Chapter 47

The next day, Feng Shu, the commander of Crown Prince Hongli's guards, came to the Confucian Temple and conveyed his master's words verbatim to the Eighth Prince, Zhao Hongrun, who frowned repeatedly as he listened.

"What does that mean? The Crown Prince wants to protect Luo Wenzhong?"

After Feng Shu left, Zhao Hongrun got up and paced around the room where he was resting.

"Luo Wenzhong is one of the Crown Prince's people? That doesn't make sense... If Luo Wenzhong were truly one of the Crown Prince's people, he wouldn't have taken such a risky move to frame me and try to settle the grudge between his son and me. At that time, he must have been forced to do so... So, is Luo Wenzhong a new ally of the Crown Prince? Ha, there are people from the Crown Prince in the Ministry of Personnel?"

"Ha ha ha." Zhao Hongrun walked around the room with his hands behind his back, unable to suppress a laugh.

"What is the Highness laughing about?" Commander Zhong Zhao asked, puzzled.

After all, when the Crown Prince's guards subtly mentioned that they should not interfere with the internal affairs of the Ministry of Personnel, these guards were afraid that their Highness would lose his temper on the spot.

"The Crown Prince's life doesn't seem to be easy either," Zhao Hongrun sighed. "Even though he is the heir apparent, he has to lower his status to court the officials of the Ministry of Personnel just for that position. The Crown Prince must be working hard."

"After all, the current popularity of Prince Yong and Prince Xiang in the court is also very high," Commander Gao Kuo said with a smile. "If the Crown Prince does not court some officials in the court, it will be hard to ensure what will happen in the future."

"So, these people are living too hard," Zhao Hongrun shook his head and said with a smile. "Like me, I live much more freely."

"..."

The guards looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

It was hard to say whether having such a Highness was a blessing or a curse.

"Highness, now that the Crown Prince has intervened, should we still investigate? And what about Luo Wenzhong..." Commander Wei Jiao couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Hongrun pursed his lips when he heard this: "What kind of relationship do I have with that Crown Prince? If he says not to interfere, then not to interfere? Who does he think he is?"

"He is the Crown Prince..."

The guards were somewhat at a loss.

But to be fair, the words and tone of the Crown Prince's guard, Feng Shu, also made the guards somewhat uncomfortable.

"However, Highness, offending the Crown Prince is not a good idea, is it?" Commander Zhu Gui hesitated and advised.

"Hmph!" Zhao Hongrun snorted, saying nothing.

It cannot be denied that the brotherly affection among the imperial family is the thinnest, as these brothers are all fierce rivals for the throne in the future.

Therefore, those who become the Crown Prince become the Crown Prince, and those who are enfeoffed as princes become princes. They hardly have any time to interact with their brothers except during festivals.

Even Zhao Hongrun, who had no intention of vying for the throne, only considered his ninth brother, Hongxuan, as a brother. As for the other brothers? In his eyes, they were just strangers with the same blood.

Oh, now he had to add his sixth brother, Hongzhao. For that sixth brother, who was elegant, unpretentious, and could be a hidden benefactor in emergencies, Zhao Hongrun had a good impression.

As for the other princes, Zhao Hongrun would only say he was not familiar with them.

Indeed, taking the Crown Prince Hongli and Prince Yong Hongyu as examples, they were the same age, both twenty-five this year, while Zhao Hongrun was only fourteen. When Hongli moved to the Eastern Palace to become the Crown Prince and Hongyu was enfeoffed as Prince Yong, how old was Zhao Hongrun?

Brothers who met only a few times a year could not have much of a relationship.

If Feng Shu were the guard of the Sixth Prince Zhao Hongzhao and conveyed the message of the Sixth Prince, Zhao Hongrun might consider it. As for the Crown Prince?

Forget it.

Thus, Zhao Hongrun did not take the words of the Crown Prince's guard, Feng Shu, to heart and continued to order the guards to investigate any matters related to the imperial examination.

In fact, he now knew that the internal governance of the Ministry of Personnel was quite chaotic, but the problem was that he was only a supervisor of the imperial examination, and his authority was limited to this examination. He did not have the right to interfere with the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel. However, one thing was certain: he would not let go of any of the problems exposed in this examination, including Luo Wenzhong.

As for the Crown Prince, if he offended him, so be it. He was just a highly esteemed stranger.

What made Zhao Hongrun somewhat annoyed was that his guards, Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao, seemed to have been noticed by the people of the Ministry of Personnel. When he asked them to find the keeper of the Ministry of Personnel's warehouse to write a confession, they found that the keeper had been transferred, and they did not know where to.

And the new keeper was clearly a new official who knew nothing.

"Has someone in the Ministry of Personnel noticed?"

Hearing this bad news, Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly.

