Those candidates were brought in quickly.
They looked at each other with a guilty conscience, feeling the same fear, tension and uneasiness.
Everyone exchanged glances, their steps became heavy, and they felt despair in their hearts.
They knelt before the emperor with a look of readiness to die.
In addition to the emperor, there were also Chief Minister Shen and Minister Zhou who were kneeling on the ground.
When they saw Minister Zhou, their hearts sank even more. They didn't expect the matter to be exposed so quickly.
How long had they been taking the exam when they were caught cheating?
They secretly clenched their fists, feeling despair in their hearts.
The emperor asked, "Do you know why I called you here?"
"Your Majesty, we deserve to die. This is all our fault. It has nothing to do with Prime Minister Shen."
“Yes, the test questions were not given to me by Chief Minister Shen.”
“I didn’t give any money to Prime Minister Shen.”
There were more than thirty of them, arguing with each other and almost drowning the man with their spit.
The corners of Shen Shoufu’s mouth twitched, and he laughed angrily.
The emperor laughed heartily without giving any face: "Well, well said, you all pointed out that Prime Minister Shen accepted your benefits, helped cheat, and leaked the test questions?"
"Yes." More than thirty people said in unison.
Minister Zhou loosened his clenched fist and thought to himself, it’s already like this, and you’re still not dead, Chief Minister Shen?
He was right. These scholars all kept their promises, and he would not let them down. He would definitely find an opportunity to help their clansmen.
Without Chief Assistant Shen blocking the way, he would be a man of some say in the court in the future.
Minister Zhou couldn’t help but laugh at Chief Minister Shen: “Sir Shen, what else do you have to say?”
Shen Shoufu lowered his head: "Your Majesty is wise, I have nothing to say."
The emperor stopped smiling, his expression turned cold and murderous: "Come here, take away all the candidates who cheated in the exam, and behead them in public after the Spring Examination."
The candidates who had anticipated the outcome were still so frightened that they collapsed to the ground. Some of them looked ashen and hopeless.
At this moment, many people regretted it.
If they didn't cheat, could they have gotten into high school based on their academic qualifications?
Even if you can't be among the top three, becoming a fellow Jinshi or Gongsheng is fine.
Unfortunately, there is no turning back for them.
They collapsed in despair, looking at Minister Zhou intentionally or unintentionally.
Minister Zhou is quite good at pretending, and he still looks innocent at this time.
Until the emperor spoke again: "Minister Zhou slandered his colleagues, sold exam questions, helped candidates cheat, disrupted the fairness of the exam, and failed to live up to my expectations. His crimes are extremely serious. He must be torn apart by five horses, his entire family property confiscated, and he must be banned from taking the imperial examinations for three generations."
Minister Zhou seemed to have heard it wrong, and looked up in disbelief: "Your Majesty, they are talking about Prime Minister Shen, not me!"
The shocked candidates also reminded loudly: "Your Majesty, it was Prime Minister Shen who leaked the exam questions, not Lord Zhou."
Shen Shoufu laughed; "Okay, stop pretending. The emperor is very clear. He knew that someone would cheat, so he gave three exam questions, one for me, one for Lord Zhou, and one for Lord Li."
"Why do you think the Emperor could accurately find you cheating?" Shen Shoufu explained: "The Emperor is the only one who knows the exam question of Lord Zhou. The Emperor will never reveal it. So, by choosing this exam question, you are Lord Zhou's accomplice."
"You should know that Master Zhou's exam questions are the most difficult, and you chose the most difficult questions."
"Besides, your answers are all very good, so good that it seems as if someone had polished them."
As soon as Shen Shoufu finished speaking, they had nothing to say, and only despair remained.
Minister Zhou, in particular, said, "So, from the very beginning, this was all set up by the Emperor. No wonder the Emperor only summoned this humble official that day. So, from that moment on, the Emperor suspected this humble official would reveal the exam questions?"
"Hmph, if you weren't greedy for money and power, how could you have fallen for this? To put it bluntly, it's your own fault. You've betrayed my trust in you." The emperor snorted coldly, "You deserve to die."
Minister Zhou knew that at this moment, no matter what he said, it would be useless. He had no choice but to accept it.
Unless he wants his entire family to be beheaded.
When Minister Zhou was taken away, he glanced at Chief Minister Shen. The unwilling look in his eyes made Chief Minister Shen sneer, “Minister Zhou, you shouldn’t have done that!”
"Shut up, you'd better not have this day." After his plan failed and he even lost his life, Minister Zhou felt hopeless.
The next exam went well.
After catching the cheating parasites, only the talented and knowledgeable ones are left.
After the exam, everyone walked out of the exam room. Many people fainted from exhaustion, and some were exhausted.
Some people are confident, while others are dejected.
No matter what, it is nothing compared to the doubts in their hearts.
When I think of those candidates who were called away and never came back, although I don’t know what happened exactly, I heard from the invigilator that those people were caught cheating.
They were delighted to have fewer competitors.
They all worked hard to write, making the ten years of hard study worthwhile.
After the exam, Mrs. Sun and Sun Qian'er both arrived. They didn't know that Sun Sheng had been arrested.
Yan Bao and Madam Shen came to watch the fun. Madam Sun saw them and taunted them, "What are you doing here? The second son of the Shen family is said to be a fool. He is not even good enough to study. He didn't even pass the exam to become a scholar. There is no point in you coming here."
"Could it be that you know my eldest brother will pass the high school entrance exam, so you're trying to curry favor with him?" Sun Qian taunted, "No, we can't even reach the heights of your Shen family."
Yan Bao rolled his eyes: [You will cry later.]
Madam Sun was very proud: "Second-rank County Lady is nothing. My son said that he wants me to be a First-rank State Lady in the future, which is a level higher than the second rank!"
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