The next two days were very peaceful. Li Yaozong did not come to cause trouble again. Occasionally, when he met him, he would snort, look at him with contempt, and turn his head away, as if Li Yaonan was some dirty thing.
Lai Yaonan didn't care and turned a blind eye to his attitude. He showed his tolerance and won a lot of praise.
Nowadays, Li Yaonan's name is well-known among the talented people in Jiangnan. It is Li Yaozong who made great contributions to giving him the opportunity to show his talents. In this way, he also made several friends and they had a great time discussing academic matters together.
Lai Yiu-nam has always known what is important and what is not, so he has no mood to care about what Lai Yiu-chung does.
On the third day, the government announced the results. The students were all excited and crowded to the gate of the government office.
Li Yaonan looked at the huge crowd and smelled the stinky sweat in the air. He immediately stepped back and just stood quietly by and waited.
Sounds of surprise and crying came from the front.
I kept hearing some people shouting that they had hit the target, some crying and some feeling sad and frustrated.
Li Youp had already squeezed to the front, but Li Yaonan was not worried at all. He would know the result sooner or later anyway, so why rush it? He was very confident about his answer.
"I won, I won, Brother Yaonan, you won too." After a long while, Li Youp ran over with sweat all over his forehead.
Li Yaonan handed him a handkerchief with a smile.
Li Youp didn't bother to be polite with him. He wiped his sweat and said excitedly: "Congratulations, Brother Yaonan, you are ranked 13th in high school."
"Ah..." Li Yaonan was actually a little disappointed. He had originally thought that even if he couldn't top the list, he would at least be in the top few. He didn't expect that he was only thirteen. He concealed his disappointment and asked with a smile, "What about you?"
Li Youp touched his head and smiled embarrassedly: "I passed too. There were eight people from my clan taking the exam this time, and five of them passed. I ranked fifty-third, haha."
Li Yaonan patted his shoulder and encouraged him, "Not bad, keep working hard next time and let's try to rank higher."
"Yeah." Li Youp nodded heavily and secretly made up his mind that he must pass the examination and become a scholar this time.
Not to mention how sad and disappointed Li Yaozong was when he saw the announcement of the exam results, Li Yaonan wrote a letter home that same day to report his safety and told Lin Yixuan some interesting things about Suzhou and some fun things in the Li Mansion to make his husband happy. Li Yaonan has always known that Lin Yixuan is a ruthless person, but she is slightly restrained in front of him. This restraint touched him and made him unable to stop!
Alas! Li Yaonan sighed and touched his chest. He missed his son and husband a little. Before they were apart, he could not notice anything. Only after they were apart did he realize how much he missed them. Where his husband and children were, that was his home!
The next morning, the prefectural examination began with drums and gongs. Just like the county examination, candidates from all over the country gathered at the entrance of the examination room. They were called by officials and allowed to enter only after all their bags were checked.
Seeing Li Yaozong again, Li Yaonan smiled at him. If he remembered correctly, Li Yaozong should have done well in the exam this time. Although he was only slightly worse than him, haha, it was enough to make people angry to death.
Sure enough, Li Yaozong stared at him with his eyes almost popping out.
Li Yaonan ignored him and walked into the examination room calmly. This time he would answer the questions carefully and do everything he could to move up his ranking. Otherwise, it wouldn't matter if he lost his reputation, but he was afraid of losing the reputation of Mr. Qingyang.
Sometimes it is like this, being too famous has its pros and cons. Mr. Qingyang is so famous that even an unknown person like him becomes timid.
He is not well-known now. If he announces that the ancient myths were written by him, people will not only not believe him, but will also think that he is a fraud and their spit alone can drown people.
People always like to have preconceived ideas. If a good book is written by a famous scholar, they will take it for granted. But if it is written by a wild boy who came out of nowhere, then being doubted is the least of the problems. Worse still, they will be treated as a rat crossing the street.
Reputation is indeed a good thing. For the first time, Li Yaonan truly understood the importance of reputation, and it was no longer a matter of reciting according to the original owner's memory.
After the examiner handed out the test questions, Li Yaonan concentrated his mind, ground the ink, closed his eyes and thought for a while, rolled up his sleeves, and then began to answer the questions.
Li Yaonan had a solemn expression, his writing was graceful and his manners were smooth and flowing. If one did not know his background in advance, at first glance, one would think that he was a young man from a famous family.
The invigilator obviously noticed him and nodded, stroking his beard. Suzhou is not that big. As the chief examiners, how could they not know about the recent events? The imperial examination not only looks at how well the students write, but also their character. If a person has a bad character, even if he passes the examination to become a scholar, without the recommendation of the government, everything will be in vain.
Even if he is well-educated and can pass the imperial examination, as long as there is a bad review on his file, when assigning him an official position, officials will consider whether this person is qualified.
In ancient times, people were fond of collective responsibility, and they were very cautious when appointing officials. It was not worth it to implicate oneself for the sake of a person with a bad reputation. Generally speaking, people with a tarnished reputation would not go very far in their official career, unless they had some unexpected encounter or were appreciated by someone, only then would they have a chance to turn things around.