Although the old and tattered cotton quilts in the Ministry of Personnel's warehouse were still there, the problem was that if there were no witnesses, the other side could say that the quilts were moldy due to long-term storage in a damp warehouse. This would not be enough to prove that the Ministry of Personnel had provided inferior goods and falsely reported expenses.

"Forget it, let's investigate the examination cheating first."

Suppressing his displeasure, Zhao Hongrun led the eight guards to the examination rooms.

The first destination was naturally the examination room of Mr. Luo Rong.

To be honest, Commanders Shen Yu and Lu Mu were really ruthless. They sat on a bench and watched Luo Rong for a whole day and night, making him feel like sitting on pins and needles, and he was uneasy all day.

According to the two, under their intense gaze, Luo Rong could not write anything. He only scribbled a few paragraphs just before the exam ended.

Zhao Hongrun felt very satisfied and immediately ordered Mu Qing and Chu Xing to take their places and continue the second day's intense gaze.

As for Shen Yu and Lu Mu, Zhao Hongrun sent them to rest in a side hall of the Confucian Temple. After all, these two had bloodshot eyes from staring, and they were exhausted and quite scary.

After sending away Shen Yu and Lu Mu, Zhao Hongrun led the other six guards to continue inspecting the examination rooms.

What puzzled him was that so far, he had not found any signs of examination cheating.

In his eyes, all the candidates in the examination rooms were answering questions properly, and the examiners, officials, and servants who patrolled frequently seemed to be supervising properly, and he had not found any problems with examination cheating.

"Could it be that the examination cheating is just a rumor?"

Zhao Hongrun shook his head inwardly.

In his view, since this had been a hidden danger in previous imperial examinations, it could not be baseless. So, the question was, how did those people cheat?

"Really frustrating, I was quite good at cheating in exams in the past, helping many people, and now I can't catch those people... Tsk!"

Subconsciously, Zhao Hongrun felt a bit ridiculous.

"Back then, how did we cheat? By making cheat sheets, passing answers, or taking the exam on behalf of others... Hmm? Taking the exam on behalf of others?"

Zhao Hongrun suddenly remembered that the way candidates entered the examination hall at the Confucian Temple was by calling out names. A chief official would call out a candidate's name, and the candidate would enter the examination hall with a "number plate" similar to an admission ticket. In other words, it was entirely possible for someone to take the exam on behalf of another.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun immediately ordered a guard to obtain the candidates' household registration, age, and other information from the Ministry of Personnel.

During the continued inspection, Zhao Hongrun suddenly noticed that a candidate in the examination room on the right was staring at him intently.

"Hmm?"

Zhao Hongrun walked over without showing any emotion.

To his surprise, this candidate seemed to have already finished answering the questions.

Zhao Hongrun glanced at the sky.

After all, the second day's second session of the examination had just started, but this candidate had already finished answering the questions?

"Could this be another peculiar candidate?"

Zhao Hongrun glanced at the exam paper on the candidate's desk.

Following the Four Books exam from the previous day, today's exam was the Five Classics, namely the Book of Songs, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. These five classics corresponded to five exam papers, and according to tradition, candidates only needed to choose two out of the five and answer the corresponding papers.

The candidate in front of him had chosen the Book of Songs and the Book of Rites.

Zhao Hongrun was not particularly interested in the Book of Rites, as it was a must-read for most candidates and one of the Confucian classics. What intrigued him was that this candidate had chosen the Book of Songs as the other one.

"Seems very confident in poetry!"

Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but smile.

After all, poetry, especially poetry with style and depth, requires inspiration. How could it be written hastily? Is everyone like Li Taibai?

Zhao Hongrun curiously looked at the poetry the candidate had written, and to his surprise, he was quite impressed.

"Crystal curtains and glass pillows, warm incense luring dreams on brocade. Willows by the river like smoke, geese flying under the waning moon. Lotus silk light in autumn, people cutting paper in different shapes. Red cheeks separated by fragrant hair, jade hairpins swaying in the wind."

"Small mountains overlapping, gold flickering, hair clouds about to cover the snowy cheeks. Lazy to draw eyebrows, dressing and washing slowly. Looking in the mirror before and after, the face and flowers reflecting each other. New embroidered silk robe, golden pheasants in pairs."

"Jade incense, red wax tears, shining on the autumn thoughts in the painted hall. Eyebrows thin, hair clouds disheveled, the night long and the bed cold. Parasol trees, rain at midnight, not knowing the pain of parting. Leaf by leaf, sound by sound, dripping on the empty steps until dawn."

Looking at these three poems, Zhao Hongrun was moved.

"This guy... has great literary talent! But... why does it feel so strange? Why are they all about women in the boudoir?"

Zhao Hongrun looked at the candidate carefully and saw that he was handsome, with a hint of frivolity in his eyes, a typical playboy.

"Indeed, a peculiar one!... Such 'elegant poetry' would be selected, I doubt it!"

Although he was secretly impressed, Zhao Hongrun still noted down the candidate's name.

"Wen Qi"