Because Shen Qingling drove his stepdaddy away, no one came to harass him until the Spring Test, nor did anyone bother Tangtang and Guoguo. Shen Qingling was very satisfied with this result.
Of course, there was also one thing that he was unsatisfied, that was, ever since his brother knew that he was going to find a man to be his spouse, he followed him every day and went to Tangtang and Guoguo’s house for dinner, which made his feeling of being a family of three immediately disappeared.
Furthermore, because of his brother, Shen Qingling had to pay attention to what he was saying. Every day, he could only talk about poetry and literature with Tangtang, dared not say anything else. He was afraid that his brother would think much.
But he could only be bothered for a few more days. In the blink of an eye, it was the ninth of March, and the Spring Test started.
Shen Qingling was going to the court this day, so he couldn’t send Tangtang off, then Tangtang and Guoguo had to go by themselves.
Tangtang went to take the exam and Guoguo waited outside. Fortunately, the March sun wasn’t too hot. Otherwise, standing in the open air for the whole day, he would be burnt to death.
Like Guoguo, there were quite a few people waiting outside, all of them had family members who were taking the exam.
Guoguo saw most of the people dressed as servants. It seemed that the people who came to take the exam were rich boys.
Guoguo didn’t see many of his peers, so he didn’t talk to anyone. He found a place and was about to sleep.
But before he took several steps, he heard a commotion. Being free and at leisure, Guoguo went over to see what happened.
People here were all waiting for someone and had nothing to do, so the sound attracted everyone.
After listening for a while, Guoguo understood what was going on. It was just a quarrel between the servants of a civilian official and a martial general.
The reason was quite simple; the servant of the civilian official laughed at the martial general’s family for being reckless men, while the servant of the martial general abused the civilian officials were all sick men.
Guoguo thought about it carefully. Although it was not absolutely, it was not going to make much difference. Many of the warriors had never read books, and there were also a few civilian official were breathless after a few steps, so it made sense.
Of course, his family was different. His brother was going to be a civilian official, but he knew Kong Fu as well.
And he was going to be a martial general in the future. Although he didn’t know much, for him, reading was definitely not a problem.
However, he was not going to get into the debate, they didn’t quarrel with him, so he didn’t have to worry about it.
After watching for a while, Guoguo walked away, feeling bored. Guoguo had been in the capital for so many days, but he felt that Xu Village was more self-conscious, at least he could do what he wanted to do and say what he wanted to say.
Guoguo found a big tree and jumped up to sleep.
By the time he woke up, it was already noon. The first exam in the morning was over. Guoguo looked around but didn’t see his brother, then he jump down from the tree to wait for his brother at the gate.
When Guoguo was standing at the gate, he saw someone who was very familiar, it was Shen Qingling.
Patting Shen Qingling’s shoulder, Guoguo asked him,” Why are you here too?”
Shen Qingling answered him with a smile, “Of course I have to come. I should behave better at this moment to soothe your brother’s nervousness.”
“Don’t worry about it, my brother won’t be nervous. Otherwise, his learning of all these years will be wasted, and my Dad will definitely scold him, too. Dad has said that the more nervous he is, the worse he will do in the exam. Anyway, I’ve never seen my brother nervous during the exam.”
Seeing Guoguo’s complacent expression, Shen Qingling couldn’t help but smile again. He thought in his heart that you had only gone through a few exams, so naturally, you wouldn’t feel nervous. If you took too many exams, no matter how well you studied, you would get dizzy when you heard the word ‘exam’.
Of course, their experiences were different, so Shen Qingling did not intend to say anything more. Then the two of them, standing at the gate, waited for Tangtang to come out.
Tangtang didn’t come out alone. There were two people with him, the three of them laughed and talked as they walked out.
As it was too far away, Shen Qingling could not hear what they were talking about. But he was eager to know, and wished that he could rush over immediately.
While Guoguo stood by the side with his arms folded, watching the scene with a smile on his face.
Guoguo would help Shen Qingling when he wanted to rush over. However, Tangtang saw them before he took a few steps and waved at them. Then Shen Qingling went up to him immediately.
Guoguo followed behind, feeling very disappointed that he didn’t see the fun.
The first thing Shen Qingling said after he walked over was not to ask Tangtang how he was going through the exam, but to ask what they were talking about so happily.
