Chapter 118 Results Announcement (First Update)

Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang first sent their three younger brothers to Tianxiang Academy and a private school, and then the two of them went to the county government office together.

The Imperial Academy's admission notice was indeed issued, but it wasn't for Xiao Liulang.

"How could this happen?" Gu Jiao asked.

"This..." The county magistrate looked troubled, glancing awkwardly at Xiao Liulang and then at Gu Jiao. "I don't know whether I should say this or not."

"Speak freely," Xiao Liulang said.

The county magistrate sighed.

Anyone with eyes can see there's something fishy going on here. Since the county started holding the preliminary examinations, no student has ever been more outstanding than Xiao Liulang. Even though Xiao Liulang failed the provincial examination, his overall score still ranked first in the county.

Moreover, he is a student of Tianxiang Academy, a direct disciple unilaterally announced by Dean Li. He is clean-living and has no blemishes on his reputation. It would be unreasonable for him not to get a spot.

Even the county magistrate was worried.

He immediately wrote down Xiao Liulang's name, but who could have known—

"I really can't say. Please, gentlemen, let me go. I'm just a minor county magistrate; I can't afford to offend those important people!"

"Who did you give the spot to?" Gu Jiao asked.

The county magistrate hesitated for a moment, but still said, "There is a candidate surnamed Feng named Feng Lin."

Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang paused for a moment.

"Which Feng Lin?" Gu Jiao frowned. "The Feng Lin from Tianxiang Academy?"

The county magistrate was startled and looked at the two of them, saying, "Ah, yes! You know him?"

Gu Jiao turned to Xiao Liulang beside her and asked, "How many Feng Lins are there in your academy?"

“There’s only one,” Xiao Liulang said.

Gu Jiao murmured, "That's strange. How come Feng Lin's grades are higher than yours? No, it's not about grades."

Xiao Liulang said to the county magistrate, "He's not from here at all; he's from Song County. How could he possibly have gotten a local spot?"

"That's what I said too, but..." The magistrate stopped mid-sentence, realizing he had almost let something slip, and quickly corrected himself, "In short, I'm powerless to help! Scholar Xiao, Lady Xiao, you should go back now."

The county magistrate truly felt sorry for Xiao Liulang. Such a promising talent, it's a pity he wasn't born into a good family, otherwise his future would have been immeasurable.

“This matter should have nothing to do with Feng Lin,” Xiao Liulang explained to Gu Jiao as he walked out.

"Yes, I know." Gu Jiao nodded.

Neither of them were people who easily lost their minds. Perhaps others would suspect Feng Lin upon hearing this news, but both of them knew Feng Lin's character and would not do something like stabbing Xiao Liulang in the back.

Moreover, he couldn't do it; he had no power or background.

This is clearly aimed at Xiao Liulang. The other party wants to use Feng Lin to suppress Xiao Liulang. Their intentions are despicable!

Gu Jiao said, "Why don't we go to the prefectural city and ask?"

"Oh dear, don't go! The document came from the prefectural city!" The county magistrate, hearing that they wanted to appeal, was very worried about losing his official position and hurriedly chased after them, saying, "To tell you the truth, that person is a nobleman from the capital, and you won't find him even if you go to the prefectural city!"

"What kind of important person in the capital?" Gu Jiao knew of only one important person in the capital who had a grudge against Xiao Liulang.

“A marquis,” the county magistrate said. The person who delivered the document had accidentally let slip that it was a marquis, but he absolutely refused to reveal which marquis it was!

"Lord Marquis?" Gu Jiao murmured.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of the county government office.

Lord Gu swaggered down, straightening his clothes with a refreshed air. His gaze then fell on Gu Jiao and the lame Xiao Liulang: "Oh? It's you two? What a coincidence! You didn't hear about the Imperial Academy's admissions, did you come here specifically to see if there were any spots for you? Oh dear, let me guess, there aren't any spots left, are there? Hahaha! Hahahaha!"

Lord Gu put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly.

"I need to talk to him," Gu Jiao said to Xiao Liulang, then pulled Lord Gu into the carriage.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"ah--"

"ah--"

"ah--"

After a period of chaotic commotion, Lord Gu collapsed in the corner of the carriage, his face ashen.

Gu Jiao grabbed his collar and said coldly, "Change the spot for me!"

