Part 1
"This year's students are all good," commented senior education officer Lord Sheng looking at the admissions essays to this year's civil governance examination. "Especially these three,"
Lord Sheng handed the three essays to Lord Ghou who took the essays from his peer. Lord Ghou glanced at each essay and his eyebrows rose in surprise. These were the only essays doubled marked by the headmasters of two renowned schools of thought, Confucius School and Tsu Zhu School. The Confucius headmaster marked the first part which was on wisdom and theory and the other headmaster from Tsu Zhu marked the last part which was on practicality and contingency.
"Hmmm," nodded Lord Ghou in agreement.
The three essays had controversial yet effective solution to improvise the delivery of letters in the eight provinces within a day. The three students came from three different provinces and had three different backgrounds. Two were aristocrats; one was not so rich but came from a strong military clan and the other was rich in terms of resources but he was an illegitimate son. The third one was a son of a wealthy, titled merchant.
The only thing they had in common was that the three students came from the same school of thought. The three students came from the Red, Yellow and Brown provinces. Their names were Kou Reishiin, Ko Houjo and Tei Yushun. Lord Ghou had their profiles when their school sent their profiles attached with their essays. It would be interesting to see them in person when they came for their finals. The final examination had been decided by the emperor.
The candidates had to act as a junior officer in a mock imperial governmental office with three real officers. But they would only know about it when they assembled in the main hall of the education ministry. The judges would be the emperor, headmasters from the Confucius School and Tsu Zhu School and two senior ministers. The bell rang indicating the time was ripe. The students would soon fill the hall. He stood up and walked out of the room with Lord Sheng.
Along the court yard there were plum blossom trees. At one of the trees was a beautiful lad of perhaps sixteen or seventeen standing under the tree fanning himself with his hands just like a girl and was looking above him. Lord Sheng happened to turn to the left and caught sight of the beautiful boy. The boy's gestures made him look at the boy's line of vision. He was taken aback by another beautiful face belonging to a boy of the same age as the first boy.
The second lad was sitting on a sturdy branch with his back against the tree. He was sleeping. His long, silky black hair covering half of his face made him look sensual. Lord Sheng gulped, these boys were beautiful especially the one sleeping on the sturdy branch of the tree. He continued to walk, looking entranced. He walked straight into a pillar, hitting his head hard on the stone pillar. Due to the impact, Lord Sheng passed out.
Lord Ghou stopped in his tracks and turned back to find his peer lying on the floor, fainted. "Sheng," He called out in shock.
Lord Ghou rushed over and knelt beside Lord Sheng's limp body. He frowned because his peer wasn't the type to walk into pillars. For all of his years working with Lord Sheng, he had not seen Lord Sheng wearing glasses. Lord Sheng wasn't the clumsy type either. So what had made him lose track of his senses? He glanced up and turned his head right and left to see whether there was a guard patrolling the area. But there were none.
How could it be possible that there were no guards at this time of day? They couldn't all be located at the hall where the final candidates were. There should be a change of guards an hour ago. Where were the four guards? It was important to protect the room that they had just left. Then he spotted two guards lying on the ground, unconscious. What was happening? Was there an invasion? He rushed to the guards. One of the unconscious guards nose was bleeding.
He inspected them and found that they weren't attacked. He was perplexed, there was not a single bruise on them but they had fainted. He checked their bodies for signs of tranquilizers. There were none. He frowned, what was going on? He turned around and found another two guards with the same symptom but these two had a silly smile on their faces. Damn! This was an invasion after all. He had to go back to the room where they had placed important imperial materials.
Lord Ghou walked briskly, passing his unconscious comrade by. He looked to his right only to spot two boys of seventeen years. One was fanning himself with his hands. The other was sleeping on the sturdy branch of the tree. He found himself staring at the beckoning vision of two beautiful boys. What were they doing here? This was intolerable. But, how could they be so beautiful? It was unearthly and surreal. The beautiful boy, who was fanning himself with his hand, glanced at the officers' way.
