Chapter 150

On the day the Perfectual exam results were posted, the weather turned gloomy again, making it stuffy and hot.

This time, Mu Er Pang didn’t let Shen Cui accompany him.

Last time, Shen Cui had waited for him outside the exam hall for most of the day.

At that time, she was only concerned about Mu Er Pang losing 2 points of constitution, without realizing that she had also lost 1 point of her own.

After a few days of rest, Mu Er Pang’s lost 2 points of constitution quickly returned.

But Shen Cui’s lost point had not yet recovered by now. Plus, with the previous summer hardships, she hadn’t been able to eat much, and she felt a bit weak.

Mu Er Pang told her to rest at home and went to check the results with Lao Buyu.

Shen Cui didn’t insist.

After all, she still had the light curtain at home to see the results. Moreover, wasn’t it the case that after the previous two exams, Mu Er Pang would always discuss with everyone in the academy? Though she didn’t understand much, she knew that her chubby son was particularly good at solving problems and managed to impress the chief examiners by chance.

Just this alone was better than most people.

Moreover, since Wei Xi had already taken the exam, and Wei Xi’s overall talent was comparable to Mu Er Pang’s now.

But regardless, he still made it into the top ten.

So Shen Cui was quite confident that her son would pass the exam, so she didn’t fuss about seeing it with her own eyes.

Mu Er Pang and Lao Buyu left the academy together and headed towards the place where the results were posted.

It was a good thing Shen Cui didn’t go because the atmosphere at the result viewing site today was particularly bad.

Wasn’t it bad?

The main poetry topic in the previous exam was already like a heavy blow to all the candidates.

Many of them hadn’t recovered from it yet.

And the weather on the day of the second exam was particularly bad, with extremely harsh conditions inside the exam room.

They were only grateful that the chief examiner ‘conscientiously discovered’ this and made the second exam’s poetry topic much simpler than the previous one, so they managed to get through it barely.

It was both mentally and physically exhausting, and many people fell ill after returning home.

It was only these past few days that they finally recovered.

But then, eagerly coming to check the results today, what do you know, their names weren’t on the list at all!

And when these people inquired with those who did pass, they found out that even the seemingly simple poetry topic had its pitfalls!

And this wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that this year was only Liu Xuezhen’s first year in office, and he would still be in charge of setting the questions for the exam two years later.

It meant that if they wanted to pass the scholar exam, they would have to endure another ordeal like this!

Under the multiple blows, when Mu Er Pang and Lao Buyu arrived, several scholars had already fainted in front of the results board.

These fainting individuals, whose constitutions were not strong enough or whose mental resilience was lacking, were generally not young people, but mostly middle-aged or elderly.

At their age, they were usually the heads of their families, so there were no elders accompanying them, at most they brought a nephew or two.

The younger generation panicked and didn’t know what to do.

The soldiers were responsible for maintaining order and couldn’t afford to help, only instructing two nearby doctors to attend to the sick.

However, with the unequal numbers, those two doctors were simply overwhelmed.

The area in front of the results board immediately turned chaotic!

Since they saw this situation, Mu Er Pang and Lao Buyu naturally couldn’t stand by and do nothing, so they didn’t rush to check the results but went forward to help.

Lao Buyu said, “Everyone, please disperse for a moment. Don’t crowd together, poor air circulation is not good for the sick! I know there’s a nearby medical clinic. Let’s all lend a hand and carry the sick over there.”

With him taking the lead, others found their backbone, and they worked together to carry several people away, either by carrying or supporting them.

When they arrived at the clinic, the doctors checked their pulses and diagnosed either heatstroke or a sudden heart attack, but the issues were not serious. After a couple of injections, they immediately regained consciousness.

These people thanked those who had helped them, and the matter finally came to a close.

When they came out of the clinic, Mu Er Pang realized that among those who had helped was also Shen Aoshuang.

This person seemed aloof, but unexpectedly, they were also warm-hearted.

Mu Er Pang smiled at him again, but the other person still ignored him and walked away directly.

Seeing this, Lao Buyu asked him softly, “Do you know him?”

Mu Er Pang grunted, “Not exactly, just a bit…”

He wanted to say they were just acquaintances, but he remembered that he had greeted the other person twice before and got ignored both times, so he knew, “We’ve only crossed paths a few times.”

As they spoke, the teacher and student quickly returned to the place where the results were posted.

After all the commotion earlier, most of the people concerned about their scores had already checked the list and dispersed, so there weren’t many people around.

Smoothly, Mu Er Pang saw his name at the top of the list!

Ranked no.1

Even though it was partly luck, he was still very happy.

He was happy not only for himself, who had diligently worked hard for the past three years without slackening day and night, but also because he felt he hadn’t let down his mother, his mentor’s cultivation, and the care of his fellow students in the academy!

