It's all ruined, who cares about the chastity arch

In contrast, Zheng Chengyan's hand holding the pen froze in mid-air, and he was unable to put it down. The ink was like an out-of-control flood, quickly submerging the large blank area. His expression was like a dead branch frozen by ice in winter, dull and helpless.

"How could this happen? What on earth is going on?"

Zheng Chengyan repeated the questions in his mind, his fingers constantly stroking the test paper, his lower lip trembling constantly, his face pale, which made people feel pity.

Bystanders who do not know the truth might mistakenly believe that the second young master of the Zheng family had suddenly fallen ill.

Finally, he came back to his senses with great effort, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, put down the heavy pen, and fiddled with the inkstone in a panic, trying to grind out new ink again.

His arms were covered with blue veins due to nervousness, and his hands were shaking even more violently. Although the ink overflowed the inkstone, the test paper was still blank.

The emperor's sudden change of mind was like a sudden storm, which completely disrupted his plan. The knowledge that he had once been able to barely answer questions with, now made it difficult for him to write even a single word.

"Why did it change? Why? Did King Liang deceive me?"

Zheng Chengyan placed his hands on the table and lowered his head. The sweat that kept rolling down his forehead gathered into small streams and slid down onto the cold table.

Time passed by silently like the sand in an hourglass. As today's exam was about to end, Zheng Chengyan felt extremely angry.

"He lied to me! He took advantage of me!"

He angrily crumpled the test paper into a ball and held it tightly in his hands, showing his unwillingness to accept the injustice of fate. But after a moment, he eagerly unfolded the test paper and wrote quickly, trying to turn things around at the last moment.

Time was running out, and Zheng Chengyan could only rely on his superficial memory of reading from a few months ago to barely fill in the blanks on the test paper.

Although every space was filled in the end, when the final bell rang, Zheng Chengyan's body collapsed weakly on the chair, his hands hanging down limply, and his face was full of despair.

The answers to the Four Books and Five Classics on the first day were fragmented, and the policy essays and poetry writing on the next two days were a complete disaster, as one can imagine.

Two days before the exam, the policy papers and articles that Fang Rongze had carefully prepared based on the new topics became completely useless. Several months of hard work were ultimately in vain.

In this imperial examination, let alone winning the top spot, he didn't even qualify to enter the palace examination.

On the last day of the imperial examination, Zheng Chengyan staggered out of the examination room as if he had lost his soul. The image of a talented scholar who always thought highly of himself and attracted scholars to follow him was gone.

As soon as he stepped out of the examination room, a smiling scholar followed him and said flatteringly: "Second Master Zheng, with your talent, you will definitely win the first place in this examination!"

Faced with such flattery, Zheng Chengyan remained calm and did not give any response.

Seeing this, the scholar looked confused and hurriedly followed him, asking, "Second Master Zheng, are you feeling unwell?"

Zheng Chengyan's pace became more and more rapid, and his gray face gradually revealed uncontrollable anger.

The scholar sensed that the atmosphere was not right, so he stopped following closely and just pulled a classmate next to him and whispered, "I think Mr. Zheng II may have encountered an insurmountable obstacle in this examination."

The man slowly raised his deep eyes and stared at Zheng Chengyan's back as he gradually disappeared in the crowd, as if he wanted to see through the uneasiness and uneasiness hidden behind that back.

The corners of his mouth curled up into an imperceptible sneer, and he leaned forward slightly, almost touching his cheek with the person next to him, and whispered in a low voice: "Look at him, he usually boasts of his great talent and looks down on everyone, but he doesn't know that if there is any mistake in this imperial examination, the rumors in the capital will be enough for his face as a scholar to bear."

His words were full of gloating over the possible defeat that Zheng Chengyan might encounter.

Upon hearing this, the scholar raised his eyebrows, a trace of disdain and ridicule flashed in his eyes, and he completely abandoned the humility and flattery he had shown before in front of Zheng Chengyan. His sneer was clear and harsh: "I thought he was really capable, but it turns out that he can't even pass the threshold of the imperial examination. Let's prepare our small stools and wait for this joke to unfold! Hehehe..."

There was a hint of sarcasm in the laughter, like the biting north wind in winter, penetrating into people's hearts.

Although their conversation was not deliberately louder, the sharp laughter seemed to have the power to penetrate people's hearts and floated straight into the ears of Zheng Chengyan who was not far away.

He paused, his body stiffened slightly, then he turned slowly, his eyes as sharp as a knife, taking in the two smug faces behind him at a single glance.

Without words or arguments, he just shook his head contemptuously, then quickened his pace, resolutely blending into the crowd and disappearing at the end of the street.

Not far away, at the railing on the second floor of an ancient teahouse, there was a woman wearing clothes embroidered with crabapple patterns. It was Su Wanyu. She had a leisurely posture, like an elegant sculpture independent of the hustle and bustle of the world.

Her indifferent gaze penetrated the layers of the crowd as she quietly watched everything that was happening below. An indescribable sense of pleasure suddenly welled up in her heart, as if every setback of Zheng Chengyan added an inexplicable comfort to a secret corner of her heart.

At this moment, a maid named Liu'er, holding an exquisite tea tray and with a smile on her face, walked lightly to Su Wanyu's side. On the tea tray was a freshly brewed tea set, with hot steam rising and the fragrance of tea filling the air.

"Second Young Madam, come and taste the new tea that I have prepared myself."

Her tone was gentle and her smile was as warm as the spring sun.

Su Wanyu gently turned sideways, raised her white hand, and took the tea bowl that was still emitting a wisp of hot steam.

The bowl is filled with this spring's freshly picked Biluochun tea, which is ground into fine tea powder by Liu'er's skillful hands and then brewed with water to become a pool of emerald green tea soup. There is a lifelike crabapple flower pattern floating on the surface, which is fresh and refined, and pleasing to the eye.

She gently blew away the hot steam on the tea surface and took a sip. The tea was mellow, lingering on the lips and teeth with a long aftertaste, which made people feel relaxed and happy.

At this time, Liu'er also noticed Zheng Chengyan's lonely back as he walked away. She placed one hand on the railing and gently held a silk handkerchief with the other hand. A meaningful sneer appeared on the corner of her mouth: "The once famous and talented Zheng has now fallen to this point. The three-day examination will probably completely crush his pride."

Her laughter was clear and sweet, like a silver bell, but when she turned to Su Wanyu, her eyes were filled with indignation: "Second Young Madam, such a fragile man is not worthy of your status."

Zheng Chengyan, who used to be so charming and elegant, is now looked down upon even by the concubines around him, which shows how fickle the world is.