nucmednet Chapter 320 What a Su Yue...
Chapter 320 What a Su Yue...
The carriage slowly drove along the official road, and the wheels made a dull sound as they rolled over the wet mud after the rain.
Liang Junze gently lifted the car curtain and looked at the gradually clear outline of the capital in the distance, feeling a little relieved.
Although there were some twists and turns along the way, it was relatively safe.
At this moment, deep in the palace, the retired emperor sat in the imperial study, holding a list of the Spring Examination in his hand. His expression was as calm as water, but the slightly white knuckles revealed his inner displeasure.
"I remember that I personally read Su Yue's answer sheet." She spoke slowly, her voice not loud, but it made the officials standing in the hall tense their backs instantly.
The chief examiner of the Spring Examination knelt on the ground, his forehead pressed against the cold tiles, his official robes soaked with sweat. "Reporting to the Emperor, the examination was conducted according to the rules and regulations. There was absolutely no favoritism or fraud..."
"Oh?" The emperor tapped the table with his fingertips. "Then why is the Zhao girl at the top of the list, and not Su Yue?"
There was dead silence in the hall.
Zhao Minglan, a girl from the Zhao family, is the daughter of the current Minister of Revenue. Although she has average literary talent, she won the first prize in the Spring Examination.
As for Su Yue, the one to whom Lu Lingyun had dared to submit the answer sheet in advance for her review, did not even make it to the bottom of the list.
The retired emperor sneered and threw the list on the table: "Although I have abdicated, I am not so old that my eyesight is dim."
She slowly stood up, her eyes narrowed slightly: "Go check."
These two short words made everyone present tremble in their hearts.
——What are you investigating? Who are you investigating?
Was she investigating the truth behind Su Yue's failure? Or how the Zhao family girl managed to get to the top? Or... was she investigating whether someone dared to manipulate things under her nose?
No one dared to ask.
Su Mansion Study
"Not on the list?" Su Yue raised an eyebrow, but there was no panic in her tone.
Shangguan Haomu handed Xiaofan the secret letter she had just received: "Not only you, but Lu Lingyun is also not on the list."
"Interesting." Su Yue chuckled, her fingertips gently stroking the letter paper, "It seems that someone doesn't want us to serve as officials in the court."
Mu Feng stroked his bulging belly and frowned, "Could this be the work of Prince Duan's Mansion?"
"Not necessarily." Shen Yunyan shook his head. "Prince Rui and I are not enemies. Cheating in the Spring Examination is too risky. She wouldn't take such a risk."
Su Yue looked out the window at the darkening sky, her eyes darkening. "Whoever dares to mess with my future must be prepared to pay the price."
She turned around and looked at the secret letter spread out on the table - it was the news that Liang Junze and his companions were leaving for the capital.
The candlelight flickered, and the emperor stood alone in front of the window, holding a jade pendant in his hand - it was a token left to her by the late emperor.
"Su Yue..." she murmured softly, a complex look flashing in her eyes.
This daring woman dared to question the fairness of the Spring Examination and even presented the answer sheet to her for review in advance.
She should be punished for being so arrogant.
But her answer sheet was written very well.
So good that it reminded her of her younger self.
"Someone come here." She suddenly said.
In the darkness, a dark shadow knelt silently.
"Go check what Su Yue is doing now."
The black shadow took the order and left.
The Emperor gazed into the night sky, his lips curled slightly: "If you are truly capable, I would like to see how you break this situation."
The remaining candle on the gilded candlestick burst into a spark, casting a flickering light on the answer sheet in the emperor's hand.
She stroked the small cinnabar characters Su Yue had annotated and suddenly chuckled, "This little girl is really good at winning people's hearts."
There were two completely different test papers on the desk - the one signed by Lu Lingyun was full of gems, while the archived official paper was full of vulgar language.
The female official reported tremblingly: "The Zhao family sent ten boxes of gold to the Ministry of Rites..."
"I'm not dead yet!" The emperor suddenly slammed the table, causing the copper bells under the eaves to ring.
She looked at the secret memorial Su Yue had sent her in advance, which clearly listed seven possible cheating methods in the Spring Examination. The most ironic thing was that half of them had been proven right.
