Chapter 114 Viewing the Results

Qing Xing looked like just a sweet-looking young girl, but the moment she acted as a physician, her speech was crisp and decisive, carrying weight and inspiring trust.

After diagnosing the patient, her little apothecary's assistant handed her a piece of straw paper and diligently ground the ink. Though young, he was clearly accustomed to the task.

Qing Xing quickly wrote out the prescription and instructed, "First boil with strong fire, then with gentle fire. Add about 10 cups of water and boil until only about 3 cups remain. Take three times daily. If there is improvement after three days, reduce to twice daily."

Meng Wan took the prescription and handed it to Xue Sheng, telling him to go to the nearest pharmacy to get the medicine. Still uneasy, he asked, "Will his fever go down after he takes the medicine?"

Qing Xing seemed to turn back into a less confident young girl after leaving the patient's side. "The fever should come down after a night's rest with the medicine. But it's not just a cold—he hasn't rested well for days, and his body and mind are exhausted. That also plays a part. He needs a few days of good rest."

Though she spoke modestly, Meng Wan took her words seriously. "Thank you, young lady. I'll settle your fee now. But it's already late, so you and your assistant should stay the night. Tomorrow morning, I'll have a servant escort you out of the city."

Qing Xing glanced at the darkening sky. She had already informed her grandfather of her whereabouts before coming, so staying one night should be fine. She tugged at the shy little assistant and said, "Then we thank Master Meng for his kindness."

A young woman who had come all the way to the capital to practice medicine, and she had come just when Meng Wan was desperately seeking a physician. Even if he hadn't found her, he might have found another doctor later, but he would have been anxious for a while. So Meng Wan was grateful to her.

He doubled her consultation fee, feeling that her family might not be well-off and seemed to live a somewhat frugal life. He then had the kitchen prepare a feast for her and her assistant.

In fact, physicians at this time were quite well-paid. Even a village doctor lived better than ordinary farmers. Yet Qing Xing, whose family ran a clinic in town, still seemed to be struggling financially.

Meng Wan didn't have the mind to dwell on that for now. He called back the servants who had been sent out to find a doctor. Though he didn't understand medicine, Qing Xing's every move inspired confidence, and he was willing to trust her.

When the medicine was ready, he quickly blew on it to cool it and carefully fed it to Song Tingzhou. He also prepared warm water to wipe his body to lower the fever. Halfway through, Song Tingzhou woke up groggily and insisted on getting up to bathe and rinse his mouth.

It was rare to see him act so childlike. Meng Wan found it both amusing and endearing, but he was relieved that Song Tingzhou was awake. He helped him wash up, changed his clothes and bedding, and made sure he could sleep comfortably.

Meng Wan dozed off leaning against the headboard. Half-asleep, he instinctively felt Song Tingzhou's forehead and body. When he found they were no longer burning, the tension in his mind finally eased, and he fell asleep leaning on Song Tingzhou.

He woke up to find Song Tingzhou standing by the bed, covering him with a blanket. Outside, the sky was bright, and sunlight filtered through the paper window into the room. Only the bed was dim because of the curtains.

Meng Wan yawned and saw Song Tingzhou standing by the bed in his undergarment. Though his complexion was better than the day before, it was still paler than usual. He asked worriedly, "Feeling better? Why don't you rest a bit longer?"

Song Tingzhou had always been physically strong. His illness this time was due to the harsh conditions in the examination cell and a light snowfall, which finally overwhelmed him.

After returning home, he had a bowl of medicine and rested for a night. By morning, he was much more energetic. "I'm fine, just hungry. I got up to find something to eat."

Meng Wan suddenly sat up straight in bed. "Eat something easy to digest first. Don't eat too much."

He still wasn't convinced, so he got out of bed, casually retied his hair, threw on a cloak, and went out. "I'll see if Qing Xing has left yet. Let her take your pulse again."

Song Tingzhou was still weak and couldn't keep up with Meng Wan's brisk pace, so he slowly washed up, shaved off the stubble, put on his robe, and went out to find him.

Qing Xing had been convinced to stay for breakfast. She had already received double her fee and felt awkward about accepting the meal. But Aunt Geng thoughtfully suggested she examine Song Tingzhou again before leaving. Qing Xing agreed. She and her assistant had just finished breakfast and were waiting for Aunt Geng to call them when Meng Wan arrived.

After examining Song Tingzhou again, Qing Xing declared there was nothing serious and advised him to avoid greasy and heavy foods for a while. Then she prepared to leave.

Meng Wan arranged for his family's carriage to take them out of the city, thanked her profusely, and stuffed two bags of fruit into her hands.

"The child is still young and has traveled a long way. Consider this my reward to him."

As the carriage left Shichun Lane, the little assistant couldn't help reaching his hand for the oil-paper packet.

