After a moment's thought, Sima Lie suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"If I remember correctly, isn't there a beautiful maidservant by Sima Jing's side? Isn't she also one of your carefully trained female disciples?"
These words reminded Qiu Beiming.
"You're talking about Ruyan, right? She's still a virgin!"
"Prime Minister, are you saying we should send her to the emperor's side?"
"Exactly!"
The two exchanged a sinister smile and immediately made arrangements.
Sima Lie didn't forget to instruct the steward, "By the way! Weng Tonghe is gone, and the situation at the Imperial Academy is unstable. Don't forget to spread the word to those other petty villains that I am still here!"
"Isn't he in charge of the scientific expedition now? Then let's make sure the exam can't proceed properly!"
"clear!"
Due to unforeseen changes, the scientific expedition lasted for two full days.
Although the events that occurred midway caused dissatisfaction among many candidates, fortunately, Song Zhenglian was highly respected and exceptionally capable, ensuring the smooth progress of the entire examination.
After the event, all the sealed test questions were collected.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Song Zhenglian looked tired, but managed a forced smile.
"Dear colleagues, I'm afraid you'll all have a hard time these next few days. The previous incident has already caused dissatisfaction among many people, and there must be no mistakes in grading the exam papers!"
Song Zhenglian, who had suddenly become the chief examiner of the scientific expedition, appeared very polite, and was certainly much better than the previous one.
But at the Imperial College, it wasn't about whether you had the ability or how good your attitude was.
Everyone knows that the world is about to change drastically, but everyone also knows that Song Zhenglian has a weak background and no one in the court supports him.
In particular, Prime Minister Sima deliberately spread rumors that the Imperial Academy would soon be under his control again.
The other examiners immediately understood the situation. Of course, since Song Zhenglian was personally appointed by the emperor, they could not openly oppose him.
but.
But they could have refused to support it; after reaching a consensus, they actually resorted to nonviolent non-cooperation.
In a full noon, the average person graded less than five exam papers!
Song Zhenglian's face turned ashen as he stepped forward to ask questions.
"There are so many candidates on this scientific expedition, isn't your pace a bit too slow?"
The examiner immediately chuckled and said righteously and confidently, "No, Chief Examiner Song, didn't you say that you would review them carefully? We are just checking them carefully, how could we cause you any trouble?"
Generally speaking, for such important national affairs, the Imperial Academy and even the entire Ministry of Rites would voluntarily work overtime, which had almost become an unwritten rule.
But today, as soon as it was time, the examiners all complained of feeling unwell or other reasons and went home.
Song Zhenglian suppressed his anger and rebuked him.
"The scientific expedition is so important, and the results are related to all the candidates. You are leaving just like that."
"But we are not feeling well."
Song Zhenglian, after all, did not wield real power and could not stop their shameless behavior.
A group of examiners simply slipped away and went home, leaving the entire mountain of exam papers to Song Zhenglian.
Everyone was watching Song Zhenglian's misfortune with schadenfreude.
If the results aren't released on time, let's see how he can continue being the chief examiner!
Hearing the unrestrained laughter and veiled sarcasm outside the door, Song Zhenglian's lips and face turned ashen.
After standing there angrily for a long time, he finally threw his sleeves and cursed.
"A bunch of pests of the nation!"
Looking at the mountain of exam papers, he could only sigh and frantically begin grading them!
Of course, Qin Yu was not yet aware of everything that had happened at the Imperial College.
He was now sitting in the study, his face beaming with excitement, meticulously refining his method.
Qin Yu's eyes shone as he looked at the staggering numbers before him.
"We've really struck it rich!"
Just then, the door was pushed open, and Anfu walked in happily, reporting what was happening.
"Good news, Your Majesty! Look!"
After saying that, he opened the box he was carrying, which contained golden, crisp tobacco leaves of excellent quality!
"The envoy disguised as the Blood Droplets has returned. Not only did they bring back a large quantity of tobacco leaves, but they also brought back tobacco seedlings, which have now been sent to Qingyun Temple for cultivation!"
He snatched the golden tobacco leaves from Anfu's hand, held them to his ear, and took a deep sniff.
"It's truly of excellent quality! It smells wonderful, absolutely wonderful!"
Just looking at the tobacco leaves made Qin Yu's lungs itch. Without thinking twice, he immediately gave the orders.
"Then what are we waiting for? Qingzhu, come over here and roll a cigarette with me!"
The tools for manually rolling cigarettes have now been developed by Shangzuo Si with excellent human-computer interaction engineering and significant progress in speed.
Just a moment later, the three of them rolled out a large amount.
After taking a greedy, deep breath, Qin Yu clicked his tongue in admiration, "Not bad, really not bad!"
The tobacco leaves we brought back this time were significantly better than before.
In this way, Qin Yu can divide them into two grades, high and low. With the low grade highlighted, the high grade cigarettes can definitely be sold at a better price.
"Don't just stand there! Come on, Anfu, you should try some!"
"Hehe~ Thank you, Your Majesty!"
After taking the cigarette, Anfu also started puffing away in a very professional manner, even more so than Sima Lie.
Being close to Qin Yu, An Fu got his share of the benefits.
The master and servant enjoyed the effects of nicotine from their different positions. After a pause, Qin Yu shared his thoughts.
"Anfu, from now on, I will not only plant this top-grade tobacco, but also the second-grade tobacco. What do you think?"
"Hmm?" Anfu was immediately puzzled. "Since we have the best ones, why do we need to plant the inferior ones?"
"Oh, you don't know this, do you? Only by having inferior goods can the superior ones be highlighted. Otherwise, how could those merchants and high-ranking officials afford to buy more expensive cigarettes?"
Upon hearing this, Anfu suddenly realized and immediately exclaimed in admiration, "Your Majesty, you are truly a genius!"
"Oh, right," Anfu reported quickly, as if he had just remembered something, "This time, the delegation returned from the Western Regions with a treasure, the Seven Star Grass!"
"Seven-star grass? Could it be a better tobacco leaf?"
Anfu smiled and said, "No! This Seven Star Grass is exactly the ingredient that Abbot Liu used to make the Soul-Capturing Powder. He has been searching for it for a long time but could not find it. I did not expect to find it in the Western Regions."
"Currently, the Seven Star Grass has been sent to Abbot Liu for immediate preparation!"
Qin Yu was overjoyed upon hearing this.
"OK!"
Previously, I was terrified by this Soul-Capturing Powder!
Liu Caiqing was asked to prepare the antidote, but she was unable to due to a lack of ingredients. Now that the important ingredients have arrived, Liu Caiqing should be able to prepare an effective antidote based on the Soul-Capturing Powder soon.
In that case, let your Beiming Sect send as many female spies as you want!
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