Chapter 316: Imperial Examination Fraud

“Xu Rui Lao knows how to write a f*cking poem, I’ll write a few lines casually and I’ll be able to make him ashamed of himself. If I hadn’t gifted the poem for his cousin Xu Qi’an that day, that jade pendant of Violet Sun Jushi would have been mine.”

Zhu Retreating Zhi recalled the day’s transgression and cursed.

“Could it be imperial examination fraud?” Liu Jue tried.

“Nonsense!” The scholars of the Cloud Deer Academy were furious at his words, each glaring at him with their eyes.

The imperial examination fraud …….. This word appeared in the mind of Zhu Xiezhi, as if it instantly connected all the doubts, rationally explaining the reason why Xu Ruilu could write a masterpiece of the world, high school “Huiyuan”.

Immediately, Zhu Xiezhi shook his head, “Impossible, poetry is not an article, if you know the question in advance, you will have time to fully prepare. Brother Liu, I’ll let you use ‘Spring Scenery’ as the topic, give you three days, can you write a world-renowned poem?”

Liu Jue shook his head, “I’m sweating, I’m afraid I can’t write it even if I’m given three years.”

He took a sip of his small wine, revealed a smile full of deep meaning, and lowered his voice, “But think about it, Brother Zhu, what if the person who wrote the poem for him was Silver Gong Xu Qi’an?”

The atmosphere on the table was quiet, and no matter if it was a scholar from the Yunlu Academy or a scholar from the State Scholarship Academy, neither of them immediately retorted. Instead, they thought carefully in their minds.

Yes, if it were Xu Shikui, if he could know the exam questions in advance, I’m afraid he could write them in a day, not to mention three days.

The farewell poem and the poem on plums, as well as the half-song that he sang before “sacrificing” himself in Yunzhou, are all sitting on the sidelines.

The scholars of Yunlu Academy were even reminded of the “Poem of Persuasion” posted on the academy’s merit wall, and according to the academy’s great scholar, Xu Ningyan had become a poem in ten breaths, which was astonishingly talented.

“Hmph, how did Silver Gong Xu Qi’an learn about the exam questions?”

Although he thought that in his heart, he would not admit it with his mouth, the scholar from Yunlu Academy questioned.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Liu Jue waved his hand and laughed, “It was just a drunken, blind guess. But that Xu Qi’an is a silver gong, official rumors, this person is deeply trusted by Wei Yuan ………”

He didn’t go on.

With this episode, the Yunlu Academy’s scholars were not in the mood for drinking, and after sitting for a few moments, they got up to take their leave.

The sociable Liu Jue personally escorted Zhu Xuezhi and the others downstairs, then took the initiative to settle the bill as the crowd dispersed outside the restaurant.

A quarter of an hour later, Liu Jue went and returned, getting into a carriage parked outside the restaurant.

In the carriage sat a middle-aged man dressed as a rich man, with a jade trigger finger on his thumb, walnuts coiled in his hand, and a teacup in his other hand.

“Steward Zhao!”

Liu Jue bowed respectfully.

The middle-aged man nodded, put down his teacup, flipped over the tealight that was upside down on the small coffee table, poured a cup of tea, and frowned, “Smells like alcohol, have a sip of tea.”

“Many thanks to Steward Zhao.” Liu Jue cupped his hands around the tea, bared his teeth and finished it in one gulp, saying Xu Xu:

“I’ve found out a few things, according to those Yunlu Academy students, Xu Ruilu doesn’t know how to compose poetry at all, and his standard is terrible. Nine times out of ten, that song ‘Hard to Walk’ was written by someone else. Of course, I have no proof.”

The middle-aged man smiled a satisfied smile and kindly said, “There’s no need for evidence, having this is enough.”

………….

Outside the city, in the yard where the willows are planted.

The Golden Lotus Taoist Master who had just swallowed the Blood Fetus Pill, bathed in the melting sunlight of spring, felt that his body was no longer cold and no longer transformed towards the Yin aspect, but some Yin Qi remained in his body, which was enough to be eliminated by another Blood Fetus Pill.

“This physical body is not compatible with my Yuan Shen, it won’t last too long, good thing the Golden Lotus of Creation is ripening soon, the lotus seed can remake my physical body for me, and it’s time for me to leave the capital.