The Buddhist beads clicked at his fingertips, and the moment the emperor raised his eyes, the empress was already standing outside the bead curtain.
"Your son pays his respects to the Queen Mother." The nine phoenixes embroidered with gold thread on the empress's black dragon robe flapped their wings in the candlelight, as if ready to fly. The jade pendant on her waist remained motionless as she saluted - this was a skill she had mastered since she was fifteen, and she was always so dignified that no one could find fault with her.
The emperor gazed at his most proud work.
When she personally handed the imperial seal to the child, she thought with satisfaction: These eyes are so much like my own when I was young.
But now, she saw something more dangerous in those eyes—the calmness of treating people's hearts as chess pieces.
"Get up." The retired emperor fiddled with the two examination papers on the table. "You came here so late at night, is it about the Spring Examination?"
The empress glanced at Su Yue's cinnabar-written annotations and suddenly chuckled, "Is your mother still worrying about that arrogant girl?"
She traced Lu Lingyun's altered answer sheet with her fingertips. "I think Zhao Jianu's essay 'On the Reform of the Grain Transport System' is quite insightful."
"Insights?" The retired emperor suddenly put down his teacup heavily. "It's a completely plagiarized policy paper! Even the words 'build the embankment with mortar' are copied -" She stopped abruptly, the word mortar was like a knife splitting her memory.
A month before Prince Ning'an's death, he also submitted a memorial proposing to use "mysterious mortar" to reinforce the border.
The beaded curtain suddenly moved without wind, and half a tiger talisman slipped from the empress's sleeve. "Does your mother know that the spinning machine that Su Yue improved in Yangzhou can double the efficiency of women's labor?"
Her tone was as gentle as if she was chatting casually, "Such a wonderful person, but he chose to teach poor students to write policy papers..."
Thunder exploded outside the window, illuminating the suddenly frozen air between the mother and daughter.
The retired emperor finally understood why the empress wanted to suppress Su Yue - this woman who could shake the foundation of the aristocratic family was more dangerous than ten Princes of Ning'an.
"Xiao Fan will be coming of age next month." The empress suddenly turned around and said, "I think it would be better to let him marry a princess..."
"Wow!"
The Buddhist rosary string broke and the sandalwood beads rolled all over the ground.
The emperor looked at his shaking hands—the first time he had lost his composure in twenty years.
Her little Ning An, even at death, would use the most tragic means to ensure her son's official career, and now her body is still warm...
"Your Majesty." The Emperor slowly bent down to pick up the beads. "Do you remember what Ning An said before he died?"
The empress's pupils suddenly constricted. That day, a torrential downpour poured down. Prince Ning'an, bloodied, laughed heartily, "Sister, if my Fan'er were a woman... she would be a hundred times stronger than me!"
"Your son will take his leave." When the empress turned around, a prescription fell from her sleeve - it was the pregnancy-preserving medicine that Lin Yuxuan had prescribed for Mu Feng the day before.
The emperor's hand suddenly froze as he picked up the prescription.
There was an ink dot in the corner of the recipe, which turned out to be a miniature canal transport map upon closer inspection.
She suddenly remembered the line of words circled in red ink on Su Yue's answer sheet: "Where the canal is diverted, a watchtower should be erected."
And that location just happens to overlook the former site of Ning'an Prince's Palace.
"What a Su Yue..." The Queen Mother stared at the seven cheating methods in the secret memorial, each of which was marked with her own handwriting: "ridiculous".
Even before the ink had dried, the examination papers archived by the Ministry of Rites had been blatantly tampered with according to the third and fourth methods - replacing the excellent works of the poor students with those of the daughters of the aristocratic families, and then bribing the transcribers to destroy the original papers.
The gift list held by the female official fell to the ground with a "plop", scattering the patterns of the treasures presented by the Zhao family.
The curtains made of South China Sea pearls and the Pixiu carved from blood jade from the Western Regions are all priceless.
The Queen Mother crushed the blueprint with one foot, and the phoenix embroidered with gold thread was stepped into the cracks of the blue bricks by her.