Chapter 665 Siblings Reunite (Second Update)
At Tianqiong Academy, the weather turned sour as school was about to end. The classrooms were stuffy and sticky, and everyone felt like they could hardly breathe.
Even with the doors and windows wide open, it was still difficult for a cool breeze to blow in.
The students here are not from very poor families; everyone is quite well-mannered, and there is no unpleasant smell.
Gu Jiao sat in the last row, with Mu Qingchen to her left and the back door to her right.
Her position allows her to breathe enough fresh air.
Zhou Tong, sitting in the front row, was drowsy.
Firstly, he was feeling stuffy from the weather, and secondly, he had been staying up all night painting.
During the lecture, Master Gao was explaining the Shang Gao Theorem, which is the Pythagorean theorem that Gu Jiao learned in her previous life.
"Zhou Tong!"
Suddenly, Master Gao called out the roll.
Zhou Tong trembled and stood up, looking completely bewildered.
Master Gao said calmly, "You tell me the answer to this question."
Zhou Tong swallowed hard.
What kind of question is this? What's the answer?
"Eighty," Gu Jiao said softly, her face expressionless.
Mu Qingchen looked at Gu Jiao strangely.
Zhou Tong straightened his back and shouted loudly, "Eighty!"
Master Gao glanced at Zhou Tong suspiciously, then looked behind Zhou Tong.
There were only two people behind Zhou Tong: Mu Qingchen and Xiao Liulang. Mu Qingchen would not give the answers, and Xiao Liulang never listened in class and copied all his homework.
"Hmm," Master Gao responded, gesturing for Zhou Tong to sit down.
Zhou Tong breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
After class, Mu Qingchen picked up the questions the teacher had assigned recently, pointed to one, and asked Gu Jiao, "What's the answer?"
"I don't know," Gu Jiao replied without hesitation.
"How about this question?" Mu Qingchen changed the question.
"I don't know either," Gu Jiao said.
Mu Qingchen frowned at her: "How come you know this just because Zhou Tong asked you?"
Zhou Tong can't do it, and neither can you?
Gu Jiao casually replied, "I didn't know how to do it, I just guessed."
Before long, Gu Xiaoshun ran to find Gu Jiao: "Liu Lang, let's go back!"
"Hmm." Gu Jiao began packing her books, looking nonchalant, as if she were naturally uninterested in studying.
Mu Qingchen gave her a deep look and said, "Have you thought about taking the imperial examination next time?"
“I’m not from the State of Yan,” Gu Jiao said.
Mu Qingchen said, "Any student of the academy can participate in the imperial examination."
The State of Yan was a superior state that highly valued talent, as evidenced by its practice of establishing underground martial arts arenas in various states to select martial arts prodigies.
Although the imperial examinations mostly favored candidates from within the country, exceptional candidates were sometimes admitted.
There have been many such precedents over the years.
If you pass the exam, what's a mere city seal? You might even get permanent residency in the Yan Kingdom.
"Don't you want to stay in Yan?" Mu Qingchen asked.
"Out of a thousand candidates, is there even one who can stay?" Gu Jiao asked rhetorically.
……Disaster.
The civil service examination in Yan was the most difficult among the six states, not only because of its wide scope and numerous subjects, but also because of the large number of candidates.
Eighty percent of the candidates were from their own country, while the remaining twenty percent were outstanding students from the five countries. Domestic candidates received bonus points, and candidates from Liang and Jin also received a small number of bonus points. Only the candidates from the lower countries had the most brutal selection mechanism.
Therefore, it is easy to imagine how difficult it would be for Gu Jiao to stand out from the crowd of candidates.
Mu Qingchen said, "I think you can give it a try."
Gu Jiao waved her hand: "Forget it." She would be overwhelmed just writing the eight-legged essay; it would be more appropriate to let Xiao Heng take the exam.