The magistrate rushed back to the county office the moment he saw Lord Gu. He found the brocade box that Lord Gu had sent earlier, but by the time he brought it to the carriage, Lord Gu had already been beaten beyond recognition.

He couldn't directly ask Lord Gu to lift the curtain, so he respectfully said from the side, "Lord Gu, I'm afraid I can't do the thing you asked me to do. You're a step too late. The places for students at the Imperial Academy have already been reserved for others. You should take your things back."

Lord Gu was too weak to speak...

Gu Jiao paused, looked at Lord Gu whom she had beaten into a punching bag, and asked, "You weren't the one who messed up the quota issue?"

Lord Gu was on the verge of death: "Uh...uh uh uh uh uh?"

What...did I do?

Gu Jiao: Uh, I hit the wrong person.

Gu Jiao clapped her hands and got off the carriage with a serious expression.

Lord Gu originally intended to cause trouble, but he didn't mean to prevent Xiao Liulang from going to the Imperial Academy; on the contrary, he wanted him to go. Only if Xiao Liulang went could Gu Jiao possibly go to the capital with him.

He had Huang Zhong deliver an order to the county magistrate overnight, and also gave him a generous hush money, instructing the magistrate to reserve the spot for him.

He just mocked Xiao Liulang for not having a spot, which shows he was confident that he already had a spot in his hands. Although it was meant for Xiao Liulang, it wouldn't hurt to have that girl beg him a couple of times!

What he didn't expect was that shortly after Huang Zhong left, another nobleman's order arrived, and that marquis's power was even greater than that of the Marquis of Ding'an.

The county magistrate can only disappoint the Marquis of Ding'an.

Of course, he wouldn't say it aloud, only that the Marquis of Ding'an was late.

Lord Gu looked up at the sky with a wronged expression. Why was he beaten up again today?

On the way back, Gu Jiao didn't ask Xiao Liulang why the Marquis in the capital was targeting him, or whether he wasn't going to the capital because of that Marquis.

If he wanted to say something, she wouldn't have to ask.

If he doesn't want to talk, asking him is pointless.

Gu Jiao took Xiao Liulang to Tianxiang Academy. No sooner had she left than someone called out to Xiao Liulang.

Xiao Liulang turned around indifferently: "It's you again?"

The middle-aged man bowed to Xiao Liulang with a smile and said, "It's been a long time. Young Master, do you still remember me?"

Xiao Liulang said coldly, "Did you tamper with the quota?"

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Since the young master refuses to return to the manor with us, we have no choice but to resort to this tactic. We should keep the benefits within the family. That young master Feng is a friend of the young master, so it's better to let him benefit from it than to let others benefit. Of course, if the young master agrees to return to the manor with me, I can change the quota right now."

Xiao Liulang ignored him and turned to leave.

The middle-aged man said meaningfully, "Young master, do you really not want to study at the Imperial Academy? That's the place that every scholar in the world wants to go. Moreover, the registration documents must be submitted to the court tomorrow, and you only have one night to consider it. Once the documents are sent out from the post station, even if the Marquis himself goes out, he won't be able to retrieve them."

Xiao Liulang paused, then said, "I've already said, I'm not a member of the Xiao family, and I don't know any of you. I will not go back to the Xiao family with you, so you might as well give up on that idea."

The middle-aged man sighed, "Why bother? Why not take the perfectly good road and insist on crossing a narrow bridge? Young master, this is unwise."

Xiao Liulang said, "I can go back, but you have to put my name and Feng Lin's name on it together!"

"Young master is joking. I went to great lengths to get this one spot." If it were so easy to get into the Imperial Academy, there wouldn't be so many candidates scrambling for it.

Xiao Liulang turned and glanced at him: "Isn't there still the provincial examination? Since you are so capable, why don't you just change my score to first place and I become the top scholar? I can enter the Imperial Academy without the local recommendation."

The top scholars from each region were directly admitted to the Imperial Academy, a tradition established in the Zhao Kingdom.

The middle-aged man laughed: "We can't interfere with the provincial examination. There's only one spot available, so I advise you, young master, not to waste this opportunity. I'll give you one last piece of advice: once tomorrow morning is over, there will be no turning back."

"So, you can't interfere in the provincial examinations then?" Xiao Liulang coldly curled the corners of his lips and walked away disdainfully.

