On the day of the entrance exam, Jing Li didn't go with Qin Zhao and Chen Yan'an, only walking them home. "I'll wait for you at home," Jing Li said, tying a sachet around Qin Zhao's waist. Unnoticed, he looked up and gave him a stealthy kiss. Qin Zhao chuckled, "It'll be taken off for inspection soon anyway." "Just wear it for a while," Jing Li said. Qin Zhao had prepared the sachet a few days earlier, containing herbs, spices, and Jing Li's freshly dried osmanthus flowers. Its delicate fragrance was said to have a calming and soothing effect. Chen Yanan couldn't stand it any longer and muttered, "They've been together for so long, and they're still so clingy." Jing Li raised his eyebrows, not paying attention to the sourness in Chen Yanan's words, and asked, "Have you brought your sachet?" "Yes, I have," Chen Yanan said, "but why are we wearing this thing? It doesn't look like an exam, it's more like going to a temple fair." Qin Zhao said calmly, "You'll know soon enough." Qin Zhao lowered his head and kissed Jing Li on the lips, saying, "See you tomorrow night, be careful at home." "I know." Jing Li said, "Keep going, I'm waiting for you to win the Little Three Prizes." Qin Zhao: "Of course." Chen Yanan: "..." These people don't consider his feelings at all! People who are well-educated and have wives are so annoying! The two said goodbye to Jing Li and arrived at the examination room at the appointed time, waiting for roll call and physical examination. They saw He Zhixing and his classmate from a distance, and they nodded to each other across the crowd as a greeting. Yan Xiu, the mutual guarantor, hadn't been seen yet, but he took the imperial examination seriously and would undoubtedly arrive on time. The long street was packed, so Qin Zhao and Chen Yan'an simply stood by the roadside. The yamen runners calling out names were loud enough to be heard from a distance. But then, on the second floor of a roadside teahouse, two people sat facing each other, sipping tea. "They're definitely here. They'll be there when they're called out soon. Why are you so anxious?" The two men were about the same age, around forty. The one who spoke was thin and dressed in official uniform. He was the prefect of Jiangling. The man opposite him, dressed in splendid raiment and portly, was Gu Heng's father, Master Gu, who had just returned from the county seat. On the table before Gu Changzhou lay a piece of paper: the examination paper Qin Zhao had written for the previous prefectural examination. Gu Changzhou had been incredibly busy these past few months. When he received his wife's letter, he had assumed his son had finally found a qualified teacher and hadn't given it much thought. It was not until two days ago when he came back and talked about this with his wife, and saw the changes in Gu Heng, that he began to wonder how capable this double-top case candidate, who was praised by everyone, was. He and the prefect were old friends for many years, so he asked him to send the double-top case candidate's test paper to him for a look. As soon as he saw it, he found something wrong. This person's handwriting... Gu Changzhou turned his head to look at the test paper spread out on the table, and felt a layer of sweat on his back, and his eyes looked towards the street more anxiously. Seeing him like this, the prefect dropped his joking intention: "Brother Gu, tell me the truth, what's wrong with this person?"