Qin Minghuang was stunned.
Has Pei Xuanyun become senile? Or has he gone mad?
How could he possibly do something that would threaten the very foundation of the nation for the sake of 100,000 taels of silver?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
In an instant, Qin Minghuang made a judgment.
It must be said that any normal person can see the absurdity of this intelligence.
“Uh…” Yin Zhe paused, his expression beneath the veil somewhat subtle, and quickly added:
"Your Majesty, please calm down. Actually... those exam questions didn't really come from the Pei family, but... they were sold to the Wen family by the Sixth Prince."
"What?!"
Qin Minghuang's voice suddenly rose, her eyebrows furrowed, and her almond-shaped eyes widened.
"Nonsense! Utter nonsense!"
She never imagined that Xiao Liu's involvement was involved.
Well, I thought you'd been behaving yourself ever since you returned to the capital, but all that happened was this incident of retaliating against the Duke's mansion.
She attempted to manipulate the imperial heir, even involving the prime minister, and didn't care how she acted.
Moreover, her actions were in line with her own attitude and served as a warning to the Duke of Zheng.
Who would have thought that Zhao Yue had quietly accomplished another major feat?
The provincial examination questions—was that something she dared to dabble in?
Qin Minghuang was so angry that she was speechless, her chest heaving violently, and she didn't know where to begin her rant.
"Your Majesty, please do not be anxious. In fact, the inside story of this matter is quite complicated."
A strange light shone in Yin Zhe's usually calm and still eyes.
She never expected that while Xiao Liu was swindling the Duke's mansion, he could actually pull off such a big deal without anyone noticing.
Without waiting for His Majesty to ask, he immediately began to explain in detail.
The questions for the preliminary exam did indeed come from the Pei family, or more precisely, from Pei Xueqiao, the eldest son of the Pei family.
However, the questions for this formal provincial examination had absolutely nothing to do with the Pei family.
Xiao Liu sent his men to the most famous academies in Fengjing in a very open and aboveboard manner.
He combined the guesses of several great scholars and bought them at a high price to compile a test-taking guide, spending a total of a thousand taels of silver.
Qin Minghuang breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this.
Fortunately, it only involved the preliminary test, and she still trusted the Pei family.
However, this matter is quite sensitive, and that silly boy Pei Xueqiao... actually dared to agree.
However, just thinking about the price involved, Qin Minghuang's lips twitched involuntarily.
Good heavens, with an initial investment of one thousand taels, they dare to sell it for one hundred thousand taels.
What's the difference between this and blatant robbery? This unlucky kid is really suited to be a shrewd businessman.
"And then?" Qin Minghuang pressed, pressing her throbbing temples.
"The Xuanji Guard's previous large-scale arrests severely impacted the intelligence networks of aristocratic families in the capital in a short period of time."
The number of people Shen Yuanzhang could must have been severely limited.
Under such tense circumstances, they dared not openly and aggressively gather intelligence.
They must have planted spies within the Wen family, who discovered the top-secret information that they had spent a fortune of 100,000 taels to purchase exam questions from the Pei family.
"I have confirmed before that Wen Tingwan's first exam paper shows that her foundation in classical studies is actually average, but her poetry is passable."
The main reason why the final ranking was in the upper-middle range was due to the essays written on policy.
Pei Xueqiao was indeed quite capable; relying solely on his talent and judgment, he actually guessed one question correctly.
Wen Tingwan made only minor modifications before copying it, and ultimately achieved a good ranking.
"Shen Yuanzhang probably also had this information, so he used it as a starting point."
On the one hand, they threatened the lives of the entire Wen family, forcing Wen Tingwan to comply and cheat in the provincial examination;
On the other hand, they made use of Li Jingyao, the chief examiner who had been hidden for many years.
Their plan was probably that, since the Pei family's policy essay was a guarantee, even if Wen Tingwan's other aspects were weaker, the overall situation would most likely fall into the manageable range of 'ambiguity'...
At this point, everything is quite clear.
Qin Minghuang's mouth was slightly open; she was completely dumbfounded.
Wait, what is all this about?
The Xuanji Guard and the secret agents of powerful families, two of the most elite and secretive intelligence organizations, are using all their skills to outwit and outmaneuver each other...
In the end, the game led to this unexpected and absurd result.
The root of it all was actually a ridiculous scam orchestrated by his good-for-nothing daughter?
“Your Majesty,” Yin Zhe’s voice pulled the Empress back from her chaotic thoughts, “I have already reviewed Wen Tingwan’s answer sheet in this provincial examination.”
"Oh?" Qin Minghuang snapped out of her daze and quickly asked, "How did it go?"
Yin Zhe's eyes narrowed slightly, and a playful smile curved his lips beneath the veil.
"Because that 'treasure trove' did not predict the policy essay topic, her article was really unremarkable."
They didn't even reach the 'ambiguous' range; they were eliminated in the first round of grading.
Qin Minghuang: ...
Well, no matter how much the mastermind behind the scenes schemes, it can't overcome the fact that the person in charge is just too incompetent.
The atmosphere in the imperial study suddenly became very strange; one wanted to laugh but felt it was somewhat inappropriate.
After a long silence, Qin Minghuang spoke again, her tone filled with an indescribable complexity:
"Little Six, this..."
Shall we give it a reward?
This unlucky kid dared to be so audacious as to interfere in the imperial examinations and even use the Pei family's name to swindle and cheat people!
She was definitely implying that the exam questions were from an extraordinary source, and that some of them were actually from real exams.
Otherwise, the Wen family isn't stupid; why would they willingly spend a huge sum of 100,000 taels just to buy a set of exam predictions?
Most importantly, they had just happened to guess correctly in the preliminary test, which gave them endless hope.
Should we punish them?
However, it was precisely because of Xiao Liu's unintentional mischief that the Xuanji Guard was given an excellent opportunity to break through.
Finally, by following the clues, they successfully identified Shen Yuanzhang as the mastermind behind the aristocratic family's intelligence network.
Qin Minghuang opened her mouth for a long time, but couldn't say anything.
It's really hard to judge his merits and demerits. In the end, all my words can only be summed up in a long sigh.
"well……"
What kind of mess is this...?
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