With the world stabilized, a hundred tasks awaited revival.

With Wei Yan and Grand Tutor Li both fallen, there was no one among the civil officials capable of taking on a significant role. Grand Tutor Tao had no choice but to return to court temporarily to take up his duties, waiting for a capable successor among the younger generation before he could resign and continue his leisurely life.

Gongsun Yin, known as “the Virtuous One of Hejian,” also broke the family rule against entering government service and joined the Hanlin Academy, being appointed as a Junior Teacher to lecture the emperor.

The factions of Li and Wei in the court could not escape a delayed reckoning. Those who were exiled were exiled, and those who were imprisoned were imprisoned. With the Regent King backing him, the young emperor felt quite confident. Less than a year into his reign, he reshuffled the entire court.

Many positions in the court became vacant, and to fill these gaps, officials who had been isolated and transferred due to not aligning with factions in the past were finally able to return to service. Those with mediocre achievements but deep experience were temporarily promoted to fill the vacancies left by those transferred to provincial offices.

However, this round of promotions still required people to fill the vacancies in various local government offices. This year’s imperial examination, in addition to the regular subjects, the young emperor also opened a special examination. Thus, the influx of candidates into the capital since the beginning of the year was like a flood, and all the inns in the capital were filled.

In March, the wedding of the Regent King and Great General of Huaihua overshadowed the public discussions about the imperial examination. It wasn’t until April, when the results were announced, that the debates about this year’s examination results and questions erupted once more.

Outside the Drum Tower, the crowd was so dense that not even a drop of water could pass through. Naturally, some rejoiced, and those who were disheartened. Some who had finally succeeded after ten years of hard study wept tears of joy, while others who found their names missing felt as if they had lost their parents.

Many wealthy families sent their servants to watch for candidates at the announcement site. Upon seeing a young, handsome man with a radiant complexion, they would know he had passed and immediately take him to a nearby teahouse or tavern, hoping to arrange a good match with their daughters.

This phenomenon was humorously referred to as “Catching a Son-in-Law Under the List.”

A young man in a slightly worn indigo blue long robe squeezed through the crowd, reading the list of successful candidates posted on the wall from top to bottom, then from bottom to top. After several attempts, he still couldn’t find his name, and his face gradually turned pale, feeling utterly dejected as he was pushed to the outskirts by the other onlookers.

“Song Brother!” A young man standing at the street corner recognized the blue-robed youth and waved warmly at him.

The blue-robed youth was Song Yan. He forced a smile and bowed slightly to the young man who called him: “Wu Brother.”

Seeing Song Yan’s expression, the young man realized he had failed again and comforted him: “Don’t be disheartened, Song Brother. You’re still young and have already become a juren. Many envy you. Some take decades to pass the examination. My uncle failed eleven times, but fortunately, he caught the special examination this year and finally secured a minor official position.”

He had also failed the autumn examination and was still just a shengyuan. Today, he was here to check the list for his uncle.

Upon hearing this, Song Yan’s face grew even grimmer, but he still managed to clasp his hands and congratulate him.

The young man was about the same age as Song Yan, but his family had some wealth, and with an uncle who had failed eleven times, he was quite open-minded about the examination failures. Having been friends with Song Yan for two or three years, he knew about Song Yan’s family situation and couldn’t help but ask as they walked back together: “What are your plans next, Song Brother?”

A hint of embarrassment crossed Song Yan’s face as he replied, “My mother has passed, and there are no relatives left in the family. I will likely stay in the capital and work as a tutor or guest scholar in some noble’s household, seeking a place to live until I can take the examination again in three years.”

In Qingping County, he was highly regarded and had the county magistrate’s favor, thinking himself a dragon among men. However, upon arriving in the capital, he realized that there were prominent figures everywhere, and even a discarded wine jar could hit a talented but unrecognized scholar.

It truly echoed Fan Changyu’s words about her husband: “Northern geese fly south, and it’s hard for phoenixes to land.”

His once-proud talents, in this capital of the Great Yin, were utterly unremarkable. The little money he had received from the gentry after passing the juren examination, along with the magistrate’s support for his journey to the capital, was not enough to compare with the attire of wealthy young masters.

