NCCnovel Chapter 171 He's Not at the Top
Chapter 171 He's Not at the Top
Yu Wan looked up, and their eyes met in mid-air.
Yu Wan inexplicably felt that, for a moment, time seemed to stand still.
She pursed her lips, a faint smile playing in her eyes, "Yun Shang, over here!"
Yu Wan waved to him with a bright smile.
Seeing the smile on Yu Wan's face, Yun Shang was slightly taken aback, and a certain string in his heart was deeply touched.
After pausing for a moment, Yun Shang walked steadily toward Yu Wan.
His eyes held a hint of doubt, as well as a barely perceptible expectation.
"Why are you here?" His voice was deep and magnetic.
Yu Wan replied with a smile, "Of course I came to wait for you."
Yun Shang's lips involuntarily curled up, revealing a barely perceptible smile.
His voice deepened slightly: "What are you waiting for me for?"
Yu Wan blinked and looked around. "Everyone else has family and relatives accompanying them to the exam. We can't let you stand out like that."
The imperial examinations in Dazhao had no age limit, and all candidates ranged from eleven or twelve-year-old students to seventy-year-old elders.
The key point is to emphasize participation.
Yun Shang's gaze remained fixed on Yu Wan's face, his dark and deep eyes concealing emotions that were difficult to decipher.
Yu Wan, sitting inside the carriage, reached out to him, "Come on in. I've had Miao Hong prepare a feast. We can eat it when we get back to the manor."
Yun Shang's gaze shifted downwards.
The girl's hands were fair and delicate, like the finest mutton fat jade.
Yun Shang still clearly remembers the feeling of that hand; it was like cotton, soft and warm.
Yun Shang was slightly stunned. After a moment, he slowly reached out his hand and gently took Yu Wan's hand in his.
In that instant, it felt as if an electric current had flowed from where the two were holding hands throughout their bodies.
Yu Wan gently pulled Yun Shang onto the carriage.
Inside the carriage, there was a calming incense, which Yu Wan had specially obtained from the Duke's mansion. It was a high-quality calming incense with the effect of soothing the mind.
A faint fragrance filled the air as Yu Wan looked at Yun Shang, her eyes brimming with smiles.
"Are you tired? Were the test questions difficult this time?"
Yu Wan regretted asking the question as soon as she did.
Wasn't she just asking a pointless question? With Yun Shang's powerful protagonist aura as the male lead, it would be difficult for him to fail the exam.
Then Yun Shang shook his head and said succinctly, "It was all within expectations."
Yu Wan thought to herself, "Sure enough, the world has given the male protagonist an extraordinary amount of power-ups."
After saying this, Yun Shang looked at Yu Wan in silence.
His gaze remained fixed on Yu Wan, as if everything around him had become insignificant.
The carriage moved slowly forward, the sound of its wheels rolling clearly audible on the quiet street.
Yu Wan and Yun Shang sat facing each other, and for a moment, neither of them spoke.
A subtle atmosphere filled the air, making people both nervous and expectant.
Feeling inexplicably nervous under his gaze.
She swallowed subconsciously, stammering, "W-what's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?"
Yun Shang's eyes suddenly darkened.
His gaze was fixed intently on Yu Wan, without any restraint, and full of aggression.
The words he uttered were also inconsistent with his usual aloofness and indifference.
"It's been so long since I've seen you, I just want to take a few more glances at you."
Yu Wan's cheeks flushed instantly. She lowered her eyes slightly, not daring to meet Yun Shang's burning gaze.
Her heart pounded in her chest like a drum, and she tried to calm herself, forcing herself to speak:
"Why...why are you suddenly saying such things?"
Yu Wan's voice trembled slightly, carrying a hint of barely perceptible shyness.
Yun Shang leaned forward slightly, his dark eyes growing even deeper: "Has anything happened outside these past few days? Has anyone been giving you trouble?"
