused on the first page of nine leaves that, to him, looked absolutely identical.
Heaven help him. Even the serrated edges of those leaves looked exactly the same.
Who in the world had come up with this absurd test?
He would definitely track them down afterward to settle this score.
Within the short span of a single incense stick, Yun Chuhuan had broken into a full sweat from sheer mental exertion.
And yet, by the time the last fragment of ash fell, there were still two pages in his booklet left untouched.
He glanced up reflexively, watching as the attendants moved from child to child, collecting booklets.
He thought to himself, perhaps they would not dare to snatch his booklet right away. Maybe he could sneak in a few more answers—
But in the next instant, Yun Shu reached out and plucked the booklet cleanly from his hands.
Yun Chuhuan's eyes flew wide. "!!!"
"Let me see how many you got right."
Pretending not to notice his obvious ploy, Yun Shu flipped through the booklet with a bright, amused smile.
"First page, correct. Second page, also correct. Third page... ah, missed one. Tsk. The further you go, the worse it gets."
"That is not my fault!"
Yun Chuhuan knew well that his accuracy had dropped in the later pages. He either could not find the differences or simply gave up and guessed.
Now, hearing his Fifth Sister announce all his mistakes aloud, he flushed with shame and hurried to defend himself.
"These questions are ridiculous to begin with!
Back in the upper study, I never encountered anything this bizarre!"
"This is far from ridiculous."
Closing the booklet with a soft hum, Yun Shu gave a light laugh.
"If one wishes to study medicine, the most basic requirement is the ability to identify herbs and understand pharmacology.
But since this is merely an entrance examination, and aside from you, most of these children cannot even read, testing them on pharmacology would be futile.
So we begin with observation.
After all, many herbs look almost exactly alike. If one cannot distinguish subtle differences, then in the future, a single mistake while gathering or dispensing herbs could cost a life."
"But..."
Yun Chuhuan still wanted to argue, but no words came to mind.
He wrestled with it for a moment, then finally gave a huff and crossed his arms with exaggerated nonchalance.
"Whatever. I never cared for medicine anyway.
I am no different from those unlettered children when it comes to this field.
If my results are poor, it is perfectly understandable."
"Indeed, you are quite right. Perfectly understandable."
Yun Shu suppressed a laugh and nodded solemnly, going along with him.
"In that case, would you like to try another department?"
"Of course! Why not?"
He had just embarrassed himself in medicine. He needed to reclaim some pride from elsewhere.
But after this lesson, he would no longer choose so carelessly.
Blacksmithing, carpentry—definitely not. What if the test involved hammering or sawing?
He, a prince of the realm, could never outdo the children of commoners in such manual labor.
As for the rest...
Yun Chuhuan fell into thought, eyes scanning the directional signs one by one.
At last, his gaze lit up.
"Let us try mathematics!"
Mathematics—now that he understood!
He recalled that time when Fifth Elder Sister had performed a so-called magic trick with paper cards. She had taught him that it relied entirely on calculated steps, a matter of numbers and logic.
Back then, he had spent quite some effort figuring it out.
Surely he would not lose this round!