PS: My apologies to everyone; there must have been some issue with the lines yesterday, as the power was out all evening, and I couldn't update.

The old woman, seeing the old man seeking her opinion, paused for thought before saying, "In my view, we cannot keep this child; we should just give him away! It would be better to let Qingshan and his wife adopt another one."

Having spoken, the old woman looked toward the old man. "Do you agree with this reasoning?"

The old woman had expected the old man, even if he disagreed with her suggestion, to at most offer a rebuttal. She never imagined he would explode in anger after hearing her words. "Nonsense! Everyone in the village knows our Wang family took in a simpleton. If you throw the child away at a time like this, what will the villagers say about our family? Have you even thought about that? Let me tell you, the only way forward for our Wang line is to raise this child well. Only then will the villagers see our family as benevolent. If we cast the child out—hmph—I don't need to elaborate; you should be able to guess what the villagers will say, shouldn't you?"

Startled by the old man's sharp retort, the old woman felt a pang of guilt. "Why are you taking it out on me? How could I possibly think of all that? Besides, that child wasn't my choice to adopt; it was Qingshan's wife who insisted on bringing him back herself."

"Hmph. In any case, you are forbidden from having thoughts like that again, do you hear me? Even if you don't care about the Wang family's reputation, he is such a small child—can you really bear to cast him out?" the old man glared.

Seeing the old man’s demeanor, the old woman wisely held her tongue.

Meanwhile, Wang Guifang was speaking with Lady He. "Quan'er is quiet by nature and doesn't speak much. After today, who knows what kind of gossip the villagers will spread!"

Lady He merely smiled dismissively upon hearing this. "Let them say what they will. The important thing is that we know how good Quan'er is; he is perfectly fine. That is enough for me; I won't concern myself with anything else!"

Wang Guifang was relieved to see Lady He taking such a broad view. "It’s good that you think this way; I was just afraid you would be sad and distressed."

Lady He looked at Wang Guifang. "Little Aunt, since we found out about Qingshan's physical issues, though I initially felt everyone had wronged me, I eventually came to terms with it. No matter what, as long as you can accept it yourself, that’s all that matters. Why worry about what others say? As I see it, as long as we can live our lives well, that’s what counts. Even if the villagers gossip about Quan'er in the future, once he can attend the academy, they won't have anything more to say."

Wang Guifang chuckled. "Indeed, you always have a ready explanation for everything. I was worrying for nothing!"

"Not at all. I know how kind you are to me, Auntie; others aren't necessarily as considerate," Lady He replied.

Seeing that Lady He was not dwelling on the matter, Wang Guifang shifted the conversation to other topics.

In the county town, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.

Wang Qingchen looked at Li Yuntai, who appeared distinctly uninterested, and confirmed one last time, "You really aren't going to check the announcement board? Have you decided?"

Li Yuntai gritted his teeth and nodded. "Yes, I'm not going. If I go, it will probably be a waste of time anyway. Besides, my heart is already a little bruised; I don't want to look at the board and feel more pain."

Wang Qingchen observed Li Yuntai clearly wanting to go, yet deliberately suppressing his desire to leave, claiming he didn't want to see the results. Wang Qingchen found this amusing and teased him, "Fine, since you’re not going, I’m heading over there now!"

Wang Qingchen started to move. Li Yuntai watched, realizing Wang Qingchen had no intention of pressing him further, and nearly jumped up from his chair to follow. Fortunately, his pride prevailed, and he turned his head sharply away, refusing to look at Wang Qingchen.

Just then, Liu Hao, who had been waiting impatiently outside the door, rushed in. "Heavens, how long are you two going to dawdle? If we wait any longer, we won't be able to squeeze through the crowd!"

Wang Qingchen smiled, pointing at Li Yuntai, and said to Liu Hao, "This isn't my fault; it's because he doesn't want to go!"

Liu Hao turned to look at Li Yuntai, who was still seated. "Hey, you said you wouldn't check the board, so what are you planning to do instead? Didn't we come to the county town precisely for this day? Hurry up, let's go right now."

Liu Hao finished speaking but saw Li Yuntai hadn't moved. Growing anxious, he strode over, grabbed Li Yuntai's arm, and yanked him out of the chair. Without waiting for Li Yuntai to react, he dragged him toward the exit. "Honestly, must I physically haul you like this before you'll go?"

Li Yuntai almost stumbled, catching himself only by clinging tightly to Liu Hao. Before he could steady himself, Liu Hao was already pulling him rapidly outside.

