The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

The Jiangnan provincial examination had just ended, and the atmosphere in the examination hall had not yet completely cooled down.

Su Shi has been extremely busy these past few days, practically buried under a mountain of exam papers. He is now the Prefect of the Imperial Examinations in Jiangnan, a position personally appointed by the Emperor.

The exam questions for this provincial examination were entirely prepared by him and Jiang Lin. No poetry or prose were tested; it was all practical skills! Topics included water conservancy, agriculture, and the allocation of funds and grain—a perfect solution for anyone who disagreed. While the scions of wealthy families were left reeling, the students from humble backgrounds answered with great enthusiasm.

Jiang Lin was currently slumped in a rattan chair in the back hall of the examination hall, holding a cup of pre-Qingming Longjing tea and slowly blowing on the tea leaves.

"Don't bother me with this little thing." Jiang Lin glanced at the clerk next to him, who was sweating profusely, without even raising his eyelids. "The exam papers will be copied anonymously. Follow the rules exactly. Anyone who dares to tamper with this step will have their legs broken and be thrown out."

The clerk nodded repeatedly, wiping away cold sweat as he left.

No sooner had he left than Su Shi rushed in from the front hall, clutching an examination paper in his hand. This luminary of the Song Dynasty's literary world was so radiant that even his official hat was askew; his face was flushed, as if he had found a gold ingot.

"Headmaster! Headmaster, look at this!" Su Shi slammed the exam paper on the coffee table, causing Jiang Lin to spill the water from his cup.

Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow and slowly put down his teacup.

"Zizhan, you're the Prefect of Hangzhou now, can't you be a little more composed?" Jiang Lin stretched. "What exam paper has you so excited about? Did someone actually write out a radical solution to the Yellow River breach?"

"The scope has been broadened! It's not the Yellow River, it's money and grain! It's piles of silver and grain!" Su Shi pointed at the examination paper, his hands trembling. "You said before that you wanted to select people who could make money. Look at this paper, this person is absolutely a once-in-a-century genius!"

Jiang Lin was somewhat skeptical, so he sat up straight and picked up the transcribed exam paper.

The answer was to the policy essay question about how to stabilize prices after the floods in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. The handwriting was very neat. Jiang Lin initially just glanced at it, but as he looked at it, his gaze became fixed on the paper.

The examination paper reads: "In years of disaster, grain merchants will hoard grain to speculate on prices. If the government forcibly lowers prices, merchants will stop transporting grain to Zhejiang, resulting in a shortage of grain to buy."

This sentence was relatively normal, but the tone suddenly shifted: "Therefore, the government should take the lead in signing 'pre-sale wheat contracts' with major grain merchants in various regions before the autumn harvest, or even during the spring sowing. The contracts would stipulate that grain would be purchased after the autumn harvest with a deposit plus a final payment. Regardless of the market price of grain after the autumn harvest, the delivery would be made according to the contract price."

Jiang Lin's breath hitched. He quickly scanned downwards.

"If grain prices soar after the autumn harvest, the government, holding low-priced wheat contracts, can sell them on the market or directly exchange them for actual grain to stabilize prices. If grain merchants cannot deliver the grain, they must pay high compensation for breach of contract. This method can not only lock in grain prices during disaster years, but also allow the government to control the overall grain supply situation without spending large sums of cash."

After reading this passage, Jiang Lin's mind went completely blank.

Pre-sale contracts? Margin system? Price lock-in? Penalty settlement for breach of contract?

Good heavens, isn't this just "grain futures" in modern finance? In the first year of the Jiayou era of the Song Dynasty, someone actually explained the underlying logic of futures clearly on an imperial examination paper?

Jiang Lin knew all too well how people in this era thought. Even a top-tier genius like Su Shi, before meeting him, had his mind filled with poetry, prose, and Confucianism. Shen Kuo was a tech fanatic, but knew nothing about finance. Qian Duoduo, though shrewd, was only using the most basic strategy of buying low and selling high.

Now, someone has actually written down a plan for using leverage to regulate the macroeconomy on this piece of paper! This is simply a game-changing move!

A terrifying thought instantly popped into Jiang Lin's mind.

Am I not the only time traveler in this world?

If there really is another time traveler, and they also understand finance, then things will be completely out of control. His success so far has always been based on using superior technology to his advantage. If the other party is also from the modern world, half of his trump cards will be rendered useless.

Jiang Lin's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table, his mind already racing with all sorts of thoughts.

Completely oblivious to Jiang Lin's unease, Su Shi continued to enthusiastically promote the idea: "Headmaster, what do you think? This method is absolutely brilliant! The government only needs to pay a deposit to control the lifeline of grain merchants across the land. What will we have to fear in years of famine?"

Jiang Lin took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart.

He turned to Su Shi and asked, "Was the name of this paper anonymized?"

"Of course it's a disaster. But according to the rules, if a paper is exceptionally outstanding, the examiner can request to open it early." Su Shi rubbed his hands, his eyes shining. "I plan to award this paper the top scholar title! Headmaster, let's open it and see which genius it is!"

Jiang Lin remained silent. He wondered to himself, if this person truly was a time traveler, why would they take the imperial examinations? To infiltrate the system? Or to use the opportunity to connect with higher-ups?

Regardless, this person must be identified. If he's from the same hometown, then we can see if we can cooperate; if he's here to cause trouble, then we need to nip the danger in the bud.

"Demolish," Jiang Lin uttered a single word.

Su Shi immediately summoned his clerk and, in front of the two men, tore off the paper covering the name of the person on the scroll piece by piece.

The name has been revealed.

Place of origin: Licheng, Qizhou.

Name: Li Gefei.

Jiang Lin stared at the name, his brows furrowing even more. Why did this name sound so familiar?

He frantically searched his memory for historical knowledge from his past life. The Song Dynasty, Qizhou, Li Gefei… wait, isn't that Li Qingzhao's father!

Jiang Lin was completely stunned.

Historically, Li Gefei was a great scholar, one of the Four Scholars of the Su School, and an excellent writer. But I've never heard of him being a financial genius! Shouldn't he be studying classics and historical texts? How did he end up trading grain futures?

Could it be that my appearance triggered a butterfly effect, directly causing Li Gefei's skill tree to go astray?

Or is it that the soul of a modern financial worker has now been replaced by the shell of Li Gefei?

Jiang Lin stood up, rolled up the paper, and stuffed it into his sleeve.

"Zizhan, keep this exam paper locked away for now, and don't tell anyone." Jiang Lin's tone was cold.

Su Shi was stunned: "Suppressed? Shouldn't such a prodigy be immediately announced and publicized? He's a living advertisement for our reformed imperial examination system!"

"I told you, keep it under wraps." Jiang Lin stared intently at Su Shi. "This matter is far too complex. If we really do as he says, the entire grain trade in the Song Dynasty will be overturned. We must not act rashly before we have a clear understanding of this person's background."

Although Su Shi was completely bewildered, he always listened to Jiang Lin's every word and could only obediently nod.

Jiang Lin strode out of the back room, squinting at the blinding sunlight outside.

Li Gefei.

Whether you're a homegrown genius or just another fellow countryman like me, I have to meet you in person.