Chapter 326: Chapter 129: One More Subject_2
The Minister of Imperial Treasury’s young master had always been frail and took his mother’s words as an absolute guide — a fact known throughout Shengjing. Yet now, he had fallen out with his family over a woman, which was indeed a matter of curiosity.
"What kind of beauty would make Dong Lin defy his mother? I wonder," someone speculated.
An arrogant response followed, "She’s nothing but a villager, delusionally trying to reach above her station. She’s so desperate to make Dong Lin give her his undivided attention that she would even dare to participate in the spring exams. What does she think the spring exams are? You and I should be ashamed to be associated with such a woman when we’ve entered the Imperial Medical Bureau as scholars!"
Students at the Imperial Medical Bureau always considered themselves superior, looking down on commoner medical workers. Now, hearing that the woman had joined the spring exams out of spite for a man, they inevitably harbored contempt.
As they were speaking, someone in the front pointed out, "Look... isn’t that the commoner female doctor?"
The group turned their eyes in the direction of the gaze.
A young woman, wearing a half-worn dark blue skirt, approached from the direction of the hostel. She carried a wooden medical case on her back, her black hair half tied up, with only a simple flower hairpin adorning her hair.
The chill of early spring had not yet faded, and the pale sunlight fell on her face, as if light gold dust sprinkled on an icy mountain — austere and elegant. Her features were delicate and attractive; she neither spoke nor smiled as she approached in a calm and measured pace, her beauty surpassing the willow trees of March.
The young people who had just been mocking and ridiculing were at a loss for words for the moment.
Women in Shengjing tended to be tall and stunning, but this woman’s figure was slender and frail, even more like a beauty from Jiangnan, and yet not as tender and graceful as those Jiangnan ladies; she was like the cold beauty of spring snow or the gentle glow of an autumn moon, with a touch of proud indifference in her eyes and brows.
There was not the slightest attempt to ingratiate or charm.
She was nothing like the frivolous person they had imagined.
Lu Tong stopped in front of the long shed as if she only then noticed the many additional people around her. She paused, lifting her eyes to look ahead.
These people all seemed quite young, with only a few who were older, dressed in round-necked green robes. They all carried medical boxes of the same yellow wood with carved designs, suggesting that they knew each other and were comfortable with one another.
She hesitated for only a moment before understanding.
These were likely students from the Imperial Medical Bureau.
Commoner medical workers like her, recommended to take the exams, could be easily distinguished from the Imperial Medical Bureau students by their clothing alone, and there were no others around who looked like her.
It seemed that this year, she was the only "outsider" participating in the exams.
Just as she was contemplating this, an unexpected voice came from in front, "Miss?"
She lifted her gaze to see a young man in a green shirt and headscarf.
The young man was also quite handsome, but his eyes spun around when he looked at people, which made him seem somewhat untrustworthy. He scanned Lu Tong from head to toe, his smile overly familiar, and said, "Miss, are you here for the spring exams as well?"
Lu Tong glanced at him and passed by his side without any intention of engaging in conversation.
The onlooking crowd erupted into laughter: "Cao Huai got rejected!"
"Haha, his father is just a Vice Minister of the Bureau of Imperial Supplies, how could he compare to a Minister of Imperial Treasury!"
The young man named "Cao Huai" also heard the jeers around him, his smiling face freezing, and his expression turned ugly.
"I’m talking to you!" He dropped his smiling face and stepped forward aggressively, attempting to grab the hand of the person in front of him.
The next moment, someone passed by, knocking away his unruly hand, accompanied by a rebuke, "What are you doing, looking for a fight?"
The voice was crisp; it belonged to a woman.
Lu Tong turned her head.
The speaker was a young woman in a green shirt, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with profound and beautiful features and sparkling, lively eyes that instantly endeared her to others. She wore no headscarf, only a ribbon of the same color to tie her long hair, which made her bright and comely face all the more youthful.
Looking around, there were not many women participating in the spring exams today. Including Lu Tong, there were only a few. This young woman stood in front of Lu Tong, arms crossed, with the posture of a protector.
"Lin Danqing!" Cao Huai said in frustration.
"Why are you yelling so loudly?" The girl named Lin Danqing blinked her eyes, showing an innocent smile, "The spring exams are about to begin; it’s unseemly for you, a grown man, to bully a lady. Haven’t you heard of cherishing and respecting women?"
"Remember, the gods are watching overhead; beware that the god of literature sees your rudeness and makes you fail the examination," she teased.
"You!" Cao Huai’s face went through several changes, whether in fear of the girl’s status or superstitious about her curse, he glared at Lu Tong and left in a huff.
The crowd that had been enjoying the spectacle began to disperse a bit.
Lu Tong withdrew her gaze and looked at the girl in front of her: "Thank you."
"No need to thank me," the girl in the green shirt said with a smile, "My name is Lin Danqing; who knows, we might both enter the Hanlin Medical Institute one day and work together as medical officers."