Chapter 66 Randomly selects a lucky audience member
The banquet continued.
The emperor gave important positions to the three newly appointed talents.
The top scholar became a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, the second-place scholar became a magistrate in a county in the capital, and Du Ziheng was assigned to the Ministry of Personnel as the head of the examination department.
The compilers of the Hanlin Academy were officials of the sixth rank.
The magistrate of a county is a seventh-rank official.
The position of Director of the Ministry of Personnel is only an eighth-rank official.
On the surface, the top scholar (状元) holds the highest official position.
But in reality, this position is highly questionable, and whether you will be given important responsibilities in the future depends on whether the emperor and leaders will remember you.
The county magistrate does have some real power, but no matter how powerful a county magistrate is, he cannot compare to Du Ziheng, who is in the capital and works in the Ministry of Personnel, and has the protection of his father.
The Performance Evaluation Office is in charge of the appointment, dismissal, performance evaluation, and promotion/demotion of all officials...
This is definitely a lucrative job!
The emperor clearly arranged the future of students from poor families and those from noble families, and no one outwardly objected to this, including the top two scholars who were treated differently.
However, nobody cares whether they have any opinions or not.
The main event was over, and before that, everyone had watched an opening lightning strike, so they urgently needed to calm down.
So the ensuing song and dance performances and the food and drinks were exactly what everyone wanted.
Yu Jiaojiao cheered up.
Here it comes; for her, what's about to happen is the real highlight.
An assassin is someone who unleashes their murderous intent while everyone is eating, drinking, and enjoying music and dance.
After all, this was the only time of day when everyone was truly relaxed during the entire banquet.
Yu Jiaojiao glanced discreetly behind several ministers and their families, then smiled with delight.
The thief stood right behind these people, so they were the first to be slaughtered when the assassination began.
She gave Yu Zhiyi another disdainful look.
Despite all the talk of being able to predict the future, this woman could never have imagined that today's banquet would become her stage for fame and fortune, the beginning of her rise to prominence!
She wasn't worried at all that Yu Zhiyi would steal her credit, because Yu Zhiyi wasn't in Shengjing at this time in her previous life. Although she might have heard about the assassination while she was away, she certainly wouldn't know the situation better than she did, who had experienced it firsthand.
As the chief eunuch clapped his hands, and the dancers were about to enter, Yu Jiaojiao touched the breastplate hidden in her chest and took a deep breath.
She had decided to shield herself from the sword.
After all, nothing is more shocking than seeing someone risk their life for you.
As for You Bingyue...
You Bingyue was also forcibly taken away when Xiaoyao Wang was taken away.
She lost her chance before she even began to demonstrate her abilities and ambitions.
Sudden……
"Wait a moment."
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. Although Prime Minister Du and his wife did not understand, they chose to respect the decision, but they looked at their daughter-in-law who was slowly getting up with some concern.
Yu Jiaojiao was furious.
She had finally mustered the courage to face the impending pain, but this woman's interruption quickly extinguished much of her courage.
The emperor was somewhat displeased.
We haven't settled the score with her for what just happened, what is she up to now?
"Mrs. Du, is there anything else?"
Yu Zhiyi slowly walked to the center of the hall, seemingly unaware of the emperor's anger: "Before the performance begins, I would like to present Your Majesty with a gift."
Everyone: "..."
emperor:"……"
Yu Jiaojiao was both angry and contemptuous.
He usually acts all high and mighty, but today he's made a complete fool of himself!
Could she possibly think that doing this would attract the emperor's attention, or make Du Ziheng change his mind?
The Empress thought so too, and her dignified and graceful face darkened.
However, before the Empress could reprimand her, Yu Zhiyi continued, "I've heard that the news of my divination skills has spread throughout Shengjing. I have nothing of value except this meager skill, so today I'm going to give you a live demonstration of divination."
emperor:"?"
The Empress, who thought Yu Zhiyi was trying to curry favor, was speechless.
Everyone: "???"
I've never heard of anyone giving a fortune teller as a gift!
Don't be ridiculous!
Although the emperor was somewhat speechless, he couldn't help but be curious. After all, both Prime Minister Du and the Duke of Dingguo had praised Yu Zhiyi to the skies, saying that she was a master strategist and practically a goddess descended from heaven...
He also wanted to see if this goddess truly possessed any abilities, or if she had used some underhanded means to deceive the two elderly people.
He concealed the doubt in his eyes and said calmly, "Granted."
Yu Zhiyi had a smile on her face.
The assassins will make their move during the upcoming song and dance segment. They are divided into two groups: one group is hidden among the palace servants who are responsible for attending to the nobles, and the other group is hidden among the singers and dancers.
They were just waiting for the right moment to work together and slaughter all the high-ranking officials and nobles in the hall!
Yu Zhiyi wanted to save not only the emperor, but everyone in the hall.
Therefore, she cannot use conventional methods to crudely identify the assassin. Otherwise, before she can find everyone, her remaining companions, driven to desperation, might go berserk and kill people.
There are just too many live targets in this hall.
Thinking about it, she decided to randomly pick a "lucky audience member".
Her gaze swept over the people in the hall, and she was about to speak when Yu Jiaojiao couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, isn't this inappropriate?"
Her voice was so sharp with anxiety that everyone couldn't help but turn their heads.
Realizing she had lost her composure, Yu Jiaojiao quickly composed herself. She glanced at Yu Zhiyi, her face showing just the right amount of worry: "My sister and I have lived together for so many years, and I have never heard of her being able to tell fortunes."
"If her divination results are incorrect, wouldn't she be committing the crime of deceiving the emperor?"
Everyone: "..."
They simply suspected that Madam Du's abilities were fake, and that Prime Minister Du was lying to promote his daughter-in-law.
But you, her dear sister, want to kill her!
But that wasn't all. After Yu Jiaojiao finished speaking, Yu Zixuan chimed in, "Sister Jiaojiao is right, Yu Zhiyi doesn't know anything about metaphysics!"
He glared angrily at Yu Zhiyi and said, "Yu Zhiyi, can you please stop trying to attract attention? Do you want to get us all killed?"
Yu Zhiyi raised an eyebrow: "How would I want to kill all of you?"
Yu Zixuan glared at him: "You have committed the crime of deceiving the emperor!"
He said with a look of disappointment, "No matter how much you swindled and cheated in the past, since nothing serious happened, and you actually helped the Duke of Dingguo find his sister and inadvertently helped those innocent women, we turned a blind eye."
"But now you've even managed to deceive His Majesty! You're incredibly audacious! I'm afraid you'll really pretend to be crazy in front of His Majesty, and if your lies are exposed, won't we, as your family, all be killed by you?"
The Emperor was surprised: "Oh? So, Madam Du really doesn't know anything about metaphysics?"
His gaze fell on Prime Minister Du, then swept over the Duke of Dingguo.
The two were terrified and quickly stood up: "Your Majesty, we did not lie, Yi'er/Young Madam Du is truly capable!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com