Chapter 51 Zhou Chuanxing threw a tantrum at the Six Ministries...
Zhou Chuanxing vented his anger at the Six Ministries, and then went to the palace to visit the Emperor.
It's the same as always; he's rarely awake and spends most of his time in a coma.
Zhou Chuanxing was irritable today, and sat on the edge of the bed talking to the Emperor for a long time.
Of course, the emperor, who was in a coma, didn't hear a single word.
When the Empress heard that he had arrived, she rushed to his bedchamber to meet him.
"Second brother, if it's convenient, Father will take my younger sister to the Prince's Mansion to enjoy the flowers in the next couple of days. Please take good care of her."
Zhou Chuanxing remained expressionless as always. "Whatever Your Majesty arranges, Second Brother will follow Your Majesty's orders."
The Queen was very pleased with his performance, and her smile grew wider.
She pushed her daughter in front of Zhou Chuanxing, "Chaoyang, haven't you been saying you miss your second uncle? Why are you afraid to speak when you see him?"
Five-year-old Chaoyang is usually fearless, but he is terrified of his second uncle, who has been a general for nearly ten years.
She was pushed by her mother before she came to Zhou Chuanxing.
"Second Uncle."
The Emperor has only one daughter.
The three brothers and their sister are the only descendants they have.
How could Zhou Chuanxing not be in pain?
He bent down and picked up the little girl, trying to speak as gently as possible: "Uncle misses Chaoyang too. Tell Uncle what you've been learning lately?"
The little girl learned so many things: fighting with the little princess, tripping up the little eunuch, climbing trees to steal birds' nests, going down to the river to catch fish, catching crickets...
He keeps himself dirty all the time.
I dressed up specially to see my second uncle today.
Quiet, well-behaved, with a rosy complexion, she's loved by everyone.
"These past few days I've been learning to recite poems, write characters, and do crafts."
This was something the Empress specifically instructed her to do.
Zhou Chuanxing didn't know what a girl this age should learn, but it sounded pretty good.
"Chaoyang is amazing, even better than your aunt."
Chaoyang was overjoyed by the praise. "Second Uncle, since I'm such a good boy, can I stay at your palace for a few days?"
Zhou Chuanxing had never raised a child before, and looked at the Empress with some confusion.
The Empress smiled and took her daughter.
"Your second uncle is busy, so I shouldn't cause him any trouble."
Chaoyang was somewhat disappointed, and her little face quickly fell.
Zhou Chuanxing reached out and pinched her cheek. "Your second uncle will come to pick you up after he's done with this."
When Chaoyang is happy, he tends to dance around and reveal his true nature.
She only became obedient when the Empress gave her a stern look.
Zhou Chuanxing returned to the Prince's Mansion through the back door.
Since the main entrance was a long way around, he didn't care much about the route and just went whichever was more convenient.
Unexpectedly, there were more than a dozen carriages parked at the gate, with people transporting things into the palace one trip after another.
"What are you doing?"
“Your Highness,” the head guard replied truthfully, “someone ordered us to return these items.”
Zhou Chuanxing frowned: "What is that?"
They actually hauled over a dozen truckloads.
The guard whispered, "It's all silver. This is only part of it. The other twenty carts were sent to two money shops."
Zhou Chuanxing was even more puzzled: "Where did so much silver come from?"
The guard was unaware, saying, "It was Zisu who ordered us to bring it back."
Zhou Chuanxing immediately thought of Tang Xinuan.
He didn't even return to the Prince's Mansion, but went straight to Caiyue Tower.
After receiving a reminder from Rui Wang, Tang Xinuan's second question was simple, and many people answered it correctly.
Prince Rui was displeased.
Sun Qingzhao could answer both the simple and the very simple questions, so it was impossible to determine a winner.
Let Han Xi come up with an extremely difficult question that Sun Qingzhao will definitely not be able to answer.
With so many underlings, what if one or two of them could answer correctly?
Sun Qingzhao must get out of the court.
Therefore, for the third question, Tang Xinuan asked a question related to astronomy and calendar.
Sun Qingzhao indeed couldn't answer.
Fortunately, he was very knowledgeable and answered part of the question, but he couldn't deduce the final result.
On King Rui's side, including Chu Yannuo, all the answer sheets in front of them were spotless, whiter than their faces, without even a drop of ink on them.
Prince Duan walked past them one by one.
They almost ran out of sarcastic remarks.
"They're all like this, and they still have the nerve to skip court. How could my Great Zhou Dynasty have raised so many useless people? And they still have the nerve to complain about others. They don't even know what kind of people they are..."
