The Soldier King Becomes a Useless Little Girl

Chapter 227: The Conspiracy Behind the Written Examination

What does Empress Feng mean by this?

The examiners were perplexed by the few sheets of paper, but they dared not ask further questions; they could only memorize the handwriting on the papers and continue grading.

In the palace, Empress Feng leaned on the noble concubine’s couch, resting with her eyes closed.

Before long, Eunuch Li returned to report.

"Reporting to the Empress, all papers have been reviewed, and none with handwriting resembling that of the Seventh Prince have been found."

Upon hearing this, Empress Feng’s beautiful eyes widened in shock, and she sat up abruptly.

"Not found? Impossible!"

Empress Feng had been unable to locate Noble Lady Shi and her son; she decided to retreat as a way to advance, lying in wait for the fish to bite, especially since her spies reported that someone had met with General Zuo in secret a few days ago.

That person must be one of Noble Lady Shi’s.

Empress Feng had not found the object of her search and suspected it might still be in Noble Lady Shi’s possession.

Inside and outside the Imperial Palace, she had laid defenses layer upon layer; it was impossible for Noble Lady Shi and her son to grow wings and meet with the Emperor.

The only opportunity was today’s Zixiao Palace Exam.

Years ago, the Seventh Prince was deemed illegitimate and sent out of the Imperial Palace, without even a name; his appearance was unclear to Empress Feng’s spies.

This is why Empress Feng thought to use handwriting as a means to find the person.

After all, appearances can be changed, and names can be fabricated, but handwriting is impossible to disguise.

For this reason, Empress Feng had pestered insistently, managing to convince Emperor Longteng to change this year’s format of the Zixiao Palace Exam, ingeniously proposing a three-round examination system, yet she still could not find the Seventh Prince.

"Empress, please calm your anger. Your servant believes that Noble Lady Shi and her son do not have the courage to participate in the Zixiao Palace Exam. Besides, the Seventh Prince, just like Noble Lady Shi, is nothing more than a waste. To participate in the Zixiao Palace Exam would be to bring humiliation upon themselves. Only a match made in heaven like you and the Emperor could produce talents such as the Crown Prince and the Third Prince."

Eunuch Li was an expert in flattering, sweet-talking Empress Feng into a better mood with just a few words.

"Even so, we cannot let our guard down. Have the results of the written examination come out yet? How did the son of Grandmaster Jin perform?"

Empress Feng had put much effort into this year’s written examination questions.

The Emperor, swayed by someone from Taichang Temple, desired to recruit a wide array of talents, which undoubtedly threatened the interests of the powerful, led by the Empress herself.

Using the written examination as cover, Empress Feng aimed to suppress those from poor families.

"Forty percent of commoners’ children couldn’t answer the questions and have been eliminated. When your servant left, the examiners had finished the initial grading, there was some contention left, and they were in the final discussion. The son of Grandmaster Jin you were concerned about is said to have performed quite well and should be able to be rated as upper-class."

Eunuch Li replied truthfully.

The written examination results were classified as upper-class, middle, or low-grade according to performance.

"Grandmaster Jin is both literate and martially skilled; having studied and practiced martial arts with the Third Prince from a young age, Jin Chen is naturally not too bad. The Third Prince himself was sent to Qingtian Academy as the top Imperial Examination scholar. Come, I also wish to see what kind of talents this year’s Imperial Examination has attracted."

Empress Feng stood up, dressed in full regalia, and, surrounded by a host of palace maids and attendants, walked towards North Square.

As the evening approached, North Square was still bustling with activity.

Even though forty percent of the candidates had been eliminated, the results of the written examination had not been published, and all the examinees were on tiptoes, eagerly anticipating the results.

"Why haven’t the results come out yet? The hour has already passed."

Little Xinzhuo squeezed in and out of the crowd several times; the Imperial List with the written examination results had still not been posted at the entrance to the square.

"The delay in announcing the results indicates that there is controversy."

Murong Ziyue had unknowingly appeared beside the siblings.