When I was five, the neighborhood children were still playing in the mud, while I could already recite the "Thousand Character Classic" backward.
At ten, I had read the classics and histories cover to cover. My teacher was so astonished that he dropped his ruler. “This child is destined to become the top scholar!”
At sixteen, I sat the prefectural examination. I handed in my paper before half an incense stick had burned, and the chief examiner exclaimed “genius” three times.
On a bitter winter night, my closest friend brought me charcoal and said with a smile, “When your name appears on the imperial list, don't forget to celebrate with me.”
On the day of the palace examination, the emperor personally selected me with his brush. Yet at the far end of the palace walls, I saw my younger self, dressed in rags.
It turned out that my swift ascent to success had all been for the sake of fulfilling the vow I made beneath the waning moon beside a ruined temple... Fast-paced.
