Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 70

After the cat demon left Huang Meisheng, the special effects of the magic spell also faded. Because of the magic spell’s backlash, he lost a few years of his life and looked even older.

An Yinong went to him on purpose and discussed poetry with him in an ignorant manner, but the result was needless to say.

“Brother Huang, are you feeling unwell today?” An Yinong hesitated to speak.

“Yes, I am not feeling well.” Huang Meisheng’s face turned red with shame.

After bidding farewell to the “sick” Huang Meisheng, An Yinong returned to his residence. He made himself a pot of tea with a faint aroma. “I already know what his contract is.”

Huang Meisheng had no ability to pass the imperial examination, let alone get second place. So he must have used some illegal means to study at the Imperial College.

“There are a limited number of scholar positions. When he comes, one place is taken up, and another imperial college place is taken up.”

In other words, it means that the positions of civil servants in first-tier cities with high salaries and little work have been taken up, and the positions of graduate students in first-class universities have been taken up. Since Huang Meisheng had taken such a good thing, how could he not pay a price?

“He is just like Zhang Ruojun in a previous life. He likes to take shortcuts. Who doesn’t like taking shortcuts? But after taking shortcuts, one will become addicted to the feeling of getting something for nothing. He can’t go any further.”

It only took half a month for Huang Meisheng to go from being highly anticipated in the beginning to being disappointing. Later, word got out that he was discovered fooling around with a handsome book boy, which again displeased the chief and others.

It is standard for a scholar to have a servant boy around him, mostly to take care of his personal affairs. But if the servant boy was handsome, or looked like a beautiful girl, then one can basically doubt the other purpose of the servant boy. There are many people in the Imperial College who had this habit, but not many of them could really cause trouble.

An Yinong suddenly began to have some doubts. Was it possible that Huang Meisheng’s unscientific promotion in the plot and his achievement of getting a top score in the exam despite being busy with love affairs were also supported by such illegal forces? But why wasn’t it revealed in the plot?

“Your lover is watching you too closely. That man has the intention but not the courage to do something bad. He just looks at you a few times and calls your name when he hugs someone else…” Before the cat, who was squatting on the window, could finish his words, a fallen leaf flew towards the window like a sharp blade.

Jin Sheng pinched the fallen leaves with his little claws: “I won’t tell you, I won’t tell you, okay? If you love it so much, why don’t you hold it in your mouth and take it with you?”

An Yinong looked towards the yard, his eyes curved and full of tenderness.

Jin Sheng was so jealous watching from the side. How come this person didn’t have the fear and trepidation that other humans would have when facing ghosts? His eyes were firm and straightforward, and his heart and eyes were full of that annoying Gu Zhengzhong… It was really enviable.

“The contract between Huang Meisheng and my descendants has been torn up. He will have to return the stolen things sooner or later.” Jin Sheng shook his fur and stretched lazily.

“But the main purpose of my coming here is to see you, the legendary… Tsk tsk, no more words, Brother Yinong, I’ll find you next time.”

“You need to send an invitation.” An Yinong said.

“Got it.” The cat jumped down from the window, his belly shaking, and soon disappeared into the flowers. An Yinong looked at the direction where it disappeared, then looked at the empty small garden, thinking of what the cat demon had just said, and smiled slightly.

After that, An Yinong met Huang Meisheng twice more, but the latter hid when he saw him, with a look of shame on his face.

“Oh, the regret value has increased again.” The system was beaming with joy.

“He should be ashamed. He has spent so much effort and paid a lot of price to finally come to the Imperial College, but he is wasting resources here.”

However, he didn’t have much energy to think about Huang Meisheng. He would have to take the imperial examination next spring, and the exam was only a few months away, so his teacher had become more strict recently.

Most of the students in Class A have to try, and they are favored and receive the most attention. How can they have time to do anything else?

An Yinong read and wrote every day. He had to interpret eighteen different meanings for one sentence. It was very painful. Who said that the imperial examinations in ancient times were easy? His hardware had been upgraded several levels. He was so worried that his hair would fall out when he saw books every day.

For this reason, he rejected cat demon Jinsheng’s posts several times. He wanted to reject them all, but the colorful long-haired and short-haired cats came every day with posts in their mouths, rubbing against his legs with their little paw pads and looking at him with their big eyes. How could he possibly reject them all?

An Yinong particularly liked the long-haired lion cats, each of them was a little fairy.

He would comb the fur of these messengers, and then feed them with dried meat and small dried fish. He would feel happy petting the cats for a while. If Gu Zhengzhong hadn’t said that if you have a cat, you can’t raise a fish, An Yinong would have wanted to raise one.

The cat demon Jin Sheng came several more times afterwards, but An Yi was busy with farming, so it was Gu Zhengzhong who greeted him.

He thought this cat demon would fight with Gu Zhengzhong, but who knew they would play chess when they met. Jin Sheng was average at chess and always lost badly, even if An Yinong was replaced, he would still be treated the same.

“You’d better not play chess with the master. As far as chess skills are concerned, there are ten times more chess players between you and the master. Why bother yourself?” An Yinong said leisurely, fanning himself.

Jin Sheng looked at the two men’s identical fanning movements and expressions and became so angry that he turned into a big cat and jumped out of the window.

The following spring, the imperial examination was held as scheduled. It was divided into three sessions, each lasting three days: the first day for entry, the second day for examination, and the third day for exit. This took a total of nine days.

Many candidates looked unrecognizable after taking the nine-day exam. Even An Yinong, who always paid attention to physical exercise, collapsed after taking the exam and had a fever.

