"This Year's Tanhua Li Huaigu, styled Fang Gui, comes from a medical family."
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"A renowned talent of Shuzhou City, studying under Mr. Yue Ming of Guiyun Academy, he has thoroughly read the classics and histories since childhood with extraordinary natural talent."
"He passed the Prefectural Examination as a Xiucai at sixteen, passed the Provincial Examination at nineteen, and went to the Capital Prefecture at twenty to first pass as Huaiyuan scholar, then pass the First Class to receive His Majesty's grace of a 'Jinshi degree with honors', ranking third as Tanhua."
"Now returning to Shuzhou to take up office, he truly fills us with envy..."
Envious voices reached his ears from the side. Chen Yi watched Li Huaigu riding on the white horse, and could indeed discern his high-spirited vigor.
After all, he passed three consecutive examinations in the short span of four years and was bestowed the rank of Tanhua, which was not something ordinary scholars could accomplish.
Most scholars were like Huang Chao, failing the first time, failing the second time... and then stopping the exams, leaving only thoughts in their hearts like, "When autumn comes on the eighth day of the ninth month, after my flowers bloom all other flowers die", only wanting to take a knife and slaughter those beasts in the Ministry of Rites.
However, Li Huaigu was returning to Shuzhou to take up office?
Chen Yi carefully reflected for a moment and frowned inwardly. Previously, First Madam Cui Yu had said in a letter: "Elder Brother Chen Yunfan has placed high in the imperial examinations as Zhuangyuan, and will arrive in Shuzhou to take up office shortly."
Strange.
According to what he knew of past imperial examinations in the Great Wei Dynasty, the Zhuangyuan was always appointed as a Hanlin Academy compiler and kept in the Capital Prefecture for key cultivation, only being sent out to serve as a local official after a minimum of three years.
As for a Hanlin Academy editor like Li Huaigu, even when sent out to prefectures, they would still avoid their home territories to strictly prevent them from colluding with local clans and causing disaster.
"With all of them running off to Shuzhou one after another, could those great lords in the Imperial Court be planning to play a game of chess here?"
Chen Yi had no way of knowing.
At present, he did not understand the situation of the Great Wei Dynasty very well. Relying solely on the memories in his mind and common-sense deduction, there were some points among them that did not make sense.
After thinking for a moment, he lifted the front curtain of the carriage. "Fourth Brother, please pull over and stop."
Liu Si'er gave it no further thought, directly pulling on the reins while not forgetting to remind him in a low voice, "Young Marquis, son-in-law, there are many people here, so I hope you will be careful."
Chen Yi glanced at him, smiled and nodded, stepping down from the carriage first to lift Xiao Wuge down from the carriage.
Xiao Wuge looked up at Li Huaigu. "Brother-in-law, that man looks so imposing."
After Xiao Die, Wang Lixing (Wang Lixing), and the others followed behind, Chen Yi smiled. "Among the hundreds of thousands of scholars in the same cohort of the Great Wei Dynasty, for him to rank third, being somewhat imposing is only normal."
Xiao Wuge withdrew his gaze and looked at him with certainty. "If Brother-in-law took part in this imperial examination, your results would definitely be better than his."
Before Chen Yi could speak, several scholars nearby laughed without looking back.
"What a joke, whose tone is so big that they actually dare to say such words?"
"Exactly, Brother Huaigu is a man of abundant talent. If not for the bias of the current Emperor, the top spot of Zhuangyuan would have been his."
"You..."
The two scholars with mocking expressions looked over, but upon catching sight of the Xiao Family Red Banner hanging on the carriage, they instantly became speechless. Their faces shifted between green and red, resembling crayfish dropped into a pot going from raw to cooked.
Finding it amusing, Chen Yi patted Xiao Wuge, who wanted to speak. "Let's go. If we go too late, we won't be able to grab a good spot."
Xiao Wuge glared at those scholars before honestly following by Chen Yi's side.
Xiao Die puffed out her lips, her irritated little face following closely behind.
Wang Lixing and the others walked past their side from a position of superiority, though the corners of their eyes merely revealed a flash of cold light.
"Before you speak next time, look carefully before opening your mouth."
The icy voice frightened those two scholars into complete silence, and for a long time they were unable to recover their wits.
Another scholar nearby, wearing a green robe and possessing delicate features, watched Chen Yi and the others walk away before he finally spoke:
"You two, we had better not shoot our mouths off so recklessly next time."
One of them gave a bitter smile. "Brother Xu makes you laugh. Who knew they were people from the Xiao Family? I thought they were mad scholars who had come from the mountains."
