"I'll learn on my own. Nowadays, martial arts practitioners run rampant, and the imperial court is weak and helpless. I just want to fight for justice for the people of the world." Fang Zhiyi thought of the ordinary people who died under Jiang Gucheng's sword.
These words silenced Li Xiucai.
for a long time.
"Bring me the paper, I want to personally vouch for Fang Zhiyi!" Li Xiucai said resolutely.
Wang Ergou looked completely bewildered throughout. He couldn't understand the affairs of these scholars, but now it seemed to have worked out, which relieved him.
In the following days, Fang Zhiyi did not study properly. Instead, he went to the yamen to submit his application. Li Xiucai also handed him the insurance policy while leaning on his cane. If there was any falsification of identity or cheating in the examination, he would also be implicated.
Then Wang Ergou became Fang Zhiyi's money bag. He followed Fang Zhiyi and started going from street to street, which meant giving gifts to the neighbors and doing chores for them. For a while, many people were quite curious. Could it be that Fang Zhiyi had turned over a new leaf?
Therefore, when the authorities came to investigate, no one spoke ill of Fang Zhiyi. Putting aside his recent work for everyone, they couldn't undermine him because of their past relationship.
However, when they learned that Fang Zhiyi was going to participate in the scientific expedition, everyone was puzzled.
As a witness, Wang Ergou felt that his worldview had been impacted. Fang Zhiyi had participated in three exams in a row, from the county exam to the prefectural exam, and almost always ranked in the top three.
Only after completing all three exams did Fang Zhiyi finally obtain the official exam qualification.
However, Wang Ergou couldn't take it anymore. He had only heard that the exam cost money, but he didn't expect it to cost this much. Just to obtain the exam qualification, Fang Zhiyi had spent all his money. Wang Ergou had no choice but to go back to the branch to ask for money.
People in the martial arts world have no concept of scientific expeditions. Listening to Wang Ergou recount every expense Fang Zhiyi made, many of which were spent on gifts, the leader of the branch, though disdainful, expressed his understanding. Although the branch didn't have much money, he still had some private savings, and now he could only grit his teeth and bear it.
After Wang Ergou left excitedly, he locked himself in his room and carefully pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper from under the table to examine it.
"The Plan for the Branch of the Shrouding Heaven Sect"
He didn't understand what a business plan was. Looking at the steps and expected outcomes described, the old man reached out and stroked each word carefully. Had he made the right bet?
A rumor circulated among the candidates that a self-taught individual had won first place in the provincial examination.
Fang Zhiyi's name began to appear on people's lips, especially the residents of Yangcheng Street, who all stood up proudly.
"See that? The top scorer in the provincial examination is from our area!"
"He even took one of my pears back then!"
"That's nothing! I used to chase after him and beat him up!"
When the news of Fang Zhiyi's success in the imperial examination arrived, Li Xiucai burst into tears: "A genius! A genius!"
"You're really shameless. Of all these articles, which one did you write yourself? You copied them all from other people's work," Xiao Hei mocked.
Fang Zhiyi chuckled: "What do you know? How can you call it copying when it's something a scholar does? It's called learning from others!"
Fang Zhiyi went even further during the palace examination. While other candidates were frowning and pondering, he even wrote three essays from different perspectives, a move that astonished the chief examiner.
Everything went smoothly. Fang Zhiyi had given gifts in advance, was low-key and easy to get along with, and topped the list in the provincial examination that year.
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