Chapter 90: Top of the Imperial Examination
The other party showed goodwill, and the two men came forward, bowed, and greeted him.
"Brother, are you also a student here to take part in the imperial examination?" Fan Chuntai asked.
After he said that, he looked at the slightly fat "book boy" beside him. Although he was older than the book boy, he looked quite young and had a fair complexion and no beard.
Fan Chuntai looked at the man only because the other person looked at him several times, as if he might be a man-eating beast.
The elegant young man smiled and said, "Indeed, meeting is destiny. May I know your names?"
"My name is Tang Xing, from Hanyun City."
"My name is Fan Chuntai, from Jinning."
The man exchanged greetings with them, then stated his name, "My name is Yu Xuan."
He didn't say where he was from, but he looked humble and not rude at all.
The two of them just thought that he didn't want to tell others about his hometown. They were not the kind of people who cared about this, not to mention that this was just their first meeting with Yu Xuan.
"I wonder what Brother Yu is looking at sitting here?" After the three of them exchanged greetings for a while, Fan Chuntai asked curiously.
Yu Xuan smiled and replied, "You guys just arrived at the Fulai Inn and don't know it yet, but it's really lively downstairs."
If they could understand Yu Xuan's smile, they would definitely find that smile means "watching the fun without minding the trouble"!
"I suppose you two know that there's a number one staying at the Fulai Inn?"
Fan Chuntai glanced at Tang Xing, and when Tang Xing nodded, he said, "Yes, we two knew about this, so we wanted to take advantage of this number one's talent!"
This joke made the three of them smile knowingly. After laughing, Yu Xuan said, "It would be great if all the students in the world thought like you do."
"Look at the people sitting in the middle of the hall." He pointed.
Tang Xing and Fan Chuntai looked in the direction he pointed, and saw several young men in luxurious clothes sitting together and talking. It was really strange. Normally, people like them would not bother to stay in an ordinary inn like Fulai Inn. As far as they knew, the most expensive inn in the capital was the one on the west side of the capital, and the head of Hanyun City who came with them was staying there.
Yu Xuan smiled mysteriously, "Of course they're here to make things difficult for the number one. I arrived early and heard everything clearly. They ostensibly want to meet with the number one and have already hired thugs to prevent him from taking the imperial examination..."
He didn't hide the fact that he had eavesdropped and spoke frankly about it.
"How could such a thing happen under the feet of the emperor?" Fan Chuntai blurted out in surprise.
Tang Xing coughed and smiled to smooth things over, "Don't be surprised, Brother Yu. He usually speaks bluntly."
Fortunately, Yu Xuan didn't mind being interrupted and just said, "Alas, the emperor can't see everything."
Tang Xing and Fan Chuntai were not in a hurry to eat. They held their breath and sat in the corner with Yu Xuan waiting.
If this is true, the two of them have no background and will be in trouble if they offend people in the capital. However, if it is really as Yu Xuan said, they will not sit idly by and will definitely find a way to inform the other party so that the other party can prepare in advance.
But let’s talk about the bottom.
Master Shen snapped open his folding fan and asked, "Why hasn't Pu Yixian come yet?"
"Could it be that he got wind of the news in advance and went into hiding?"
"I'll wait and see how talented Pu Yixuan is!"
Several people nearby either echoed or said a few words similar to what Master Shen said. After saying a few harsh words and seeing people around them looking at them sideways, they started talking about other things, but their voices were a little louder than before.
At this moment, a burly and strong young man in shorts came from the back kitchen of the inn. He held eight or nine teapots steadily in his hands and served tea to several tables.
"Here I come." Yu Xuan said.
"What's coming?" Fan Chuntai also whispered.
He looked up and saw a tall and thin scholar coming down the stairs opposite. He was carrying a book bag on his back and seemed to be leaving the inn.
If Fan Chuntai can see it, then of course others can see it too.
"Pah!" The young master surnamed Shen slammed his folding fan onto the table. Silence fell in the inn lobby, as if everyone's eyes were fixed on these few people. Some were indignant, some were gloating, and some looked worried.
The tall and thin scholar was also startled. He wanted to tiptoe down the stairs, but was directly brought forward by someone behind Master Shen.
"You, you, you...what are you going to do?" the man asked in panic.
"Puff." Ye He, who was standing next to Master Shen, was also among the top students in the imperial examination, but he was far behind Pu Yixuan. Master Shen from the capital had come here to vent his anger on his behalf. Seeing the legendary top scorer like this, he couldn't help but sneer, "So he's just like this."
