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Imperial Concubine Shu also got the news of the imperial exam results betting game, and quietly asked her eunuchs to take some money to place bets in Brisk Wind Tower.
An Junwang was sure to win, and since there were too many people betting on him, the winnings were low. Even so, Imperial Concubine Shu still placed her bet on An Junwang. After all, it was better to earn less than none at all.
Imperial Concubine Shu also bet on Gu Jinyu and Zhuang Yuexi, as well as Taoist nun Miao Yin.
This Taoist nun had some history. She was the direct granddaughter of Grand Secretary Yuan who was sent to the Taoist temple because she was born with difficulty. It was also such a wonder that the baby, who was obviously dying, had really become energetic after entering the Taoist temple.
Imperial Concubine Shu had someone inquire about it, and Taoist nun Miao Yin would be able to return to the capital upon reaching sixteen years old. Counting the days, that was nearly around before the list of successful examinees was published.
Imperial Concubine Shu felt that even without relying on Grand Secretary Yuan's reputation, Taoist nun Miao Yin could still get a flower hairpin.
Grand Secretary Yuan's grandson was also taking part in the imperial examination. His fame wasn’t as great as An Junwang's, but Imperial Concubine Shu was betting on him to get the second place.
Next, Imperial Concubine Shu placed another bet on a gifted Jiangnan scholar, who was quite well-known in Jiangnan. Three years ago, he was supposed to take the imperial exam and was expected to pass brilliantly, but he fell seriously ill and missed it.
He befriended the Fifth Prince, who recommended him to her. Imperial Concubine Shu believed in her son's vision, so she placed a bet on him to become the Tanhua(3rd place).
After placing all her bets, Imperial Concubine Shu was still worried that she might have missed something, hence she called her personal maidservant and asked, "Who did the Crown Princess bet on?"
The maidservant replied, "This servant has inquired, but the Crown Princess didn't place any bet."
Imperial Concubine Shu couldn’t understand what the Crown Princess was thinking. Such a great opportunity to earn money, and she was just going to let it pass.
The maidservant speculated, "Among these talents and beauties, only An Junwang, with his talent and knowledge, can enter the eyes of the Crown Princess, but the Crown Princess can’t bet on An Junwang."
So to speak, An Junwang was from the Zhuang Family, and Empress Xiao and the Zhuang Family were sworn enemies. Wouldn’t the Crown Princess be spelling bad luck for Empress Xiao by betting on the Zhuang Family?
Imperial Concubine Shu didn’t stand on anyone's side in the harem so she could bet on anyone.
Meanwhile, Gu Jiao went straight to the medical hall after coming out of Brisk Wind Tower.
Physician Song just came out of Gu Chenglin's room, his expression looking indescribable.
Gu Jiao walked over and asked, "What's the matter? He still refuses to leave?"
Physician Song shook his head, "His wound has already healed, his suture has been removed, and his pulse condition is smooth in all aspects. There’s really no point in staying here any longer."
Although it usually took about a hundred days to really recover from an injury, Gu Chenglin was in the prime of his youth. He just had to properly recuperate upon going back to the estate, so why take the trouble of staying in their medical hall?
Gu Chenglin refused to leave because he couldn't accept Concubine Ling's betrayal. He refused to return to the place where there used to be Concubine Ling, he refused to hear anything about her.
And as long as he was in the estate, these problems couldn’t be avoided.
It wasn’t possible for him to move to another house outside either as Old Madame Gu would definitely not agree.
Gu Jiao and Physician Song went to his room.
As soon as they entered the room, Gu Chenglin lay on his side with his back to the door.
The lighting in the room was very dim, but it was noticeable that he had lost a lot of weight.
Gu Jiao came to the medical bed and said, "If you don't leave now——"
Without turning around, Gu Chenglin silently held up a silver banknote.
"The medical hall’s ward is for patients——"
He held up another silver banknote.
"Business has been very good recently——"
Another eight silver banknotes.
Each was worth one hundred taels of silver.
Gu Jiao put away the silver banknotes worth one thousand taels in total, saying, "Recover well."
Physician Song:“…”
After taking the silver banknotes, Gu Jiao went out happily!
On the other hand, Gu Chengfeng also finished his homework for the day and came to the medical hall to take care of his younger brother.
He used to do his homework during the day and work at night. After Gu Chenglin was injured, he would take care of Gu Chenglin after doing his homework in the daytime, and after working at night.
Gu Chenglin's health was all right, but he had become wooden and refused to communicate with others.
Gu Chengfeng's secret was exposed a bit with Gu Chenglin being here. Maybe the fortunate thing among misfortunes was that with Gu Chenglin’s present appearance, he would unlikely reveal Gu Chengfeng’s secret.
Gu Chengfeng worked hard from morning till night, and after being drained over and over again, he finally saved up one thousand taels of silver.
This was the last debt.
After paying this back, he would never have to work so hard again!
"Third brother, when this second brother pays his debts, I will take you to a better medical hall!" Gu Chengfeng said, reaching under Gu Chenglin's pillow to touch his silver banknotes.
He touched it. Huh? There’s nothing.
He touched it for the second time, but still felt nothing.
He pulled out the pillow and sadly found that the silver banknotes worth one thousand taels of silver he had worked so hard to save were gone!
He only felt the sky collapsing at this moment, "Third brother! Where's my silver banknotes?"
……
On the ninth day, the first exam officially started.
Imperial guards had surrounded the examination compound yesterday, and the security was so tight that even a fly couldn't get in.
The exam supervisors took out the exam papers from the sealed boxes and distributed them to all the exam halls one by one.
There were four exam halls in the examination compound of the capital: east, west, north and south. Each hall could accommodate as many as five hundred people, so there were a total of two thousand exam papers.
After the exam papers were distributed, the examinees were not allowed to start writing immediately. Instead, they had to wait for the sound of the examination compound Drum Tower to echo three times before they could begin writing down their answers.
The same was true for when submitting their exam papers. As long as they heard the drum beat thrice again, they must put their brushes down, otherwise it would be regarded as cheating in the examination hall.
There were many examinees in the examination compound of the capital. Relatively, there were also many exam supervisors, ensuring that there were people patrolling all day. In this high-pressure environment, it wasn’t so easy to cheat.
The weather seemed to get colder; some snowflakes could be seen fluttering in the early morning.
The cold wind was howling, and the examinees were shivering with cold one by one, unable to grasp their writing brushes steadily.
In the morning, Xiao Liulang had a piece of braised meat seasoned with soy sauce and a white steamed bread dipped in a bit of chili. The spiciness made him sweat and warmed up his hands.
Today’s exam covered the Four Books and Five Classics, with a large number of questions including classics filling, definition as well as exposition.
Those who could get to this round were the best from all over the world. Be it their mental quality and solid learning were better than the overall level of the provincial exam. The difficulty of the first session wasn’t enough to stump them, it was just that the weather was really too cold.
"Achoo!"
Du Ruohan sneezed heavily in his exam cell.
He kicked away his quilt last night and woke up in the middle of the night. After that, he felt unwell. He was so dizzy that he couldn't read the questions at all.
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! "
After sneezing several times in a row, he felt even more dizzy.
If this went on, he would surely fail this round.
Du Ruohan suddenly felt grieving.
He couldn’t fail. Failure would embarrass his aunt.
It wasn’t easy for his aunt to stay in the residence. If he doesn’t do better to have a bright future, his aunt would not be able to hold her head up in front of those people.
Du Ruohan tried to force himself to read the questions, but his brain was too mushy.
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