Nangong Ya was a somewhat gentle and beautiful woman. Su Rong didn’t expect her examination papers to be vastly different from others’.
However, she quickly realized why. Nangong Ya grew up relying on her father, without a mother, and although her father never remarried, he was frail. She must have suffered a lot. Thus, despite her gentle appearance, it was not surprising that she developed a resilient personality.
The Hall was very quiet, only the sound of pens on paper could be heard.
Su Rong was unlike the Nanchu King, she walked around the room, pausing now and then, her steps light as she observed the future officials answering their papers.
The Nanchu King sat above, watching the students quietly at work, then shifted his gaze to Su Rong. He didn’t witness Su Rong’s growth, but he knew when she was a child, the thing she disliked most was studying. She used to have someone else complete her assignments, a boy named Chen Zhou, who even struggled to copy her terrible handwriting. Later on, her family had him dispatched, forcing her to apply herself more to her studies. Eventually, that boy took the imperial examinations in Daliang and passed. He is now an official in Daliang.
Looking at her now, she truly resembles a princess.
The more the Nanchu King looked at his daughter, the more relieved he felt. She was indeed his daughter.
Three examination questions, three different types of questions. Those who made it to the Palace Examination were naturally of true talent. With Xie Yuan and Mister Cui in charge of the examination, considering all aspects and being very stringent, there was no chance of cheating in the examination. The Nanchu King could see that everyone was answering their papers earnestly.
Finally, Su Rong stopped in front of Nangong Che. She stood by his side, watching him answer, noting the Nangong scholar, who surpasses both of his cousins from the Cui Family. He hesitated slightly with his pen, but then quickly focused and continued to write. His writing was fluid.
Halfway through, Nangong Che ran out of ink. As he was about to put down his pen to grind more ink himself, he saw a pair of dainty hands roll up their sleeves to help him do it.
Nangong Che looked up abruptly, surprised to see Su Rong.
Su Rong’s eyes were calm, while she remained silent, gesturing for him to continue.
Nangong Che lowered his head, pausing for a moment before silently continuing to answer the questions.
The Nanchu King, dissatisfied with the situation, ordered a Eunuch standing by him, "Go and summon Zhou Gu."
The eunuch looked at His Majesty speechlessly, suggesting in a low voice, "Your Majesty, that might not be a good idea. The princess is just appreciating talent. Shall I assist Nangong Che in grinding the ink instead? Calling the princess’s husband here might make him jealous."
The Nanchu King lowered his voice and snorted, "What do you know? Just do as I tell you. Go."
The eunuch had no choice but to comply seeing His Majesty insist.
Zhou Gu was off duty today. Su Rong had asked him in the morning if he wanted to attend the Palace Examination. Zhou Gu felt relieved to have a day off and didn’t want to give that up. He had not had a proper lie-in for ages.
Hence, when the eunuch came to call him, Zhou Gu groggily asked, "What’s going on? I’ve already told the princess, I’m not going to the examination."
The eunuch shook his head, "It’s the King who asked me to call for you."
Zhou Gu sat up straight, obviously taking it more seriously upon hearing it was his father-in-law who had sent for him, "What does my father-in-law want? Why did he want me to come?"
The eunuch hesitated for a moment before he truthfully relayed the situation of Su Rong personally helping Nangong Che grind the ink, which probably made the King uneasy, hence his call for Zhou Gu.
Zhou Gu immediately stood up, "Let’s go."
The eunuch followed him quietly, thinking to himself that the King really wasn’t afraid of causing a disturbance between the princess and her husband.
Being in the palace, Zhou Gu quickly reached the Golden Hall.
When he arrived, he motioned for the eunuch not to announce his presence and saw the situation inside the hall. As expected, Su Rong was standing in front of a somewhat thin man’s desk, personally grinding ink for him.
Zhou Gu watched expressionlessly for a moment, then shifted his gaze, walking towards the Nanchu King.
When His Majesty saw his son-in-law had arrived, he looked at Zhou Gu.
Zhou Gu moved next to him, leaning in and said in a soft voice: "Father-in-law, Xiaoqi is your dear daughter, right? Why are you doing this to her? Why did you call me here? To pick a fight with her? This is the Palace Examination, not a place for fighting. I can’t ruin my good reputation."
In other words, even though he was here, he couldn’t just drag Su Rong away, losing his temper, getting jealous. It would be completely improper.
The Nanchu King stared at him, "I treat you like my own son. What are you talking about? I just want you to be aware of it. Even as the Princess’s husband, you should be aware of potential threats. It’s your day off today, and you didn’t come with Xiaoqi, your lack of awareness is alarming."
Zhou Gu accepted his father-in-law’s goodwill, and whispered, "I hear you. You are making sense."
He waved for the eunuch to bring a chair over, placing it next to the Nanchu king and sat down by his side.
Su Rong, who had been carefully observing Nangong Che answer his paper while grinding the ink, turned her attention to the king’s side at the commotion. She was surprised to see Zhou Gu had come. She raised an eyebrow.
She remembered clearly, this morning when she woke Zhou Gu up, he buried his head, pulled the covers over himself, wrapping himself up from head to toe, saying in a muffled voice that he was too tired to get up, had no interest in going to the examination.
When she asked Zhou Gu, "Aren’t you practicing sword-fighting?"
Zhou Gu replied without showing his face, "A day off won’t make any difference."
Su Rong had no choice but to attend the palace examination on her own, thinking let him be lazy on his day off if he wanted! So, she was surprised to see him now.
But it was late in the day now, already more than half of the Palace Examination had been completed. He got up out of curiosity. That wasn’t strange. However, she had no idea that it was her own father who had deliberately called him over.
Zhou Gu glanced at her and pointed at the ink in her hand, gesturing for her to continue grinding, without any intention of disrupting her.
Su Rong drew her gaze back, continued to grind ink for Nangong Che while re-focusing her attention on his examination paper.
Nangong Che seemed to be in a state of oblivion, his pen continually moving, creating a coherent flow of words on the paper, attracting Su Rong’s attention.
She thought, it was right for her not to oppress the Nangong surname who were abandoned by the Nangong Family and stayed in Nanchu. Just for this man, Nangong Che, it was worth her doing all this.
The title of Number One Scholar belongs to no one else but him.
Zhou Gu sat for a while, and finally couldn’t sit still any longer. He noticed that Su Rong was indeed attracted by someone else. That couldn’t stand. He also wanted to see how this Nangong Che, was able to captivate Su Rong, who had already seen his preliminary examination paper and should have a general understanding of his abilities, to the point she couldn’t take her eyes off right at this Palace Examination.
Hence, he walked over slowly and quietly stood next to Su Rong.
Just as Su Rong’s wrist started to feel sore, she immediately took Zhou Gu’s hand, asking him to grind the ink.
Zhou Gu: "..."
Already been attended by the princess personally was not enough, he as the princess’s husband also had to grind ink for him. What a talent this man must be.
He didn’t resist, obediently taking over the task from Su Rong while examining Nangong Che’s answers. He read quickly, soon catching up with Nangong Che’s writing pace, and for a moment, he too became engrossed.
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