Seeking Truth with a Sword

"Mr. Li."

"Risheng."

"Eldest Son."

Li Ang strode towards his expectant Yizhou classmates. Chai Cuiqiao came trotting down from the pavilion, anxiously asking, "How did it go?"

"It's alright, I suppose," Li Ang replied with a slight smile and a wave of his hand. "It seems I've passed."

"Great!"

The thunderous cheers from the Yizhou scholars made everyone present turn to look.

A young scholar from out of town, who was over the age for entering the Academic Palace and had come to observe the ceremony, sourly muttered to his friend, "Who is this? Celebrating so joyfully now, I hope he's not one of those who couldn't answer and had to hand in his paper early to leave."

"Who would voluntarily leave during the final challenge of the Academic Palace?" his friend replied helplessly. "Besides, that person was second in the preliminary exam and first in the re-examination. Now he's the first one out again. It looks like this year's Academic Palace Top Scholar will be from Yizhou."

Whispers spread through the crowd, but Li Ang paid them no mind. He was helplessly surrounded by his Yizhou classmates, mounted on a horse, and led south.

Li Ang slipped away quickly, and the gaze of the onlookers fell upon He Fanshuang.

Parents with children still in the examination hall, as well as idle onlookers, eagerly inquired about the content and difficulty of the exams and whether he had seen their children.

"Excuse me, please."

A gentle male voice rose, and the crowd naturally parted with an intangible, gentle force.

"Brother, Father, Mom."

He Fanshuang smiled as he approached his parents—honest, simple folk who looked like (or rather, were) old farmers—and his handsome, white-robed elder brother. The family boarded a carriage and left.

"Who is that now?"

The out-of-town scholar asked subconsciously, only to hear his friend beside him exclaim in shock, "He... He Siping?!"

"Who? Someone famous?"

"The Left Spring Palace Middle Officer from the Crown Prince's Palace, a position of the lower fifth rank, and just one step away from the High-level Cloud Patrol Realm."

His friend inhaled sharply. "He was also the Academic Palace's top scorer of all three exams eight years ago."

"Both son and daughter entered the Academic Palace. How did their parents raise them?"

"I heard their parents were once tenant farmers who worked the fields outside Chang'an City..."

With a resigned expression, Li Ang toured Chang'an City on horseback, surrounded by his companions.

The Advanced Scholar Group, specifically organized to celebrate the newly passed Advanced Scholars, heard the news and rushed over. They cleared the way ahead with gongs, drums, and flutes, and even procured apricot blossoms and peonies from somewhere to scatter along the route.

Apricot blossoms were the traditional flowers for Yu Country's newly passed Advanced Scholars. The peony's status as the national flower, on the other hand, could be traced back to the Holy Empress's particular fondness for it.

Xiangguo Temple, Qujiang Pool, Furong Garden.

Revisiting these familiar places naturally evoked different feelings. The Advanced Scholar Group and his Yizhou classmates planned to organize a banquet for Li Ang in Furong Garden, but he politely declined, citing "physical and mental exhaustion."

Everyone expressed their understanding. The Academic Palace's final exam was, after all, mentally draining, and he still had to attend an audience with the Emperor in the Imperial City that evening. He genuinely needed some rest.

So, they escorted Li Ang back to the Huai De Square hostel.

The hostel owner, a wealthy West Market merchant who had never shown his face before, rushed over upon hearing the news. He repeatedly congratulated Li Ang while ordering his staff to urgently tidy up the courtyard.

They busily removed weeds from the yard, planted valuable flowers, scrubbed the Red Horse clean, and laid new stone slabs on the courtyard floor.

He also insisted on refunding the rent paid by the Yizhou students for their stay. He even declared, "This room has been inhabited by the Academic Palace Top Scholar and touched by the aura of the Wen Qu Star! Henceforth, it must be reserved for my own children and not be rented out casually to others." This pronouncement left Li Ang amused and exasperated.

A crowd gathered in Huai De Square to celebrate the news of Li Ang becoming the Academic Palace Top Scholar. Word spread like wildfire, and soon Li Ang witnessed the full enthusiasm of Chang'an's citizens.

