After Fan Xian left the Tongfu Inn, the four scholars in the room looked at each other, seemingly unable to believe that such a large pie in the sky had fallen on their heads.

"What are we going to do?" Yang Wanli sat on the bed, looking somewhat dazed. After Cheng Jialin and Shi Chanli congratulated him, they laughed, "From now on, Brother Yang, you've essentially climbed up to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Revenue. Your career will likely be smooth sailing."

However, a hint of melancholy showed on Yang Wanli's honest face. "I have always admired Master Fan Xian's talent. I'm also grateful for his accommodation during this spring exam. I suspect Master Fan Xian also put in a lot of effort behind the scenes in grading the papers, but... I wish Master Fan Xian hadn't come here today."

Cheng and Shi were speechless, knowing that Yang Wanli felt that Fan Xian seemed to be showing them favor.

Hou Jichang, who had always been implicitly regarded as the leader of the group, shook his head with a smile. "If Master Fan Xian wanted to show favor, he wouldn't have needed to come here in person. Wanli, you're overthinking it. I've decided that from now on, in the court, I will keep Master Fan Xian in mind and strive to achieve great things."

Shi Chanli was stunned, wondering why Brother Hou, who had always prided himself on his integrity, had suddenly changed his tune.

Yang Wanli shook his head. "I also know that teachers and students supporting each other in exams is customary, but Brother Hou knows that I have always respected Master Fan Xian's talent. In the examination hall, because of that smuggled item, I admired Master Fan Xian's character even more, so I always hoped that Master Fan Xian could be somewhat different from these court officials."

"Demanding perfection, demanding perfection," Cheng Jialin chided. "Although Master Fan Xian has the talent of a poetic immortal, he is, after all, a court official and the son of a powerful family. It's already not easy for him to come here in person. Does Brother Wanli expect Master Fan Xian to be a true immortal who doesn't eat earthly food? Besides, a true immortal might not necessarily be better for this impoverished mortal world than a resourceful and capable official."

Shi Chanli clapped his hands in praise. "Brother Jialin's words are few, but they are insightful today." He turned to Yang Wanli and said, "If we're talking about admiration, Wanli, you're definitely not as good as me. I often hold and recite *Ban Xian Zhai Poetry Collection*. I can recite the hundred or so poems inside backwards, but I didn't feel disappointed at all when I saw Master Fan Xian today. Why? It's all because poetry is the voice of the heart. This Master Fan Xian is indeed a carefree person like us, how can he be compared to those corrupt officials in the court."

He smiled and continued, "Earlier, when I was bringing the roast chicken, there weren't many people holding umbrellas in the alley. I like to mess around. I saw a young man under an umbrella with a delicate face and a fresh aura, and the views he expressed were somewhat novel and shocking. So, I rashly squeezed under his umbrella and walked along with him. If it were an ordinary powerful official, how could they tolerate my rudeness? But that Master Fan Xian had a smile on his face and walked with me, without the slightest hint of discomfort. When I found out he was Fan Xian in the inn, to be honest, I was really surprised. Fan Xian, Fan Xian, he really didn't disappoint me."

Only then did everyone realize that there had been such an incident earlier. No wonder Fan Xian had said earlier that he had a half-umbrella缘 (yuan - destiny) with Shi Chanli. Thinking about the feeling, they couldn't help but smile. Yang Wanli scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. "Perhaps... it's just a feeling of disappointment from shattered illusions? I always felt that Master Fan Xian should be the kind of noble character who lounges under a grape trellis, writes ten thousand poems when he wakes up, and ignores the dirty things in the court."

Hou Jichang shook his head in disapproval and said coldly, "That kind of person seems aloof from the world, but they are actually useless to the country and of no benefit to the people. If Master Fan were really that kind of literary official, I would despise him instead."

"Not necessarily, not necessarily," Yang Wanli sighed.

Hou Jichang smiled faintly and said, "Speaking of which, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. How can a scholar serve the country? Only by entering the court as an official. And how difficult and terrifying the politics of the court are, is beyond the understanding of outsiders like us. So, Master Fan Xian came here today not because he needs us, but because he knows that we need him."

He paused and added, "Although I have some pride, I am not a pedantic person who doesn't know how to advance or retreat. Since we have this opportunity, of course we have to seize it. If we must follow a certain figure in the court, then I think Master Fan Xian should be the best choice. I think his actions in the officialdom in the future will be the least conflicting with our ideals."

Everyone exclaimed in unison, "Why?" Everyone was already a little surprised by Hou Jichang's firm attitude, and they felt even more curious when they heard him emphasize it again.

Hou Jichang picked up a teacup from the table, looked at the remaining tea that Fan Xian had drunk, and was slightly lost in thought. After a long while, he said, "A popular official of the imperial court walking in the rain would actually notice when the rainwater on his umbrella dripped, so as not to drip into the pot of a street vendor sheltering from the rain, preferring to get himself wet and leaning to the outside. Such a careful and benevolent person, if they are not a great villain, they must be a great sage."

He smiled and said, "A seventeen-year-old young man cannot possibly disguise himself so well all the time, so I believe that Master Fan Xian is a great sage. My judgment is that simple, because I was moved by that scene in the rain."

