Chapter 121 Chapter 121 Robbery in the Street
In the following days, Fu Wenxiao and Yu Li stayed in the house to prepare for the palace examination.
To be precise, Fu Wenxiao stayed in the house concentrating on reading, while Yu Li stayed in the house to accompany him. When he had nothing to do, he would practice physical skills or go to the kitchen to find food.
In just a few days, she became familiar with everyone in the house.
In a blink of an eye, it was the day of the provincial examination.
Just after the Yin hour, the two woke up and got up to prepare.
This time they didn't have to eat breakfast outside. The servants in the house had already prepared breakfast for them, and they could eat breakfast before going to the examination room.
After breakfast, the two of them got on the carriage prepared by Xuanfu and headed to the examination hall.
It was still dark outside, and the sound of carriages and horses could be heard in the quiet streets and alleys. Countless scholars came from all directions in carriages.
Soon, many carriages gathered in front of the examination hall.
The carriage arrived near the examination hall.
Yu Li took a look and found that there were more scholars participating in the prefectural examination than in the county examination. The county examination was only attended by scholars from one county, and at most there were no more than one or two hundred people. However, the prefectural examination was attended by scholars from all the counties under Qing'an Prefecture who had passed the county examination, so the number of people was naturally large, with more than a thousand people.
Yu Li saw Chen Zhongxun and Yu Jingli in the crowd.
These two people also passed the county examination, so naturally they came to take part in the provincial examination.
The two of them came here in a carriage with other scholars. They stayed in an inn in the city. It would take some time to get here from the inn. The inn would help arrange a carriage to pick them up, and they only needed to pay some fees.
The provincial examination lasted for three days.
The rules are similar to those of the county examination. You enter the examination room in the morning and leave in the evening. You don't have to stay overnight in the examination room. Lunch will be provided in the examination room.
Of course, if the scholars want to bring their own food, they can do so, but generally speaking, they rarely do so, after all, it is more convenient to eat in the examination room.
Yu Li was satisfied that he didn't have to stay in the examination room for three days.
I heard that some prefectures are more strict, and scholars who want to take the prefectural examination have to stay in the examination room for three days before they can come out.
If Fu Wenxiao stayed in the examination room for three days, given the environment, he would definitely not be able to eat or sleep well. Given his current physical condition, he might not be able to endure it and would come out lying down.
Yu Li glanced at the people near the examination room, and as usual, he gave Fu Wenxiao some supernatural powers and said to him, "I'll pick you up in the evening, and you should study hard."
Fu Wenxiao responded with a smile.
After Fu Wenxiao got off the carriage, Yu Li sat in the carriage, lifted the curtain, watched him line up to enter, and couldn't help yawning.
She got up too early today and was still very sleepy, especially after transferring her supernatural powers to Fu Wenxiao. She was now sleepy and hungry, which did not feel very good.
After all the candidates entered the examination room, most of the carriages around the examination room had left, and the coachman asked her where she was going.
Yu Li said: "Let's go eat something first. Where can we find food nearby?"
The driver smiled and said, "It's still early, there's not much to eat on the street, why don't you go back to the mansion and let the cook there cook for you."
Unlike Shanping County, there is a curfew in the city. It is just past the hour of Mao now, and there are not many food vendors on the street, and there is not much food for sale near the examination hall.
Yu Li was a little disappointed and decided to go back home first.
When she got back home, she ate a big bowl of noodle soup and then went to bed for a nap.
In the evening, Yu Li took a carriage to pick up Fu Wenxiao.
Unfortunately today it started raining in the afternoon. Although it was just a drizzle, it still caused trouble for many scholars.
As soon as the scholars walked out of the examination room, they were drenched on the head.
Although it was just a light rain, they were still worried about getting wet. What if they got sick? The prefectural exam hadn't ended yet, and no one wanted to take the exam while sick.
There were quite a few people holding umbrellas waiting in front of the examination hall. They were the scholars' relatives or servants. When the scholars came out, they would hold umbrellas and go to greet them.
Yu Li held up an oil-paper umbrella and looked towards the examination room.
