Ruidie awoke early in the morning. There was no activity in the manor. When she stepped into the hall to clean her face with the nearby pot of water, she found her southern dress washed and folded on the floor. After changing, she tossed aside the bedding laid over the floor and opened the terrace door.

The garden was filled with grass, yellow flowers, and red roses, which hid its unkempt nature. In the middle were a small fake mountain and clear koi pond.

Ruidie sat on one of the large stones, passing time by watching the grass. "One, two, three, four…" More than ten new bug species. Beetle. Moth. Woodlouse. Millipede. Dragonfly. Were there any buried cicadas? Where are the ants?

Her eyes traced a small smooth stone on the ground. They closed while keeping her head in the direction of the stone. All of her existing thoughts were washed away by new ones. I am a single ant. I possess a single purpose. On this stone is a single piece of bread. I need to take a single action.

A breeze passed over the garden. Ruidie opened her eyes and smiled. She grasped the stone and held it at eye level. Light brown ants crawled on its surface. There were only three, such a small number among ants. She frowned. She definitely needed to familiarize herself with the species of the capital if this was the most she could do.

The girl gave a glance at the manor. If someone didn’t want to meet her, then she didn’t want to meet them either.

…

"Little Miss."

Ruidie turned her head to find Sun Ming standing by her room. "Is that really what you’ll call me from now on?"

Sun Ming’s expression remained neutral. "I apologize for being late.”

"You don’t need to apologize." Ruidie stood up on her seat. The addition of the rock closed the height between her and Sun Ming when she stood on it. "I’m ready."

…

They rounded the Manor to the other side of the building. As Ruidie had surmised when she first entered, the manor was square in the shape with a sky well in the middle.

Upon reaching the west side, Guo Yi was seen pacing in circles until he spotted them. Without a word, he opened a door.

Ruidie entered and heard the door close behind her. No one followed her.

The room was cooled by the morning mist. None of the windows were opened but paper lanterns lit the room. It was a study. The walls were lined by shelves.

At the back of the room was a desk. A man sat behind it. His black hair fell down the back of his dark blue robe. He did not appear old, but somewhat dusty. His form was tall yet frail. His black eyes remained on the desk where two cups of tea were placed. His features were sharp and distinguished, yet neutral and emotionless. Ruidie finally realized who Sun Ming was attempting to imitate.

The girl sat down on the only cushion before the desk.

There were no words exchanged.

Ruidie decided to go first. Her head fell down as she bowed. "Hei Ruidie greets Father." She did not raise her head. She decided that she wouldn’t until she was given a response.

It was when she felt her neck strain that she finally heard her father’s voice. "The room you slept in will now be yours," Luo Yizuan said. The voice was deep in the way that the cut of a knife was deep.

"Yes."

"Search for Guo Yi for your meals or freely use the kitchen."

"Yes."

"You will board and attend Four Gates Academy for the full six years."

"Yes."

"While you are in the manor, if you travel any further than the ward, inform Guo Yi or Lo Fuzhe first."

"Yes."

"While you are in the manor, curfew will be one period before the city curfew."

"Yes."

"You may choose who you wish to marry, but I must meet them."

"Yes."

"Your surname will be registered to the city as Luo."

"No."

Silence returned to the study.

"Your surname on the registry will be Luo Ruidie," Luo Yizuan repeated.

She did not answer for a moment. "What can change this decision?"

"There is nothing that can change this decision. To study at Four Gates Academy, they will know you as Luo Ruidie."

Ruidie stood up. She gave a bow and left the study.

She continued down the hall she had never passed. At the sky well, Guo Yi was standing by a tea stand.

"Mister Guo," Ruidie said.

Guo Yi almost stumbled while standing. "Yes, Little- Miss."

"I will be traveling further than the ward." Guo Yi stood confused as Ruidie passed him.

Ruidie walked further when she began hearing voices as she turned a corner.

A man, she can only assume to be Lo Fuzhe, was in the middle of serving food onto the large oval table. Between Sun Ming, who was drinking tea on one end of the table, and Bi Tong, who sat on the other end, were three children around Ruidie’s age. Two boys and one girl, they were likely her father’s current students.

"Senior Sun, Yuwen Du is studying by moonlight again," one of the boys was in the midst of saying.

"Gao Jian you rat! You don’t know. Tell him I don’t, Ran Wen," the brown-haired boy responded.

"How would I know either?" the girl said.

"Yuwen D-" Bi Song began but stopped when she spotted Ruidie.

Ruidie saw her reprimanding expression turn to delight as she waved across the room gesturing to the seat next to her. It was an empty seat between Bi Song and the girl called Ran Wen, where an empty bowl was placed. The table was already half-filled with breakfast continually warmed by the rays of the morning sun.

The others all turn towards her, showing their intrigue.

Ruidie did not know how long she stayed in place at the corner. Yet, she shook her head and continued down the hall out of sight as Bi Tong’s expression mixed with confusion. The girl’s feet felt heavier, but It did not stop her from stepping out of the manor and into the city a moment later.

…

A girl stood before the plaque at the entrance of a brick building that made it known that the building was the Taiping Mayor’s Office. Surprisingly, the building was in the corner of the same ward she was in.

It was not busy this early into the morning, as few officials passed through the different halls.

The girl came in front of a receptionist.

"What do you need, Young Miss? If your parents have a complaint, they are going to need to come to file it themselves. I swear, I need to say this once every day," the young man said lazily.

"I have come to Taiping to take the school entrance exam, do you have direction on where it is located?"

