As soon as the imperial examination was announced, talented and ambitious people from all over the world signed up one after another. When the examination was in full swing, the examiners appointed by Ying Zheng were extremely busy and scratched their heads while preparing the examination papers.

In order to prevent the test questions from being leaked, examiners of each subject had to stay in a specially prepared palace until the end of the county examination and were not allowed to communicate with the outside world.

On the other hand, something went wrong in the first stage of the selection process - character screening.

There was a scholar in Xianyang who was knowledgeable and kind-hearted. He was always kind to his neighbors, able to distinguish right from wrong, and had a great reputation.

However, when this man registered for the county examination, he was sued by his wife's family, who accused him of murdering his wife. Naturally, no one believed him.

Everyone knows that he is a kind and warm-hearted person who never argues with others and always listens to his wife. Even when his wife eloped with someone, he never held her in-laws responsible.

How could such a good man be a murderer?

But when the officials dug out a corpse from under a big tree in his yard, all the neighbors were horrified and looked extremely frightened.

They actually lived with a murderer for several years!

Looking at that handsome and elegant face with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and then looking at the corpse with many broken bones all over the body, everyone was horrified and frightened.

This heinous case of wife-murder caused an uproar in Xianyang City. Although the criminal was quickly brought to justice and beheaded in public, its impact has not subsided.

Ying Zheng immediately ordered the court to re-investigate the previous unsolved cases to prevent any loopholes. At the same time, he also strengthened the examination of character in the county examinations, but this also slowed down the progress.

In Qinian Palace, Chu Yuening listened to the case of wife murder, anger flashed on her face, she slammed the table heavily and shouted angrily.

"You can only judge a person by his appearance but not by his heart. Such beastly behavior is unworthy of being called a human being."

"Alas, poor woman, how painful and desperate she must have felt at that time..."

How cold-blooded and perverted must this man be to be so cruel as to harm his own wife, with whom he shares the same bed with, and with whom he is very close!

Moreover, the disguise was so perfect that none of the neighbors suspected anything.

If the Yue family had not reported him, he would probably still be at large. He might even pass the imperial examination and become an official in the future. By then, who knows how many people he would have harmed.

Ying Zheng held his young wife's red palm, gently kneaded it to soothe her, and whispered soothing words.

"Some people are born evil, cold-blooded and heartless. They cannot be judged by common sense."

"Bringing him to justice now is like mending the fence after the sheep have been lost."

The laws of the Qin Dynasty were strict. For such a heinous crime, the criminal would be beheaded the next day. How could he be allowed to live at large for a long time? Living one more second would be a waste of air.

Hearing this, the blush on Chu Yuening's face faded a little. She leaned on the man's shoulder, a hint of worry between her brows, and sighed softly.

When you see a cockroach, there may be a thousand of them in the dark. How many beasts in human form are there who have committed crimes and are hiding among the people?

When selecting officials through the imperial examination, can reputation and word of mouth alone really fully identify those with bad intentions?

The woman's fair face was stern, her bright red lips were bitten until they turned white, and her whole body unconsciously exuded a cold and aloof feeling that kept strangers away.

There was worry in Ying Zheng's phoenix eyes. He gently stroked her frowning brows and spoke softly with concern.

"What is Yue Ning worried about?"

"I was just thinking, it's hard to truly judge a person's character based solely on outsiders' word of mouth."

"Through deliberate disguise, one can create a good reputation, and it's impossible to tell whether it's good or bad."

With the development of the modern Internet, a person's stains and bad deeds cannot be hidden.

But in ancient times when information was not circulated quickly, one could only get a superficial understanding of a person's character from what his fellow villagers and neighbors said, but there was no way to know the actual facts.

Moreover, there are more than 20 million people in Daqin, and there are at least hundreds of thousands of people who applied for the exam this year. With such a large base, it is impossible that there will be no one who slips through the net.

Ying Zheng did not ignore this point, but nothing in the world is perfect. Just screening out people with bad behavior through word of mouth would consume a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources.

He touched the soft top of his wife's head, just as he was about to comfort her, when a parrot suddenly appeared before him, flying between them, chirping excitedly.

"Host, why don't you find this system when you have difficulties?"

"Come on, come on, you want to judge a person's character, right? Let's take a look at the Heart-Searching Stone produced by the Immortal Cultivation Plane~"

"I don't want 998, nor 698. I only need 98 merit points, and then I can take home the essential item for becoming a disciple - the Stone of Inquiry."

"It makes it easy for you to select outstanding talents with both moral integrity and ability."

The noisy sound woke up the restless Chu Yuening. She looked at the system being promoted so earnestly, and the corners of her mouth twitched.

Are we still trying to achieve good performance at the beginning of the year?

Then she turned her gaze to the pale blue screen with great interest, and saw an ordinary round stone rotating 360 degrees.

Chu Yuening looked at it for a long time, but couldn't find anything special about the Heart-Searching Stone, so she had to look at the information about the item.

[Stone of Heart: A specific illusion can be created for disciples to train. One breath in the outside world is equivalent to ten years in the inner world. All thoughts, desires, and wishes are revealed here.]

"Huh? This heart-searching stone looks pretty good. A Zheng, you should take a look at it too."

"Well, it is indeed extraordinary. If I have this thing to help me, the character assessment will be a piece of cake."

Ying Zheng gently embraced the woman's delicate body, lowered his head and carefully read the introduction of the Stone of Heart-Searching, with a strange look in his phoenix eyes.

For a king, the loyalty of his subjects is undoubtedly the most important thing.

Even though he was extremely courageous, when Wang Jian led an army of 500,000 to the south to attack the Baiyue, he was worried that he would never return.

The Stone of Conscience can solve this worry and determine whether the ministers are loyal and obedient.

Compared with its practical functions, 98 merit points are not expensive.

However, there are thousands of counties in Daqin. Chu Yuening roughly estimated that it would take tens of thousands of merit points, although considering her current wealth, it is not worth mentioning.

But on second thought, one hundred tens is one million!

She quickly put away the excited look on her face, cleared her throat twice, held the little parrot in her palm, looked straight into those innocent and clear eyes, and spoke in a coaxing tone.

"Xiao Yiyi, I plan to buy more than a thousand. Is there no discount?"

"Um... Host, this is already the best price."

"Hmph, don't fool me. This Heart-Searching Stone is just a broken piece of stone. I guess it just has some kind of formation carved into it."

“How do you know…?”

Unexpectedly, the host accidentally exposed the truth. The system was shocked and felt guilty. It hesitated and dared not say more.

Looking at the little parrot's rolling eyes, Chu Yuening smiled cunningly, stretched out two slender fingers to pinch the bird's beak, and continued to fool people seriously.

Ying Zheng lowered his eyes to look at the man and the bird bargaining, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but curl up slightly. There seemed to be a reflection of the moon in the lake in his black jade pupils, gathering a soft and clear light.

He just felt that his little wife's quirky appearance was cute and adorable, and her lively and bright smile made people feel like their hearts were immersed in spring water.