Chapter 18 The Fairy in the Painting Announces the Results
After issuing the command, Shen Moyuan's fingers caressed the spider pattern on his cuff, his eyes deep and seemingly churning with something.
He lowered his eyes and sipped the tea from the teacup, then placed the teacup beside him, the teacup touching the table with a soft clinking sound.
An official who was grading papers noticed Shen Moyuan's movements but didn't see anything unusual. He glanced at him subconsciously before returning his attention to the exam paper in his hand.
It seems that they were only attracted by the way he placed the teacup.
Shen Moyuan didn't care about the official's gaze. He put the exam paper in front of him aside and picked up a new one.
Upon seeing the contents of the exam paper, his pupils constricted, his breath hitched, and his fingers on the paper trembled slightly.
This! This is impossible!
The pen slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a thud.
The sound drew everyone's attention in the relatively quiet room. The officials who were reviewing the papers subconsciously looked up at the source of the sound and saw a writing brush on the ground, with ink from the tip spreading across the floor.
They looked up at the owner of the pen and saw Shen Moyuan's somewhat stiff expression and flickering eyes.
Shen Moyuan noticed the gazes around him, forced himself to calm down, and looked up at the others with a sharp look in his eyes.
"Why are you gentlemen looking at me? Have you finished reviewing the papers?"
After he finished speaking, he stood up, bent down to pick up the calligraphy brush from the ground, put it back on the brush holder, and looked down at the test paper in front of him, looking like he was carefully grading the paper.
The officials exchanged glances, their expressions unreadable, before quickly lowering their heads to look at the exam papers in their hands.
Shen Moyuan stared at the test paper in his hand with dark eyes, and read it through again from beginning to end. The more he read, the calmer his wildly beating heart became.
It wasn't her!
After the initial euphoria came overwhelming anger and rage.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes. Of all people to imitate, why did he have to imitate her?
With a cold face, Shen Moyuan rolled up the test paper in his hand and casually threw it into the bamboo basket next to him, which was also filled with many discarded test papers.
"Huh? Lord Shen, why did you throw away these perfectly good exam papers?"
An official sitting next to Shen Moyuan had been watching him closely. When he saw Shen Moyuan throw an exam paper into a bamboo basket, a look of disgust flashed in his eyes.
He glanced at it briefly, but the exam paper exuded a strong literary air, suggesting that the writing must be exceptional.
Unexpectedly, Shen Moyuan actually invalidated the exam paper. As expected of Shen Moyuan, he can't stand geniuses who are better at writing than him.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have done such a beastly thing back then.
It's a pity that someone like this is so highly regarded!
He bent over and closed his eyes briefly to conceal the emotions within.
He reached out and opened the exam paper, and after a quick glance at the contents, he was immediately captivated by the sharp and incisive essay.
His eyes lit up; this article was truly excellent!
"Lord Zhang, this exam paper has been rejected by me." Shen Moyuan stared at Lord Zhang expressionlessly.
Lord Zhang's hand trembled, and he almost threw the exam paper away again, but thinking of the essay on it, he tried his best to remain calm.
"Lord Shen, I see no problem with this exam paper and it should not be rejected."
"Ha! Lord Zhang, I am the chief examiner!" Shen Moyuan sneered, and said decisively, "I say this exam paper is invalid!"
Lord Zhang sighed inwardly, knowing that he was truly powerless to help Shen Moyuan on his own.
He closed his eyes, about to throw the test paper back into the bamboo basket, when a hand stopped him.
"Lord Shen, you are indeed the chief examiner, but you cannot arbitrarily invalidate the candidates' papers without cause." The speaker spoke slowly, but his attitude was firm.
Shen Moyuan's expression turned somewhat unpleasant, but the person who spoke was the heir of the Marquis of Changping in the Dayong Dynasty.
Although the Marquis of Changping was backed by an emperor who had little real power, he still had to outwardly show respect for the emperor's authority.
"Of course, I did not reject this candidate's exam paper without reason. You may all pass it around and take a look at the article."
As Shen Moyuan spoke, he adopted a dignified and impartial demeanor.
"In my opinion, this candidate is making irresponsible remarks about important matters of the court, which is too rash. I think it would be better to suppress him."
It was obvious from these words that they were just an excuse to fob off the heir of the Marquis of Changping. If he didn't want to confront Shen Moyuan and the forces behind him, he would be better off giving up.
Shen Moyuan stared at the heir of the Marquis of Changping and said, "Young Master Zhou, what do you think?"
Anger flashed in Zhou Jiming's eyes. He glanced at the test paper in his hand and felt fortunate that he had come here with Shen Moyuan, otherwise he would have missed such a promising talent.
His face immediately showed an offended expression, and it seemed that he had lost his temper and wanted to go against Shen Moyuan.
"Hmph! I think you're wrong!"
Shen Moyuan's expression immediately darkened.
Zhou Jiming was not afraid of him. He raised his head and said, "I think this candidate has a lot of ideas. The Dayong Dynasty is in dire need of talent. In my opinion, only a mere top scholar is worthy of such a good article."
Shen Moyuan twitched his lips. What do you mean that a mere top scholar is worthy of him?
You idiot, do you even know how difficult it is to become the top scholar?!
Back then, he only ranked second in the academy exam!
Thinking of this, his eyes darkened for a moment.
"Absolutely not!" Shen Moyuan immediately objected.
He absolutely could not let Zhou Jiming ruin his plan!
