An Attempt of the Fourth Miss to Enter the Academy

When Yujia arrived at the front of Lingxin, she found that there was already quite a long line. When she ventured to the academy to find out about the exam, she forgot to ask the vendor she was talking to about when the exam would take place, so she made sure to send Hui'er out to find out about it. According to Hui'er, the exam began at the hour of Chen, so she made sure she came a little earlier than that to not miss out on anything.

Yet even though she arrived at least an hour earlier, there were already lots of people waiting at the front for enrolling their names. On estimation, she guessed that there were around thirty or so people, so the number wasn't that great. It was just a bit annoying that she was last in line, as of the moment.

The line was also moving at a very slow speed, too slow for it to be just a case of people reporting their names to someone for them to record their identity. Attempting to see what it was, Yujia stood on her toes to look over the crowd, yet found that she was too short to see that far ahead of herself.

Yujia was never a very patient person, so after around twenty minutes of more waiting, she couldn't help muttering to herself, "What's taking them so long?"

The individual who was standing in front of her, dressed in dark blue robes, seemed to hear her complaint. He turned around, and with a friendly smile, answered, "They're checking the identities of everyone who wants to take the exam and reading through the recommendation credentials. It takes a while for them to confirm that the identity tablets and recommendations are not frauds."

Yujia looked up at his face once hearing his answer, and instantly, her face paled.

This man— his face— everything about him…

… wasn't he the man she bumped into the other day after going to work on Bo Zhiyuan's commission? The man that looked so much like her old classmate, Wu Hao?

Why was he here? Was he an artist too?

She never expected to see that face again. The world was certainly a small one for her to run into him once more.

It took her a few brief seconds to catch her voice again, only echoing after him to respond to his answer. "Identity tablets? Recommendations?"

Her mind switched over to the topic of trying to get into Lingxin again. Right now was not a time for her to reminisce over old memories, but rather to gain her freedom. And thinking about identity tablets and recommendations, from what she knew and what Hui'er told her, she never knew that there was a requirement like such.

Seeing that she was confused and assuming her distraught expression as a sign that she didn't know of such a matter, the young man raised his eyebrows. "Did you not bring yours?"

Yujia shook her head. Of course she didn't; she didn't even know that such things existed!

"Ah, then how are you going to be able to take the exam?" A look of concern appeared on the young man's face. He thought for a few moments, and came up with a solution. "They're not going to let you take the exam if you don't have those items. How about you go home and bring them? You should have enough time. I'll save your spot in the line."

Yujia looked backwards, to the direction of the Yang villa. Even if she did have the time to go back and forth, she didn't have the identity tablet of Yu Ziyang or any recommendation letters. She doubted she had enough time to go forge them, and from what she heard from this young man, the academy was quite careful with making sure things weren't forged either.

"My identity tablet is at home, but I don't have any recommendations since I didn't know they were needed," Yujia responded. It was enough of a truth as it was a lie, so it was an easy enough to come up with.

"Then there's really no way for you. That's the only method I can think of that would guarantee you an entrance to the academy," the young man sighed.

"It's alright," Yujia quickly assured, "Thank you for the help, anyways."

She looked longingly at the arch. Goodbye to her dreams of entering the school, she supposed. She also looked for a few more seconds at the young man's face. Now was a good time for her to bid her leave to this man as well, and to hope that she didn't see him again. He was too distracting for the fact that he resembled Wu Hao so much.

Yujia didn't want to concern herself so much with old memories of hers when she had this new life to go through.

Clasping her hands and sticking them out to mimic the bow of a man, she bowed to the young man. "I suppose there's no reason for me to stick around here anymore. I wish you luck on your exam."

Before Yujia could turn to leave, the young man spoke back, "Wait, seeing that you are such a pursuer of art as well and that we ended up next to each other in this line, I suppose we have some level of fate as well. Could you bestow me the knowledge of your name?"

Why did he want to know her name? Yujia frowned internally. She supposed that the people in the past were all like this, believing in "fate", "destiny", and all that, but she didn't see why she should leave her name if she really didn't plan on seeing him again.

On a second thought, though, it wouldn't hurt either. It wasn't like Yujia was going to tell him her actual name, but rather the fake identity she was going to take on.

With a slight shrug, Yujia responded, "Yu Ziyang."

Upon hearing what she said, a strange look crossed the young man's face. Slowly, he repeated after her, "Yu… Ziyang?"

"Yes," Yujia agreed, not exactly sure of what was strange about her response. "Yu as in Tian Yu, the sky, Zi as in Zi Si, descendants, and Yang as in Tai Yang, the sun."

A laugh escaped from the young man. "Then, Brother Yu, you and I really are fated. I know a solution to how you can become eligible for the exam now."

"Really? How?" Yujia's eyes widened. She didn't particularly care about her previous thoughts of not wanting to talk to this man now because he resembled Wu Hao. As long as he could get her in the school, she didn't care about anything concerning who he looked like.

"I'll just use my credentials to cover yours. It'll work out that way."

Her excitement vanished from hearing that. How was that supposed to work? If the school was taking so long to review every person's credentials, then how would they allow someone to use someone else's information to cover their own?

The young man noticed her uncertainty. "It doesn't hurt to try, right? Let's just wait until it's our turn."

Yujia pursed her lips. She supposed that she could wait a little longer. Selling things at Lingxin was her best and only method to earn money as of right now. Getting to that conclusion, she gave a nod and waited in line with the young man.

It seemed like an hour had nearly passed when it was finally the turn of the young man to offer up his information. Yujia watched him carefully as he did so. She wanted to ask him his name, but she figured that she would find out about it sooner or later, so she didn't bother to.

A man around thirty or so years old was at the front, regulating the entrance process. Seeing the young man's approach, he asked directly, "Name?"

The young man reached in the pocket at his chest, pulling out a rectangular piece of carved wood with rounded corners, what Yujia presumed to be the identity tablet.

"Yu Zixu."

It took Yujia three full seconds to process the name he put out.

Yu Zixu?

Yu Zixu?

Yu? Zixu?

Her mind flashed back to all of the information she heard from Hui'er.

The Yu family had two young masters, the second young master being the Yu Ziyang she impersonated, and the first young master being…

Yu Zixu.

A horrified look crossed Yujia's face as she stared at the young man who she thought was just a simple young man a few moments ago.

How was she supposed to know that this man who resembled Wu Hao so much was actually the Yu Zixu that was the brother of the person she was pretending to be?

Yu Zixu looked over at her direction, a smile spread across his lips. Although he didn't say anything, Yujia knew exactly what he was implying.

She f***ed up.