After Xiao Liulang entered the examination hall, Gu Jiao left with the basket on her back.

She was going to the market to sell the wild mushrooms and dried wood ears and do something else along the way.

Tianxiang Academy’s reputation had spread far and wide, and many people had come to take the exam, including local and non-local residents just like Xiao Liulang.

Each nominated examinee held a letter of recommendation from their village school, county school or prefectural school and entered their examination hall respectively.

Xiao Liulang and Gu Dashun were assigned into different examination halls because of their different levels.

Xiao Liulang sat in the last row.

Tianxiang Academy’s level was very high. Generally speaking, those who came to study here were at least scholars with the Xiucai title. Nowadays, it wasn’t easy to pass the exam to become a Xiucai. For example, it was remarkable for Gu Dashun to pass it when he was just less than twenty years old.

Xiao Liulang was only seventeen and was the youngest amongst all the examinees.

And he was also the most handsome one.

Unfortunately, he was a cripple.

Many examinees cast a strange look at his direction one after another, though it didn't last long because they began to fill in the examination papers pretty soon.

The exam content in the morning was poetry while Confucian classics argumentation in the afternoon.

Most of the examinees that could come here were knowledgeable, and it wasn’t difficult for them to write some poems on the spot. The difficult part was the Confucian classics argumentation in the afternoon.

The Confucian classics argumentation exam contained all topics that came from the original text of the Four Books and Five Classics[1], and examinees must strictly use the eight-part essay[2] writing structure.

The eight-part essay consisted of eight sections: opening, amplification, preliminary exposition, initial argument, central argument, latter argument, final argument, conclusion. The use of metaphors were not allowed, and it must be written in a Confucian tone. Any citations could only come from Cheng–Zhu school[3], which restricted the examinees greatly.

In addition, the questions this time were extremely difficult so much so that the examinees' faces were almost all green after the day's examination.

When Xiao Liulang came out, his schoolmate had been waiting outside the examination hall for less than half an hour.

"Liulang! Here!" He waved at Xiao Liulang.

Xiao Liulang walked over on his crutch.

The schoolmate said, "I just heard many people complain about the tricky question in the Confucian classics exam. Alas, it is also your bad luck. The topic this time was written by the Dean himself. At that time, if you hadn’t had something to deal with, you could have taken the exam with me and didn’t need to encounter such difficulty this time…. It's that wicked woman’s fault!"

Xiao Liulang looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.

The schoolmate went on to say, "By the way, she hasn't bullied you these days, has she? I was so worried you wouldn't be able to make it again today."

Indeed... I almost couldn't make it.

Xiao Liulang paused. An inexplicable feeling suddenly made him raise his head and look ahead.

At this moment, the examination had just finished. A steady stream of people could be seen coming and going in the street before the gate of the academy.

Leaning against the wall with a basket on her back was a thin little figure. She had her arms cross over her chest as she stood somewhat absent-mindedly.

From time to time, passers-by would cast all kinds of glances at her due to her appearance, but she didn’t care at all. There wasn’t any anger, annoyance or embarrassment on her face.

Soon, the schoolmate also saw Gu Jiao and his eyebrows creased up, "Ah! What is she doing here? She’s not here to get you into trouble, is she?! Be honest, did you run away from home today?"

In fact, Xiao Liulang wasn’t sure whether Gu Jiao was looking for him or not. However, the way she leaned against the wall over there seemed as if she was waiting for someone...Probably due to the sudden outpour of examinees, Gu Jiao's attention was finally attracted to this side.

When Gu Jiao turned her head and looked this way, she caught sight of the handsome young man in the sea of people.

She smiled and walked over to Xiao Liulang.

"The exam is over?" She asked.

"Yes." Xiao Liulang nodded, "Have you been waiting for long?"

"Not at all." Gu Jiao scratched her little ear and answered.

"Didn’t you go to the market? Why aren't you home yet?" Xiao Liulang had seen her back basket filled with dried wood ears and wild mushrooms earlier and knew she would go to the market. But the market closed at noon at most.

"Something happened nearby." Gu Jiao said.

"So? What can you even do?” The schoolmate rolled his eyes. However, Gu Jiao's words reminded him of something.

Today, the classes ended early so he went to the medical hall. He found that Physician Zhang came back and saved the life of a dying man.

