Five thousand black stone desks filled the Grand Hall of Literary Ruthlessness, the site of Stage Two of the Academy Entrance Exam.
Above the central podium hung a crimson banner reading: STAGE TWO WRITTEN TRIAL — CLAN-EXTERMINATION & REVENGE JUSTIFICATION.
Standing at the back observation gallery reserved for parents and guardians, Gu Changsheng rested his elbows on the marble balustrade alongside Empress Luo Qingxue, Grandpa Fu, Auntie Qin, and Grandpa Yao. Down in the front row of desks sat fourteen-year-old Ye Xiao and his four younger siblings.
“What kind of school gives a written essay test on how to murder your neighbors?” Auntie Qin muttered, crossing her arms over her physician’s coat. “Look at Question One on the projection screen: ‘If a waiter serves your tea two degrees too cold, calculate the optimal number of his relatives to execute.’”
“It’s a legal trap, Auntie Qin,” Gu Changsheng said, glancing down at [Dad’s Plot-Spoiler Notebook]. “Look at the inkwells on the desks.”
On the podium below stood Chief Proctor Wen, a thin, goat-bearded scholar at Rank 8 Early who wore robes embroidered with black legal runes. Two rows ahead of Ye Xiao, sixteen-year-old Long Xiaotian was smirking viciously as he pulled his hand back from the central ink-distribution trough.
