"Brother Lv, Brother Lv!" The examinee in the elegant room hurriedly shouted, lifting him off the ground and placing him on the soft couch in the room, letting him lie down.
Miao Qianwen looked at the governnt official who ca with the news in shock and asked, "Did you see clearly, is it really the fiftieth place?"
The governnt official replied rrily, "Of course, I saw clearly. Counting from the back to the front, the first one is Young Master Lv Bai from Yujiang County. Congratulations to Young Master Lv for passing the exam as a student!"
Saying this, he unceremoniously stretched out his hand, urging them. Governnt officials bringing good news require joy money, and sitting in such a large elegant room for a al without giving the money for the good news is quite inappropriate.
Miao Qianwen was very annoyed, glaring at the fainted Lv Bai with disdain. What a waste. Originally, I thought he could compete for the top position in the county along with Gu Jin’an, but he turned out to be a fool, ranking last. He might as well have failed completely!
In fact, the county top scorers under He’an Prefecture all had decent academic performance, except none were as foolish as Lv Bai to publicly scold Gu Jin’an.
Mr. Shi, upon hearing what Lv Bai did, selected him from among the county top scorers to deal with Gu Jin’an, leading Miao Qianwen to deliberately acquaint himself with Lv Bai.
Miao Qianwen was rciless. Seeing Lv Bai only ranked last, he directly walked away, leaving with a remark: "Born of common folk remains common, unfit for the official career, to be a learned noble."
With that, he left decisively, leaving the examinees in the elegant room all stunned.
The governnt official bringing the good news was also confused: "What’s going on here?"
Scholarship matters are important, finally passing the exam as a student, and this is the attitude towards the governnt official bringing good news?!
The governnt official was very displeased, inwardly cursing his misfortune.
Most of the examinees in the elegant room were invited by Lv Bai to cheer for him, and to avoid appearing too lowly in status, he invited most students from poor families who had little Silver at ho.
The only one with Silver was Wei Shenglin from Yujiang County.
The Wei family is a landlord, owning a tavern in the county town, counting as the wealthiest among Yujiang County students this exam. To avoid embarrassing Yujiang County, Wei Shenglin had his servant pass two taels of joy money to the governnt official bringing the news.
After collecting the money, the official’s face finally ward, repeating the congratulations once more: "Congratulations to Young Master Lv Bai from Yujiang County for ranking fifth place in the prefecture exam, gaining the title of student, and please proceed to the governnt office before noon tomorrow to collect your scholarship docunts, in June, you can go to Linhe Prefecture to participate in the college examination."
After passing the prefecture examination, one becos a student, and the governnt office will issue a scholarship docunt as proof.
Wei family’s servant smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord, for the good news, you’ve worked hard."
He asked, "Is there good news for my young master?"
The governnt official, being perceptive toward people of wealth, noticed the Wei family was willing to give Silver, and said: "It seems there are two Wei surnad candidates who passed, I believe one must be Young Master Wei, the one bringing the good news should be arriving soon, allow to congratulate Young Master Wei in advance."
Wei Shenglin was very happy, imdiately stood up and said, "Thanks for your kind words."
He then signaled to his servant, who imdiately took out five taels of Silver for the official.
The official was extrely pleased, certainly with wealthy people, he departed joyfully.
It wasn’t long after that official left before another official arrived, bearing exactly Wei Shenglin’s joyful news, ranking thirty-third in the prefecture exam.
Wei Shenglin was quite satisfied with this ranking, giving ten taels of Silver to the official, making him so delighted, he wished he could report it again.
In addition to this official, several porters ca with congratulations, and Wei Shenglin gave Silver to each one.
The other examinees in the elegant room grew anxious, grabbing a porter and asking, "How much has been reported now?"
The porter replied with a smile, "To answer Young Master’s question, it’s been reported up to twentieth place."
"Up to twentieth place!"
"It’s over, it’s over, there’s no hope this ti."
Many examinees in the elegant room were severely dejected, feeling the prefecture exam was really too difficult, why couldn’t a few more be chosen? With only fifty selected, it cut off nine and a half out of every ten people.
After Wei Shenglin passed, he was in a great mood, and being generous, he didn’t just watch Lv Bai suffer but left a Silver note worth a hundred taels, saying to the present examinees: "Fellow peers, I must return ho to write to my family with the good news, so I won’t linger. Soday soon I will host a banquet for you all."
Most examinees in the elegant room were from Yujiang County. Seeing him about to leave, they hurriedly asked, "Brother Wei, what about Lv Bai?"
They didn’t want to deal with him!
Wei Shenglin didn’t want to deal with him either! If not for Lv Bai’s acquaintance with local nobles, renting the best room in the top tavern, he wouldn’t have co to the banquet.
Now that the nobility had left, he truly didn’t want to bother with Lv Bai anymore.
But now that he’s a student, his reputation is more precious than before, and if he were to abandon a fellow townsman, people would criticize him.
Wei Shenglin pondered for a mont and said: "No need for concern, I will have my household’s servant find Yao Youqian to deal with Lv Bai."
The Yao family lives close to the Lv family, and Yao Youqian is known for loyalty; for the sake of the elderly in the Lv family, he wouldn’t abandon Lv Bai.
Upon hearing this, the examinees in the elegant room heaved a sigh of relief, as long as they weren’t handling it.
When the Wei family servant found Yao Youqian, the joyful news had already reached the third place, and the third place was precisely Qi Kangming.
At this ti, Futai Building was bustling with people.
No wonder there was such excitent; Futai Building’s luck was incredibly good this year – not only did Qi Kangming place third, but Yao Youqian placed fifth, and Gu Dexing placed twelfth. The person delivering the congratulatory news practically stampeded the place.
The Wei family servant hadn’t even squeezed inside when he heard the sounds of drumming and gongs, with a road cleared by a team of ten governnt officials.
A governnt official rode in on horseback, shouting loudly while galloping: "He’an Prefecture Examination, results announced and celebrated, Gu Jin’an from Tianfu County ranks first on the list!"
He shouted all the way while rushing, echoing the proclamation several tis, his voice as loud as a bell, yet still drowned out by the crowd’s exclamations: "Gu Jin’an, Gu Jin’an from Tianfu County, the one who fled from the Northwest to escape famine, has topped the prefecture exam!"
The entire main street was in an uproar. Upon learning Gu Jin’an was awaiting the results at Futai Building, everyone flocked there.
Manager Hu was overjoyed, Gu Jin’an had indeed topped the prefecture exam, really topped it! Excellent, now their Futai Building can overshadow Gaosong Building!
Gaosong Building boasted of having a prefecture top scorer from their tavern, well, now Futai Building had one too, and who is lesser than whom!
"Quick, quickly bring the joy money, start spreading it!" Manager Hu shouted, and six of Futai Building’s staff imdiately carried over three baskets of Copper Coins to scatter.
"Futai Building’s honored guest has topped the prefecture exam, sharing the joy and fortune with everyone!"
The staff shouted while scattering the money, seizing the opportunity to promote Futai Building.
The position where the Wei family servant stood was favorable, managing to grab a handful of the joy money, half-filling his money bag. He then squeezed into Futai Building, asking a staff mber: "Brother, could you tell which room First Place Gu is in? I’m here to bring him the news."
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