The former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who was replaced by Sun Qingzhao, is now a low-ranking official of the sixth rank. He is dissatisfied, saying, "Does being good at mathematics help me manage the government or bring peace to the country? Our Great Zhou Dynasty is powerful and strong, but we don't need such low-class tricks."
"Mathematics is not a respectable skill?" Tang Xinuan didn't want to hear such words. "Does your salary not require mathematics? Do you not need mathematics to calculate how much rice your family needs to eat, how much vegetables to buy, and how many clothes to wear?"
Do you need to do math to calculate how many shops your family owns, how many acres of land, how much income you have, and how much expenditure you have?
This is putting it on a small scale; if a family is this complicated, what about the imperial court?
The sixth-rank official who was replaced wanted to explain, but for a moment he couldn't find any objection to his argument.
Chu Yannuo never expected that her cousin would become so clever after not seeing her for two months.
He silenced even a sixth-rank official in the imperial court.
He was determined to protect him, so he kept attacking the lowly sixth-rank official.
“The Li family certainly doesn’t need mathematics. After all, a concubine ran away yesterday. Madam Li claims that the concubine ran away with five thousand taels of silver.”
Many people didn't understand the meaning at first glance.
Tang Xinuan explained, "In our Great Zhou Dynasty, one tael of silver weighs about 31 grams. Five thousand taels of silver weighs more than three hundred catties. I'm afraid even an adult male couldn't carry it away."
She was still holding him.
As soon as Tang Xinuan finished explaining, everyone in the hall burst into laughter.
Sun Qingzhao said at the right moment, "If you didn't know better, you would think that Lord Li's concubine is some kind of strongwoman. Our Great Zhou Dynasty has produced another extraordinary person."
Li Liupin's face flushed red and then turned pale.
He dared not offend the Crown Prince of Chu.
Han Xi seemed to have a close relationship with Prince Rui, and he dared not offend him.
He could only vent his anger on Sun Qingzhao.
"You stinking beggar, what do you know? Have you ever seen five thousand taels of silver before!"
Sun Qingzhao had indeed never seen so many.
"Anyway, I'm not strong enough to carry that many."
Li Liupin was about to speak again, but was scared off by a cold glare from Prince Rui.
"If we didn't solve the last question, then it's a tie, no winner or loser."
Sun Qingzhao was indignant, but he feared that it wouldn't be so easy to make Prince Rui kneel before Prince Duan.
At this moment, Prince Rui was very happy.
With Han Xi on his side, preventing Sun Qingzhao from answering, he was bound to win a great victory.
"Since this match ended in a draw, let's leave it at that. I'll start a new game."
Hanxi was the champion of the previous competition.
"The most intelligent man in the Great Zhou Dynasty, whoever can surpass him, I will appoint as the head of the Imperial Secretariat."
I've heard that everyone wants to take on the challenge of being the head of the Imperial Secretariat.
There's nothing shameful about losing to the smartest person in the world.
But if we win...
As soon as Prince Rui finished speaking, countless people rushed onto the stage, eager to participate.
However, they were all driven back by Prince Rui's men.
Prince Rui organized this gathering to promote his uncle, who was utterly corrupt, ignorant, and illiterate.
Consort De urged him several times to arrange a position for him in the court.
But his uncle was simply not up to par; he couldn't even get past the two prime ministers.
The reason he dares to make arrangements now is that Sun Qingzhao and Yao Lin were able to reach the fourth or sixth rank even after losing to Han Xi. It wouldn't be unreasonable for his uncle to become a third-rank official after defeating Han Xi.
When the time comes, he will raise his voice and someone will speak on his behalf, leaving his second brother with no choice but to suffer in silence.
If his uncle hadn't been so incompetent, he wouldn't have had to spend a million taels of silver.
However, he was certain that Han Xi didn't have such a big appetite. He dared to give it, but would Han Xi dare to accept it?
They only got to see what 500,000 taels looked like, and afterwards they had to obediently return it to him.
He generously gave 30,000 to 50,000 taels of silver, and the matter was considered closed.
Prince Rui's uncle, Yao Yuehai, had just been brought over from Haitang Garden.
I stayed out too late with some girls yesterday, and I still smell of alcohol on me.
Even after entering Caiyue Tower, he was still not happy. "What's wrong with you guys? What kind of competition is this? It's just a lousy minister. It's not like my nephew can decide it with a single word."
If Yao Yuehai had done anything even remotely right, Prince Rui wouldn't be in such a difficult position.
He kicked away the two servants beside Yao Yuehai in a fit of rage, and said, barely containing his anger, "Uncle, we've been waiting for you."
