ALL NOVEL Chapter 100 - I
April 15th.
The gongs and drums in front of the Gongyuan were beating, and it was another crowded day.
If a brick had been thrown from a high building near the Gongyuan and hit ten people, half of them would have been the Juren masters waiting for the result; the remaining half would have either been some businessmen doing business, or people seeking information from the Juren master’s family.
Jing Xingzhi originally didn’t want to join in the fun, but Liu Fang couldn’t hold it in anymore and wanted to go out for a walk. So, he spent money to book a private room in the teahouse, and the family went out neatly.
Wang Zhuang and Shu Niang were both very skilled, so they squeezed into the crowd to watch the fun but failed to keep up with the big group.
Brother Mingrui made an appointment with some friends from Hanbei Prefecture and then left.
A family of three, two older and one younger, entered the box quietly.
Jing Xingzhi hugged the child, and the waiter asked and found out that he was the Juren master who had taken the exam and waiting for the result. He ran around to please him, found someone to check the post and even served a bowl of warm goat’s milk to little Ah Deng in the teahouse.
The waiters had long been told by the shopkeeper, Qian Dingling, to take good care of the scholar who came to the store that day. If any of the scholars passed the exam, the box and shop they were in would become a blessing shop within three years.
If they were lucky enough to meet the three top candidates, it would be even better. If they met a rich master in a box, they could earn thousands of taels a day.
Jing Xingzhi looked at the bowl of milk and poked Little Ah Deng’s face. “Little Ah Deng, when can you eat? Drinking milk makes you look like a baby. A man must eat food and meat. Do you understand?”
Liu Fang smiled and said, “Your little man has just passed the full moon; he needs to drink milk for at least half a year.”
Wanting to watch the excitement, Liu Fang and Jing Xingzhi took their seats next to the window.
The child was taken care of by Jing Xingzhi, while Liu Fang looked out the window, refreshed.
After staying in bed at home for almost a month, Liu Fang now found everything new and interesting.
Maybe they had arrived late. As soon as they sat down, the place where the red notices were posted became busy.
As soon as people started shouting, little Ah Deng, held by Jing Xingzhi, started to go crazy, shouting non-stop, as if he had seen something very interesting.
Liu Fang also became excited. He looked out, then pulled back and asked Jing Xingzhi with a smile, “Where do you think you can be?”
“I really can’t guess this. I don’t know how other people are, but I guess it’s within this number.”
Jing Xingzhi stretched out his palm, circled his thumb and index finger, and raised the three fingers behind it, making a perfect “OK” gesture.
Top three.
Liu Fang understood and asked him with a smile, “Are you so confident?”
Jing Xingzhi shrugged and looked outside.
Others couldn’t see clearly the appearance of the red poster opposite, but neither of them had this problem.
Jing Xingzhi used his true energy to direct like an arm, while Liu Fang didn’t know how to use it much, but there was no problem in looking from a distance.
Only little Ah Deng couldn’t see that far, laying in Jing Xingzhi’s arms, blowing bubbles and playing.
Afraid of causing trouble due to crowding out, the list of 200 people at the back of the red list was posted in groups of 40 very quickly, and the list of the top 200 was quickly posted.
These two hundred people were enough to dazzle people, and those who copied the names also had to spend a lot of effort.
Jing Xingzhi scanned the two hundred names and saw many that looked familiar.
Number ninety-nine was Li Huasui.
Number fifty-eight was Zheng Juelun.
Number forty-nine was Wu Mingrui.
Between fifty-eight and two hundred, there were also a few students from Hanbei Prefecture.
The names of these people looked familiar, but Jing Xingzhi wasn’t very familiar with them and had little communication with them, so he didn’t care much about their rankings.
Scanning back and forth, Hao Youcai’s name was missing. It could be seen that Jing Xingzhi’s vision was still very accurate.
He thought to himself that this talented brother would probably have to wait until the next term to be on the main list and get rid of the annoying secondary list.
At the same moment,
Hao Youcai sat with the people who came from the same place as him, looking at the countless good news on the street, but his name was never seen. Jing Xingzhi’s words came to mind — “I can’t say next year…”
Hao Youcai thought about it and felt as if something had settled in his heart. He sighed, “I’m afraid I won’t pass it this year.”
A friend next to him said, “Only fifty of the hundred and fifty have registered. The characters on the red list are so small that we can’t see them clearly. We can’t say they’re in the front!”
“That’s right, thanks to the guidance of Brother Youcai! I was able to hang my tail,” said the 219th-ranked.
Hao Youcai stood up and waved his hand. “I’m going back to the inn first. If you pass, treat me to dinner!”
Hao Youcai had a good attitude. If it didn’t work out this time, then it would be next time.
But it was too unbearable to sit there and wait for the news that he had failed.
Simply out of sight, out of mind. Hao Youcai decided to escape for the sake of comfort.
Of course, if he passed and the news was sent to the inn, he could treat the whole room to dinner!
Hao Youcai ran away directly.
Meanwhile, in a private room of Taibai Restaurant in Beijing, students from Hanbei Prefecture gathered together. Zheng Juelun drank wine one after another, looking extremely decadent.
Sitting next to Zheng Juelun was Xun Bai, who was lucky enough to secure two places ahead of Zheng Juelun in the provincial examination.
Xun Bai studied in Hanbei Prefecture and was once called the second-place candidate, but after passing the provincial examination, no one called him that anymore.
The feeling of not being the second place was so good that Xun Bai almost became addicted to it. So, after trying it out, he became even more diligent and hardworking, almost sleeping with books.
Xun Bai looked at the depressed Zheng Juelun and thought to himself: ‘The one who laughs in the end is the winner.’
He was confident that he would definitely pass this year.
And Zheng Juelun, seeing how drunk he was, what potential could he have?