The results unveiled

Generally speaking, as long as Xu Qi'an doesn't make demands like "sleep with me tonight" or "give me a son," Zhong Li will fulfill Xu Qi'an's wishes.

Of course, if the supervisor said, "Zhong Li, if you cultivate with this kid, your tribulation will be guaranteed,"...

In that case, Zhong Li could also fulfill his wish.

Indeed, Xu Qi'an is not the kind of person who takes advantage of others' misfortunes. If Zhong Li were to propose dual cultivation with him, he would definitely refuse, after all, she is Chu Caiwei's senior sister.

Zhong Li sat obediently at the desk, following Xu Qi'an's instructions, spreading out the paper specially used for revising books, grinding the ink, picking up her pen, and saying, "Go ahead and speak."

"Don't rush, let me think about it." Xu Qi'an sat to the side, holding a steaming hot teacup, deep in thought.

In order to prevent further conflict between Lin'an and Huaiqing, Xu Qi'an, a servant of three surnames, was caught in the middle and in a dilemma. After much thought, he finally came up with a solution.

Lin'an loves listening to stories, so Xu Qi'an gave her a story.

There are many stories of talented scholars and beautiful women in the city, even stories about a young Liu Bei, which can satisfy the needs of Lin'an. However, Xu Qi'an believes that as a mature playboy, he should seize every opportunity to make his fish unable to leave him.

"The book is called 'The Great Sage of Love,' so please don't misspell the character for 'love,' Senior Sister Zhong."

Seeing that she hadn't started writing, Xu Qi'an said, "Senior Sister Zhong? Is your hair too long to see clearly? Shall I brush it aside?"

Zhong Li slowly shook her head. "What a strange book title."

Nowadays, miscellaneous writings and novels are generally titled with words like "record," "biography," or "record," similar to the names of ci (a type of classical Chinese poetry) titles, following a set of conventional naming standards.

"Don't worry about it, just write it as I say." Xu Qi'an waved his hand and began to tell his story.

The Great Sage of Love tells a love story that takes place in the Heavenly Court. The female protagonist is the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor, named Fairy Zixia. The male protagonist is a guard in the Heavenly Palace, and is Demon Race.

His name is Long Aotian.

The Demon Race is the lowest of the low in the Heavenly Court, discriminated against by the immortals, and can only serve as laborers and guards. Their hobbies are singing, dancing, and rapping.

There's a problem here.

Zhong Li said, "Long Aotian's name is taboo. Given the Heavenly Court's supreme status in the book, such a name shouldn't exist."

Xu Qi'an thought for a moment and could only say, "Let's not worry about these details."

The story continues:

But these two people from vastly different backgrounds unexpectedly fell in love. One was a celestial flower from a fairy garden, the other a flawless jade.

"Wait a minute," Zhong Li paused, frowning, "The 'Fairy Flower of the Garden' refers to Fairy Zixia, right? And 'Flawless Jade' refers to Long Aotian, but he's a lowly Demon Race. In terms of background, he doesn't deserve the title 'Flawless Jade.' I think it needs to be changed."

"Are you some kind of troll?" Xu Qi'an was furious, his lips twitching. "Are you teaching me how to write a book?"

Sensing that the "talisman" was in a bad mood, Zhong Li wisely stopped talking.

The story continues:

The two had a secret rendezvous in the Heavenly Palace. From holding hands and watching the sunset and clouds, to embracing and kissing, and then rolling around in bed in the secret room, Xu Qi'an described the whole process in great detail, from beginning to end.

In this era, similar banned books were also described in detail, and even accompanied by poems. Xu Qi'an could copy poems, but it was impossible for him to write his own, so he was not showing off his limited skills.

However, the love between Fairy Zixia and Long Aotian was discovered by a god who coveted Fairy Zixia's beauty, and he reported the two of them.