"What about the military examination?" Mu Qingchen asked, changing her approach when she saw that Mu Qingchen wasn't interested in the civil examination.
Gu Jiao was puzzled: "Why are you suddenly so concerned about my exam?"
Mu Qingchen emphasized again: "If you pass the exam, you can stay in Yan."
Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow at him: "Why should I stay in Yan? Or do you want me to stay in Yan? Mu Qingchen, you wouldn't happen to have taken a liking to me, would you?"
"You—" Mu Qingchen was speechless, and turned his face away coldly, "You're a man, how could I possibly be interested in you!"
"Good to know." Gu Jiao packed the last book in, picked up her book bag, and said, "Let's go!"
"It's going to rain!" Mu Qingchen reminded her, watching her retreating figure.
Gu Jiao didn't turn around, but simply waved her hand to indicate that she understood.
"Sister, it looks like it's really going to rain; it's getting dark." On the path leading out of the academy, Gu Xiaoshun looked at the dark clouds overhead and said, "Are you still going to teach that little princess?"
“Go,” Gu Jiao said.
The little guy is so earnest; he can run all the way to the academy with just one question. She's afraid that if she doesn't go, he'll brave the rain and come to her house.
Even though I wouldn't actually be able to attend classes if I went, I still had to show up so as not to disappoint the children.
"Then I'll take the train to see you off," Gu Xiaoshun said.
Ever since they learned that Ma Wang was only two and a half years old, the family rarely let Ma Wang pull the cart, and usually only let it pull the millstone.
Fortunately, there was still a horse at home.
Gu Xiaoshun led the horse out and harnessed it to the carriage shaft.
He then went inside to get a cloak and a raincoat. When he came out, the horse pulling the cart had transformed into the Horse King, and the horse was standing far away in the alley.
Gu Xiaoshun scratched his head in disbelief: "What happened? Who switched it? How come it was you?"
He removed the shaft from the horse king, pulled the horse king inside, and then led the other horse over and harnessed it.
"Xiao Shun, have something to eat before you go!"
Nan Shi Niang called him from inside the house.
"I'll just bring two steamed buns!" Gu Xiaoshun hurriedly went into the house.
When he came out with the steamed buns in his pocket, the horse pulling the cart had become the king of horses again!
"No, this..."
Gu Xiaoshun was bewildered: "Sister!"
Gu Jiao came out, looked at the horse king, then at the horse beside him that had been frightened by the horse king, and said, "Come out."
The horse king remained unmoved.
This means they absolutely have to go out.
Gu Xiaoshun: "Sister."
Gu Jiao said, "Never mind, you go inside, I'll go by myself."
"Oh." Gu Xiaoshun scratched his head, turned around and went into the house. "...Actually, I'm not heavy either."
Gu Jiao got into the carriage, and with a whoosh, the carriage sped away!
The horse was fast, and Gu Jiao didn't get wet on the way until she entered the mansion, when the rain started to fall.
The heavy rain continued unabated, showing no signs of letting up.
Gu Chengfeng hid in the tree for a while, but was eventually discovered.
He didn't know how they found out, since he hadn't given anything away.
There were four officers in total, all of whom were skilled in martial arts. In the past, Gu Chengfeng would not have had much trouble dealing with them, but the wound on his leg was too painful. He escaped from the four men at the cost of suffering minor injuries.
The four men were seriously injured and collapsed on the ground, and it would be difficult to catch up with them for the time being.
The worst fear is that a second wave of officials will come after us.
In Gu Chengfeng's view, it was completely unnecessary to make such a fuss over a mere slave, but at the same time he also understood that what they had captured was not a slave, but the rules.
If everyone followed his example and left, who would be willing to stay and work in the mine?
They want to capture him and kill him as a warning to others.
Gu Chengfeng walked along the official road he had come from, and after walking for an unknown amount of time, he finally arrived at a bustling street.
