Chapter 50

Chapter 49

"… So, give me an explanation, all of you."

On the evening of the third day of the examination, Zhao Hongrun and his clan guards intercepted the minor officials responsible for selling the white wax in the evening.

There were not many of them, only four.

In front of these dead men, Zhao Hongrun casually took a piece of white wax from each of their baskets, broke them all, and as expected, one of the white waxes contained a hidden secret.

It was clear that these four minor officials were all in the know; upon seeing this, their faces immediately turned pale.

At this moment, the four clan guards hurriedly covered their mouths, for Zhao Hongrun and his men had only pulled these four people to a secluded corner under various pretexts. If these four people shouted, it would inevitably arouse suspicion from others, thus affecting Zhao Hongrun's entire plan.

"Be quiet... You should know that the Ministry of Personnel officials who orchestrate cheating in the examination can be exiled or even executed. Don't think that the high-ranking officials who ordered you can save you..."

The four men exchanged glances, their fear intensifying, clearly aware of the consequences.

"Now, I will give you a way out." Zhao Hongrun instructed a clan guard to take out the prepared writing materials and whispered to the four minor officials, "As long as you confess and sign, and do one more thing for me, I will not only ensure your safety but also give each of you a hundred taels of silver. Think of your families; why bear the blame for those above you and cause your loved ones to grieve?"

The four minor officials looked at each other. They were like fish on a chopping board, with no choice left. After a few more glances, they gritted their teeth and nodded, writing their confessions on the paper and signing with their thumb and index finger dipped in ink, leaving their fingerprints.

"Very good, it seems you four are smart."

Zhao Hongrun signaled the clan guards to dry the confessions, then said to the four minor officials in a solemn voice, "You should know my identity. If I say I can protect you, I can. After you do one more thing for me, I will return the confessions and give you a hundred taels of silver. But if anyone betrays me, this confession will be enough to ruin your families."

"We dare not, Your Highness." The four minor officials exchanged glances, and one of them, with his head lowered, said nervously, "We wouldn't dare to deceive Your Highness... What do you want us to do, Your Highness?"

As he spoke, the clan guards Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao brought out several baskets. Inside were the white waxes they had made during the day at the Ministry of Works, each containing the same article Zhao Hongrun had prepared for the third day of the examination, with a hundred identical copies.

"Replace the white waxes you use for cheating with these. Distribute them to the candidates who need them in the examination hall, just as you did the first two days. Remember, don't slip up, or you know what will happen."

As Zhao Hongrun spoke, the clan guards holding the confessions deliberately waved them in front of the four minor officials.

"We understand, we understand." The four minor officials nodded repeatedly.

"What are you waiting for? Go."

"Yes, yes."

The four minor officials quickly replaced the white waxes, carrying a basket of Zhao Hongrun's white waxes and a basket of ordinary white waxes, acting as if nothing had happened, and returned to the examination hall to distribute the waxes to the candidates who "needed" them.

With the confessions that could ruin their families in Zhao Hongrun's hands, they dared not have any other thoughts. As Zhao Hongrun had persuaded them, the cheating in the examination was orchestrated by the higher-ups, and they had not dared to do it themselves. Now that the matter had come to light, they did not need to take the blame for those above them.

Why should they suffer for the sake of the higher-ups who took the money and favors, leading to their own ruin?

After about an hour, the four minor officials had almost finished distributing the special white waxes, with only a few left. Zhao Hongrun estimated that the number of cheating candidates in this examination was no less than a hundred.

After all, the third day's policy questions were relatively simple, and not every cheating candidate needed the answers for this day. The most difficult part was the first day's four essays, but unfortunately, Zhao Hongrun had not yet grasped the key to this matter.

"Good job. If this goes smoothly, I will recommend you to another government office, and you won't have to worry about retaliation from those above. I will fulfill my promise tomorrow at this time."

Zhao Hongrun's promise brought joy to the four minor officials.

"Yes, yes." The four minor officials left happily.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun walked straight to the examination room of a candidate named Wen Qi.

At this moment, Wen Qi was already lying on the stone bed, half asleep.

Zhao Hongrun walked over and gently tapped on the table.

"..." Wen Qi opened his eyes and saw Zhao Hongrun, who nodded at him.

He was taken aback for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face, a smile that was neither here nor there, and he shook his head.

