Xu Qiu was startled by Lin Qu’s sudden outburst, but he quickly regained his composure. Although his impression of Lin Qu was indeed positive, he felt no romantic attraction or affection toward him.
He had never even considered such things before.
Furthermore, his previous engagement had been to Lin Qiong; he could never have harbored those feelings for his fiancé’s cousin. Even toward Lin Qiong himself, the actual partner in the engagement, he had never felt any love.
On one hand, perhaps he was simply slow to mature and lacked such awareness. As a child, he preferred playing with boys, and as he grew older, he had his own goals to pursue. On the other hand, the Lin Qiong who existed before the protagonist took over his body was truly an insufferable person, and his reputation in the village was far from good.
His personality was overly pampered and unreasonable.
Before Xu Qiu regained his memories, he had actually been quite annoyed by Lin Qiong and wanted to dissolve the engagement, though the adults never took his wishes seriously.
After the initial surprise, Xu Qiu didn’t dwell on the matter. Even though Lin Qiong had been wandering around the protagonist gong’s side for two months hoping to strike up a conversation, and according to the plot, they should already have mutual interest and met several times, he didn’t need to worry about his status as a fiancé. Ultimately, he didn’t want to get involved in the conflict between the protagonist and the villainous cannon fodder. After all, the other party might have liked him, but he did not feel the same. Moreover, getting together with the cousin after breaking off an engagement would hardly be a wise decision.
Xu Qiu put the matter out of his mind and continued toward his destination.
Beiyue was a notorious place of exile.
Their village housed quite a few criminals who had been banished there.
Xu Qiu was heading to the home of one of these convicts.
Those exiled to this region were kept under centralized management. Since there was a stone quarry near their village, some of them were assigned to live in this area. While their residence was close to the village, they were strictly separated, and they rarely interacted with the villagers, nor did they have the time to do so.
Ordinary villagers didn’t dare to get too close to them.
However, it made no difference to Xu Qiu. The Xu family held some status in the village, and the people managing the quarry belonged to the same faction as his family. His father had already cleared the way, so he had no trouble coming here.
Soon, Xu Qiu reached his destination.
Visibly, the houses here were far more dilapidated than those in the village. They were crumbling like condemned buildings, and the rooms were small with low ceilings; just looking at them made one feel uncomfortable. Xu Qiu walked familiarly into one of the houses.
After waiting for a short while, a tall, handsome man and an elegant man in his thirties or forties with a beard returned.
Upon seeing him, the handsome man smiled. “Xu Qiu, you’re here.”
“Yes.” Xu Qiu smiled back. “Chenxiao, sir, I brought you both meat and some pears I picked a few days ago. Come and try them.”
“Alright.” The man responded, “Just a moment. We’re covered in dust, so let us wash our hands first.” They had just returned from working in the quarry, and their clothes, hands, and faces were covered in grit; they had no choice but to clean up.
In truth, if they had the means, they would have loved to take a thorough bath to wash away all the dust, but that was impossible. They had to return to work in the afternoon, and even if they washed now, they would only get dirty again.
Moreover, washing clothes too frequently made them tear easily, and they didn’t have much money to buy replacements.
Taking advantage of the lull, Xu Qiu took out his books and asked the elegant man about his questions. The man listened while washing his hands in a slow and orderly fashion, and once he finished, he provided detailed answers. Soon, both men sat at the table and began eating the pears.
After they finished, they started to prepare a meal.
During this time, after answering his questions, the elegant man continued to lecture him on other sections of the books.
Finding an opening, the handsome man, Gu Chenxiao, spoke up. “At your current pace, taking the imperial examination in a few years should be quite easy for you.”
Xu Qiu also felt confident that he would pass. In his previous life, he had been a top student, so he lacked neither learning ability nor a good memory. However, he had started learning late; he had only begun studying the Four Books and Five Classics in the last two months.
He said, “We shall see. I’m in no hurry and will take it slowly.”
Xu Qiu was truly in no rush. His family was well-off, his two older brothers were successful, and in Beiyue, they relied on powerful forces, so generally, no one dared to provoke them. He also possessed his own ability to earn money, so there was no reason to be anxious.
His desire to take the imperial examination was due to the extreme poverty of the region; otherwise, it wouldn’t have become a famous place of exile.
Seeing the two men sitting before him, both exiled near their village, it was clear that the area was not an ideal place to live.
The climate here was volatile, and even the intense heat of the recent sun was enough to make one feel uneasy. Xu Qiu could not bear to endure this for the long term. It had been tolerable before he regained his memories, as he had grown up in this environment, but now that he had awakened, he could no longer stand it.
The best way to leave Beiyue and travel to other places was to pass the imperial examination.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible to simply leave, but that would be meaningless. What would he do once he left? Even if he ran a small business, without the protection of a powerful faction, his facial features, which revealed traces of foreign ancestry, might make him a target for discrimination. It would be better to stay at home, where at least their status remained respectable.
Therefore, entering the bureaucracy through the imperial examination would be the best outcome; he would gain both status and reputation.
It was the best method to escape his current circumstances.
Xu Qiu had considered the imperial examination before regaining his memories, but he had never made a move. There was no way around it; not only in their village but in the entire region of Beiyue, there were barely any scholars. He had wanted to learn, but he could find no one to teach him. There were no schools or private tutors in the towns or counties. In the local environment, people considered themselves well-educated if they could simply recognize a few characters; interpreting the Four Books and Five Classics was impossible.
Xu Qiu was literate.
Since he was a child, because of his weak constitution and inability to do heavy farm work, his family had tried to find him a way to make a living. They eventually sent him to the village doctor to study medicine.
The doctor was quite skilled, and the villagers went to him for treatment. Xu Qiu’s own health improved, and perhaps due to natural talent, he eventually surpassed the doctor. Nowadays, the local military would sometimes bring him in to treat patients. If it weren’t for his status as a Xu family member, the military probably wouldn’t have let him be so idle.
It was only until the recent appearance of Gu Chenxiao and his companion that Xu Qiu had finally picked up his dream of taking the imperial examination.