"You mean one of the Capital Schools, right? Let me check today’s event." The young man unrolled a calendar scroll. "Here is today. There is only one entrance exam left. The Stargazing Institute’s."

"Yeah. That’s the one. I need directions."

"Just head up Phoenix Avenue and turn east in front of the Palace. Next to the Imperial Observatory is the Plum Forest. That’s where it is being held this year. I wanted to enjoy the spectacle once too, you know? But it’s not like they let spectators watch. For the Three Schools, you can at least watch the moment the scores get revealed on the board, but there’s no such thing for the Three Institutes. Anyway, they always start in the morning so you better-'' As the young man lowered the scroll from his eyes, the girl had already left.

...

On Phoenix Avenue, peddlers were pushing their stands towards their daily locations. Lone carriages headed south. Behind the walls, stood trees and temples. One particular building was a stone pagoda that Ruidie craned her neck to see the top of.

When she was finally forced to turn right at the Phoenix Gate of the Outer Palace, she realized how many others were similar to herself.

Many of the youths traveling alone wearily carried a bag. One of the groups met another group and both bowed. The only word Ruidie caught as she passed by was ‘monastery.’

"Little one," a woman’s voice said.

Ruidie was the one being spoken to. Behind her was a woman leading three girls. They were all wearing gray tunics, baggy pants, and a hood that framed their faces. Two of the three girls were two years older than her, while the other was one year older.

"Are you seeking a spot in the Stargazing Institute?"

Ruidie nodded.

"Follow us then. Everyone walks the same path, so why not travel together?"

"I’m Hei Ruidie."

"Call me Chaode, we are from Mount Tortoise Nunnery. These three young ones are Qiuli, Yonten, and Liangliang."

They are nuns! The three juniors nodded to Ruidie but did not speak so that their senior could finish.

"Are you a resident of Taiping? Where did you study the Canon?" Chaode said.

Ruidie sweatdropped. The Canon? That should be the collection of books on The Way, right? She shook her head. "I’m from Xiannan Province. A scholar who stays in our village taught me."

"Yes, many test takers should be similar. Finding the Canon one way or another and becoming enraptured by it. You also are among the younger crowd to take the exam."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Ruidie asked seriously.

Chaode’s eyes signaled to her juniors, allowing them to speak.

"It’s not. Anyone below the age of fifteen may take the test. And, there is no limit on how many years you can take the exam. An advantage can be seen, but do you know why many seniors dissuade us not to based on their experiences?" Liangliang said.

Ruidie was sure there was an obvious answer, however, her head had spun rapidly at that moment before she answered. "If they fail before they are truly prepared, it will discourage them."

"Exactly. Everyone knows," the girl called Qiuli hummed and proceeded to grab onto the arm of the youngest. "Junior Sister is taking the exam early like you. For the first time in our nunnery’s history, she entered cultivation at her age. However, our cultivation method does not suit her. We also do not have any connections to any greater schools or sects. So, we’re here. Yonten will definitely pass!"

"That is enough. We don’t know anything," Yonten, the sharp-eyed girl in question, said.

Cultivation? Ruidie couldn’t just ask the difference between someone who entered cultivation and someone who hadn’t. "How many have entered cultivation? Does it guarantee a pass?" she said instead.

"Maybe a few dozen test-takers out of the thousands have begun cultivating, but of course it doesn’t guarantee a pass," Yonten said. "Of these people, more than half do not pass in the end."

Liangliang shook her head. "Here we go again."

"Let your junior sister be humble," Chaode said.

"If hypothetically, only a hundred people pass, isn’t a one-in-two odds still significantly better than a one-in-hundred odds?" Ruidie said.

"Maybe Little Sister should have tried for the Arithmetic School instead. Odds don’t matter. The Institutes accept every student that meets their expectations. They actually prefer that more people can pass the exam, so they can grow their school," Liangliang said.

They passed the Imperial Observatory and came under the fall of pink petals. The plum blossom branches hanging over the dividing walls reminded everyone that it was spring.

The test-takers all stood in a line under the branches as spectators watched. Murmurs spread from one end of the line to the other.

"Is there still a chance that Liu Qian is here?"

"So Xiang Gen didn’t take Grand Heart’s Exam because he was aiming for Stargazing all along."

"Liu Qian already enlisted in the military. A shame he doesn’t focus on cultivating."

"Rumor has it that the Grandmaster’s last disciple has come to Zhao. Maybe. just maybe..."

"I am not ready for this."

"Are you dreaming that she’s here? Forget entering cultivation, she’s already in another realm. If she does enter the school, she might just graduate the next day."

The line shrunk until Ruidie’s group was at the entrance to the forest. At one point, Ruidie saw three animals, a dog, a cat, and a monkey, all sitting on the wall next to the entrance watching the line. The pets must have belonged to the school. The cat jumped off the wall, and the two others followed.

"Open your right palms," a male student at the entrance said. He wore the dark blue Stargazing uniform.

"Goodluck everyone," Chaode said at the side.

The three junior nuns all bowed to her, and Ruidie bow in genuine gratitude as well.

They stretched her right hand outwardly and a cinnabar mark was stamped on their palms by the senior student.

"The mark will disappear once the exam ends. The test site is the Azure Pavilion inside the Plum Forest straight south from this entrance. Understand?"

Ruidie and the three nuns nodded and stepped inside. The aroma of the blossoms covered her nose. The rustling of branches consumed her ears. The morning mist blanketed her eyes. After several steps, she was alone in the forest.