Qi Han, who has always been high-profile, praised by the entire Qi family and is called the hope of the village, only ranked 20th in the exam. On the contrary, Qi Sheng and Yun Lan, who were silent, ranked first and ninth respectively. What does this mean? A full bottle does not make a sound, but a half-full bottle makes a noise?
In fact, there were forty-five people who were awarded the qualification of scholar in this academy examination. Qi Han was above average, but no one cared about that. They only knew that he was not as good as Qi Sheng and Yun Lan.
After Yun Yuan accompanied Qi Sheng back to the county town to attend the teacher appreciation banquet, she stayed in the provincial capital. Song Xuan also brought his wife and children over. The two families lived next to each other and had a harmonious relationship.
Song Xuan is a bastard son in his family. He knew from a young age that he had to fight for what he wanted by himself. He recognized Qi Sheng's potential, and unlike other students who were shy and timid, he wanted to make friends with others and did so openly, without hiding his purpose and without being annoying. He was able to grasp this balance and was a talented person.
He also passed the examination and became a scholar, ranking 23rd. Scholars were eligible to enter official schools, so he simply followed Qi Sheng to study in the provincial capital.
The official school in the provincial capital has a large collection of books, and the teacher is at least a juren, and there are also retired dignitaries in charge.
Although the principal of Songshan Academy was reluctant to part with his disciple Qi Sheng, he also knew that his academy could not compare with those in the provincial capital. After just a few months of spending time together, Qi Sheng had earned a small fortune for the academy, and he was very content.
In contrast to him, Qi Han's teacher in the town's private school regretted it so much that he was ranked 20th, third in their county. He would have been happy before, but compared with Qi Sheng and Yun Lan, he felt aggrieved no matter how he thought about it.
They were all my students before!
The overwhelming wealth almost fell on him, but he held an umbrella.
Qi Han also stayed in the provincial capital.
After knowing that Qi Sheng and Yun Lan stayed in the capital to study, Qi Han felt a sense of crisis. With the idea of surpassing them, Qi Sheng returned to his hometown and took away all his parents' savings. In order to keep quiet, he did not live in the academy, but continued to rent his previous house.
Seeing Song Xuan, whom he had invited earlier, enter Qi Sheng's house, Qi Sheng could no longer sit still and stopped Song Xuan.
"I didn't want to say this originally, but don't be fooled by Qi Sheng's behavior. We knew each other before, and Qi Sheng and I are from the same village.
To be honest, he is an orphan of unknown origin. My clansmen brought him home and raised him, working hard to support his education. However, he turned his back on his relatives and was cold-blooded. Before the imperial examination, he severed all ties with his clansmen, including his wife..." Qi Xuan interrupted the rest of his words.
He shook his head with a look of disappointment. "I know everything you're talking about. A sage once said, 'Those who judge others' gains and losses after the fact, nit-picking and refusing to let them off the hook,'" he said. "If you were in their situation, you wouldn't be able to do even a fraction of what they did. So, if you were Qisheng and were treated like that, would you be able to resist? Could you do better than them?"
Qi Han's face was burning. He didn't want what he had learned to become a sharp weapon to attack him one day. He wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
"I...I..." Qi Han was angry. "Qi Sheng is still the same, saying bad things about me behind my back. If not, how would you know?"
Song Xuan shook his head: "Qi Sheng has never said anything bad about you in front of others."
"Why?"
“If you don’t want others to know, don’t do it yourself.”
Qi Han's face turned red and white. There were at least twenty people from his county who came to the provincial capital to take the exam, if not thirty. What was there that he didn't understand?
His voice trembled: "You all know?"
Song Xuan didn't answer and walked away on his own.
Qi Han was in agony and asked a scholar with whom he had a good relationship. After repeated questioning, the scholar told him that not only was his father falsely accused and implicated, but also that his ex-wife bribed people to recognize her as her relative and was eventually divorced, and that he was forced to be adopted. Everyone knew about it.
Some people even dug up his past with Yun Yuan, saying that she picked up sesame seeds and lost watermelons, and now she has divorced his wife. How nice is Qi Sheng's wife? They met her when they were walking around. She has good manners and speaks softly. She gave birth to three children in one pregnancy, and she also gets a share of the warm money every month. Who wouldn't envy her?
Qi Sheng felt that everyone in school seemed to be laughing at him. He felt extremely tortured sitting in his seat every day and would run away as soon as the school was over. He knew that this was not a solution and told himself not to care.
But the more he told himself not to care, the more he cared, and the more he wanted to learn, the less he could continue. As the provincial examination was getting closer, Qi Han became anxious, and his whole body exuded a gloomy and irritable aura. His classmates all stayed away from him, and he was isolated.
He became addicted to drinking and liked the feeling of being high at the end, as if this was the only way he could temporarily let go of his worries.
Yunlan was also talked about by others, who said that he had a divorced sister and that his family tradition was not good. However, he was mentally strong due to his experience and never took the slanderous words to heart. Whenever he had time, he would discuss knowledge with Qisheng. With his hard work, his academic progress improved by leaps and bounds.
Yun Qiao was divorced and returned home. Her father and mother introduced her to her second husband from her previous life. Thinking of her life of hard work and poverty, her unfilial children, and the despair and pain before death, Yun Qiao screamed and stumbled away in panic, leaving everyone looking at each other in bewilderment.
Knowing that Qi Han and Yun Lan were in the provincial capital, Yun Qiao stole most of his mother's savings on a dark and windy night and left without looking back.
After spending two days and asking many people, Yun Qiao finally found out Yun Lan's whereabouts in the provincial capital. She knocked on the door of a house on Shuanggui Street. While waiting, she looked up at the high wall.
The naughty osmanthus poked its head out from inside. Under the carved eaves, two kittens were chasing and playing. Dragonflies flew by. The sky was very blue. She hid in the shadow where the sun could not reach, leaning against the wall, a little dazed.
"The master said he doesn't want to see you."
Yun Qiao murmured, "How can I not see you? I'm Yun Lan's sister."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
