Chapter 293: Poop Mark

In the narrow and cramped exam stall, the young man lowered his eyes slightly, grinding ink unhurriedly.

The most eye-catching thing was that face.

Eyebrows like distant mountains, eyes like autumn water, every part grew just right. It looked more exquisite than jade, yet seemed more fragile than porcelain.

Such an peerless appearance—let alone women who couldn't take their eyes off it, even men who saw it would probably feel pity.

Su Qingyao leaned back, pointed at Jiang Zhan, and whispered to his most trusted secretary, Gongsun Ang: "Old Gongsun, look at that candidate..."

Gongsun Ang looked in the direction of his finger and hurriedly said: "That candidate is named Jiang Zhan, the County Top Scholar of Wutou Xian, and also the youngest County Top Scholar."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Su Qingyao rolled his eyes at him speechlessly.

As the chief examiner, one also had to be familiar with the background of the candidates. For example, how many local candidates were there in Fengyang Prefecture, how many were returning to their ancestral homes from outside; how many were from poor families, and how many were second-generation officials or from aristocratic families—all this had to be done well.

And Jiang Zhan was on his watch list, and in a prominent position.

"I'm saying, look at how handsome he is."

Gongsun Ang: "..."

It was very handsome, no mistake, but was that the point? Wasn't the point to see who had the most hope of becoming the Prefectural Top Scholar?

"Being handsome is useless. In the exam hall, what's tested is true talent and learning, not figure or appearance."

Su Qingyao raised an eyebrow. "How do you know he doesn't have true talent and learning?"

"Becoming a County Top Scholar at sixteen must mean he has true talent and learning." Gongsun Ang sighed and pointed to Duan Xiu on the other side. "It's a pity he met Young Master Duan. Young Master Duan was taught personally by his grandfather, the old Lord Duan, since he was a child, and has studied at the Imperial Academy for several years. In terms of talent and experience, Jiang Zhan cannot possibly be his opponent."

The fact that Jiang Zhan and Duan Xiu made a wager was spread all over Fengyang Prefecture, and Su Qingyao naturally heard about it.

And he also found out that it was his own nephew, the troublemaker Shen Jing Bin, who stirred up this 'good deed' to curry favor with Duan Xiu.

"It seems you think highly of Duan Xiu." Su Qingyao smiled.

Gongsun Ang was puzzled. "Does the master not think highly of him?"

Su Qingyao was silent for a moment and then nodded. "I naturally think highly of him too."

The Duan family and the Su family were both well-known families in Fengyang Prefecture, and they usually had dealings with each other. Although they couldn't be called close family friends, before Duan Xiu went to the capital, he had a good relationship with Su Qingyao's second son, Su Mu, and would occasionally visit the Su family.

For this Prefectural Examination, the Duan family had come to greet them early.

Although they didn't say it explicitly, no one was a fool, so Su Qingyao naturally understood what they meant.

The Duan family was determined to win this Prefectural Top Scholar title.

However, Su Qingyao always had his own principles. If Duan Xiu's strength matched, he didn't mind pushing the boat along and sending a favor to the Duan family. After all, being an official couldn't be too rigid, otherwise, it was easy to narrow one's own path.

But if Duan Xiu's level wasn't good enough, then...

He couldn't just play blind and let people criticize him, right?

After sitting in the invigilator's seat for an hour, Su Qingyao's old waist felt stiff, so he simply stood up to patrol the candidates, and by the way, move his hands and feet.

He first walked around the exam hall twice, and then pretended to be casual and stopped in front of Duan Xiu's exam stall.

Duan Xiu had already written an article and was copying it onto the exam paper.

Su Qingyao lowered his head and scanned it a few times.

The content wasn't very clear, but the handwriting was truly beautiful, like flowing clouds and running water, both firm and soft. It was exactly the calligraphy style of the Sage of Calligraphy, Wang, that was most popular at the moment.

Hmm, not bad.

Su Qingyao nodded secretly.

His gaze moved up, seeing that Duan Xiu didn't show any panic because of the chief examiner's arrival, and was still very calm, not even shaking his hand. He was even more satisfied in his heart.

Then he continued to patrol forward.

Shi Duoduo in the next exam stall saw him coming, his eyes immediately drifted, and he raised his head tremblingly, squeezing out a flattering smile at Su Qingyao.

Su Qingyao frowned, walked away with his hands behind his back, expressionless.

He circled twice more and finally circled to Jiang Zhan.

To be honest, Su Qingyao was quite interested in this young candidate.

A sixteen-year-old County Top Scholar—it wasn't that there hadn't been any before, but they were very rare, counting as a phoenix feather or unicorn horn.

Of course, this was only one reason.

The second reason was that when Xiong Er reported the case of the water bandits to him, he mentioned that the Du clan was accompanying her brother-in-law to Fengyang Prefecture to participate in the Prefectural Examination, and they accidentally wiped out the bandit den.

And that brother-in-law happened to be named Jiang Zhan.

If there were no accidents, it should be the same person.

This Jiang family was really full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Jiang Li had high martial arts skills and wiped out the bandits overnight; the Du clan had superb medical skills and poisoned the water bandits with a handful of poison; even their servants weren't to be trifled with, beating the big leader of the Moyu Village until he fell into the water and fled, without even getting a whole corpse.