In his first year in the capital, Song Yan felt like a mountain chicken that had mistakenly entered a phoenix’s nest, constantly anxious and fearful of being looked down upon. The sense of inferiority that had accompanied him throughout his youth returned like a parasite after he had passed the juren examination.

When he was studying at the county school, he had tried hard to hide the fact that he was only able to attend school because of a marriage agreement with the butcher’s daughter, who had supported him.

Later, upon arriving in the capital, he had to work hard to conceal his humble background to socialize with the literati, participating in various poetry gatherings to appear cultured.

For someone like him, with no solid foundation, the only way to have a smoother path in the capital was to gain the favor of some high-ranking official. The most stable connections were through marriage.

To let the nobles in the capital know about his existence, he had to first stand out at various poetry gatherings and then achieve recognition in the imperial examinations to quickly receive an olive branch, rather than being “caught” by some lowly wealthy merchant under the list.

He had spent ten years studying day and night and had gone to great lengths to cultivate beneficial relationships. He could not afford to fail the examination, but sometimes, human plans could not match the heavens’ arrangements.

A few days before the examination that year, news reached the capital that mountain bandits had attacked Qingping County, and he learned that his mother and the magistrate’s family had also tragically perished along the way. He was deeply affected, and ultimately failed the examination, missing the list entirely.

After learning the details, many friends he had made after arriving in the capital felt sorry for him, believing he would have surely passed if not for his mother’s tragic death, and that he would surely succeed in three years.

Who would have thought that this year, he would still fail to make the list?

Just thinking about facing those friends who had supported him for two or three years made him anxious.

Last year, he could use his mother’s death as an excuse, but what about this year’s failure?

He certainly knew that what had disturbed his mind during the examination was the grand wedding of the Regent King and Great General of Huaihua in March. The woman he once thought would hinder his career had become an unattainable existence. Even the Regent King did not mind that she had been married before and sought an imperial decree to marry her.

His previous broken engagement had truly become a great joke.

But who could foresee what would happen later?

He simply did not want to live a hard life anymore, nor did he want his mother to be humble and seek favor from others. He wanted to achieve something great.

He remembered their childhood friendship, but every time he saw Fan Changyu’s bright smile, he was reminded of his mother’s subservience, how they had to praise the couple from the Fan family for the bowl of rice they received.

There were also whispers and jeers from others, saying that the Song family, which claimed to be a family of scholars, was merely relying on the butcher’s family to make ends meet. Instead of studying, he might as well marry into the Fan family.

He had remembered those hidden insults and mockeries for many years, but he could say nothing. Sometimes, he even hated the Fan family.

He resented the Fan family’s feigned kindness, which had ensnared him and his mother in this so-called favor.

Why did the Fan family help him? Was it not a gamble on his future success? That was hypocrisy!

When Fan Changyu said she was willing to dissolve their engagement, she did not know that once the engagement was dissolved, he would bear the reputation of being ungrateful. What could he use to dissolve it with her?

In the end, when the Fan couple died and Fan Changyu and her sisters were nearly forced to lose their home, he secretly felt a sense of satisfaction.

In this life, he had always looked up to her, trying to please her. When she was pushed to a dead end, would she not be able to let go of her pride and stubbornness and come to seek him?

He had been waiting, but in the end, he only received news of her marrying someone else…

Her pride was such that she would rather break than bow her head to him even once.

In April, after a recent spring rain.

Song Yan lost in dark and self-deprecating memories, did not notice the carriages on the street. Fortunately, he was pulled back by the young man beside him just in time to avoid colliding with an oncoming carriage.

Even so, he was still splattered with mud by the carriage. The driver, seeing his tattered robe and lack of joy from passing the examination, assumed he was a poor scholar and spat at him: “Are you blind?”

“Hey! How can you speak like that?” The young man beside Song Yan wanted to defend him, but seeing the luxurious carriage, Song Yan stopped his friend, saying: “It looks like a wealthy family. It’s better to avoid trouble. Just let it go.”

