The night before the test, the rain finally stopped, leaving behind a thick, silver mist. Minh knew the river was too high for a boat, and the bridge was gone. He looked at his grandfather’s old notebook. On the last page, there was a hand-drawn map of a "hidden path"—a series of limestone ridges and forgotten hunter trails that stayed above the flood line.

"Knowledge isn't just in the ink, Minh," his grandfather said, pointing toward the dense canopy of Cát Tiên. "It’s in the rhythm of the woods."

Inspired by the spirit of those exams, here is a story about a young student named Minh, living on the edge of the Cát Tiên National Park. The Guardian of the Green Heart

"How did you get here, son?" one asked, handing him a dry towel.

Minh didn't study for the Gifted Exam in a library; he studied under the ancient Tung tree, where the roots were as thick as stone walls. In the summer of 2021, while the rest of the world felt small and isolated, Minh felt his world expanding. His grandfather, a retired forest ranger, had given him an old, leather-bound notebook.