The results were to be announced on the second day; by morning, crowds packed the area under the imperial announcement board.
There were anxious scholars, waiting for their examination results. There were those guarding the board, waiting to find their prospective sons-in-law. Still, the majority were there simply to watch the spectacle unfold.
Every time the results were announced, it was a lively event, and this year was no different. On this day, the entire city of Daliang turned its attention to the Capital City.
After resting for a day and a night, Su Rong revitalized a portion of her vitality. On the day after the exams, she managed to get out of bed and dress up on time, without waiting for the lady of the house. She then proceeded to the front hall.
As expected, the lady of the house, her six sisters, and Su Xingze all had arrived at the front hall, and were waiting for breakfast.
Seeing her arrive, the lady of the house was very pleased, "You are right on time. I thought you would oversleep today!"
"How could I?" Su Rong sat down and, with a merry smile directed towards Su Xingze said, "I should be going to look at the board for brother."
"Let your brother go on his own." the lady of the house exclaimed: "It’s said that the crowd is so thick out there that there have already been several stampedes, with people being sent to the medical hall. You should rest at home, don’t go out."
Su Xingze glanced at the lady of the house, but remained silent.
The lady of the house sniffed disdainfully, "Why are you looking at me?"
The third sister whispered, "Mother, the eldest son is your own flesh and blood, you haven’t forgotten that right?"
You’re worried about the seventh sister getting trampled, but let the eldest brother go himself? Why aren’t you worried about the eldest brother getting trampled, or being grabbed for marriage?
The lady of the house coughed, "If he wasn’t my own son, I wouldn’t have sent someone early in the morning to gather information regarding the announcement and sit here waiting for the results."
Su Xingze seemed calm, "Let’s eat! After a while, the seventh sister will accompany me."
Su Rong glanced at Su Xingze. She didn’t voice her willingness to help him check the results. Such an important matter, how could he not personally go to look at the board?
The lady of the house had no objections.
Thus, after breakfast, Su Xingze and Su Rong took a carriage out of Dongsi Hutong together.
The streets today were noticeably crowded, filled with all manner of conveyances, all heading towards the same destination.
Half an hour later, they were only one street away from the place of the announcement, but their carriage could go no further. Su Rong lifted the curtain to take a peek outside, genuinely impressed by the mountaineers and sea of people.
She said to Su Xingze, "Brother, no wonder Duanhua repeatedly warned you of the possibility of being kidnapped for marriage under this crowd. If we both get separated in the crowd, and some random person happens to kidnap you, I would be unable to save you."
Su Xingze looked helpless, "She also said it seemed no one would dare to kidnap me."
"That’s not necessarily true. With the backing of the Eastern Palace and the Shen Residence, no one would dare to kidnap you under the board, but what about princesses of the imperial court? There have been years when princesses have kidnapped husbands, which was praised as a beautiful story. As far as I know, there are currently seven or eight unmarried princesses in the imperial court."
Su Xingze fell silent, "We can’t walk now, should we get off the carriage?"
"Getting off the carriage would be useless, we still wouldn’t be able to squeeze through the crowd." Su Rong didn’t want to push through the crowd; she figured Su Xingze wouldn’t want to either, so she suggested, "How about we go to the teahouse first? After the results are announced and the initial excitement fades, we can proceed. By then, there should be no one under the title, so we might have to wait for half a day."
Su Xingze nodded, "Alright."
So, the two of them got off the carriage and entered the nearest teahouse.
Just as Su Xingze was about to ask the waiter for a private room by the window, a man came down the stairs and called out to her, "Lady Feng?"
Su Rong found the voice familiar, but didn’t think it was directed at her.
Only when the man called "Lady Feng" for the second time and approached her with a surprised look did she realize, he was indeed calling her.
When Feng Ling first arrived in the Capital City, she accompanied Su Rong to dine at Zhuangyuan Building where they coincidentally ran into the talented scholar from Chuanxi, Lu Fengyan, and Zhao Shu. When Feng Ling introduced herself and mentioned her sister, she accepted the reputation of being referred to as "Lady Feng".
The man in front of them now was indeed Zhao Shu.
Su Rong hadn’t worn her veil today, and she hadn’t seen Zhao Shu since last time. She didn’t expect that he would recognize her, so she only smiled and greeted, "Young Master Zhao."
