Song Wei returned from the county town, and Song Fang was waiting at the door to stop him, not letting him in, "Third Brother, you have to be honest, are you confident about taking first place in this examination? I need to prepare myself mentally in advance."
Song Wei smiled slightly, "What is this all about?"
Song Fang got angry when he brought up the subject, "Isn’t it all because of that student of yours, Hao Yun? What kind of person is he? Do you really think all your hard work for a month is only worth a meal?"
"Knowledge is priceless," Song Wei said. "If it were as you calculated, even if he sold all his possessions, he wouldn’t be able to pay for a month’s tuition from me."
Song Fang pouted, "So you taught everything to others, what about yourself? The examination is just a few months away."
"Are you trying to tell me ’teach your apprentice and starve the master’?"
Song Fang remained silent, clearly in agreement.
Song Wei did not explain in detail.
As a competent master, while teaching others, one must also learn to make progress.
If one stays in the same place and teaches all their skills to others, it’s akin to having one foot in the grave, ready to leave their last words.
Such a "master" would starve to death by their own doing.
Third Brother’s calm composure instantly restored Song Fang’s confidence as a sister, and a smile crept onto her face, "No matter how much they learn, I believe Third Brother will never disappoint me, right?"
Song Wei smiled without speaking.
After gathering at the inn, Hao Yun hadn’t met with Song Wei and Xie Zheng again, and before they realized it, it was already September, with the examination fast approaching.
While Wen Wan was helping Song Wei pack, she had a premonition.
Seeing her suddenly pause, Song Wei, who was organizing books, looked up, filled with concern in his voice, "Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
Wen Wan placed down a recently folded long robe, sat on the edge of the bed, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Noticing something was off, Song Wei strode over and gently asked, "What’s wrong?"
Wen Wan gestured: a bad premonition.
Seeing her distressed look, Song Wei thought it might be more serious than usual.
However, he was accustomed to her sudden premonitions, so he didn’t find it hard to accept. With a calm expression, he sat beside her, gently taking her hand in his palm and noticed her hand was cold with sweat.
After calming herself, Wen Wan went to the study to grind the ink and picked up a brush to write.
She wrote part of it, using sign language for the rest.
The premonition was: during the examination grading, the chief examiner encountered a disagreement because two candidates’ essays were equally outstanding; these two candidates were Song Wei and Hao Yun.
Half of the chief examiners supported Song Wei, while the other half supported Hao Yun.
The top spot on the list remained undecided.
This time, the grading was conducted by academic administrators from the Capital.
Prefect Chen, as a local magistrate, could not participate to avoid suspicion.
But he was eager for political achievements and had already devised a plan to secure Song Wei as the top candidate in the examination, as his promotion greatly depended on sending this top talent to the Imperial College.
However, none anticipated an unexpected rival named Hao Yun.
This student, whom nobody had heard of before, suddenly came out of nowhere and wrote an essay that could rival Song Wei’s.
Prefect Chen, having prepared for three years for a smooth promotion next year, couldn’t afford any delays at his age. His dream was to rise to the Capital, and he didn’t want a small obstacle to ruin his major plans, so in a moment of stubbornness, he resorted to underhanded means and secretly hired thugs to kill Hao Yun.
The examination turned into a murder case, and once again, Song Wei was implicated as he was during the previous examination case.