allonlinenovel Chapter 408
Chapter 408
When she first saw this person just now, what caught her attention was the dark cloud over his glabella. She originally thought it foretold his failure in the examination, but she didn't expect it to be the disaster of being framed for cheating.If he hadn't met her, this dark omen hinting at a bloody disaster would have come true this morning.
At the juncture of the Yin and Mao hours, thump, thump, thump! Three muffled drumbeats sounded. As the beats faded, a loud voice echoed through the grounds: "The inspection begins!"
Like ice water poured into a boiling oil pot, the crowd instantly surged.
The candidates lined up to step forward. The officials, dressed in ink-black robes with faces as calm as still water, carried out the strict and meticulous inspection procedures.
The process was swift and practiced. They rummaged through the examination baskets, shook out the bedding, and even spared no detail like hairbuns, clothing seams, and shoe soles.
Yue Fuguang could tell just by looking at their proficiency that these men were all veterans.
A plump candidate, upon having the tiny cheat sheet hidden in his robes discovered, instantly turned ashen. His legs gave way, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. He was dragged away expressionlessly by two soldiers, his sleeves trailing through the dust, leaving two deep marks.
His desperate whimpers were short and shrill, soon swallowed by an even greater silence. Ever since one person was caught carrying a cheat sheet, the atmosphere in the line suddenly became stagnant.
The surrounding candidates were all awe-struck, lowering their heads to double-check themselves. A thicker tension spread through the air, mixed with the smell of sweat and ink.
As the inspections continued, small white paper wads sporadically appeared on the ground; some belonged to the candidates themselves, while others had been forcibly stuffed onto them by someone else.
Yue Fuguang stared at those little green figures, watching to see if they could successfully save themselves. If they truly couldn't, she would then have the system intervene.
Out of the five people who had cheat sheets planted on them, only one ultimately discovered the sheet in his basket—the middle-aged man who was cautious to the point of being neurotic.
After such a fright, his already nervous state of mind became taut like a bowstring. If things went wrong, this string of his might snap before the exam even ended.
Considering it was not easy for them to study hard for years in poverty, and seeing that this man's family background appeared quite ordinary, Yue Fuguang said, "Little Zhu, give that He Pingshan a Calming Pill. Then, take the cheat sheets from the baskets of the other four and put them into the baskets of the other three culprits."
There was no revenge more satisfying and immediate than instant karmic retribution.
As for those four, they were quite foolish as well. Being completely unaware of the planted cheat sheets was one thing, but during the self-check, perhaps out of overconfidence, they just went through the motions, never once thinking someone might scheme against them.
Seeing Yue Fuguang easily resolve the issue, the Crown Prince raised his hand to dismiss his attendants. If his people were to step forward in such a setting, without evidence, the most they could do was warn the victims; they really had no immediate way to deal with the three perpetrators.
The candidates were like prisoners in their narrow spaces. Some immediately organized their brushes and ink, keeping everything in perfect order. Some slumped down for a moment, closing their eyes to regulate their breathing. Others, as soon as they sat down, couldn't help but crane their necks to peek at their neighbors, their eyes darting around.
Exactly at the Chen hour, a deafening strike of the cloud board echoed through the sky above the examination compound.
The lingering sound collided and reverberated through the solemn alleys, lasting for a long time.
The previously somewhat noisy examination hall suddenly plunged into dead silence. Even the trembling sound of the early spring morning breeze blowing through the treetops and the distant noises of the town seemed to be sucked away by the sound of the cloud board.
All the candidates, regardless of their previous demeanors, froze like clay figures and wooden sculptures at this moment.
The next moment, almost simultaneously, countless hands fiercely tore open the examination paper bags on their small desks.
Clang! A soft rustling sound of paper unfolding could be heard, subtle yet unconsciously provoking people's nerves.
Some looked at the exam questions as if holding a sacred text, staring straight ahead; others had solemn gazes, unable to lower their brush-holding hands, as if the hollow bamboo tubes weighed a thousand pounds.
