Chapter 243 Wei Chong Fails the Exam

Zhu Qi turned around and looked at Wei Chong in a daze, saying, "Brother Wei, I... I actually made the list."

"I passed."

"Do you think there is smoke coming out of my ancestral tomb?"

Wei Chong was originally smiling slightly, but when he heard Zhu Qi say that he made the list, he froze in his place.

"Then congratulations!" Wei Chong said with a stiff face.

But in his heart, he was complaining that Zhu Qi, who was so careless, actually passed the exam. It was really strange.

At this time, a student who lived with them in the Tongfu Inn, panted and squeezed out of the crowd and ran to Wei Chong.

"Wei Chong, go and take a look, it seems that your name is not on the list." The student's tone was full of shock.

"What? No? How is that possible? Did you see it wrong?" In an instant, Wei Chong's face turned pale, as white as paper and scary.

He pushed through the crowd like a madman and squeezed towards the list.

At this time, most people had finished reading the list, and the crowd reading the list became sparse.

Wei Chong squeezed to the front of the list in a few moves.

He looked up at the list nervously, checking each name carefully.

After reading the ten names in the first row, he felt even more nervous.

His name was not in the top ten at all.

Maybe he was unlucky and didn't make it into the top ten, he comforted himself, gritted his teeth and continued to read down.

However, the second row, the third row, and all the way to the tenth row, still no.

"How is it possible, how is it possible..." Wei Chong muttered to himself.

"Behind, behind, there must be..." Wei Chong muttered softly and continued to look down.

There were a total of 360 students who passed the exam, and the list was very long.

The more Wei Chong looked down, the colder his heart became.

When he saw the 36th line, he felt his legs go weak, the world spun around, and he fell to the ground.

"Wei Chong, what's wrong with you?"

The people around him called his name and helped him up.

"No...no...impossible...I must have missed it." Wei Chong struggled to get up and read the list from beginning to end again.

However, there was still no name on the list.

"Wei Chong, your name is indeed not on it, you have to think more positively." A student whispered.

The students around him cast strange looks at Wei Chong.

"His essay was so good, but he failed the exam. It's so strange."

"That's right. It's really puzzling."

"Could it be that his test paper was stained by ink and he didn't get a score?"

"How is that possible? For this exam, the chief examiner specially ordered people to strengthen supervision, for fear that the candidates' papers would be stained by ink and affect their scores."

"It is said that this time, no candidate's test paper was stained by ink."

Amid the students' discussions, Wei Chong dragged his legs towards Tongfu Inn like a bereaved dog.

As soon as Wei Chong walked into the inn, the inn owner came up to him and said enthusiastically: "Wei Caizi, you are finally back, the emperor's messenger is still waiting for you here!"

Wei Chong was startled by the enthusiasm of the inn owner. He took two steps back and looked into the lobby. Sure enough, he saw a man in a jujube-red satin robe sitting inside, with two little followers standing behind him.

Judging from the style of the clothes, it should be the uniform of the chief eunuch in the palace.

Wei Chong's face, which was originally extremely decadent, instantly brightened.

The reason why he was not on the list must be that the emperor appreciated his articles and specially asked someone to recruit him into the palace, perhaps to directly appoint him to an official position.

Wei Chong's mind was instantly filled with various imaginations that the emperor favored him.

"Sir, you're looking for me?" Wei Chong put on a smile and walked up to the eunuch leader.

The eunuch raised his head proudly, glanced at Wei Chong, and said lazily: "Are you Wei Chong?"

"Yes, I am." Wei Chong responded hurriedly.

"I am here to read the imperial edict to you under the order of His Majesty the Emperor." The eunuch said slowly.

Wei Chong smiled widely, suppressed his excitement, and knelt on the ground with a thump: "Student Wei Chong, please accept the imperial edict!"

In a blink of an eye, dozens of students had gathered in the lobby of the guest house. They were all curious when they saw the eunuchs from the palace came to read the imperial edict to Wei Chong.

"Is the emperor going to give him an official position directly?"

"Maybe."

"No wonder he is not on the list."

"Wow, Wei is indeed a talented man. The emperor personally issued an imperial edict to him."

"This time his career is stable."

The onlookers talked about it.

The eunuch stood up, stood upright, and read aloud: "The Emperor of Heaven and the Chengyun, the decree: Candidate Wei Chong, is so bold that he plagiarized other people's old articles, which is a taboo in the imperial examination. Considering that it is his first offense, he will be exempted from punishment, and the punishment is that he will not be allowed to participate in the imperial examination. I respectfully declare."

"Thank you, my Lord." Wei Chong said with all his strength, and then he fell to the ground and passed out.

"Oh my God! Wei Chong's article is plagiarized!?"

"He actually plagiarized?"

"Humph! I owe him such a talented person for so many days."

The shop owner rolled his eyes fiercely: "It's so unlucky that such a person actually lives in the shop."

"I thought you came to announce good news, but it turned out that he was convicted of plagiarism. Oh! Bad luck!"

Wei Chong was carried into the room to rest.

He is no longer a talented person, but a shameless plagiarist who was found and punished by the emperor. No students gathered around him like a crowd anymore.

Zhu Qi passed the exam, and was invited by other students to drink, so he didn't go back to his room.

Wei Chong lay alone in the room until the lights were turned on.

He was in a very bad mood.

He dug out some copper coins, went to the street and bought a bottle of wine, and walked aimlessly while drinking.

"Why? Why? This is not fair!" Wei Chong screamed.

He didn't know how long he had been walking, but he finally passed out and collapsed on the side of the road.

A tall and handsome figure quietly walked up to Wei Chong and helped him up.

He called out, "Wei Chong! Wei Chong, wake up!"