The other nodded, yet stubbornly retorted, "Xu Nian, we didn't say anything wrong. With Brother Huaigu's literary talent, even someone born of a Marquis's mansion would find it hard to reach his back."
The scholar named Xu Nian shook his head. "Others perhaps cannot, but that person's renown is not the least bit inferior to Brother Huaigu's."
"That person?"
"Could you have forgotten that Birthday Ode that shook Shuzhou a few days ago?"
The two hurriedly looked toward Chen Yi, who had already merged into the crowd, but only saw the backs of several tall and stalwart attendants.
Seeing them react, Xu Nian sighed. "Chen Yi, Chen Qingzhou, has maintained a lofty reputation in Jiangnan Prefecture to this day. Had he not married into the Xiao Manor as a son-in-law, I'm afraid he could have claimed a share in this imperial examination as well."
As he spoke, he walked forward while softly chanting, "Thinking of back then, iron horses with golden spears, swallowing thousands of miles like a tiger... Fine verse, fine verse."
The other two wore awkward expressions, standing in a daze for a moment before speaking simultaneously.
"Based solely on this verse, I concede defeat."
"When all is said and done, he is merely a kept son-in-law, and it will be difficult for him to ever make a mark in this lifetime."
As the words fell, the two exchanged glances, both seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.
"What you said isn't right!"
"What you said isn't right either..."
Chen Yi, on the other hand, naturally cared nothing for the gossip and idle chatter of others.
Yet the young Xiao Wuge felt somewhat displeased; it was his first time being mocked like this by outsiders.
"Brother-in-law, for them to talk like that really lacks the demeanor of men of letters."
Chen Yi smiled, pulling him forward as he walked. "People who have read books for a few years cannot be called 'men of letters'; they can only be considered as knowing a few characters."
Xiao Wuge was taken aback. "Then what is a man of letters?"
"Naturally, they are scholars who possess both talent and virtue."
Understanding dawned on Xiao Wuge, and he couldn't help but grin broadly-this was scolding those two people earlier for having neither talent nor virtue.
"Brother-in-law, then you must certainly be a man of letters."
"I am not. I am merely your second sister's husband."
"And from now on, stop using the pretext of helping me to go find the Old Master and your sister. If you really get me sent to the military camp, who will accompany you on your fishing trips?"
"Oh..."
Seeing Chen Yi speak thus, Xiao Die also followed suit by casting those two Confucian scholars out of her mind, smiling as she followed by their side.
Meanwhile, the expression on Liu Si'er's face behind them shifted slightly. Did this fledgling truly wish to avoid the military camp, or was he biding his time and hiding his capabilities?
Along the way, Li Huaigu rode his white horse, naturally brimming with high spirits and pride.
The other scholars followed behind with heroic and vigorous bearings, acting as if they shared in the glory with inexplicable excitement.
Some young maidens, whether prepared in advance or acting spontaneously, scattered flower petals from both sides, looking at Li Huaigu with shy and unexpressed feelings.
Had it not been for the accompanying yamen runners from the prefectural office, they probably would have wanted to rush straight at him.
However, this was only the beginning.
After following along for ten li, barely making a half-circuit around the northern part of Shuzhou City, the talents and beauties joining in the bustle were no longer so comfortable.
One by one, they found it hard to maintain straight backs and dainty, graceful postures, lacking only the vomiting of foul language to curse aloud.
Fortunately, they still remembered their status, forcibly completing the entire route and still managing to squeeze out smiling faces to offer congratulations to Li Huaigu as he jumped down from his white horse.
"Brother Huaigu, congratulations."
"Placing high as Tanhua, you are truly the chief scholar of our Shuzhou Guiyun Academy."
"..."
Li Huaigu's smile grew stiff from smiling, yet he still bit the bullet and returned the courtesies.
Yet amidst returning the bows, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally looked toward a willow tree further in the distance.
Right there, a maiden dressed plainly yet filled with deep affection was watching him. Even when meeting his gaze, the flush on her face merely deepened without her shifting her eyes away.
Chen Yi took all of this in, unconsciously taking a handful of melon seeds from Xiao Die's hands.
It was evident that the maiden who shared unexpressed romantic feelings with Li Huaigu came from an ordinary background, which explained why Madam Li had to break up lovers.
Guessing roughly, there were only two reasons-a mismatch in social status, and Li Huaigu's future prospects.
"On one side are the orders of parents, and on the other is the white moonlight of a childhood sweetheart. I wonder how he will choose."
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