Wang Qingchen, following behind, saw that Li Yuntai still looked dazed and had to stifle a laugh. Liu Hao certainly was forceful, just dragging people along.

Li Yuntai seemed unable to believe Liu Hao had pulled him along so abruptly. It took him a moment to realize that since some scholars hadn't left yet, the inn was still quite crowded. Did that mean many people had witnessed his undignified exit?

Li Yuntai thought his previous appearance must have been utterly embarrassing. He felt an intense urge to find a cloth to cover his face. What was this spectacle? Realizing he couldn't continue like this, Li Yuntai quickly wrestled his clothes free from Liu Hao’s grasp, stopping two steps away from him to hastily smooth his robes.

Liu Hao seemed oblivious to his own roughness and turned back to Li Yuntai, who had broken free. "Hey, stop fussing over your clothes! We’ll be pushing through the crowd soon anyway, and they'll get messy regardless. Let’s hurry up. Can't you fix your clothes after we check the results?"

Li Yuntai, who had been slightly irritated, found he couldn't really get angry at Liu Hao after that comment, so he swallowed his frustration and followed obediently behind Liu Hao.

Behind Li Yuntai, Wang Qingchen gave the leading Liu Hao a silent thumbs-up. You are truly formidable!

Liu Hao shot a smug glance at Wang Qingchen before turning back and quickening his pace. After all, he was very anxious about seeing the announcement board.

By the time the trio arrived, the area was already packed solid. Liu Hao sighed, looking at the massive crowd ahead. "Alas, we didn't arrive early enough. It’s going to be hard to push through now."

Wang Qingchen also saw the crush of people. "No way, we arrived much earlier than when we checked the provincial exam results last time. How can it still be like this?"

"Exactly! Perhaps more people attend the academy exam viewing. After all, passing this means becoming a Xiucai," Liu Hao explained.

Liu Hao realized that with this congestion, even he would struggle to get through, let alone Li Yuntai and Wang Qingchen. He gave up hope. "I suggest we find a place to sit and have some tea. Since we can't force our way in, we might as well rest and drink tea."

Wang Qingchen had no objection; standing there endlessly wasn't an option. Li Yuntai felt that checking the results or not made little difference, as he was convinced he wouldn't have placed well anyway. So, the three prepared to find a nearby spot for tea, only to discover that all the close locations were full. With no other choice, they had to walk a bit further out before finding a seat.

They were fortunate enough to snag a table by the window and ordered a pot of tea. Since the results hadn't been viewed yet, all three felt a degree of underlying unrest. When the waiter brought the tea, they simply sipped it and exchanged superficial conversation.

Liu Hao kept leaning out the window to stare at the board, hoping the crowd would thin out so they could make a direct dash. But he was destined to be disappointed; even after a long while, the number of people seemed barely to have lessened.

After some time, scholars who had already checked the board began returning, some entering the tea house. A table next to Wang Qingchen’s group quickly filled up, and the trio overheard them immediately discussing the rankings.

"I can't believe the top scholar (Anshou) is just a young boy this time. It’s quite surprising. I was sure Changyuan brother would take the top spot, but he ended up second," one of them said.

"Hey, you can’t say that. You know there’s always someone better out there. Since Zhao Cheng won the Anshou position this time, he must have extraordinary merits," Changyuan said humbly.

"Hmph. No matter how good he is, he’s just a child. Who knows how he got that Anshou spot! I heard that during the academy exam, the Circuit Intendant stood right next to him watching for quite a while. Such obvious favoritism—do you think he has some connection to the official?" the first speaker inquired.

"Silence! You can’t just say things like that. Do you have any proof of a connection? If you don't, then just shut up. After studying for all these years, you still don't know that words can bring disaster?" another person, who had been quiet until now, interjected.

"Fine, I won't say another word."

After this exchange, the three resumed discussing other topics.

Wang Qingchen and his companions, overhearing the conversation, were greatly shocked. Although Liu Hao had speculated about such a thing before, it had only been speculation. Now, this was the actual top scholar!

"My guess was actually right?" Liu Hao murmured, unsure whether he was happier for Zhao Cheng taking first place or surprised by his own sharp intuition. "Ah, I should have predicted a rank for myself as well!" Liu Hao shook his head with mock regret.

Wang Qingchen glanced at Li Yuntai, who looked noticeably disheartened since hearing the news, then turned to Liu Hao. "Enough of that. It’s not a matter of you predicting things. It’s more important we see when the crowd thins out; otherwise, we might be stuck in this tea house all day."

"Yes, yes, I'll check again now," Liu Hao said, leaning out the window once more to survey the flow of people near the announcement board.