However, many things cannot be truly understood without personal experience; no matter how much others try to persuade you, it has little effect. On the contrary, it may even be misunderstood as causing trouble or making things difficult.

So in the end, Mr. Sullivan still accepted Sanlang Brooks's meat and agreed to help find someone to vouch for him—he had a prized student named "Eugene Quinn", who was now a stipend student at Nanyang Academy in Nanyang Prefecture. In previous years, it was always Eugene Quinn who vouched for Sanlang Brooks, and this year there would be no problem either.

After bidding farewell to the teacher, seeing that it was still early, Sanlang Brooks took a detour to the banks of the Jing River and paused to watch.

In his heart, he faintly hoped that the mysterious red carp would break through the waves and appear again.

However, on the Jing River there were white geese, ducks, and ripples stirred up by the spring breeze, but not a trace of that mischievous red carp could be seen.

Although Jing County is a small town, it has a history of a thousand years, and the Jing River has also flowed for a thousand years, shimmering without end.

The water flows for ten li beyond, connecting to a great river called "Jingjiang."

Jingjiang is one of the six great river systems in the world, with a long and mighty history, surging with grandeur.

It is not hard to imagine that if the red carp swam downstream, it must have entered Jingjiang. Once a fish enters the great river, it probably will not return.

Sanlang Brooks let out a sigh.

After a while, he walked home and told his mother about participating in this year's children's examination.

Mrs. Brooks listened and said kindly, "Since you want to take the exam, then go ahead."

Sanlang Brooks was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "Mother, don't worry. This year, I will pass the exam."

Mrs. Brooks was taken aback; she had never heard her son speak with such confidence. The old Sanlang was introverted, and after repeatedly failing the exams and being ridiculed, he became even more withdrawn, spending his days either at the private school or hiding in the study, not daring to see anyone.

Now, her son seemed to have changed.

Mrs. Brooks did not know whether her son's change was due to his inexplicable fainting last time; she vaguely remembered that when Sanlang was ten years old, he suddenly developed a high fever on a stormy night—a fever that nearly took Sanlang Brooks's life, leaving him unconscious for three days and nights before he finally woke up.

It was that sudden high fever that made Sanlang Brooks's originally lively nature become dull. Mrs. Brooks even suspected that her son's stage fright was all a result of the fever.

And now, another change had appeared.

"Perhaps, it's because my son has grown up..."

So thought Mrs. Brooks.

They say girls change a lot as they grow, but boys change too. After experiencing more, maturing, they naturally become more responsible.

Suddenly, Mrs. Brooks felt comforted and couldn't help but shed tears. If Sanlang Brooks could really succeed in entering the academy and become a xiucai this year, then all the troubles that had been plaguing them would vanish like smoke.

Seeing his mother in tears, Sanlang Brooks felt a pang in his heart: "Mother, there's no need to cry. Those rumors outside are not worth paying attention to. Once I enter the academy, all the unpleasant talk will naturally stop."

Achieving success and fame has always been the best way to silence gossip.

Mrs. Brooks nodded repeatedly, wiping away her tears: "That's right, mother will wait for your good news."

That night, she personally cooked a table full of Sanlang Brooks's favorite dishes. Watching her son eat heartily, savoring every bite, Mrs. Brooks once again felt her eyes fill with tears and quickly turned her back so Sanlang Brooks wouldn't see.

After eating and drinking his fill and washing up, Sanlang Brooks sat in the study, looking at the books on the shelf.

These books he had already read thoroughly and could recite backwards.

After a while, he sat up straight, spread out his writing tools on the desk, and began to write—writing casually, sometimes jotting down a famous saying from an essay, sometimes a line of poetry.

In fact, for Sanlang Brooks, his essays and calligraphy were more than enough to handle the children's exam; his repeated failures were only due to psychological reasons, unable to perform normally.

But after that bizarre and indistinguishable dream, his spirit was renewed, and he believed he could overcome his fear of the exam and take it steadily.

The night passed uneventfully. The next morning, when he woke up and went to have breakfast, he saw Mrs. Brooks talking with Matchmaker Wood.

Soon, Matchmaker Wood took her leave.

"Mother, what did that old woman want this time?"

Sanlang Brooks asked.

Mrs. Brooks coughed lightly: "She came to deliver a message, saying that the Liu family has relented and will accept a bride price of only three hundred strings of cash. I was thinking, maybe we should just agree."

Three hundred strings was still a hefty sum, but much less than five hundred, so she was tempted. The key was that with all the rumors flying around and Sanlang Brooks's reputation damaged, Mrs. Brooks was truly worried her son wouldn't be able to find a wife.

Sanlang Brooks curled his lip: "Mother, I'm not in a hurry to get married. The exams are coming up—how would I have time to worry about this?"

Mrs. Brooks said, "You don't need to worry about it. Mother and Uncle Harris will take care of everything for you."

"I still don't want to... I said yesterday, as long as I succeed in entering the academy and become a xiucai, why should I put up with this kind of humiliation? There's no need to waste so much money on a bride price either."

In the Xia Yu Dynasty, the classes were clearly defined: scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, with scholars ranked first. So-called scholars were not just ordinary students, but those who had earned official titles.