There was no need for everyone to go out together after the results were announced, especially since Chen Cui did not look very well because she had been working so hard.
She knew the situation well, and seeing that her physical fitness had dropped by 3 points, she decided not to work so hard anymore.
Just let Wei Shu and Wei Xi look at the list, and she will be responsible for observation - Shuiyun Village is close to the county town and is considered to be in the same city, so she can see their Q version figures, plus she can see their mood values, in fact, she can already know a lot of things.
Before the two brothers went to see the list, they were a little nervous, and Wei Xi, the person involved, was even more nervous.
After seeing the results, both of them felt much more excited.
Shen Cui enlarged the image on the screen and saw that Wei Xi's name appeared first on the long table!
She was also happy and was already thinking about how to celebrate today. Their brothers would definitely not be happy with her spending money, and today they specifically suggested that just the two of them go, so they would probably have to prepare food for themselves.
She was thinking about something while doing needlework, and when she looked up, she found the two brothers standing in front of the list without moving. Wei Shu's mood plummeted, but Wei Xi was okay, she pulled him and talked to him about something.
Unfortunately, the observation function of the system could only transmit images but no sound, so Shen Cui didn't know what happened.
An hour later, Wei Shu and Wei Xi came back carrying things - just as Chen Cui thought, Wei Xi had guessed that he should have done well in the exam, and the academy would definitely arrange a celebration.
At first, Chen Cui refused to let Zhou give her money, thinking that Zhou's money was hard-earned.
In fact, in their opinion, Chen Cui only collected 20 taels of living expenses from them brothers every month, but took care of every aspect of their study and life.
How could they be willing to let her spend money on them?
So after looking at the rankings, the two of them went to the restaurant that Wei Shu often went to, bought some hot dishes and good wine, and packed them up to take back.
After knowing the good news, everyone was naturally very happy, especially since this was not only a good result for Wei Xi alone, but also a proof for the academy!
Since there were no outsiders present, there was no need to observe any rules when eating. Lao Buyu poured himself a drink and said happily, "I will go and tell my senior brother the good news in the afternoon."
Qingzhu Academy also had people taking part this year. When they found out the rankings, Ling Qingming naturally got the news as well.
Lao Buyu's so-called "good news" was, of course, to show off in front of him.
His temper is sometimes like that of a child, and everyone is used to it, except Wei Shu who seems to be hesitant to speak.
When everyone had almost finished eating, Shen Cui found an opportunity to call Wei Shu aside and asked him if he had encountered any problems while looking at the list.
Wei Shu was a straightforward person who could not do anything roundabout. He said in frustration, "Xiao Xi said not to mention it, but since the headmaster has seen it himself, I won't hide it anymore."
It turned out that they had set out from the village today to watch the announcement of the results, and at that time many scholars had already gathered in front of the list.
The top scorers in the previous two years, whether it was Mu Yunchuan or Song Yao, were both well-known talents.
This year, everyone is somewhat unfamiliar with the name Wei Xi and has already started discussing it.
"I remember that last year both the first and second place winners were students of Qingzhu Academy. Is this Wei Xi from Qingzhu this year? Why do I seem to have never heard anyone mention it?"
"No, I remember this Wei Xi! He participated in the college competition. I think he was from our small college. His name was Cui something..."
"It's called Cuiwei!" someone rushed to answer, "I know this academy. It's in the village. So it's not very famous in the city. It seems to have only been in operation for two years."
As more people talked about it, some people naturally started to feel jealous, "How can a county champion be trained in just two years? What kind of shitty luck is this?"
Wei Shu and Wei Xi just regarded this kind of talk of blaming others for bad luck when one did not do well in the exam as a joke.
But someone said, "You know Wei Shu, who came in second last year? You can't write two Wei characters with one stroke. Wei Shu and Wei Xi are brothers."
"Then you have confused me even more, brother. They are two brothers with such high talents, why didn't they go to Qingzhu, but let his younger brother go to the unknown Cuiwei?"
Wei Shu sneered when he heard this. After studying for a few years, these people think they understand everything in the world - Qingzhu is more famous and has been in operation longer, so many people cannot get in even though they dream of it. But isn’t it allowed for people to like other academies more?
Cuiwei is so beautiful that it cannot be described in words. If it weren't for the suspicion of self-promotion, Wei Shu would have wanted to argue with them directly.
Since Wei Xi already knew the ranking, he prepared to pull Wei Shu away without caring how others ridiculed him.
I didn’t expect these gossips to keep on talking. Some even speculated that maybe the two brothers didn’t get along, so they were not in the same academy?
The man who pointed out that they were brothers went on to say, "I heard that Wei Shu was indeed in Qingzhu Academy before, but I don't know why he was no longer there and he usually went in and out of Cuiwei."
At this time, those people no longer cared about the rankings, they just wanted to listen to the gossip after dinner.
The person who had started the conversation quietly retreated, leaving these people guessing.
"What's going on?"
"Could it be that Shanzhang Ling refused to accept his brother, so Wei Shu learned something from Qingzhu and secretly went to Cuiwei to teach his brother?"
"Don't mention it, it's really possible. Otherwise, how could such an unknown small academy train a county champion in two years?"
"Then Principal Ling is too kind. The things in our own academy are all treasures! How can he easily pass them on to outsiders?"
"When I was watching the academy competition earlier, I heard someone mention that Cuiwei's teacher seemed to be the junior fellow of Lingshanzhang, so their two families are not considered outsiders?"
Wei Shu couldn't stand such words. Before, other people were talking about how they brothers were not worth anything, but now, under the instigation of some people with ulterior motives, Cuiwei was implicitly belittled as worthless... Being the first in the county case, it seemed like he had taken advantage of Qingzhu!