The prosperity of Shengdu was incomparable to that of Zhaodu. Even in the heavy rain, there were still many vendors setting up stalls on both sides of the street, pedestrians hurried along the road, and shops were full of customers.
Gu Chengfeng braved the heavy rain, trudging through the wet streets.
His head hurt, and he felt cold.
Suddenly, he was bumped by a man walking towards him.
The man cursed loudly, "Can't you watch where you're going?!"
Gu Chengfeng ignored him.
Anyway, he wouldn't understand it.
On his way to Shengdu, he was imprisoned with a group of slaves from lower states, so he didn't have many opportunities to learn the Yan language.
After walking for a while, his head began to throb with pain, and his mind became foggy.
Based on his past experience with illness, he should have a high fever.
He found an open space under the eaves and sat down against the cold wall.
"Hey! Get out of here!" a beggar yelled. "This is my territory!"
Gu Chengfeng glanced at him, too lazy to move.
The beggar pointed with his stick at the brand on the outside of his right calf: "So you're a slave, huh? You dare to compete with me for territory!"
In the state of Yan, slaves were even lower in status than beggars; they were not human beings, but commodities, like cats and dogs.
Gu Chengfeng couldn't understand what he was saying. He was too tired and just wanted to lean on it for a while.
He didn't want to cause trouble either.
But this person was so noisy that they even hit him with a pole.
Gu Chengfeng could crush him with a flick of his finger, but he was nothing more than a crippled old beggar.
Why bother arguing with someone like that?
Gu Chengfeng used to be calculating.
But not anymore.
After experiencing so much injustice and abuse, this unfriendly attitude is nothing to worry about.
Gu Chengfeng was so annoyed by the noise that he dragged his tired body away.
He collapsed in a flooded alley.
People came and went at the alley entrance, but no one noticed that someone had fainted there.
Finally, a carriage stopped nearby, and a middle-aged woman, adorned with jewels and dressed in flamboyant attire, entered the rouge shop next door with a charming maid.
As the two women emerged from the cosmetics shop, the young maid glanced over and spotted a figure on the ground: "Mama, there's someone over there!"
In the Yan Kingdom, only brothel madams were called "Mama".
The middle-aged woman glared at her and said, "How many times have I told you? This isn't a brothel anymore! It's become a theater! Call me Madam! Madam!"
"Yes, Madam!" The maid hurriedly corrected herself, thinking to herself that theaters and brothels were not much different.
"Alive or dead?" The middle-aged woman looked at the people in the alley. Gu Chengfeng was lying on the ground, his figure tall and slender, with a section of his hand bones that was exposed being delicate and long.
"Oh, she's quite pretty."
A middle-aged woman and her maid walked past, holding an umbrella.
The maid knelt down and touched his neck: "He's still breathing. Hmm? He seems to be talking."
The maidservant pressed her ear close to the ear.
"What did he say?" the middle-aged woman asked.
"He doesn't seem to be from Shengdu, and the Yan language he speaks is so strange..." The maid listened carefully for a while and finally understood a few words. "He said, 'Tianqiong Academy.' Madam, could he be a student at Tianqiong Academy?"
The middle-aged woman glanced at Gu Chengfeng, who was dressed in tattered clothes: "Have you ever seen a student from Tianqiong Academy dressed like this?"
The maidservant said, "That's true."
The middle-aged woman was experienced; she simply used her foot to lift up Gu Chengfeng's trouser leg, saw the brand on it, and smiled coldly: "So you're a slave. Alright, take you back."
Gu Chengfeng was lifted into the carriage by the maids and the coachman and thrown onto the cold floor.
The maid lifted the curtain and looked at a carriage approaching from the opposite direction. She said curiously, "Madam, look, that carriage doesn't have a driver!"
The middle-aged woman wiped the water droplets off her clothes with a handkerchief: "What's so strange about someone else's horse being obedient?"
That horse was bouncing around, running wildly like a fool.
(End of this chapter)
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