“I hope there are no accidents when the time comes.”

Daoist Golden Lotus prayed in his heart.

………….

“Oro, that, that girl doesn’t seem to be from Dabong.”

The son of the old concierge, Zhang, thought about it and described it as, “An ugly girl with black skin and still blue eyes. The hair was ugly too, with curls.”

Number five?

Shit, what’s she doing in my house? Did Taoist Master Jinlian send her here? Does she know I’m number three?

Jinlian Taoist asked him to help find No. 5, not No. 3, can be used “No. 3 grade is too low” to cover, after all, Confucianism’s words follow the law, the later the strength, the more terrifying.

However, in the early grades, the ninth to seventh grades are all hot chickens, and it is only at the sixth grade Confucian realm, where one can transcribe the skills of others, that one possesses a considerable amount of combat power.

In Chu Yuanjian and Hengyuan’s opinion, although No. 3 Xu Ruixu was old and smart, when it was truly needed, it was still the battle-hardened cousin Xu Ningyan who was more reliable.

It seems that today we can only miss work ……… Xu Qi An nodded and said, “I know, after I take leave, I will return to the house with you.”

After taking his leave, Xu Qi’an sat on the back of his horse and trotted in the direction of the Xu Mansion, with the concierge Old Zhang’s son, Xiao Zhang, trotting along.

Two quarters of an hour later, arriving at the Xu Mansion not far from the Yamen, Xu Qi’an handed the reins of his horse to Xiao Zhang and went straight into the mansion.

Just as he entered the outer courtyard, he saw the cooks carrying plates of hot dishes and steamed buns and rice towards the inner courtyard.

“Da Lang is back ……..” The cooks breathed a sigh of relief as they spoke, casting their eyes toward the inner courtyard:

“There’s a girl in the house, says she’s looking for you, asks what’s the relationship with you, she can’t say it herself, gibberish, nine out of ten sentences are inaudible.”

Nine out of ten sentences are inaudible, number five s Southern Border accent is a bit heavy ah ……… Xu Qi an spat out, and went into the inner courtyard with the cook, and from afar, he heard Xu Ling Yue s gentle voice coming from the inner hall:

“Miss Lina has traveled all the way from the southern border, what is it that she seeks out my big brother for?”

“Not here to find your big brother, but to find a few friends, casually practicing ……..” A heavily accented voice rang out, speaking a half-assed Da Feng official language.

But the sound is like a silver bell, crisp and pleasant, very nice.

“That means you don’t know my big brother?”

“Don’t recognize it.”

In three words, I felt the bottom, this girl is not too smart, and it s okay with big brother ……… Xu Lingyue warmly entertained Lina.

Her aunt sat in a chair not far away, her brow furrowed lightly and her gaze slightly hostile as she scrutinized Lina.

This foreign woman really will eat ah, half an hour, ate the family three days of rations, converted into silver, are, are ……. Several taels, right?

This is still the aunt specially let the cook prepare some rice flour buns and vegetarian dishes, if big fish and meat, how much silver must be eaten?

Who can afford to raise a girl like that.

“Miss Lina? What are you doing in my mansion.”

Xu Qi’an stepped into the threshold and examined the little barbarian girl from the southern border with a surprised face. Compared to her pale face from yesterday’s injury, she now had a rosy complexion and bright eyes, as if her injuries had already healed.

“Daoist Master Golden Lotus asked me to come to you, saying that I would be staying at your place for the time I’m in the capital. Thank you, Lord Xu, for saving my life.”

Lina hurriedly put down her chopsticks and swallowed her food, greatly scrutinizing Xu Qi’an.

She originally thought that when she came to the capital, she would be received by either Daoist Master Golden Lotus, or Number Three, or Number Four and Number Six. Who would have thought that she would actually end up staying in a strange man’s home.

She had been told about yesterday’s incident by Daoist Jinlian, and Lina knew that the young silver gong with the excellent skin was her savior.

Since he was a trusted friend of the Taoist leader, Lina trusted him without reservation.

She called me Lord Xu, not number three …….. Xu Qi’an stared at Lina for a moment, unable to discern anything from those clear, innocent blue eyes.

Why did Taoist Master Jinlian place her by my side? What’s the meaning of this?

