The Prime Minister's Darling

Chapter 209: 130 Prodigy (First Update)_2

The Zhuang family disregarded public opinion, insisting on sending all their sons to the exam site.

Prince An did not disappoint and emerged as the top scholar in the provincial examination held in the Capital City.

As is well known, the competition in the Capital City is the most intense, making the title of top scholar there the most coveted. If not, the Guozijian wouldn’t have broken their rule to grant him direct entry into Shuaixin Hall.

The grading speed of the Guozijian was as impressive as rumoured, with results out two mornings after the last day of exams on the twenty-seventh.

This year’s freshmen generally performed well, while those who had lagged behind due to years of confinement in the academy seemed lacklustre. Reading is akin to rowing against the current – if you don’t progress, you retreat.

However, not all older examinees were like this. The teaching quality of the Guozijian is beyond doubt. Those who paid attention would not fare too badly.

As expected, this batch of entrants into Shuaixin Hall were mostly older students.

However, when they collated the last of the exam papers, they discovered an unfamiliar name.

“Xiao Liulang?” asked Zheng Siye, “Which student is this? Did we have a Xiao Liulang in the Guozijian before?”

“Could he be a freshman?” asked Li Siye.

Zheng Siye frowned, “How could a freshman score so well?”

This score would be among the top in Shuaixin Hall too.

The two officials brought out Xiao Liulang’s student records, only to discover that he was indeed a freshman who had excelled in the provincial examination in Youzhou.

Li Siye laughed, “Isn’t this the first time a freshman has made it into Shuaixin Hall?”

He found himself oddly excited.

Zheng Siye coldly remarked, “Don’t forget that Prince An is also a freshman. This Xiao Liulang was simply lucky. The title of ‘Freshman King’ belongs to none other than Prince An.”

Li Siye didn’t dare to refute.

Although Prince An did not partake in the entrance examinations, anyone with discerning eyes could see that his academic prowess exceeded the senior students of Shuaixin Hall. If he were to take the exam, could the top position belong to anyone else?

Of course, this freshman was also remarkably brilliant.

Li Siye, keeping a cautious eye, read his student data and recordings, suddenly realising something: “Isn’t he the one who wrote that borderline treasonous paper advocating the reduction of fiefdoms and verbally assaulting the Emperor?”

That issue caused quite a stir at the time. All the examiners in Youzhou were astir. The Chief Examiner sent to oversee the provincial exam in Youzhou was a good friend of Li Siye, who had secretly shared the content of the paper with him after returning to the Capital.

Li Siye couldn’t help but feel a twitch in his eyelids after hearing about it. Did that examinee have a death wish, daring to so openly criticize the Emperor?

The marks he gave for that essay were naturally not too high, for fear that the Emperor might take a look and fall ill from anger.

But he couldn’t deny that the examinee’s performance in the first and third round of tests was exceptional. In the end, he was still named the top scholar.

So this was an extremely capable examinee, his admission into Shuaixin Hall was not simply due to luck.

However, Li Siye was unable to explain all this to Zheng Siye.

The Guozijian did not rank the test results, only assigning the respective classes.

Xiao Liulang was admitted to Shuaixin Hall, Fen Lin and Lin Chengye to Chengxin Hall of the second grade. The difference was that Fen Lin was in Class Alpha of Chengxin Hall, while Lin Chengye was in Class Beta.

On the other hand, Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun had settled on a private academy near the Guozijian – Qinghe Academy. All documents had been processed, and they could begin school next month.

Gu Jiao prepared a feast, inviting Fen Lin and Lin Chengye over to celebrate everyone’s start of school.

By the end of October, the Capital City was already getting cold. Apparently, the first snow had fallen on the hills of Temple of the Dragon Guard, it must be close to snowing in the city as well.

The silver charcoal that Gu Jiao stocked up earlier came in handy. She bought several hand warmers, filled them with silver charcoal – enough to generate heat for two hours, so that they could replace the charcoal when they returned at noon.

Now the price of charcoal had gone up, Gu Jiao’s forethought in stocking up had saved her family a significant amount of money.

On the first day of school, Little Jingkong wanted Jiaojiao to take him. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Gu Jiao escorted him and Xiao Liulang to the Guozijian, then Gu Xiaoshun and Gu Yan to Qinghe Academy.

When she returned to their mansion in Bishui Alley, the old lady had just gotten up and was sitting in the backyard on the rattan chair, playing with the fledgling eagle that Gu Changqing had sent.

This little hawk was found by Gu Changqing at the bottom of a cliff. It must have fallen not long after it was born, whether it had fallen by itself or was knocked down by its mother was unclear. In any case, it seemed its mother had forgotten to retrieve it.

Even so, it didn’t give in. It stubbornly struggled to stand up on the spot, it seemed a tremendous force was hidden within its tiny body.