Chapter 15. University Examinations
The speed at which Lord Jellyfish wrote was very fast.
The first section tested language. Lord Jellyfish's pen flew across the page like the wind, not even 20 minutes passed before he arrived at the final question's composition topic.
The first was a short composition, to introduce four literary works. He had the choice between The Romance of Three Kingdoms, Four Generations Under One Roof, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Ordinary World.
Lord Jellyfish hesitated for a while. He knew The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and The Romance of Three Kingdoms, but the other two works had to have been release in the past century; in that period of time, he was still in a deep sleep in the ocean. Naturally he had not seen them before.
In the rushed revision before the exams, he had read the summaries of those two works. However, even if he were to copy the summary from the textbook, it was unlikely he would get more than a few marks. He contemplated for a moment but still chose to introduce The Romance of Three Kingdoms in the end.
The Romance of Three Kingdoms: Three kingdoms, three rulers, three rulers' paths. Though their starting points were the same, their endings diverged. Liu Bei died on the battlefield; Sun Quan died of old age; and Cao Cao died of illness. Ultimately, none of them came out victorious; it was the clan of Sima which emerged as the real winner and established the Jin dynasty.
This was to say The Romance of Three Kingdoms was about how three kings towered and rose yet were so tiny, in the end they still could not avoid death. Liu, Sun and Cao; from nothing to something, and then once again from something to nothing - it was this sort of story.
Pausing, Lord Jellyfish hesitated for a moment before supplementing with another line.
The Romance of Three Kingdoms was also the tale of the three kingdoms' officials walking on the road to becoming the ruler of all under heaven. No matter how the three kingdoms' rulers tried to suppress these officials and their clans, in the end the Wang and Sima clans were the ones who took control of China. The Wang clan had even come before the Sima clan; this showed how powerful the officials were. Even if up until the Sui and Tang dynasties, the officials and rich families could only, as before, influence the Imperial Court and the officials' prominence only peaked at the end of the three kingdoms' period, the beginning of the Jin dynasty.
After he finished writing, Lord Jellyfish looked at another short composition topic. Opinions on the capital being uncivilized?
He had many opinions on that!!
Lord Jellyfish wrote with righteous indignation about the issue of the clogging of the sewers in the capital. He used the small jellyfish to send an express package but it actually took an entire night. Wasn't it just from the Bohai Sea to Huangpu River? This short of a journey, he actually needed a full 24 hours. The sewers were so freaking clogged! Protecting the environment was everyone's responsibility! Everyone should have a standard code of conduct, at the very least don't throw trash into the waters!
Lord Jellyfish wrote a lot and was very detailed. In the end, he nearly ran out of space and was forced to regretfully wrap it up.
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The final piece, the long composition!
This year's B city composition question gave two topics. The first one was 'What if you lived with the hero in your heart for a day?' and the second was 'A burning love that pierces deep into the soul.'
Lord Jellyfish directly passed over the first topic.
The hero in his heart? Sorry but there hasn't been a person that could become the hero in his heart. As for the various demons, monsters and spirits…… history was a long river of time, they all perished yet he still lived. Thus, to Lord Jellyfish, he himself was an unmatched hero!
The second topic: A burning love that pierces deep into the soul.
Lord Jellyfish blankly stared at this topic. For no reason at all, he recalled the words that girl told him before he entered the examination hall.
A lover?
Yet he had never felt this sort of emotion before, how was he supposed to write about a burning love that pierces the soul?
Lord Jellyfish tried analysing the feelings he had towards the little fox.
For a start, the little fox was a red fox, red like flames and seemed warm even just by looking, just like an underwater volcano yet also like the beams of sunlight that fell into the sea.
Secondly, the little fox was slow, yet at the same time he had that bit of quick-wittedness. He wasn't stupid at all; to describe it using internet slang, what was it? Ah, right, very meng[1]!
What about the last point? Why did he continue to remain by the little fox's side, even thought he had already chased away that bat spirit?
Was it really because the little fox was tasty? No, no, no, it should be that remaining with the little fox…… en, it was comfortable?
He wasn't as ruthless as other demons and monsters, yet he wasn't as arrogant as most humans. The little fox seemed to have had his sharp edges polished flat; he was as gentle as a rock at the bottom of the deep ocean.
Lord Jellyfish inhaled deeply, beginning to write the second topic.
A burning love that pierces the soul.
My burning love is filled with a red that makes me unable to tear my eyes away. During tranquil times, being gentle and graceful; when he explodes, he's brimming with incredible power, beautiful as to be able to shake my very soul. My deep, ardent love seems to pierce into my soul, existing since the very beginning.
Lord Jellyfish furiously wrote a whole pile of descriptions of the little fox's personality, emphasising how well the other matched with his own personality and type. At the same time, the little fox was very caring about him……
Writing to this point, Lord Jellyfish unconsciously lifted his head to look out the window. He then suddenly remembered that his seat was bordering the corridor, although he could hear what was going on in the corridor, he was unable to see the scenery outside the window.
What is the little fox like at this moment?
Was he anxiously waiting in the crowd outside?
Lord Jellyfish's mouth unconsciously twitched upwards. Just when he decided to continue writing, he heard a commotion coming from the corridor.
"I am the actual person! I'm not substituting for anyone!"
Lord Jellyfish was stunned, this voice……
At that moment, a severe voice rang out, "You're not substituting for anyone? Then let me ask you, what's the name of your math teacher? What's the name of your language teacher? Tell me their names, I'll immediately look them up!"
