Time flew by, and there were no reports of war from the Northeastern borders, while intermittent news of the great battle in the Northwest reached them. Zhulan fretted over her three nephews, but as the provincial examination approached, her attention shifted entirely to Zhou Shuren.
The Zhou family was on edge, and even though the sons had great faith in their father, their hearts were in their throats until the results came out. The grandchildren stopped their play, and the Zhou household was unusually quiet each day.
Zhulan couldn't help but feel anxious; she believed that Zhou Shuren would definitely pass, but the closer it got, the more she feared an accident. Before the provincial examination, the educational administrations in each province would conduct a preliminary test, and only those with excellent results were allowed to participate.
Zhou Shuren passed smoothly with, cough cough, second place—the top scorer was Wu Ming.
