The grubby piece of parchment slipped from Yan Zheyun's listless fingers and back onto the mahogany top of his study desk. He allowed himself a moment of weakness as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose and remind himself for the nth time that if he could drag Lixin kicking and screaming through high school physics, he could conquer anything.
But…
His eyes drifted back to the black splotchy writing that was sloppy even for a ten-year-old, let alone one that had been raised rigorously as a prince and apparently the secret heir apparent. Looking back at copies of Liu An's previous work, which, while containing the immature views of a young child was at least done conscientiously, this was a serious setback.
(1) In certain dynasties, it was the rule that those who were ugly, disabled or behaved without decorum (for example, needing to go to the bathroom for a number 2 during the imperial examination) were not allowed to be officials or ministers. They might not be banned from the examinations per se but a mark would be left on their script indicating some form of problem and they would just not get selected for the ranking list.
A/N: Thank you very much for reading, the gifts, comments, golden tickets and power stones! <3 These couple of chapters have been longer than usual and this one today comparatively lighthearted, so I hope that has been some reprieve from the heavy stuff. We're soon heading towards a big important occasion for Yan Zheyun!