Chapter 163

Chapter 163

Three people could only hide in a corner and wait for the crowd to disperse. However, Li Yi had secured the best viewing spot early in the morning. Although he still couldn't see the list clearly, there were people up there working for him.

"Master, the second place, the top examinee, is Zeng Kang from our academy."

Li Yi nodded, "Hmm, not bad."

With his background, as long as his performance wasn't too poor, he had a great advantage in the palace examination. There shouldn't be any problem with him becoming a successful candidate in the imperial examination. In that case, Mingwei's child could safely come back, right?

Oh, but they still have to wait for another year to return.

The pedestrians outside took a long time to disperse. Even after receiving the news, Li Yi didn't leave. The child had been studying at home all along, and he hadn't seen him yet. Today, he should take a look.

The steward understood what he was thinking and stood by the window, looking outside. It took a while for him to spot the three people slowly approaching and he smiled, "They don't seem to be in a hurry at all."

Upon hearing this, Li Yi stood up abruptly and squinted his eyes to look outside, "Which one is it?"

The steward pointed at the tallest one among the three and said, "That one."

Liu Yizhu stood under the list, staring at his name for a long time. He repeatedly checked the information written above, let out a sigh of relief, and then stared at the person in front of him for a while.

Tang Jue chuckled and put his arm around him, "With that look in your eyes, it seems like you want to devour him."

Liu Yizhu snapped back to his senses and glared at him. Seeing Zhong Liangyu still looking at the list, he nudged Tang Jue, "How about Liangyu?"

Tang Jue shook his head. He hadn't even finished reading half of it, and his eyes were already tired. He didn't feel like looking anymore. Well, it didn't matter anyway, his name wouldn't be on it.

Liu Yizhu turned around and looked around. He happened to meet the gaze of two pairs of eyes staring at him from the opposite second-floor window. After hesitating for a moment, he bowed respectfully to the two.

Li Yi smiled and withdrew his gaze, sitting back in the private room, "I heard the child looks a lot like him."

"Yes."

As long as he was sensible, Langyue shouldn't make things too difficult for him.

Tang Jue looked at Liu Yizhu bowing to someone but didn't see anyone, "Who did you bow to?"

Liu Yizhu shook his head, "I don't know."

If it was someone from the Wei Wei family, judging by their age, it should be her long-awaited grandfather.

If not, it didn't matter to bow, after all, he was an elder.

Zhong Liangyu ran over with a smile, excitedly saying, "I made it on the list!"

"What's your ranking?"

Unfortunately, at this moment, he couldn't find a place to cry.

Zhong Liangyu shook her head helplessly. "He's been like this lately, locking himself in his room and not coming out. Today, I managed to persuade him to come out and play a round of chess."

Tang Jue touched his forehead and then his own. "Is he running a fever or something?"

"Look at his eyes. He's so excited about his top scorer title that he can't sleep."

Liu Yizhu opened Tang Jue's hand. What's there to be excited about? Right now, he felt like dying.

He had come to the capital with high hopes, thinking that as long as he made it onto the imperial examination list, he wouldn't disgrace her and could return home in glory. But what happened? After half a year of bitter struggle, he still wasn't worthy.

Some things seemed unchangeable no matter how hard he tried.

Seeing his bloodshot eyes, Tang Jue furrowed his brow and looked at the letter from Shuhua Academy. He murmured softly, "Is your sister-in-law surnamed Li?"

Liu Yizhu glanced at him numbly.

Tang Jue chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I knew it. Why is my father so good to my sister-in-law? It turns out it's for my sake."

Zhong Liangyu was puzzled. "What do you mean? What's wrong with the surname Li?"

"Do you know who established Shuhua Academy?"

"Yes, it was Minister Li. I heard he was extremely knowledgeable and had taught the previous emperor and the current one. Later, for reasons unknown, he resigned from his official position and opened an academy. Students from Da Chu are scrambling to attend his classes."

Zhong Liangyu smiled and said, "I heard that Minister Li is also deeply devoted. After his wife passed away, he never remarried or took any concubines. He single-handedly raised his daughter. The academy was even named after his late wife."

"Really?" Tang Jue nodded with a mischievous grin and then said, "So, your sister-in-law's surname is Li."

Li?

"Don't tell me it's the same Li as Minister Li."

"Hey!" Tang Jue clapped his hands and put his arm around Zhong Liangyu's shoulder. "I've been thinking about the same thing. Do you think they are the same person?"

Suddenly, Zhong Liangyu understood why Liu Yizhu looked so desperate.

He probed, "Yizhu, your sister-in-law didn't tell you before, did she?"

Liu Yizhu didn't want to speak.

"Tsk~" Tang Jue shook his head with a tinge of heartache. "Look at his suicidal appearance. Does he seem to know?"

He turned around and called Tang's steward, "Go and fetch a doctor."

The top scholar, who had only held his title for a few days, had already disappeared. It was truly an unexpected turn of events.