The old silver coins did this without consulting me beforehand, and judging by my experience in dealing with the old silver coins, prior consultation precludes some sort of plotting.

If there is no negotiation beforehand, then there must be a deeper meaning.

Thus, Xu Qi’an asked, “What else did the Taoist priest say to you?”

Lina nibbled a mouthful of steamed bread and said vaguely, “Taoist Master Jinlian said that you are a dear friend he made in the capital and told me to stay in the mansion at ease.”

Swallowing the steamed bun, she said with some exasperation and aggravation, “The Taoist priest said that I’m too able to eat and can’t afford to feed me.”

Ah ……. Xu Qi’an’s face was dumbfounded, so the reason Jinlian sent her to me was because she was too able to eat and couldn’t afford to feed her?

This is really an impeccable reason, and by the same token, number six, who lives in a nursing home, and number four, who relies on his late friend for food and shelter, can’t afford to support the little barbarian girl from the southern border.

Damn, was treated as a dog big household feel so bad, people in the world floating, either you white whoring, or I white whoring, retribution ah …….. Xu Qi’an sighed, “So it is.”

“Ahem!”

Auntie coughed hard to emphasize her presence as the mother of the house.

But Xu Qi’an ignored her and said to himself, “Alright, I’ll have someone arrange a room for you right away.”

“Xu Ningyan!!!”

The aunt wailed in anger, got up from her chair, pinched her small waist, and looked at her angrily, “I’m your aunt, you, haven’t you ever thought to discuss this with me?”

Said the man, his eyes flicked frequently to the cup-and-dish table, telling his unlucky nephew that the girl was a bottomless pit.

This ……. Xu Qi’an hesitated, the aunt’s consideration is very reasonable, the capital is expensive, this girl can eat so much, it is really too consuming silver.

Also, my chi changed recently, I stopped picking up silver and switched to accumulating reputation, and then, Wei Yuan docked my paycheck again.

“Did you forget the chicken essence, big brother?”

At this time, Xu Lingyue spoke up, she gave Xu Qi’an calculated a sum of money: “The capital’s salt transport Yamen last year issued two thousand pounds of salt tickets, profit of five thousand taels, of which big brother accounted for 10%, got five hundred taels. You have yet to ask for this silver back from the Imperial Court.

“I asked the officials at the Salt Transportation Yamen, and the court intends to open at least ten workshops to make chicken essence this year, which will be an unimaginably huge amount of money when the year is settled at the end of the year.

“So, our family is no longer short of silver.”

When Xu Lingyue said “salt tickets”, she was referring to chicken essence alone. Now chicken essence and salt, the same as the court has become an important strategic goods. Last year, it came out of nowhere and could not be produced on a large scale, but this year, after expanding the scale of production, the profits are incalculable.

You do not say I really forgot ……… It must be that bad old man Supervisor Zheng blocked the chicken essence, so that I can not think of it, he wants to pit me silver.

Xu Qi’an was pleasantly surprised to realize that he was in fact already a Papa Ma in this era.

Lina didn’t understand it at all, but thought it was very impressive, she had come all the way from the southern border to the capital, and knew what a copper could buy, and what a penny of silver could buy.

At the same time, one knows how difficult it is to earn silver.

Subconsciously, she looked at this “Lord Xu” with pure admiration in her eyes, just like a little girl who sees her neighbor’s older brother with a perm, jeans, and a decorative chain dangling from his waist, dancing in the street in her own yard.

“How come I didn’t know about this.” The aunt queried.

“Auntie doesn’t know? I asked Ling Yue to tell you.” Xu Qi’an obediently looked at his sister.

Xu Lingyue looked puzzled, “Mother may have forgotten.”

The aunt opened her mouth, unable to speak, not sure she had forgotten and had no recollection of such a large piece of “profit”.

At that moment, Lina, with an adoring tone, asked, “May I ask what Lord Xu’s high name is?”

Such a way of asking questions was something she had learned during her wanderings in Dabong.

“Xu Qi’an!”

“Xu, Xu Qi’an ……..” Lina cocked her head and thought for half a day before suddenly letting out a scream, “You’re Xu Qi’an, didn’t you die in Yunzhou?”