Mu Er Pang realized for the first time in his life that his heart could beat so fast, as if it could jump out of his mouth at any moment!

He regretted a bit not bringing Shen Cui with him because if his mother were there, they would surely embrace each other and laugh together and crying together.

But with only Lao Buyu there, who constantly reminding him to stay calm after he passed the exam first in the academy.

Mu Er Pang restrained himself.

With these thoughts in mind, he carefully observed Lao Buyu’s expression—Lao Buyu remained expressionless, not showing the same eagerness and excitement he had shown while helping the fainting people earlier.

So Mu Er Pang took a few deep breaths to calm himself down forcibly, then proceeded to look for other names on the list.

The first name he noticed next was Shen Aoshuang’s, who was second.

In other words, in both the Provincial exam and the Perfectural exam, he had been surpassed by him, no wonder he had ignored him earlier.

It was understandable.

Then he continued to look down the list—Ren Shun ranked sixth, while Zhao Xiuwen ranked eleventh.

All three of them had good rankings!

Unfortunately, today wasn’t very fortunate, as he didn’t meet them at the board, so they couldn’t congratulate each other immediately.

It had been a while since they came out, and Mu Er Pang was eager to go back and tell Shen Cui about his results in person, so he prepared to return to the academy.

When he turned around, he found that Lao Buyu hadn’t followed him down the list but was still standing at the top.

“Teacher,” Mu Er Pang called out to him from where he stood, “My mother must be worried at home. I want to go back soon and tell her the good news.”

Lao Buyu remained unchanged and calmly replied, “It’s time to inform the headmaster of this good news. You go back first.”

Mu Er Pang looked at him with confusion, then heard him say, “I felt a bit unwell after the commotion just now, so I need to take a break for a while.”

The smile on Mu Er Pang’s face faded, asking if it was serious and where it hurt.

He was about to support him back to the clinic in front when Lao Buyu stopped him, saying, “It’s just a minor issue. I’ll go to a tea stall, have a bowl of tea, and rest for a while. You go back on your own.”

Although Mu Er Pang still felt uneasy, he had to listen to the teacher’s words.

He hesitated for a moment, confirming that Lao Buyu’s complexion hadn’t changed significantly, before nodding and saying, “Then, please take care of yourself, Teacher. I’ll go back and inform my mother.”

After a while, most of the people at the board had dispersed.

Ren Shun and Zhao Xiuwen arrived late, with Ren Shun apologizing profusely, “Brother Zhao invited me to check the board together out of kindness, but I’m useless. I fainted just a few steps out of the board, and Brother Zhao had to take care of me. It delayed us until now to come and see the results.”

Zhao Xiuwen waved his hand dismissively and said, “We’ve been friends since the county exam, we’ve been through thick and thin together. It’s just a small favor. Besides, the list won’t run away. If we pass, we’ll be on the list. If we don’t, we’ll be nameless on the list. It’s already decided. What does it matter when we look at the list?”

As they walked and talked, they arrived at the list. They saw a slender figure bouncing past them.

Although they only glanced at each other and didn’t see each other’s faces clearly, from the way the other person was dressed, they were not young.

A scholar of this age who could bounce like a young man made Ren Shun couldn’t help but smile, and then he heard Zhao Xiuwen hesitate, “The figure of that person… why do I feel a bit familiar?”

Zhao Xiuwen, also from a peasant family, did not have very good resources, but he was definitely far superior in memory than ordinary people.

After he said that, Ren Shun looked carefully, but unfortunately, the other party was bouncing very fast, and in the blink of an eye, he was already far away.

“It should be one of the candidates in our same examination room, maybe we had a slight encounter in the examination room.” Ren Shun speculated.

Zhao Xiuwen nodded, and because the two were still worried about their results, they didn’t think about it anymore and immediately went to check the rankings.

……

On the other side, Shen Cui, Mu Er Pang happily came back to report good news. Although Shen Cui knew at the same time as him, she was really happy and gave him a affirming hug.

After talking about the matter, Mu Er Pang still felt a little uneasy and said immediately, “The teacher has not yet returned. Although he insisted that I come back first, I am still a little worried. I will go out to look for him.”

Shen Cui quickly stopped him, “The teacher has his own sense of propriety, and he may not be at the place where the list is posted at the moment. If you go now, you might end up empty-handed. Let’s wait a little longer. If he hasn’t returned in half an hour, I’ll go with you to look for him.”

She guessed that Lao Buyu must have gone somewhere to enjoy himself in secret.

Sure enough, after only two or three quarters of an hour, Lao Buyu came back, still with that indifferent look to honor and disgrace.

However, when Mu Er Pang wasn’t paying attention and the other youths hadn’t returned yet, he handed Shen Cui a bigger and thicker ‘brick’ paper, asking her to help pass it on to his senior brother.