TFWYH – Chapter 453 Finding an Alternative Shortcut

Ling Yu simply led Jin Lin away like that. No one had expected things to develop this way—not even Jin Lin himself.

What he hadn’t expected even more was that Ling Yu had quietly whispered something to Tang Wan, and while he wasn’t paying attention, Tang Wan had slipped away.

By the time Jin Lin realized what had happened, he was already back at Zuixian Tower with Ling Yu.

Ling Yu told him to sit and wait for a while, then went to the desk and began writing.

Bored, Jin Lin wandered around, looking here and there. Eventually, he came to the desk and stared at the dense classical prose Ling Yu was writing.

Time passed little by little. Jin Lin grew impatient. “When exactly are you going to teach me?”

Without even lifting his head, Ling Yu replied, “What’s the rush? I’ll keep my promise. But you must also keep yours—before tomorrow, you must listen to me.”

Jin Lin choked on his anger and went back to sit and wait.

That wait lasted until dinnertime.

At last, Ling Yu set down his brush and handed him more than twenty densely written pages. “Memorize all of this before tomorrow.”

Jin Lin: ?

Jin Lin: “…Are you playing with me?”

Ling Yu sighed, placed his hard work in front of him, and finally explained, “You should know that each imperial examination is set by the examiners. But what you don’t know is that every examiner tends to favor topics within their own areas of interest. As far as I know, the chief examiner for this year’s provincial exam is Grand Tutor Yi. He values civil governance over military affairs and focuses on selecting talent for the court. So the questions he sets often concern matters of livelihood and statecraft.

“Recently, disasters have just passed. South of Weng City, places like Xiangxi Town and Wutong Town are still struggling—people are living in hardship. So Grand Tutor Yi is very likely to set questions about how to quickly restore livelihoods or stabilize the populace.”

At this point, Ling Yu pushed the stack of papers toward him again. “These are all model answers I’ve written for such topics. Memorize them all. Passing this time will be effortless.”

Jin Lin listened in a daze. The way he looked at Ling Yu gradually changed.

After he became wealthy, he had hired many tutors. But each of them simply crammed the Six Arts and various classics into his head.

No one had ever taken such an ‘alternative shortcut’ approach like Ling Yu.

If Tang Wan were here, she would surely have said: isn’t this just what modern students call predicting exam questions?

An exam is called an exam precisely because you don’t know what will be tested—you can only study everything to be prepared.

Key points, frequently tested topics, past exam questions—modern students drill these constantly.

But in ancient times, most scholars simply studied books rigidly and mechanically.

Otherwise, why would so many candidates fail year after year?

But… a top student is a top student. No matter the era, it’s the same.

The brain of a genius simply works differently.

For example, when an average student memorizes vocabulary, they memorize word by word.

A top student memorizes only the commonly used words; the rest, as long as they can recognize, read, and understand them, that’s enough.

Ling Yu was undoubtedly a genius among geniuses. He knew to first find out who the chief examiner was, then study according to that person’s preferences.

At this moment, Jin Lin truly began to see Ling Yu in a new light.

After a moment of silence, Jin Lin finally asked, “Who exactly are you?”

Ling Yu smiled faintly. “My humble surname is Ling, given name Yu.”

Jin Lin’s face filled with shock. The way he looked at Ling Yu instantly became one of astonished curiosity. “You’re Ling Yu? That Ling Yu—the top scholar who achieved the ‘Little Triple First’?”