Zhou Jiming didn't care about him. Anyway, when he came, he was ordered by His Majesty to recruit more talents.
This candidate is clearly a genius; he's determined to win him over!
The first step in winning him over is to help him become the top scholar!
"Nonsense! Do you think the top scholar position is given out so easily?" An old voice rang out, breaking the standoff between the two.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a dignified old man slowly walking over.
"Lord Sun!" Everyone instinctively bowed to the old man.
This Lord Sun, Sun Heqing, is the highest-ranking and most senior official among them, and they cannot tolerate any disrespect towards him.
After Sun Heqing finished reading the exam paper in Zhou Jiming's hand, no one saw a glint in his eyes.
After reading it, he slowly stroked his beard and said, "Since everyone has objections to how to judge this exam paper, then let's proceed with Wen Guang's evaluation!"
He scanned the faces of the crowd: "Wen Guang's examination of the scrolls is the most impartial; I suppose no one will object?"
Shen Moyuan, who wanted to voice his objection, shut up. Wen Guang's examination of the scrolls was indeed the most impartial, but there was no reason to object.
“Agreed!” The other officials nodded in agreement.
After everyone finished reviewing the papers, they took the top ten papers they had selected, along with the paper that faced either being rejected or becoming the top scorer, and went together to the Wenchang Pavilion.
Sun Heqing solemnly placed all the exam papers in his hands one by one, and then everyone lined up in front of the Wenchang Emperor and kowtowed in worship.
The next moment, everyone saw the exam papers on the table slowly unfold and then light up with white light.
Instantly, everyone's attention was drawn to the last exam paper, simply because it was so well-written!
At Wenyuan Academy, Shao Yanzhe stood before his teacher, waiting for him to guide him on whether there were any errors or omissions in his essay.
After reading it, the Master stared at him with a complicated expression, making him feel uncomfortable.
"Master, what's wrong? Is there something I wrote wrong?" he asked somewhat nervously.
It couldn't be that the Master had doubts because his writings differed from the original text, could it?
The Master shook his head and said, "There is nothing wrong with what you wrote. I just have some thoughts. Your writing has improved very quickly recently. It seems that you have finally figured it out. With these articles, you will undoubtedly be in the top three in this imperial examination."
Shao Yanzhe was overjoyed: "Really? Thank you so much, Master! I will certainly live up to your expectations!"
"Alright, go back to your studies. After all, the problem isn't solved yet, and we don't know when we'll be able to get out of this mess."
Seeing the Master's worried expression, Shao Yanzhe opened his mouth, wanting to say something about Yun Weiyue, but the Master was currently being deceived, and even if he said something, the Master wouldn't believe him.
However, Yun Suqing has promised him that she will no longer harm the students of the academy, so no one will be in danger during this period.
He could only comfort the Master, saying, "Master, don't worry, things might take a turn for the better soon."
Let's hope so!
Shao Yanzhe bid farewell to the Master and returned to his dormitory, where he saw Xuan Yao basking in the sun on the windowsill. It seemed that its injuries had been completely healed.
When it returned, Xuan Yao flicked its tail at him as a greeting.
"Aren't you going to check the rankings?" Yun Weiyue asked.
Shao Yanzhe said, "Go, no rush. I made plans with my classmates to get together after the results are released, so I'll probably be back late."
"good."
After saying goodbye to them, Shao Yanzhe headed towards the examination hall and finally met up with the other four at a teahouse opposite the examination hall.
"Brother Shao, you're late. You'll have to punish yourself with a drink!" Liu Mingyuan joked.
"Alright! I'll punish myself with a drink!"
Shao Yanzhe was also thirsty, so he immediately took the teacup from his hand and drank it all in one gulp.
"Brother Shao is so generous!" Liu Mingyuan opened his folding fan with a grin, looking every bit the playboy.
"Alright, Brother Liu, stop fooling around. The results will be announced soon," Shen Jingzhou said, frowning, his eyes filled with anxiety.
"Brother Shen, what's the rush? With your talent, the top spot will surely be yours!" Liu Mingyuan knew Shen Jingzhou's anxiety and could only try to comfort him in this way.
"Brother Liu, don't talk nonsense." Shen Jingzhou glanced at him disapprovingly.
"Huh? The results are out!"
Someone said something, and instantly, the crowd surged towards the examination hall.
"Brother Shao, aren't you going to go see?" Shen Jingzhou glanced at Shao Yanzhe, who was still sitting in the same spot, and reminded him.
Shao Yanzhe shook his head. "No rush. There are too many people now. We won't be able to see anything even if we go."
Upon hearing this, Shen Jingzhou agreed and sat down as well.
At the entrance of the examination hall, the list of candidates had already been posted, and the candidates crowded around it, eagerly searching for their names.
"Hahaha! I won! I won!"
"How come my name isn't on the list! Waaah! I failed again!"
"I won too! I won too! That's great!"
"This is impossible! How could I have missed it!"
Those who passed the exam and those who failed crowded together, laughing and crying.
"Huh? The top one is Shao Yanzhe? Who is Shao Yanzhe?" Suddenly, someone pointed to the top with a puzzled look.
"Who is Shao Yanzhe? I've never heard of him before."
"I've never heard of it either!"
"Did he cheat?! Otherwise, how could he have scored higher than Shen Jingzhou?" someone suddenly exclaimed.
Shen Jingzhou is a renowned scholar at Wenyuan Academy and enjoys considerable prestige among the candidates.
Immediately, the way those candidates who failed the exam looked at Shao Yanzhe's name changed.
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