The sun gradually rose, dispersing the chill in the exam hall. The nervous students finally had a chance to warm up. They kept rubbing their hands together to ensure that their handwriting would not appear too stiff. Calligraphy was one of the criteria for grading, so even though the exam had already begun, most of them were still working on their scripts. They were not in a hurry to put pen to paper. It seemed that most of the scholars in the exam hall were pitiful people who had once had painful experiences.
Fan Xian walked around the exam hall with a smile on his face. He tried not to make any noise with his footsteps, so as not to disturb the students' thoughts. Strangely enough, when the students were solving the exam, they were often most afraid of the examiners passing by them, or of looking at their exam papers. But when these students found out that the person standing next to them was the famous Sir Fan junior at the entrance of the exam hall, they could not help but feel a little more confident.
Fan Xian was not like the two lecturers and supervisors, whose faces were full of solemnity. On the contrary, he wore a smile like the light of the sun. Any student who dared to raise their head to look at Fan Xian's face always felt that the smile on Sir Fan junior's face was encouraging them.
After walking around the exam hall, Fan Xian returned to the corner gate. Mu Tie had already brewed tea and was waiting for him. Seeing Fan Xian sit down on a chair, Mu Tie lowered his voice and laughed. "It's quite stuffy, Sir Fan. It's most suitable to rest here. The corner gate is connected to the outside world, so it's not that uncomfortable."
Fan Xian smiled. If he really went back to the main hall and sat with Minister Guo, he was afraid that he would not be happy, and he would not be comfortable either. As he sipped his tea, he thought of something strange. The Crown Prince had only given him six people on the list, but He Zongwei's name was not among them. After he entered the capital, he learned that He Zongwei was a student of the Grand Scholar, and also a hidden official of the Eastern Palace. Logically speaking, he should be participating in the spring examinations.
For the time being, he put this matter aside. Through the many small doors, he cast his gaze towards the innermost part of the exam hall. He felt a sense of absurdity. He had only used his drunken stupor to act as Li Taibai, and had published a collection of poems. Now he was sitting here as an invigilator. Life was indeed a very unfair thing.
Those students who were still diligently writing, if they knew that the results of the examination had already been divided up like watermelons by those important figures in the court and palace, what would they think?
Time seemed to pass very slowly. Fan Xian had almost fallen asleep on the chair in the corner door when he realized that the sun had just moved to the center. The relevant yamen had already sent people to deliver lunch. Naturally, there were people at Jiaomen to receive them. After carefully inspecting the utensils and discovering that there were no abnormalities, they carried six of the food boxes to the central hall.
Fan Xian went to the central hall and ate lunch with the officials while listening to them talk about what had happened in the morning. In the southeast corner, the supervisor had caught a cheating student. The supervisor shook his head and sighed. "I've seen cheating students, but I've never seen a cheating student like this. He actually put the entire strategy book under his desk and copied it. He thought there were curtains all around, so no one would find out. How could he have known that the eyes of the patrolling officials were so sharp?"
Guo You, the Director of the Board of Rites, suddenly frowned. "How did he bring this book in?"
Fan Xian knew that this was his mistake. He smiled and replied, "The inspection was too slow earlier, and the officials of the Overwatch Council urged me. So I was a little anxious, afraid that I would miss the time set by His Majesty, and so I made a mistake. Please forgive me, sir." He was asking for forgiveness, but he pushed half of the responsibility to the Overwatch Council.
Guo You looked at him and grunted. He did not make things difficult for him. After all, this kind of small matter had never been eliminated in the imperial examinations. He could not use this to attack Fan Xian. He only said evenly, "Sir Fan is new to this matter, and lacks experience. You all must help him."
Fan Xian smiled and cupped his hands in greeting to the officials around him, especially to his direct superior, the Imperial College Headmaster. "Sir Headmaster, I am untalented and inexperienced. Please watch over me."
The Imperial College Headmaster was Shu the Scholar, who had been pointed out by His Majesty that day in the palace hall. He was originally a student of Zhuang Mohan, but he was proud to be a citizen of Qing, so he did not hold a grudge against Fan Xian for provoking Zhuang Mohan to the point of vomiting blood. Instead, he pointed at Fan Xian and laughed. "Sir Fengzheng, if you are untalented and inexperienced, who in the Kingdom of Qing would dare to call themselves talented?"
The other supervisor and supervisor all laughed and agreed, making fun of Fan Xian. "As the greatest scholar of the Kingdom of Qing, if it were not for his astonishing knowledge, Sir Fan would be writing furiously in the hall right now. If he was hungry, he would be eating a few steamed buns. How could he be sitting here eating?"
