Chapter 113: Xiaoyu the Academic Underachiever

"Ding-dong~ Welcome to Uncle's Antique Shop."

"Who is it! We're closed!" Tohru's voice boomed from the back.

"Tohru, Uncle, it's me. I'm back." Jackie said, shaking off his coat and leaving the dust of his journey at the doorstep.

"Aiya~ Jackie, you've finally returned~"

Uncle walked out from the back room with his hands on his hips, grumbling incessantly at Jackie, though his tone betrayed a deep, unmistakable concern.

"Ran into a small problem, so I'm back a bit late. Is everything alright at home, Uncle?" Jackie hung his hat on a nearby rack and asked.

"Everything is fine~"

Before Uncle could finish his sentence, a small shadow suddenly leapt out from the side. "Uncle Jackie! I've missed you so much!"

"Jade!" Jackie looked at his niece, who was now hanging around his neck, and asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to hang out with you! Uncle Jackie, you have to take me to the amusement park! I've been here for days, and Uncle and the others won't take me anywhere!" Jade pouted, shooting a glare at Tohru behind Jackie’s back.

Jackie set Jade down and looked toward Uncle; he didn't believe for a second that Jade’s parents had sent her over just for a vacation.

"Jade is here for tutoring. Her academic grades are too poor; she's far off from the admission threshold for the preparatory academy." Uncle shook his head. Both he and Jackie held high academic credentials—they had been top-tier students in their day—but Jade didn't seem to have inherited that trait.

"I am not! I actually did pretty well!" Jade retorted, lifting her chin.

"What was your grade on the final exam?" Jackie asked, patting Jade on the head.

Jade jerked her head away, slipping out from under his hand, and hoisted herself up onto the counter. "I got an A! That's the highest grade!"

"The highest grade is actually an A+, though an A is decent enough. Don't get cocky." Jackie smiled, but then looked at Uncle with a puzzled expression. "Which school has an admission score so high that even an A is far from enough?"

"The China Cultivation Preparatory Academy. They recruit students between the ages of nine and twelve for a four-year pre-study program. The preliminary exam is a written test. The paper is worth six hundred points in total. Jade just took it, and she only got two hundred and thirty. The minimum admission threshold is five hundred, and they select only the best."

Uncle looked melancholic. Jade wasn't particularly fond of test-taking; the A she received in school was largely thanks to non-exam bonus points. Once faced with a real exam paper, her weaknesses were fully exposed—and that was even with her managing to guess nine out of ten multiple-choice questions correctly.

"Two hundred and thirty?!" Jackie exclaimed in shock. That score was nowhere near passing!

As far as he knew, Jade’s grades weren't great, but he hadn't realized they were this dire. After taking the test papers from Uncle, Jackie understood. He didn't know who had written these questions, but while the core knowledge covered standard, basic middle-school curriculum, that only accounted for two hundred points.

The remaining four hundred points covered an absurdly wide range: astronomy, geography, history, humanities, wilderness survival, and more. Jackie, an elite archaeologist who had traveled the world over, estimated that he could only score about three hundred on those four hundred points. No wonder Jade had done so poorly.

"What kind of school is this China Cultivation Preparatory Academy? The subject matter is all over the place. And that name... does it have anything to do with the Heavenly Court?" Jackie asked after putting the papers down.

Uncle nodded. "It is a new school jointly established by the Heavenly Court and China. The announced principal is Li Xiaoyao, the vice-principal is Zhao Ling'er, and the secretary is Guan Zhen. It admits school-age children of Chinese nationality as well as children of Chinese descent under eighteen who cannot independently choose their nationality. There are six months left until the preliminary exam."

"Uncle Jackie~ Uncle Jackie~ Stop chatting, won't you take me out to play?" Jade tugged on Jackie's arm, swinging it back and forth.

Jackie looked down and pondered for a moment, then gave Jade a smile. Jade felt a chill run down her spine, sensing an ominous premonition.

"Tohru, help Jade set up a notebook for her mistakes. Every single wrong answer must be recorded," Jackie said, looking toward Tohru.

"Ah!!!" Jade screamed in disbelief. "Uncle Jackie! You're siding with them!"

Tohru stepped forward and scooped Jade up.

"No! I don't want to! I want to go out and play!" Jade kicked her limbs wildly, but she was no match for Tohru's girth, and her struggling was entirely ineffective.

Once Jade was ushered into the study, Jackie shook his head and sat down.

"Tomorrow, I'll contact some friends and ask them to help me get a few dozen middle-school practice exams. We need to secure those two hundred points. As for the remaining four hundred… I'll find some time to review the exam syllabus."

"By the way, Uncle, is this the only school of its kind?"

"Not at all, there are several similar schools around the world." Uncle counted them off on his fingers.

"The China Adult Vocational and Technical Training College, the Hextech Vocational and Technical Training College, and the Russian Vocational and Technical Training College. Though those three have nothing to do with Jade; they only recruit adults."

"Besides the China Cultivation Preparatory Academy, the only other one for children is the Hogwarts International Mystic Preparatory Academy, though they haven't released their recruitment details yet."

"Hogwarts? I've heard of them. They were already a youth education school five hundred years ago. I didn't think they'd keep the same name after all this time," Jackie said, shaking his head. "But that school didn't have a great reputation back then; they were obsessed with blood purity. I wonder if they still are."

"Why do you care about that? Your priority right now is to finish the syllabus and write a study plan!" Uncle rapped his knuckles against Jackie's head with a sharp *clack*.

"I know, Uncle, I'm going now," Jackie said, rubbing his head.

"One more thing~ Tomorrow you need to go for registration. Someone will come to pick you up at eight in the morning, don't oversleep," Uncle reminded him.

"Registration?" Jackie paused.

"That's right. Remember to prepare your professional rank and skills beforehand so you aren't scrambling at the last minute," Uncle said, taking a sip of tea.

"But... I haven't had a chance to go for a professional assessment yet." Jackie scratched his head. The Heavenly Court had only returned about a month ago, and he had spent the entire time handling various affairs; he hadn't yet had a moment to contact them.

"Just register as a Primary-Level Practitioner," Uncle decided on the spot.

"Why?" Jackie was deeply confused. He would be ranked at that level anyway, but Uncle's decisiveness made him suspicious.

"It's public information: the China Adult Vocational and Technical Training College's standard for recruiting teachers is a Primary-Level Practitioner or higher," Uncle winked at Jackie.

Jackie suddenly understood.