In front of him, Qing Xing put on a mature adult's demeanor and lightly slapped the back of his hand. "Wait until we get home to open it. Share it with your younger siblings. If you sneak a bite, I'll never take you out again."

The little assistant had a temper and felt wronged. "I wasn't going to eat it all. Can't I just have half a piece? Meng Fulang said it was for me."

Qing Xing put on a stern expression. "Don't talk back. Meng Fulang was kind enough to give us two bags of fruit. Do you think that's because of your face?"

The little assistant sniffled and stopped talking. After a moment, he cozied up to Qing Xing and wheedled, "Good sister, I'm just too greedy. Don't tell Grandfather when we get back, okay?"

Qing Xing lightly flicked his forehead with her index finger. "You're a big boy now, still such a glutton. You're worse than the little ones."

The little assistant mumbled and whined.

The servant driving the carriage outside couldn't help smiling at the scolding over two bags of fruit.

Song Tingzhou drank two bowls of millet porridge with the oil skimmed off. With something in his stomach, he then gulped down a bowl of medicine that smelled bitter.

Meng Wan had slept too little and restlessly the night before. He had a bowl of porridge with Song Tingzhou, and seeing that his condition was stable, went back to bed to sleep a bit more.

The medicine Qing Xing prescribed worked excellently. After three days, Song Tingzhou was almost fully recovered. Only then did Meng Wan remember to visit the Zhu family and ask how Zhu Zening was.

Since Song Tingzhou had rested at home for a few days, he took Xue Sheng and personally went to visit them. He returned late and told Meng Wan that Zhu Zening had also fallen ill as soon as he came out. Fortunately, because he had been exercising with Song Tingzhou while living on Shichun Lane, it wasn't serious.

The two of them were relatively lucky. Some examinees were left half-dead from the ordeal, explaining why physicians were so scarce.

Zhu Zening was lively and couldn't sit still. Once he had recovered from the metropolitan exam, he insisted on going out to explore the bustling capital city. Song Tingzhou had no interest, so Zhu Zening found fellow scholars from the prefectural school who had also come to take the exam to go shopping with him. At this point, he didn't care that some people were just flattering him to take advantage of him; he was quite generous with his money.

The capital was full of places to squander money. Within a few days, Zhu Zening had blown through several hundred taels of silver. Third Master Zhu had his own matters to attend to, and when Zhu Zening was at such a critical time for the exam, he had even returned to Changping. He only came back recently, just before the list was released.

In the past, when the family was wealthy, his son was just childish. Now that the family had fallen and the main branch had been executed along with all the collateral lines, only he and his younger brother had managed to survive by hiding.

Despite such a bloody catastrophe for his family, Zhu Zening remained blissfully unaware, living his life as a carefree young master. Now that the metropolitan exam was over, Third Master Zhu, though unsure of the results, began to find fault with his previously treasured son.

Seeing that his son had no sense of restraint and was scattering money recklessly, Third Master Zhu finally couldn't help snapping off two newly sprouted willow branches to discipline him. Only then did Zhu Zening behave himself, remaining dejected even on the day of the results, the ninth of March.

The entrance to the examination hall was again chock-full—this time truly impassable for carriages. Song Tingzhou had Xue Sheng park the carriage a bit further away. He got off first, then helped Meng Wan down.

Xue Sheng tied the horse to a tree on the street side, patted down the wrinkles at the waist of his new clothes, and followed his masters.

A few days earlier, Meng Wan had specially hired a tailor to make new clothes for himself, Song Tingzhou, and Xue Sheng. So today, both Song Tingzhou and Meng Wan were dressed in light-colored attire.

Song Tingzhou wore a moon-white long gown and a white jade hairpin that Meng Wan had bought for him. Over the past few years, his complexion had become two shades lighter than when he lived in Sanquan Village. His features were sharp but not as fierce as before. In light-colored clothes, he stood out in the crowd because of his height, looking like a refined gentleman.

The crowd was a surge of people and carriages. Meng Wan held his hand, protected behind him, as they struggled to move forward. The closer they got to the examination hall, the less crowded it became; at least those people had the sense to park their carriages outside.

Xue Sheng, who wasn't very literate, also craned his neck to look around, following behind them.

Meng Wan, led by Song Tingzhou, stood in front of the list. Suppressing his excitement, he counted from top to bottom. He had only glanced at a few names when he immediately saw a familiar one.

Twelfth place: Song Tingzhou, native of Sanquan Village, Quanshui Town, Guxian County, Changping Prefecture. Age twenty-four, born on the twentieth day of the fifth month at the hour of the dragon. Father deceased, mother née Chang, husband Meng...

"Twelfth place! You passed, husband!!!"

