The Red Mansion in its bustling glory

"A pure heart resides in a jade pot," a line from the poem "Sending Xin Jian Off at Furong Tower" by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Changling. The original poem reads as follows:

"Cold rain falls on the river as night descends on Wu."

At dawn, I saw off my guest, leaving the Chu Mountains lonely.

If relatives and friends in Luoyang ask about me,

A pure heart resides in a jade pot.

The poem originally meant to express that one's heart is pure and untainted. Now, it seems that Daiyu has another intention behind it.

However, Jia Jue was not certain either.

Looking at Daiyu's charming appearance and hearing her seemingly serious yet joking tone, Jia Jue suddenly felt a little hot.

"You're such a grown man, yet you're not mature at all."

He said this to himself.

"Alright, Bingxinzhai it is then." Jia Jue avoided eye contact and coughed in response.

"Okay." Daiyu looked at him, smiled and nodded, then picked up the poetry collection again and started reading.

Her nonchalant demeanor made it seem as if she had been studying all along.

Jia Jue shook his head, seemingly for some unknown reason.

The snow was still falling, and it was falling even harder.

When Baoyu had just finished breakfast, the snow was not as heavy as it was now, so he went to a banquet hosted by Feng Ziying, the son of General Shenwu.

Of course, the excuse given to Jia Mu and other elders couldn't be drinking; they invited him under the guise of a "literary gathering," and only then did Jia Mu and the others let Baoyu go.

This is also why Jia Jue, Daiyu, and everyone else in the Jia family were able to have some peace and quiet for half a day.

With snow falling so heavily, it's likely that Baoyu won't be able to return this afternoon—with snow this heavy, even driving on the road will be much more difficult.

Just as Jia Jue had predicted, Bao Yu still hadn't returned by the afternoon, much to Jia Jue's surprise that he could have a peaceful day.

Time flies by, and before we know it, spring has arrived.

There were only about ten days left before Jia Jue took the county-level examination.

As soon as spring arrived, Grandmother Jia had several rooms prepared, so that Baoyu, Daiyu, and Jia Jue could all move out and no longer live with the old lady.

In addition, Grandmother Jia assigned Jia Jue a new maid—whose appearance was naturally not bad. To be honest, she was actually a famous character from "Dream of the Red Chamber"—Qingwen.

Qingwen originally served the old lady. She had an oval face and a slender waist, as well as skillful hands, especially good at needlework. In the original novel, she was originally Baoyu's maid. There is a scene where she had a fever and mended Baoyu's burnt peacock feather cloak. Apart from her somewhat irritable personality, she could be described as "perfect".

Oh right, and she can't read.

Of course, this was considered a shortcoming in Jia Jue's mind—after all, his previous life was a "civilized" society with nine years of compulsory education, and illiteracy was extremely rare. In contrast, in the current era, there are countless illiterate people, so it is naturally not considered a shortcoming for people of this era.

Actually, Musk Moon couldn't read at first either. It was Jia Jue who taught her how to read and read little by little—which can be considered a learning method—so much so that now Musk Moon will pick up a book and read whenever she has free time.

However, he didn't have the energy to teach Qingwen right now, since the county examination was just around the corner, so he had to let Mushe take on the role of teacher.

So, when Jia Jue occasionally got tired of studying at Bingxinzhai, he would slowly stroll to his room and listen to Musk Moon teach Qingwen to read.

"Heaven and earth were dark and yellow... the universe... the primordial... wilderness..."

"You've been trying to memorize it for days and you still can't?"

"The character '玄' is misspelled again..."

It's quite rare to see someone as good-natured as Musk Moon so easily angering Qingwen.

Whenever Musk Moon was gritting her teeth, as long as she saw Jia Jue coming over, Qingwen would secretly stick her tongue out at him.

"Well, you still have the nerve to stick your tongue out!"

At this point, Musk Moon would usually say something like this, and then pounce on Qingwen, grabbing her ticklish spot under her ribs and scratching her.

"Good sister, I was wrong, please stop tickling me!" They didn't stop until they tickled Qingwen until she couldn't speak anymore.

At times like this, Jia Jue always felt he couldn't look directly at the camera.

He would think to himself, "It's not fully mature yet. If it's still like this after another two years, it'll get a bit too erotic..." Then he would condemn himself in his heart—"Jia Jue, Jia Jue, how could you be so depraved, thinking such unclean and unhealthy things?" Then, while reading, he would slap himself a few times in his mind.

As time went by, Jia Jue became increasingly reclusive.

Every day is spent reviewing, reviewing, and reviewing.

Such a mood and routine inevitably reminded him of his college entrance exam in his previous life.

Then he would shake his head—this is nothing, there's a long road ahead, at most this is just a primary school entrance exam!

Finally, the day came for his exit from the field.

As a direct descendant of the Jia family, even though Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang mostly focused on Jia Baoyu, they still gave him a few words of advice on the day before the exam.

But that was all, just a few words.

Apart from Daiyu, Tanchun, and Jia Jue's two maids, no one in the entire Jia family believed that Jia Jue could pass the county examination, because he was still too young.

Jia Zhu was considered a promising scholar in the Jia family, yet he was already seventeen when he passed the county examination and didn't achieve the title of Xiucai until he was twenty-one. How could Jia Jue, at only thirteen, possibly be so young?

Moreover, Baoyu had not yet participated in the imperial examinations and did not possess the ability to take them. How could Jia Jue possibly be ahead of him? You must know that Jia Baoyu was born with extraordinary signs, bearing a magical jade, and was a saint! You, Jia Jue, although you are Baoyu's biological brother, were not born with a jade or any other extraordinary signs such as purple aura. How could you possibly pass the imperial examinations before Baoyu?

Therefore, they didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just a matter of experiencing it.

Only Daiyu knew the true extent of Jia Jue's learning, and therefore had great confidence in him; Tanchun knew that her brother never did anything without a certainty, and since he had agreed to participate in this year's county examination, he must already be confident. Moreover, she had witnessed his talent when she accompanied Sister Lin to her second brother's courtyard a few days ago, and it was indeed exceptionally high; as for the two maids, they had unconditional trust in their master.

Even Jia Zheng, though he enrolled Jia Jue in the county examination because of Mr. Yin's words that day, did not have high expectations for the exam in his heart. He thought that Jia Jue was just a child, and even if he had some talent, he probably wouldn't be much better than his brothers.

Yes, even Jia Zheng secretly felt that Baoyu was more talented.

After all, this piece of jade is really too impressive.

Therefore, although Jia Jue was far superior to Bao Yu in his studies, Jia Zheng's favoritism towards him was only so-so—because he still held considerable expectations for Bao Yu. If Bao Yu hadn't been born with his jade pendant, he would probably be less favored by Jia Zheng than Jia Huan is now.