The young man was in his twenties, and he was in the Harmonization Realm. At his age, being in the Harmonization Realm would guarantee a bright future in the martial arts industry, but he chose rune-carving over martial arts; it must've been his passion.
"I'm Jing Chu," he smiled widely at Lu Mingshu and bowed.
Lu Mingshu bowed to him too, "My surname is Lu."
"Ah, so it's Miss Lu," Jing Chu smiled, "So, what do we do for the first round?"
Lu Mingshu picked a random aunty from amongst the spectators, "Could you go to the bookshelves and pick out three runes?"
Unprepared, the aunty started to panic, "Me? I don't know how!"
"Better if you don't," Lu Mingshu then pointed to Uncle Hai, "Just pick any three and hand them to Uncle Hai."
"Okay then," the aunty rubbed her palms, "Let me treat it as choosing vegetables!"
Lu Mingshu gave her a warm smile, then turned toward Uncle Hai, "Could you please take down the page and the name of the book, then copy the rune chosen for us to reference?"
"Yeah, sure."
Lastly, she turned to the chief, "Could I trouble you to bring the bookshelf up? To let the spectators witness and have a totally fair game. It will also increase the intensity of the competition."
"Sure."
Three of them went down the stairs. When Lu Mingshu turned back, she saw that Jing Chu was staring at her.
"Yes?"
"Thanks for your trouble, Miss Lu. You had to help us think up a way to compete and even act as the announcer. I'm so sorry that we aren't doing our part."
"You're trying to say that it's an unfair game for you, huh?"
"No, of course not!" Jing Chu waved his hand in panic, "I just feel guilty and sorry that you even had to come up with the rules. It's just too…"
He looked down in guilt.
Lu Mingshu looked at him apathetically. That's what everyone here is like – idiots who only know how to carve runes, with no knowledge about business.
In no time, the three of them came back.
Uncle Hai had three pieces of paper in his hand, while the chief commanded some of his disciples to put the bookshelf in place.
As martial artists, a bookshelf was just a small issue to them.
"Miss Lu, this-"
Lu Mingshu put her hand up to stop him from walking over, "Wait a minute. Me and Gentleman Jing will stand here, and Uncle Hai will flash us the rune. Five moments for one rune."
She then tapped her finger on the table to show how long one "moment" would take, "Just like that."
"Isn't that too short?" the chief interrupted, "I doubt someone could even get a good look at it."
Lu Mingshu didn't study with others, so she didn't know how much time others needed, "Then how long do you think is needed?"
The chief pondered for a while before answering, "Ten moments – that's enough for one to take a clear look."
Lu Mingshu nodded, "Okay then; ten moments. Uncle Hai will flash the rune, while chief will time it. Then, me and Gentleman Jing will start looking for the rune and jot it down," she pointed to the two tables, "The winner will be determined by accuracy, then time."
"Good idea!" the chief clapped, "But we should add a time limit, otherwise the competition would be meaningless."
"Chief is right."
The chief looked over at the bookshelf. After scanning the bookshelf, which had about a hundred books, he gave a number, "How about six hours?"
Lu Mingshu shook her head, "Too long. The spectators wouldn't have the patience for that. Besides, in order for the competition to mean something, we should exceed the limits of ordinary people."
"True," the chief nodded, "What does Miss suggest?"
"Two-quarters of an hour," she said, "If the shop provides some snacks and tea for the spectators, then time would fly by for them."
"Okay!"
After they had reached an agreement on the rules, Lu Mingshu and Jing Chu stood side-by-side.
"Start!" the chief announced.
Uncle Hai immediately flashed a paper with a rune on it while the chief timed it.
"Next!"
As soon as the chief said "Next!", Uncle Hai threw the paper aside and flashed a new one.
"Next!"
After seeing the three runes, Lu Mingshu and Jing Chu both closed their eyes to recall what they just saw.
The chief took out an hourglass and put it on the table, "You may start now. Stop when the sand finishes."
Both of them rushed to the bookshelf and started looking for the book.
Two-quarters of an hour – thirty minutes. The bookshelf had at least a hundred books in it; taking the time limit into consideration, they only had about ten seconds per book.
Jing Chu had a few books in his mind from the start, and he started looking through the books selectively.
However, Lu Mingshu used a different method. She started from her right-hand side and flipped through the books at a lightning speed, then placed them back immediately.
The neighbours who came to watch initially felt that this competition was going to be like watching paint dry, but seeing both of them get to work, they all felt nervous for both of them.
"Such a fast speed. Can they even read clearly?"
"I know, right? I doubt they can even see the words, man."
"Nah, they are different from us – they have a powerful memory!"
"That's still too fast."
"Hmm…"
Jing Chu found what he wanted and, after confirmation, wrote down his answer on the paper provided.
Lu Mingshu didn't even spare him a glance as she put all her attention on the books. One book after another, she looked through all of them at such a fast pace.
When Jing Chu wrote down the second one, she was still looking through the books. However, she managed to catch up fast.
Jing Chu was stuck on the third rune, so he had no choice but to flip through the books one by one. Actually, his reading speed was no slower than Lu Mingshu's, but in order to take a very clear look at the details of the rune, he purposely slowed down.
The time flew by quickly.
Lu Mingshu continued to flip through the hundred books. When she reached the last one, she closed the book and put it back on the shelf, then wrote down her answers.
Under the eyes of all the spectators, she filled in three answers at once and folded the paper.
As soon as she put down her pen, the time was up.
"Time's up!" the chief shouted.
Jing Chu hesitated when he handed up the paper, his eyes filled with uncertainty.
"Miss Lu," the chief turned to look at her, "Time's up, but Chu has yet to write down the answer for the third one…."
"Then let him write the answer down," Lu Mingshu replied dully.
The chief heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that, "Chu, come and jot down your answer."
Jing Chu held his pen up, and after much hesitation, he wrote down a book title and page.
And with that, the first round ended.
"Whew…" a few people let out a long breath and turned to look at each other. The competition was so intense that none of them felt like any time passed. Half an hour passed so quickly! Honestly, none of the spectators even understood runes, they only ever came for the chief. During previous competitions, they would start to sleep by the time they started to judge.
"Okay, let's check the answers of the competitors now."
Finally, Lu Mingshu didn't need to be the announcer herself. The chief took over that work as he let Uncle Hai bring over the real answers.
"[The Truth of a Rune], page one hundred and seventy-eight."
"[The Ji Lineage's Traditional Runes], page thirty."
"[Qingyang's Collection], page ninety-eight."
As soon as the answers were read aloud, Jing Chu turned as white as a sheet of paper.
"Let's check Miss Lu's answers first," the chief took her answers out and started reading, "[The Truth of a Rune], page one hundred and seventy-eight, [The Ji Lineage's Traditional Runes]…, [Qingyang's Collection]…."
"All correct!"
"Wow!" a round of applause was immediately given to her. She looked at the books at such a fast speed, and yet she could remember everything? What an astonishing memory!
"Chu, yours…"
"No need to check," he cut the chief off dejectedly, "My third answer… is wrong."
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