He stopped fanning himself and used his hands to wave at Lord Ghou. He looked at Lord Ghou who just stood there mesmerized when the second beautiful boy jumped from the tree's branch and landed on his feet with cat-like grace. It was an enchanting scene. The second beautiful boy looked up. Lord Ghou felt his breath hitch. The second boy's face was like an angel. Lord Ghou's mouth opened, drool dripped. The boys walked towards them and bowed politely.
"We're sorry to have had trespassed this area, sir," The first beautiful boy, hid his wicked smile with his hand.
Ghou still looked dazed and hadn't come to his senses. The second beautiful boy snapped his fingers at Ghou. The officer blinked as if snapped out of a trance.
"The guards here are incompetent," the second beautiful boy retorted. "They're sleeping on their jobs."
"Huh?"
"What my friend here is implying is that this place lacked security," the first beautiful boy said, "Anyone can break into and steal important things, you know."
"It's clear why the country is falling apart would be thanks to lame creatures like this working for the imperial government," the second beautiful boy snapped.
Lord Ghou's mouth opened and closed like a gold fish. His face was red from embarrassment, and to feel his heart beating fast like a young girl's on her first date.
The first boy smiled wickedly, "Now, now, Kijin, we mustn't anger someone elder to us."
The second boy sighed, "He doesn't look like he's angry," and glanced at the crumpled body of Lord Sheng, "I'll help carry him to the infirmary. Shin, you carry the one with the nosebleed."
The first beautiful boy made a face, "I think I'll carry this one for you," He pointed at Lord Sheng.
The second boy grunted then shifted his attention to Lord Ghou, "The infirmary, where is it?"
Lord Ghou gulped and wiped his saliva from the corner of his mouth. The boy was so near him. He had flawless, fair skin.
"Well?" asked the second boy.
"It… it… it…," was all Ghou could manage to say.
"Looks like he's out of commission as well," The first boy said, "We can't help them all. It's best to leave them as they are. Come Kijin, Yu-kun's waiting for us."
The boys left Lord Ghou staring and drooling after them, lost for words and reality as he began to wonder of his gender preferences and age preferences. This was indeed an invasion. It was an invasion of the senses. One could say he was struck by the powerful element called amore. At the entrance of the main hall of the ministry of education, the boys were the last to arrive. The second boy had his head hung slightly which had his long hair covering half his face.
Heads turned as they walked in. There were whispers from the other final candidates. Looks of envy and resentment shone in their eyes and faces as the beautiful boys walked on. They were joined by another boy. This boy wasn't as beautiful as they were but he was endearing in his own simplistic way. He had a very kind face, warm eyes and a dimple on his right cheek that gave him a delightful smile. But right now the third boy wasn't smiling. He looked worried.
"Where have you two been?" The third boy's hands rose to the air in exasperation, "You were nearly disqualified."
"We got lost, Yu," the first boy said, putting his forefinger on his lips while smiling.
"As if I'd believe you," the third boy said then he looked at the second boy.
"I was tired and wanted some peace," the second boy said while shrugging nonchalantly, "so I climbed a tree to sleep."
"He's like a cat, prefers to sleep on tree branches, rooftops and anything that's high. And I had to cajole him to come down," the first boy said.
"You followed just to irritate me," the second boy sighed.
"What if you fell from that tree branch," the first boy grabbed the second boy's face with both his hands. "I don't think I can take it."
The other student candidates stared at the two in shock and they were also enthralled by the 'more-than-brotherly' relationship the beautiful boys had. Were they in that kind of relationship? They whispered amongst themselves. It was scandalous and sinful but damned sensationally sensual. Four candidates had terrible nosebleeds at the sight of the beautiful boy wearing a strip of red leather binding his hair on his nape as he held the second boy's face.
His face was sad yet beautiful. The red color strip indicated which clan he hailed from. He was from the Kou clan of the Red province. The four candidates with nosebleeds were rushed into the infirmary by their mates. The second boy brushed off the first boy's hands and looked away. His luxuriant long black hair moved exposing his beautiful face. He looked at the candidates who were glancing his way. There were more gasps from the student candidates present who were near them.
The third boy scratched his head, "I'm gonna have gray hairs because of you two," then he rubbed his nape in frustration.
"Then take a lot of Shou Wu. It's good for hair growth and helps reduce gray hairs." The first boy recommended the item with great assurance.