Only then did the young man reluctantly give up. Seeing Song Yan in such a dejected state, he pondered for a moment and said: “Since you mentioned you want to work in a noble’s household as a tutor or guest scholar, I have a way. My uncle has been teaching a young girl at the Imperial Academy this past year. He has just passed the jinshi examination and is about to resign. If you are willing, I can have my uncle recommend you. Teaching a young girl to read won’t take much effort, and you can focus on your studies in your spare time, preparing to take the examination again in three years.”

Working as a tutor or assistant in a noble’s household sounded easy, but it required recommendations, and establishing connections often required a considerable amount of money.

Song Yan, who had been gloomy for half a day, finally showed a hint of joy at this moment. He stopped and bowed deeply to the young man: “Wu Brother, your kindness… I will never forget.”

The young man laughed heartily: “With our friendship, Song Brother, there’s no need to be polite. My uncle wanted me to go, but I’m just a shengyuan. How could I dare to enter such a household? I would rather wait for my uncle to take up his post in the prefecture and follow him to gain some experience. It’s also because you have true knowledge that I dare to bring this up with you.”

After this was settled, three days later, Song Yan went to the Imperial Academy as promised.

Before he officially took over as a tutor from the young man’s uncle, the noble family had to meet him first and assess his knowledge before they could decide to keep him.

Song Yan felt confident about this.

The young man’s uncle was an older man nearing fifty named Wu Guankun. He was strict and traditional in his knowledge, having passed the juren examination solely through rote memorization of past exam questions and many beautiful essays. After several years of attempts, he finally succeeded.

Later, when he took the jinshi examination, he tried to replicate his previous method, but unfortunately, he never managed to guess the exam questions correctly again. Fortunately, he encountered the special examination and finally secured an official position.

Song Yan believed that his knowledge was more than sufficient compared to Wu Guankun.

He just didn’t know who the noble was, as Wu Guankun spoke of it with a certain reticence, saying that only after he was formally retained would he know the noble’s identity.

Song Yan had spent years trying to connect with the powerful, and he could tell that this was a high-ranking individual.

To prepare for this meeting, he had spent a considerable amount of his limited savings to tailor a new robe of bamboo root green, just to leave a good impression on the noble.

When Wu Guankun entered the room to introduce himself, Song Yan waited outside, feeling as nervous as he had been a few days earlier when checking the examination results.

At his age, if he couldn’t find a way forward in the capital, and if he wanted to marry a noble girl in the capital to make his future career smoother, it would become a complete fantasy.

He had stepped out from that small town of Lin’an, seen the splendor of the capital, and with all his ambitions still unfulfilled, he was unwilling to return to that impoverished place.

After anxiously waiting for a moment, he was finally called in. Song Yan did not dare to look around. After bowing his head as he entered, he performed a proper bow. The wide sleeves of his green robe fell from his wrists, giving him the air of a Wei-Jin scholar. He tried hard to maintain a posture that was neither servile nor overbearing, saying: “I am Song Yan, here to see you, my lord.”

For a moment, no one in the room spoke.

Song Yan maintained his bowing posture, but his heart was nearly in his throat.

The person introducing Song Yan also sensed the unusual atmosphere and quietly glanced at the person sitting above. He feared that the noble might think Song Yan was too young and assume he lacked true knowledge. After all, this was someone he had recommended, and if the noble did not look favorably upon him, it might reflect poorly on him as well. Wu Guankun then said: “Although Song Xiaoyou is young, he is a juren…”

“I know.” A crisp female voice, like the sound of jade breaking, interrupted him.

Hearing this voice, Song Yan involuntarily raised his head and saw the figure sitting above, clad in silver-red armor, draped in a tea-white brocade robe, with one arm exposed in a display of martial prowess. His face turned as pale as paper.

“Song Yan.” Fan Changyu calmly uttered these two words. Her sharp gaze had learned to conceal its edge, and her voice revealed no emotion, but the commanding presence of someone who led thousands of troops was enough to suffocate anyone just by her sitting there.

Song Yan could only meet Fan Changyu’s gaze for a moment before he awkwardly lowered his head, a wave of embarrassment washing over him. As he bowed again, he bent his waist as low as he could: “I… Song Yan, have met… Great General.”