Chapter 311: Did He Take the Wrong Medicine?

Duan Xiu was a person who was always proud and conceited.

Of course, he had the capital to be proud.

Not to mention his good background, his own strength was also solid; he could write, he could paint at eight, and he had shown extraordinary wisdom and strategy since he was a child.

Therefore, on the day Duan Xiu turned 【missing age】, he was officially designated as the helmsman of the next generation of the family.

His grandfather, Duan Zixun, had even higher expectations for him, taking him by his side to teach him personally, intending to cultivate this grandson to take over his position and become a great Confucian scholar passed down through the ages.

This was the fundamental reason why the Duan family was obsessed with the Prefectural Top Scholar.

They wanted to create another legend, a legend of winning the top spot in three consecutive exams, to build momentum for Duan Xiu.

They thought that with Duan Xiu's ability, a mere child exam would be easy to handle, right?

As a result, they never expected that Jiang Zhan would pop up halfway.

He stole Duan Xiu's limelight in the first round!

Duan Xiu admitted he panicked.

Especially seeing Jiang Zhan and his third uncle hand in their papers early one after another, while his own test paper was still mostly blank, he felt terrible.

How could this be?

Were Jiang Zhan and the others really able to do those arithmetic problems, or were they deliberately bluffing to scare people?

Duan Xiu didn't know.

But he knew that if he continued to struggle like this, let alone first place, he was afraid he would even lose second place...

"*Cough, cough! *"

Just as Duan Xiu stopped writing and was in a daze, two heavy coughs suddenly came to his ears.

Duan Xiu woke up with a start and subconsciously looked up.

A large shadow was stuck in front of him, blocking more than half of the already narrow cell.

It was the chief examiner, Su Qingyao.

Su Qingyao stood with his hands behind his back and asked him seriously, "Are you finished?"

Duan Xiu hurriedly stood up and bowed, his attitude respectful, "Not yet."

Su Qingyao nodded, "Then continue, don't get distracted."

After saying this, he continued to patrol the exam, turned around twice more before returning to his invigilator's seat, and sat down with a *thump*.

"How is it, Master? Can they solve those problems?" Gongsun Ang asked with a smile.

"Aren't you asking what you already know?" Su Qingyao said with no good temper, "Just look at them and you'll know. Everyone is bitter-faced, scratching their ears and cheeks; it would be strange if they could do it."

Gongsun Ang glanced at Duan Xiu's side, "Then Young Master Duan..."

Su Qingyao grunted, "Give up, no chance."

Except for the Jiang family uncle and nephew, no one else handed in their papers early in this exam, which had never happened before.

But it just happened.

Almost all the candidates were stumped by those arithmetic problems. It wasn't that they didn't want to give up and just hand in the paper, but they didn't dare.

Firstly, they still hoped that they would have a flash of inspiration and suddenly think of the answer.

Secondly, candidates who hand in their papers early are examined on the spot by the chief examiner. When the time comes, if the chief examiner asks, "Why didn't you finish writing?"

How would you answer? Say you couldn't do it? Wouldn't that directly lose you impression points? If things went wrong, you might be disqualified on the spot.

So even if they had to endure, they had to endure until the last moment.

When the gong for handing in the paper sounded, the breath that the candidates had been holding in their hearts was finally exhaled, and they handed in their papers dejectedly.

Not one of those who walked out of the exam hall was smiling; all of them had heavy expressions, as if they were mourning their parents.

Some even burst into tears as soon as they came out and saw their family members waiting to pick them up.

"It's too hard, those problems are too hard, I can't do them, *woo woo woo*..."

The family naturally offered a lot of comfort.

Duan's second uncle, who was also waiting at the door, heard this and couldn't help but beam with joy.

Not bad, not bad, the threat really worked; Su Qingyao obediently set difficult problems.

In this case, isn't the Prefectural Top Scholar a sure thing?

*Hahaha! *

Duan's second uncle looked forward eagerly and finally saw Duan Xiu, who was the last to come out, and hurriedly went up to meet him.

"How did you do?" he asked eagerly.

Duan Xiu said nothing and walked toward the family carriage with a blank expression.

Duan's second uncle was stunned for a moment and hurriedly followed.

Sitting in the carriage, he looked at his nephew opposite him, his eyes glowing, "Alright, A-Xiu, there's no one here now, you can say it. How was it? Were today's arithmetic problems very difficult?"

Duan Xiu's face darkened even more, "Yes."

"Great!" Duan's second uncle clapped his hands, looking triumphant, "Su Qingyao finally got on the right track this time. I asked your second aunt to pass the message to him, and he listened. He's sensible."

