Chapter 128

On the day of the exam, Cui Fei and Li Rufeng bumped into each other outside the examination hall.

Cui Fei remained calm with high spirits. Despite the recent rigorous revision, with everyone at Cuiwei making progress together, he experienced a joy in learning that he had never felt before.

On the other hand, Li Rufeng’s complexion wasn’t as good.

After the bet, he thought he had regained his status, but to his surprise, his classmates at the academy started to distance themselves from him.

Even Zhang Shuo and others treated him with disdain.

Although this treatment wasn’t as severe as what he had inflicted on Cui Fei before, it still affected him.

However, despite the impact, after spending so much time at the academy and participating in several exams, Li Rufeng still had confidence in his abilities.

When he saw Cui Fei, he couldn’t help but raise his chin arrogantly and say, “Just wait to apologize to me with tea.”

Cui Fei didn’t want to engage in verbal sparring with him and simply replied, “Let’s wait for the results.”

Later, when it was time for the exam to begin, the candidates entered the examination hall in order, just like the previous stage of the exam.

The exam lasted only one day, from morning until evening, and the results would be announced three days later.

After returning from the examination hall to Cuiwei, Mei Ruochu led everyone to individually transcribe the exam questions and content of their papers.

Earlier, he had mentioned that he wanted to be Lao Buyu’s assistant at Cuiwei, but Shen Cui insisted that he couldn’t neglect his own studies.

Unknowingly, he had developed a bit of the demeanor of a teacher. As the oldest among them, with the highest academic achievement and a gentle personality, even troublemakers like Li Rufeng wanted to befriend him.

Everyone admired him and regarded him as their leader.

After collecting everyone’s papers, Mei Ruochu presented them to Lou Buyu for evaluation.

Shen Cui and Mu Erpang, the two “outsiders,” sat nervously on the side, waiting to hear the results.

Undoubtedly, Mei Ruochu’s paper stood out as the most excellent, shining brightly among them all.

Wei Shu and Wei Xi also performed exceptionally well due to their solid foundation in knowledge and intensive last-minute review.

Although Cui Fei’s paper was slightly inferior compared to theirs, it showed significant progress compared to his previous work.

However, the number of people in each grade level was fixed for the exam. For example, there were only forty slots available for the first-class grade.

Therefore, while it was good that Cui Fei had improved compared to his past performance, his specific ranking would depend on the performance of others at the academy.

It could only be said that his chances of achieving a second-class grade, which were initially estimated at fifty percent, had now increased to seventy or eighty percent.

At this moment, Lou Buyu wouldn’t mention these things to avoid disturbing their peace of mind.

He simply praised, “Afei, your efforts are truly admirable. I hope you can continue like this in the future.”

Cui Fei nodded earnestly and said, “After experiencing hard work once, I realized how much I missed out on before. I won’t dare to slack off again in the future.”

Lao Bu Yu nodded with a smile and turned to see Shen Cui also looking at Cui Fei. Both couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.

Earlier, Shen Cui had checked Cui Fei’s physical stats. In fact, his aptitude wasn’t bad either.

With an overall aptitude score of over eighty, it was similar to Wei Shu and slightly lower than Wei Xi.

It was purely the bullying and psychological inferiority he suffered at the academy that affected his academic progress, leading to his failure in the provincial exam.

Although the results of this exam were not yet out, just the fact that Cui Fei had regained his confidence in his studies was already a significant achievement!

The three days before the results were announced were for grading papers, and during this time, the academy was on holiday.

Since Cui Fei’s heart ailment had been cured, and it had been a while since he had been home, Shen Cui suggested that he go home for a day the next day.

Cui Fei had already told his sister Cui Niang that he would be returning home, but before he left, he said, “I won’t stay at home; I’ll just go for half a day. I’ll be back after lunch.”

This statement wasn’t something he would have said earlier when he used to take leave from the academy.

However, after joining Cuiwei, Cui Fei truly realized what it meant to be surrounded by people who were more talented and, more frighteningly, more diligent than him!

If he fell behind again, without others saying anything, he would be the first to lose face and be unable to stay at Cuiwei!

After returning home, Cui Fei first went to see his grandfather and then the other elders.

During the last few days of intensive study before the exam, he had immersed himself in his studies, eating only white cabbage and scrambled eggs to enhance his short-term memory.

As a result, he had lost a few pounds since his sister last saw him.

Now everyone in the Cui family knew that he had lost weight!

Grandfather Cui praised him repeatedly and immediately arranged for gifts to be prepared—since the New Year was just around the corner, it was a good opportunity to visit Cuiwei before the holiday.

Cui Wuniang was still busy, so after briefly seeing him, she went back to her pile of account books, saying that she would personally deliver the New Year’s gift prepared by Grandfather Cui after these busy days were over.

