The Marquis' Wife
Exam preparation

The new pleasure door that opened for Lu Xiang made the man cling to his wife and ask for rations every night after making sure that Adelia's body was no longer sick from the first intercourse. Once the gate was opened and freed, it would naturally flow thousands of miles, flow into the sea and never return, those were the words that deserved to describe Lu Xiang's state.

But time was not friendly with him, five days passed very quickly and he had to go back to parting with his favorite woman to take the exam. In the morning Lu Xiang's mood became bland.

Adelia was busy checking her husband's luggage one by one and took the special brush box she made and gave it to her husband.

"I heard about the unlucky number and made this brush for you" Adelia handed the sandalwood brush to Lu Xiang.

"You can open the top brush to get an aromatherapy perfume out if you get a damn sitting number". Adelia attaches great importance to the exam moment and remembers and re-reads the novel about the state exam of ancient times and knows about the unlucky number.

The unlucky number is the exam place that is next to the toilet so the pungent smell of the toilet that is rarely cleaned is so stinging that it makes the examinee unfocused and dizzy will smell.

Lu Xiang smiled happily at receiving brushes from his wife, Adelia always prioritized herself making him feel the most important and calm person, no longer agitated at the thought of his wife being with others because of her incompetence.

Lu Xiang hugged Adelia tightly and kissed her shoulders and neck and lips for a moment before releasing a hug and leaving. His group would gather at Zhao Fan's teacher's house before going together to Cheng's city.

They left a week early because they did not want to worry about lodging in the inner part of the city full and had to return to stay in the outer part of the city. It would make it difficult for them to go to the exam place which was quite far from the inner gate of the city.

"You've reached Lu Xiang?" Chen Xirang asked in pleasantries.

"You're the only one who just arrived?" Lu Xiang's eyebrows shot up. There are four groups that will take the city exam and all of them there are 20 students.

The other group had already come and waited in front of Zhao Fan's teacher's house, only his group had yet to come apart from Chen Xirang.

Miao Sheng was nowhere to be seen making him think what something had happened to the man, considering his flattering temperament of teacher Zhao Fan there was no way he was late to gather at Zhao Fan's house.

"Yes. I guess pseudo... They arrived" Chen Xirang's remark stopped seeing one horse carriage stop at a short distance away from him.

Miao Sheng, Shao Yunan and Zhang Yunlei get off the train accompanied by two bookboys, a waiter who prepares the needs of a student and a charioteer.

"Sorry we're late, is teacher Juren Zhao ready?" Zhang Yunlei apologized sincerely.

"No, we have arrived" Chen Xirang replied. Lu Xiang simply nodded.

They entered waiting on the bench of the courtyard of the house for 15 minutes before Zhao Fan came out and greeted them.

"Let's go".

Zhao Fan, Lu Xiang and Chen Xirang prepared their own horse carriage while Zhang, the, Shao and Miao Sheng one carriage made Miao Sheng take the initiative to one carriage together with Lu Xiang and left Shao Yunan together with Zhang Yunlei. Although Zhang Yunlei's chariot looked big, he couldn't go with them because Lu Xiang was his family.

Since the examination registration, he had started to get close to Shao Yunan and Zhang Yunlei who had always been together with Shao Yunan, he took advantage of the situation to get into the circle of friendship between the two and follow the student association in Cheng city led by Zhang Yunlei.

Like the previous trip, the group horse carriage led by Zhao Fan arrived almost late in the afternoon. The atmosphere of the inner city looks crowded filled with students from various small towns who have the same thoughts as them, namely worried about full lodging.

The price of one room per day in the inner city is very different from the outside of the city which is 400 copper coins a day including food and warm water for bathing.

"Take care of your things and rest. In the evening we will examine the essays of the previous tests and arithmetic" Zhao Fan's message as he waved his hand to drive them away, he had already reserved the hall for six days later which was beside the inn.

Lu Xiang paid the inn for 9 days and told Lu Cai who was riding the carriage to go home. He did not want to hold the carriage here because Adelia also needed a horse carriage to travel.

He heaved a sigh of relief after tidying up his belongings in the room and sitting on the bed. His mind drifted to the city of Cheng where his wife was and began to miss Adelia.

He recalled Adelia's activities in the afternoon, namely checking the financial books of the cake shop and preparing cake ingredients to be processed in the evening and baked in the morning.

The feeling of being mellow and alone made Lu Xiang sigh long and decided to take a break for a moment.

In the evening Lu Xiang ate on the first floor together with the other students and talked about the topic of the exam before gathering in the hall beside the inn to discuss questions about the exams last year and the year before.

In the exam, an examinee not only answered the question correctly but also noticed who was asking the question, namely the mayor of Qincheng city named Li Xiaoping.

Li Xiaoping is a rigid scholar like other government scholars that is more concerned with theory than practice so that in answering questions must be based on theory and language used and good calligraphy so that it can attract attention the mayor.

Zhao Fan explained each paragraph of answers to last year's exam questions and began to provide questions for the students as well as arithmetic questions that made the students' hair almost fall out due to dizziness at the thought of the answer, said the researcher, six days passed quickly.

The students were very busy studying analyzing and answering questions from Zhao Fan without being able to relax and visit the baimei house.

"Tomorrow a day of rest and relaxation before the exam. How about tonight we go to Baimei's house?" Take Chen Xirang enthusiastically.

Shao Yunan's eyes shone, he really liked to visit the baimei house even though he did not hire a woman there but just drinking and relaxing was fun for him.

"No/no" Lu Xiang and Zhang Yunlei replied in unison.

"Don't think about going to the baimei house. Didn't you hear the teacher? Tomorrow we rest, calm down and mentally prepare for the test". Lu Xiang gently hit Chen Xirang's head with the book he was holding, waking his friend up so as not to dream in walking.

Chen Xirang rubbed his head and muttered softly. "Currently, I'm just suggesting".

"We can go as far as possible after the exam. Lu Xiang said it was our kindness, after all what if teacher Juren Zhao knew if we went to the baimei house before the exam? Master Juren Zhao will definitely not like it". Miao Sheng said trying to calm down.

Lu Xiang just kept quiet and pulled Chen Xirang to walk with him, making Miao Sheng awkward because his words were not being piqued, he said, miao Sheng's words were indeed soothing but also provoking that he would report to Zhao Fan if they went to the baimei house as it was Zhao Fan's only disciple who took the exam.

Zhang Yunlei looked at Miap Sheng at a glance and thought deeply without showing any expression on his face.