Auntie and Xu Ling Yue looked over suspiciously.

This foreign girl claimed to know Xu Qi’an, yet she didn’t know about her resurrection from the dead, so, what was she doing in the mansion?

“Take a step to talk.”

Xu Qi’an pulled Lina out of the side hall, traveling to the flower garden and stopping, explaining:

“I didn’t die, it was Li Miaozhen who was mistaken. Well, I’m actually a peripheral member of the Heaven and Earth Society, and although I don’t have the corresponding Earth Book fragments, I know all about you guys.”

“No wonder Daoist Golden Lotus asked me to come find you.” Lina revealed a happy smile, easily believing Xu Qi’an’s words without question.

Really good to cheat ……… Xu Qi An said seriously, “This is a secret, you can not divulge it to the outside world, not even within the Tiandi Association.”

“Yes!”

Lina smiled sweetly and nodded her head vigorously, she was bright when she smiled, it was hot in the southern border, Lina’s skin color was a healthy wheat color, but in the eyes of Da Bong’s aesthetics who worshiped white skin and beauty, it was a small dark skin.

“Go eat.”

If everyone in the world is as simple and naive as number five, how good it would be …….. Xu Qi’an looked at the bouncing and lively back, and sighed heartily.

There were still many things he had to ask Five, such as how she knew that it was Three herself who had picked up the silver, and not a friend from nowhere.

There’s no rush. Simple people are usually more stubborn, and if they say it’s confidential, they’re sure to keep it confidential.

But eating people’s mouths is soft, and when she’s at home for a few more days, she’ll know, if she has any conscience at all, that it’s not right to whore herself out for nothing.

…………..

Cabinet.

Wearing scarlet robes of Wang Zhenwen voluntarily review folders, he has been sitting for two hours, halfway to the toilet a few times, the rest of the time all devote themselves to official business.

The Cabinet was the equivalent of the Emperor’s private secretary and had great power, much higher than the six ministries.

The court’s large and small sangs, and even the people’s suggestions to the emperor, are summarized by the General Administration Department, the Secretary of the Palace of Justice presented to the emperor for approval, and then handed over to the Cabinet.

The Cabinet is responsible for drafting opinions on how to deal with the matter, and then the Minister of Ceremonies submits the opinions to the Emperor for a final decision on how to deal with the matter, and finally the six ministries proofread and send them out.

In Yuan Jingdi’s dynasty, the General Affairs Department directly forwarded the zhangfu to the Cabinet, which drafted opinions on how to deal with them, and then finally forwarded them to Yuan Jingdi.

A process is omitted in the middle.

This was because Emperor Yuan Jing thought that the extra process in the middle got in the way of his monasticism.

It was precisely this process that was omitted in the middle that was the most cataclysmic. Because of this, what Emperor Yuan Jing saw was only the folds that the cabinet let him see.

Of course, although Emperor Yuan Jingdi was not a good emperor, he was an emperor who excelled in the use of power. In order to stifle the excessive power of the civil officials and hollow out the imperial power, he thought of a way to have the best of both worlds.

The name of this approach is “Wei Yuan”.

In terms of the big picture, the various parties and the Wei Yuan Party were like water and fire. In terms of the smaller picture, the parties are fighting each other fiercely.

Emperor Yuan Jing sat steadily, responsible for maintaining the balance and cultivating the Dao with peace of mind.

Wang Zhenwen opened the last zhangfang and after reading the contents on it, he pondered and sat in silence for a long time. Then, taking out a slip of paper, he wrote down his suggestion and pasted it on the zhangfang.

After this was done, it was just about time for the dusk to dissipate its value.

…………

By nightfall, there was one more of Xu Lingyin’s life and death enemies at the Xu Mansion’s dinner table.

Xu Lingyin loved and hated this unexpected sister, but she loved her because after her arrival, the family’s meals became several times larger.

Hate because, this big sister eats way too much …….

With a mouth as small as his own, he couldn’t eat her.

Uncle Xu sank his face, scrutinizing Lina, and twisted his head to ask his nephew, “Is she a member of the Southern Border Compass Clan, the Force Compass Ministry?”

Lina lifted her face from the bowl, the corners of her mouth stained with rice grains, and crisply said, “I’m from the Force Compulsion Department, how does Uncle Xu know that.”

