From an old woman back to a young girl, she vowed never to marry into a marquisate

The two of them were talking to each other sporadically, when suddenly the sound of stringed instruments rang out on the stage, and the dancers began to sing and dance gracefully on the stage.

The banquet began.

Although the music was loud, the voices of people clinking glasses were even louder.

The successful candidates for the imperial examination this year sat on the first floor, closest to the stage, and accepted people's toasts.

This year's top scholar Xu Zhiqing sat in the first row, wearing a long grey coat and a cloth cap, and was talking politely to the people who came to congratulate him. He was smiling and moving in a proper and proper manner, and even in such an occasion, he was polite and not flustered at all.

People could hardly hide their admiration for the new top scholar.

Not far away, Emperor Zhou, who was traveling in plain clothes, couldn't help but feel satisfied when he saw Xu Zhiqing remaining calm in the face of this situation.

This young man not only writes well.

He is actually a person who can control the situation when facing all kinds of people.

It turned out that he was the top scorer candidate selected by him in the palace examination, who could be entrusted with important tasks!

Thinking of this, a satisfied smile appeared on Emperor Zhou's face.

At the same time, Bai Yanli's eyes also fell on Emperor Zhou in the crowd. His eyes were full of mystery.

The dancers danced lightly, the scholars laughed and talked happily, and the noblemen took turns to toast the scholars who had made the list.

They seemed to have seen their bright future. Some were so drunk that they began to compose poems in a daze.

Ten years of hard study are all for this moment.

But Xu Zhiqing was still sober.

He held the wine cup in his hand but didn't drink much. He remained calm no matter how others flattered him.

Looking at the people stumbling around in front of him, he raised his head and looked through the crowd at Tang Wanru.

He knew clearly that he still had a tough battle to fight.

But Tang Wanru's gaze was not on him. Instead, it fell on Liu Chang, the runner-up in the imperial examination, who was sitting next to him.

Seeing this man toasting with ease, Tang Wanru's gaze suddenly narrowed!

"Boom boom boom!"

At this moment, there was a sound of orderly footsteps outside the door. Then the door of Yunxiang Building was pushed open from the outside with a "boom!" Everyone was startled and turned their heads to see a team of neatly dressed soldiers quickly entering Yunxiang Building.

Then, a short man with a broad head and a big face, dressed in official uniform, walked in with his head held high.

Faced with this sudden change, the music stopped abruptly, and the dancers also stopped. The scene suddenly became quiet, and everyone looked at him in surprise.

The man's stern eyes swept over everyone, and then fixed on the number one scholar Xu Zhiqing who was standing in the front. He frowned, pointed his finger at him and said sternly: "Xu Zhiqing! He cheated in the imperial examination. Come, catch him!"

Cheating?

"Hooray!" The Yunxiang Building was instantly in chaos.

The soldiers with swords on their waists also walked forward quickly, and everyone's eyes fell on Xu Zhiqing.

He is the new top scorer this year.

How could this happen?

Manager Li of Yunxiang Building saw that Xu Zhiqing was controlled and the scene was in chaos. He squeezed out of the crowd and said to the man, "Sir, what happened? Is there any misunderstanding? This Mr. Xu is the top scorer in the imperial examination this year."

Wang Jing, the Supervisory Left Historian, glanced at him with an official air and sneered, "Today I am arresting this Xu Zhuangyuan!"

He looked at Shopkeeper Li coldly: "Why, you want to protect him?"

"No, no!" Shopkeeper Li shook his head. How could he guarantee anything? He was just afraid that his place would be ruined and no one would come to stay for the imperial examinations. Now that he heard Wang Jing say this, he naturally dared not say anything.

Wang Jing took two steps forward, looked at everyone and said, "The Supervisory Office received a report today that the new champion Xu Zhiqing cheated during the imperial examination, so we came to arrest him and interrogate him today. You scholars should listen, cheating is a serious crime and you will lose your head. If you have similar behavior in the imperial examination, it is best to surrender in advance. The Supervisory Office can still spare your life."

"If you are found out like him, you won't live long."

When the scholars heard this, they immediately lowered their heads and remained silent, not daring to say another word.

"Take him away." Wang Jing ordered directly.

"Wait!" Xu Zhiqing, who had been suppressed, raised his body and said, "I am the new champion selected by the emperor. Now you say I cheated? I have always been upright. What on earth did I cheat?"

Yes.

The scholars were also puzzled. How could he cheat in such a strict examination? He was the top scorer. If they took him away without telling the truth, I'm afraid they wouldn't be convinced.

Since Wang Jing is here, he wouldn't mind talking to him. He raised his eyes and looked at Zhou Ziyue who was sitting on the second floor.

Then he said, "Since you are curious, I will tell you." He looked around at everyone in the building and said loudly, "Xu Zhiqing violated the rules and applied a dizzying fragrance during the imperial examination. This fragrance has a strange smell and can confuse the examinees' minds and make them in a bad state!"

"Xu Zhiqing took advantage of this and used the fragrance to confuse other candidates and prevent them from performing normally. In this way, he could stand out in the exam and become the top scorer!" Wang Jing said word by word.

fragrance?!

The candidates were shocked and subconsciously put their wrists into their sleeves. Could he be talking about the ointment that was popular in the capital before the imperial examination?

The ointment was not applied only by Xu Zhiqing.

Because the ointment made people clear-minded, many candidates applied it on their wrists during the imperial examinations.

Now it turns out that there is something wrong with the ointment?

How come they didn't realize that the thing could confuse people's minds when they used it?

But no one dared to speak at this time. Everyone was silent, thinking that this matter was really a case of whoever gets hit by the thunder will be the one to suffer.

This Xu Zhuangyuan is really unlucky.

There was silence in the audience, but Bai Yanli, who was sitting on the second floor, brushed his sleeves lightly with his hands, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his lips.

How can this be considered catching cheating?

This was clearly directed at him.

Sure enough, at this moment, a soldier who had just been sent upstairs to search Xu Zhiqing's room ran down and handed Wang Jing an ointment in his hand.

"Zuo Shi, this ointment was found in Xu Zhiqing's room."

When everyone took a look, they found that it was indeed the one that was popular in Beijing a few days ago.

Bai family's ointment.

"Yes." Wang Jing took the ointment and held it in his hand and said, "You can see that now the evidence is complete. Xu Zhiqing planned ahead of time and applied this ointment on his body. He used the smell of the ointment to confuse other candidates and eventually won the top prize. But no matter how covert his methods were, they could not escape the eyes of the Supervisory Department. Now I will take him back and torture him severely."

"Also." Wang Jing's eyes swept across everyone's faces, and he glanced at Bai Yanli lightly and said, "In the future, it's best not to use this kind of ointment and powder from Jiangnan, lest you get into a lawsuit without knowing it."

From Jiangnan?

Almost all the people present today were nobles from the capital. They understood what was said as soon as they heard it. Wasn’t this referring to the Bai family?

It seems like the Bai family has offended someone.

It’s better not to buy anything from the Bai family in the future.

Everyone present was thinking so.

Seeing that Xu Zhiqing was about to be dragged down, a cold voice suddenly came from the second floor: "Wait!"

Everyone immediately looked towards the source of the sound.

The person who spoke was none other than Bai Yanli.