Pei Jian cried so sadly, as if he had cried out all the fear, grievance, self-blame, guilt and apology he had felt throughout the night.

Cui Xian patted his shoulder to comfort him.

Zhuang Jin, Li Heyu and Gao Qi finally realized that something was wrong and were all stunned.

The other side.

After two days of traveling day and night, Ye Huaifeng and Prefect Song finally arrived in Kaifeng.

After arriving in Kaifeng, they did not dare to waste any time and went straight to see the Inspector General.

When the Supervisor of Education heard the purpose of the two men's visit, he was a little suspicious, but he still said patiently: "What kind of test paper can make you two react so strongly? Let me take a look."

After saying this, the Inspector General took Cui Xian's test paper.

As a result, after only the first glance, his eyes widened and he blurted out: "Only saints can carry on the work of their ancestors and achieve martial arts, so they can gain great reputation and be blessed with all kinds of blessings?"

"This problem can actually be solved so well? It really makes me feel ashamed of myself!"

This is the charm of the eight-part essay - if the topic is introduced well, one sentence can be enough to enlighten people.

But today's test paper is not only well-answered!

The whole article is not dull like the eight-part essay, but is written in a magnificent and gorgeous style. But it is not showing off skills, but really has something to say!

Nonsense, not only does it make sense, it's words that could have been spoken by Confucius and Mencius!

The Inspector of Education didn't even care about Ye Huaifeng and Prefect Song. He held the test paper and became more and more excited the more he read it. His whole body was shaking.

He finally finished reading the first article, and when he saw the second one, his eyes immediately became wider and rounder.

Seeing the reaction of the Inspector, Prefect Song and Ye Huaifeng looked at each other with an expression of 'I knew it'.

Anyone who has written eight-part essays will understand the stunning shock brought by these two eight-part essays!

After a while.

The education commissioner finally finished reading. He looked at Prefect Song and Ye Huaifeng and said angrily, "Such a good article is worth discussing! It must be selected as the first place in the county case!"

"Wait... the first place in the county? Could it be that this candidate is actually a young man? Incredible, really incredible!"

While he was talking, the Supervisor of Education looked at the name on the test paper and asked suspiciously, "Cui Xian? Why does this name sound so familiar?"

Ye Huaifeng said quickly: "Your Excellency, Cui Xian is a disciple of Mr. Donglai, and I am nine years old."

These words were like thunder, which left the Education Commissioner dumbfounded.

Then he quickly realized why Prefect Song and County Magistrate Ye had rushed to Kaifeng overnight to find him.

Nine years old, first in the county!

The Education Commissioner knows very well what this means!

But the Inspector of Education thought again and realized that this was not right!

Because Mr. Dong Lai is in Kaifeng now, and he just asked me to borrow a rare book from his collection!

When I was chatting with Mr. Dong Lai, he seemed to have mentioned: My little disciple has been too popular recently. So I want to suppress him and make him keep a low profile.

...No, this is what you call 'low-key'?

Ask your disciples to write two textbook-level eight-part essays?

The Inspector of Education was puzzled and shocked.

Could it be that the low-key that the old gentleman mentioned has two different meanings from the low-key that ordinary people like me understand?

So, should we select the first place in this county case or not?

Once the order was given, not to mention Nanyang County Magistrate Ye Huaifeng, even himself, the Henan Provincial Education Commissioner, would have to be prepared for the Ministry of Rites officials to come and conduct inspections.

What’s even more terrible is that Li Duan is also the governor of Henan Province.

I'm afraid Lord Zheng won't be able to escape either, he will be reported twice.

Since ancient times, censors have always had this bad character. No matter what, they will start to criticize. If they don't kill him, they won't lose. If they kill him, they will make a lot of money!

Therefore, the education commissioner who wanted to figure out the key to this issue also had a headache.

He couldn't ask Li Duan openly for permission on this matter. If the governor interfered in the imperial examination, it would be a blatant handle for his opponent.

So after thinking for a while, the Inspector of Education came up with an idea - to test Mr. Dong Lai's attitude.

What if Lord Zheng wanted his disciple to be the first in the Jiu Sui County case? He had no need and dared not to interfere.

therefore.

The inspector personally copied the two eight-part essays and took them to Mr. Donglai, asking vaguely, "Old sir, do you think these two essays could win the first prize? We are struggling with some complicated reasons."

Mr. Dong Lai just glanced at it casually at first.

Then his expression suddenly became excited. After reading the two articles, he said loudly: "I may not even write better than him in these two articles. How dare you hesitate? Do you want to choose him as the champion?"

"I hate your bureaucratic style the most! What's there to be entangled about? Even if the elder comes, he must be chosen as the leader!"

He just saw a good article and was too excited, so he gave an example casually.

But when the Inspector heard it, it was automatically translated into: Don't worry, brother, the Lord knows about this matter, you can rest assured about this nine-year-old county champion!

The Inspector General felt that he understood.

He said goodbye to Mr. Donglai, and went back to Ye Huaifeng and Prefect Song and said, "Everything has been settled. Don't worry, just go ahead and do it!"

Ye Huaifeng and Prefect Song looked at each other and nodded excitedly.

Now that the higher-ups have spoken, then—

The nine-year-old top judge of Nanyang County can now be released with confidence!