"What're you looking at?" snapped the second boy, he glared at the candidates.
The candidates who got a full glimpse of the second boy froze with a smitten look plastered on their faces as they keeled over. Even angered, the second boy looked beautiful. The third boy quickly pulled the second boy away before more candidates were affected by his gorgeousness. The first boy followed them.
"Don't go picking fights, Kijin," the first boy reprimanded the second boy, "You won't get another chance to prove yourself to your father if you got yourself disqualified."
The third boy nodded his head fervently, "I totally agree with Shin-chi."
The second boy clenched his hands into tight fists and closed his eyes tightly. Yu-kun was right. He mustn't lose his cool over moronic gazes just because of how he looked. An illegitimate son had little to no rights compared to a son from a legal wife. He had his share of brunt from his father's family and townspeople because of his looks, lineage and bearing. The reason he entered this imperial examination was to get out of yellow province and lead his own life in service to the nation.
Meanwhile, the education officers in charge were perturbed by the incident. The officers were investigating the source of the trouble. Seven candidates were disqualified because they suddenly lost their senses. Four had excessive nosebleeds. They might be able to proceed with the exam would depend on how fast they recovered.
"What on earth is wrong with these fellows?" the junior education officer stared at the smitten look of one of the candidates.
"Is it an epidemic?" enquired another education officer in charge.
"But there's no declaration of it from the health ministry," said the other officer.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…" the headmaster from Tsu Zhu shook his head, "you call yourselves scholars." He stroked his long white beard with his left hand. "Not everything out of the ordinary is caused by diseases."
"This is kind of extraordinariness is rare," the headmaster from Confucius chipped in.
"A rarity called euphoric erotica," commented the headmaster from Tsu Zhu, pointing at the boy with long, silky black hair, "He's the cause of it."
"Well, I see, that there's another," the headmaster from Confucius school gazed at one boy with the red strip, "but, yes," he nodded shifting his gaze at the boy with long, silky black hair, "He's more potent than the other one."
"What's wrong with them to become incapacitated like this, headmasters?" enquired the education officer in charge.
"Nothing's wrong, it's a matter of luck and luck isn't with these poor fellows." The Confucius headmaster replied gesturing at the unconscious candidates with nosebleeds.
"They've been enchanted," remarked the Tsu Zhu headmaster. "A divine face can be a curse and a blessing."
"To the beholder and the one possessing it," continued the Confucius headmaster.
"What are we going to do?" asked the education officer, "We definitely can't proceed with this exam. We'll have to postpone it to some other day."
As it was, one of them had to withdraw upon seeing the second beautiful boy's face, the poor fellow was saying delirious things. Even a few of the education officers were not spared from the boy's attractiveness. Nearly three quarter of the candidates were taken off from the examination hall not because they were physically sick, but they were struck by the ethereal beauty of the one with the long, silky black hair.
"That's ridiculous," countered a firm voice from behind them, "Continue as planned. How could something trivial as that boy's divine good looks stop the procession of an exam?"
They, the education officers in charge, and the two headmasters turned to the right at the sound and were shocked to discover that the emperor was there while they were busy with the problem at hand. They had not noticed the emergence of the father of the nation with his closest royal advisors, General Yang Zhi of the Dragon Battalion and Senior Treasury Minister Li Zhou of the green province.
"Your Majesty!" said the senior education officer in charge, Jian Fu.
They immediately bowed in respect at his presence.
"This could be a lesson, for future reference to improvise certain knowledge, called emotional wisdom. If your emotions are weaker than your immune system than the result is apparent as you can all see," said the emperor.
"But how are we to conduct the exam when half of our staff is indisposed at the moment because of that boy," said Jian Fu.
"There're only three candidates left," Headmaster Tsu Zhu said, "There're no problems doing the mock presentation."
"Why don't we change it a bit?" General Yang Zhi intervened, "Let's not stick to office but other environments or situations since its imperative that the three should be of service to the nation. We can see how they perform from the situations given to them. They shouldn't be bogged down in office. There're other problems in the outside world for them to overcome so this mock will have to be wider. There are only three of them so the duration could be longer."
"Hmmm," Lord Li Zhou raised a forefinger, "interesting. But I don't think a longer duration would suffice the purpose of solving a problem. The longer it takes to solve a problem the farther the solution to the purpose would be."