Seeing his family’s joyful expressions, Cui Fei ultimately couldn’t bear to tell them about his bet with Li Rufeng in the exam.

He didn’t want them to worry about him. This matter was his own decision, and he would bear the consequences himself.

Moreover, since the results were not out yet, he would come back to report to them after two days.

At this moment, Cui Fei truly regretted wasting so much time before. Otherwise, he wouldn’t only have a seventy or eighty percent chance of success now.

After having lunch at home, Cui Fei returned to Cuiwei.

On the Cuiwei side, they finally didn’t have to smell the aroma of white cabbage and scrambled eggs anymore.

Wei Shu and Wei Xi had good appetites and ate half a bowl more than usual.

After lunch, Shen Cui suggested that they take a break.

After all, studying was a long-term battle, and it was important to have a proper balance of relaxation and work.

Moreover, the weather was getting colder, and it wasn’t convenient for the young men to bathe at home.

It would take a long time to heat up enough water with firewood, so they decided to go together to the public bathhouse.

They could take half a day off to rest, which would give them the opportunity to go for a bath.

Later, nobody knew who suggested it first, but since they were going to take a bath anyway, they decided to do some cleaning beforehand.

Everyone started tidying up, organizing things, and thus easing the daily chores burden on Shen Cui and Ah Yao.

Cui Fei came back with a lot on his mind and saw everyone cleaning and tidying up. He also grabbed some tools to help.

It was his first time doing such work, and also his first time going to the bathhouse, so he felt a bit shy when undressing.

But surprisingly, when doing physical work, his mind emptied out. After sweating a bit, taking a bath felt incredibly refreshing, and soon all his worries vanished.

The three-day holiday passed in the blink of an eye, and the results of the provincial examination were announced.

Knowing that Cui Fei must be anxious about his results, everyone woke up earlier the next day.

After morning exercises and breakfast, they immediately headed to the examination venue.

Many students lived within the examination venue, so they had arrived even earlier than Cui Fei and his friends.

“Brother Mei, you’re truly remarkable!”

“I always knew Brother Mei was exceptional!”

“The two brothers from the Wei family are also outstanding, the Wei family really has two geniuses!”

As they approached the announcement board, a constant stream of congratulatory messages reached their ears.

The provincial examination announcement wasn’t as formal as the imperial examination, and there weren’t as many staff members, just some clerks from the examination venue.

They first posted the list of first-class students, with the second-class list yet to be posted.

From this, it was clear that Mei Ruochu, Wei Xi, and Wei Shu must have performed exceptionally well, likely ranking among the top scholars.

Since their classmates were offering congratulations, the three of them also politely returned the gesture, modestly saying, “It’s just luck.”

After the socializing was over, they proceeded to check their specific rankings.

Mei Ruochu ranked first in the first class, Wei Xi ranked third, and Wei Shu ranked fifteenth.

Comparing their rankings in the provincial examination, Mei Ruochu still demonstrated his true ability, while Wei Shu and Wei Xi exceeded expectations.

However, what slightly disappointed them was that among the forty people in the first class, Cui Fei was nowhere to be found.

Wei Xi’s thoughts were meticulous, and he could already hear Cui Fei’s heavy breathing, indicating his nervousness.

At this moment, Li Rufeng’s voice came from behind them, “Oh, how come Brother Cui isn’t among the first class?”

Before Cui Fei could respond, Mei Ruochu spoke up, “It seems Brother Li isn’t among the first class either.”

Li Rufeng remained arrogant towards Cui Fei but dared not be disrespectful towards Mei Ruochu, who ranked first in the first class.

He turned his head slightly and grunted, “Anyway, I’m sure to be among the second class!”

Although the second-class list hadn’t been posted yet, he was so confident.

Cui Fei quietly explained to Shen Cui and the others, “Apart from running a bookstore, the Li family also deals in calligraphy and painting supplies, offering them to the examination venue at a discount of thirty percent off market price… Therefore, there are some connections between the examination venue and the Li family. The provincial examination isn’t as strict as the imperial examination, and the process of copying down the rankings isn’t so secretive. It seems like the Li family found a way to inquire about the results and then passed the information to him.”

As he spoke, Cui Fei felt a bit bitter in his mouth.

It was indeed his recklessness.

If only he hadn’t slacked off earlier, how could he have been outperformed by Li Rufeng, who wasn’t even as good as him in the examination?

He wasn’t really afraid of losing face; he just felt sorry for Shen Cui and the others who had helped him study.

Others in the examination venue also knew about the Li family’s connections.

Seeing Li Rufeng so smug, some couldn’t help but look at Cui Fei with a hint of sympathy.

At that moment, someone suddenly shouted, “The second-class list is out… How can this be?!”

A low murmur of astonishment filled the air.

Cui Fei and Mei Ruochu looked over and were astonished to see that Cui Fei was ranked first in the second class!