Chapter 312: He Doesn't Deserve Second Place

"Master, you must consider this carefully. If this ranking is posted, the Duan family will lose all face, and I'm afraid they won't let it go easily," Secretary Gongsun Ang couldn't help but remind him.

Su Qingyao squinted at him with his small eyes, "What, should I just give them first place?"

Gongsun Ang was between laughter and tears.

The Master is just speaking in anger.

"First place is definitely impossible. Not to mention that Duan Xiu messed up this round, even if he hadn't, with Jiang Zhan's brilliance, it wouldn't be Duan Xiu's turn to be first."

Gongsun Ang sighed, "It's just that fourth place is really too ugly. If the Duan family goes crazy because of this and deliberately finds fault to trip you up..."

Don't look at the Duan family as looking like decent people on the surface; in reality, they are all smiling tigers, insidious on the inside.

Su Qingyao, of course, knew Gongsun Ang was doing it for his own good.

Although he wasn't afraid of the Duan family, he had no intention of provoking them either.

And the Education Commissioner, Master Bi, would soon be inspecting Fengyang Prefecture. Master Bi was Duan Zixun's student, so he was afraid that when the time came, he would stand on the Duan family's side and find trouble for him.

Thinking of this, Su Qingyao slammed his palm onto the desk with a *bang*.

"Damn it, being this chief examiner is suffocating!"

Gongsun Ang hurriedly comforted him, "Master, you don't have to struggle. Anyway, the first place is someone you favor. As for the second, third, and fourth places, the difference isn't big. Why not just promote Duan Xiu to second place, which can be considered as saving the Duan family's face?"

Second place?

Su Qingyao looked at the position that was originally second place, where Jiang Yan's name was written.

He still remembered that spirited old man; besides being a bit old, he was quite good in both literary talent and arithmetic.

The most critical thing was that Jiang Yan was the only candidate besides Jiang Zhan who got a perfect score in arithmetic.

This second place could be said to be well-deserved.

If Duan Xiu were promoted, Jiang Yan would have to move down, from second place to third.

It wasn't impossible, but...

Su Qingyao's fingers rubbed back and forth on the list, finally stopping at the third place position, "He doesn't deserve second place. Let it be here."

Seeing that his Master had made up his mind, Gongsun Ang could only respond with a "Yes."

Then he spread out the red paper and began to draw circles.

Looking at the results for the second round was even more crowded than the first.

The main force was no longer those few hundred candidates, but the entire city's commoners—those gamblers who had placed bets.

One must know that the prefectural exam had a total of three rounds.

The first round was the most important, the second round was the second most important, and the third round was basically just for reference.

And Jiang Zhan was the first place in the first round. If he was also first in the second round, then as long as he entered the third round and didn't hand in a blank paper, the crown of Prefectural Top Scholar would be his.

But if Duan Xiu took first in the second round, and Jiang Zhan took second or even third, then who would win in the end would be hard to say.

Of course, there was another situation.

That was Jiang Zhan failing the exam and falling far behind Duan Xiu, then Duan Xiu could make a comeback and become the new first place.

"How is it? How is it? Did you see it? Who is first?"

"Is it Young Master Duan? Say it quickly, it must be Young Master Duan, right?"

"Don't squeeze, don't squeeze, you're squeezing me so I can't see clearly... Ah, ah, ah, I see it, I see it! First place is Grade A, *Zi* number!"

The seat numbers of Jiang Zhan and Duan Xiu had long been inquired about by interested people and spread out.

Grade A, *Zi* number, was exactly Jiang Zhan's seat number.

That is to say, Jiang Zhan was first in both rounds.

The situation was settled; no matter what place Duan Xiu got, it didn't matter anymore. The Prefectural Top Scholar was undoubtedly Jiang Zhan.

It's over, completely over!

As the news spread, some people collapsed on the spot, almost being trampled to death by the crowd; others pointed at the sky and cursed, crying and wailing.

"My silver! A full three hundred taels of silver, all gone down the drain!"

"Heavens, how are my whole family supposed to live now? Duan family, pay me back my hard-earned money!"

"Hahaha, my judgment was still good. I saw at a glance that Young Master Jiang Zhan was a talent. I bet one hundred taels, I'm rich!"

"Pull the other one, when did you ever see Young Master Jiang? You just got lucky by taking a side path!"

"Alas, I only bet two taels of silver. If I had known, I would have bet more. I have regrets..."

For a time, those crying, those making a scene, those collapsing, those jumping—it was very lively.

With such a big commotion, Du Ruo and the others on the outskirts naturally heard it. If it weren't for the crowd, Du Ruo would have really wanted to reward the child with two lollipops.

Great!

Master Yan was even more excited, his eyes red, "Good, too good!"

Several classmates also expressed their congratulations.

Including Xiao Liangchen.

Xiao Liangchen no longer had an obsession with the Prefectural Top Scholar, or in other words, he had self-knowledge, knowing he couldn't beat Jiang Zhan, so he was forced to accept this situation.

What's more...

He pretended to glance at Du Ruo inadvertently, and seeing Du Ruo's eyebrows curved and her looking high-spirited, he also followed with a smile.

No matter what, as long as A-Man is happy.

Du Ruo was, of course, happy.

After the second round of the exam, Jiang Zhan told her all the test questions as soon as he came out, so she knew this Prefectural Top Scholar position wouldn't run away.

No matter how powerful that Duan Xiu was, I'm afraid he would never have imagined that Jiang Zhan had a "cheat" like her by his side, right?

After waiting for half an hour, the people wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves finally dispersed slowly.

Only then did the few of them squeeze over to look.

Jiang Zhan, needless to say, was naturally first place.

Xiao Liangchen dropped one place, from third in the first round to fourth, which could be considered stable performance.

Master Jiang was amazing, jumping directly from 16th place to second place, which was beyond everyone's expectations!

Besides Master Jiang, there was another unexpected one.

That was Duan Xiu.

Duan Xiu actually only got third place; this was not the level he should have.

Jiang Zhan and Master Jiang looked at each other, knowing it without saying.

As for the others, among the remaining three candidates from Xiushan Academy, two passed, and one failed.

That is to say, so far, not counting Master Jiang, a total of ten people came on this trip, six were PK'd out, and four advanced.

It could be considered a great victory.

Master Yan was very satisfied.

There was one last exam, just like the first round, still testing the classics, which was writing essays, just with a difference in difficulty.

However, this round was only for reference and basically didn't affect the overall situation.

"Let's go, go back and study well. We'll continue the exam tomorrow. Although the third round isn't very important, we still have to take it seriously."

The students nodded in agreement.

The group went to the county hostel with laughter and talk.

Just after they left, a young man looking like a servant squeezed out of the crowd, looking panicked, and ran away.

It was estimated that he was used to running errands, and his speed was very fast.

Passing through several restaurants, turning through several long streets, darting east and west, he finally entered a mansion with white walls and black tiles that looked very imposing.

Then he ran straight to the study, panting. ===== CHAPTER 313 =====