The driver also accompanied her with an umbrella and said, "Madam Fu, the ground is wet, be careful not to get your clothes wet. Otherwise, you can go back to the car and sit down. I will go pick up Mr. Fu."
Yu Li shook his head, "No, I'll go pick it up."
Since they were already here, it wouldn't be a big deal to just pick her up. She didn't want to trouble others too much.
The driver said nothing more after hearing this. In the past few days he had witnessed how good the relationship between the young couple was. The couple always went out in pairs and were reluctant to be separated.
Even when Madam Fu goes out shopping, Mr. Fu has to accompany her.
It’s okay for Madam Fu to want to pick up Mr. Fu in person.
Seeing Fu Wenxiao coming out, Yu Li went to greet him with an umbrella.
"Leave mother."
Fu Wenxiao smiled and called out to her. His voice was low and hoarse, but very pleasant to hear.
Yu Li held the umbrella high and held it above his head.
Although she has grown taller in the past few months, she is now only at the level of his chin. When she holds the umbrella above his head, she has to stand on tiptoe, which looks quite strenuous.
Fu Wenxiao took the umbrella from her hand, let her hold the exam basket, then stretched out his other hand and put it around her shoulders, as if holding her in his arms.
Yu Li was a little confused and looked up at him.
He smiled down at her and said, "This way you won't get wet."
The two of them were so close, it was like they were hiding under an umbrella, and it was indeed not easy for them to get wet, but was this too close?
Looking at the people around, they all brought an extra umbrella and gave it directly to the scholars, or tried their best to hold the umbrella high to shield the scholars taking the provincial examination from the rain, leaving most of their bodies exposed to the rain and getting wet.
Yu Li suddenly realized and said, "I'll bring an extra umbrella next time."
She felt that she had not thought it through this time. She only brought an umbrella when she came to pick him up, and she should have brought the driver's umbrella as well.
After hearing this, Fu Wenxiao smiled and said nothing. He took her to the carriage parked not far away in Xuanfu.
The coachman was standing by the carriage and when he saw the couple approaching with an umbrella, a look of nonchalance appeared on his face.
As expected, the young couple is very loving. Looking at the way they hold the umbrella, you can tell that they have a good relationship.
Yu Li didn't see the coachman's expression. When he got to the carriage, he urged Fu Wenxiao to get on.
She had noticed that he looked pale and not in good spirits.
After the two of them got on the carriage, Yu Li held his hand, gave him some supernatural powers, and asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Fu Wenxiao looked at her quietly, his brows softening, and said, "I feel much better now, but I'm a little hungry."
"Are you hungry?" Yu Li paused. There was no food in the carriage.
"Yeah." Fu Wenxiao said as if complaining, "The food prepared in the examination room is terrible and tastes bad. I really can't eat it."
Yu Li was really curious, "How bad is it?"
Since coming to this world, she has never felt that any food, except the taste of Chinese medicine, can be cooked to the point of being unpalatable. To her, no matter how unpalatable the food is, it is edible, and she rarely dislikes food.
Of course, if she could eat delicious food, she would not eat something bad.
Fu Wenxiao saw that her eyes were wide open and she looked curious. She looked really cute and couldn't help but laugh. "It tastes terrible and has a weird smell. I dare not eat it for fear of getting an upset stomach."
He knew how precious his body was. Although he had lived a rather impoverished life in recent years, he was still well taken care of by Zhou and had not suffered too much from his diet.
There was simply too much food to prepare in the examination room, and it certainly wouldn't be prepared too carefully. Perhaps other people wouldn't be able to taste it, but he himself was too picky and would be able to taste anything that was wrong.
"Is that so?" Yu Li could understand.
If that's the case, it's normal for him to be hungry. After all, if he gets an upset stomach during the exam, he will definitely not be able to continue.
She suggested, "Let's bring our own food tomorrow."
Fortunately, the examination room allows candidates to bring their own food, so they don’t have to go hungry and affect the exam.
Fu Wenxiao smiled and nodded.
When we returned to the Xuan family's house, dinner was already ready in the kitchen.
During the meal, Yu Li picked up a lot of dishes for him and said, "Eat more." How pitiful. He actually took the exam on an empty stomach. No wonder he looked so bad before.
