The twenty-third ancestor Wu Shilai (1527-1590) was an accomplished writer and poet by the age of ten and was acclaimed a child prodigy. In the 28th year of the rule of Jiajing Emperor (1549), he passed the provincial exam; but the next year failed the subsequent examination. Returning home, he went to study at the ancient Jingxing Rock Temple, about seven miles from his family home. There he worked extraordinarily hard, not leaving the mountain for two years. One day his father came to visit him, and he showed his father a recent composition, which pleased his father greatly. But when his father looked closely at the walls of his study-cell, he noticed that they were all stained with blood. On hearing his son’s explanation, the anxious father wept loudly, “My son studies so hard he spits blood!” He urged his son to return home immediately. Later, in the thirty-second year of Jiajing, Wu Shilai attained the highest honor in the imperial examinations, and at the height of his career was ranked a Censor-in-Chief [at the Institute of Supervision].