Seeing his son frozen, Second Aunt Li tugged at him: "Son, there are so many people. What do we do? We can't see!"
Li Yixing didn't speak.
"What's wrong?" Second Aunt Li followed his line of sight, and a surge of anger shot up from the soles of her feet.
She saw Li Yisheng holding onto Xie Xiaoyu's legs, lifting him up. The two of them swayed unsteadily, looking like they might topple over at any moment.
Li Yisheng strained until his face was red and his legs trembled: This little fatty has gotten even heavier over the years.
That night, Xie Xiaoyu had wept, claiming that during their years apart, he had missed Li Yisheng so terribly that he could neither eat nor sleep properly, and had become gaunt and thin.
This wasn't thin at all!!
If this was considered 'thinner,' then how heavy must he have been before?!
Back when Li Yisheng used to carry him, he wasn't heavy at all!
He panted: "Can you see it yet?!"
"Not yet!" Xie Xiaoyu patted his shoulder: "Hold me steady! Don't wobble! Didn't you eat? Lift me higher! I can't see the last few names at the bottom of the list."
Li Yisheng: "..."
Is this a matter of whether I have eaten or not?
You are as heavy as a pig. Even if I eat half a bucket more of rice, I still can't lift you higher.
Gritting his teeth, he mustered all his strength and lifted Xie Xiaoyu a little higher.
"Can you see now?"
Xie Xiaoyu furrowed his brows: "No! I've already checked all the ones at the back."
Second Aunt Li, who had been quite angry and was about to step forward to scold them, felt most of her anger dissipate upon hearing this.
Having looked for so long without seeing it, he must have failed.
"See, what did I say before." Seeing Li Yisheng glance over, Second Aunt Li smiled and said: "Isn't this a wasted trip? A country bumpkin from a village, his horizons don't extend beyond his little plot of land. He knows a few characters and doesn't know his own limits. You..."
"Brother Sheng..."
Xie Xiaoyu's exclamation cut her off.
"He passed... he passed... Fang Zichen passed!"
Li Yisheng had no time to deal with Second Aunt Li: "He passed? You didn't see wrong?"
Xie Xiaoyu, his gaze fixed ahead, said with certainty: "I didn't see wrong."
Li Yisheng was as excited as if it were his own result: "What place? What place?"
"First place," Xie Xiaoyu said loudly.
The excitement on Li Yisheng's face instantly faded by more than half.
He seriously suspected Xie Xiaoyu had misread.
First place???
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
He wouldn't even dare boast like that!
For over thirty years in Yuanzhou, the top candidates in the Prefectural Exam, the Academy Exam, and the Provincial Exam had all come from Qinghe Academy without exception.
It wasn't that the officials favored their own and leaked the questions.
The imperial examinations were strict. Cheating behaviors like buying or leaking questions, once verified, would result not only in the candidate having their earned title stripped but also in a lifetime ban from the exams.
Qinghe Academy consistently took the top spot entirely based on its real strength. In Daxia, aside from the Imperial College, the most powerful institutions were the various academies in the prefectures. These academies had strong teaching resources, the instructors were all Juren or higher.
How could Anhe Academy compare? In a small place like that, the headmaster was only a Xiucai.
A teacher's duty was to impart knowledge and resolve doubts. The Juren masters who taught there came from various prefectures and counties; each was talented and profoundly learned. They had undergone a rigorous screening process by the academy's dean and the local prefect, and were only permitted to stay if they met the strict requirements.
These academies were dedicated to cultivating talent for the imperial court. Their entire curriculum was geared toward the imperial examinations, and they recruited only the most gifted and promising scholars from their generation. From the esteemed faculty to the ambitious students, everyone was exceptional. Less capable students could not gain entry into Qinghe Academy. If they enrolled elsewhere, the instruction simply could not compare. They started at a disadvantage, and the gap only widened over time. As a result, other academies stood little chance of competing with Qinghe.
Xie Xiaoyu was from Yuanzhou and naturally understood this. So when he checked the list, he started from the bottom.
Of the thousand students who sat for the Prefectural Exam, only sixty would be admitted—a true test of survival, akin to a thousand troops and ten thousand horses all trying to cross a single log bridge.
He had scanned the list from the bottom up to the middle, and still, Fang Zichen’s name was nowhere to be found. His heart began to pound, and he unconsciously wiped his sweaty palms.
Li Yisheng seldom found a friend he could talk to so easily. That night, they had spoken for hours, and Li Yisheng could hardly utter three sentences without bringing up Fang Zichen. Though his words were full of complaints—accusing Fang of being shameless and utterly unreliable—Xie Xiaoyu could see the clear fondness shining in his eyes.
Li Yisheng truly considered Fang Zichen a brother.
If Fang Zichen didn't make the list, he was afraid Li Yisheng would be sad and upset on Fang Zichen's behalf for quite some time. Unwilling to give up, he looked from the back forward again. Reaching the twentieth place, he still hadn't seen it.
The further he looked, the colder his heart felt.
Tenth place. Still not there.
Starting from the thirtieth place upwards, all were from Qinghe Academy.
The top ten...
It seemed Fang Zichen had truly failed. But having looked this far, Xie Xiaoyu looked forward again, all the way to first place.
In an instant, his eyes widened, and he subconsciously held his breath.
Fang Zichen...
First place.
The top position.
Three large characters shone brightly.
He worried it might be someone with the same name, but the information following it was correct.
Fu'an Town, Xiaohe Village.
Next to each name on the red list was a line of smaller characters. It was the candidate's basic information.
Used to prevent confusion from duplicate names.
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