Duan Xiu remained silent.

Duan's second uncle was still rambling, "So I said, to make someone yield, you just need to give him enough pressure. Look how good it is now..."

"Enough, don't say any more!"

Duan Xiu suddenly raised his eyes and stared at him fiercely.

Duan's second uncle's "ga-ga" sound was stuck in his throat, like a duck strangled by the neck, his expression confused and innocent.

Only then did he notice his nephew's abnormality, swallowed his saliva, and said, "A-Xiu, you..."

Duan Xiu took a deep breath and said, "Su Qingyao did increase the difficulty of the arithmetic problems as we said, but those problems... were difficult to an outrageous degree!"

Duan's second uncle was a bit confused, "You mean, even you couldn't do them?"

Duan Xiu didn't want to admit it, but he had to, "Yes, even I couldn't do them."

Duan's second uncle smacked his lips.

This, this was awkward.

"How could this be? Did Su Qingyao take the wrong medicine? He has been a chief examiner for so many years; he should know the difficulty of the problems very well. Your second aunt's message was to make it a bit harder, not to make it reach the sky."

"Could it be that Madam Su didn't pass the message correctly?"

Duan Xiu leaned back dejectedly, "Forget it, it's already like this; there's no use saying anything."

Duan's second uncle hurriedly comforted him, "Don't be in a hurry. If you feel it's hard, others will definitely feel it's even harder. I saw many people crying when they came out. Since it's the same for everyone, it doesn't matter. As long as the poems written before are good, you can still take first place and suppress that Jiang Zhan."

Duan Xiu's lips moved a few times, wanting to tell him that Jiang Zhan had handed in his paper early, but suddenly he didn't want to say anything.

He just felt so tired, so tired.

Tired as never before.

He squinted his eyes and leaned against the carriage wall, emptying his thoughts.

But in his ears came Duan's second uncle's rambling, "If you still can't beat Jiang Zhan this time, then the trouble will be big. Not only will it affect the future the family has planned for you, but there's also that jade pendant. If your grandfather finds out you used the family heirloom jade pendant to gamble, he will definitely be furious, and maybe even use family law..."

Duan Xiu suddenly opened his eyes.

"Second Uncle!" He said with a cold face, raising his voice abruptly, "Can you let me rest well?"

Duan's second uncle was startled by his appearance, "Alright, I won't say anything. You sleep, keep sleeping."

But Duan Xiu couldn't sleep anymore.

His head felt like it was being pricked by countless needles, throbbing with pain.

Thinking of that jade pendant...

Now everyone in Fengyang Prefecture was watching this matter. When he made the bet, he was very confident, saying that if he lost, he would never renege on the debt. He was already riding a tiger and couldn't get off.

If he really lost, the jade pendant had to be given.

Otherwise, in the eyes of the world, he would become a person who didn't keep his word and would be spurned by everyone.

How could he have the face to see people in the future?

Not to mention becoming a great Confucian scholar.

But that jade pendant was of great importance and absolutely could not fall into the hands of outsiders...

A look of ruthlessness surged in Duan Xiu's eyes.

If it really came to the last resort, he could only strike first.

Jiang Zhan, don't blame me.

In the future, I will definitely compensate you well and treat you like a pearl or treasure.

Because there were fewer people, the speed of grading naturally became much faster.

The exam poem part was, as usual, first selected by the masters of Dacheng Academy, then reviewed by several secretaries of the prefectural government to ensure there were no pearls left in the sea and no one making up the numbers, before being sent to Su Qingyao's desk.

The arithmetic problems were all graded by Su Qingyao personally.

There was no need to write the solution process; as long as the answer was correct, that was it. This didn't take much time or energy, and all were graded in less than two hours.

Then, after synthesizing the scores of the two parts, the ranking was made.

The final ranking soon came out.

Looking at that list, Su Qingyao fell into a long silence.

(I see some cuties are anxious about the nephew-uncle reunion, so let me give a small spoiler: it won't be that fast, because revealing the truth of the year requires witnesses, physical evidence, and opportunities. These have all been foreshadowed before, just waiting for the right time to be revealed. It should be at the Xinglin Conference. Also, I'm used to walking in details, so the plot progress will be slow. For those who are anxious, either wait a week to watch; by then, it should be about time for the reunion. Mainly, I'm afraid you'll be anxious to death. Actually, I'm also very anxious, wanting to move the plot, but if some details aren't written, I always feel something is missing. Obsessive-compulsive disorder.) ===== CHAPTER 312 =====