Lin Weiming and Lin Zhongyuan returned to the village.

The Lin family's oxcart had barely reached the village entrance when many villagers came running over to see what was going on.

When they came to watch the excitement, they naturally didn't forget to greet the other members of the Lin family.

Lin Wanyue was dragged along by her two older brothers and ran happily to the village entrance.

"Brother Lin, how did Zhongyuan do on his exam?" Everyone was excited.

When Lin Zhongyuan went to take the exam, most of the villagers were not optimistic about him, thinking that his family was just wasting money.

Inevitably, some people here are driven by jealousy, but most genuinely feel that Lin Zhongyuan has only attended village school for a few years and is no different from their son. Even if this child is more diligent than their son, he is still not good enough to pass the imperial examination.

"Brother!" Lin Zheyun quickly ran to the oxcart and asked his brother with a big smile, "How was it? Was the city fun? Why did you bring so much stuff? How did your exam go? Do you want some candy? I saved a few for you."

My younger sister somehow got these for them, including some kind of black candy that melts in your mouth. But for some reason, these candies tasted bitter!

But my sister says this stuff is called chocolate, and it tastes incredibly smooth; it can even make unhappy people happy.

Lin Zheyun had deliberately saved the candies he didn't like for Lin Zhongyuan, and now he was showing them off.

"Hmm." After finishing the exam, Lin Zhongyuan felt relieved and his shoulders felt much lighter. He was less disgusted with his second son. "I also brought a lot of things with me. They were all packed by Young Master Liu's mother. There are also a lot of good food. I'll share them with you later."

"Okay, okay!" Lin Zheyun chuckled.

Lin Weiming watched the twins rummaging through things and let them do as they pleased. He jumped off the carriage and clearly saw the villagers' amused and curious attitude.

However, the exam results haven't come out yet, so he couldn't say for sure that his son would pass. He gave a vague and evasive answer: "Well, they wouldn't let me in during the exam, so I don't know how I did."

The villagers burst into laughter.

How can a father be allowed to enter the exam room?

Of course, it's understandable that we don't know how well we did on the exam.

Master Cui also floated over, looking at Lin Zhongyuan with anticipation, trying to discern something from his face.

Did this child do well on the test?

He was almost frantic with worry!

However, even if the child feels they did well on the test, the final decision rests with the examiner, and only a high score from the person reviewing the paper counts as a good result.

It's just a simple exam for becoming a Xiucai (a scholar who has passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations). The papers are graded by people from the prefectural city, so there's no need to worry too much about factional disputes.

Master Cui felt slightly more at ease, but he still lingered around Lin Zhongyuan.

...

Back home, Liu Junlan and Xuefu were already waiting outside the door.

“Um…” Liu Junlan took Lin Wanyue from Lin Weiming’s hands. She seemed to want to ask Lin Zhongyuan how he did on the exam, but she didn’t say it. She just said, “You must have worked hard these past few days. You’ve lost so much weight. Your mother made some soup for you. Go and drink some to help yourself.”

“No need.” Lin Weiming raised an eyebrow and said, “He’s gained several pounds in the past few days. He’s been eating lots of meat and fish every day, and his belly is starting to stick out.”

"Dad, what are you saying!" Lin Zhongyuan immediately pulled his stomach in, feeling a little guilty.

The Lin family's meals were already quite good compared to the villagers. They could eat meat every few days, and they didn't sell a single egg this year, saving them all for their children to nourish their bodies.

However, compared to the Liu family's diverse array of meat and vegetable dishes, it paled in comparison by more than a hundredfold.

The Liu family, accustomed to eating rich and fatty foods, didn't care much for these dishes and took them away after only a few bites.

Lin Zhongyuan and Lin Weiming couldn't bear to see food wasted, so the father and son duo tacitly helped clean up all the leftovers, but the way they cleaned them up was by dumping them all into their own stomachs.

"Go away!" Xuefu glanced at her husband, patted her son's shoulder, and spoke up for him: "What do you know? Even if our son has been eating a lot these days, the exams are still very tough. It's only right that he drinks some soup to nourish his body."

The children in the family gathered around Lin Zhongyuan, asking him about the exam.

Lin Wanyue was held in her elder brother's arms, but she noticed that Master Cui had drifted away at some point.

Master Cui was in his study at this time.

He smoked one cigarette after another, as if trying to inhale all the pent-up emotions of the past few days into his lungs.

The billowing mist quickly enveloped the entire small meditation room.

The little pink butterfly and Laifu, who lived with him, coughed from the choking.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Little Pink Butterfly laughed at him: "Even if you are incompetent, I think that child Zhongyuan is quite talented. If you don't believe in yourself, you should believe in this child, right? What are you doing hiding here smoking? You're really useless."

"..." Master Cui's eyes flickered, but he did not move.

He continued to squat in the corner of the meditation room smoking, but he no longer looked like he wanted to smoke himself to death.

Yes, he should believe in Zhongyuan!

They are, after all, good students I taught.

…

Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu each stood beside their older brother, asking with equal curiosity, "Brother, do you think you can pass the exam? If you don't, will you still have to study with us?"

The two of them were a little worried.

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