Chapter 387: Chapter 380: I’m Just a Face-Lover 22
Mr. Xiao actually didn’t want to go out in the cold weather, but he had already made arrangements with others.
Moreover, this business deal was really big.
He still wanted to earn that money.
"No worries, I’ll bring more people when I go out, I’ve run around so much already, nothing can go wrong."
Anning tried to persuade him, but Mr. Xiao was reluctant to give up the deal, and there was nothing she could do.
After paying respects to the ancestors on the first day of the new year, Anning locked herself in the room and made a peace jade pendant for Mr. Xiao, and specifically instructed him, "Never travel at night, find a place to stay before sunset each day, don’t rush on the road, and remember to avoid water."
Mr. Xiao remembered her words.
After the New Year, Mr. Xiao took some house servants and guards and went out.
Mrs. Xiao was quite scared, praying to the Buddha every day, hoping for the Bodhisattva to bless Mr. Xiao.
While Mr. Xiao was out dealing business, it was time for Xiao Yuan to take part in the county examination.
Anning started to make Xiao Yuan study every day and also supervised his practice.
Anning was quite nervous, but Xiao Yuan was not nervous at all.
He comforted Anning, "I’ll be fine, don’t worry, I will definitely pass. Haven’t you said it yourself, my learning is solid, and Uncle Xu also said I would definitely pass."
Anning didn’t know what to say.
She wondered what exactly was with Xu Pengju; why was he so confident about Xiao Yuan.
However, when she thought about the thick Merit Golden Light and the shining auspicious aura around Xiao Yuan, she knew he would definitely pass.
After all, Xiao Yuan’s Qi Fortune was only slightly lesser than that of an Emperor.
If being blessed with purple aura meant being the son of Heaven for the Emperor, Xiao Yuan carried the green aura, signifying a destiny of rising directly to a high rank as if he were Heaven’s foster son.
Such a destiny meant that he could turn misfortune into a blessing, and even spirits and ghosts would avoid him.
However, Anning had not yet figured out who could suppress Xiao Yuan’s destiny.
That person must possess immense powers.
Little did she know, the grandmaster who had suppressed Xiao Yuan’s destiny had cost several lives in the process, and after the suppression, he was completely drained and perished shortly after.
In the end, Xiao Yuan’s destiny was too strong, and Anning was actually worrying for nothing.
Soon it was time for the county examination; early in the morning, Anning prepared Xiao Yuan’s examination trunk and went to the Xu family to request Xu Xingsheng to personally escort Xiao Yuan to the examination site.
Xiao Yuan, destined for a high-ranking civil servant position, while Xu Xingsheng, destined to be a military leader, now meeting both civil and martial stars would further boost Xiao Yuan’s Qi Fortune.
Once at the examination site, seeing many candidates waiting there, Xiao Yuan waved to Xu Xingsheng, "Brother Xu, you better go back. This isn’t such a big deal, I can manage alone; please don’t wait for me."
Xu Xingsheng smiled, signaling Xiao Yuan to be quiet.
But he didn’t leave.
He found a place to sit down and quietly waited for Xiao Yuan.
Soon candidates started lining up to enter the examination venue.
Standing in the middle of a row, Xiao Yuan was quite curious and started turning his head to look around, just to witness a rather infuriating scene.
He saw a candidate in a long robe stuffing a small piece of paper into the examination trunk of the candidate in front of him.
Brimming with a sense of justice, Xiao Yuan pointed at the candidate and yelled, "What are you doing? What kind of behavior is this, you’re harming others!"
With his shouting, many people looked over.
The examinee in the blue robe who was slipped the note also looked toward Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan cupped his fists toward him, "Just now, I saw the person behind you slip the note into your examination box."
Upon hearing this, the face of the examinee in the blue robe changed color, and he quickly opened his examination box and immediately spotted the small note tucked in the corner.
He took out the note, angrily confronted the examinee behind him, "Brother Lai, I do not think I have wronged you, why would you do this to harm me?"
The surnamed Lai appeared somewhat panicked.
He had not expected someone to meddle, and for a moment, he was angry that Xiao Yuan had exposed his actions, and for another, he did not know what to say.
Amid everyone watching, he couldn’t even deny it.
While things were in chaos here, it happened that the County Magistrate was passing by and came over to inquire upon seeing the examinees in disarray.
Xiao Yuan indeed recognized the County Magistrate, and he promptly stepped forward to cup his fists and bow, "Sir, just now, the person surnamed Lai was framing someone, slipping a note into that gentleman’s examination box, and I happened to uncover it. Right now, we are discussing this matter."
Xiao Yuan was bold, not afraid of the County Magistrate, and behaved confidently.
He was good-looking too, and the County Magistrate took to him immediately, finding this youngster rather fine, and his character quite upright.
The newly appointed County Magistrate of Qingyuan was an upright person, and coming from a notable family, he was fearless and quite similar to Xiao Yuan.
He further questioned a few other examinees nearby, and everyone testified, indeed seeing Lai harming others.
The County Magistrate immediately ordered for Lai to be dragged away, canceling his examination eligibility.
Before Lai walked away, he still clamored, "I... my sister is a daughter-in-law in the governor’s house, you cannot..."
The County Magistrate scoffed coldly, "Drag him out."
With this episode concluded, the examinees continued to line up.
The County Magistrate watched from nearby, noting that most other examinees were somewhat nervous, yet only Xiao Yuan was notably relaxed, not seeming here for an exam but as if he were on an outing.
The County Magistrate found it strange and asked Xiao Yuan, "Are you so confident? Or are you just here to try your luck?"
Xiao Yuan stood tall and proud, "I am confident. Both my wife and my uncle said my learning is good, and my uncle even said with my level, aiming for a scholar is not far off. It’s just a county examination, what’s there to fear?"
Heh.
The County Magistrate actually believed Xiao Yuan’s words.
Most importantly, he hadn’t seen such a confident examinee in many years, and he found it rather amusing.
He patted Xiao Yuan on the shoulder, "Alright, I’ll wait to see you become a scholar."
Due to the County Magistrate’s encouragement, Xiao Yuan was remembered by others.
When it was time to enter the examination hall and take seats, Xiao Yuan was allotted the best seat.
He looked at the examination paper and chuckled, quite familiar indeed.
Actually, the county examination was pretty simple, mainly testing everyone’s memorization. Most questions were like modern fill-in-the-blank, all about reciting painful memorization.
And Xiao Yuan indeed had a good memory; under Anning’s guidance, he had memorized quite a few books.
Looking at the examination questions, they were all ones Anning had made him recite; he picked up his pen to fill them out.
Xiao Yuan’s handwriting wasn’t that good, and he couldn’t develop his own style. Worried about losing marks on presentation, Anning had thought of a solution.
Anning specifically had Xiao Yuan practice Guan Ge Style, not for anything but neatness, making his handwriting exceptionally tidy, almost resembling modern print, essentially making the paper look clean and clear at a glance.
Had it been another examiner, who knows if they wouldn’t have liked Xiao Yuan’s style of paper.
However, this newly appointed County Magistrate was a strict person and liked things to be exactly in order.
When he received Xiao Yuan’s examination paper, he saw the uniform size of characters, each stroke perfectly precise, good impression at a glance, and seeing all questions answered correctly, he immediately awarded him the top of the list.