Hearing this, even Guo You couldn't help but laugh. Fan Xian had no confidence in his own ability, but it seemed that whether it was in the officialdom of Jingdou or in the Kingdom of Qing, everyone's confidence in Fan Xian was much stronger than his own.
— — —
The students in the exam hall were still nervously doing their exams, and the sky was gradually darkening. Fan Xian walked around the exam hall a few times, looking at everyone's exam papers. He found a few people with real talent, and couldn't help but stop to take a look. Although he had read the classics of this world when he was in Danzhou, he had never thought about entering the official career through the imperial examinations. So if he really wanted to write such essays, he was afraid that he would not be as good as most people. But after all, he had lived two lives. To put it bluntly, he was a well-read person, and he had a good eye.
He secretly memorized the names of those people, and then walked to the corner door. He pretended to yawn, and tilted his head. He found that Mu Tie was already half lying in a chair, almost asleep. He could not help but laugh. This Mu Tie was a wonderful person, and naturally had the ability to get things done. Otherwise, Chen Pingping would not have let him take over part of the power of the First Bureau. But his ability to conduct himself was lacking. Perhaps it was because he had just begun to learn how to flatter people, but every time he saw Fan Xian, he was incomparably respectful. For some reason, it made Fan Xian feel a little uncomfortable.
"Sir, the corner door cannot be opened." Seeing that Fan Xian had walked to a secluded place beside the corner door, an Overwatch Council official showed a troubled expression. He stepped forward and stopped him. "Other than delivering food and water, the corner door must always be closed."
"I know the rules." Fan Xian smiled. "I just wanted to walk around and see if there was anything fun to do."
His words were a little strange and out of place. This was the grand ceremony of the nation, the imperial examinations, and Fan Xian, as an examiner, wanted to find something fun to do in the examination hall. Strangely, after the Overwatch Council official heard these words, he smiled slightly and replied, "There are a lot of fun things in the Council. Please come often in the future."
Fan Xian calmed down. Looking at the official's ordinary face, he suddenly opened his mouth. "You are the person I was looking for?"
"Correct, Commissioner," the official said with his head lowered.
Fan Xian looked into his eyes. He knew that this Overwatch Council official did not have a high position, but he was certainly a trusted aide that Chen Pingping had placed in the First Bureau. He could not help but smile. "Did Sir Chen say when exactly?"
"After the imperial examinations, within three days," the official replied quietly.
"Good. I still have something I need your help with. I need to investigate the backgrounds of a few people." Fan Xian told the official the names he had memorized earlier. "I don't want to investigate their family background, just their character."
"Yes," the official said quietly. "Please show me your token, Commissioner."
Fan Xian took out the token from his waist that had helped him countless times and waved it in front of the official's eyes. He then asked warmly, "Do you remember?"
The official replied softly, "Yes, but I will report this to the Director."
"I understand." Fan Xian smiled warmly. "Before sealing the papers, I want your report."
"Yes."
"Do I need to know your name?"
"No," the official said quietly. The official quietly said, "I am just a low-level official in the Council. I dare not trouble you to record my name."
— — —
The Crown Prince had to arrange for his own people in the court for a dozen years, and perhaps the Great Prince was doing the same. As for his father-in-law and the Bureau of Military Affairs, they were typical treacherous officials. Thinking of this, Fan Xian could not help but smile bitterly. His father-in-law really did not want to save him any trouble.
But he also understood that this was the norm in officialdom. What he was about to do was a bit abnormal.
Fan Xian sighed. He thought to himself, after a few years, when he was older, should he also arrange for some of his own people to enter this officialdom that was like a game? But right now, he could not do these things. The first thing he needed to do was to cooperate with the Overwatch Council and handle the imperial examinations perfectly. He did not want to leave himself too much trouble.
After successfully forcing the Eldest Princess out of the palace with the message paper, he had handled everything calmly. If it were not for the fact that the Eastern Palace had used such a tyrannical method to pull him in, perhaps he would have continued to endure. And he did not think that his plan was too risky. Putting aside the power on the surface, there was a Great Grandmaster standing in the dark behind him, and a terrifying Council. These were all powers that many people did not know about. He believed that as long as he did not touch the most fundamental interests of the Qing royal family, in this seemingly powerful but actually mutually restrained officialdom, he had a lot of room for himself.
Since he had been reborn, he had to take full advantage of the situation. He could not give in too much. Otherwise, would it not be a waste of the fragrant helper his mother had left behind? If those princes and high-ranking officials could do it, why couldn't he do it? Not only did he have to do it, he had to do it beautifully.
"Deep down, I'm really a bastard." Fan Xian looked at the hard-working students in the exam hall and smiled. He thought to himself, "If the monk can touch it, why can't I? Not only will I touch it, but I won't let the monk touch it. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
