Chapter 1309: Chapter 1306: Pretending to be Sick

“Brother, I understand,” nodded Chu Zhang in agreement.

Subsequently, students did indeed come knocking, inquiring about the situation. Chu Zhang turned them away at the door, simply stating that Chu Sheng was feeling somewhat under the weather and needed to rest in peace.

Even the Attendant Student of Zhong Yan had personally come to ask.

By feigning illness, Chu Sheng managed to get through to the other students.

The next morning came early.

The two of them packed the luggage they needed to take into the examination venue, ensuring nothing was missed. Then, under Chu Lin’s watchful eye, they entered the examination ground.

They feared being wrongfully accused of sneaking in materials, so they brought as little luggage as possible, not even many clothes.

Thus, they quickly passed through the inspection smoothly and entered the examination ground. According to their examination numbers, they found their designated cells.

Their seats were only average, not particularly bad.

Having confirmed that the two children had entered the examination venue, Chu Lin didn’t linger outside.

Three subjects, totaling nine days of exams.

He planned to go back and rest well, thinking of looking around the Prefectural City the following day to see if he could purchase a shop to set up business.

He had come back with a mission. The Oil Smoke Ink produced back at home was doing well, and both Ye Muyu and Chu Heng were planning to open branches. The Prefectural City, with its many students, was very suitable for opening a bookstore.

However, in the Prefectural City, Ye Muyu didn’t plan to open the kind of store from back home that imparted knowledge generously, but to simply sell Oil Smoke Ink, without the need for it to be too popular–a regular shop would do.

Thus, this task fell to Chu Sheng, and this was to be one of the Chu family’s shops as well.

It was very common for prominent families to open shops. Given Chu Heng’s status, a regular bookstore run by the Chu family members was very low-key and not at all conspicuous.

Chu Lin was pondering matters when he returned to the inn and saw other relatives of the examinees gathered downstairs, chatting about something.

He had no intention to join the commotion and planned to head upstairs directly.

However, he was stopped by a familiar friend from days past.

“Brother Chu,” called out Huang Rong, the father of a student with the surname Huang.

Chu Lin paused his steps, waiting for him to come over before asking, “Brother Huang, what’s happening here?”

“It’s Zheng Xiao and the others. They’ve brought back some test papers, claiming they’re mock exams written by some very impressive students. Even if our children pass this time, there are other children in the family who might find these useful for their studies in the future. So everyone’s looking to buy from Zheng Xiao. If you can write, you can copy them yourself. If you copy them yourself, it’s quite a bit cheaper, only a hundred coins. If you buy them directly, it costs a tael of silver,” Huang Rong said, clearly pained by the mention of a tael of silver.

Hearing this, Chu Lin was not tempted. His son, Chu Sheng, had already told him about what happened the previous day.

Although he didn’t understand the imperial examination system, he was aware of the severe consequences of fraud within it.

At this moment, he had no interest in these test papers; after all, his family had many practice materials personally sourced by his Third Brother, even the Third Brother’s Wife had helped find some.

If yesterday’s incident hadn’t occurred, he might have been interested. After all, no one would complain about having too many examination materials.

But now, Chu Lin just feared causing trouble that might jeopardize his children’s future.

“Let me have a look,” Chu Lin said, not directly refusing but also not committing to buy.

Seeing this, Huang Rong did not press further. He was busy copying the test papers himself; although his handwriting was ugly, as long as it was accurate, he could have his son make neater copies later.

Chu Lin watched for a while, then returned to his room. Given the crowd, nobody noticed him.

During the examination period, Chu Lin, accompanied by an intermediary, inspected many shops and eventually chose a medium-sized one. Even though it was inconspicuous in the Prefectural City, it still cost him one hundred and fifty taels to buy.