Gu Ruinian lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

His experience in the city was like a dream.

He couldn’t understand how things ended up completely different from what he had imagined; where exactly did it go wrong?

He thought that time traveling here was to make him a mover and shaker of this era, wasn’t it?

He originally thought that this trip to the city would allow him to rely on his "talent" to not only gain the favor of the top courtesan of the brothel but also to astonish everyone and catch the eye of the dean of Wanliu Academy and become a student there.

Unexpectedly, he gained nothing but a face full of injuries.

That Third Young Master Xie was truly ruthless, aiming to ruin his face.

He endured tremendous pain to take the exam for three days, his mind dazed and out of control, unable to understand some of the questions.

He only knew he finished the exam; he didn’t know if he could become a Scholar.

He no longer hoped for the top of the list, just clung to the slim chance of passing.

He lay on the bed for a whole day and night.

The whole family was terribly worried.

The door creaked open, and Mr. Gu and the others poured in.

Gu Ruinian tried to hide his head under the quilt, but Mrs. Jia grabbed him and burst into tears.

Gu Ruinian felt a surge of frustration.

"My son, my son, what happened to your face?" Mrs. Jia cried out.

When Gu Ruinian returned home yesterday and removed his hat, Mr. Gu and the others were shocked, seeing the injuries on his face. No matter how they asked, he wouldn’t open his mouth, ultimately retreating to his room and falling asleep on the bed.

"Your brother has already gone to get a doctor for you," Mrs. Jia wept.

Gu Ruinian shouted, "Don’t call for a doctor. Don’t call for a doctor."

Isn’t it humiliating enough already?

Old Mrs. Gu shakily came to the side of Gu Ruinian’s bed, her tears flowing down as she said, "Ruinian, what happened to your face? Was it Jingzhe’s doing?"

Gu Ruinian gritted his teeth, wishing it was the work of Jingzhe.

This time, he lost face greatly in front of Jingzhe, ruined his reputation in the city, failed the exam, and was forced to accept help from Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe.

Just thinking about Third Young Master Xie telling Gu Dashu, "It’s only because of your face that I didn’t move his limbs," made Gu Ruinian feel utterly humiliated.

Most likely, everyone in the main house already knew and was laughing at him.

Seeing Gu Ruinian not responding, Mr. Gu himself stepped in.

"Ruinian, what exactly happened to you in the city? You have to tell us; the whole family was too worried to sleep a wink last night. Can you bear the thought of making your grandparents worry at their age?" Mr. Gu said sternly.

Gu Ruinian’s eyelids twitched, and he finally spoke up, saying casually, "Grandpa, my face was injured on the way to the exam when the carriage I hired collided with a pedestrian and got startled, leading to an overturn that threw me out..."

What’s the use of telling the family about the humiliation in the city? They can’t call the shots for him anyway.

Moreover, he didn’t want the family to laugh at him.

He could only swallow the humiliation and seek revenge later.

"Which heartless carriage... caused my son so much suffering," Mrs. Jia wailed.

"They must have known my son could take the top spot and, unable to compete openly, resorted to underhanded means."

Mrs. Jia voiced the collective thoughts of everyone present.

Mr. Gu and Old Mrs. Gu looked pained.

Mrs. Wei stood in the doorway, indifferent.

"Did it delay your exam?" Gu Youtian asked with a somber expression.

Gu Ruinian felt chilled by this remark; this cheap father of his didn’t care about his injuries but only about his exam results.

Without even looking at Gu Youtian, Gu Ruinian replied casually, "It didn’t delay."

Mrs. Jia howled in grief, "My son, the hardship you’ve endured."

Old Mrs. Gu and Gu Xiaoxue also began to cry.

Mr. Gu wore a conflicted expression.

Gu Youtian sighed with relief; he had thought his son had missed the exam.

He was already planning to hold a banquet to collect gifts for business once Gu Ruinian became a Scholar. If his son missed the exam, his plans would fall apart.