Yao Yuehai squinted at Prince Rui and said with a fawning smile, "Nephew, when you see that your nephew is about to get angry, your uncle is coming right away, right away."
He was helped to his place in the competition area by Prince Rui.
On both sides were advisors whom Prince Rui had arranged to help him cheat.
Tang Xinuan was sitting two seats away from Yao Yuehai.
To make the competition more realistic, Prince Rui also arranged for several officials who had just given their answers to participate.
His plan was to divide the competition into three rounds.
The first round of questions was easy, and everyone answered them correctly.
The second round was slightly more difficult, with only Yao Yuehai and Han Xi answering correctly.
In the third round, only Yao Yuehai answered correctly.
Such a perfect plan could only have come up with by Prince Rui.
Prince Rui couldn't help but feel smug.
"The match begins."
The questions were all prepared in advance by Prince Rui, and it can be said that they were specially tailored for Yao Yuehai.
Make sure he can copy the answer from the advisor next to him.
The answer to the last question was just a string of numbers.
If Yao Yuehai isn't stupid, he'll definitely be able to write it.
...
Sun Qingzhao did not know Yao Yuehai. He had only been in the capital for a short time and only knew the leaders of several major factions.
Seeing Yao Yuehai reeking of alcohol and swaying as he sat in his seat, he asked curiously, "Who is this person...?"
Prince Duan laughed and said, "The younger brother of Consort De and the maternal uncle of Prince Rui, he has tried many ways to help over the years, but unfortunately, he is not a good enough uncle. He must have slept in the Begonia Garden again last night. He is already a regular there."
Sun Qingzhao sighed helplessly, "No wonder the Regent is so eager to find talented people. If the government is controlled by these people, our Great Zhou Dynasty is in grave danger!"
Prince Duan naturally felt sorry for his second brother.
"I hope the provincial examinations this autumn will proceed smoothly and select more talented individuals."
The first two rounds of the competition went smoothly, just as Prince Rui had planned.
By the third round, only Yao Yuehai and Han Xi remained.
Prince Rui felt that the position of Minister was already beckoning to his uncle.
"After two rounds of competition, only Yao Yuehai and Han Xi remain as contestants."
This shows that Yao Yuehai and Han Xi were the most intelligent people in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Next, let's see who is the smartest person in the Great Zhou Dynasty!
Prince Rui assigned the task of reading the last question to Chu Yannuo.
Chu Yannuo's heart was always with his cousin.
He had no idea that his cousin knew arithmetic.
How could that be? She's just a silly girl who doesn't even understand worldly matters!
And what's the deal with Hanxi?
The champion of the previous competition, the smartest person in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
It's his cousin!
What exactly did he miss? Was he knocked unconscious and then time-traveled?
Why did his cousin suddenly become someone he didn't recognize?
After much thought and deliberation, Chu Yannuo came to a conclusion.
My cousin and Prince Rui are having an affair.
The answers my cousin gave just now may not necessarily reflect her true abilities; she probably memorized the answers beforehand, just like Yao Yuehai.
In any case, my cousin is smarter than that idiot Yao Yuehai.
It's not surprising that you remember these answers.
He wanted to see his cousin's true abilities.
What exactly happened with the first truly intelligent person in the Great Zhou Dynasty?
Chu Yannuo suddenly tore up the exam paper.
"This question doesn't count. To be fair, I've decided to create a new one."
Prince Rui: "..."
I thank your ancestors for eight generations!
Prince Duan and Sun Qingzhao laughed so hard they almost fell over.
Most of the court officials knew Yao Yuehai's character and had guessed some of the truth.
They were all stunned.
There was also a very small number of court officials who were unaware of the truth, and most ordinary viewers who just wanted to watch the spectacle.
They didn't care whether Prince Chu tore up the question or not.
"Prince Chu, why did you tear up the exam questions!" Prince Rui questioned in a accusatory tone.
Chu Yannuo respectfully said, "Prince Rui has always been fair and just. If the questions are prepared in advance, some people will inevitably doubt them. It would be more convincing to ask the questions on the spot."
Prince Rui's face turned as black as hell.
He does want fairness and impartiality, but his uncle also needs to have the ability to do so.
Fortunately, he arranged for two advisors to help him cheat.
He then gave Hanxi a wink, telling her that no matter what question he asked, she wouldn't be able to answer it.
Even if the uncle can't copy it clearly, and neither of them can answer it, it's still a tie.
It's a pity that Tang Xinuan is not good at reading people's expressions.
Things took a dramatic turn; she had assumed that Prince Rui was telling her to answer whatever he wanted.
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Author's note: Prince Rui: You must read my expression before you act.
Tang Xinuan: Sorry, I'm terrible at reading people!
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