The man who had just picked up the tall and thin scholar roughly untied the book bag on his back, turned the bag upside down, and the things inside fell out.
Among them is the writing of a tall and thin scholar.
Ye He walked over, picked it up, examined it for a few moments, then looked at the scholar whose face had turned pale with anger, and sneered, "This is not worthy of the top spot in this imperial examination! Pu Yixuan, you might have bribed the examiner!"
After these words were spoken, the whole audience fell silent. After all, this involved a sensitive topic.
Before those who couldn't stand it anymore could step forward to speak up for the tall and thin scholar.
The short-sleeved man holding the teapot suddenly looked up: "You... called me?"
The tall, thin scholar was so angry that he almost fainted. He spoke almost simultaneously with the short-sleeved man, "I'm not the best! What are you talking about?"
This time the silence was even worse than before, but...it started to take a strange turn...
It wasn't over yet. The short-sleeved man put down the eight or nine kettles in his hands, wiped his hands, walked up to the people in the center of the storm and said, "I am Pu Yixuan. Excuse me, were you calling me just now?"
Master Shen looked up at the short-sleeved man in front of him who was almost twice his size: "You..."
Ye He couldn't help but take half a step back.
"Are you Pu Yixuan?!" several people exclaimed.
Isn't this someone from the inn?!
Not only them, but everyone else's jaws dropped as well. They were all very familiar with this short-sleeved man; he was the one who carried their luggage. Some even saw him gliding up and down the stairs with several people's luggage on his back!
You know, the stairs in Fulai Inn are extremely steep, and some people are even out of breath after climbing to one floor!
"It's me." The man scratched his head. "What's wrong? What do you want to talk to me about? Do you want to compete with me?"
"Compare, compare what..." Mr. Shen seemed to have forgotten that he came here to vent his anger on Ye He. He even hid behind Ye He.
"Of course it's a competition of knowledge." The man laughed, "What else is there to compete for?"
The few people whose eardrums were nearly broken by his laughter: ...
Several people saw this misunderstanding and looked at the muscular man in shorts in front of them. Mr. Shen knew the current situation and he only brought these scholars with him today.
Mr. Shen had a good idea. His original intention was to recruit these people - after all, they were all students who could pass the imperial examination and could serve as his connections in the future.
This led to the current situation - it looked like all of them combined could be crushed to death by Pu Yixuan with just one finger!
Don't even mention being angry, Mr. Shen just wants to quickly find those thugs outside to protect himself.
Several students who had been talking so loudly lost their arrogance and were about to run away, but were stopped by a clear voice: "Aren't you going to apologize to this brother who has suffered such an undeserved disaster?"
Yu Xuan, who was originally in the corner upstairs, walked out from the darkness, and Tang Xing and Fan Chuntai hurriedly followed.
Ye He looked over fiercely: "Who are you?"
"Oh, so you are a thing?" Yu Xuan said slowly.
Ye He was already upset and said angrily, "I'm nothing!"
Before he could react, he was furious.
The tall, thin scholar packed up his bag. Yu Xuan repeated, "Aren't you going to apologize to this frightened brother?"
With Yu Xuan leading the charge, the students who had been hesitant and afraid to come forward finally felt like they had found their backbone and began to denounce these people: "Yes! You recognized the wrong person, aren't you going to apologize?"
"I didn't expect there would be such a person in the imperial examination."
"I don't know where your education is, you're always bullying others by taking advantage of your power!"
Originally, Master Shen wanted to write down the faces of these people and settle accounts with them one by one later, but as more and more people came, he could no longer remember them all.
So he just stared at Yu Xuan and said fiercely: "Just wait for me!"
Tang Xing and Fan Chuntai both looked at Yu Xuan worriedly.
In the end, the farce ended with the troublemaking student reluctantly apologizing and leaving in embarrassment.
...
Fan Chuntai's original idea was to tell the leader named Pu Yixuan to be careful against those people, but looking at the man in front of him who was almost twice as old as him, he opened his mouth and finally said what he had thought indignantly before...but why was it a little strange?
"Don't worry." Pu Yixian smiled brightly and patted Fan Chuntai affectionately with his palm-leaf fan-like hand. "I'll be careful!"
