Chapter 234 - 235: Top Scorer

"You brought this on yourself! Why did you have to go and provoke them?" Gu Yuanhuo cursed hatefully.

"I just couldn’t stand it. We’re all family, so how come we’re treated worse than those servants?

I see them wandering around all day, doing nothing, yet they still get to boss us around. I just can’t stomach it.

And that Seventh Wife is really something else. She can’t tell family from outsiders. Isn’t she just taking advantage of the fact that Seventh isn’t home? She’s using our past grudges as an excuse to find ways to torment us."

Gu Yuanshui said, "You all think too highly of yourselves. Just like Seventh Wife said, what are you even good at?

We brothers only have brute strength. Do you think we dare to covet the carpenters’ jobs? We’re all building a house for Seventh. Don’t you think we know that the foreman’s job is easier and pays more silver?

But can we do those jobs? We can’t even keep the accounts straight, and we’re Seventh’s own brothers! Have we said anything?"

Li Xiaohua and Liu Liu shrank back from the scolding. "So what do we do now?"

"How would we know what to do? Seventh isn’t home, so there’s no one to plead our case to.

You two, stop loitering here. Go home for now."

Gu Yuanjin was somewhat relieved his wife hadn’t gotten mixed up with these two this time. Otherwise, he didn’t know when they’d be able to scrape together the betrothal gift for the Le Family.

Housekeeper Fu had been standing by and waiting this whole time, so Li Xiaohua and Liu Liu could only grit their teeth and leave.

"What a headache." Gu Yuanshui and the others knew full well that if Ancient Wen Heng passed the examinations this time, all the brothers would have to rely on their younger brother to hold their heads high.

Now their own wives were causing such a scene. They hoped Seventh Wife wouldn’t hold a grudge, or the relationship between the brothers would surely be strained in the future.

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As soon as Ancient Wen Heng entered the inn’s main hall, he found it already packed with people, despite the early hour.

"Wenheng, over here!" The usually quiet Liu Wenping, already dressed in fresh clothes, waved at him with an excited look on his face.

"Brother Liu, so early?"

Liu Wenping said, "It’s not early at all. The announcement list should be out any moment.

Where’s that Attendant Student of yours? Hurry up and send him to check the list."

Ancient Wen Heng thought of Hong Tianbao, who was still in his room packing their luggage, and smiled. "There’s no rush. The entrance to the government office is probably swarmed with people right now. It won’t be easy to squeeze in. I’ll have him go after the crowd thins out."

"You’re not nervous at all?" Liu Wenping, realizing he was being overly excited, tried to calm himself down a bit.

"Whether we’re nervous or not, the results are already in. All we’re doing now is waiting, so what difference does it make if we find out a little earlier or later?" Ancient Wen Heng had been through countless exams, big and small. He had never been nervous waiting for results, not even for the most critical ones, so this was nothing new.

But he didn’t realize that his composure had earned him even greater praise from Dean Lv. "The young are truly to be feared. We’ve really gotten old. We’re not even as composed as this boy."

Wang Biyi silently recalled how, back in his day, he had personally squeezed his way through the crowd to see the list. ’I really can’t compare to him,’ he thought.

Just then, Lu Ping rushed in, grabbed Ancient Wen Heng, and pulled him to a corner. "You passed! You’re the top scorer, the top scorer in the provincial examination!"

Ancient Wen Heng said, "That came out of nowhere. What are you talking about?"

"You passed! You’re the top scorer in the provincial examination!" Lu Ping clutched his chest, catching his breath. From the moment he got the news, he hadn’t even bothered with a carriage and had run all the way over.

Ancient Wen Heng asked, "Is the list out already?"

"Have you forgotten what my old man does for a living? I was pestering him since yesterday, so the moment he got the confirmed news today, he had someone tell me.

My brother, you’re really amazing! Next time, you should aim to be the top scholar in the palace examination."

A flash of delighted surprise crossed Ancient Wen Heng’s face. Though he had been confident about passing the exam, he had never expected to rank so highly.

"Scholar," Lu Ping said, grinning from ear to ear, "from now on, I’ll be counting on you to look after me. This definitely calls for a celebration."

Ancient Wen Heng put a hand on his shoulder, pressing down firmly. "Calm down. Nobody knows yet. Don’t say it out loud and cause trouble for Mr. Lu."

Lu Ping said, "Fine, we’ll wait a bit longer then. I wonder how Prince Bai did?"

Ancient Wen Heng was silent. ’Who could possibly know?’

Sure enough, before long, government constables arrived at the inn, beating drums and gongs. As the top scorer in the provincial examination, Ancient Wen Heng once again became the center of attention.

And once again, three candidates from Leping Academy who had come to take the examination passed.

However, the other two ranked much lower and didn’t attract nearly as much attention as Ancient Wen Heng.

The new Lord Prefect, unlike his predecessor Xiao Yunhai, didn’t host a grand banquet. He simply offered a few words of encouragement, spoke some pleasantries, and then departed in a hurry.

Lu Ping privately told Ancient Wen Heng that the reason was that the Lord Prefect’s mother had been bedridden with a lingering illness, unable to acclimate to the local environment. Now the entire Prefecture City was waiting to see if the new official would have to resign and return home for Ding You before he could even settle into his new position.

Ancient Wen Heng hadn’t even started his journey home, but Jin Qianqian had already received the news.

Because the county government’s records listed Gaoling Village as his home, the government officials delivering the news split into two groups. Chief Li led his men to the small courtyard where Jin Qianqian was currently living to deliver the good news, while the other group headed to Gaoling Village, beating drums and gongs along the way.

The entire Gu family went wild with joy. Housekeeper Fu and several other servants stood outside, continuously tossing out coins to the crowd in celebration.

Jin Qianqian sent someone to the new residence to inform the Gu Family Brothers, telling them to put down their work for the moment and hurry home to help out.

"Mistress—oh, I should call you Madam now." Liu Qingmei’s face was wreathed in smiles. The better the master’s family did, the more stable their own lives would be.

"I can be called Madam now," Jin Qianqian said, covering her face with joy. In a dynasty with such a strict class structure, one could only be addressed as "Madam" if their husband held a scholarly title. The principles of "a mother’s status rises with her son’s" and "a wife is honored through her husband" were no joke in this world.

"Madam," Qing Lan chimed in, pointing to a jewelry box on the table. "Will you be wearing this full set of head ornaments?"

Jin Qianqian shook her head, personally retrieving the set of jewelry Ancient Wen Heng had first given her from a cabinet. "Let’s use this set."

Even though they had later purchased several finer and more valuable sets in Sea City, this first set remained Jin Qianqian’s favorite.

The Gu Family Brothers arrived quickly. By the time Jin Qianqian had finished getting dressed, they were already there, even before the servants Housekeeper Fu had sent out for celebratory supplies had returned.

"Sister-in-law, did Seventh really pass the exam?" Gu Yuanjin still found it hard to believe. "It hasn’t been that long since he became a Scholar. We all thought he was just going for practice this time."

"Eldest Master, our master has truly passed the examination, and he’s the top scorer in the provincial examination!" Liu Qingmei announced, seeing that Jin Qianqian was simply smiling without a word.

"The top scorer again!" Gu Yuanjin broke into a wide grin. "Excellent, excellent, excellent! The Gu family’s fortunes have finally turned!"

A fire ignited in the chests of Gu Yuanhuo and the others as well. They recalled the bright future Seventh had described to them and instinctively straightened their postures, their chests puffed out with pride.