The invigilator approached Li Yaonan and saw him answering the questions with great concentration. He lifted his pen vigorously and his handwriting was as straight as a dragon. He instantly remembered this man and thought to himself that if this boy could pass the examination and become a scholar, he might be able to cultivate him.
Li Yaonan was completely unaware of this. His mind was focused on the answer sheet, thinking about his husband at home, his infant son, the various faces of the Li family, and the Jingyang Marquis Mansion in the capital. He was unwilling to give up, and he had to fight for himself, his husband, and his son.
He clearly had great resources around him, but he couldn't use them because of his lack of reputation. How could he swallow this? It was still okay in Yangzhou now, but he was afraid that after arriving in the capital, his husband and son would be looked down upon.
That's why he made up his mind that he must get good results in this imperial examination no matter what, and it's time to announce his identity as Qingyang Jushi to the public.
If a small juren cannot have a place in the capital, then Qingyang Jushi can. The ancients always valued literati. With the name of Qingyang Jushi, the dignitaries may still not take him seriously as a mere scholar, but they will definitely respect him and give him due etiquette.
As for the examiner's thoughts, Li Yaonan would decline them even if he knew about them.
Although he needs cultivation, he does not need to take sides. It's okay to have some friendship with each other, but if you want to use the title of examiner to pull him onto some boat, there's no way. Li Yaonan knows all the twists and turns here.
The three-day imperial examination passed in a flash. When the results came out, hundreds of students who had originally been admitted by the thousands were eliminated.
There was a lot of crying and shouting at the door. Even though he saw this scene again, Li Yaonan still felt very uncomfortable.
This time, apart from him, a total of three people from the Li clan passed through.
Li Youp felt very happy. He moved up another twelve places and this time ranked 41st.
Li Yaonan was in a good mood. Although the result was a little worse than expected, the fifth place was still acceptable. The final result would still depend on how he performed in the college examination.
The students who passed the exam congratulated each other, while the students who failed were dejected.
Li Yaozong also passed this time, but his ranking continued to decline. He ranked 16th in the county exam and 48th in the prefectural exam. Perhaps his mood these days had affected him to some extent.
Lai Yaonan said that he was not gloating at all, and that the Li family would only be passers-by in his life and were not worth remembering.
However, Zhang Dangyuan surprised him quite a bit. Zhang Dangyuan actually ranked second this time. He really had some real talent.
Li Yaozong's eyes were red, and he kept saying it was impossible. He only scored 48th, so why did that bitch get fifth place? Didn't Li Yaonan never get a place in the past? Seeing Li Yaonan's high-spirited face, Li Yaozong's heart was boiling. He could no longer hold back his anger and rushed forward to ask, "Did you cheat?"
Li Yaonan curled the corners of his lips. He thought Li Yaozong had learned his lesson, but it turned out that he still overestimated him. He asked back, "What do you think?"
At the gate of the government office, Li Yaozong roared angrily: "You cheated, you must have cheated." He could not accept this fact. All along, Li Yaonan had been stepped on under his feet. Even though he suffered a loss a few days ago, he was still very proud. Knowledge was his greatest asset to look down on Li Yaonan, but now it had become a bubble. How embarrassing for him.
Li Yaonan smiled faintly, not getting angry, and said leisurely: "It seems that this brother does not trust our chief examiner. In this case, please go home. There is no need to yell and shout here, and pollute other people's Qingming Festival. I am not afraid of being a commoner, but I am afraid of disturbing the chief examiner's reputation for life."
Li Yaonan couldn't understand why the Li family members just couldn't learn their lesson. They didn't even see where they were and dared to shout like that.
He won't take the initiative to cause trouble for others, but he won't let go of those who cause trouble for him.
Li Yaozong was shocked and immediately realized that he was also overwhelmed by anger. Seeing someone coming out of the government office, he hurriedly said, "I didn't mean that. Don't talk nonsense. I'm just a little curious. My cousin failed the imperial examination several times, so how could he be among the top this time? Is there something shameful going on?"
"My cousin is wrong. Of course, I study hard. Failing the exam twice is just experience for me. I don't think it's shameful. I believe that all the students who failed the exam will study hard after returning home, and they will be like me in the future. One failure is nothing. The most important thing is not to lose confidence. I am confident that I will pass the exam this time." Li Yaonan said it with great passion and it was extremely inspiring.
"Good!" Someone cheered immediately.
“Well said!” Then some people started applauding. The students who didn’t pass the exam now adjusted their expressions and were no longer dejected. It was as if a bright light had appeared before their eyes.
They understood what Li Yaonan said, and they also planned to take the exam next time. However, without anyone to encourage them, they would not be able to regain their confidence. How could they hear such inspiring and generous words
Once again, Lai Yiu-nam climbed up by stepping on Lai Yiu-chung's shoulders, once again becoming famous among the students and becoming an inspirational role model for others.
The official at the door smiled after seeing this, then turned around and went back to the government office.
This time, Li Yaonan truly gained a foothold among the students.
Next up, is the college entrance examination!