From the early morning of February 9th to the evening of the 17th, after nine days and three examinations, even the most capable candidates were exhausted and looked like neither human nor ghost.

This is Beijing in February, where water freezes into ice. No matter how thickly you wear, if the stove is burning all the time, staying in a cell with only three walls for nine days can cost you your life.

The candidates were all holding on with one breath, and basically they all got seriously ill after coming out...

Look, out of the six people in Zhao Hao's family, five of them fell down in one breath, even Mr. Zhao Erye, who was usually resistant to cold, was not spared.

However, Jin Xuezeng, who is the thinnest, is still full of energy.

After thinking about it, I can only say that it was because I had been frozen for eight days before, so I might have gotten used to it...

This made the princess very nervous. She couldn't visit the patient in person, so she sent six imperial doctors to treat the patient.

The imperial physician next door, Old Wang, even lived directly in the Zhao residence, taking care of the six scholars day and night...especially the illness of the oldest one.

With the eldest princess' strong concern, the imperial doctors' superb medical skills, and Zhao Hao's secret recipe of boiling willow bark, the six patients recovered quickly one after another.

By the 28th, they were all full of life again.

"Thank you, Master, for giving me a new life." As soon as he regained his energy, Wang Wuyang quickly made up for the flattery he had owed. "From now on, my life is given by Master."

"Not bad, not bad." Master Zhao actually enjoyed such disgusting flattery. He patted his eldest disciple on the shoulder and told him to do what he was supposed to do.

Then Zhao Hao said to Mr. Zhao Er, who was still a little gloomy,

"Dad, don't you think it's time to go to the Princess's residence to express your gratitude?"

He thought to himself that his mother hadn't seen his father for a month and a half, so she must have missed him badly.

"Well, just go ahead."

Mr. Zhao turned over and faced the kang, looking listless.

"What's the point of me going?" Zhao Hao pouted.

Ever since he caught his godmother and biological father in an affair during the Lantern Festival, he has never visited the eldest princess.

Of course, it wasn’t because I was embarrassed, but because I was afraid that my godmother would be embarrassed.

At least you should let your old lover explain first and make sure that you really don't mind, and then you can go back to your godmother's lap to enjoy her love, right?

As a result, Mr. Zhao refused to go, making it impossible for Zhao Hao to do his work.

"Tell me, what happened?" Zhao Hao patted his father on the back and asked:

"Did you not do well in the exam? Are you too embarrassed to face people?"

"Hmm..." Mr. Zhao replied after a long while, and then turned around after another long while, and said to his son with a guilty look on his face:

"As a father, I feel sorry for my ancestors and for you. I have been idle all day, drinking too much and neglecting my studies."

"Father... I failed the first test..." He mustered up the courage to tell Zhao Hao:

"I only did six out of seven questions and didn't do the last one. I'm sure there's no hope..."

"Uh..." Zhao Hao thought to himself when he heard that. You can fail the test even when I give you questions in advance. You are really not good at anything. Eating is your first priority.

However, Mr. Zhao is a gigolo.

Isn't it more awesome to be the best at living off others than to be the top scholar in the imperial examination?

So Zhao Hao quickly adjusted his mentality and comforted his father:

"What's wrong with me? Who hasn't had a bad performance?"

"I'm not boasting about my father's behavior. I have been abnormal more often than I have been normal."

Mr. Zhao was like a child who had made a mistake, with tears streaming down his face.

"Don't you think our ancestors would be furious?"

"Uh..." Zhao Hao thought to himself, I was just being sentimental, so he smiled and said, "It's okay, this is fate, our ancestors must have figured it out."

"Oh, I see." Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhao put down his big bag, then started to worry about the small bag and said, "Then what about your grandfather..."

"Just don't go back to Yangzhou," Zhao Hao hoped that Mr. Zhao would stay in the capital and stay with his mother forever, so he smiled and said:

"He can't come to Beijing."

"Yeah. At most, you can just read the letter from the old man, but don't tell me." Mr. Zhao put down the small bag again, then suddenly hugged his son, patted his back hard, and whispered:

"In fact, as a father, the one I feel most sorry for is you..."

Zhao Hao was stunned for a long time after hearing this. He couldn't understand what Mr. Zhao meant.

Could it be that Dad already knows that the so-called dreams from ancestors were all made up by me?