He thought this was already amazing enough, but he didn't expect that Jiang Li's younger brother, Jiang Zhan, was also not an ordinary person, becoming a County Top Scholar at such a young age.

The younger generation is to be feared.

Su Qingyao inevitably developed curiosity about the Jiang family.

He scrutinized Jiang Zhan carefully.

Before, it was a distant view, and he only felt that this kid was really good-looking; now, at such a close distance, Su Qingyao sighed in his heart once again.

Truly a masterpiece of Nüwa's skill!

Perhaps this was heaven's favoritism.

If his own unreliable nephew had half of Jiang Zhan's... oh no, even a tenth of his talent and temperament, he wouldn't be annoyed every time he saw him.

After looking at his face, he went to look at Jiang Zhan's exam paper.

Huh? Why was it blank? There wasn't even a single word?

Su Qingyao couldn't stay calm.

He waited for a long time on the side, seeing Jiang Zhan sitting in his seat like a monk in meditation, not moving at all, and finally couldn't bear it anymore.

"Why haven't you started writing yet?" he asked.

Jiang Zhan hurriedly stood up to salute and answered obediently: "The student hasn't thought of a way to break the topic yet."

Su Qingyao, "..."

It was almost noon, and he hadn't even thought of how to break the topic??

He was a bit disappointed. After all, he was young, and it was normal for the name not to match the reality. He estimated that the previous County Top Scholar was also obtained by accident.

Su Qingyao didn't say anything more, turned around and returned to his invigilator's seat, and sat down with a thud.

Gongsun Ang looked at his master's dark face and asked suspiciously: "What's wrong, master? Did you catch a candidate cheating?"

"No cheating." Su Qingyao snorted. "But you might have been right. Jiang Zhan is no match for Duan Xiu."

Gongsun Ang immediately understood in his heart.

It seemed that the master had just seen the two people's exam papers, so he had this conclusion.

He smiled: "Isn't this as clear as lice on a monk's head? Besides, if Young Master Duan can win the Prefectural Top Scholar title, it's also a good thing for you, master."

Although that was the case.

But for some reason, Su Qingyao didn't really want Jiang Zhan to lose. From the first time he saw that young candidate, he felt a sense of affinity, and there was always a sense of inexplicable familiarity and closeness.

He swore it was absolutely not because Jiang Zhan was good-looking!

It was just a pity that Jiang Zhan, a student from a poor family, didn't seem to have the strength to leap over the dragon gate...

Unknowingly, it was already noon.

In the exam stall in the middle of the first row, Shi Duoduo put down the pen in his hand and carefully checked his two masterpieces.

A smug look appeared on his face.

It was lucky; he happened to have written both of these classic meaning questions before, and even received praise from his teacher.

So he just needed to rely on his memory to write them out again.

Now, there was only the last procedure left, which was to copy these two articles from the draft paper to the exam paper, and then he could hand it in.

According to the unwritten rules of the imperial examination, the chief examiner would personally test those who handed in their papers first.

Those who performed well would definitely not have a bad ranking.

Even if the performance was average, they could leave some impression on the chief examiner, which was better than being unknown.

Thinking of this, Shi Duoduo became even more excited, picked up the pen again, and prepared to start copying.

Rumble.

His stomach rang out at this moment, uncooperatively.

Shi Duoduo thought about it. Anyway, there was plenty of time, and handing in the paper too early wasn't good, so let's eat first.

So he reached out and rang the bell in the corner.

A bailiff immediately walked up and asked: "Buying food or going to the toilet?"

"Excuse me, buying food." Shi Duoduo handed over a tael of silver.

Did he really think he had no experience in taking the imperial examination for the first time? He actually asked him if he wanted to go to the toilet.

Did he dare to go?

Once the paper was marked with a 'poop mark', it would be all over!

The bailiff soon left with the silver. After about half an hour, he brought back a plate of stir-fried winter melon with fatty meat, a small bowl of wilted yellow vegetables, and a bowl of brown rice.

Shi Duoduo curled his lips.

One tael of silver, and he bought these few pieces of junk?

It didn't look appetizing at all.

However, he only dared to complain in his heart; on the surface, he still pretended to eat with relish and finished it all.

It was one tael of silver; he felt bad if he didn't finish it.

After the bailiff took away the bowls and chopsticks, Shi Duoduo digested for a while, then picked up the pen and started copying.

Just after copying the first article, his stomach suddenly cramped.

He didn't take it too seriously; after all, he had had this symptom before, and it would usually be fine after a while.

However, he miscalculated.

This time it not only didn't get better, but it hurt more and more, and there was a strong urge to run to the toilet.

Shi Duoduo was sweating profusely.

No, absolutely not!

He must never become one of the 'poop mark' people!

He covered his stomach with one hand, clamped his butt tight, and bit his teeth hard to avoid screaming.

The other hand accelerated the speed of copying, thinking of finishing the copy and handing in the paper, and then he could run straight to the toilet.

Perhaps the heavens also pitied him.

Finally, he finished copying.

Then he hurriedly rang the bell.

It was still the same bailiff as before, asking as usual, "Going to the toilet?"

The bailiff thought very reasonably; it was just past noon, it was still early, it was impossible to hand in the paper so quickly.

Buying food was even more impossible; he had already bought it before.

So, there was only one option left—he wanted to poop.

Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that Shi Duoduo couldn't bear to hear the word 'toilet' right now. ===== CHAPTER 294 =====