“Junior student Henry Benson, greets the two esteemed doctors. I have a matter to discuss, and hope the doctors will permit it.”

Edward Clark lifted his eyelids, and David Carter also looked at Henry Benson, only to hear this well-featured youth solemnly say, “I am willing to give up my spot at the Imperial Academy!”

I will not attend this school!

……

“Huh?”

The others in the official school were stunned, all turning to look at Henry Benson. Edward Clark tapped his fan at Henry Benson and said, “Boy, are you perhaps afraid you can’t answer Dr. Carter’s question, so you’re backing out?”

Why say such harsh truths? Henry Benson felt a bit nervous inside, but only smiled faintly on the surface. Others simply thought him mature for his age, and paid no mind to Edward Clark’s “joke.”

Naturally, someone stepped in to smooth things over for Henry Benson. The magistrate of Changping County, who had old ties with the Fifth family, spoke up: “May I report to the Chief Musician, this child is intelligent and studious, knows thousands of characters, has received top marks in both the Classic of Filial Piety and the Analects, and is highly praised in his hometown.”

Edward Clark looked at Henry Benson’s attire: “Everyone else wears tall hats and Confucian robes, but you alone, boy, are dressed in simple, practical clothes. Is it to save fabric for the weavers? Or could it be that your family is too poor to send you to the capital?”

Of course, this was a joke. Years of full-time study, plus the sky-high prices in the capital—ordinary people simply couldn’t afford it. But anyone who could sit here couldn’t possibly be from a common family.

Henry Benson remained neither humble nor arrogant, replying, “Doesn’t the Chief Musician himself wear coarse hemp and a small cap, yet criticizes my attire as improper? Is this not a case of ‘the official is allowed to set fires, but the commoner may not light a lamp’?”

This remark made Edward Clark laugh. Well said! Isn’t that just how the world is?

“Junshan!”

David Carter stopped Edward Clark’s lack of decorum, frowned, and asked Henry Benson, “Boy, it is no easy feat to enter the Imperial Academy. Many strive for it in vain. Why are you unwilling to go?”

Henry Benson had been waiting for this question, and cupped his hands in reply: “It’s not that I am unwilling, but each year over a thousand enter the Imperial Academy, with each commandery sending several to dozens. Liewei Commandery sends exactly ten, one spot per county.”

“I ranked first with top marks in Changping County’s official school, and the second place is my clansman, Charles Foster. He and I grew up together and have always been close.”

Edward Clark and David Carter, both learned men, were not surprised that someone surnamed Eighth and someone surnamed Fifth were relatives, for they were originally one family. Two hundred years ago, both bore the surname Tian, descendants of King Tian Guang of Qi during the Chu-Han period.

After the Han dynasty was established, to strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches, Liu Bang relocated the Tian clan from Qi to Lingyi. According to the order of migration, eight surnames from First to Eighth were created, but ancestral rites were still held together, and intermarriage was forbidden.

However, aside from this, Henry Benson was lying through his teeth. He and Charles Foster were mere acquaintances, not friends at all.

“My elder cousin is older than me, diligent and studious, never missing a day through cold or heat, and has always excelled academically. Only during the exam did illness cause him to underperform, leaving him in second place, which is truly a pity.”

Henry Benson wore a look of deep shame: “As a friend, to take first place while he was ill is unjust; as a younger clansman, to take my elder’s spot is unfilial. How can someone unjust and unfilial enter the Imperial Academy to study the classics of the sages? Moreover, I only have a superficial grasp of the Classic of Filial Piety and the Analects, and wish to study another year to improve, so I would like to give this year’s spot to my cousin!”

Such a thing had truly never happened before. David Carter turned to look at Edward Clark, wanting to discuss it, but Edward Clark was quite casual, waving his fan: “If he doesn’t want to go, then let him be. Since his heart isn’t in it, why force him?”

Perhaps as Edward Clark sat above, fanning himself and yawning, he could see that beneath the solemn atmosphere, only Henry Benson seemed indifferent as David Carter spoke at length about the career prospects of the Imperial Academy. Edward Clark most despised those who preached virtue and morality but were actually obsessed with official rank, which is why he was often ostracized at court and, after so long, was still a lower official. Henry Benson’s character actually suited his taste.

Henry Benson truly didn’t care about studying to become an official. He couldn’t help it—the Five and Six Classics were just too dull. He had heard that unless one was exceptionally gifted, the time cost to master the Five Classics was enormous. Since the Former Han, there had been those who entered the Imperial Academy at fifteen or sixteen to study the Five Classics, only to have white hair in the end and still only master one.

“To grow old and die poring over the classics”—it’s no empty saying.

Moreover, while the Imperial Academy had expanded enrollment, the number of official posts had not. Each year, a thousand entered, but only a hundred could pass the exams to become officials—a ten-to-one ratio, with competition growing fiercer. It seems that in any era, exams are always a single-plank bridge for a thousand troops and horses.

Henry Benson had no desire to bury himself in bamboo slips and waste his time. Rather than study those old texts, he’d rather stay home and continue with his own plans—how to protect himself in the coming chaos.

When he walked out of the official school, the heat outside had already faded, and the cool autumn breeze felt very pleasant.

After today’s events, the county magistrate in charge of selecting candidates felt a bit awkward, the other nine students whispered about Henry Benson’s “unorthodox” actions, and the clerks and guards outside looked at him and laughed, thinking this kid was a fool.

But Henry Benson had his own calculations: “Not to mention that entering the Imperial Academy doesn’t guarantee an official post—even if I study my heart out for years and manage to become a minor official with no real power, like a Gentleman or a Literary Officer, so what? Would I have even a single soldier under my command?”

“If I remember correctly, the Xin dynasty is a short-lived one. Judging by the situation, it probably won’t last much longer. Rushing to become an official in the new dynasty now…”

“Isn’t that like joining the Nationalist Army in 1949!”

Chapter 2: The Name-Changing Maniac