Claire Owen was inwardly quite unconvinced. Big Brother Turner's memory was unmatched in the capital—how could he possibly lose to this little fellow? Maybe this kid was cheating.

Thinking of this, Claire Owen smiled and said, "For a contest to be convincing, it should be best two out of three. Father, why not have a second round?"

William Owen felt a bit embarrassed and smiled as he asked John Foster, "What does elder brother think?"

John Foster also understood that the persuasiveness of this contest was lacking, since "The Spring and Autumn Annals" could be bought at any bookstore across the land.

"Let's have a second round!"

William Owen thought for a moment, then took out an essay and smiled, "This essay is a travelogue I wrote last year in Chuzhou. I only finished the first draft half a month ago, and no one has seen it yet. Each of you may browse it once, then write it out from memory."

Nathan Foster's heart skipped a beat—could it be "The Pavilion of Drunken Old Man"?

William Owen handed the manuscript first to Nathan Foster, and the first line was "All around Chuzhou are mountains..."

Nathan Foster secretly rejoiced—it really was "The Pavilion of Drunken Old Man." He hurriedly read through it once more.

But before he could look at it more closely, William Owen pulled the manuscript from his hands and passed it to Robert Turner.

Robert Turner didn't get much of an advantage either, only skimming through it briefly before the manuscript was passed to Claire Owen.

Claire Owen hadn't finished reading when her father took the manuscript away. She stomped her foot anxiously, "Father gave me the shortest time to read!"

William Owen chuckled, "You were just here for the fun anyway, so it doesn't matter whether you read it or not!"

Claire Owen pouted, unwilling to give up but having no choice, so she obediently sat down to start writing from memory.

Robert Turner wrote as fast as he could, afraid that he would forget what he had memorized in the blink of an eye.

Nathan Foster, however, hesitated. With normal memory, he could only recall about sixty percent, but he happened to know the entire essay.

Should he only write sixty percent, or write out the whole thing from memory?

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Robert Turner and saw that Robert Turner had already written quite a bit and was now pausing to think.

Nathan Foster hesitated no longer and simply wrote out the entire "Pavilion of Drunken Old Man" from memory. However, Nathan Foster learned from the previous "Spring and Autumn Annals" incident and changed a few words at the end.

After all, being too perfect would seem unrealistic.

Before long, the three handed their papers to William Owen. William Owen knew in his heart that he had given them too little time; it was impossible to remember everything, so it was just a matter of who remembered the most.

The first to be eliminated was Claire Owen; she only remembered three lines and got three characters wrong.

Claire Owen wasn't discouraged—she was just there for fun anyway. She cared more about Robert Turner; as long as Robert Turner could beat that brat, she would be happy.

Robert Turner did fairly well, recalling forty percent, though he made five mistakes.

William Owen circled the errors with his brush and gave him a half-smile. Robert Turner's face immediately turned red.

"Not bad, remembering sixty percent—better than I expected."

William Owen smiled, put down Robert Turner's paper, and picked up Nathan Foster's with great anticipation.

Just now, when reciting "The Spring and Autumn Annals," this child had performed so astonishingly that William Owen was left in shock. He wondered what surprise he would bring this time.

As soon as he picked up the paper, William Owen was stunned—these characters were simply...

William Owen looked at Nathan Foster in disbelief. Nathan Foster of course understood the surprise in his eyes, but was not annoyed and said with a grin, "Senior, there's still time to switch to a calligraphy contest!"

John Foster, however, felt a bit embarrassed and sighed, "This child is good at everything except calligraphy. I hope Uncle Turner can give him some guidance."

William Owen smiled kindly, "When I was his age, my handwriting was no good either. Honestly, there's no secret to calligraphy—just practice more. I won't comment today; let's see again in ten years."

Only then did he carefully read Nathan Foster's written "Pavilion of Drunken Old Man."

Gradually, the smile faded from William Owen's face. It was actually word for word correct. When he reached the end, he suddenly realized Nathan Foster had written the entire essay from memory. He was stunned. "Impossible!"

Although everyone praised prodigies for having photographic memory, in reality, that's an exaggeration. People who can remember everything after one reading are extremely rare. Even a gifted prodigy would need to read it at least twice.

And William Owen had only given Nathan Foster enough time for one reading at most.

He looked at Nathan Foster with a strange expression. Was this child really so amazing? To remember everything in such a short time, or...

"When did you read my essay?" William Owen blurted out.

William Owen's question was a bit absurd. His daughter Claire Owen and Robert Turner couldn't help but laugh, and even John Foster chuckled—what was wrong with Uncle Turner today?

Nathan Foster replied calmly, "Does Senior Ouyang think I had already read this essay beforehand?"

William Owen was at a loss for words. This "Pavilion of Drunken Old Man" was written only recently and had never been shown to anyone, not even his daughter. Nathan Foster, who had just arrived in the capital that very day, couldn't possibly have seen it.

But...

William Owen slowly sat down, deeply shocked in his heart. To be able to recite the entire essay after such a short time—how was that possible? He was only eight years old!

At this moment, John Foster smiled and said, "Uncle Turner, may I have a look?"

William Owen handed him the paper. John Foster stroked his beard and read it carefully, then picked up the original manuscript from the table for comparison.