He explained to them that he just couldn't sit still, so he wanted to earn some money at the Fulai Inn. The boss hired him because he was strong and worked so efficiently.
He then went back to his work, leaving the students present disheveled in the wind: How lucky they are! This is tea personally served by the top-scoring imperial examination candidate. If they drink it, will they also rank among the top?!
Yu Xuan smiled and said, "Okay, it's time for us to go."
Tang Xing reasonably suspected that the student named Yu Xuan had wanted to help for a long time, but was hiding up there just to watch the fun!
Without Yu Xuan saying anything, Tang Xing guessed that he might be from Beijing, because he was very familiar with Beijing. Not only did he take them to the Beijing shopping mall, he also told them in detail about several delicious and non-greasy foods that they didn't have to worry about causing diarrhea. He also enthusiastically told them that a park was about to open in Beijing, and they could go there to play after taking the imperial examination before leaving. They would definitely be nervous after the exam, so it would be better to relax their body and mind.
The three of them spent half a day together, and then Yu Xuan said he had something to do and had to leave.
"Brother Yu, isn't he staying at the Fulai Inn?" Fan Chuntai asked in surprise.
Yu Xuan faced the resentful gaze of the man behind him and said, "I have a relative in the capital, and I'm staying at his house this time."
So the three of them separated. Tang Xing and Fan Chuntai were reluctant to let Yu Xuan go because he was humorous and polite, and he knew a lot of things. He could even offer new insights into articles that they had almost read to death, which made the two of them admire him very much.
But we just met by chance, and if we are destined to meet again, we will see each other again.
...
"I didn't expect that the second son of Lord Xu is so open-minded." Yan Xuanyu said casually as if saying "The weather is really nice today."
Li Zhongxian beside him handed over the teacup. He was the one who always followed His Majesty. Perhaps His Majesty did not notice it, but he did. His Majesty was now becoming more and more like a qualified emperor, and sometimes even showed the majesty of an emperor unconsciously.
But Li Zhongxian felt that His Majesty had remained the same as the one who let the little palace maid go that day.
There were many things that Li Zhongxian didn't dare to think about too carefully. For example, was the emperor's fierce and cold eyes really his former disguise?
No one knew that when His Majesty went to the temple to pray, he followed him and secretly made a wish, wishing that the cruel man would never come back.
He only knew that the Majesty in front of him was the one he had always taken care of.
Just like right now——
"I told you, the food in the palace is too good. You're no longer suitable to leave the palace with me. If you stand next to me, it will look strange to others and will attract attention." Yan Xuanyu took the teacup and drank a few sips happily. "Besides, I have several secret guards following me all the time. I don't need your few pounds of flesh to block me..."
The topic had strayed off topic. Yan Xuanyu drank some tea to calm himself down, then continued, "The Xu family... I remember settling accounts with Lord Xu, right? Regardless of before, Lord Xu has been working diligently ever since. If I had a child like Second Young Master Xu, I'd probably faint from rage."
When the Capital Military Academy was first established, it originally recruited young men with awkward or unfavored identities. Although it was called recruitment, everyone felt that they were "escorted as hostages." Therefore, a favored young man like the Second Young Master Xu would certainly not be sent to the Capital Military Academy.
Therefore, there are still many second-generation officials with bad behavior in Beijing, but they have been suppressed due to the tight situation in recent years.
Yan Xuanyu was willing to turn a blind eye. Since they were willing to raise such offspring, then they would do so.
In the future, sons will not inherit their fathers' official positions, but only those who are capable will take them. If I don't do anything, I will not have a good future.
However, if they start to have any bad intentions, Yan Xuanyu doesn't mind taking action to deal with them.
For example, the incident at Fulai Inn today.
He gave the second son of the Xu family two chances, but the other party showed no remorse.
The development of the matter was indeed beyond Yan Xuanyu's expectations - no, it had already developed in a dramatic direction.
He also didn't expect that the top scorer in this imperial examination looked more like a warrior than a scholar, and he even worked as a temporary waiter in the Fulai Inn.
There is indeed a saying that is an eternal truth... The ideas of a genius are not something that ordinary people can understand.
However, we cannot just let this matter go unnoticed because of this dramatic change. The second son of the Shen family and the candidate named Ye He really wanted to ruin Pu Yixuan.
At this time, Ye He did not know that no matter how talented he was, he would not be able to enter the officialdom.
When selecting talents, it is not only about outstanding talent and knowledge, but also about good character.
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