"Yes," Confucius school headmaster interjected, "Give a time limit to solve a specific situation or throw them into a critical environment that's the opposite of what they're accustomed to."
"Who're the remaining three?" General Yang Zhi asked Jian Fu.
"The most beautiful one is called Ko Houjo from the Yellow Province who is the cause of all distress. And his classmates from the same school of thought, Wu Shan School are Kou Reishiin of the Red Province and Tei Yushuun from the Brown Province." Officer Jian Fu replied.
"What're their backgrounds like?" queried Lord Li Zhou.
"Ko Houjo and Kou Reishiin are sons of aristocrats. Tei Yushuun is the son of a wealthy, titled merchant whose father holds absolute power in the merchants' guild. Ko Houjo likes to fight and is a known troublemaker in his hometown. Kou Reishiin hates to fight and is a ladies' man. Tei Yushuun isn't athletic due to his weak physiology."
"What're their favourite subjects or subjects that they dislike but scored high marks?" the emperor asked.
"Kou Reishiin hates philosophy but had perfect scores for it for each term exam. Ko Houjo skips arithmetic classes but had always perfect scores for it for each term exam. Tei Yushuun's calligraphy is horrible but somehow does an incredible job of achieving outstanding result for it for each exam." Officer Jian Fu reported.
"Aren't these fellas intriguing?" the emperor said, "They managed to eliminate other candidates by just being themselves,"
"The only one that kind of removed the other candidates was Ko Houjo, Your Majesty," said Lord Li Zhou drily.
"Yes, isn't that a powerful element to have?" The emperor's eyes were twinkling, "A potent power to arrest people into submission by just looking at them with that beguiling face of his."
The emperor looked left and right then glanced at Officer Jian Fu, "Where're they?"
"I'll have my men search the grounds…"
"That won't be necessary," a clear voice came from the far right of the arch enclosure, "We're already here,"
The most beautiful boy with unsmiling eyes and long, glossy black hair by the name of Ko Houjo emerged. His hair shielded part of his super gorgeous face. The second bishounen with his hair tied at the nape with just a red leather strip was behind Houjo. His hand was covering his slight sly smile. But his eyes crinkled impishly and his name was Kou Reishiin. The third boy whose not-so beautiful but was cute with dark brown hair treaded after Reishiin. His eyes were both curious and cautious as he gazed at the men of importance in front of the three of them was called Tei Yushuun.
"How long have you chaps been there?" General Yang Zhi enquired.
"Long enough," said Reishiin.
"What's the quest that you have in mind for us?" Yushuun asked straightforwardly.
The emperor laughed, "You're an honest person," He nodded, "Quest is a word used in imperial governance and warfare. Not suitable for this exam."
"To defuse any dire consequences resulting from a situation riddled with a limiter of time then it's called a quest." Houjo informed, "An exam can also be deemed as a short term quest for students."
"Their task is to give their all and achieve their best in their exams," Yushuun supplied.
"Exams aren't just about achieving perfect scores. It's to utilize students potential to resolve issues set in the exam at a given time frame. Memorizing the textbooks makes a dull adult and a stale individual." Reishiin winked at the men of importance.
The emperor guffawed, "Well said, young man," He nodded, "Well said, all three of you. You've convinced me and given me the confidence to tell you of your quests."
"Quests?" Houjo asked.
The three boys looked at one another then back at the emperor.
"Well," the emperor looked at Lord Li Zhou and General Yang Zhi, "I've put into consideration of what my advisors and the headmasters were discussing just now and I've had a brainwave. I've come up with three separate quests designed by me for you three individualists."
The rest of them including the boys were puzzled.
"Yes," the emperor smiled, "First quest goes to Tei Yushuun and his subject matter is the art of war using calligraphy tools. His opponent will be General Yang Zhi. The exam will be held at this ministry's court yard. So Officer Jian Fu, please prepare the calligraphy tools, parchments, brushes and ink sets for this first exam. It will start an hour from now and ends as the sun is at its highest, brightest and on top of our heads. The winner gets a gift that's proportionate to his endurance."
TO BE CONTINUED…