A Person of Talent and Virtue

"This Year's Tanhua Li Huaigu, styled Fang Gui, was born into a family of physicians."

"A renowned talented scholar of Shuzhou City, he studied under Mr. Yue Ming of Guiyun Academy. Since childhood, he had pored over the classics and histories, blessed with extraordinary talent."

"At sixteen, he passed the Prefectural Examination and became a Xiucai. At nineteen, he passed the provincial examination. At twenty, he went to the Capital Prefecture, first becoming the Huaiyuan scholar, then placing in the First Class and receiving His Majesty's bestowed Jinshi degree with honors. He ranked third, the Tanhua."

"And now he has returned to Shuzhou to take office. How enviable..."

Envious voices drifted in from around him. Chen Yi looked at Li Huaigu atop his white horse and could see the high spirits radiating from him.

After all, in just four short years, he had passed examination after examination and been granted the title of Tanhua. That was no small feat for an ordinary scholar.

Most students were like Huang Chao: failing once, failing twice... then giving up altogether, left only with the thought, "When autumn comes on the eighth day of the ninth month, when my flowers bloom, a hundred flowers shall perish," wanting nothing more than to take a blade and butcher the beasts at the Ministry of Rites.

But Li Huaigu had returned to Shuzhou to take office?

Chen Yi pondered it carefully, frowning inwardly. In an earlier letter, Cui Yu, the Chen Family's First Madam, had written: "Elder brother Chen Yunfan has placed first as Zhuangyuan and will soon arrive in Shuzhou to take office."

Strange.

As far as he knew, in every Imperial Examination of the Great Wei Dynasty, the Zhuangyuan was appointed a Hanlin Academy compiler and retained in the Capital Prefecture for focused training. Only after at least three years would he be sent elsewhere as an official.

And Hanlin Academy editors like Li Huaigu, even when assigned to a provincial prefecture, would avoid their home territory to prevent them from colluding with local relatives and causing trouble.

"They're all coming to Shuzhou. Could those lords in the Imperial Court be planning to set up a chessboard here?"

Chen Yi had no answer.

He still knew little about the state of the Great Wei Dynasty. Relying only on the memories in his mind and common sense, there were several things that simply did not add up.

After considering it, he lifted the front curtain of the carriage. "Fourth Brother, please pull over."

Liu Si'er gave it no further thought and immediately tugged the reins, not forgetting to remind them in a low voice, "Young Marquis, Son-in-law, there are many people here. Please be careful."

Chen Yi glanced at him, smiled, and nodded. He stepped down from the carriage first, then lifted Xiao Wuge down.

Xiao Wuge tilted his head up at Li Huaigu. "Brother-in-law, that man looks so impressive."

Once Xiao Die, Wang Lixing, and the others caught up, Chen Yi smiled. "Among the hundreds of thousands of students taking the same examination across the Great Wei Dynasty, he ranked third. It's only natural for him to look impressive."

Xiao Wuge withdrew his gaze and looked at him with certainty. "If you took this Imperial Examination, your results would definitely be better than his."

Before Chen Yi could respond, several students beside them laughed without even turning their heads.

"What a joke. Who has such a big mouth that he dares say something like that?"

"Exactly. Brother Huaigu possesses talent enough to fill eight bushels. If not for His Majesty's favoritism, even the top Zhuangyuan spot would have been his."

"You..."

The two students with mocking faces turned to look over. When they spotted the Xiao Family Red Banner hanging from the carriage, they immediately fell speechless. Their faces shifted from green to red, like crayfish tossed into a pot, going from raw to cooked.

Chen Yi found it amusing and patted Xiao Wuge, who was about to speak. "Come on. If we're late, we won't get a good spot."

Xiao Wuge shot those students a glare, then obediently followed at Chen Yi's side.

Xiao Die puffed out her cheeks and followed behind, her little face frustrated.

Wang Lixing and the others strode past them from on high, though a glint of coldness flashed through the corners of their eyes.

"Next time, look carefully before you open your mouths."

The icy voice frightened the two students into silence, still as cicadas in winter. It took them a long while to recover.

A handsome student in a blue robe standing nearby watched Chen Yi and the others leave before finally speaking.

"You two mustn't be so loose-lipped next time."

