"Cough, cough, cough, cough—"
On the day of the Metropolitan Exams, Xu Huaiqian woke up feeling terrible. He was coughing violently, his limbs weak and heavy.
"How did you get sick?!"
Chen Liejiu touched Xu Huaiqian's feverishly hot cheek, watching him take out a handkerchief he hadn't needed for a long time and cough up blood into it. His heart ached unbearably.
He couldn't understand it. He took meticulous care of Xu Huaiqian every night, ensuring the blankets were tucked in snugly. How could he fall sick on such an important day?
"...Cough, the capital is just too cold," Xu Huaiqian rasped, his throat itching as he coughed again. His face flushed with fever, he tried to reassure his wife not to blame herself.
It wasn't his wife's fault for inadequate care. His body had been uncomfortable since arriving in the capital; he thought he'd adapt eventually, but it all came to a head at this critical moment.
"What should we do?" Chen Liejiu was frantic. In Xu Huaiqian's condition, taking the exam was out of the question. "Should we skip the exams this year?"
When weighing the exams against Xu Huaiqian's health, Chen Liejiu unhesitatingly chose his health.
Xu Huaiqian was still young, only twenty-one. Waiting three more years would make him only twenty-four—plenty of time!
"No, we've come this far," Xu Huaiqian shook his head, refusing. "We can't give up halfway."
It was just a fever, a cold. When he was a child, he'd even go to school with an IV drip, afraid of missing a single lesson.
Sitting an exam for one day was much easier than struggling through a whole day of classes with a fuzzy head.
Besides, this was just the Metropolitan Exams, not the Palace Exams. As long as his name was on the list, it was fine. Xu Huaiqian felt he could endure it.
"Absolutely not!" Chen Liejiu, who always put Xu Huaiqian's health first, wouldn't agree. "You're this sick. To stay in the exam hall for a whole day..."
Chen Liejiu frowned deeply. If Xu Huaiqian were healthy, he might have agreed. But Xu Huaiqian's body was too fragile. He was afraid that if he allowed him to go out, his condition would worsen drastically.
"I'll dress warmly, bundle up tightly. It'll be fine," Xu Huaiqian pleaded, tugging on Chen Liejiu's sleeve. "Besides, the Gongyuan exam hall conditions are quite good. They provide braziers. Staying one day should be okay."
After he had rested well, the first place Chen Liejiu took him to see in the capital was the Gongyuan.
In the capital, under the Emperor's watchful eye, the Gongyuan couldn't be too shoddily built, even with corner-cutting. With the Emperor overseeing things, and considering the candidates—once they passed the Gongshi level, they were just one step from becoming Jinshi—no one would be foolish enough to cut corners and risk offending a future official at this juncture.
Therefore, while the Gongyuan wasn't as good as the provincial exam hall Chen Liejiu had built for him in Changnan, it wasn't bad.
Since the exams were in early February, when the capital was bitterly cold, each candidate entering the Gongyuan was provided with a brazier of charcoal.
In previous years, the court provided cheap, smoky "ash-flower charcoal," which few candidates used during the critical exam. But this year was different. With the imitation silver charcoal production method Chen Liejiu provided to the court, surely the Gongyuan wouldn't be so stingy as to use the inferior charcoal again?
Imitation silver charcoal had a high burning point. One basin should last three or four shichen—about seven or eight hours. That was long enough to sustain him through a day of exams.
"But..." Xu Huaiqian's words sounded reasonable, but looking at his sickly, stunningly beautiful face, now unusually radiant with fever, Chen Liejiu felt a deep, panicky fear.
He was beautiful, yes.
But it felt like a beauty that burned at the cost of his life force.
His little husband was brilliantly talented and possessed this peerless beauty. Chen Liejiu feared he was too brilliant for his own good, that such deep passion might not lead to a long life. His body was already weaker than most.
"A-Jiu—"
While Chen Liejiu was weighed down by these thoughts, Xu Huaiqian wrapped his arms around his waist, snuggling against him and pleading, "Please let me go. If you don't, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
Everyone else was going to take the exam. If he didn't go—if he failed because he wasn't good enough, or if he were truly too sick to get out of bed, that would be one thing. But he could still walk, he could still go. Not letting him even try would be such a pity.
Chen Liejiu, of course, understood this. He had supported his little husband all the way to the capital despite his poor health—was he the kind of person who feared trouble?
He wasn't afraid of trouble.
He was afraid something might happen to his little husband.
But if he stopped Xu Huaiqian from going, Xu Huaiqian would be miserable, and he would be miserable too.
Watching his little husband nuzzle anxiously against him, clearly terrified he wouldn't be allowed to leave, Chen Liejiu's heart was in turmoil, but he finally relented. "Alright, I can agree to let you go."
