The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 308: more angry
Chapter 308: More Angry
Not long after, Gao Demao trotted in while wiping his cold sweat with a handkerchief, and knelt down to say, “Your Majesty, the ones beating the drum outside the Wude Gate are the candidates who failed the imperial examination. They claim that the imperial examination was rigged, and they beg Your Majesty to give them justice.”
The emperor paused for a moment, the irritability in his heart dissipated, and his expression became serious: “Do the candidates have any evidence?”
“Your Majesty, there is no evidence, but the leader is shouting outside that… Seven of the top ten are already the sons of noble eunuchs. They are Lv Yuanqing, Lv Yuanbao, Wu Anbang, Zhang Ruohuai, Lin Chaodong, Wang Chengyu, and Chen Zhaolu. Lv Yuanqing, Lv Yuanbao, and Chen Zhaolu dare not question it, but it is absolutely impossible for Wu Anbang, Zhang Ruohuai, Lin Chaodong, and Wang Chengyu to be in the top ten!”
Gao Demao looked up at the emperor’s increasingly gloomy features, and continued, “The leader also said that before the examination was over and the list was released, Wang Chengyu and Lin Chaodong, who had bought houses in the capital, and Wu Anbang, who was living with his maternal grandfather, all bought a large amount of celebratory items and stored rice to prepare for porridge and money distribution.”
Aren’t these seven people, Lü Yuanqing, Lü Yuanbao, Wu Anbang, Zhang Ruohuai, Lin Chaodong, Wang Chengyu and Chen Zhaolu, the seven who were among the top ten just now!
The emperor gritted his teeth and asked, “Where are Wen Zhenkang and the other deputy examiners? Tell the imperial guards to detain them and not let them leave the palace!”
“Yes!” Gao Demao hurriedly got up and ran out.
As a senior eunuch close to the emperor, Gao Demao was not unaware of cheating in the imperial examinations in previous years. It was common for noble families to bribe the examiners and have others take the exams for them.
During the last imperial examination, Gao Demao felt that if the nobles and officials did not restrain themselves, the emperor would be alarmed. He never expected that… this time, the emperor would be alarmed.
The emperor suppressed his anger and spoke in a voice so cold that it chilled people’s bones: “Prince, go… seal all the test papers for this palace examination and bring them here! Send someone to summon the Imperial College’s chief academic officer, the Dean of Education… all the doctors of various disciplines to come here, and you personally watch them… and pass them one by one to me!”
“Your son obeys your command!” The prince quickly took the order and went to do the job.
The emperor was so angry that his fingers were shaking. If the cheating in the imperial examination was true, Wen Zhenkang should die!
Prince Yan of Xiliang had not left yet, and Emperor Yan was only planning to return tomorrow, so Wen Zhenkang fabricated a case of cheating in the imperial examination to embarrass him.
Moreover, the purpose of the imperial examinations over the years was to select talents for governance for the court. Although he liked treacherous ministers… and did not like ministers who were too capable and overshadowed the master like Bai Weiting, he also knew that the court could not be without capable people. If there were few truly capable ministers doing practical work, the State of Jin would be in danger.
“Call the Dali Temple Minister Lu Jin!” The emperor opened his eyes, with murderous intent in his eyes.
Outside the Wude Gate, more and more failed candidates knelt outside the gate, shouting that the examination was cheating and begging the emperor to give them justice. This sudden excitement alarmed almost all the people in the capital city.
The families that were named were in a panic. They wanted to get rid of the celebratory items they had purchased in advance, but they were afraid that any movement would give them leverage over them. They were restless and didn’t know what to do.
Even Prime Minister Lu couldn’t sit still and called his sons and daughters-in-law over to ask them whether they had given gifts to the examiner, whether they had prepared congratulatory items in advance, and whether they had purchased rice in advance to prepare porridge.
Lu Yuanpeng, who had just been released from the ancestral hall, was leisurely drinking a cup of tea when he heard his parents being called away by his grandfather.
Lu Yuanpeng was worried that his grandfather was going to come up with another idea to discipline him, so he put down his teacup and followed, looking inside through the crack in the study window.
“Assholes!” Prime Minister Lu smashed the teacup in his hand in anger. “Are you four crazy? Yuanqing and Yuanbao are both top-notch students. Even without gifts, they will definitely be in the top two! What kind of person is Wen Zhenkang? I, the Prime Minister, am going to give gifts to a lackey like that?!”
“Father, you can’t say that. Other families have given gifts, but we don’t… We were originally in the top two, but now we might be squeezed into the top three! Maybe that guy surnamed Wen will do something secretly and make it so that our two children can’t even pass the imperial examination. This kind of thing has happened in previous years!” Prime Minister Lu’s eldest daughter-in-law spoke softly.
“Women’s opinions!” Prime Minister Lu was so angry that his head hurt. “I am the Right Prime Minister. How dare he, the man surnamed Wen, dare to do that?!”
Lu Yuanpeng’s father, the third son of Prime Minister Lu, frowned and said, “Who is Wen Zhenkang… Others may not know, but you, father, don’t know? The sage Yun Ning offends a gentleman rather than a villain. Now that His Majesty favors Wen Zhenkang, my elder brother and I are just following the trend. We don’t ask Wen Zhenkang to really help us, but we just ask him not to trip up the two children!”
“Yes, father, and you also said that the two children must be in the second class. That’s why your daughter-in-law discussed with my third brother’s wife and sent people out of the house to buy! After all, having two tribute students in the family is a great joy!” said Prime Minister Lu’s eldest daughter-in-law.
Lu Yuanpeng’s mother rolled her eyes at her sister-in-law. This sister-in-law…never thought of her when good things happened, but always dragged her into it when bad things happened.
“Yes, father. I thought so too. So when my sister-in-law brought it up, I agreed with her idea. Unexpectedly, it caused a big disaster. Please tell me how to remedy the situation.” Lu Yuanpeng’s mother bowed to Lu Xiangfu and said with a guilty look on her face.
Prime Minister Lu, who was a very shrewd person, couldn’t figure out what his eldest and third daughters-in-law meant, and he became even more angry.
“When something goes wrong, instead of working together to find a solution, you blame each other. What can you achieve? You are really good daughters-in-law of our Lu family!” Prime Minister Lu’s face darkened. “For this matter, I have to go to the palace in person and tell the emperor the truth as soon as possible!”
“But…what about the fame and success of the two children?” Lu Yuanpeng’s father was shocked.
“If I, your father, go, the two children will have a chance to retake the exam. If I don’t go…their future may be over!” Prime Minister Lu clasped the armrest of the chair tightly and gritted his teeth. “The emperor will definitely let Dali Temple Minister Lu Jin preside over this matter. You two…go to Dali Temple to find Lu Jin now and confess to bribing the chief examiner! The faster our family acts, the lighter the emperor will be.”
“But father, if this happens… our family will have offended all the nobles and officials who bribed Wen Zhenkang!” Lu Xiang’s eldest son frowned, “Besides, those candidates have already said that if our Yuan Qing and Yuan Bao are among the top ten, they will be convinced!”
“It is precisely because these candidates are convinced, but we ourselves have committed bribery, that our Lu family must confess to the emperor and the Dali Temple!”
Please, please, please, please give me a monthly ticket…