Li Youran instinctively looked up and saw that it was Lu Chuan, so she didn't bother to pay attention to him and continued to busy herself with greeting guests.

"You Ran, I did extremely well on this exam."

Lu Chuan seemed to have forgotten the humiliation he suffered at Li Youran's hands, and spoke to her excitedly.

If I pass the imperial examination with top honors, would you be willing to give me another chance?

Seeing that Li Youran ignored him, Lu Chuan continued speaking with a self-satisfied air.

"You Ran, do you know that during these days and nights of studying hard, just thinking of you fills me with motivation?"

Li Youran didn't want to pay attention to Lu Chuan, but she couldn't stand how disgusting he was, so she rolled her eyes and said with great disgust.

"Young Master Lu, you'd better hurry home and see your beautiful pregnant wife!"

She thought to herself, "Lu Chuan's hair is practically turning into a prairie, and he still has the mind to gossip here."

"You Ran, are you jealous?"

Lu Chuan smiled knowingly and looked at Li Youran with a doting expression.

“You are different from her. My love for you is genuine. Wang Xiangyu is just someone I use to continue the family line…”

"He has a pregnant wife at home, yet he is having affairs and is unfaithful."

Lu Chuan was interrupted by Tian Alang before he could finish speaking.

"Your wife risked her life to give birth to your children, yet you call it nothing more than carrying on the family line. This shows how heartless you are."

Despite his young age, Tian Alang's words carried weight and left no room for argument. Lu Chuan's face darkened immediately.

"snort!"

Lu Chuan wanted to argue with her, but he was afraid that he would lose the argument and lose face in front of Li Youran, so he simply turned his sleeves and left.

"You've been taking exams for several days now, are you tired?"

Seeing Lu Chuan slink away after being scolded by Tian Alang, Li Youran was in a great mood, so she smiled and said to Tian Alang.

"Come over here and have some water."

Tian Alang wanted to say that these exams had almost driven him crazy. He would finish the daily test papers in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, and then spend the rest of the days just staring blankly.

But fearing that Li Youran might misunderstand and think he was exaggerating, he swallowed his words back.

"fine."

While drinking water, Tian Alang talked to Li Youran about this year's exam questions.

"If it weren't for the rare book that Miss Li gave me, I wouldn't have been able to answer this question so cleverly."

One of the questions had many points to answer. Tian Alang had previously read the rare book that Li Youran had given him, and he found some hard-to-find points to answer the question from various angles.

Just then, some passing examinees recognized Tian Alang and gathered around him. Unaware of this, Tian Alang remained engrossed in solving the problem, explaining his key points to Li Youran in detail.

"I apologize for making a fool of myself in front of my classmates."

After Tian Alang finished speaking, he realized that he was surrounded by examinees. So he stood up, cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, and addressed the crowd.

"Young Master Tian is too modest. After listening to you talk about those answer points, I suddenly realized that there are other ways to answer questions."

"As expected of Master Lu's student, your insights are different from others. You are the undisputed champion this time."

If a person is only slightly better than others, they will be envied; if they are much better than others, they will be admired.

Although Tian Alang rarely went to the academy, all the students there had heard of him and knew that such a child prodigy existed.

Especially after listening to Tian Alang explain the key points of the question, they realized that there were so many other points to answer, and how limited their thinking was.

Whether in terms of the breadth of their knowledge or their perspective on things, the gap between them and Tian Alang is not small.

"Young master, please don't drink anymore. You've already drunk a whole jar of wine. If you drink any more, you'll really get drunk."

As Liu'er spoke, he snatched the wine jar from Liu Zhiyuan's hand. If it were before, Liu Er certainly wouldn't have dared to do that.

However, after escaping from the rooftop with Liu Zhiyuan and being severely beaten twenty times by Liu's wife, Liu Er realized that his responsibility was to take good care of his master.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to pass the provincial examination this time..." Liu Zhiyuan said incoherently, his words slurred from the alcohol.

He blamed himself for not performing well in the exam, for not being good enough, and for not being able to protect Li Youran.

"Even if you don't become the top scholar, you'll definitely be in the top three in your class. Why worry about one or two places? Besides, after the exam, you'll be going to the capital to study. Your master has specially used his connections to find you a famous teacher. He guarantees you'll become renowned and have a bright future."

Upon hearing Liu Er's words, Liu Zhiyuan gave a bitter smile. It wasn't that he lacked ability. Moreover, because he had rejected the Zhao family's marriage proposal, the Liu family's future prospects in this area would likely be bleak.

That's why his father asked someone to send him to the capital, hoping he could settle down and start a business there.

Liu Zhiyuan felt that he was really useless, unable to protect the woman he loved or his family.

Liu Zhiyuan always felt that as the youngest in the family, he was never entitled to anything. He only needed to do things he liked to improve his life. For example, since he didn't want to take the imperial examinations, he casually took one and stayed at the academy to teach.

But after meeting Li Youran, he realized that as a man, he carried responsibilities and missions, and he could not live so selfishly; he had to become strong.

To protect his family and Li Youran, the only thing Liu Zhiyuan can do now is to embark on a career in politics.

Just as Liu Zhiyuan was drinking heavily to vent his frustration over his exam failure, a messenger arrived with good news.

Congratulations to the young master of the Liu family on winning the Asian Dollar!

A group of people came to the Liu family with great fanfare, banging drums and gongs, but Liu Zhiyuan was completely drunk.

"It's so cold, it's kind of you, sir, to make this trip."

As Liu Er spoke, he handed the purse that the woman had prepared to the official who had come to deliver the good news.

After the person who brought the good news left, Liu Er looked back at Liu Zhiyuan and thought to himself that his young master was really too irrational. If others were Zhongya Yuan, they would be overjoyed, but his young master acted as if he had failed the exam.

"My poor old woman has finally made it to this day. May the ancestors of my Tian family bless us from heaven, and may the parents of my child rest in peace!"

When Tian Alang was overjoyed to pass the imperial examination with top honors, the entire street was packed with people who came to watch the spectacle.

"This young master of the Tian family is only fifteen years old, yet he has already achieved the highest rank in the provincial examination. His future is limitless! If any girl were to marry into the Tian family, she might just become the wife of a top scholar!"

After the wedding party left, many women vied to arrange marriages for Tian Alang.

"How could this happen..." Wang Xiangyu sat down on the edge of the bed, looking lost and dejected.