Chapter 175: Aftermath
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The next morning, the whole of Yan Capital, from the various palace officials in their conference halls to the restaurants in big streets and small alleys. There was no one who was not talking about one name.
He was Fang Zhengzhi.
"An examination script with six sets, the whole six sets were finished in just four hours?!"
"Even if he did finish it, so what? Who knows if he just simply filled in nonsense? If it was nonsense, I could finish it too!"
"It was probably not nonsense, right? It was the Imperial Examination after all."
"Well then, have you seen anyone who finished all six sets of the examination script before? If it was not nonsense… How did he finish them?"
"Most likely…"
…
The East Palace, within the Royal Palace, was the residence of the crown prince for generations.
Today, within the East Palace sat a person. He wore a White Dragon Silk Robe. With willowy eyebrows and a pair of narrow eyes, he stared at the pot of "Tri-crowned Orchid"
It was a species of orchid that grew in the Southeast. It was unbelievably rare and priceless.
Crown Prince Lin Tianrong had a unique adoration for orchids. He felt that they were pure and elegant. Not unlike his own status and style.
He loved the arts. Frequently saw the orchids as his friends and include them in his writings.
At this moment, below him sat another person. He had a greying beard and hair dyed by the white sands of time. His face was thinning but his eyes showed an intense vigor.
He was dressed in a red palace robe.
Within the palace of the Great Xia Dynasty, there exist a system where red represented the ministers while purple represented marquis.
From this point, the person’s identity was not hard to guess. He was the current Left Prime Minister, Yu Yiping. Yiping as first-class[1]. It was unclear whether his forefathers had to foresight to name him as such.
Currently, Yu Yipping was indeed a first-class official in the palace court.
The Crown Prince, Lin Tianrong did not really like Yu Yiping because the way Yu Yiping did things was too direct. Sometimes, this bluntness did not sit well with him.
However, the Sacred Lord liked Yu Yiping’s bluntness.
Therefore, Crown Prince Lin Tianrong had to tolerate him. Even when Yu Yiping almost smashed his pot of "Tri-crowned Orchid" into a pile of dirt, Lin Tianrong did not show any outward signs.
"Didn’t Prime Minister always allowed me to settle things? Why are you risking yourself for such a small matter?" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong found it hard to wrap his head around this or it might be he did not bother to try and understand this.
No matter what kind of suggestion he brought up, Yu Yiping would always come up with enough reasons to support his own "correct" opinion such that there was no way for the Crown Prince to reject it.
Then…
Why should he try and understand?
Or it might be that in front of Yu Yiping, there was no need for him to try and understand.
This seemed like spineless but the intelligent people could easily see the rationale behind this. Although he was bestowed the title of Crown Prince, before he ascends to the throne, he was nothing.
He needed to rely on the palace officials and the Left Prime Minister was the best official there is.
It was just that this palace official was a bit more direct. Therefore, as the Crown Prince, the best way to interact was to "show need". Only when he showed enough need for him, he could have a use for the Left Prime Minister who had great influence in the palace.
"My actions were precisely so because this issue needed to be settled. On the side of Han Changfeng, they already sent out the news. Fang Zhengzhi did indeed finish all six sets of the examination script. Furthermore, from his previous interaction with Fang Zhengzhi in the River of Trust Province’s provincial examinations, the chances of Fang Zhengzhi writing nonsense was zero. Then… This person was the one existence that could threaten the balance of the palace politics!" Yu Yiping’s face was much calmer than it was a moment ago.
"Then, Prime Minister’s meaning is?" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong prodded.
"Edit! Now we can only take the risk of editing his answers. In the Imperial Examinations, only Fang Zhengzhi finished all six sets of questions. This is a pro and a con because this way, we could easily find his sealed script among the others. With just some minor adjustments, we could kick him off the roll," Yu Yiping’s eyes shone with an icy glare.
"However, I’ve heard that King Duan also wanted Fang Zhengzhi out of the roll. I always thought that we should save those that King Duan wanted gone. Why are we on the same side as King Duan this time, Prime Minister?" Crown Prince Lin Tianrong expressed his opinion to show his need for him. He must act to win him over.
"We have to act according to the situation. If you blindly move ahead, how could you achieve great things?" Yu Yiping indeed did not take bother with the Crown Prince’s opinion.
