Teenage card master

Zuo Tingyi

Jia Ming’s skills were actually quite poor, and he was by no means a disciple of Professor Jia Ziling. However, he did have some connection with Professor Jia Ziling of Dongwei Academy—he was the professor’s nephew. Relying on this relationship, he started this training program under Jia Ziling’s name. Professor Jia Ziling knew what his nephew was up to, but such things weren’t uncommon and didn’t affect him, so he occasionally lent a hand.

Jia Ming wasn’t highly skilled, but he was articulate and knew the tricks of bluffing. Simply reciting from books wouldn’t work—after all, the content was limited—so he had to add some flair. He quickly grasped the caliber of the trainees in his program and soon devised a clever approach.

For simple, foundational topics, he would elaborate in great detail, even spending half a day on the most basic theorems, deriving them back and forth. But for the more challenging concepts, he would gloss over them in a single sentence.

To the untrained ear, his lectures seemed thorough and rich in content. But experts would scoff at them, recognizing them as pure fluff.

Yet Chen Mu listened with rapt attention. His foundational knowledge was weak, and when he encountered something unclear, he didn’t even know where or what to look up. With no guidance over the past three years, his progress had been painfully slow. To cardmakers, these basics were self-evident, hardly worth such detailed explanation. But Jia Ming’s exhaustive coverage of fundamentals was exactly what Chen Mu needed—many of his past confusions suddenly became clear.

From then on, Chen Mu attended every single one of Jia Ming’s classes without fail. Theory and practice complemented and propelled each other. Over the past three years, Chen Mu had relied on his own tinkering to try improving the one-star energy card, which had given him ample hands-on experience. Now, with proper guidance, his progress accelerated rapidly.

What had once been a vague grasp of the one-star energy card’s structure was now becoming increasingly clear to him.

"Alright, there’s just one session left in this term’s course. Oh, and I have good news—since we’re collaborating with Dongwei Academy, we can participate in their annual advanced exam. Everyone, go home and make a card to submit next time. If any of you are selected, you might even get the chance to study at Dongwei Academy," Jia Ming declared with a straight face.

Although he had little substantial knowledge in his belly, his eloquence and witty personality made him quite popular among the students.

The next day, everyone handed in the cards they had made. Chen Mu submitted a one-star energy card.

The so-called advanced examination at Dongwei Academy was specifically designed for training classes jointly organized with the academy. Its original purpose was to offer outstanding students from these classes a chance for formal education. However, over the years, it had gradually become a mere formality, with neither the organizers nor the school taking it seriously. Embarrassingly, in over thirty years, only two students had been selected through this exam.

Jia Ming didn’t take the matter seriously either. He knew his students well and doubted any of them could produce a complete card. So, he didn’t bother recording the names on the cards, simply stuffing them all into a paper bag. Sighing, he lamented his tough luck—he had to manage three classes, after all.

After finishing all his classes, Jia Ming stopped by his uncle’s office at Dongwei Academy, casually tossed the three paper bags onto the desk, and then went off to relax and have fun.

When Jia Ziling returned to his office and saw the three paper bags, he couldn’t help but frown. Jia Ziling, past fifty, had a square face already lined with wrinkles. Though he knew these matters were just lip service, formalities still had to be observed. But how could such a task be left to a distinguished professor?

Jia Ziling pressed the activation button on his wrist-bound Duyi. Compared to Chen Mu’s, his Duyi was far more exquisite and compact—only palm-sized, made of pure silver adorned with intricate patterns, and fastened with three straps crafted from***** (sawtooth crocodile leather) from Mohadi. With four card slots, it was clearly a luxury item.

A semi-transparent light screen popped up before him, displaying a long list of names—his communication card had been activated. Invented just thirty years ago, communication cards were now widely used. Their grades varied by range, with the highest-grade cards enabling flawless communication across the entire Tianyou Federation, though their cost was beyond most people’s means. Ordinary citizens typically used one- or two-star cards for local communication, while Jia Ziling’s three-star card covered the entire district.

Jia Ziling’s sapphire-ringed finger lightly tapped a name on the light screen.

After about five seconds, the image of a handsome young man appeared on the screen. His smooth, shoulder-length hair gave him a somewhat androgynous look, and a hint of coldness lingered between his brows.

"Professor, did you need me for something?" Zuo Tingyi said respectfully, his tone icy.

Knowing his student well, Jia Ziling replied, "Come to my office."

About ten minutes later, Zuo Tingyi arrived at the office.

"Sort these things out," Jia Ziling said, pointing to three paper bags on the desk.

Zuo Tingyi acknowledged the request and began organizing the cards inside the three paper bags. Seeing not the slightest hint of impatience on Zuo Tingyi’s face, Jia Ziling nodded in satisfaction. Zuo Tingyi was his prized student—not only naturally brilliant and academically outstanding but also deeply respectful toward his teachers, meticulous in his work, and adored by nearly every instructor who taught him. What’s more, he was exceptionally well-mannered, presenting lavish gifts during holidays. He was practically the perfect student in the eyes of all his teachers.

Zuo Tingyi sorted the cards one by one. Most were a mess, riddled with errors. Though his expression remained unchanged, he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of frustration. Being stuck with such a tedious task was truly annoying.

Trash card!

Trash card!

This one is just outrageous! Such a simple card, yet it has no fewer than fifteen mistakes!

Still a trash card!

Black lines of frustration popped up on Zuo Tingyi’s forehead.

Finally found a decent-looking card!

Zuo Tingyi let out a long sigh of relief. Under normal circumstances, a one-star energy card wouldn’t even warrant a glance from him. But in this situation, even such a lowly one-star energy card filled him with a hint of excitement.

After sorting through three paper bags, only one card remained in front of Zuo Tingyi—a one-star energy card.

Zuo Tingyi was about to report to Jia Ziling when it suddenly occurred to him that he should double-check to avoid making a fool of himself. The horrifically flawed trash cards had left even the usually composed Zuo Tingyi shaken. If he missed some minor error on this card, the embarrassment would be unbearable.

He hurriedly placed the sole remaining one-star energy card carefully before his eyes.

Huh!

He let out a soft gasp, his expression shifting slightly.