In Love With My Fierce Farming Wife!
Chapter 1193 - 1105: Suspicion Identified

Chapter 1193: Chapter 1105: Suspicion Identified

Several Review Officers were complaining loudly.

"Lord Gao, you make it sound so simple. These dossiers are the most we’ve had since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty for the Spring Imperial Civil Service Examination. Yet we still only have twelve days to review them, with no increase in manpower. It’s really too difficult. What if we can’t finish reviewing them within the deadline? What then?"

"I understand your concerns, gentlemen. Rest assured, as long as you do your best, I will surely convey your sentiments to His Majesty so that he may understand and grant you ample time to review the dossiers."

Lord Gao gave a fist and palm salute in the direction of the Hall of Golden Chariots: "But if the time drags on, and His Majesty finds discrepancies upon inspection... We all serve as officials in the same government and are thoroughly familiar with His Majesty’s temperament. By then, even if I wanted to plead on your behalf, I fear it would be like a clay Bodhisattva crossing the river—not able to save even oneself."

With these words, even though the Review Officers had ten thousand grievances, they dared not speak rashly any longer and instead buried their heads in the review work.

Lord Gao sneered to himself.

The time for announcing the examination results was set every year, and these officials from the Hanlin Imperial Academy lived a comfortable life on usual days, only doing tasks like sorting and categorizing documents and were not known to accomplish much. This sort of busyness only emerged once every three years.

And they still complained?

Then go home and eat—it’s the most relaxed that way.

When His Majesty and Lord Wu walked into the examination hall, everyone was buried in the mountains of dossiers.

The dossiers piled up high like mountains obstructed the Review Officers’ line of sight, and they didn’t notice His Majesty’s arrival. It was Lord Gao who first realized His Majesty had come and quickly went to greet him.

"No matter, continue with your tasks at hand. I am just here to look around," said His Majesty.

Lord Gao was indeed busy, but no matter how busy, nothing was more important than His Majesty. He accompanied His Majesty on a walk around the hall, but quietly, he sent a message to everyone to be mindful.

As Qin Yi walked around the examination hall, he couldn’t stop thinking about the words Su Pan’er had said the other days.

The officials participating in the review and serving as examiners in the hall were carefully selected pillars of Our Great Zhou by him. He truly found it difficult to believe that among these people, there were those who knowingly engaged in cheating.

Yet, a shadow hung over his heart that he couldn’t dispel.

Secretly, he gave Lord Wu a meaningful glance.

Lord Wu bowed his head and under the pretense of needing to relieve himself, moved to another area, while Qin Yi himself approached the successful dossiers to inspect them.

This year’s Spring Imperial Civil Service Examination had over ten thousand candidates, with a little over three hundred passing, and even including those who passed as Jinshi Scholars, this amounted to no more than five hundred or so individuals. This number was reached only after he had relaxed the quota. But looking through the dossiers, aside from a few that satisfied him, the rest were negligible.

It makes sense—those truly talented may not necessarily make good officials, and those who can be good officials are not necessarily the most talented.

This thought brought him some relief.

After he had reviewed all of the dossiers in his hands, he realized that Lord Wu’s excuse for a bathroom break had taken unusually long.

Just as he was about to call out for him, he saw Lord Wu rushing back, looking like he had something urgent to say but hesitated to speak.

Qin Yi decisively got into his carriage to leave the examination hall and headed back to the palace before he began to inquire about the matter.

"Your Majesty, there truly is a problem. Someone inside has cheated!"

Qin Yi was startled, subconsciously raising an eyebrow, "What do you mean by this?"

Lord Wu hastily made a fist and palm salute: "To report to Your Majesty, Your Majesty should know that since childhood I have had an exceptional memory. Though I cannot say ’never forgets what he sees,’ if I were to see a dossier that I had just looked at a moment later, there would definitely be an issue. Just now, under the pretense of a bathroom break, I sneaked in and pretended to knock over a dossier. As luck would have it, I saw two dossiers with identical answers, word for word!"

"It’s normal for two people to have the same thought process on a couple of questions—you write about rape flowers, I write about rape flowers. But when two completely unrelated people produce utterly identical dossiers, word for word, that’s definitely a problem!"

Qin Yi unexpectedly breathed a sigh of relief!

After all that searching, they finally made some progress.

Yet, he found his own reaction amusing. Should he admire his foresight for actually finding a problem or hate this foresight of his?

Regardless, a problem had to be solved once it emerged.

Qin Yi focused and immediately issued a rapid command, "Lord Wu, I entrust you with full authority to handle this matter. Be sure to apprehend all individuals involved in the cheating and all the paths they used. Additionally, every student implicated must be thoroughly investigated and removed."

His look was agitated as he repeatedly slammed his fist on the table, "These scoundrels serve no purpose in Our Great Zhou if they become officials, except to breed more leeches for the commoners!"

"Yes, your servant will see to it at once."

Lord Wu hurriedly took his leave with a fist and palm salute.

"Wait a moment."

Qin Yi suddenly remembered another matter.

"Earlier, I had commanded Lord Wang to serve as the inspection official, but he has yet to discover the key point of the issue. Remember, you must investigate secretly. Don’t make any public statements before we get to the bottom of this."

"This..."

Lord Wu hesitated, turning back with a fist and palm salute: "Your Majesty, the examination hall is heavily guarded. If your servant investigates secretly, I may not even touch the doors of the hall, let alone conduct an investigation."

Qin Yi fell silent for a moment before he had an idea, "No matter. The dossiers are numerous and the several scholars from the Hanlin Imperial Academy reviewing them are indeed too few. Starting from tomorrow, you will also help review the papers. Surely simple errands and the like shouldn’t be too difficult for you?"

Did he have a choice?

Lord Wu inwardly chuckled bitterly, though he still respectfully accepted the order. Lord Wu’s troubles were Qin Yi’s as well, but at that moment, there was no better solution.

As he pondered, Eunuch An hurried in.

"Your Majesty, the Empress has sent someone to inquire whether you are free. If you are, she wishes to discuss a very important matter with you."

"The Empress has something to discuss with me? Well then, let’s pay a visit to Huayang Palace."

Qin Yi rose and headed towards Huayang Palace.

Pan’er seldom spoke to him so earnestly; it seemed she really had something to discuss with him.

Even before Qin Yi returned to the palace, Su Pan’er had received news.

Qin Yi had visited Huayang Palace in the morning, but before he could say much, he had slumped over on a couch and fallen asleep. Before he could wake up, Lord Wu hastily called him away, which left her unable to even exchange a few words with him.

Now, knowing that Qin Yi had returned to the palace, she couldn’t wait to have him summoned.

When Qin Yi stepped into Huayang Palace, the rich aroma of chicken rushed to his nostrils, making him realize just how much his stomach was rumbling.

"It’s quite thoughtful of Pan’er to know that I was already hungry and to have prepared a meal waiting for me. This gesture is indeed precious, most precious."

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