”I’m scolding you indeed. Naughty children will only remember if you scold them.” Yan Jin squeezed out a bit of ointment and carefully applied it to the back of Yu Shu’s hand. “Your hands are meant for playing the qin and writing, not for doing these things.”

　　When Yan Jin was applying the medicine for him, her fingertips inevitably touched the skin on the back of Yu Shu’s hand. Yu Shu wasn’t ticklish, but for some reason, when Yan Jin’s fingertips brushed across the back of his hand, Yu Shu felt an uncontrollable itch spreading from the back of his hand, causing his toes to curl up involuntarily.

　　”It’s just boiling some water,” Yu Shu tried to hide his discomfort and said nonchalantly, “There are only two people in our household. If I don’t do it, who will?”

　　”I’ll do it,” Yan Jin said. “It’s not a difficult task.”

　　”You?” Yu Shu glanced at Yan Jin and sighed, “Forget it. You’re even less suited for the kitchen than I am.”

　　”Why am I not suited?” Yan Jin was a bit dissatisfied. “I’m not the kind of person who can’t tell the difference between scallions and chives.”

　　Yu Shu said slowly, “Then do you know how to pull out scallions and cut chives?”

　　Seeing Yan Jin fall into silence, Yu Shu asked again, “Do you know how to pull out Chinese cabbage? How to pull out carrots?”

　　Being questioned by the “teacher” for the first time but unable to answer with a slight frown, Yan Jin saw a hint of smugness on Yu Shu’s face, as if he was saying “I know, come ask me, come ask me”. The corners of Yan Jin’s mouth couldn’t help but curve up slightly. “You know all these?”

　　”I haven’t been asking around for nothing these past few days.” Yu Shu straightened his back even more. “Not only have I learned how to start a fire, but I’ve also learned how to cook. Tomorrow, I’ll show you my skills.”

　　”Although I’m very touched that our Yu Shu wants to wash his hands and make soup for me, shouldn’t we take it slow?” Yan Jin couldn’t help but laugh. “You just got a blister on the back of your hand. You should at least wait until your hand is fully healed before showing your skills, right?”

　　Yu Shu didn’t care. “This little injury is nothing.”

　　”Sharpening the knife doesn’t delay the wood chopping.” Seeing that Yu Shu still hadn’t given up, Yan Jin thought for a bit and said, “Such good-looking hands, if not well-maintained, will leave scars and won’t look good anymore.”

　　Seriously, Yan Jin was at it again, praising him in roundabout ways.

　　”I’m not the kind of person who cares about appearances.” Yu Shu coughed and said, “But since you’ve advised me like this, if I don’t listen to your advice, it’ll make me seem like an unreasonable person. So I’ve decided to listen to you and show my skills in a few days.”

　　Because they had decided to take the imperial exams, and neither Yan Jin nor Yu Shu were native to the State of An and knew nothing about the exams, they spent the next few days asking around about matters related to the imperial exams.

　　”I asked Ah De. Yongning County has several academies, but the best one is Qingsong Academy. Moreover, the head of Qingsong Academy used to be the imperial tutor. She’s already advanced in age and has retired to her hometown. Otherwise, she would be in the capital teaching the little princess at this time.”

　　Yu Shu: “So my personal suggestion is for you to study at Qingsong Academy, but Qingsong Academy has a high entry threshold and will have an entrance exam.”

　　”I don’t have any titles, so they will probably test my familiarity with the Four Books and Five Classics,” Yan Jin said. “I’ll go buy the Four Books and Five Classics later. The more I can memorize, the better.”

　　Thinking of Yan Jin’s memory and handwriting, Yu Shu couldn’t help but tease, “I think you’d be better off practicing your handwriting to make it look nicer.”

　　Yan Jin: “If they ask me why I haven’t taken the exams at such an age, I’ll say it’s because my family has been holding funerals for several years in a row, and I had to observe mourning, so my time was delayed.”

　　Yu Shu thought of Yan Jin’s dozen or so “family members” and twitched the corner of his mouth, skipping over this topic. “Qingsong Academy requires recommendation letters from at least three juren to attend. We don’t know a single juren, so it might be difficult to get in.”

　　Yan Jin propped her chin and pondered, “Although we don’t have recommendation letters from juren, we have the method for making white sugar.”

　　”Right, how could I forget!” Yu Shu’s eyes lit up. Before Yan Jin could even speak, he asked in rapid succession, “You dealt with that county magistrate last time. Do you think she’s trustworthy? If she is, let’s sell the recipe to her this time and have her recommend you to Qingsong Academy. When are you going to see her?”

　　”No.” Yan Jin shook her head. “This time, when we sell the white sugar recipe, we can’t take the initiative like last time. We need to let her come to us.”