"Are you sure it's Physician Zhang?" Xiao Liulang was slightly startled.

The last time there had been an accident, Physician Zhang also suffered a bit of skin trauma. In fact, it wasn't Physician Zhang who killed the assailant’s family. He was totally implicated and it pissed him off greatly. He left some harsh words, saying he would never come here again.

The schoolmate said with certainty, "Of course! I saw the man being carried in with my own eyes. He was covered in blood, his neck was askew and his breath was practically gone. Who can save him except Physician Zhang of the capital?"

Gu Jiao silently looked at the ants on the ground and said nothing.

The schoolmate continued, “Physician Zhang can even save a man in that condition, I’m sure he can fix your leg too. Don’t worry about this, I'll ask about when Physician Zhang will visit again."

"When are you going?" Gu Jiao suddenly opened her mouth to ask.

The schoolmate looked at her contemptuously and said, "Why should I tell you?"

Gu Jiao, "..."

…...

They had their dinner in town. The schoolmate insisted on taking Xiao Liulang to try the plain noodle soup near the academy, saying it had the same taste as the one in their hometown.

After dinner, Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao took a mule cart back to the village. This time Xiao Liulang picked a cart with walls.

Night had fallen completely. Although there was no oil lamp, the interior of the cart was illuminated by the moonlight that came in from the gaps.

Gu Jiao was seated opposite Xiao Liulang. She straightened her pair of long legs and stretched her toes for a moment.

She bought new shoes.

It wasn’t the embroidered shoes the daughters of rich families wore, just a pair of cheap small cloth shoes. Unexpectedly, the pure black vamp with no extra color looked quite good on her feet. The way she played with her shoes was very cute, and her eyes resembled a starlight.

The mule cart stopped at the entrance of the village as usual.

After the two got off the cart, Gu Jiao still walked behind him, neither too far nor too close.

The story about Gu Jiao turning against Gu Dashun for Xiao Liulang’s sake had spread all over the village. Xue Ningxiang specially waited at the door of her house, only to see the two people, one in front of the other, returning at night.

So she didn’t see wrongly last time?These two were really in a good relationship now?

"Fool Gu!” A voice broke the stillness of the surroundings.

Hearing it, Xue Ningxiang quickly turned around and went into the house.

Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang stop outside their house and turn their heads to see the young man who was running toward them. It was Gu Ershun of the Gu Family’s second branch.

Gu Ershun and Gu Xiaoshun were both born of Liu shi, but Gu Ershun had always been closer to Gu Dashun, his cousin, than his own brother.

Gu Jiao withdrew her gaze, opened the lock of the door, and entered the house with Xiao Liulang.

Gu Ershun strode over, stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, and then said angrily, "Fool Gu, I see you’re overturning the sky! You actually dare to do that to eldest brother! Do you realize you almost delayed eldest brother from taking the exam?! Not just that, you also made eldest brother lose face in front of the whole village!"

Don't listen, don't listen. Just think of it as a bastard chanting Buddhist scripture.

When Gu Jiao crossed the threshold, she immediately closed the door.

Seeing that she turned a deaf ear to him, Gu Ershun was furious. He put his foot inside and held the door panel with his hand to prevent the door from closing completely, "How dare you? Grandfather told me to get you! You quickly roll over there to kowtow in apology to eldest brother! Otherwise, I'll beat you up!"

Gu Jiao impatiently scratched her small ear.

What a pest.

"Do you hear me? If you don’t clear the whole thing today, you won’t..."

He was in the middle of his sentence when Gu Jiao lifted her foot and kicked him away!

******

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Also, please also have a look at our other translations!

Everyone But Me Is Reborn

Her father is a coward and senselessly filial. Her mother is weak and gullible. Her elder brother is a wastrel.

When she married into the Wangfu, she suffered and was coldly treated. And by the time she was in labour, she was fated to die with the unborn child in her belly.

This was supposed to be Ning Nuan's life.

However this time, everyone but her is reborn.

Ning Nuan is at a loss. She felt that her dad has suddenly become the pillar of the family, her mother’s temper became fierce, and even her elder brother, who would only walk the dogs and play with birds all day, has begun picking up books and reading them carefully.

There is also that juvenile that shows up at the wall of her courtyard everyday, calling her “Ah Nuan, Ah Nuan” with an honest face.