"Hmm?" Xu Huaiqian was happy for a moment upon hearing Chen Liejiu agree, but then caught the implication: can agree meant there were still conditions?
"Just for this one day," Chen Liejiu said, straightening Xu Huaiqian's rumpled clothes, his tone firm. "If your condition worsens when you leave the Gongyuan this evening... I absolutely will not let you take the next session!"
"Mmhmm!" Xu Huaiqian knew his wife was extremely worried. He quickly wrapped his clothes tightly, leaving no gap exposed. "Don't worry, I'll definitely take good care of myself. I won't let my condition get worse!"
Xu Huaiqian valued his life greatly now. He wanted to live a long life with his wife; he didn't want to sleep in a coffin anytime soon.
But while life was important, his future was equally important.
His wife had refused the title of Township Lord for his sake, and did so before the entire court! If he didn't achieve something to make his wife proud, who knew how people would mock Chen Liejiu?!
He guessed correctly. Some were already secretly laughing at Chen Liejiu.
"Country folk will always be country folk, utterly brainless! To refuse an imperial title just so her husband can take the exams... If her husband performs poorly or fails, wouldn't that be throwing away the watermelon for a sesame seed?"
The previous emperor disliked men. The status of men was extremely low among commoners, let alone within the imperial clan—they didn't even dare to give birth to them, secretly disposing of any that were born.
While the current dynasty was more tolerant towards men, since its founding, no man born into the imperial clan had ever been granted a title.
If Chen Liejiu had accepted the Township Lord title, he would have been the first man in two dynasties to receive a title! What an immense honor!
The court officials and Chen Liejiu himself didn't seem to value the Township Lord title, so after his refusal in court, no one discussed it publicly.
But the men from the imperial clan, who still had no titles and lived awkwardly at home, were green with envy.
They were born into the imperial family, raised within it, yet unlike their brothers or sisters, they couldn't receive an imperial title at birth. They had to live like commoners at home, neither legitimate nor illegitimate heirs—it was unbearable.
Before, when no one had titles, and it was silently accepted that men were unworthy of them, they resigned themselves to their fate.
But now it was different!
Now, a man had appeared whom the Emperor himself wished to bestow a title upon, and not a single court official objected! What did that mean?
It meant the unspoken rule that men couldn't receive titles could be broken!
If Chen Liejiu had accepted, then the men of the imperial clan could also receive titles!
What a great thing!
And he refused it!
A group of men who learned the news were beating their chests in frustration at home, cursing Chen Liejiu for being a fool, sacrificing such great personal gain for a man.
Men raised in the imperial family had insights and perspectives far beyond those of commoners. Their fathers, brothers, and younger brothers had personally taught them how unreliable men could be!
Men were fickle. After having a beautiful, virtuous wife and a houseful of lovely concubines, they were still unsatisfied.
They liked all sorts of flirtations outside—visiting brothels, keeping mistresses—the list was endless.
Therefore, women and men born into the imperial family didn't harbor hopes that their men would be good to them.
They valued whether a man could bring them benefits and honor!
After all, as women and men, they couldn't become court officials. They could only rely on men.
But having a title was different!
A title came with land, land came with tax revenue, and a residence of their own. Whether they married out or had a husband marry in, they would have their own foundation.
And Chen Liejiu had given up that foundation.
The men who desired titles were so envious they could die. But no matter how envious they were, it was useless. Whether Chen Liejiu had a title or not, he had his own backing.
He not only had his own imitation silver charcoal kiln but also received one percent of the national imitation silver charcoal revenue from the Emperor every year!
Each of these things could ensure his comfort for the rest of his life.
Cursing Chen Liejiu didn't relieve their hatred; instead, the more they cursed, the more envious they became. Finally, they could only turn their focus to the imperial exams.
"As if the exams are easy! So what if her husband was last year's Jieyuan? The Juren from previous cycles aren't bad either. Not to mention the young masters from powerful families and great clans. No matter how capable her husband is, can he single-handedly defeat so many? Can he suppress them all?"
"Let's see if she regrets it later, after confidently refusing the title, if her husband doesn't even manage to become a Gongshi."
"And even if her husband passes the Metropolitan Exams and becomes a Jinshi, it's useless. At best, he'll be a seventh or eighth-rank official. Who knows how long he'll have to struggle in the officialdom to even come close to earning a title? He might even stay that way for life."
"Just wait. There will come a time when she regrets this!"
While others waited to see Chen Liejiu become a laughingstock, Xu Huaiqian, dragging his unwell body, met up with Meng Fangxun, Duan Youyan, and the others.