Chapter 31: The Imperial Examination Begins: The Scholars and Officials Have Infinite Aspirations, But Their Knowledge Is Shallow…

Time flies, and the imperial examination that everyone is looking forward to is about to come.

"Princess, are you asleep?" Chun Tao's nervous and uneasy voice sounded outside the screen, "I can't sleep, princess."

Qin Yuqing walked out with her hair loose and wearing a cloak. Looking at Chuntao who was sitting alone at the table with a melancholy look on her face, she walked over and sat down, saying with some amusement.

"Xiao Taozi, it's not you who's taking the exam, why are you sighing?"

"Princess, I'm nervous. Every time I close my eyes, I see you sitting in the examination hall," Chuntao said, pulling out piles of books from under the table. "Princess, I think these will be on the test, too. Would you like to finish reading them?"

Looking at the piles of books, Qin Yuqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She nodded Chuntao's head and said, "You, you, don't be nervous. Don't worry, who is your princess?"

Chun Tao pouted. Hearing Qin Yuqing's words, she sighed and said, "Then Princess, go to bed early. Chun Tao will stay outside to watch over the princess."

Seeing Chuntao looking back every few steps, Qin Yuqing thought of her modern best friend. She was a year older than her and was like this during the college entrance examination. She was even more nervous than her, the one taking the exam, and kept talking to her.

I don't know how my best friend is doing now. Have my parents noticed she's missing? Do they miss me?

Thinking of this, Qin Yuqing sighed. When could he go home? He looked at the moon outside the window, but saw a familiar figure with no expression on his face standing outside the window.

Qin Yuqing: “???”

Qin Yuqing: "General Lu, have you changed your tactics? You're not hanging upside down anymore?"

Qin Yuqing opened the window as she spoke, but Lu Jingchuan shook his head and chose not to enter the room.

"It's illogical to do this." Lu Jingchuan said with a dull face. He then pulled out a stack of books from somewhere and said, "Newly collected ancient books."

Qin Yuqing looked at the thick stack of books with a helpless smile. Even if she had the ability to read ten lines at a glance and remember everything she saw, she couldn't finish reading them all in one night.

"Don't worry, although the new top scholar has nothing to do with me, at least I can still be on the list." Although Qin Yuqing didn't know what the topic of this imperial examination was, she was confident.

"I'm worried."

Qin Yuqing looked at the worry in Lu Jingchuan's eyes that didn't seem fake, and her heart skipped a beat for some reason.

There was only one person in the boy's eyes from beginning to end, and his emotions were only for her.

From the moment she met Lu Jingchuan, Qin Yuqing realized that the boy had different feelings for her, a deep bond.

But she couldn't respond, nor would she respond to him, because she knew that she was not the one the boy was waiting for.

She is just a modern young entrepreneur Qin Yuqing, and this is just a world of novels. She will not indulge in it. She has important things to do and she wants to go home.

"Don't worry." Qin Yuqing smiled and lifted Lu Jingchuan's chin with her slender fingers.

Panic flashed in the boy's eyes, and the corners of his lips unconsciously curled up, but he forced them down, and a suspicious red appeared on his neck and ears.

It was clearly an ambiguous action, but Qin Yuqing said something that pierced her heart: "Don't worry, I won't forget what I promised you."

As Qin Yuqing spoke, the red on Lu Jingchuan's neck and ears gradually turned pale, and he looked at Qin Yuqing in disbelief.

"After all, we are partners." Qin Yuqing said to Lu Jingchuan almost cruelly, "You have to understand that I will never betray my partners."

"We are just partners?" Lu Jingchuan took a few steps back, his eyes filled with brokenness and ridicule for his own sentimentality, but soon his expression returned to normal, and he said very quickly, "Tomorrow, Shen Yanqing will help you."

After saying that, Lu Jingchuan fled without looking back.

Qin Yuqing sighed softly. Even if Lu Jingchuan was a real person, she and he were from two different worlds after all.

No sleep all night.

"Princess, I will take you to Longmen Bridge later."

"What is Longmen Bridge?" Qin Yuqing asked as he lifted the curtain of the carriage.

Chun Tao explained while driving the carriage, "This is a place all students must go to before taking the exam. It's said that the sooner you cross the Dragon Gate Bridge, the more likely you are to pass the exam."

This was somewhat similar to the 100-day oath-taking ceremony before the college entrance examination. Qin Yuqing nodded in understanding. She looked at the students running in the same direction around her, and her eyes darkened.

Crowded places are the most dangerous.

"Chun Tao, has anyone fallen off the Longmen Bridge?" Qin Yuqing asked the soldiers who were blocking the bridge.

"Yes, there are always many students falling into the water, so there are soldiers along the river." As Chuntao explained, Qin Yuqing indeed saw many soldiers on the shore, but this time there were female soldiers.

"Princess, be careful. If it really doesn't work, we won't take the Longmen Bridge." Chuntao helped Qin Yuqing get off the carriage worriedly.

Qin Yuqing shook her head. Since this was the only way to take the imperial examination, if she didn't take it, she might be taken advantage of by people with ulterior motives and criticized for all sorts of things in the court.

You must always be on guard against others.

"Don't worry, remember to pick me up." Qin Yuqing rubbed Chuntao's head and sneaked into the crowd in a low-key manner.

Qin Yuqing observed the students around him. All of them carried large bags containing several days' worth of food and daily necessities.

"Let them go." Someone shouted, and the officers and soldiers blocking the bridge made way at the same time, and all the students rushed forward.

Because of her thin body, Qin Yuqing was almost pushed forward. Everyone was trying their best to squeeze forward, and she was squeezed to the side of the bridge.