Zhao Shu was pleasantly surprised. He quickly bowed, "Lady Feng, I was upstairs and thought you looked familiar. I didn’t expect it to really be you." Once he finished, he shifted his gaze to Su Xingze who was standing next to her and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Su?"
Su Xingze responded with a bow, "Brother Zhao."
On the day of the examination, Su Xingze and Lu Fengyan made eye contact across the crowd. Afterward, at the Duke Residence, the two got acquainted. Later, Lu Fengyan invited Su Xingze out and through Lu Fengyan, Su Xingze also got to know Zhao Shu.
Zhao Shu was a naturally outgoing individual. Seeing the two together, he asked Su Xingze, "Brother Su, did you already know Lady Feng?" After speaking, he slapped his forehead, "Look at my memory, Lady Feng is from Jiangzhou and so are you, it’s not surprising that you know each other."
Su Xingze turned to look at Su Rong, his eyes seemingly saying, "Where did this Lady Feng come from? How did you deceive people again?"
Su Rong appeared calm and smiled, "I am accompanying my brother here to await the examination results. It’s too crowded, so we thought of finding a teahouse to wait. Young Master Zhao, are you doing the same?"
Zhao Shu was puzzled at the surnames of the supposed siblings but nodded and responded to Su Rong’s question, "Yes, Brother Lu and I booked a private room upstairs. If Lady Feng and Brother Su don’t mind, please join us. It is indeed too crowded outside."
Su Rong had no objections, "Thank you, Young Master Zhao."
Su Xingze also had no objections.
Zhao Shu led the pair upstairs where they saw two people seated inside the private room on the second floor. Apart from Lu Fengyan, there was also Lu Weiran.
On the day of the banquet at the Duke Residence, Lu Fengyan hadn’t gotten a chance to greet Su Rong properly. Seeing her now, he rose to his feet and bowed, "Lady Feng?"
Simultaneously, Lu Weiran, who had also risen, respectfully greeted, "Lady Su Qi!"
Lu Fengyan was taken aback and turned to look at Lu Weiran.
Lu Weiran also looked with surprise at Lu Fengyan. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Zhao Shu heard it clearly and was shocked, "Lady Su Qi?"
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Su Rong apologetically explained to Lu Fengyan and Zhao Shu, "My name is Su Rong, the youngest daughter of the Inspector of Jiangzhou. I am the seventh in line among my sisters. This is my eldest brother, whom I believe you’re both acquainted with."
"You, you..." Zhao Shu was extremely taken aback.
Lu Fengyan realized, "On the day at Zhuangyuan Building, Lady Su Qi did not disclose her name due to inconvenience."
"Yes, thus I used a veil to cover my face," Su Rong laughed, "I apologize for the misunderstanding."
Zhao Shu stammered, "No, no need, it’s, it’s alright."
His cold sweat broke out at the thought of how he had been dining on the rumour that Lady Su Qi had broken off her engagement with Young Master Zhou from the Duke Residence after the exam. He had heard of her creating quite a stir in the Capital City recently. Her name was mentioned alongside Zhou Gu, Duanhua Princess, the Crown Prince’s wife, the Crown Prince and others. At that time, he even told Lu Fengyan that such a humble girl surely had some great talents and he would love to meet her.
Lu Fengyan didn’t say anything, but he speculated that she must be a clever and highly skilled woman, stirring up storms in the Capital City with some definite purpose. Some people even whispered that she was the Nanchu Princess and the series of assassinations in the city targeted her. He thought to himself that she was indeed capable.
Who would have thought that Lady Su Qi was the Lady Feng they had met at Zhuangyuan Building that day.
He recalled how, after the incident, someone from the Eastern Palace discreetly asked him and Lu Fengyan to deny having seen the Feng siblings if asked. He was frightened for several days but, luckily, Brother Lu was steadier, reassuring him to follow the advice as the Eastern Palace was benevolent and they shouldn’t run into any trouble if they did as instructed.
Sure enough, there was no trouble during the examination, and no one had sought them out since then.
Compared to Zhao Shu’s unorganized rambling, Lu Fengyan was much more composed. He smiled, "Lady Su Qi, there’s no need to apologize. We met by chance that day and impression was that Master Feng’s family name was Feng. You didn’t deny it, and we misunderstood."
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