One of them smiled bitterly. "Brother Xu, don't laugh at us. Who knew they were members of the Xiao Family? I thought they were wild Scholars who had wandered down from the mountains."

The other nodded, though he stubbornly insisted, "Xu Nian, we weren't wrong. With Brother Huaigu's learning, even someone born in a Marquis's mansion would find it hard to glimpse his back."

The student named Xu Nian shook his head. "Perhaps others could not, but that man's reputation is no less than Brother Huaigu's."

"That man?"

"Have you forgotten that Birthday Ode which shook all of Shuzhou a few days ago?"

The two hurriedly looked toward Chen Yi, who had already vanished into the crowd, but all they could see were the backs of several tall, burly attendants.

Seeing that they had understood, Xu Nian sighed. "Chen Yi, Chen Qingzhou—his name remains quite renowned even in Jiangnan Prefecture. If he had not married into Xiao Manor, he might have claimed a place in this Imperial Examination as well."

As he walked ahead, he softly recited, "Why lament when crane-white hair arrives? The stars themselves are marks of merit... A fine verse, a fine verse."

The other two looked awkward. They stood dumbly for a moment before speaking at the same time.

"On the strength of that verse alone, I admit I am beneath him."

"At the end of the day, he is only a live-in son-in-law. He will struggle to rise for the rest of his life."

The moment the words fell, the two looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

"You're wrong to say that!"

"You're wrong too..."

As for Chen Yi, he naturally did not care about other people's wagging tongues.

But young Xiao Wuge was unhappy. It was his first time being mocked so openly by outsiders.

"Brother-in-law, speaking like that truly lacks the bearing of talented scholars."

Chen Yi smiled, pulling him forward as he spoke. "Someone who has merely studied for a few years cannot be called a talented scholar. At most, he knows a few characters."

Xiao Wuge blinked. "Then what is a talented scholar?"

"Of course, a student with both talent and virtue."

Xiao Wuge understood at once and grinned. Brother-in-law was saying those two had neither talent nor virtue.

"Brother-in-law, then you must be a talented scholar."

"I'm not. I'm merely your second sister's husband."

"And from now on, stop using the excuse of helping me to go looking for Old Master and your sister. If you really get me sent to the military camp, who will go fishing with you?"

"Oh..."

Seeing Chen Yi speak this way, Xiao Die also tossed those two Scholars to the back of her mind and followed alongside them with a giggle.

But Liu Si'er's expression changed slightly behind them. Did this fledgling truly not want to go to the military camp, or was he concealing his brilliance and biding his time?

All along the way, Li Huaigu rode his white horse, naturally flushed with the joy of spring breezes.

The other students followed behind him with imposing bearing, as though sharing in his glory, their excitement beyond measure.

Whether they had prepared in advance or acted on impulse, some young ladies scattered flower petals from both sides, casting bashful, half-spoken looks at Li Huaigu.

Had Yamen Runners from the prefectural office not been accompanying him, they probably would have wanted to throw themselves directly at him.

But this was only the beginning.

After following for ten li and barely circling half of northern Shuzhou City, the talented scholars and beauties who had come for the lively occasion were no longer so comfortable.

None of them could maintain their straight backs or their coy, delicate poses. They were just short of spitting out curses and calling for their mothers.

Fortunately, they still remembered their status. They endured until the end, still managing to squeeze out smiles as they congratulated Li Huaigu after he leaped down from his white horse.

"Brother Huaigu, congratulations."

"Passing as Tanhua with such high marks—you truly are the Chief Scholar of our Guiyun Academy in Shuzhou."

"..."

Li Huaigu's smile had stiffened across his face, yet he still forced himself to return their greetings.

But in the gaps between his courtesies, his gaze drifted, intentionally or otherwise, toward a willow tree farther away.

A simply dressed young woman stood beneath it, gazing at him with feelings brimming in her eyes. Even when their eyes met, she only blushed and did not look away.

Chen Yi took it all in and unconsciously accepted a handful of melon seeds from Xiao Die.

It was clear that the girl secretly in love with Li Huaigu came from an ordinary background. No wonder Madam Li wanted to break up the lovers.

There were likely only two reasons—an unequal match in family status, and Li Huaigu's future prospects.

On one side were his parents' orders; on the other, the white moonlight of his childhood sweetheart. How would he choose?