What is the story of boiled melon seeds?

In ancient times, there was an enlightened king who wanted to choose one of the many children in his kingdom, focus on training, become a pillar of the country, and be competent for urban and rural positions.

I heard that the king was selecting talents, and some parents sent their children to the palace one after another. The king found that these children are excellent in all aspects, outstanding and extremely intelligent, and they are the best among their peers.

It's good to have so many children, but the king only needs one. Who to choose? The king is in trouble. Finally decided to give everyone a flower seed. Whoever can cultivate beautiful flowers is the talent that the king wants to select, and he ordered to come to the king for acceptance on the same day a year later.

After returning home, none of these children dared to be careless, and they were very busy: sowing seeds, watering, fertilizing and weeding in flowerpots, leaving no one behind.

A year later, I saw all the children holding flowerpots and asking the king to accept them. I saw the flowers in the children's flowerpots were unusually bright, except for one child, who was holding an empty flowerpot and looked depressed.

Finally, the king announced that the child with the empty flowerpot was the one he wanted to choose. Everyone doesn't understand, explained the king. In fact, the seeds I gave to each of you are boiled seeds. How can cooked seeds germinate and bloom? Only he is an honest man and didn't cheat me! Everyone was silent when they heard this. It turned out that after these children got the seeds and planted them, they found that the seeds didn't germinate, so they planted their flowers in flowerpots smartly.

Who is an honest man, take a cooked seed and let him go home to plant it.