“I did.” Someone raised a hand with a cheerful smile.
The two men turned around.
Chen Baoxiang entered from the doorway, strolling in at a leisurely pace and greeting them with a salute. Her silver armor gleamed brilliantly in the spring sunlight, and the imperial guard command token in her hand was equally dazzling.
Gu Yijian erupted in fury: “Chen Baoxiang, this is an examination site of the highest importance — how dare you act so recklessly and arbitrarily!”
Wang Qingfan too shook his head: “This is an abuse of authority and a dereliction of duty.”
“Make them stop at once — if the candidates are affected, you don’t have enough heads to bear the consequences!”
Their voices had initially been extremely loud, but as they continued to berate her, the sound suddenly died away.
Because walking in behind was another person.
Clad in imperial dragon-and-phoenix robes, wearing the twelve-pearl bead curtain crown, Li Bingsheng was surrounded by her ceremonial escort as she walked at a measured pace behind Chen Baoxiang. She said nothing at all — she simply scanned them with a dark expression as she passed by Chen Baoxiang.
Her gaze was like a mountain, seeming to crush their very bones to powder.
Cold sweat broke out instantly down Gu Yijian’s back; Wang Qingfan too no longer dared to put on airs. Both of them dropped to their knees simultaneously, pressing their foreheads to the ground, their spines trembling faintly.
In the distance, the imperial guards continued their searches. Of the more than thirty thousand scholars in the examination hall, within the space of a single stick of incense, nearly twenty thousand were found to be carrying cheat sheets.
Those who had been caught were indignant still — cursing and shouting about how much silver they had paid, or boasting about how powerful their backing was.
Some went berserk and grappled with the imperial guards, insisting they would not leave no matter what. Others attempted to smash the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones on neighboring desks, trying to ensure that no one would be able to sit the examination.
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Lin Manyue frowned as she shielded her inkstone. Seeing someone lunging at her from beside her, she had just turned to use her back as a barrier when the candidate from the neighboring booth — Xue Hengyu — sent that person flying with a single kick.
“Manyue, don’t worry about it — just focus on your examination.” Xue Hengyu said excitedly. “Our teacher said we’d be of use coming here. I didn’t believe her before — I had no idea this was what she meant.”
As she said this, she helped the imperial guards subdue another candidate who was throwing a tantrum and rolling on the ground on the other side.
There were quite a number of imperial guards, and they had only been caught off guard momentarily and let these scholars cause a brief disturbance. With the inexplicable assistance of the other group of scholars, the guards quickly regained control of the situation.
In less than half a stick of incense, all the cheating scholars had been escorted away.
Xue Hengyu patted Lin Manyue on the shoulder: “Do your best. Don’t worry about anything.”
Lin Manyue belatedly understood the words Chen Baoxiang had spoken that day.
“When corruption and sycophancy come rolling over you like a wheel, there will be clean and upright officials who step forward to block it and fight it. Before any resolution is reached, you must continue moving forward along your original path — don’t crawl under the wheel.”
— At the time, she had thought her teacher was telling them to concern themselves only with their own integrity.
But that wasn’t it. Her teacher had already made her plans long ago. She would take on those people herself; she would block them herself. All they needed to do was sit in their examination booths and work hard on their examinations — there was nothing else to worry about.
Her eyes reddened. Lin Manyue bit down, picked up her brush, focused her mind, and began reading the questions.
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