"Prime Minister’s advice is indeed wise. Then let’s move according to your plan," the Crown Prince replied. After that, he slowly lifted the pot of "Tri-crowned Orchids" and carefully walked towards the backyard.
He murmured to himself as he walked, "My precious... Where should I place you?"
…
Within the Imperial Academy, Han Changfeng’s eyebrows were scrunched tightly. He would never have thought that such a miracle could happen. Someone actually finished all six sets?
This created an uneasiness in his heart.
Heavenly Reflection at fifteen.
In the Imperial Examination, he finished all six sets in one sitting…
Impossible!
If Fang Zhengzhi was the one mentioned in the Heavenly Prophecy, then, the incident at the doors of the River of Trust examination location was enough leverage for Fang Zhengzhi to bring me to my grave.
Whether it was for the stability of the palace politics or for the preservation of oneself, Fang Zhengzhi must be eliminated.
Han Changfeng was waiting.
Waiting for the reply from the East Palace because to do this, he needed cooperation from the Left Prime Minister. Even if he was the Chief Imperial Messenger for the Imperial Academy and the Chief Examiner for the Imperial Examinations, he lacks the power to carry such a plan.
Similar to Han Changfeng, King Duan Lin Xinjue was just as anxious. As the Supervising Inspector of this round of Imperial Examinations, he naturally had the power to inspect any of the candidates’ scripts.
Therefore, he had immediately sent someone to retrieve Fang Zhengzhi’s script.
After that…
He felt that his mind just got whacked by a sledgehammer. A bit of dizziness and a bit of disbelief.
Fang Zhengzhi’s script was easy to recognize. The seal did not need to be opened to know which one it was. The couplets on the script had five to six paired sentences for each one. What was the meaning of this?
Didn’t he lack the skills of pairing couplets?
Was it all an elaborate act?
King Duan had a soreness in his heart that came from being outplayed by someone else. He believed that Fang Zhengzhi did this on purpose. He purposely pretended that he did not know how to pair couplets so as to lower the difficulty of the Theory Examinations in the Imperial Examinations.
All for the goal of his noble triumph of finishing all six sets of the examination papers.
Despicable!
King Duan was so enraged he almost tore up the papers in front of him. However, he manages to suppress that urge because he could not do it, not in front of the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at him.
"Edit! Even if I was to be accused of being an incompetent inspector, his script must be edited!"
…
Within the Ping Yang Residence, the Ping Yang dressed up in a red cloak was not happy. The more she thought about it, the more furious she got. The more furious she was, the more her lips pouted.
"I’m furious, furious…"
Stalks of brightly blooming flowers suffered horrible fates in her poisonous hands. Even the flower pot was shown no mercy.
Ping! Piang! These sounds echoed in the small garden.
At this point, a Chi Guyan wearing a pink dress appeared. Her gentle footsteps were heard and even flowers bow in her presence.
"Sister Yan!" Ping Yang jumped up the moment she saw Chi Guyan.
"What’s wrong? Why are you expressing your frustrations here alone?" Chi Guyan calmly walked towards Ping Yang, then, she pulled Ping Yang towards her to sit.
"Who else but that despicable man. Sister Yan, you knew that I was going to enter this round of Imperial Examinations. Initially, I thought that with my answers, I would definitely win him. However… that fellow actually finished everything? That was totally unreasonable!" Ping Yang was once again enraged at the thought of this.
"I see. But it’s not worth it to be angry at such a shameless person. You said that he finished everything but that did not mean that he will beat you."
"How can he not? Six sets of examination papers… He finished everything by himself!" Ping Yang did not understand.
"He merely finished. Are you sure that what he wrote was correct?"
"How do I even confirm? I’m not the Chief Examiner. How would I know if it was right or wrong?" As Ping Yang said this, she was humbled because even as the Chief Examiner, she would not be able to judge whether Fang Zhengzhi’s answers.
"Would you like to be the Chief Examiner though?" Chi Guyan gently smiled.
"Of course. However, the Chief Examiner was already appointed. I don’t have a chance even if I wanted to," Ping Yang did not really catch Chi Guyan’s meaning.
"It’s not totally impossible."
"Sister Yan, is there still a way for me to become the Chief Examiner?" Ping Yang’s eyes revealed her incredulity when she heard that.
[1]: First-class translate to Chinese is 一品 which is read as yi pin and sounds the same as Yu Yiping’s name, hence the pun.