The day Zhu Xi returned to the capital, the whole city turned out to watch.
"Have you heard? The Prime Minister's eldest daughter is back to take the imperial exams!"
"What's a sheltered young lady doing taking the exams? She's probably here to find a husband."
"Shh! I heard the young lady is frail and strange. She spent six years recuperating in the mountains. It must have made her stupid."
The supposedly "stupid" Zhu Xi carried her book box into Linchuan County School and walked expressionlessly past the crowd of students gossiping about her.
Her childhood friend and neighbor, Dou Lin, a candidate in the military examinations, vaulted over the wall with a long spear on his shoulder and grinned at her.
"Hey, bookworm, they're insulting you. Want me to beat them up?"
"No." Zhu Xi opened her book without looking up. "Let them talk."
"Huh? You're way too easygoing."
"The county exam is coming up. Every time they insult me, I'll make a note. Once the exams are over, I'll deal with them one by one."
Dou Lin: ???
Wait, aren't you a bookworm?!
Later, this "bookworm" passed the three lowest-level imperial exams with top honors, then fought her way to the top of the palace exam rankings.
Later still, she joined the Hanlin Academy and smilingly broke apart all her father's allies at court.
Even the emperor privately asked him, "Minister Dou, isn't your top scholar wife a little too clever?"
Dou Lin glanced silently at Zhu Xi, who was beside him, sweetly and considerately pouring tea for her father.
Then he looked at the old prime minister's proud expression, as if to say, "My daughter has grown up."
He swallowed.
Father-in-law, please stop smiling.
The tea your daughter poured you might be your last.
Message: One should serve the nation and its people