Manager Liu was completely bewildered. He touched his chin and gasped. Had he missed something?

In September, the results of the provincial examinations were released, and the post stations quickly sent the newly compiled second-ranked candidates to various regions.

The county magistrate got up before dawn. He didn't wait at the yamen, but went directly to the post station. The moment he received the second list, his hands trembled.

He eagerly opened it and saw five words written in large, eye-catching characters in the first column on the far right: "Top Scholar, Xiao Liulang!"

The county magistrate burst into tears on the spot, sitting on the ground and burying his face in his hands, sobbing: "Waaah...waaah..."

The constables standing nearby were terrified: "Magistrate, what's wrong with you? What's wrong with you?"

The county magistrate, with tears in his eyes, exclaimed, "I am so happy... My county has finally produced a top scholar!"

Getting first place in the provincial examination is not easy. Most top scorers come from the provincial capital, given the family background and teaching resources of the provincial candidates.

The reason why so many people travel thousands of miles to study at Tianxiang Academy is because Tianxiang Academy has the strongest faculty outside of the provincial capital academies.

Of the fifty successful candidates on this second-tier list, ten were from Tianxiang Academy—an incredibly alarming ratio.

However, these ten successful candidates were not necessarily all local students.

Feng Lin and Lin Chengye also passed the imperial examination.

Feng Lin was the seventeenth child in his family, and he was a student from Song County.

Lin Chengye was the forty-fifth in his family, and he was a student in the provincial capital.

The county magistrate counted, and found that only Xiao Liulang was a local scholar who had passed the imperial examination.

One is one, but he's a top scholar in the imperial examination; one of him is worth ten!

No arguments accepted!

The constable scratched his head and said, "Actually, Scholar Xiao... uh, no, he should be called the top scholar now. Scholar Xiao registered his household in our county because he married a girl from the Gu family."

Otherwise, he's still an outsider!

County Magistrate: "..."

The county magistrate exclaimed, "I don't care! His household registration is right here! He is the first top scholar to emerge during my term!"

The county magistrate personally came to Xiao Liulang's door to deliver the good news. The whole village knew that Xiao Liulang had become a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, and even ranked first in the provincial examinations.

"Has my son Da Shun passed the high school entrance exam yet?" Zhou asked the county magistrate excitedly as she ran to Gu Jiao's house.

The county magistrate glanced at her indifferently: "Gu Dashun's name isn't on the list."

"How could he not have passed?" Zhou Shi said in disbelief. "Xiao Liulang passed the exam, so how could my Dashun not have?"

The county magistrate said, "I don't like hearing that. Does Xiao Jieyuan have a better trade than yours?"

In Zhou's memory, Gu Dashun was always the most outstanding. Xiao Liulang was lame and poor, and even though he was admitted to the academy, he was ranked last several times. If such a person could pass the imperial examination, why couldn't Dashun?

"Are you sure you're not mistaken?" Madam Zhou turned her head and saw Xiao Liulang returning from the academy. She hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Liulang! Tell your aunt that Dashun has also passed the imperial examination!"

Xiao Liulang said to Zhou Shi, "I didn't see Gu Dashun when I took the provincial examination."

a bolt from the blue--

The family sold the dowries of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, raising a total of twenty taels of silver. They sent Gu Changhai to take Gu Dashun to the provincial examination, but on the way, someone swindled them out of all the silver.

Zhou fainted on the spot and was carried home by the villagers.

When Xiao Jingkong came out of the private school, he heard Gu Xiaoshun say that his bad brother-in-law had come in first place. He expressed his disbelief and insisted that others had made a mistake!

“That’s absolutely right.” Gu Xiaoshun scratched his head. “The whole academy is in an uproar.”

Xiao Jingkong insists on seeing is believing.

Gu Xiaoshun had no choice but to take him and Gu Yan to the county government office.

He was very small, and the list was very tall. He tilted his head back and looked at it for a long time before saying, "I want to see the official documents from the government office!"

The constables were dumbfounded: Little kid, you know about official documents?

Upon learning that he was Xiao Jieyuan's younger brother, the clerk at the yamen actually showed him the official documents.

Xiao Jingkong looked at it carefully three times, making sure it wasn't a forgery and that there were no mistakes, before nodding with a serious little face: "I did get first place."

(End of this chapter)