The Heavenly Emperor was furious and had Long Aotian skinned and bones removed, casting him into the cycle of reincarnation to be reborn as an animal for generations. Meanwhile, Fairy Zixia was imprisoned for eternity in the Guanghan Palace, to be accompanied only by the cold and loneliness.

The story ends abruptly here.

"How many words are there?" Xu Qi'an took a sip of tea to moisten his throat.

Zhong Li quickly calculated, "About 80,000 words."

Zhong Li writes very quickly, sometimes for two hours straight without stopping. Often, she finishes writing just as Xu Qi'an finishes a sentence. Ordinary people cannot do this.

"As expected of a fifth-rank Warlock," Xu Qi'an thought to himself, secretly impressed and very satisfied.

The story was actually quite mediocre, at least in Xu Qi'an's opinion, but commercial novels hadn't yet emerged in this era, and even Xu Qi'an's rough story was more entertaining than most vernacular novels.

"If only I had met Zhong Li six months earlier, I could have just told her what to write, and she would have been my voice recognition system. I could have opened a bookstore and made a living selling storybooks."

Xu Qi'an immediately rejected the idea. First, given his current status, he no longer needed to engage in business. Second, the income from chicken essence, including annual dividends, was enough for him to live a monotonous life with a harem of wives and concubines.

Finally, such stories wouldn't have been a big deal in his previous life. But in this era, they were punishable by death.

It doesn't matter if you don't commit it.

"Okay, let's leave this story as it is for now. I'll reconsider the second half. Let's move on to the next book."

Zhong Li's fingers trembled.

The second book tells the love story of a demon queen and a human scholar. Xu Qi'an directly used the formula of a domineering CEO from his previous life, only changing the roles of the male and female characters.

The female ruler is domineering, strong, wise, and ruthless, while the human scholar is learned, kind, gentle, and polite.

A domineering female CEO versus a naive and innocent scholar.

Without a doubt, this book was written for Huaiqing.

The book was written for Lin'an. The male and female protagonists are a celestial princess and a young guard. Xu Qi'an has malicious intentions and is misleading Lin'an's views on love and values.

When she is engrossed in a novel, she will imagine a handsome, capable, and witty "bodyguard" type of character.

In Lin'an, one will discover, "Oh, isn't this the kind of person my lackey is? It turns out my true love is right beside me."

This is highly likely. Those pampered young ladies raised in seclusion, obsessed with tales of talented scholars and beautiful women, dreaming of their future husbands being just like those characters in those stories—a perfect example, isn't it?

As for Huaiqing, she's a tough nut to crack; she's intelligent, calm, and opinionated, making her difficult to guide.

Xu Qi'an even suspected that she didn't read cheesy novels, but of course, nothing is absolute. Huaiqing was a princess with the personality of a domineering female CEO, and in this patriarchal world, novels like "The Domineering Female CEO Falls in Love with Me" were almost impossible to find.

Xu Qi'an believed that this would inevitably arouse Princess Huaiqing's desire to read.

At the dining table after dusk.

Xu Erlang noticed that his elder brother was acting strangely, always staring at him silently with a focused and lingering gaze, as if he were examining a precious treasure.

"Brother, why are you staring at me like that?" Xu Erlang said in a deep voice, unable to bear it any longer.

"I've recently become enamored with traditional Chinese painting and want to copy Erlang," Xu Qi'an explained casually, still staring intently at Xu Erlang.

"So that's how it is." Xu Erlang slightly raised his chin and nodded, saying, "If you can capture even a tenth or a twelfth of my handsomeness, then you've truly mastered the basics."

Second Uncle Xu couldn't stand it anymore, so he tapped his finger on the table and changed the subject. "Yesterday, I heard you killed a sixth-rank martial artist with a single strike?"

Xu Qi'an said reservedly, "Just a nobody."

Second Uncle Xu glanced at his son, then at his nephew, and thought to himself, "This arrogant and conceited attitude is not the tradition of my Xu Household."

