Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 72: Du Meng’s Sincere Effort

"Dafeng, if I remember right, that was the previous dynasty. And Shao Yuan Prefecture is just the old name for Black Mountain Prefecture!"

Lu Chang’sheng’s heart thudded hard in his chest. After searching through the histories of the prior dynasty, he finally confirmed it.

"Everything has its reason. Even if only a few of these incidents actually happened, there must be something connecting them all!"

Lu Chang’sheng pondered for a long while but finally had no choice except to give up.

Just as he was about to leave the academy, he suddenly saw Du Meng striding over with a book in his hands.

"Lu, I knew you’d still be here! Come on, help me out—how do you solve this math problem?" Du Meng’s eyes sparkled as he opened the book and pushed it in front of Lu Chang’sheng.

Lu Chang’sheng glanced down, smiled and said, "Actually, this one isn’t difficult. You just need to remove two of the conditions." With that, he took Du Meng’s brush and struck out two short portions of the question.

"Uh... but if you change the question, then isn’t it not the same problem anymore?" Du Meng looked puzzled and frustrated.

Did I misunderstand? Maybe when Lu said ’knows a little,’ he really only meant a little?

This isn’t quite like how he usually does things...

Lu Chang’sheng shook his head and replied, "This isn’t a straightforward math problem—there’s some trickery in the wording. To solve it, you need to sort out the question itself, or those two conditions will trip you up, and you’ll never find the real answer!"

Having survived countless ’trick questions’ in his past life, where even gods and ghosts could be fooled, how could Lu Chang’sheng not sense the catch here?

Seeing he didn’t seem to be lying, Du Meng took the answer, half-believing, and walked away. Before long, he was standing in front of a stone slab at the Guest House—on it was a problem identical to the one he’d just shown Lu Chang’sheng.

At this moment, several others were gathered at the slab, all deep in thought.

"This question is brutal. Where on earth did Miss Qin Wan find it? It’s just too much to ask!"

"Right? Do you think maybe Miss Qin Wan is looking for a polite way to refuse us all?"

When he heard this, Du Meng had to admit they had a point. He’d been racking his brain over this one too, like everyone else. After all, Qin Wan was the sister of last year’s Advanced Scholar, Qin Ming, who was now the right-hand man of Lord Xu Yuan. Qin Wan’s social standing had risen right along with her brother’s status.

Not to mention, she was blessed with beauty and an excellent figure—popular among all the scholars. So when word got out that Qin Wan would take a husband via a contest of wit, students flocked here whenever they had a spare moment.

Unfortunately, it was a math question, and since it wasn’t directly covered by their exam curriculum, most had only a shallow grasp of those concepts. Most could do nothing but stare and sigh.

"Alright, I’ll give it a shot. If it doesn’t work, well... maybe it’s just not Chang’sheng’s fate."

Du Meng approached and wrote his answer on the stone slab. The process would be checked only after someone verified the answer was correct.

But at the moment, Du Meng’s confidence was shot—his answer was way off from everyone else’s.

So when the others saw what he’d written, they immediately broke into laughter.

"Du Tongsheng, are you serious?"

"Yeah! We’ve all spent nearly two months on this and pretty much pinned it down to an answer somewhere between 500 and 600 coins. You wrote 50! Anyone who knows basic math would never land on that!"

"Absurd! It’s beyond ridiculous!"

······

Du Meng forced a laugh, tempted to erase his answer, but after a moment’s thought—this was Chang’sheng’s answer, after all—he decided to trust him a bit more.

He turned and, a little testily, said, "That’s the number I calculated!"

The other Child Scholars all shook their heads and chuckled, about to say more, when suddenly a maidservant came out from behind the slab. She caught sight of the answer and paused for a beat.

"Who got this answer of 50 coins?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

As soon as she spoke, the crowd went silent. Everyone looked at Du Meng, then back at the maid, suspicion and excitement on their faces.

"Me!" Du Meng’s heart skipped a beat. Could I really have guessed right? He quickly raised his hand.

The maid said, "Come with me!"

The words had barely left her mouth when a wave of dismay went through the children, watching in astonishment as Du Meng followed her away. Several stomped their feet or pounded their chests in regret.

"I knew it—there had to be something off about that answer!"

"Don’t panic, everyone. The answer might be right, but the process might not be! If we work backwards from the answer, we’ve still got a shot!"

Hope flared in their eyes.

After all, the marriage in question was to the sister of the Advanced Scholar—and a connection to someone of the Lord’s rank among the nobles was no small thing.

Anywhere else, no family of noble rank would let a daughter pick her own husband so freely.

So, to call it a once-in-a-century opportunity wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Marrying Qin Wan would save you a lifetime of struggle—how could these Child Scholars not go mad for that?

······

Lu Chang’sheng had no idea what Du Meng was up to. After leaving the academy, he wandered over to the Martial Artist Institute.

The Martial Artist Institute was a closed building, guarded at the entrance; without permission, no one could get close.

But as This Year’s Top Scholar, Lu Chang’sheng now had the proper credentials.

"Scholar Lu, are you interested in martial arts training as well?"

Passing through the gate, he saw a woman sitting on a step meant for resting.

Below her was the training ground for martial practice.

The woman was dressed in a fitted training outfit, as if she’d just finished her exercises; sweat glistened on her skin.

She looked up at Lu Chang’sheng with a hint of surprise.

Three years ago, when Lu Chang’sheng first entered Jixia Academy, she’d gone to check him out herself. Knowing he had little Martial Arts Root Bone, she was curious to see him here now.

"Yes. Keeping physically strong is important for us scholars, too. May I ask your name, miss?"

Lu Chang’sheng smiled. He remembered meeting her once—

Back when he first arrived at Jixia Academy, she’d come over with a book in her arms. Even then, he’d noted her tall, striking figure. These days, even sitting on the steps, her long legs looked even longer than they had three years before.

"Xu Zhuqing."

Xu Zhuqing said, "Your talent doesn’t lie in martial arts—training here will only distract you from where you truly excel."

"Thank you for your concern. I’ll keep that in mind," replied Lu Chang’sheng.

Xu Zhuqing nodded and stretched, her chest lifting in a graceful, impressive curve.

"One more thing—have you thought about what you’ll do next?"

Lu Chang’sheng knew she meant which faction he’d support. After a moment’s thought: "I haven’t decided yet."

Xu Zhuqing shook her head. "You’d better make up your mind soon. It’ll affect the upcoming Advanced Scholar Examination—and where you end up in the bureaucracy."

She was focused on martial arts herself—the same goal as her master—and normally stayed out of these affairs. But she hated to see talent lost to another camp, so she made an exception this time.

Clearly, she assumed Lu Chang’sheng was set on a career as an official through the imperial exams.