Also known as Passing the Imperial Examination
Wenan City produced its first top scholar in a century to place first in all three imperial examinations. Everyone knew that Gu Chang'an was handsome and upright, an incorruptible official who later became prime minister, yet lived a lonely life without a wife or children.
What no one knew was that as a child, Gu Chang'an had been a little beggar in Chang'an City.
That twelfth lunar month, starving, he stole a man's steamed bun for the first time. The man pinned him to the street and beat him within an inch of his life.
He thought, Maybe I should just die here...
It was Gu Renyi who pulled him back from that living hell.
That day, the bright moon shone down on them. In an instant, the mountains and rivers seemed to lose their color. Gu Chang'an spent half his life with only one person in his heart.
Gu Renyi's legs were crippled, closing off any chance of a career in government. So Gu Chang'an carried his unfulfilled dreams, learning to read and write and studying hard through the long, cold nights.
Gu Renyi had tasted every bitterness life had to offer, his heart withered. So Gu Chang'an planted spring blossoms by his window, and a flutter stirred as tender shoots broke through the soil...
Gu Chang'an came first in the imperial examinations, only to find that the man had left him a letter and gone away, never to return.
In the end, the stars scattered and the moon surged over the great river. All that remained was one man, sick with longing, alone beneath a cold lamp, sharing a cold bed and pillow, with no message from afar, just a drifting letter.
Beggar gong x Crippled shou
Theme: A little beggar's rise to success
Where is the... Eldest young master?