The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Shen Cao's most important thing now is to make money. The dock in Xin'an County, not counting the fishing boat docking area near the seafood market, the cargo ship docking area is about 300 meters long.

Enclosing such a long area and managing it in a standardized manner will require a large sum of money.

Shen Family Restaurant has been open for three months now. Shen Cao calculated that the net profit each month is an average of more than 30 taels of silver, which is more than 300 taels, nearly 400 taels of silver a year.

The next time I see Shen Yu'an, I can pay him back the money I borrowed.

However, she definitely couldn't handle such a big project as the dock on her own. She needed to do thorough research and create a detailed plan to see if she could bring in other people to join in.

The atmosphere in the Shen family has been a bit strange lately, especially Shen's parents, who are very careful every day, afraid of disturbing Shen Chen's studies.

The results will be released in two days, and the closer it gets to that day, the more nervous Mr. and Mrs. Shen become.

They never expected Shen Chen to pass the exam on his first try. The path of the imperial examination is not easy, and it is normal to take it more than three times.

Moreover, Shen Chen is not yet twenty years old, yet he has already participated in the autumn examination, which is much better than many scholars.

Their main concern was that their eldest son had become more diligent in his studies since returning from being wrongly accused and sent to the government office.

Having just finished his exams, Shen Chen studies until midnight every day.

Several times when they got up in the middle of the night, they saw that the candles were still lit in Shen Chen's room.

They knew that Shen Chen felt he was useless, unable to help Shen Cao, and was instead a burden to him.

He didn't want to be a burden, and he also wanted to be a support for his family, so he studied even harder.

They were worried that if Shen Chen didn't do well on the exam, it would be a blow to him, so no one paid extra attention to Shen Chen these past two days.

In fact, Shen Chen was not as fragile as his parents thought.

Although he was very anxious, being anxious was useless on the path of scientific research.

What he's worried about now isn't his exam results, but rather that he feels he needs a better teacher to guide him.

It's not that the teachers at Xin'an Academy are bad, but rather that his current level of knowledge is somewhat useless if he stays at Xin'an Academy.

The reason he studied so hard during this period was not only because he wanted to be someone everyone could rely on, but also largely because he was going to participate in the autumn imperial examination.

He met many outstanding students and heard a lot of knowledge that he had never heard of in Xin'an County.

Only then did he realize that he was like a frog at the bottom of a well, seeing only the four directions above his head.

One reason he's been in a bad mood these past two days is because he went to the school on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

I heard from the students that one of the candidates at Xin'an School did exceptionally well on the exam this year and was praised by the chief examiner.

He didn't care at first, but when he was about to leave the school, he was stopped by Wang Chengyan and his group of friends.

"Brother Shen, where are you going?"

"Have you heard? Wang Chengyan's father sent someone to inquire and heard that our school did very well in this year's imperial examination, and even the chief examiner praised it highly."

"And in Wang Chengyan's examination room, the chief examiner was supervising the exam."

"The best student in this Xin'an Academy exam must be Brother Wang. As his classmate, you should congratulate him."

Shen Chen looked up at Wang Chengyan, who was surrounded by the crowd.

He remembered Wang Chengyan; he was quite talented in literature. If he had focused on his studies, he would have achieved great success. However, his family was wealthy, and he relied on his intelligence to rarely study seriously. He spent his days socializing with friends and thinking about how to enjoy himself.

Does this person play hard at school every day and then study like crazy when they get home?

Thinking about this, Shen Chen felt pressured.

"The results haven't been released yet, so we don't know who's on the list."

"If the name at the top of the list is indeed Brother Wang, then I will certainly congratulate you sincerely."

Wang Chengyan, who was standing to the side, stopped smiling and looked somewhat annoyed. "Brother Shen is right. It's just a matter of time. Just don't forget when the time comes."

"I think Shen Chen did it on purpose. His grades have always been the best at Xin'an Academy. He studies like crazy every day, but he still can't beat Brother Wang in the exam."

“I think some people can only achieve so much no matter how hard they try, unlike Brother Wang, who doesn’t even read books on weekdays, yet his grades are always among the best.”

"This time, we've soared to new heights. Who knows, the top spot might just be our Xin'an Academy."

"I think some people are useless no matter how much they study. They're not smart enough, so no matter how much they study, they'll still be the same."

"Be careful not to become stupid from reading too much one day."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Laughter from that group of people echoed down the corridor.

Shen Chen didn't care.

I don't know who brought up Li Changquan's matter.

The group glared angrily at Shen Chen. "We're all classmates, yet you act so ruthlessly. No wonder nobody wants to be your friend."

“Everyone has to pay the price for doing something wrong. Why didn’t you stand up for me when he framed me?”

"You, you're making such a big deal out of such a small thing."

Wang Chengyan looked righteous and awe-inspiring; Li Changquan usually had a good relationship with him.

"We're all classmates, and who knows, we might even become officials in the imperial court someday. We'll inevitably have to help each other out. With your personality, you won't get anywhere in the officialdom."

Shen Chen glanced at him and said, "You don't need to worry about things from now on, Brother Wang."

"You! You really don't know what's good for you." Someone couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to show off in front of Wang Chengyan, so they stepped forward to make a move.

Shen Chen took a step towards him. After several months of recuperation, and with Shen Cao making him nourishing soup every day, Shen Chen had gained a lot of weight and grown taller.

Now, tall and strong, he strode forward, his figure surrounding the man. The man was startled by Shen Chen's aura and froze on the spot.

But not wanting to lose face, he straightened himself up and said nonchalantly, "You'll regret it later."

"Who is making a fuss at the school gate?"

Upon hearing the school supervisor's voice, the group stood behind Wang Chengyan.

The school supervisor walked up to Shen Chen and Wang Chengyan.

"You lot, instead of taking this time to rest and study, you're making a ruckus at the school gate. How can you be so unruly? Is this how the school teaches you to behave?"

Shen Chen first bowed to the school supervisor to express his apology.

The school supervisor didn't even glance at him, but turned around and walked enthusiastically toward Wang Chengyan, "Nephew Chengyan, you speak."

"Reporting to the supervisor, we ran into Brother Shen on our way back from reading in the library. Seeing that he was heading home, and realizing it had been a long time since we'd seen him, we greeted him."

"Perhaps Brother Shen misunderstood us, which is why he raised his voice."

Shen Chen stared at Wang Chengyan, his brows furrowed.

The school supervisor was related to Wang Chengyan. Wang Chengyan would sometimes skip class to go out and play, and the supervisor would often help him out. This time, he probably heard that Wang Chengyan had done very well on the exam, and a hint of flattery appeared on his face.

Before Shen Chen could even speak, he immediately frowned and reprimanded him, "As a student of the academy, even though the autumn examinations are over, students should still be studying diligently at the academy."

"Putting aside how well you did on the exam, you didn't even come to school after the exam. Do you even respect me as the school supervisor?"

“I have already spoken to Mr. Liu about this.”

"Hmph, Mr. Liu is in charge of your studies. You told him, but did you tell me?"

"Since you don't want to come to school, then don't come at all in the future."

A group of people looked at Shen Chen with schadenfreude. Serves him right. Who told him to offend Wang Chengyan?

Now he can't even go to school.

You country bumpkin, get back home!