Fu Wenxiao was a little flattered and very happy, and felt that today's food was particularly delicious.
After dinner, they rested for a while. Because they had to take exams the next day, they washed up and went to bed.
The next day, I went to the examination room before dawn again.
This went on for three days.
After the last day of exams, Yu Li finally felt relieved and the next step was to wait for the results.
The results of the provincial examination are usually announced in three to five days. As the time is relatively short, the scholars will stay in the provincial city and wait for the results before returning.
The day after the provincial examination, Fu Wenxiao received many invitations.
Although he had stayed at home to study before the provincial examination, or only went out with her a few times, and had no contact with people outside, the scholars in the provincial city were not familiar with him. However, when the provincial examination came, everyone met in the examination hall and communicated with each other, so they naturally knew who the scholars were in this provincial examination.
Upon learning that Fu Wenxiao was the top candidate in Shanping County, the scholars were quite enthusiastic about him.
I heard that in the previous dynasty, the first place in the county examination could directly obtain the title of scholar, but this rule was changed during the Daqing dynasty, and even if you were the first place in the county examination, you still had to continue the examination step by step.
Even so, the title of top scorer in the county examination in each county is still very attractive.
Now that the provincial examination is over, the scholars are all waiting for the results. Naturally, they want to communicate and get to know each other, and there are many gatherings of various scholars.
In particular, the top candidates in each county were among the invited guests and attracted a lot of attention.
Yu Li flipped through the posts and asked, "Will Hua Niang be invited to these gatherings? I heard there will be singing and dancing to liven up the atmosphere."
Fu Wenxiao: “…”
The manager who sent the post: “…”
The steward felt that Madam Fu's question was very sharp, and Mr. Fu was speechless.
Seeing her staring at him seriously, Fu Wenxiao said calmly: "I don't know, I haven't been there."
The manager explained: "In fact, not all gatherings are not serious. I have asked people to inquire about it. Some gatherings are very serious exchanges between scholars, and they are used to exchange knowledge."
Even so, Fu Wenxiao was still not interested and casually put the post aside, clearly not going.
"Isn't this bad?" Yu Li said. If it was a serious party, he could still go and take a look.
She didn't really want to take care of him like Madam Song took care of Mr. Song.
If a man really has some intentions, there is no point in controlling him. She thinks the best way is to kick him out once and for all.
Fu Wenxiao smiled and said, "There's nothing wrong with that. I don't need to communicate with those people."
His knowledge was naturally fine, so he didn't need to communicate with them. If he wanted to communicate, wouldn't it be better to find Mr. Wang? As for these gatherings where he could take the opportunity to make connections, he didn't need that either.
Compared to this, he would rather go out and visit the city with her.
Unfortunately, although Fu Wenxiao wanted to accompany her out, Mr. Wang came to him with a letter.
As soon as he entered the room, he said, "Brother Fu, Yanshan Academy is going to hold a literary gathering. Come with me."
Yanshan Academy is very famous in Qing'an Prefecture. Generally, students who pass the prefectural examination will choose to study at Yanshan Academy. It has a very high status in the hearts of scholars in the prefectural city.
At the end of every month, Yanshan Academy would hold some literary gatherings, poetry gatherings, and literary gatherings with friends.
Many scholars tried their best to participate. If they could make a big splash at the literary gathering, it would be easy to get admission to Yanshan Academy.
It is difficult to get a place in Yanshan Academy. Even if you do well in the provincial examination, you will still not be able to enter if you do not meet the academy's requirements in the entrance examination.
Therefore, many people placed their hopes on the literary and poetry gatherings held in the academy, hoping to stand out at the gatherings, attract the attention of the teachers in Yanshan Academy, and be recommended.
Generally, those who are recommended can skip the entrance examination step.
Mr. Wang knew that if Fu Wenxiao wanted to enter Yanshan Academy, with his talent, he would not need to obtain a place in this way. However, he still wanted to take Fu Wenxiao to participate in the literary gathering of Yanshan Academy, more because he wanted to make him famous.
Becoming famous among scholars will help him to perform better in the academy and provincial examinations in the future.