Hearing Shen Qingling’s question, Tangtang laughed again, “We’re talking about some interesting things on the examination site. The person who was in charge of the examination spoke with a village voice. It sounded a little strange, and some students imitated him, which made everyone laughed.”
Shen Qingling knew who Tangtang was referring to as soon as he said this. There was such an elder man in Great Xia Empire and he was really funny. However, this person was excellent except for speaking with a village voice. He was so learned that he was in charge of most of the Spring Tests.
Many people who were a little nervous were amused by his country voice. Then they would do much better on the test when they were relaxed than when they were nervous.
Therefore, both the first and the current emperor prefered to have him invigilate the test.
And this old man himself liked to be an overseer, so he offered to invigilate the Spring Test every time. He didn’t care if the students laugh at his accent.
Shen Qingling had a good impression of this old man. Hearing Tangtang mention him, he told him some more interesting things about the old man.
Tangtang and Guoguo listened to it as a joke, but the two people who followed Tangtang didn’t think so. They started to guess Shen Qingling’s identity, because they had never heard of the news Shen Qingling said.
The two of them were from the capital city. They should have heard the rumors on the street, so those that they had never heard of would not be able to spread to the street. But Shen Qingling, who spoke out one piece by one, it was as if he had seen it on the spot. In addition to his appearance and clothing, he couldn’t be a servant, if besides the identity of a servant, he must be his relatives or colleagues.
While his relative wouldn’t expose their family’s shortcomings, even if it was just a joke.
Then both of them got the answer…
Of course, they weren’t stupid and didn’t ask in front of him.
Shen Qingling didn’t finish speaking until the people around them all left. Shen Qingling said to Tangtang, “You still have an exam in the afternoon and let’s have lunch first. Then you should have a good rest and take the exam in the afternoon.”
Hearing Shen Qingling’s words, Guoguo rolled his eyes behind him, listen to him as if his brother did not have a good examination this morning.
Tangtang had no objection to Shen Qingling’s suggestion, he nodded and said, “Mm, we don’t have to go home for lunch. Let’s go to the restaurant.”
When Tangtang was about to ask if the other two people would like to have lunch with them, he remembered that he hadn’t introduced them to Guoguo and Shen Qingling. He patted his forehead and said, “I’m so happy that forget to introduce you. It’s all my fault, Brother Qingling and Guoguo, these two are candidates for the Spring Test like me. This is Wang Yi, and this is Qi Sang. They are both from the capital city, two brothers, would you like to have lunch with us?”
Wang Yi and Qi Sang had known each other before. After hearing what Tangtang said, they looked at each other and nodded at Tangtang.
Wang Yi said, “Since Brother Xu invited us, why shouldn’t we go? We will follow Brother Xu’s orders.”
Qi Sang nodded and continued, “Yeah! We’ll listen to Brother Xu. Oh, by the way, we don’t know what the names of the two people next to you?”
Tangtang felt that he might have made a fool of the exam today and he forgot to introduce everyone here. Stroking his forehead, Tangtang smiled apologetically at Wang Yi and Qi Zang before introducing Guoguo to them.
“Two brothers, I’m really sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I shouldn’t forget such an important thing. This is my younger brother, he is my twin brother and his name is Xu Mu. As for this person, he’d better introduce himself to you, I don’t know how to say it.”
Tangtang did not know if Shen Qingling’s identity could be known to others, nor did he know if the two people knew him. After all, the young man who in charge of the Ministry of Works was definitely the talk of the people in the capital, so he asked Shen Qingling to introduce himself.
Hearing Tangtang’s words, Shen Qingling understood what he meant. He smiled and said,” Hello,two brothers. My surname is Shen and I am also from the capital.”
After this, Shen Qingling didn’t say anything more, but with a smile on his face. Seeing his friendly manner, they couldn’t say anything more, even if he did not elaborate.
After the introduction, Tangtang asked Shen Qingling to show them a place to have lunch. If it went on like this, it would be embarrassing.
Shen Qingling was naturally very happy with what Tangtang had requested, so he immediately led the way.
Having grown up in the capital, Shen Qingling was very familiar with this place.
On the way, Shen Qingling finally asked Tangtang how he did in the exam.
Tangtang smiled and replied confidently, ” Not so bad.I’ll know it after the results are out.”
Seeing Tangtang’s smile, Shen Qingling understood everything.