Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Chapter 262: Even a Dog Wouldnt Take a Tian Tong Officials Job (1 / 2)

There was no snowfall in February, but the grievances of the examiners were as unjust as Dou E’s (A reference to The Injustice to Dou E, a famous Chinese play about a wronged woman.).

The Crown Prince glanced at his father and then placed ten eggs in front of him.

This action greatly surprised the old emperor. “Ten eggs? Are you trying to stop me from eating anything else?”

The Crown Prince smiled faintly. “I still need a few more tombs for the wrongly accused. Father, why don’t you peel a few more eggs?”

The old emperor immediately understood. He shot his son a glance and said gruffly, “No more!”

The Crown Prince pulled his chair closer to his father, grinning mischievously. “Father, why not? I thought about it, and ten eggs might not be enough. How about ten more?”

The old emperor glared at him. If he weren’t seated, he might have kicked him. “Enough is enough.”

The Crown Prince immediately shut his mouth, no longer deliberately provoking his father. After all, he had already achieved his goal—his father was willing to spare those ten pitiful chief and deputy examiners.

However, the examiners themselves were still unaware.

In a civilian residence somewhere, He Bizuo, Vice Minister of Rites and chief examiner for one of the five rounds of the imperial examination, rubbed his frostbitten nose with resignation. “His Majesty is probably furious right now. I wonder if we’ll be able to escape this disaster.”

The deputy examiner for his round was a Hanlin Academy waiting officer. He couldn’t help but defend himself, “That person’s method was impossible to guard against. He was sitting in his own designated exam room, and even if we compared him to the registered household records, there would be no discrepancies. When the exam papers were collected, they were taken by soldiers, sent directly for anonymization—we examiners weren’t allowed to peek. Even if we wanted to be cautious, how could we guard against something like this?”

The Vice Minister of Rites glanced at him, as if looking at someone astonishingly naïve.

“You have a point,” the Vice Minister chuckled. “But His Majesty’s court is not a charity. If you can’t do the job, His Majesty will find someone who can.”

The Hanlin officer froze, still unwilling to accept this.

The Vice Minister smiled again. “If one day, war breaks out between the Da Xia and another nation, and the enemy uses a new strategy to crush our army, imagine the commander leading the battered troops back and telling His Majesty: ‘Your Majesty, I really didn’t expect the enemy to use such an unpredictable tactic. Even if I had wanted to be vigilant, I had no means to do so’—do you think His Majesty would just smile and say, ‘No worries, my dear minister, you did your best’?”

“This… I…”

The Hanlin officer pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve and nervously wiped his sweat.

The Vice Minister of Rites continued, “We are examiners. Ensuring the fairness of the imperial examination is our duty. Failing to detect a proxy test-taker is negligence. There is absolutely no justification for excusing our failure by claiming that the cheater’s skills were simply too advanced.”

Regardless of whether they agreed or not, His Majesty certainly wouldn’t accept any excuses.

The Hanlin officer’s expression grew tense. “Then… what should we do?”

His Majesty might not have them executed, but he could very well force them into early retirement!

He was rather attached to his official hat.

Seeing the Vice Minister deep in thought, the Hanlin officer sweated even more, not daring to speak. He held his breath, waiting for the Vice Minister to come up with a solution.

“The only option now is to seek out the Crown Prince,” the Vice Minister of Rites finally said. “We must ask him to intervene and protect us. Even if His Majesty disagrees with him, at the very least, he will listen.”

The Hanlin officer steeled himself. “I’ll go to the East—”

The Vice Minister cut him off. “How would you explain your visit? If Bai Ze finds out, it’ll look highly suspicious—like the very moment he uncovered cheating, the Hanlin officer who oversaw the exam suddenly had a ‘brilliant idea’ and rushed to the Eastern Palace to beg for the Crown Prince’s help?”

“Then…”

“We wait. Once the results are posted and we’re allowed to contact the outside world, and once Xu Yanmiao formally reports the captured cheaters to His Majesty, only then can we take action.”

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However, Xu Yanmiao could take action just as the examinee was about to submit his paper.

Before that, he would periodically patrol the exam hall at irregular intervals. Sometimes he would visit the “Tian” section, other times the “Di” section, appearing as if he were moving at random.

The examinee in “Tian” No. 20 remained focused on his test from start to finish, never even glancing at him.

On the other hand, the one using a proxy test-taker reached into his cloth bag at least seven or eight times, each time pulling out and eating a slice of ginger.

[With a psychological tolerance this weak, you still dared to hire a proxy?]

Xu Yanmiao scoffed. The examiners in the Zhigong building, knowing he wasn’t around to see them, openly nodded in agreement.

After finishing, the proxy examinee did not rush to sign his name. He checked the time and patiently waited until five or six other candidates requested to submit their papers before finally raising his hand.

At that moment, Xu Yanmiao appeared before him and instructed the soldier in charge of his room, “Take him away.”