Lu Cijian met Xue Xingzhao's murderous eyes and simply said, "I have always been concerned about matters of life and death."
Upon hearing this, Xue Xingzhao's murderous intent intensified, and he stared intently at the person in front of him.
The more the other party tried to get him to open the gates of the examination hall, the less he would open them.
Three days is enough time for him to handle everything.
Lu Cijian's efforts will only be in vain.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard a rapid sound of hooves coming from the end of the street. In an instant, many carriages drove towards the examination hall, followed by a large number of guards, a dark mass that looked rather frightening.
He frowned, wondering what was going on, when the carriage stopped outside the crowd.
Several ladies in fine clothes stepped off the carriage and quickly squeezed into the crowd. The lady in the lead, her face full of anger, pointed at the Ministry of Rites officials and shouted, "Open the gate! Open the gate of the examination hall right now!"
"I am the wife of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and my son is still inside. If anything happens to me today, all of you from the Ministry of Rites will be executed. Open the gates of the examination hall now!"
Her son had finally made up his mind to try his luck in the autumn imperial examinations, originally just wanting his father to see him, but unexpectedly the examination hall was on fire.
She didn't believe it at first, but before she even reached the entrance of the examination hall, she saw the thick smoke billowing out.
The presence of such a massive plume of smoke indicates that the situation inside must be extremely serious.
She only has one son. If these people from the Ministry of Rites cause her son's death, she will give up her own life to get revenge on them.
Upon hearing this, several more ladies announced their family backgrounds and clamored to open the front door.
Xue Xingzhao froze on the spot, staring intently at Lu Cijian, wishing he could rush over and strangle him right now.
The fire at the examination hall had only been going on for a short time, yet these ladies had already arrived there. It was clear they had received advance notice and that's why they rushed over so quickly.
He quickly reassured them, "Ladies, there's nothing seriously wrong inside the examination hall right now. You can rest assured, the fire will be brought under control soon..."
Before he could finish speaking, a heavy knocking sound came from inside the vermilion gate of the examination hall, accompanied by several shouts.
"Help! Open the door! There's a fire in the exam room!"
"Open the door quickly."
"Open the door!"
These shouts were particularly forceful, mixed with the increasingly loud banging on the door, as if striking heavily on everyone's hearts.
In particular, the various desperate shouts clearly indicated a large number of people.
The crowd, who had finally been calmed down, were now truly panicked, especially the ladies who had just arrived.
The wife of the Minister of Justice even led her household guards to squeeze towards the main gate.
Just as the imperial guards were about to stop them, the palace guards stepped in front of their mistress, blocking the imperial guards from entering.
The other ladies followed suit and all came to the gate of the examination hall.
Madam Lin looked at the lock on the door and shouted, "Since these bastards in the Ministry of Rites don't care about the lives of the students inside, then I'll open it myself. Smash the door open!"
Upon hearing this, the guards immediately picked up stones from the ground and smashed them hard against the lock.
Upon seeing this, the Imperial Guards and the Ministry of Rites rushed forward to stop them, but they were firmly blocked by the guards of the ladies of the house.
If it weren't for the Censorate officials calming down the common people, the entrance to the Imperial Examination Hall would definitely be in complete chaos right now.
Xue Xingzhao felt a headache coming on as he looked at the situation, but he was powerless to do anything and could only watch as those people pounded on the door.
Just as they were praying in their hearts that the gates of the examination hall would hold, they heard a loud "bang" and the gates were opened with the combined efforts of several guards.
The broken lock fell to the ground and was quickly kicked away by the students who rushed out of the door.
Thousands of students poured out of the examination hall, instantly filling the originally empty space.
The anger and fear I felt inside the examination hall vanished instantly upon seeing my family.
The ladies who saw that their sons were unharmed immediately hugged their families and wept bitterly, while cursing the people from the Ministry of Rites.
Gao Yang was helped out of the examination hall by Chen Changli. As soon as he saw the people from the Ministry of Rites, his blood boiled. Ignoring his bloody wounds, he pushed Chen Changli away and limped toward the people from the Ministry of Rites.
Every step he took was exceptionally heavy, and his words moved everyone present: "I originally thought that as long as I studied hard and memorized the texts, I would eventually pass the imperial examination."
Unfortunately, these are just dreams for us ordinary students.
Those who pass the imperial examinations are merely a transaction between your Ministry of Rites and those wealthy young men, with a price tag attached.
The wealthy can bribe their way into taking the exams for others, or even buy and sell places directly, while we ordinary students can only fail year after year. What do you people in the Ministry of Rites think of the imperial examination system?
No one needs the imperial examinations and fairness more than these common people.
What they thought was fairness was about disregarding everyone's status, but in reality, it was still a game between rich kids.
The scientific expeditions that could change their fate were nothing more than things that wealthy young men could easily obtain with a simple reach.
How ironic! Those who need scientific research the most are denied fairness, while those who don't need it at all easily obtain everything that ordinary people like them could never achieve in their entire lives.
Gao Yang spoke with tears streaming down his face, causing the students who had just run out of the examination hall to stare at the Ministry of Rites officials with red eyes, their eyes filled with deep anger and resentment.
Most of them were ordinary people, and it was already difficult for their families to support their education. They had hoped to achieve a better life through the imperial examinations.
In reality, it was nothing more than a transaction between these wealthy people and officials.
They were all just supporting characters.
Realizing this, the students simply shouted loudly.
"That's unfair."
"That's unfair."
Jiang Yimian had just walked out of the examination hall when she heard Gao Yang's words. Her gaze fell on the students, and she couldn't help but feel a little sad.
Most of the students wore faded robes, some even with several patches.
Today is the autumn imperial examination, a very important day for these students. Yet, even on such an important occasion, they are still wearing these clothes because these are their best clothes.
Among them were young people in their prime, many middle-aged people, and even a few elderly people with white hair and beards.
All those years of hard study were just to live up to their ideals, but what did these people in the Ministry of Rites do?
They are trampling on the dignity of all ordinary students.
The students' loud shouts only swayed the onlookers.
When they first heard from the Censorate that someone was cheating in the examination hall, they didn't believe it.
Now, hearing these students' stories firsthand, they felt incredibly angry.
For a time, in addition to the cries of injustice, the entrance to the examination hall was filled with the curses of the common people.
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