"Er, they're called, called……"
"What are they called?" The owner of that severe voice furiously said, "You don't even know at all! Something so important as the University Examinations, this student dared to find a substitute?! Quickly find the teacher patrolling, have them take her away!"
The girl cried and sobbed as she was forced out. Lord Jellyfish stewed in silence for a very long time.
He thought back to outside the school when the girl was frantically rifling through her bag, looking for her ID. As it turned out, the girl didn't forget to bring it, nor did she forget she had it sandwiched in a book; it was because the student didn't explain clearly when she passed her the items= =
So, she was actually a substitute= =
Then the words she spoke to him, they were all false?
Lord Jellyfish looked at the composition that he had nearly finished writing and the tip of his pen moved.
Ah, my most beloved, thank you for providing me sanctuary. In your quiet harbour, I was reminded of a mother's embrace.
My most beloved, the ocean!
Finishing the language exam, Lord Jellyfish exited the examination hall to see Hua Ji waving at him.
Lord Jellyfish slowly pushed his way towards him. Hua Ji brought Lord Jellyfish to a car parked by the side of the road; the air-conditioner in the car was turned on and it was extremely refreshing. Lord Jellyfish's mood suddenly rose.
He didn't know how but Hua Ji had somehow managed to bring along a huge box of…… seawater.
"Water from the coast, I don't know if you like it or not." Hua Ji felt a little unconfident. The water quality of the water at the coast wasn't all that. To give this sort of seawater to Lord Jellyfish to quench his thirst, could it be that he had overestimated himself and shot himself in the foot?
Lord Jellyfish submerged his hand in the cool seawater and stirred it around. His originally tranquil and indifferent appearance warmed up a lot; no matter if they were lovers or not, the little fox was really considerate of him which made him feel a comfortable feeling in his heart.
Thinking to this point, the corners of his lips jumped upwards. In an instant, the bland and ordinary appearance transformed into one that was incomparably bewitching.
Hua Ji stared until he went cross-eyed.
"Oh, this senior, it's best if you don't look at people like this!"
A handsome guy sat in the front row of the car and as he pushed up the sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, he said in a low volume, "Old Bro Fox has already become dazed from staring, if it were other demons and monsters, they probably would have become thoroughly obsessed to the point a heart's devil would be formed!"
Lord Jellyfish cast a glance at this handsome guy and said, "Snake spirit."
The Snake Bro smiled and said, "Greetings senior, your eyesight is indeed sharp. My surname is She, full name She She. I opened a rental car business in B city, if you come to B city to have fun, you can use my company's rental cars for free!"
Lord Jellyfish said, "Free?"
"That's right, I only have one request. If perchance you see any of my company's workers facing danger, just them give a hand and help them out." Snake Bro laughed and said, "After all, this year those murderous demons like to find a rental car driver. For us, it's little effort to raise a hand to help, but that could still save a life!"
Hua Ji interrupted and said, "He is a snake raised by a monk."
Lord Jellyfish understood; no wonder, the sea snakes in the ocean were all so insidious, yet against expectations, this snake was so kind. As it turns out, it was because he was brought up by a monk."
"Lord Jellyfish, how was the exams?"
Lord Jellyfish thought back to that composition topic. "……I may have gone off topic."
Lord Jellyfish thought in hindsight, the front part of the composition depicted a fox, yet the back was written into the ocean. However, the words he used to describe it all had to do with red. Nowadays, the oceans were all blue in colour, where would you find a fiery-red ocean…… sigh.
Hua Ji shrugged. "It doesn't matter, Lord Jellyfish doesn't need to worry. When we spirits and monsters attend the University Examinations, there's extra credit. The older the monsters that come down the mountain, the more extra credit they get. The highest amount of marks that can be added is a hundred marks!"
He said, "Not even talking about the fact that you lived for several billion years, you just need to mention that you saw Emperor Xuanzong[2] with your own eyes and the people above will definitely allow you to skip the examinations and enter the archaeology, history or literature fields."
Lord Jellyfish blanked out, only speaking after a long time, "I have indeed seen Emperor Xuanzong."
She She said, "Wow! Senior, you've actually seen Emperor Xuanzong!!"
"Not just Emperor Xuanzong, I've even seen Emperor Taizong[3]."
Hua Ji and She She both looked at him with starry eyes.
Hua Ji exclaimed, "Then why do you need to take the University Examinations?!"
"It's because I want to learn computer skills."
Hua Ji & She She: Oh, that's right, there weren't computers in ancient times, there was no way to get exempted……
[1] Cute. This term is adapted from the Japanese word 萌え (moe), which originally means "budding", but then refers to adoration for fictional characters by Japanese manga fans. In Chinese, this term is used to describe the childlike cuteness.
[2] Xuanzong, Wade-Giles romanization Hsüan-tsung, personal name (xingming) Li Longji, posthumous name (shi) Minghuang, (born 685, Luoyang, China—died 762, Chang'an [now Xi'an, Shaanxi province]), temple name (miaohao) of the seventh emperor of the Tang dynasty (618-907) of China, which during his reign (712-756) achieved its greatest prosperity and power.
[3] Taizong, Wade-Giles romanization T'ai-tsung, personal name (xingming) Li Shimin, (born 598, China—died 649, China), temple name (miaohao) of the second emperor(reigned 626-649) of the Tang dynasty (618-907) of China.