Meng Wan gripped Song Tingzhou's hand tightly, his voice trembling with excitement. This was his second time checking the list for Song Tingzhou. His shout was not particularly conspicuous among the crowd, as similar cries of joy—or wails of disbelief—erupted from time to time in front of the list.

The metropolitan exam gathered all the provincial graduates from across the country, but only the top four hundred were admitted. The north was not like the south, where scholars abounded and academies flourished. How hard Song Tingzhou had struggled to reach this point.

Song Tingzhou's Adam's apple bobbed. Staring at his name on the list, it suddenly felt unfamiliar. The bewilderment at losing his father as a child, the hardships of studying day and night for years, the humiliation of his mother being mocked after his repeated failures, the anger when he was framed in the prefectural exam, the helplessness when he knew Lord Yan was going to his death but could do nothing—all these emotions now coalesced into that single line of ordinary text.

Twenty-fifth year of Qisheng, twelfth place on the Apricot List—Song Tingzhou.

He had long been accustomed to hiding his emotions. Even though half his arm was shaking uncontrollably and his eyes were bloodshot, his face remained tense and cold, as if he were not about to celebrate passing the exam but about to go to war.

Meng Wan was still immersed in joy. When he noticed Song Tingzhou's long silence, he realized something was wrong.

He took Song Tingzhou's other hand and placed it in his own. The warmth of their hands merged. Meng Wan tilted his head slightly and said softly, "Over a decade of hard study has not been in vain. This is cause for celebration."

Song Tingzhou’s large hand gripped his husband's hand firmly, then he lowered his brows, the corner of his mouth twitching, and said in a trembling voice, “Okay.”

Zhu Zening lived far from here, and the roads were clogged with carriages, so he arrived a step late. Third Master Zhu dragged him over like a little chick, eagerly scanning the list from the top down, growing more anxious as he went, until finally spotting his son’s name at the very end.

“Haha, he passed! My son actually passed! Three hundred ninety-six. Good, good, good!” Third Master Zhu’s voice boomed, instantly drowning out the others, attracting occasional glances of envy or jealousy.

Zhu Zening was overjoyed but embarrassed by the attention, and couldn’t help complaining, “Dad, can’t you keep it down?”

Third Master Zhu caught the disdain in his tone and almost slapped him, but remembering they were in public and his son had indeed passed as a Tribute Scholar, he withdrew his half-raised hand.

Zhu Zening, unaware of his close call, happily went to find Song Tingzhou. Since Song Tingzhou was tall, Zhu Zening had spotted him earlier but had been too focused on the list to greet him.

Song Tingzhou, now calm and composed, asked Zhu Zening, who was hurrying over, “Did you pass?”

Zhu Zening’s face lit up with a big grin. “Passed! Three hundred ninety-six.” As expected, he would be granted the title of Associate Jinshi after the palace exam, but he had never been particularly talented—he’d been unsure about the metropolitan exam itself, yet somehow he actually passed.

He couldn’t endure another nine days and nights at the examination hall, and trying again in three years might not even get him a spot on the list. An Associate Jinshi was fine; his family had money, and with some greasing of palms, a minor official post would do.

Some ambitious examinees considered ranking as an Associate Jinshi worse than failing, but Zhu Zening felt no such burden. Carefree as ever, he continued to Song Tingzhou, “I saw your rank—twelfth! Congratulations, congratulations!”

He felt not a hint of jealousy, genuinely happy for Song Tingzhou.

Meng Wan, overhearing, smiled and said, “Thank you for your kind words! And congratulations to you too! How about we book a feast at a restaurant later?”

Zhu Zening loved going out, and Meng Wan’s suggestion thrilled him. “Deal! I’ll go get my dad.”

The feast wouldn’t happen right away. Sharp-eyed announcers gathered in front of the list, rushing to deliver the good news. Meng Wan tipped each one generously—not only him, but everyone who passed was generous with tips.

Just days earlier, Third Master Zhu had complained about his son’s profligacy, but now he was scattering money more eagerly than anyone.

At noon, Zhu Zening led the group to a famous restaurant in Shengjing and ordered a lavish spread. Meng Wan also set up a separate table for the servants of both families.

At the table, Third Master Zhu was deeply moved. He personally toasted Song Tingzhou in thanks, but Song Tingzhou, not daring to accept such a gesture, quickly stopped him.

The Zhu family had seen great upheaval, secrets that couldn’t be shared. Third Master Zhu had been holding his breath, hoping his son’s success would restore the family’s standing—and it had come true. Overwhelmed by hardship and emotion, his eyes reddened, almost making a scene in front of the younger generation. Soon after, he paid the bill and left.

After he was gone, the three young men relaxed even more, eating and drinking raucously into the afternoon. They were too full for dinner, though Song Tingzhou might still be able to have a late-night snack.