True friendship is as light as water; neither of them took the matter to heart, and the next time they met was years later.

Nothing happened that night.

Zhao Hongrun went to rest in a room in the side hall of the Confucian temple. The clan guards, except for two who continued to watch Luo Rong and two who closely guarded their prince, wandered around the examination rooms.

They were not there to catch the cheating candidates but to observe the overall situation in the examination hall, as they could not yet be sure if Zhao Hongrun's plan would succeed.

Zhao Hongrun slept until the sun was high the next day. By then, all the candidates had finished their last examination and were leaving the hall in groups.

Zhao Hongrun went straight to the main hall of the Confucian temple, where the chief examiner, Luo Wenzhong, and the other sixteen examiners, along with the responsible officials, would grade the examination papers.

It was clear that the Ministry of Personnel officials were no longer as fearful of the Eighth Prince as before. Even though they saw Zhao Hongrun leading ten clan guards into the main hall, few of them greeted him, pretending to be focused on grading the papers.

Zhao Hongrun did not mind and looked around the main hall.

To explain the grading process, according to the rules, the candidates' papers, known as "ink papers," could not be graded directly. This was to prevent cheating and to ensure that the examiners could not recognize the handwriting or special marks of their relatives or students and give them special treatment.

Therefore, after the ink papers were collected, they would be copied by designated officials into identical "red papers," with the corresponding numbers filled in. These red papers would then be presented to the seventeen examiners for grading.

With over 2,600 candidates and three examinations, this meant that nearly 8,000 red papers needed to be copied, a massive task for the few dozen officials.

Indeed, they had not even finished copying the first day's papers after a whole day of work.

As the sun began to set, the officials who had been copying and the examiners who had been grading all put down their pens and prepared to go to the canteen of the Confucian temple for dinner.

It was clear that they were very tired.

Even Zhao Hongrun, who had done nothing all day, felt exhausted, let alone them.

"Is the Eighth Prince going to have dinner? Why not join us?"

During this time, it was unclear what Luo Wenzhong was thinking, but he deliberately walked up to Zhao Hongrun and provoked him, "Actually, I think the Eighth Prince is doing nothing here. Why not return to the palace? What do you think?"

"You scoundrel..." The clan guard Wei Jiao looked furious.

Zhao Hongrun raised his hand to stop the angry clan guards, looked up and down at Luo Wenzhong, and smiled, "Mr. Luo is right, but as a supervisor, I can only return to the palace after all the grading is done."

"Hmph!" Luo Wenzhong sneered and left with the other Ministry of Personnel officials.

"What kind of person is he..."

Seeing Luo Wenzhong's disdainful expression, the clan guards were both angry and secretly sneering: We'll see how long you can laugh!

"Let's go have dinner."

"Yes."

Zhao Hongrun paid no attention to Luo Wenzhong's provocation and led the clan guards to the canteen.

Since there were always a certain number of officials on duty in the main hall, he was not worried about anyone doing anything at this time.

After dinner, everyone returned to the main hall of the Confucian temple. Those responsible for copying continued to copy, those responsible for grading continued to grade, and Zhao Hongrun continued to wait for the third day's papers, doing nothing.

When he could no longer stay awake, he simply brought two chairs and fell asleep in a corner of the main hall.

'What is this guy thinking?'

Glancing at Zhao Hongrun, who was sound asleep in the corner, Luo Wenzhong was puzzled.

In his view, the Eighth Prince had not caught any cheating by the Ministry of Personnel, so why did he seem so unconcerned?

He could not understand it.

The grading work continued day and night. On the fourth night after the examination ended, the officials responsible for copying finally reached the third day's papers.

Seeing this, the clan guards, who had been awake for several days, quietly woke Zhao Hongrun, who was sleeping in the corner of the main hall.

"Huh?"

One of the officials responsible for copying looked puzzled and muttered, "This... how come it feels..."

"What's wrong?" Another official turned around and looked at his colleague, who was comparing two students' ink papers.

Suddenly, his face showed surprise, pointing to the two papers in his colleague's hand and then to the one in his own, exclaiming, "This... what's going on?"

They were shocked to find that the three students' ink papers in their hands were eerily similar, almost identical.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Zhao Hongrun had somehow appeared behind them, smiling at them.

"Huh? These three students' essays... wow, they are shockingly similar!"