Lu Cheng gave Zhou Yuanzhi the antidiarrheal medicine he carried with him.

The assistant examiner ordered Zhou Yuanzhi to be dragged away to avoid affecting the other candidates.

Zhou Yuanzhi refused to leave, fearing that if he missed this autumn examination, he would have to wait three years to take it again.

Prince Yanping and Tang Ze felt sorry for him and were even more furious at the harmful act of someone stealing Zhou Yuanzhi's pastries. Their thought processes were always different from ordinary people.

The more people tried to stop Zhou Yuanzhi from taking the exam, the more they insisted on helping him.

If Zhou Yuanzhi were incompetent, no one would bother to steal his pastries and cause him to fail the exam.

The Emperor appointed them as supervisors of the imperial library. If they don't take care of this matter, wouldn't they be letting down the Emperor's trust?

Unable to control the deputy examiner, they went to the chief examiner, Grand Secretary Han.

Grand Secretary Han was recommended by Xie Jingyan, and the Prince of Yanping and his group were Xie Jingyan's people. Grand Secretary Han said, "It's just a few more trips to the outhouse, it won't affect the other candidates, so he can go back and continue taking the exam."

Only after Grand Secretary Han spoke was Zhou Yuanzhi allowed to return to the examination hall and continue answering questions.

Fearing that the diarrhea wouldn't stop, Zhou Yuanzhi took the antidiarrheal medication again.

His pastries were no longer edible, and coupled with diarrhea, the four princes, including the Prince of Yanping, shared their food with Zhou Yuanzhi.

If it weren't for the antidiarrheal medicine given by the Prince of Yanping and his family, Zhou Yuanzhi would probably have suffered from diarrhea and dehydration and died in the examination hall.

How could Zhou Yuanzhi not repay such a kindness?

The eldest prince wanted to win over the newly appointed top scholar, but the scholar hadn't even left the council hall before he was already Xie Jingyan's man.

What made the eldest prince's face even more gloomy was that the newly appointed top scholar was not one of the two that the emperor had initially wanted to select, but rather one that Xie Jingyan had picked from the other eight candidates.

Was this newly appointed top scholar chosen by the Emperor or by Prince Ling?!