On Fu Changfeng's side, ever since they entered the examination hall, they had been assigned to different examination booths to wait for the examiners to arrive. Sitting in front of him was a man, and the two were not much different in age.
The man seemed to notice that he was being looked at, so he smiled back at him.
On the other side was a slightly chubby man who had just entered behind Fu Changfeng. He fell fast asleep as soon as he came in, looking quite at ease, even Fu Changfeng felt inferior to him.
"Time has come, the exam begins. No one is allowed to leave. Papers will be distributed!" The chief examiner arrived with his entourage, and after the exchange of greetings, the exam officially began.
After receiving the question, Fu Changfeng pondered for a while and finally came up with an idea for answering it. He was about to write it down on his draft, but seeing that it was still early, he decided to think about it more carefully.
Turning my head, I saw the slightly chubby man opposite me writing with divine inspiration, his brushstrokes flowing effortlessly and without hesitation. No wonder he was sound asleep just now; I never imagined he had reached such a level. Even with occasional guidance from a good teacher, I could never reach that level. That's the difference between people.
At this moment, Fu Changfeng was no longer in a hurry to answer the questions. Instead, he turned his head to boil the broken noodles that Xichun had prepared in hot water and cooked them. After adding seasonings, they tasted quite delicious.
The person opposite Fu Changfeng sniffed when they saw the food in Fu Changfeng's bowl, then continued answering the questions.
Nine days had passed, and the gates of the examination hall finally opened, with candidates handing in their papers and leaving one after another.
Xichun, Taozi, and Sister Cao waited at the door. They really didn't know anything about the situation in the capital, so they could only come together to wait for someone. People gradually appeared, but Fu Changfeng had not yet appeared.
"Taozi, you must keep a close eye on him, don't miss him." Xichun looked left and right, but no one seemed right, and she became even more anxious.
"Hey, I've been watching, but I haven't seen my brother-in-law come out yet. There must be a lot of people, and it's not his turn yet." Taozi also looked towards the entrance of the examination hall.
The two watched for a while before finally seeing Fu Changfeng stagger out. Taozi rushed over and saw that he looked haggard, probably because he hadn't rested well at the examination hall.
Scholar Zeng had not yet come out, so Sister Cao had no choice but to let them go back first, while she and her servants waited here.
"Cough cough." Fu Changfeng coughed twice, and Xichun touched his forehead, which was already a little hot.
"Hurry up, your brother-in-law has a fever, we need to see a doctor right away." Xichun said anxiously. Fortunately, about half of the people had left by now, so the flow of traffic was clear, and they arrived at the courtyard in no time.
After examining the patient, the doctor prescribed medicine. Zhu Nian took the prescription and rushed to the clinic. Fu Changfeng also felt better under the doctor's skillful treatment.
At this time, Zeng, the scholar, also returned. He had also caught a cold, but fortunately it was not serious. With the doctor's treatment, he improved and was sleeping peacefully.
Fu Changfeng had taken the medicine and his body had been relieved, so he fell asleep.
Xi Chun and Sister Cao breathed a sigh of relief. However, instead of keeping the gate closed, they let Tao Zi and the others take turns going out to gather information. If anything happened, they could tell Fu Changfeng when he woke up.
This was something that Xichun and Fu Changfeng had agreed upon beforehand. At first, Xichun hadn't heard any news, but only a day later, Taozi brought back some important information.
"Sister Xichun, I just heard some important news. Someone is spreading rumors at the inn that someone cheated in the imperial examination and got the exam papers in advance. The students are all suggesting that the exam be retaken."
"What? How could this be? Right here in the capital, at the imperial examination site, someone dares to cheat?" Xi Chun couldn't believe it either. After thinking for a moment, she told Tao Zi to quickly close the door.
"Go to the market later and buy some vegetables that can be stored for a long time. For the next few days, we should stay indoors and not talk to strangers. Even if someone comes to see the young master or the scholar Zeng, we should refuse them on the grounds that they are sick."
After much deliberation, Xi Chun realized that this matter was not simple. For people like them who had no power or influence, the best course of action at this time was to protect themselves.
Xi Chun found Sister Cao and told her about the matter. Sister Cao was also surprised to hear this, but she was not good at handling these kinds of things, so she followed Xi Chun's advice and decided to discuss it again after her husband woke up.
The capital city was in an uproar because of the imperial examination cheating scandal. Apart from the candidates who came to take the exam, the imperial court was the one that reacted the most.
"Outrageous! Such a case has occurred right under my nose! The whole capital is talking about cheating in the imperial examinations. Minister of Personnel, Minister of Rites, Minister of Justice, I hereby hand this matter over to you three for joint investigation. You must find out the truth and appease the troublemaking candidates!"
When the emperor heard the report from the Grand Censor while sitting in the court, he was furious and ordered the officials below him to investigate the case as soon as possible. Otherwise, if the matter continued to escalate, it would only affect the dignity of the court.
Fu Changfeng and Zeng Juren finally regained their senses and woke up. Xichun fed Fu Changfeng the lean meat porridge before telling him about the incident.
"How could such a thing happen? Is it true or just a rumor?" Fu Changfeng was surprised to hear such news as soon as he woke up, and immediately investigated the conspiracy.
“I don’t know either. I haven’t dared to let anyone go out and inquire these days, for fear of implicating the two of you. If the cheating in the imperial examination is true, it will be a bloodbath. If ordinary people like us get involved, we’ll probably ruin our future.”
“My dear wife, your thoughts are very wise. I had the same concern. I will discuss it with Brother Zeng later. You don’t need to worry about this anymore.” After hearing what Xichun said, Fu Changfeng gently patted Xichun’s hand, finished his lean meat porridge in two gulps, and then went to discuss it with Scholar Zeng.
After discussing it in the study, the two agreed to send someone to find out what was going on. This time, Taozi also volunteered to go and find out the news himself.
After Taozi and the people sent by Zeng Juren investigated, Fu Changfeng also learned about the current situation.
It turned out that the emperor had set up a joint trial by the three departments, summoned the chief examiner and all the examiners, and also called in the person who had accused the examiner of cheating. After some investigation, it was discovered that the chief examiner's servant had been bribed and had given the examiner's questions to those people.
Unexpectedly, those people didn't use it for the exam themselves, but instead sold it to others. That's why a candidate inadvertently let it slip, and it was spread around after others found out.
"Sigh, I don't know how the court will handle this matter. We can only wait now. I'm afraid our exam will be invalidated." Hearing this, the two shook their heads, feeling quite regretful about the exam.
"Fortunately, we didn't continue socializing before the exam, otherwise we might have been implicated. Now, just waiting for the results is already the best we can do."
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