He would go up to someone and argue with them. Wei Xi stopped him and said it was not worth it. "Xunzi Dalüe said, 'A flying ball stops at Ouyou, and a rumor stops at a wise man.' Brother, do you think they are wise men?"
These people just want to watch the fun and are only willing to believe their own guesses, but are unwilling to believe that a real figure has emerged from an unknown place like Cuiwei. Naturally, he cannot be called a wise man.
Arguing with them would only bring shame to one's status, and it might even give rise to new rumors that "the students in Cuiwei are narrow-minded and want to control what others talk about."
"Xiao Xi is right. There's no need to take this kind of thing to heart." After hearing the whole story, Shen Cui advised him gently, "Besides, you can continue to take the exams later, and this rumor will naturally fall apart."
According to those people's logic, Wei Shu ranked second last year and passed on Qingzhu's knowledge to his younger brother, so there was Wei Xi, the new top candidate.
But in the provincial examination, Wei Shu ranked twelfth, while Wei Xi's aptitude was stronger than his. As long as he performed normally, he would naturally do better, or even get the first place in the provincial examination. Those people couldn't say that Wei Shu, who ranked twelfth, could guide a person who ranked first in the provincial examination, right?
Even Qingzhu itself has only produced one top-ranking official in the prefecture, Mu Yunchuan, in recent years.
At that time, they will know that the reason why Wei Xi did not go to Qingzhu was not because Ling Qingming did not accept her, but because Cuiwei was no worse than Qingzhu, so she was willing to stay here!
Cuiwei doesn't need to follow Qingzhu to take advantage of others!
"But you did remind me of one thing," Shen Cui pondered, "Someone pointed out that you are brothers, and he also knows your movements. He must be different from those who don't know you. This person threw out a few true stories, and then stopped participating. It's obvious that he did it on purpose to guide public opinion. We have to investigate this person."
Wei Shu still remembered what the man looked like, so he went into the house and drew a portrait on the spot.
He knew the ins and outs of the county town better than Chen Cui, so he didn't need Chen Cui's arrangements. He immediately asked the servant to take the portrait and sent someone to inquire.
The servant was also smart. He did not go looking for someone like a headless fly. Instead, he wanted to find out who had a feud with the Wei family. Wei Xi lived a secluded life in the village, and Wei Shu was kind to others. In fact, he had a lot of clues if he investigated.
That afternoon, the servant came back with a reply.
The person who was mixed in the crowd and causing trouble was not someone else. He was easy to find. He was the servant of a good friend of Song Yao.
Following the clues, they found out that Song Yao had gone to see the results announcement earlier than them, then whispered with his friend for a while, and finally the two of them left together, leaving only the book boy behind.
What's not clear now? Of course, it was Song Yao who was holding a grudge against me because of what happened before and was doing something bad on purpose!
But he was not a fool after all. No one could provide evidence that he was the mastermind, and his friend was not a student of Qingzhu Academy.
Even if Wei Shu took this matter to Qingzhu Academy to argue with him, Song Yao confessed, and Ling Qingming, as the head of the academy, did not show favoritism and would not reach out to the outsiders' book boy...
"You clown!" Although Wei Shu had a dispute with Song Yao before, he had never said anything about Song Yao behind his back. This was the first time he scolded him behind his back.
Chen Cui and Wei Shu discussed this matter for a long time. The academy is so small that except for the drunk Lao Buyu and Wei Xi who knew about it a long time ago, everyone else is naturally curious.
It wasn't like their family had done anything shameful, so Shen Cui just told them about it.
Mei Ruochu couldn't help but say, "I remember this Song Yao. When I heard that his grades were affected by my incident, I felt really bad about him. I never thought he was such a shameless person!"
Chen Cui comforted them, "You will meet all kinds of people as you move up. What happened today is just a small rumor without any basis. It is not worth getting angry about. They are just clowns who can only spread some unfounded rumors. When you pass the exams and our academy becomes famous, it will be self-defeating."
Several people nodded, especially Wei Xi. In fact, since Cuiwei was not so utilitarian, he did not think that he had to strive for a good ranking, as long as he tried his best.
But after this incident, he became even more concerned about the upcoming provincial examination and was determined to dispel the rumor!
After they finished talking, they returned to their seats to study, until Mu Erpang suddenly asked, "Where is the gentleman?"
During lunch, Lao Buyu drank too much and got drunk at the table, so they had to carry him into the house to rest.
But Lao Buyu has always had a good alcohol tolerance. If he drinks too much, he can recover after a nap. He would not have been away for so long.
Although Chen Cui could see the entire map of the academy, she of course blocked out private places like the bedroom and the toilet, so she thought that Lao Buyu was resting in the room.
A few people went into the room and took a look, but found that he was not on the kang.
"Did he go into the city?" Mu Erpang guessed.
After all, when they were having dinner, Lao Buyu said that he would go to tell Ling Qingming the good news after dinner, so he had informed them. Perhaps after he had gotten over the effects of the alcohol, he set off when everyone was talking together and no one was paying attention.
"This teacher, the child's temper is the same as before." Shen Cui muttered with a helpless smile.
Not long after, Lao Buyu came back.
The smell of alcohol on his body had completely dissipated, and his eyes became as clear as usual, but his expression was a little strange, just like a child who had made a mistake. He kept peeking at the door of the academy for a long time but didn't come in.
Shen Cui noticed that something was wrong with him, so she put down her needlework and went out to ask him what was wrong.
Lao Buyu hesitated for a while and said, "I...I seem to have done something wrong."
Chen Cui thought that he had heard the rumors spread by Song Yao when he entered the city and had an argument with someone, and then he continued, "I spoke hastily and agreed to let Ruchu stay in Qingzhu for a month."
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