The Ger's Contract Marriage [BL]
Chapter 142: Apologize or Not?

Chapter 142: Apologize or Not?

"Place your quills down!" junior proctors around the courtyard announced from various vantage points in the courtyard.

"The exam is over." Others called out in near unison.

Xu Feng sighed as he glanced down at his papers. The script still looked weird to him. Xuan Yang had complimented his penmanship last night, before...

Xu Feng’s face flushed a bit before he shook his head as if to wipe away the thoughts plaguing his mind.

Xuan Yang had indeed complimented his penmanship before things took a turn into R-rated territory. Sometimes Xu Feng wondered if compliments only came out of that snake’s mouth in order to feed his lower snake.

Either way, while Bai Mo also liked his script, it didn’t fit any of the standard scripts of the court. Xu Feng had tried to mimic one of the official styles of Donghua, but his writing looked even worse when he did that.

Three months later, and he decided to go with his own unique font for his first attempt at the Xuicai title, and hope his answers were strong enough to allow him to pass the exam.

He already promised he would only sit for the Xuicai exam three times. If he couldn’t pass it, then he would retire the dream of becoming a scholar.

The ink was still fresh and wet on the paper, but at least it was on the paper.

"I could not finish," another test taker groaned hollowly, directly in front of Xu Feng. He clearly wasn’t confident in his chances with an incomplete final draft.

He wasn’t the only one. There were test takers who stared off into space as if trying to review their entire lives or maybe they felt like they lost their lives. Some people were clearly sad and distraught, but others looked smug and excited to get their results.

Xu Feng looked around the courtyard, taking in the expressions of all the gers, like savoring flavors of ice cream.

He made his way around the room with his gaze as the junior proctors ensured no one would cheat and continue writing after time was called. When he passed over Ming Hua’s seat, the ger was glaring at him fiercely, as if he was watching an enemy.

Xu Feng wanted to completely ignore the other boy, he was probably much younger than Xu Feng, he should be the bigger person. He smiled a tried smile with dead fish/numb eyes, as the other ger frowned deeper.

Just then, Xiao Pei cleared his throat before nodding to the junior proctor standing to his side "Ahem, ahem." At this prompt, all the test takers looked toward Xiao Pei.

"This concludes this year’s Xuicai exam." He paused as he looked to Sun Ming Hua with a sharp gaze, "While there was a bit of confusion that was the fault of no one, as the future scholars of our great Donghua, we must always be careful of our words and actions. A scholar’s word is like his honor, it must be unquestionable. Standing up for truth is important, but we should also aim to uphold others’ honor as we do our own."

With these gentle words, Xiao Pei looked toward Bai Mo and nodded, before locking unto Xu Feng. "This one, apologizes on behalf of the proctors here today. Thank you for willingly proving your innocence. This one, would like to apologize for this incident whole heartedly..."

To the crowd’s surprise, Xiao Pei knelt down on the courtyard floor and kowtowed to Xu Feng in front of the crowd. The gasps rang out continuously. The last hour and a half had been full of ups and downs. This would be an unforgettable exam for all those present.

Sun Ming Hua’s face which was red and crumpled up after the words from Xiao Pei was now slack. He stared open mouthed at the lead proctor.

Ming Hua had just been thinking about how he would tell his father what Xiao Pei had said in the presence of so many of his peers, but now his mind was completely blank.

Xu Feng was almost as stunned as he watched Xiao Pei on the ground. It was Bai Mo who again came to the rescue, quickly shooting up from his seat.

"Senior Xiao, shouldn’t kowtow to us juniors for a misunderstanding, right Xu Feng?"

Xu Feng slowly looked at the other man who was making all the signals with his eyes. Xu Feng slowly nodded his head as he regained his wits.

"Bai Mo is right, the senior is very just and fair. He worked hard to make sure the exam is fair for all test takers."

"Yes!" Bai Mo held on to this and continued, ignoring the shock and murmurs of the crowd, "Senior Xiao made sure we all had the same time as the men taking the exam. We lost an incense worth of time and now we regained that same time."

The time they should have used to rest all quills and allow their papers to dry was instead used to transcribe their answers to the final sheet. They hadn’t gone over time for the exam itself, the incense lighted to start of the exam to track the 8 hour exam was still barely burning.

It was unknown if the proctors would stay back and wait until the papers had fully dried, but as of now, no rules had been broken.

Xu Feng stared hopefully at the dwindling incense stick before he rose from his seat and hoovered in the clear space between rows. He didn’t really like bowing, it wasn’t something he was used to as a modern man, but wasn’t this what they did in period dramas?

Wouldn’t he have to bow to stop the ’senior’ from bowing? It would be impolite not to do so right?

"The senior is just and fair," Xu Feng said as he resigned himself to the know tow.

"Don’t," came Xiao Pei’s voice laced with nervousness. He pointed to the incense, "The exam is over, all students must leave."

"Leave your placard with your scroll and someone will be around your table to release you." A junior proctor added after the rising Xiao Pei stared at him.