Who is your second uncle! Xu Pingzhi snorted coldly.

Back then, at the Battle of Shanhaiguan, he had personally experienced the great battle and seen the terrible brawn of the barbarians of the Likou Department, who were characterized by their ability to eat.

It was not uncommon for a stout Likang tribesman to eat a cow in a day.

Back then, Wei Yuan never captured the clansmen of the Force Compass Ministry, they were all killed directly to save food and grass.

“Big brother, to tell you something.” Xu New Year suddenly spoke.

“I should have known something was wrong with you, the frown didn’t let up. Tell me about it.” Xu Qi’an replied to his cousin while grabbing meat from Lina.

“The Wang Family’s eldest lady asked me to swim in the lake tomorrow.” Xu New Year said vigilantly.

“What do you think?” Xu Qi’an mused.

Xu New Year let out a ”heh” sound, put down his chopsticks, and said disdainfully, ”There are only two reasons, either out of personal vendetta, wanting to find a way back for that niece of the Minister of Justice.

“Either that or Chief Wang doesn’t want to let me go and is secretly holding back.”

“So which one do you think is possible?” Xu Pingzhi picks up the story.

Xu New Year thought for a moment and regretfully said, “Although I may become a great danger to Chief Minister Wang in the future, but not so much as to be missed by him like this, I think it’s Ms. Wang who is trying to make things bad.”

Upon hearing this, Xu Lingyue put down her chopsticks, her small face serious: “Second brother, you’re not good at dealing with women, I’ll go with you ………”

She hastily glanced at Xu Qi’an and changed her words, “Although people don’t know those messy fights either, women still know best.”

Xu New Year scoffed at her eldest sister’s intelligence, “Who said I have to go? It was Ms. Wang who invited me to swim in the lake, not Chief Minister Wang. In that case, it’s unseemly for an unmarried man and unmarried woman to swim in the lake together, so I’ll just refuse.

“The art of war says that the enemy advances and I retreat, and that if you are weak, you must not oppose him.”

Not bad, handled okay ……. Xu Qi’an nodded, “You’ve made up your mind, why are you asking me.”

The family ate and talked in a friendly atmosphere.

…………

The next day, Emperor Yuan Jing ended his meditation, studied the scriptures for half an hour, took bait, and then nourished his spirit for an incense burner, and the morning class was over.

At this time, he will take some time to read the folders, will not delay too long, because the cabinet has already done a good job “vote”, he only need to approve the red can be.

He opened the first folding, is the new left imperial secretary s zhang folding, the content is to impeach the East Cabinet university scholar Zhao Tingfang accepting bribes, to cloud deer academy students Xu Xinxin leaked questions.

The folders also cited that, during the township examination, the scholar’s poetry belonged to the fourth grade (the lowest fifth grade). How could he have written such a heirloom as “Hardship of the Road”?

Seeing this, Emperor Yuan Jing originally did not care, poetry is not an article, the nature of the article is very serious if the questions are leaked. Poetry is a bit lighter, even if you know the test questions, but find that finding a poet is more difficult than getting the test questions.

But then, it was mentioned in the zhengbiao that Nai Xuezi had a cousin who was a silver gong at the night watchman’s office, called Xu Qi’an.

And as we all know, Xu Qi’an is the Dafeng Poetry Leader.

After reading the zhangzuo, Yuan Jingdi pupils sharpened up, but he did not comment, and then unveiled the Cabinet’s “vote”, which is written in the Cabinet’s proposal:

“The Imperial Examination is the court’s way of selecting scholars and searching for virtuous people, and since ancient times, it has been the most important thing. I hope that Your Majesty will investigate strictly.”

Emperor Yuan Jing pondered for a moment, lifted his pen, and approved the red.

…………

PS: Thank you for the silver alliance reward from “Coyote who cuts down and retrains” and the 190,000 reward from “SeanGhoust”. The alliance of “mady”. The alliance reward of “the upper fairy Qi Tian”. Allies of “Buddhist Nine”.

The big boys are wrongly loved and appreciated, and I’ll be sure to return the favor by exploding my liver.

Also, a weak question for Xu Baihua: are the big brothers rewarding me, or are they rewarding the little mare?