On the day when the results were announced, An Yinong, who was thinner than before, appeared in a restaurant with his classmates. Their servants went to the front of the list and squeezed in front.

“Sir, I got the win!” There was a crowd in front of the list, and excited shouts could be heard from time to time.

Most of the candidates in the country gathered in the capital at this time, waiting for the moment to change their destiny.

The tables in the restaurant were filled with food, but most people had no appetite. Although their eyes were on the tables, their ears were perked up to listen to the noise outside, and they would stick their heads out to take a look at the slightest sound.

If one saw that it was their own servant, and that person was beaming with joy, they would most likely be secretly ecstatic, knowing that he was on the list. But the next second they would still be nervous, because they didn’t know their rank.

If the servant boy looked embarrassed and hesitant, then there was no need to ask, as the candidate’s face would also become gloomy.

“Master, you’ve won. You’re number 23.” A dark and strong servant boy came running over. He looked at his master’s roommate, An Yinong.

“Master Yinong also won, ranking tenth.”

“Brother Yinong!” His roommate came over and patted An Yinong on the shoulder in ecstasy. He should be happy. He was ranked 23rd, and he had a good chance of getting into the second class. He would be a proper scholar.

After the results were announced, some were happy while others were sad. However, no matter whether they were happy or sad, they all chose to drink. Either a few classmates would have a small gathering, or a large group would book a place and find a few prostitutes who could play musical instruments and sing to entertain them.

These women sold their art but not their bodies. Not only were they invited to gatherings of scholars and wealthy men, but they were also invited to gatherings of noble ladies.

An Yinong was dragged to drink several times. He was usually serious but his true nature would be slightly exposed when he was drunk. His pair of peach blossom eyes would unconsciously flirt with people everywhere, so he was always forced to drink.

Fortunately, they were just admiring the beautiful scenery, otherwise Gu Zhengzhong with a dark face in the dark could not guarantee what he could do. Because of this, those students who urged others to drink the most were in trouble for several days.

As for An Yinong, he always had a headache after waking up drunk, and then he had to drink bitter medicine. The fourth time someone called him, An Yinong refused to go out no matter what: “I have to prepare for the palace examination.”

During the palace examination, An Yinong saw the emperor of this world for the first time. The ruler of the world who was about to conquer the world had a pair of resolute eyes. His face was not particularly beautiful, but he had an unforgettable temperament.

The empress walked among the students, and wherever she passed, the breathing became quiet. Later, she stopped beside An Yinong and watched him write thousands of words, talking about his ideals and aspirations. The black court robe stayed beside him for a long time.

“The first place in the second class, Tian Xi, is awarded the title of Jinshi.”

An Yinong, who was waiting for the results to be announced, was a little surprised, but he still stepped forward and saluted to express his gratitude as the etiquette officer instructed.

The first place in the second class has a nice name, “Chuanlu”. The treatment of the second class and the first class is very different. For example, the first class will enter the Hanlin Academy as an editor, while the second class will be granted other positions.

In fact, this was exactly what An Yinong hoped for. He did not want to be a noble editor or a comfortable official in the capital. He wanted to do practical work, and it would be best if he could be transferred to the grassroots level. But could he get what he wanted?

With their thoughts in mind, the new batch of officials began their own horse-riding parade, led by the three first-class scholars. They wore red dragon robes of third-rank officials, black gauze hats with golden flowers on their heads, held the imperial edict in their hands, and rode on the imperial horses. The second-class Jinshi followed behind them.

The people of the capital who had been waiting for a long time on both sides shouted excitedly when they saw this group of people. They seemed to have arrived at a concert. An Yinong looked up.

“Eh? After the third place, the second place is the winner?” A sharp-eyed girl saw the first place winner in the crowd at first sight. The other Jinshi were celebrating a happy event, and their physical appearance was good. They looked good individually, but they couldn’t be in the same frame as the first place winner or second place, which was too cruel.

The girl threw the flowers in her hand away with a shy face: “I heard that the third place winner is selected based on the beauty, how come he is not as good as the second place?”

An Yinong originally thought that he was just a supporting role in this grand event of the top scholar riding a horse and parading through the streets, but he didn’t expect to be greeted by a burst of fragrant rain when he looked up. The bouquets, handkerchiefs, and purses were just small things. There were also jade pendants, fans, hairpins and other things. The most severe one was a fist-sized melon, which hit him so hard that he was stunned.

What? Killing people openly? An Yinong hid in a very awkward manner, and even the scholar next to him was affected and hid away. Seeing this, the young wives and girls upstairs laughed. An Yinong himself couldn’t help laughing. He decided to put his worries aside for the time being and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime parade.

“Brother Yinong!”

When he was walking past a familiar restaurant, he heard a familiar voice coming from above the restaurant. It turned out to be his classmates from the Imperial College. Those who did not take the exam this year or did not pass were all waving from the second floor.

An Yinong also saw Huang Meisheng in the corner, his eyes staring at him, full of resentment and longing. He suddenly had a bad premonition.

Huang Meisheng’s obsession was obviously not love, but the imperial examination, for which he has worked hard for the first half of his life. Now his obsession was unexpectedly realized in ‘Tian Xi’, a friend with whom he had emotional contact in childhood. So… there won’t be any chemical reaction, right?

“Host!” The system jumped up in surprise.

“It’s over.” An Yinong thought.

“Just now, the moment you two looked at each other, your regret value suddenly jumped to sixty!” The system was already happily doing the bee figure eight dance in the air, “Host, you are so great, I love you so much, hahahahahahaha.”

“……” Play it out loud, play it out loud quickly.