"Tomorrow is the day the results are announced, isn't it?" Auntie looked at Erlang.

"Hmm." Xu Erlang nodded.

"You'll definitely be the top scholar this Nian'er," the aunt said happily, serving her son some food.

Second Uncle Xu glanced at his plump and beautiful wife and suddenly realized that it was all because of this woman that he had corrupted the family's morals.

"After the list of successful candidates is released, our whole family will go to see it together," Xu Qi'an said.

Upon hearing the words "Xingbang," Xu Lingyin immediately looked up.

"It's not for eating." Xu Lingyue patted her head.

Xu Lingyin lowered her head and continued eating.

After dinner, Xu Qi'an finished washing up, uncorked a porcelain bottle, mixed water with water to wash his face, and soaked his face for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. His skin began to feel hot, and his facial features showed signs of "melting".

He immediately went to the bronze mirror and began to practice his half-baked breathing techniques, attempting to alter his facial features.

"Thinner lips, a slightly narrower nose tip, a more defined facial structure, and rounder eyes."

Fifteen minutes later, the imposter Xu Erlang appeared; to be precise, he was Xu Erlang's long-lost brother.

"I'm about 50% similar." Xu Qi'an looked at himself in the bronze mirror with self-pity.

If I were to call my aunt "Mom" like this, the whole family would probably believe me. No, no, I should put away that dangerous idea. It wouldn't be good if my second uncle and aunt got a divorce. As he thought about it, Xu Qi'an's lips curled up, and many cunning ideas flashed through his mind.

Of course, it would be really interesting if I could disguise myself as Erlang and meet up with the members of the Earth Book chat group in person later.

It wasn't because I was afraid of social death, I just found it interesting.

"Life is so boring, you have to learn to find your own fun. It's been a long time since I went to a brothel to listen to music."

The Spring List is also known as the "Apricot List" because this is the time when apricot blossoms are in bloom.

February 27th, dawn was breaking.

There was no curfew tonight, the city gates were wide open, soldiers patrolled the streets, and almost all the gongs from the Nightwatchers watchmen's office were sounded.

Countless scholars poured into the inner city, crowding at the gate of the examination hall, waiting for the results to be announced.

This year's Spring Examination was exceptionally lively, attracting not only thousands of eagerly awaiting scholars, but also the Celestial Person's battle between the Daoist School and the human, drawing a massive influx of martial arts practitioners into the city.

People from the martial arts world have one major characteristic: they're gossip lovers!

They flock to wherever there's excitement.

This put immense pressure on public security in the capital's five guards, government offices, and Nightwatchers's offices.

In the end, Xu Pingzhi was unable to accompany his son to see the examination results because the area he was responsible for was a bit far from the examination hall. For the same reason, Xu Qi'an was also responsible for the security of another area.

The world is a mixed bag of people; if there are spies or antisocial individuals among them, the students will be in danger.

Aunt, Lingyue, and Lingyin, the three women, also wanted to come and join in the fun, so the second uncle had to arrange for the mansion's attendants to accompany and protect them. Xu Qi'an, on the other hand, believed that the area he was patrolling was not far from the examination hall, so he could keep an eye on things at any time.

It's not a big problem.

"The day the results of the imperial examinations are announced is always this lively. The court has been nurturing scholars for many years, and today is the day to commemorate it."

The middle-aged swordsman, accompanied by young master Liu and other juniors, walked through the congested streets, speaking eloquently, "When I traveled to the capital years ago, I happened to be there during the imperial examinations and was fortunate enough to witness this scene."

"The top scholar at that time was apparently named Chu Yuanzhen, who later became the top scholar in the imperial examination. When I came to the capital this time, I inquired and learned that the top scholar had already resigned from his official post."

"Ah, time flies, ten years have passed in a flash."

"Oh, you're resigning from your official post?" Rongrong, the enchanting beauty, asked curiously.