Yue Fuguang then saw the oldest candidate in the entire hall. He squinted his eyes and pushed the exam paper toward the daylight. Once he saw the questions clearly, his hands trembled so violently that he could barely hold the paper.
A faint light suddenly flashed in his cloudy eyes, only to be extinguished in the deep pools immediately after.
The examination cells in the compound were densely arranged like a honeycomb, so narrow they could barely fit a person.
Yue Fuguang, along with the Crown Prince, the associate examiners, and a group of other officials, stood on the attic looking down. In their eyes were hundreds of wolf-hair brushes dipping simultaneously into inkstones, and in their ears was the rustling sound of ink being dipped, like spring silkworms devouring leaves, or like a dense, urgent rain.
The scent of ink wafting to their noses was mixed with the years-old musty and dusty smells of the examination cells.
The thought of being forced to smell the body odor emanating from the candidates and the stench near the latrine cells in two or three days made her face involuntarily scrunch up.
Her voice suddenly became extremely gloomy, "Little Zhu, am I regretting becoming this associate examiner?"
[Master, what's wrong? Why do you say that!]
Its host was just very happy watching those three reap what they sowed, crying out in terror as they were dragged away by the runners. How could she regret it after only a short while?
Xie Zhiyan and the other officials standing next to her couldn't help but feel nervous. What if the Junior Preceptor demanded that they open the compound gates for her to leave? Should they agree, or should they agree!
Although the current dynasty was not as draconian as the previous one—records from the previous dynasty told of a tragedy where the examination compound caught fire, and for the sake of fairness, the gates remained shut even as candidates burned to death.
However, the Great Yan Dynasty still had rules stating that the gates could not be opened unless the lives of the majority were at stake.
If the exception was the Junior Preceptor, they wouldn't really need to worry about anyone taking the opportunity to cheat. After all, playing tricks in front of her was like delivering one's head to the King of Hell.
Yue Fuguang was of course just talking. She wasn't capricious enough to touch upon laws and bottom lines just because of a minor personal preference.
"Just thinking about the smells that will be here over the next few days makes me uncomfortable."
[Master, how about I open a protective shield for you, or you turn off your sense of smell?]
"That's the only way!" Turning off her sense of smell was a good idea. As for opening a protective shield, Yue Fuguang was reluctant to consume her points and energy.
[Does Master have any talents in mind? You are, after all, selecting talents for the imperial court now. Why not take this opportunity to pick a few useful people.]
Xie Zhiyan nodded. If the talents chosen by the Junior Preceptor now could grow and develop, they would be enough to serve both him and his imperial father across two generations of monarchs.
Yue Fuguang's gaze swept over the rows of examination cells, landing on candidates who were either writing furiously or frowning in deep thought. Her voice carried obvious disgust, "This Chen Tang relied entirely on his wife's dowry to fund his exams all the way here, yet he plans to divorce her and marry a noble lady from a high-ranking family once he passes and becomes a Jinshi.
Then there's Li Youshan. His parents, brother, and sister-in-law used the entire family's strength to support his studies. He eats their food and drinks their water, yet despises their low birth, refusing to acknowledge them and complaining that he doesn't have a high-ranking official for a father.
And that Huang Youfeng, his family has quite a bit of wealth, but this guy dabbles in gluttony, drinking, whoring, and gambling."
She looked at his answers and shook her head. His body had been hollowed out by wine and women. He indeed had a reputation for talent in his youth, but unfortunately, he was a fallen prodigy. In this spring examination, he was just making up the numbers; he definitely wouldn't pass.
The chief examiner, the Crown Prince, and the associate examiners Ling Yinghua, Ji Hongming, and the others all frowned upon hearing this. They didn't really want to employ people with flawed personal morals either.
Yue Fuguang then went on to critique several renowned scholars one by one. There were those with noble character, those with empty reputations, those who were only suited for academia but not for officialdom, and those with good abilities but slightly lacking in literary talent.