Amidst great fanfare, the streets emptied as curious Chang'an citizens flocked to see the Academic Palace Top Scholar, surrounding Huai De Square in layers.

Those on the outermost edge of the crowd were already praising Li Ang: "Handsome as Pan An, passionate as Song Yu, talented as Zijian!"

Merchants from all over the land sent a dazzling array of gifts; stewards from various noble houses delivered calling cards from the aristocracy and influential officials; and fellow townsfolk from Yizhou, now in Chang'an, enthusiastically surrounded Li Ang, congratulating him incessantly in their Yizhou dialect. Li Ang felt completely overwhelmed.

Li Ang, the center of attention, struggled to push his way into the courtyard. He promptly delegated the task of receiving guests to the self-volunteered Advanced Scholar Group and instructed Zhai Yiming and the others to return to Vermilion Bird Gate to wait for Ji Linglang, Yang Yu, and anyone else who had not yet emerged. This was to ensure they wouldn't be left without a welcoming party.

The Chang'an Advanced Scholar Group was experienced in receiving guests. However, their leader quietly warned Li Ang that among the nobles delivering calling cards that afternoon, some were looking to establish connections, while others were seeking an outstanding son-in-law.

It was common knowledge in Chang'an that noble families sought sons-in-law for their daughters from among the newly successful Advanced Scholars. The status and prospects of a Disciple who had passed the Academic Palace examinations were even higher than those of an Advanced Scholar. Thus, Chang'an had the custom of "snatching a son-in-law from below the announcement list," where wealthy families would compete to make a successful examinee their daughter's groom.

Moreover, Li Ang hadn't ended up unable to practice Cultivation for life as Xi Yangyu had predicted. Instead, he had clinched the Academic Palace Top Scholar title, and his future was boundless. As long as he secured a marriage contract now, it wouldn't be so easy for the Emperor to arrange a marriage, even if he wished to do so later that night.

The merchants' calling cards were easy to manage, but those from Chiefs of Staff, Assistants, Assistant Ministers, Doctors, Ministers, Generals, and the families of Dukes were not so simple to deal with.

Song Shaoyuan chuckled softly, quoting, "'To achieve high honors at first attempt, serving the Crown Prince's forces. To marry a wife from the Prime Minister's house, outshining all other scholars.'"

He then added, "Risheng, you're in luck! Have you decided yet which daughter of a Prime Minister, Prince, or Commandery Prince you wish to marry?"

"Brother Song, stop teasing me," Li Ang retorted, rolling his eyes at Song Shaoyuan, who stood beside the charming You Douzhi.

Although the Academic Palace didn't forbid Disciples from getting engaged, Li Ang had no intention of marrying now. For one, he didn't want a complete stranger entering his life. For another, noble families valued pedigree and were bound by complex, tedious customs; living with them would definitely not be a pleasant experience.

For instance, there was once a scholar who married into a Prime Minister's family. Unaccustomed to such a lifestyle, he mistook the bath beans provided for washing as food and ate them with hot water, becoming a laughingstock.

As for Princesses from the Imperial Family... That would be even worse.

Everyone knew that many Princesses of the Li Family were pampered, unruly, extravagant, and wasteful. Some were even quite... morally corrupt.

Definitely not.

Li Ang shook his head. While he was racking his brains about how to deal with the calling cards, people from the Yan Mansion finally arrived.

The Yan Mansion knew Li Ang was to take the final examination today. They hadn't come earlier because they knew Li Ang lacked Spiritual Vein Talent, and it would have been awkward for both parties if he had failed. They had already prepared a path for him in the Ministry of War's Zhongsi Institute. But now that he had passed, there were no such concerns.

Yan Lin's eldest and second legitimate sons began acting as Li Ang's groomsmen, receiving guests. This was sufficient to handle the calling cards sent by the noble and influential houses.

And Li Ang seized this opportunity to slip inside with Chai Cuiqiao. He let out a long sigh of relief and collapsed onto the bed, pressing his fingers to his throbbing temples.