"Why is that? I heard that the top scholar can enter the Hanlin Academy and become the heir apparent. Such a bright future, why give it up?"

The middle-aged swordsman shook his head.

Further on, there was almost no road left; everywhere you looked were scholars in Confucian robes and some martial arts practitioners.

The officers and soldiers struggled to maintain order, shouting orders loudly.

"Master, why don't we leap onto the roof and go take a look?" Young Master Liu suggested.

"Do you want to be chopped down by the Nightwatchers's blade, or pierced through the heart by a thousand arrows from the Imperial Saber Guard?" the middle-aged swordsman said irritably.

In an open space near the examination hall, a sedan chair draped in red silk was parked, surrounded by a group of guards with swords and two pretty maids.

"Chun'er, when will the results be released?"

A melodious and gentle female voice came from inside the sedan chair.

"Miss, there are still 15 minutes left."

The maid on the left, named Chun'er, tiptoed and glanced at the sundial in the distance.

The girl in the sedan chair was the daughter of Wang Zhenwen, the Grand Secretary of the current dynasty. She usually loved to attend poetry and literary gatherings organized by scholars and had a lively personality, so of course she would not miss such a grand event as the announcement of the results of the imperial examinations.

This Miss Wang is quite talented. Although she is not as exceptionally gifted as Princess Huaiqing, if she were a man, passing the imperial examination would be a piece of cake for her.

"I wonder who will be the champion this year," Chun'er said sweetly.

Miss Wang smiled and shook her head slightly.

Cheating in the imperial examinations is rampant, though not blatantly so. It's highly questionable. The title of "Huiyuan" (top scholar) may seem prestigious to the common people, but to those in the know, it's merely a title to be revered.

Brother, you're so generous!

Of course, occasionally a golden phoenix will fly into a chicken coop, and there should always be some truly deserving talents who win the championship.

At this moment, another maid who hadn't spoken suddenly pointed into the distance and exclaimed, "What a handsome scholar!"

Miss Wang lifted the curtain, revealing a crack, and peered outside.

She quickly realized who the handsome scholar the maid was referring to was, because he was so dazzling that even as he was jostled and frowned repeatedly by the crowd, his good looks remained undeniable.

Her eyebrows were delicate and long, her eyes were as bright as stars, her lips were red and her teeth were white, and her skin was fair. Compared to most women, her skin was more delicate and beautiful.

Behind him followed a beautiful woman with an oval face, dressed in luxurious clothes, her hair styled in a high bun, adorned with a gold hairpin.

Beside the beautiful woman was a pure and elegant young girl, whose beauty even impressed Miss Wang, who was confident in her own looks.

Protected by a group of attendants, the aunt was not pushed or jostled by the crowd, but she somewhat regretted coming to join the fun.

Besides the noisy scholars, there were also many burly, menacing-looking martial arts practitioners. This made the aunt, who only dared to beat her nephew and husband at home, feel terrified.

When she goes out, she often attracts the attention of some lewd men, though she is more subtle about it, while the vulgar scoundrels around her are completely uninhibited.

The aunt frowned, sighed inwardly, feeling a sense of helplessness at the inability to give up her natural beauty.

"Let's do it here."

Xu Erlang stopped and explained, "When the list is posted later, someone will naturally announce it; we can just listen from here."

Auntie breathed a sigh of relief, took Erlang's hand, and said, "Your mother has gone to great lengths for your academic success."

"Mother, you've worked hard," Xu Erlang said.

The list of successful candidates was posted on the east wall of the examination hall, also known as the "Wall of Merit." As time passed, the time finally came for the results to be revealed.

The second-ranked list was revealed first.

The mere appearance on the supplementary list excited a group of students; some cheered, some wept, presenting a vivid picture of diverse lives to those present.

"The list of successful bidders is about to be released."

The students shouted loudly, their emotions running high.

PS: Update first, revise later. 9600 words today. I'll try my best to keep it up tomorrow. Let's go!

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