At this moment, Qin Yuqing felt someone hit her hard. She grabbed the person's hand and pulled it hard, tearing off a piece of paper that seemed to have words written on it.

As expected. Qin Yuqing's lips curled slightly. Seeing the panicked look on the other side, Qin Yuqing followed the forward momentum, leaned slightly, and pulled the person in front of him toward the bridge.

"See you next time." Qin Yuqing grabbed the man with one hand and pushed his back with the other hand. The man fell off the bridge due to inertia and fell into the river.

Qin Yuqing threw the cheat sheet prepared by the man into the river, and looked down at the person struggling in the river with indifference. She recognized who this person was. He was the one who followed the second prince Qin Junyi.

Is the Second Prince so afraid of changes?

Qin Yuqing smiled lightly and grabbed someone's hand again. She walked forward with the crowd and said in a low voice, "Tell your master that if you are not afraid of a fight to the bitter end, then let the imperial examination come."

"roll."

Qin Yuqing stood in front of the gate of the examination hall. Just yesterday, there were many small vendors gathered here, but now they had all disappeared.

"Dear students, I am the invigilator of this exam, Qin Youqian." Prince Qin Youqian walked out and said with a smile while standing on a high place.

"Dear students, I am the supervisor of this examination, Qin Junyi." The Second Prince, Qin Junyi, smiled elegantly and stood at the other side with great grace. He pointed to a basket not far away and said, "Put all your cheat sheets in the basket in front of the courtyard. Otherwise, if they are found after entering this door, you will be disqualified from the imperial examination for life."

"Please come in, everyone." Qin Youqian turned and walked into the yard, and Qin Jun also followed Qin Youqian.

The crowd was rustling, and when Qin Yuqing arrived in front of the basket, which could accommodate four or five people, it was already half full. Qin Yuqing was amazed at it, but she just didn't know how the examination here would be compared with the modern college entrance examination?

When Qin Yuqing walked in and put her name on the list, she saw four areas surrounded by cloth strips in the open air of the yard. The students walked in and took off their clothes for the officers to check.

"Please come in." The soldier opened a curtain as a routine matter. Two male soldiers were standing inside. They looked at Qin Yuqing with burning eyes. Although they had no other intentions, it was still inappropriate.

"Oh no." Qin Yuqing is a woman and there is no way she would take off her clothes in public. But if she doesn't cooperate with the inspection, she will probably be criticized even if she is on the list.

Some students behind him were getting impatient and started to mock him.

"Why would a woman take the imperial examination? In my opinion, it would be better for her to return home and take care of her husband and children."

"Exactly, how can a woman understand the imperial examination? I'm afraid she can't even recognize a single word!"

"Go back quickly and don't get in the way here. Did you understand the test?"

Qin Yuqing ignored the ridicule of other students. She had to take part in the imperial examination. Just when she opened her mouth to negotiate, Shen Yanqing suddenly came out. After she saluted the crown prince and the second prince, she walked to Qin Yuqing's side and said.

"Your Majesty's oral order has been issued by your servant, Chen Yanqing, to personally lead the student Qin Yuqing to the side hall for inspection." Shen Yanqing said loudly, followed by three maids and three female soldiers.

"I just told the prince that we can't let Sixth Sister undress and check in public. General Shen's appearance is very timely." Qin Junyi patted his chest with lingering fear and breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Yanqing snorted coldly, without responding to Qin Junyi's words, turned around and left with Qin Yuqing.

"Why did General Shen show up today?" Qin Yuqing had not told Shen Yanqing about the imperial examination. It seemed that the female soldier seen at Longmen Bridge today was also arranged by Shen Yanqing.

"It was that brat Lu Jingchuan who begged me for it." Shen Yanqing curled her lips, her tone full of disdain for Lu Jingchuan. "This brat came to my house last night in a state of despair, crying like a woman. He said he needed a body search for tomorrow's imperial examination, and he was afraid it would be inconvenient for you, so he asked me to do it."

"Hey, Sixth Princess, what happened to him yesterday? I remember he wasn't like this when I saw him during the day. Why did he become so listless at night?"

Qin Yuqing smiled and didn't respond.

"I'm telling you, Lu Jingchuan went to the wine cellar after leaving yesterday and hasn't come out yet." Shen Yanqing observed Qin Yuqing's expression as he spoke, "He must have been drunk to death. What stimulated him?"

"Thank you, General Shen." Qin Yuqing stood at the door and knelt slightly. "It's just that I am devoted to serving the people at the moment, and love is not what I need. General Shen, please talk to him." After that, Qin Yuqing and the nanny went into the room.

Shen Yanqing, who was standing outside, sighed: "Lu Jingchuan, I can't help you with this." But she nodded with satisfaction, "I like this character. He is worthy of being the one I like."

With Shen Yanqing's help, the subsequent series of arrangements went extremely smoothly. Since she was the first female candidate in so many years, she was accompanied by female soldiers and maids from the palace throughout the whole process.

Although other students had some complaints, they did not really say anything more. After all, the final result of the imperial examination still depended on it.

They were all waiting to mock Qin Yuqing.

Qin Yuqing sat down and took the envelope handed to him by the soldier. As the bell rang, Qin Yuqing opened the envelope and took out the test paper.

This time the topic was proposed by the emperor himself.

The rise and fall of the world cannot be accomplished by my own efforts. The scholars and officials who rule the world with me have shown strange behavior in recent years, and I have been unable to sleep day and night.

Qin Yuqing looked at the first sentence. She didn't expect her stepfather to ask such a question, but coincidentally, this was also what she was worried about.

The scholar-officials have boundless desires but shallow knowledge. They turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people and turn a deaf ear to what is happening outside the window.

I want to correct the morals of scholars and prosper the world. What strategies do you have?