After few days our 4th semester exams were about to start. So we were getting holidays for our preparations.
"Can I get into that district?"
You'll never shine if you don't glow
And all that glitters is gold
So what's wrong with taking the back streets?
Only shooting stars break the mold
Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play
Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play
I've been thinking about this written exam thing and it keeps coming back to me as this really rich symbol for the whole story. Lin Lumi scored full marks on the hardest question — the one even elders might not solve — and was exceptionally admitted. But the other disciples only saw that she was exempted from the physical tests. They saw the shortcut, not the brilliance. The written exam becomes this metaphor for how merit is perceived versus how it's actually earned. Wen Jing's entire arc is built on the assumption that Lin Lumi's success is illegitimate because it came through a written test rather than combat. But the text makes it clear that the written exam was actually the hardest part. The disciples are judging the surface — she didn't have to fight, she didn't have to sweat — while missing the actual achievement. There's also the class element. Wen Jing is a Princess. She couldn't get into the Mystic Dharma Hall. Lin Lumi is a Marquis's daughter from a "remote, insignificant kingdom" and she's being exceptionally admitted. Wen Jing's hatred isn't just personal — it's the hatred of someone whose entire identity is built on inherited status being undermined by someone who earned their place. And Mu Heng's spirit stones? Ten mid-grade spirit stones — which Lin Lumi notes is unusual because "Mu Heng has always loved money as much as his life." Money as a language of power and affection, given and received through intermediaries. The whole system of relationships in this world operates through transactions, favors, and unspoken debts. Even the friendship between Lin Lumi and Hua Tian involves counting spirit stones and dividing them down the middle.
I need to get myself away from this place
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
If he wasn't surrounded by thousands of his comrades he may as well have.