The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

After the examiner with the loud speaker finished speaking, he raised his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his brow in an ungentlemanly manner.

They would feel that it was an insult for Lin Qiao, a top champion, to undergo a body examination by stripping off his clothes. They would also feel that it was a disgrace to the scholars to have their essays posted just because they were yelled at by a group of ignorant scholars. It was too much.

However, this "excessive" suggestion was made by the emperor above everyone's head.

Ever since Queen Wang's "death", the emperor has been peaceful for two years. Just when some officials were about to think that his majesty had suffered too much and finally changed his temper, he used one sentence to tell all the court officials that his ability to have fun was still as good as before, and had even become more profound after two years of settling down.

"Sir, students..." One of the leaders of the demonstration, a scholar named Yuan, hurriedly stepped forward to salute and was about to say something.

The examiner looked at him with a half-smile and said, "Since you suspect that we are unfair in judging the papers, you might as well go and see for yourself how other people's papers are written."

"No, sir." Mr. Yuan is a relative of Old Man Huang. His cousin named Liu married Huang Ming. The relationship between these families has always been very close. This time, Old Man Huang saw that his whole family was dragged down by the unlucky grandson. After thinking it over, he decided to give it a try. What if... what if he can win?

For such a "good thing", apart from the allies from the previous dynasty, the only people that Old Man Huang could think of who could assist him were, of course, these relatives.

It just so happened that his own eldest grandson was incompetent, but his relatives reluctantly sent a Juren to become one, and that was the leading Juren Yuan.

Mr. Yuan was already over thirty years old. Everything went smoothly before the imperial examination, but for some reason he failed every time. He was originally known as a young genius, but after he failed the first imperial examination, people secretly accused him of not living up to the reputation and that his fame and success were all due to his family's help.

Mr. Yuan's family has been in the official ranks for generations. Although it cannot match the aristocratic families with deep wealth in the previous dynasties, it can barely be considered a "small aristocratic family". For a scholar like him, as long as his family cooperates in building a good reputation and he practices calligraphy and writes essays better, in this era when the imperial examinations are not anonymous, he will indeed have many advantages over candidates from ordinary families.

But when it comes to the imperial examination, the tricks these children of officials have used before are not so effective. In the capital, there are many dragons and tigers. Some have prominent family backgrounds, some are truly famous, and some are both talented and powerful, and can turn into dragons when encountering storms... In this way, if anyone wants to stand out, it will be hundreds of times more difficult than in the states.

There were countless scholars like Yuan Juren who were considered "young geniuses" in the prefecture but performed poorly in the imperial examinations. Yuan Juren was not the only one who was mocked by others for having only a title. However, Yuan Juren seemed to be obsessed with the title of "young genius" and would not tolerate any comments from others.

However, as he took the exam again and again and got older, he was no longer associated with the word "young man". When he suddenly learned that there was a young talent like Lin Qiao, who had a humble background but won the top spot in the imperial examination before he even reached the age of adulthood, he became jealous before his parents even said anything about whether they should cooperate with old man Huang to take the risk.

Mr. Yuan bowed respectfully, but his words were not polite: "I have no intention of accusing this examination of cheating. I just heard that Mr. Lin concealed the truth and did men's things as a woman. It is really..."

"Wait a minute." The examiner switched his loud speaker to another hand. "What do you mean by cheating? I didn't cheat in the first place. What are you accusing me of?"

Mr. Yuan choked.

The examiner, who had been holding back his complaints, was not polite to this little scholar: "You are still reading the books of sages, but you are disrespectful to officials and elders. You just say you don't want to criticize anything. Ha, are you qualified to criticize others? You are like a field mouse jumping in the furrow, you don't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is!"

"What's wrong with Mr. Lin? I don't even know about this, but you are just talking about it. I'm afraid you are focusing all your attention on this kind of trivial things. Whether Mr. Lin is a man or a woman is none of your business! No wonder you can't pass the exam at this age. You only know how to form cliques and threaten the court!"

The loud speaker examiner felt that the more he cursed, the happier he felt. He was already annoyed by this mess, and he didn't think these failed candidates could cause any trouble. It just so happened that Yuan Juren, who was blind, took the initiative to bump into him, so he didn't care too much and just got angry: "If you are really bored and feel that you are buried, why don't you go over there and write your policy essay, so that we can see what kind of shocking and unique article it is. You are a mere Juren, and you are so arrogant!"

Mr. Yuan was so angry after being scolded that his face turned purple.

The loud-mouthed examiner shook his sleeves and walked away.

Mr. Yuan subconsciously looked towards the desk over there - no one, no one who followed the rioters went up to write their essays. Even a few candidates who were dragged along really felt that they were being buried at first, but after seeing the posted papers of the top 20 candidates, they shut up and left in shame.

The examiners are quite satisfied with the current situation.

Heaven and earth conscience.

Because the Empress's cousin was in this subject, they changed their previous style and did not look at the name or family background, or even whether the handwriting was beautiful enough. As long as the writing was straight and meaningful, it was enough.

The previously published list was made after careful and cautious selection and sorting of each person's essay.

It can be said that the examiners would not feel guilty about this ranking even if they posted it and asked outsiders to evaluate it.

What's more... Lin Qiao, who topped the list but was deeply criticized, was really a talent. Even if her article was placed at the last place, it could overshadow all the other candidates.

in the crowd.

Huang Ming, dressed like a scholar, winked at the frustrated Yuan Juren and said, "Cousin, have you written your essay? Have the adults read it? Has the man surnamed Lin come over?"

The corner of Yuan Juren's mouth twitched: "No, I didn't see it. Juren Lin hasn't come yet!"

"She's scared, isn't she?" Huang Ming shook his head with pretended regret. "I said she must be a girl. Women are timid. You should have listened to me earlier and found a few people to scare her. Give her a few slaps. At worst, quietly chop off her hands. Then she will naturally give up her seat to everyone and run back to her hometown. She won't dare to think about things she shouldn't think about anymore."