Otherwise, when he suddenly emerged in the college examination and the provincial examination, no one knew him beforehand and would have doubts about his good ranking, and there would be many twists and turns.
Mr. Wang's considerations were naturally for Fu Wenxiao's own good.
So he came over excitedly to invite him to attend the literary gathering at Yanshan Academy.
After Yu Li knew about it, he said to Fu Wenxiao, "Brother Xiao, you go."
Fu Wenxiao smiled helplessly when he heard her say this, knowing that it was difficult to refuse.
He said to her, "Then I can't go out with you. You should be careful on your own. If anything happens, just let go and do it."
After hearing this, Mr. Wang laughed and said, "Don't worry, Brother Fu, it's quite safe here in the city. It's broad daylight, and my sister-in-law is not going to Longtanhuxue, so how can anything happen?"
What's more, with people from Xuanfu following us, who would dare to cause trouble?
The young couple is really close to each other. They are very worried when they are separated.
Yu Li blinked his eyes, said slowly, "I know."
After seeing the two off, she followed them out.
Previously, Fu Wenxiao was going to take part in the provincial examination, and she was worried about this, so she didn't play much. Now that the examination is over, she doesn't have to worry about anything, so she can naturally relax and have fun for a few days.
After the carriage took her to the west of the city, Yu Li asked the driver to go back first and she went shopping by herself.
The driver asked, "When are you going back? Do you want someone to pick you up?"
"No, no, I can go back by myself." Yu Li waved at him, "I've been out for quite a while, and I'm not sure when I'll be back, so you don't have to come all the way here."
Although the driver was worried, he drove back because the steward had told him to follow their instructions.
Yu Li started walking on the street.
As she walked, she looked at the shops on both sides of the street to see what they had, planning to buy some to bring back to her relatives and friends in the county.
Since it’s a rare opportunity for us to come to the city, I must bring them some local specialties.
The shops in the provincial capital have more things than those in the county town, which dazzled Yu Li. When he sees a shop that interests him, he will go in to stroll around and take a look.
The shop assistant came over to her warmly and asked her what she wanted to buy, but he didn't chase her away because he saw that she was just looking and not buying.
Most of them are very enthusiastic.
When he was almost done shopping, Yu Li felt hungry, so he chose a restaurant with a good reputation to eat.
She didn't skimp on the money and directly asked for a private room and ordered a large table of dishes.
The waiter thought she had a companion and didn't think much about it. He just waited until all the dishes were served and didn't see anyone else coming to the private room, which he thought was quite strange.
After dinner, Yu Li paid the bill and left the restaurant.
When she walked out of the restaurant, she keenly noticed a gaze. She turned her head to look at the second floor of the restaurant and saw a scoundrel-looking man leaning against the window in a private room with an open window, staring at her with a look that made her uncomfortable.
Yu Li didn't like it, but didn't do anything.
She would not hit someone just because they looked at her badly. She is still quite reasonable.
Shortly after walking out of the restaurant, Yu Li discovered that someone was following him.
At first she thought it was a coincidence. When she went into several stores in succession, she saw the person following her every time she came out. The other party did not hide the fact that she was being followed at all. Perhaps he thought she was just an ordinary woman and did not bother to hide it at all. He acted very arrogantly.
When she looked over, the person following her gave her a sticky smile.
Yu Li was silent for a moment, then turned his head away.
She suddenly felt that Fu Wenxiao was really good-looking and very likable when he smiled. That kind of clear and shallow smile was reserved and noble.
They were all men, so how could a man laugh so disgustingly? If a man had dared to laugh like this in front of her before, she would have definitely punched him.
Yu Li took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
She stopped looking at the shops on the street and quickly left.
Perhaps sensing that she was trying to shake them off, the people following her started to get nervous.
"She has discovered us and wants to run away. What should we do?"
"Hurry up and chase her. We can't let her get away, otherwise we'll have a hard time explaining to Master Qi."
“…”
-
Yu Li was walking very fast. When she was about to leave the street, she suddenly heard shouting behind her. She turned around and saw a carriage galloping from the other side of the street.
She moved aside.
Just as the carriage was about to pass her, it suddenly stopped, and two strong men jumped out of the carriage, reached out to grab her, and tried to pull her into the carriage.