After crying, Mrs. Jia and Old Mrs. Gu felt Gu Ruinian all over and, finding no other injuries, started crying again.

Though Gu Ruinian wasn’t as handsome as Jingzhe, he was still a good-looking young man; if his face were ruined, how would he find a wife?

Even in future officialdom, being too unattractive might keep him from catching the emperor’s eye.

"Grandma, Mother, stop crying. My face is fine," Jingzhe said, vexed, yet the two old women kept crying.

Old Mrs. Gu and Mrs. Jia continued to weep nonstop.

"I’m hungry," Gu Ruinian played his trump card.

As expected, hearing her son was hungry, Mrs. Jia quickly got up to make him food.

The chicken, fish, meat, and eggs bought yesterday were still reserved for Gu Ruinian.

Old Mrs. Gu gradually stopped crying, too.

"Ruinian, how did you do on the exam? Do you feel confident you’ll pass this time?" Gu Youtian asked.

Mr. Gu, Old Mrs. Gu, and Gu Honglian all turned their gaze expectantly towards him.

Gu Ruinian felt suffocated.

He couldn’t tell the truth.

Gu Ruinian answered nonchalantly, "I did fine."

Gu Youtian nodded and said, "That’s good! Let your mother take good care of your body."

Mr. Gu and Old Mrs. Gu’s faces showed joy.

This grandson of theirs has always been steady.

After the child student exam, he had the same demeanor and expression; they didn’t need to think about it much. If he wasn’t confident, Ruinian wouldn’t act this way.

Maybe he could even take the top spot.

"Ruinian, have a good rest. We’ll still need a doctor to look at your face," Mr. Gu said.

Mr. Gu stood up, planning to borrow five taels of silver from the Clan Leader.

This trip to the city for exams had drained the family’s silver.

When the county sends the good news, they’d need to distribute joy money, buy candies and seeds to give to the congratulators, and host a banquet for guests. The people from the clan, Qinghe Bay Village Chief, Yan Guan Town’s village chief, and notable figures would need to be invited... every item would require silver coins.

Mr. Gu wasn’t afraid of borrowing money; he feared that his descendants would not achieve anything.

Once Ruinian’s Scholar title arrived, people in the clan would probably rush to lend money to him.

"You rest; I’m going to the Clan Leader," Mr. Gu said before leaving.

Gu Ruinian clenched his fingers tightly.

He could guess Mr. Gu was going to report his exam results to the Clan Leader.

He knew his grandfather and the Clan Leader hoped he’d win against Gu Jingzhe in the competition and become the leader of his generation in the Gu Family.

Gu Jingzhe, oh, Gu Jingzhe.

Gu Ruinian thought of Gu Jingzhe.

When Gu Jingzhe found out the reason he was beaten, he scolded him fiercely, saying he was unworthy of being a Gu family son, saying he had let down the clan’s expectations, saying he embarrassed all the students of Yan Guan Town...

He endured it and begged Gu Jingzhe not to tell the family about the city incident, at least keep it from Mr. Gu and the others.

The humiliation of begging Gu Jingzhe was far greater than being beaten by Third Young Master Xie.

What made him even more indignant was when a fairy-like young girl came to visit Gu Jingzhe, and the way she looked at him—Gu Ruinian would eat his shoe if it wasn’t the gaze of a lover.

Later, he found out that the girl was Lu Zhaozhao, the daughter of the Imperial Merchant Lu Family in the city, whose brother was a prodigious talent at Wanliu Academy and went to the capital for exams that spring.

Gu Jingzhe must have had a stroke of luck to catch the eye of the Lu Family’s daughter.

He hated Gu Jingzhe to the core. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

A celestial being like Lu Zhaozhao was only a match for a perceptive modern person like him.

An old-fashioned, boring person like Gu Jingzhe, who only knew how to study, could never deserve Lu Zhaozhao.

Jingzhe, Tianxiang Building, Xian Xian, Third Young Master Xie, these people he would eventually take revenge on.