Zhao Shouzheng let him go, wiped his tears with his sleeve, and said heartlessly again: "Let's drink today. Before the results are announced, I want to drink to my heart's content!"

"The results will be announced tomorrow..." Zhao Hao said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "I suggest you drink it tomorrow."

"That won't work. Let's drink to drown our sorrows tomorrow." Zhao Shouzheng shouted, "Every drink tastes bitter."

Forget it. No matter whether Mr. Zhao is really confused or pretending to be confused, it makes no difference anyway.

~~

The next morning, Zhao Hao and his disciples carried the drunken Master Zhao onto a carriage and rushed to the Ministry of Rites to check the list.

As soon as the carriage arrived at Dongjiang Mixiang, a traffic jam occurred again.

The streets were crowded with people going to the Ministry of Rites to see the list.

"Forget it, let's just walk there."

Zhao Hao jumped off the carriage, and Yu Shensi and Yu Shenxing also helped Mr. Zhao get off the carriage.

"Brother Gao, clear the way!"

Gao Wu nodded, and waited until everyone got off the car before he uttered:

“Charge!”

So the eight men from Caijia Lane used the same trick again and escorted Zhao Hao and his party all the way to the south wall of the Imperial Examination Hall.

On the south wall, the apricot board had been pasted, but it was covered tightly with apricot-yellow silk cloth and surrounded by a fence.

Everyone who was looking at the list was itching to get a chance to win, but no one dared to go beyond the line and could only wait for the results to be announced at noon.

Zhao Hao and others squeezed in, which naturally attracted the dissatisfied gazes of people around them.

"Hey, isn't this Brother Zhao Nian?" Then a strange voice sounded from the side. "I heard that you were the last one to leave the examination room during the first exam?"

Zhao Hao and his disciples looked over angrily and saw that it was a scholar who was less than 30 years old, but he looked unfamiliar.

Only Jin Xuezeng knew him and whispered to his master, "This is our classmate Huang Jieyuan. He seems to have a grudge against our master."

"Oh..." Master Zhao slapped his forehead suddenly, pointing at Huang Jieyuan and saying, "I remember now. Aren't you the one...who wanted to rape Zheng Yanru... Ugh, Huang Hongxian?"

Mr. Zhao was hungover, and the crowd made him feel dizzy and nauseous, and he accidentally swallowed the "He Lou".

His words have changed...

Immediately, the candidates around started talking excitedly.

"Wow, Huang Jieyuan is pretty awesome. But who is Zheng Yanru?"

"She was the most beautiful girl in Jinling two years ago..." someone who knew about the matter introduced.

"Fuck, what a beast!" The candidates immediately shared a common hatred and wished they could eat Huang Jieyuan alive.

You dare to rape even the oiran? Are you still a human being?

Huang Jieyuan hurriedly tried to explain, but with everyone cursing at him, how could he hear clearly?

If it weren't for the fact that Cidie was surrounded by a bunch of burly men, Huang Jieyuan would have fought with him.

"I'll wait until the results are announced soon, how can you still be so proud?"

Huang Hongxian decided to hold it in for the time being. When the list of top scorers for the imperial examination came out, he would be the top scorer. After this guy failed, who would listen to his nonsense?

By then, won’t you, the loser, be humiliated by this leader without being able to say a word of resistance?

He was just imagining the scene of Ci's father kneeling in front of him, stunned, when he suddenly heard a sound of cloud board in the courtyard of the Ministry of Rites.

It's Chen time.

The two officials from the Ministry of Rites who were guarding the Xingbang slowly peeled off the apricot-yellow silk.

The names of the 403 tribute scholars of the Wuchen year appeared in front of everyone.

Although they didn't hold out much hope, Zhao Hao and his son still looked at the huge list that looked like a long scroll.

However, they knew their own limitations and did not dare to look from the front to the back. Instead, they looked from the back to the front.

You know what, the first one is Mr. Zhao’s name.

"Hey, son, I got it?!" Zhao Shouzheng rubbed his eyes in disbelief and said, "Did you drink too much?"

"Well, congratulations, Dad, you are a tribute scholar!"

Zhao Hao was immediately delighted.

What happened to the last one?

That only means that Mr. Zhao's luck is unbeatable.

ps. The fifth update, 9200 votes plus more, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~~