Yu Li was stunned for a moment, then slowly took a few steps back to avoid the people around him.
There are a lot of people on the street and she doesn't want to implicate others.
But when she stepped back, the other party continued to pounce on her without any avoidance. Yu Li naturally did not hold back. She grabbed the hands of the two men and twisted them lightly. The two men screamed in pain and fell to their knees.
“Ah ...
The two screamed so miserably that the people around them were stunned for a moment, and then they dispersed in a hurry.
At this time, the man driving the carriage quickly jumped off the carriage, ran towards Yu Li with a ferocious look on his face, holding a hemp rope in his hand, wanting to tie her up.
After seeing this scene, the people around understood that this was an attempt to rape a woman in broad daylight.
When they saw Yu Li clearly, they quickly understood.
This girl is really pretty. Her skin is as white as glowing in the sunlight. No wonder she was chosen and kidnapped on the street.
Everyone around her was concerned for her.
It was obvious that these people had bad intentions, and they dared to do such a thing as robbing people in public so arrogantly, which showed that they were not afraid of anything.
In fact, under normal circumstances, the people driving the carriages would simply grab the people and put them on the carriages and run away, which would be done in one go and would not cause much commotion. Maybe the people would be tied to the carriages and not many people around would notice.
Unfortunately, this time it was different. Yu Li twisted the hands of the two men who wanted to catch her into a knot. As for the man holding the hemp rope, she rudely snatched the rope from him, tied him up with her backhand, and kicked him to the ground.
"What are you going to do?"
She looked down at the three men.
In addition to the man tied up with hemp rope, the two men whose hands were broken were still howling in pain.
Yu Li thought it was too noisy, so he kicked someone and knocked him to the ground. Then he raised his foot and pressed the person's head to the ground. Suddenly, the street became quiet.
The whole street suddenly became quiet, with only the faint sound of voices coming from the distance.
Everyone stared at this scene blankly, and found that this was not the same as the scene they expected of a woman being robbed in the street...
The man tied with hemp rope looked at Yu Li with cold sweat and fear in his eyes.
When she looked over at him lightly, he shuddered and said quickly: "I, we are following the order of Master Qi to arrest the girl - no, no, no, please go with me."
"Going?" Yu Li was puzzled. "Where to?"
The man hesitated and didn't dare to say anything, for fear that he would suffer the same fate as the two men on the ground.
She even put one foot on one of their heads, like a female bully, so scary!
"Speak!" Yu Li stepped hard, and the man she stepped on howled again.
The tied-up man was so scared that he peed his pants and crotch. He shivered and said, "Let's go to Master Qi's villa..."
Yu Li looked at them expressionlessly, then moved his feet away.
Before the man could breathe a sigh of relief, she said, "Okay, lead the way. I am also very interested in your Seventh Master."
Anyone who can do something like robbing someone in broad daylight must not be a good person. Since the other party has set his sights on her, she will go and meet him.
The three men scrambled to their feet in a panic.
At this moment, the three men no longer had their previous arrogance, and their faces were full of fear, especially the two men whose hands were broken. One of their arms hung unnaturally, their faces were pale, full of pain, and their clothes were soaked with sweat, showing that they were in great pain.
The two did not dare to shout out.
Yu Li got into the carriage directly.
When she got on the carriage, someone noticed that the horse pulling the carriage suddenly knelt down, as if waiting for her to get on.
After she got on the carriage, the three men squeezed in near the shaft, and soon the carriage drove away.
It was not until the carriage disappeared in front that the people around finally reacted and were suddenly in an uproar.
"Then the Seventh Master couldn't be the Seventh Master Kang?"
"The Kang family again?"
"Oh my god, is that little girl going to be okay?"
"I think she should be fine. I don't know what she did just now, but the arm of the person who tried to catch her was twisted into a knot. It shows that this girl is very powerful."
"That's the Kang family. No matter how powerful she is, there's nothing she can do, right?"
“…”
For a while, there was a lot of discussion on the street, and many people were worried about Yu Li and felt that she shouldn't have followed.
Mr. Kang Qi is a notorious lecher with special fetishes. Girls who fall into his hands will never have a good ending.
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