A peasant girl travels through time with a hospital, rising to become an empress.

Neither of them took this little incident seriously, but the sight of their hands clasped together stirred something within them.

An ordinary couple would have long since become indifferent, like holding their own left hand with their right, but they are not a normal couple...

Gu Xiao only realized what he had just done after Nie Wenye left. He had never held another girl's hand before. Gu Xiao felt Nie Qianqian's small hand wrapped in his own, and an indescribable strange feeling took over his mind.

The social customs of the time are relatively conservative, and it's not common for couples to hold hands in the street. The students at the academy gate, who were about to disperse after Nie Wenye left, were drawn to the sight of the two holding hands.

"These two were originally husband and wife."

"Otherwise what? What, Brother Liu, if we're not husband and wife, do you have other intentions?"

"Don't tease me."

"If I had a wife like that, I would be willing to hold her hand in the street."

Seeing that she was being watched, Nie Qianqian gently moved her hand away, glanced at Gu Xiao, and saw that he was expressionless and natural, but his ears were red. She secretly found it amusing. You were the one who took the initiative to hold hands, but you are the one who is embarrassed.

As the softness in his hands disappeared, Gu Xiao felt a sense of loss.

"I'm going to the clinic."

"I'm going to copy the book."

The two voices rang out one after the other. Without dawdling, Nie Qianqian checked the direction of the clinic with Gu Xiao again before heading there.

Gu Xiao didn't move, remaining rooted to the spot, watching Nie Qianqian leave until she was out of sight.

He raised his hand and placed it on his heart.

The pulse there was throbbing intensely, like powerful drumbeats, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump...

-

Mr. Jiang rushed to Dean Qiu's residence. Others only knew that the dean had not been in the courtyard for the past few days, but they did not know where he had gone. Mr. Jiang and the dean were originally teacher and student, and their relationship was closer. He knew that the dean had not gone to the academy because his teacher's wife's condition had relapsed, and Dean Qiu had stayed at home to take care of her.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't have bothered Dean Qiu at this time, but Gu Xiao's matter was important, so Mr. Jiang had no choice but to bite the bullet and come to Dean Qiu.

Mr. Jiang knocked on the door of Dean Qiu's residence. The gatekeeper, recognizing him as a familiar guest, greeted him and led him inside.

Dean Qiu lives in a three-courtyard house in the western suburbs. The house is not luxurious, but it exudes elegance. Before entering the hall, one must pass through a quiet bamboo forest and cross an arched bridge over a stream, allowing one's mind to gradually calm down with the environment.

Although the headmaster of the best academy in the county did not hold an official position, he had a very high social status. In this era that valued the imperial examination, Headmaster Qiu's voice and influence were not to be underestimated. Even Magistrate Tang would show him deference.

Even if they entered the court and became officials, unless they came from a large, hereditary family, their children and grandchildren could not inherit their official positions. They still had to take the imperial examinations and thus showed great respect to the headmaster. The wealthy merchants were even more so. In the social hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, although merchants were rich, their social status was far inferior to that of families with generations of scholarly traditions. The more this was the case, the more they hoped that their children and nephews could achieve academic success and lead the entire family to transcend social classes. They would obey the headmaster of the academy without question.

When Mr. Jiang entered the main hall, he met Dean Qiu. Dean Qiu was on leave at home and was dressed in casual clothes, but he could not hide the demeanor of someone who had been in charge of the academy for many years, and there was a faint worry between his brows.

"Jiang Li, what brings you here?"

"Dean, I know I shouldn't bother you, but I've encountered a very difficult situation."

"Oh, what's the matter?" Dean Qiu really couldn't imagine what Vice Dean Li couldn't handle that required him to come to his house.

Mr. Jiang described to Dean Qiu how Vice Dean Li had asked him to proctor Gu Xiao's exam and what happened afterward. When Mr. Jiang mentioned that Gu Xiao had answered all the questions on the exam he had set, he was filled with surprise and doubt.

That set of exam papers wasn't a normal exam paper at all. It was more like a question bank he created based on the scope of the autumn provincial exam. As the one who set the questions, he knew the difficulty level best. Could anyone really answer all of them on the first exam?

He hurriedly unfolded the exam paper that Jiang Li had brought and quickly browsed through it.

Not long after, he stood up abruptly, his hand holding the exam paper trembling slightly, and said urgently, "Come with me to the study, I need to properly grade this exam paper."

Jiang Li followed Dean Qiu to the study. Dean Qiu walked very fast, and Jiang Li almost couldn't keep up.

In the study, Dean Qiu was grading exam papers at his desk. Jiang Li sat down on a guest chair. He had rushed over to find Dean Qiu and hadn't had lunch yet. He was getting hungry and ate a few snacks from the table, keeping his attention on Dean Qiu.

Dean Qiu took a very long time to grade the exam paper, sometimes frowning, sometimes relaxing, sometimes deep in thought, and sometimes smiling. Teacher Jiang was completely bewildered. What kind of expressions were these? Could so many emotions be seen in just one exam paper? But he dared not disturb him. He was Dean Qiu's student and now a teacher at the academy; he couldn't break the rules.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, Dean Qiu finally finished reading the last exam paper, let out a long sigh of relief, put down the paper, and remained in a daze for a long time, his palms even sweating.

Mr. Jiang couldn't hold back any longer. He was an impatient man. He stood up, leaned close to Dean Qiu, and asked curiously, "Dean, how was it? Did you get 80 points?"

Despite Gu Xiao filling the entire test paper, Teacher Jiang never imagined he would get a perfect score.

This exam paper has several open-ended questions; if you know the answer, you get full marks, otherwise you have to leave it blank, like a modern fill-in-the-blank question. However, some questions are short-answer questions. Depending on the student's understanding of the question and the depth of their thinking, each student's answer will be different, similar to a modern political essay question. These are questions that the graders rarely award full marks to.

He boldly guessed that Gu Xiao had scored 80 points after seeing that Gu Xiao had answered all the questions correctly and written a very detailed summary of the questions.

Dean Qiu did not answer his question directly, but instead murmured as if he had not yet recovered from his shock, "Jiang Li, you did the right thing by coming to see me today."

Mr. Jiang looked completely bewildered. "Dean, what do you mean? What's the score exactly?"

Dean Qiu's eyes focused on the exam paper. His usually calm face flushed slightly with excitement. He slammed his hand on the desk and announced loudly, "Full marks!"

Master Jiang gasped, speechless, and asked incredulously, "Are you sure?"

It was extremely impolite to say this to one's own superior, which shows how shocked Jiang Li was.

Dean Qiu had no time to dwell on such details at this moment. His tone was firm: "It's certain. This child is the first person in the history of our institute to get a perfect score. He is our greatest hope for the autumn examinations next year in Fulin County!"