Seeing that he had changed the subject, Yu Wan breathed a sigh of relief without her noticing, and shook her head with a smile, "No one is causing me trouble. I am now the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Anguo's mansion. Who would dare to cause me trouble so easily?"
A faint smile appeared in Yun Shang's eyes. "That's good then."
After he finished speaking, the carriage fell silent again.
Yu Wan lowered her eyes, her hand unconsciously gripping her sleeve, her gaze wandering, never landing on Yun Shang.
Yun Shang's gaze darkened slightly, and he said no more.
He wasn't a talkative person to begin with, and when the two of them were together, Yu Wan did most of the talking.
If Yu Wan doesn't speak, the atmosphere between the two will become very quiet.
Only this kind of cloud-shaped wine cup gave Yu Wan a sense of reality.
She felt like a snail frantically exploring but also worried about encountering things she couldn't control. Whenever Yun Shang did something beyond her expectations, she instinctively wanted to escape and retreat into her shell.
She always felt that Yun Shang was just a two-dimensional character.
His personality and feelings were predetermined, even if she suspected that Yun Shang had awakened his self-awareness... but that was ultimately just her suspicion.
Yu Wan admitted that she chickened out again.
Silently bringing her restless heart back to its normal state, Yu Wan took a deep breath and broke the silence.
"Yun Shang, how do you feel about your performance in this exam?"
Yun Shang slightly raised his eyes, his voice clear and indifferent: "It's acceptable."
Yu Wan laughed, "You're too modest. I believe you can definitely get the top score!"
Hearing her speak so confidently, a strange light flashed in Yun Shang's eyes. "Why are you so sure?"
Nonsense, you're the male lead. With such a huge male lead aura, who wouldn't take the exam if you didn't?
However, Yu Wan could not say that. She smiled and said, "His Highness Prince Chen traveled all the way to Huicheng for you. Now that he values you so much, it must be because you have extraordinary abilities."
“If you weren’t far more outstanding than others, why would His Highness Prince Chen have taken such a great risk to bring you under his wing?”
She looked at him as she spoke, and their eyes met again unintentionally.
Both of them were stunned at the same time. Yu Wan quickly lowered her head, her heart pounding like a drum.
That's outrageous! How can someone take exams for three days straight without showing the slightest sign of fatigue?
His face is as if it's been filtered through a level 10 skin smoothing filter; it's perfect and has no flaws whatsoever.
She was worried that if she looked at it any longer, she would lose control.
Just then, the carriage suddenly jolted, and Yu Wan lost her balance, instinctively letting out a cry of surprise.
Yun Shang reached out almost instantly and steadily supported her.
Yu Wan bumped into Yun Shang's arms, and the familiar scent hit her face, making her heart skip a beat.
She hurriedly tried to get up, but the carriage swayed again because it was not yet completely stable.
Yun Shang wrapped his arm around her waist and said in a cool voice, "Be careful."
Yu Wan felt her cheeks burning hot; she knew they were definitely bright red without even looking.
The atmosphere inside the carriage was far too ambiguous, but thankfully they arrived at the Yun residence soon.
As soon as the carriage came to a stop, Yu Wan practically ran towards the mansion.
Yun Shang watched her fleeing figure for a long while, then a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.
Sure enough, now that she's the legitimate daughter of the Duke's mansion, she looks down on him, a poor scholar from the countryside.
If Yu Wan were to look back now, she would surely see that Yun Shang's gaze towards her was just as it had been on the day she transmigrated into the book.
There is no trace of warmth.
……
Officials from the Ministry of Rites worked overtime and announced the results of the special imperial examination on the third day.
The list was posted in the corridor outside the Ministry of Rites. Yu Wan, holding Yun Shang's hand, finally managed to squeeze to the front row.
Yu Wan looked directly at the top of the list, excitedly saying, "No need to look, you're definitely at the top..."
She stopped abruptly before she could finish saying the word "first".
Yu Wan looked as if she had seen a ghost, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets in shock.
"The top-ranked Zhou Yizhi...who is Zhou Yizhi?!"