Chapter 202: Resentment

While the young husband was still staying at the inn, his wife would go out every day in search of delicious food in various ways. He would benefit from this and enjoy a mouthful of the delicacies.

But now that the young husband was away taking exams for several days, his wife stayed holed up in the inn, not even stepping out, which meant he couldn’t follow her to enjoy good food anymore.

After contemplating for a while, Xun Yuanbai approached Jiang Mixia for a discussion. “Madam, the weather is lovely today. Why don’t we go out for a stroll? Perhaps we might see something interesting?”

Maybe we’ll come across some delicious food too.

“I really have no interest. If you want to go, please go ahead by yourself,” Jiang Mixia replied wearily.

“Well, that’s odd. I recall that when your husband called for you to go out earlier, you were so excited and found everything fascinating. Why the sudden lack of interest now?”

“Master Xun said it was when Jingyun called for me. Since it’s not Jingyun calling for me now, naturally, I’m not interested,” Jiang Mixia explained, waving her hand. “You go ahead, Master Xun. If you find something good, bring back a portion for me to broaden my horizons.”

Xun Yuanbai paused, feeling a mix of emotions.

How did this turn into favoritism?

Frustrating.

Was he truly that unnecessary?

Truly exasperating!

—

Inside the Imperial College, the candidates were busy answering exam questions.

Amidst the silence, only the sound of candidates sharpening pencils, flipping pages, and the faint rustling of writing could be heard.

This was the first round of exams, involving essays from “The Analects,” “Doctrine of the Mean,” and “Mencius,” a five-character and eight-line poem, and four passages on Confucian classics.

With three days to complete these tasks, those well-prepared could finish drafting and transcribing within two days. However, for those needing to contemplate deeply on the questions, there was a risk of not completing the exam by the end.

Song Jingyun clearly belonged to the prepared category. After some brief contemplation, he began answering on the paper.

To maintain neat handwriting, Song Jingyun wrote steadily, not hurriedly. Yet, due to his thoughts flowing smoothly, his writing pace was not slow.

On the second day, Song Jingyun was still focused on writing diligently.

In the adjacent examination room, a candidate named Zhang Zhenghao appeared troubled, with several crumpled papers piled on his desk.

These questions didn’t seem overly difficult at first glance, and there appeared to be some ideas to write about. However, when it came to putting pen to paper, everything felt unsatisfactory, and even an additional sentence became impossible to write.

During his moment of hesitation and distress, a drop of ink from Zhang Zhenghao’s brush fell onto the paper.

The ink spread and created a stark contrast of black against white, further frustrating him.

Zhang Zhenghao crumpled the paper once more, even gripping it tightly in frustration.

Taking a deep breath, he glanced around to see how others were faring.

Seeing many with grim expressions and intermittent writing, he felt a slight sense of relief. But as his eyes fell on Song Jingyun opposite him, writing fervently, he gritted his teeth.

It was one thing if others were struggling like him, but to see someone surpassing them all was truly infuriating.

As it was already the second day of the exam, the fact that the other candidate could still write so fluently and diligently indicated a strong determination to succeed.

In contrast, he had yet to answer a single question. It seemed that he was unlikely to succeed in this Autumn Examination.

While his own failure would be disappointing, witnessing others excel while he failed was even more disheartening than his own potential failure.

Zhang Zhenghao gritted his teeth, his gaze towards Song Jingyun now tinged with a growing sense of resentment.

After a moment of contemplation, he glanced at the cool breeze blowing from the west and made a decision. He casually wrote several passages from the Confucian classics on the crumpled paper, tore it into small squares, each about an inch in size, and then rolled them into small paper balls the size of a thumb.

Picking up a few fallen leaves blown by the northwest wind from the ground, Zhang Zhenghao smeared the crumpled paper with ink and promptly affixed it to the slightly dried leaves.

Upon completion, Zhang Zhenghao scrutinized his creation carefully.

The curled leaves wrapped around the paper ball appeared inconspicuous when lying on the ground. Without close inspection, one might mistake them for ordinary curled leaves that had dried up due to the wind.

Highly satisfied with his work, Zhang Zhenghao assessed the weight of the paper ball, tested its feel, and then, seizing the opportunity when the patrolling officials and attendants were distracted, discreetly tossed the paper ball wrapped in leaves towards Song Jingyun!

Cheating in the examination hall would result in severe punishment.

As per current laws, this exam would be invalidated, barring him from the next two Autumn Examination. Additionally, he would receive fifty lashes and be publicly shamed.

In this way, roughly a decade of effort was almost squandered.

While Zhang Zhenghao naturally worried about being caught in the act, his greater concern was others making it to the leaderboard.

Since he felt he couldn’t make any progress in his studies, he figured if he couldn’t succeed, then no one should. Perishing together seemed like a cleaner outcome!

His primary target was the person who seemed most likely to succeed, the one still fervently writing at that moment!

Filled with resentment, Zhang Zhenghao put considerable force into his throw.

By his rough estimation, not only would the paper ball wrapped in leaves reach Song Jingyun, but it might even surpass him and land directly on the open ground behind his desk in the adjacent examination room. In that scenario, Song Jingyun would be left speechless, unable to defend himself, and would be dragged down without a chance to redeem himself for the next ten years.

As Zhang Zhenghao watched the paper ball wrapped in leaves soar through the air, a smug smile crept onto his face.

Suddenly, a gust of wind arose from the horizon, causing even the tall trees within the Imperial College to sway, with branches and leaves rustling. The dust on the ground was lifted into the air by the wind.

Nearly blinded by the dust, Zhang Zhenghao hurriedly used his wide sleeve to shield his eyes. When the howling wind subsided, he lowered his sleeve and rubbed his eyes to clear the irritation.

Upon opening his slightly sore eyes, he saw that the four paper balls wrapped in leaves that were left on the table had now become five.

The one he had just thrown out had been blown back by the wind.

Zhang Zhenghao, “…”