Fang Yizhou nodded, "Your Excellency is right."
Then, for seven or eight days in a row, the sea was calm.
The Third Prince and his party felt that everything was ready except for the east wind, while Ruyi, the Emperor, and Rong Yan were also secretly making arrangements, ready for the decisive battle on New Year's Eve.
Under Ye Hongzhuang's supervision, the palace examination went smoothly. Just as the young man named Dongfang Zhi had guessed before, the topic of this palace examination was very different from previous years. It discussed the necessity of women's participation in politics.
Because of prejudice, many people who thought they would pass the exam failed.
Ruyi enters the palace and suggests giving them a second chance.
"Your Majesty, some people are talented and knowledgeable. They can talk about how to govern the country, but they are prejudiced against women. Prejudices can be corrected slowly. Now that we are in need of talents, why not give them another chance?"
It's not that she is so generous.
The fear is that it will lead to a strong backlash, which will shake the foundation and cause the reform to fail if one is not careful.
The idea of male superiority over female did not form overnight.
It takes time to change people's perception.
The emperor looked at her and praised her highly, "Those people studied hard for more than ten years, or even decades, but they are not as broad-minded as you."
"You go and handle this."
The emperor issued an imperial decree, which clearly stated that it was because Ruyi pleaded for mercy that he was given this chance.
Ruyi knelt down and thanked the emperor for his support.
The emperor was paving the way for her.
After she left, Eunuch Yuan couldn't help but sigh, "Princess Zhaoyang is really smart. The emperor paved the way for her, she understood it and was grateful in her heart."
"Northern Qi, there is a successor!"
The emperor looked outside. The voice had an unprecedented sense of power. Although it was still midwinter, he saw hope, as if the breath of spring had drifted in from afar and all things on earth were reviving.
Ruyi went to find Ye Hongzhuang.
After the imperial edict was issued, the students who had failed the exam had complicated expressions.
No one expected that the person they opposed the most would give them a chance.
Ruyi stood in the crowd and said, "I know most of you are not convinced, but right now Northern Qi is in need of people. There are internal and external troubles. You should focus on how to stabilize the country and let the people live a good life instead of staring at me."
"Go get ready. The retest will begin tomorrow morning."
She looked at the students and said, "This time, the topic is related to governing the country and maintaining peace, but we must provide practical suggestions based on the current situation and avoid empty talk."
"...Thank you, Master Seal."
The students were filled with mixed emotions, and after looking at her deeply, they went to prepare for the re-examination.
Ye Hongzhuang walked up with the number one scholar chosen by the emperor and said with a smile, "He wants to see you."
Ruyi looked forward.
A young man in blue and a woman in white came forward and bowed to him, "Dongfang Zhi greets the Master Seal Holder."
The woman beside him also said: "Yue Qingying greets the Master of Seal."
"You're looking for me?"
Ruyi was a little surprised.
The young man was the runner-up in the palace examination. He proposed new reform measures regarding the palace examination, women entering the court, doing business, getting married, etc. At least from a contemporary perspective, these were already very advanced and sharp.
After the Emperor asked Wenyuan Pavilion to discuss the matter, the collective opinion of Wenyuan Pavilion was that it could be directly implemented in conjunction with Prince Yan's opinion, so these two people might enter the court soon.
Ruyi still thought that they were looking for her because of this.
Unexpectedly, Dongfang Zhi handed her a letter. "I brought this letter from the east. I originally intended to give it to the high priest, but I couldn't find him. I guess it would be the same if I gave it to you!"
Ruyi was shocked, opened the envelope and was stunned.
She hurriedly asked, "Who gave you this letter?"
Dongfang Zhi said: "I don't know. Someone stuffed it into my bag on the way and said it was for the high priest. It was a matter of life and death. I dared not neglect it, so I had to bring it back first."
Then, he handed Ruyi a note, "This is the note that was stuffed in with the letter."
When Ruyi took a look, she saw that it was indeed written that human life was at stake and it must be delivered to Li Xiangyi.
Ruyi was terrified, and quickly found a pen and paper, and rewrote a letter. She handed it to Lingling along with the original letter, and whispered, "Go find my master, don't alert the enemy, and disguise yourself."
Lingling nodded and left quickly with the letter.
Ye Hongzhuang was surprised and asked, "What happened?"
She had met Ruyi several times, and even in the court, she had never seen Ruyi's expression so serious.
Ruyi's expression was complicated. After hesitating for a moment, she looked at Ye Hongzhuang and asked, "Is the East China Sea dangerous? My great-grandmaster fell into the sea and disappeared."
"For us landlubbers, the ocean is both dangerous and fascinating, a secret that cannot be discovered."
Ye Hongzhuang sighed, "It is rumored that there is a fairy mountain on the sea, but no one knows whether it is true or not. I, the Taoist, admire immortality, but in the past thousands of years, who has really found the fairy mountain and gained immortality?"
What a pity.
Ruyi lowered her eyes and thought of many things.
When she got into trouble in her previous life, Li Xiangyi was not in the capital. After her rebirth, she always thought that Li Xiangyi must have been extremely disappointed with him at that time, so she left the capital.
Only at this moment did I realize that Li Xiangyi might have received the letter and left quickly.
Moreover, he was gone for three years and never came back.
She is very worried.
Worried that this was a trap, he wrote another letter to Li Xiangyi, urging him to be extremely careful.
…
For several days afterwards, everything was calm.
The results of the second re-examination came out three days later. Many students were admitted and the rest had no complaints.
Because the palace examination has come to an end, and the Fourth Prince has sent evidence of Shen Cangyun's crime from Qinghe County, Ruyi proposes to confiscate the Shen family's property and use the stolen money to supplement military pay and subsidize these students who have come from afar.
The emperor agreed to this.
Because Yan Weiyun became the top scorer in the palace examination and would soon enter the court, the emperor asked Yan Weiyun to follow Ruyi to handle this matter.
When the two men, along with the imperial guards, arrived at the gate of the Shen family, Shen Yu's face turned pale.
"What do you want to do?"
He stared at Ruyi and trembled all over.
Before long, he had become as thin as a stick, his face was pale and he had no energy at all.
Ruyi looked at him, with only a hint of different emotions flashing through her mind, but it soon dissipated. She looked at him as if he were a stranger, and said calmly: "More than 20 years ago, Shen Cangyun embezzled taxes, framed others, killed court officials, impersonated others, and deceived his superiors and subordinates..."
"For these reasons, the Shen family will be confiscated and sent to prison today!"
The cold voice penetrated Shen Yu's soul.
He staggered, "You and I are brother and sister..."
"It's over."
Ruyi interrupted him, "Now I am Rong Zhaoyang, Xiao Ruyi. There is no shortage of a surname."
"I have been killed twice in the cold pond. Today I will put an end to it."
Ruyi raised his hand, and the imperial guards behind him rushed in like a tide.
Shen Yu was arrested.
Shen Cangyun was dragged out of the woodshed, talking nonsense, and staring at Ruyi with wide eyes, "Su Wanyi! Why aren't you dead yet!"
Everyone was shocked.
"I didn't expect that when Shen Cangyun was not crazy, he looked like a decent person, saying that he loved his deceased wife deeply, but when he was crazy, I realized that he hated his deceased wife to the bone."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