The room fell silent. After a long time, there was a sigh.

—————————————————————————

The next day, on the vermilion wall on the left side of the examination institute, the yellow paper that the candidates had been eagerly waiting for was finally posted. The rules for selecting scholars in the Qing Yu Nian spring exam were not complicated. After the provincial exam was the metropolitan exam, and after the metropolitan exam, the candidates of the three ranks were selected, but without ranking. Their names were arranged in order of the number of strokes in their surnames on the imperial list.

The number of people in the three ranks varied from year to year. Because an imperial examination had been added in the third year of Qingli, the number of scholars selected in the following two years was relatively small. This year, there were only one hundred and eight names on the imperial list. Because so few were selected, students from the Imperial Academy in the capital and贡生 (gong sheng - tribute students) from various prefectures and regions who came to the capital to take the exam were nervous and uneasy.

To the west of the examination institute was a bridge. If you wanted to go to the vermilion wall to see the list, you had to cross the bridge. At this time, the vermilion wall was already surrounded by students in long gowns, with a dense crowd of people, anxiously looking for their names on the big yellow paper.

At the other end of the bridge, Hou Jichang and Yang Wanli, who were already confident, were walking slowly. Rain stains left over from yesterday still remained on the bridge surface, and the moss between the stone bricks looked particularly slippery. As the four walked towards the other side, Cheng Jialin almost slipped, causing a burst of laughter from the others. Cheng Jialin smiled self-deprecatingly. Although he and Shi Chanli walked as slowly as their two friends, they were inevitably nervous deep down.

Arriving at the foot of the vermilion wall, the four finally squeezed into the crowd and began to look from the left. After searching for who knows how long, they suddenly heard Shi Chanli exclaim in joy, "Brother Hou, Brother Hou! You're in! You're in!"

The other three heard the voice and rushed to Shi Chanli's side. Sure enough, they saw Hou Jichang's name conspicuously written on the third row from the top. They couldn't help but feel excited. Yang Wanli gently punched Hou Jichang on the shoulder with a smiling face.

Hou Jichang smiled slightly, wanting to show a hint of self-restraint, but what a major event this was! Although he called himself aloof, when he thought of the hardships of ten years of studying, his parents' eager expectations, and the envious gazes of the scholars around him, he couldn't help but feel a little elated. His lips involuntarily stretched open, revealing an extremely happy smile.

At this time, the three gold-lettered characters of "Hou Jichang" on the imperial list seemed to be shining brightly in the sunlight, appearing incredibly precious and full of limitless prospects.

……

……

The four of them no longer separated and simply looked carefully to the right. After who knows how long, they finally successfully found Yang Wanli's name on the imperial list. Only then did they truly believe what Master Fan Xian had said yesterday. When Yang Wanli saw that his name was indeed on the imperial list, he was extremely excited, his eyes were a little red, and he murmured to himself, "I'm really in, I'm really in."

He suddenly screamed and rushed out of the crowd, ran to the bridge, and shouted loudly at the water surface under the bridge. The sound echoed in the arch of the bridge, making a buzzing sound.

The three friends smiled as they watched him, knowing why he was so excited—Yang Wanli lost his mother at the age of eight and grew up alone in Quanzhou. He was entirely reliant on his father enduring hunger and cold to buy him many volumes of books, and he strongly persuaded him to enter the clan school and endure the disdainful looks to study. With great difficulty, he passed the provincial exam and came to the capital.

But after a month in the capital, Yang Wanli realized that he should have talent, and his opinions and reasoning were more practical than those of other scholars, but unfortunately, his hometown was remote, and the clan school was simple. He never learned the flowery rhetoric of the students in the capital. A policy essay he wrote always appeared dry and uninteresting.

So even his close friends Hou Jichang and Shi Chanli thought that he could not pass. Yang Wanli himself had no hope, so he spent his last money to buy the most popular lined coat among the students and inserted Shi Chanli's article inside, wanting to gamble.

Unexpectedly, before he even entered the examination institute, he was dragged out by the居中郎 (Ju Zhong Lang - Attendant of the Palace) Fan Xian. At that time, Yang Wanli was heartbroken and thought that his ten years of studying had been wasted, but he did not expect that this Master Fan Xian would give him a second chance.

After finishing the exam and leaving the institute, he did not dare to use the cheat sheet in the coat, so the policy essay and poetry he wrote were naturally uninspired, so he gave up all hope of being selected and just drank and made merry. It was only when he heard that Minister Guo had been arrested and imprisoned that he felt a little happier. Unexpectedly, Master Fan Xian came to Tongfu Inn to see him yesterday and secretly pointed out that he might be in the third rank.

Joy after sorrow, hope after despair, the impact of this emotion continued until today. After crossing the bridge, Yang Wanli stood under the vermilion wall and felt more and more that Master Fan Xian's visit yesterday was a dream and that he could not possibly be in.

……But, he really was in!

Yang Wanli looked at his somewhat distorted face in the slightly rippling river water and calmed down a little. He naturally understood why he had had such good fortune in just a few days, and he felt very grateful to that young master.