Chapter 77 Spring Examination Begins

Ministry of Justice, Grand Prison.

Guo Baokun carried a basket filled with food for his father and followed Fan Xian stealthily, looking around at the dark prison cell with great caution:
“Fan Xian, this is the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Can you really let me see my father?”

The Ministry of Justice and the Supervisory Yuan have similar responsibilities, but the two sides dislike each other and find it difficult to allow outsiders to come in.

Fan Xian rolled his eyes: “Then, I brought you here just for a stroll?”

Guo Baokun smacked his lips and said, “You have lied to me many times, and it’s not even worth asking.”

Fan Xian could always hear a hint of resentment from him:

“What are you saying? Do you want to see who is behind us before you speak?”

Guo Baokun turned around.

I found that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had also followed in.

He bowed quickly: “Your Highness, I didn’t expect you to come and take me to see my father. I feel relieved now. With Your Highness here, there is no problem that cannot be solved, right, Fan Xian?”

Fan Xian laughed and said, “You’re just a dog licker!”

Li Chengqian waved his hand, motioning him to follow Fan Xian. As the crown prince, if he interfered in the internal affairs of the Ministry of Justice, it would be easy to cause controversy, so it would be better to let young Fan take care of this matter, and he would just listen to the fun from the side.

Guo Baokun smiled and nodded at the prince, then moved closer to Fan Xian and said, “You are very powerful now. With His Royal Highness the Crown Prince protecting you from behind, is there anyone in the court who is more powerful than you?”

“Stop talking nonsense. Do you want to see your father?”

“Look!”

The group walked deep into the prison and came to the cell where the former Minister Guo, Guo Youzhi, was imprisoned.

Seeing that his father was in a good mood, Guo Baokun was ready to show off his achievements in Northern Qi.

He rushed forward, leaned against the iron railing and shouted:

“Dad, I’m coming!”

Guo Youzhi looked at his stupid son and sighed:
“You were finally caught.”

Guo Baokun’s smile froze: “Dad, what does it mean to be caught? You…”

Isn’t that too disrespectful?
Guo Youzhi grabbed his son’s hands and said, “Ever since you said you were going to assassinate Master Xiao Fan, I knew that one day you would end up in jail like me. But thanks to Master Xiao Fan, you were spared.”

At this time, Fan Xian opened the door of the cell and walked in:
“Minister Guo has misunderstood.”

Guo You was startled when he saw the second person who came in from behind Fan Xian.
“Your Highness?!”

Guo Youzhi couldn’t believe his eyes, and looked back at his stupid son in horror: “What did you do to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?”

Guo Baokun felt that his father looked down on him, so he went into the cell and explained:

“Dad, don’t be nervous. The assassination attempt is over! I’m working under him now.”

Guo Baokun was referring to Fan Xian. Guo Youzhi looked at the Crown Prince worriedly.

Then why is His Highness here too?
Guo Baokun added:
“Fan Xian’s sister has been granted marriage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and will be the Crown Princess in the future. Now we can say that I am under Fan Xian’s command, and Fan Xian is under the Crown Prince’s command, which means: I work under His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!”

“Hey, Dad, I’m awesome, right?”

Guo Youzhi ignored the smiling Guo Baokun, instead his mind raced, thinking about what had happened outside during his months in prison, Fan Xian, the crown prince, the eldest princess, the second prince…
Everything is turned upside down!
“Your Highness, is what my son said true?”

Li Chengqian nodded slightly: “Almost, but Fan Xian is not under my command, he is just my brother-in-law.”

Guo Youzhi nodded as if he suddenly understood, and looked at his son with a reproachful look in his eyes.

It is said that the Supervisory Council’s Chief is under the command of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Are you trying to please the prince or criticize him?
If the big shots weren’t here, I would have wanted to slap them.
Guo Baokun seemed not to notice the mistake in his words, and instead sat next to his father and talked big:
“Dad! To be honest, I am really useful. I have been hiding in the capital of Northern Qi for these days.”

Guo Youzhi was horrified: “Why are you going to Northern Qi again?”

Guo Baokun raised his chin proudly: “I am in charge of a group of secret agents and in charge of collecting secret reports!”

Guo Youzhi looked at Fan Xian and the prince in disbelief: “Really?”

Li Chengqian and Fan Xian looked at each other awkwardly, and the latter nodded: “It’s true, I guess.”

Guo Baokun was even more excited, patting his chest and saying, “The capital of Northern Qi is full of dangers, but I have been hiding here until now without any flaws!”

Li Chengqian and Fan Xian turned their heads away, trying madly to hold back their laughter.

We have been strictly trained and will never laugh!
Guo Youzhi thought about it again and again, and sighed: “Northern Qi is about to be destroyed.”

Li Chengqian and Fan Xian couldn’t help laughing.

I’m sorry, but I also laugh out loud when something is so funny!

Guo Baokun was laughed at, but seeing their noble status, he dared not say anything, and could only pat his father’s arm: “Dad, you don’t trust me when you say this! After so many years, you still don’t understand my talent!”

Li Chengqian and Fan Xian pinched their thighs and thought: Can we go out and laugh?

Upon hearing this, Guo Youzhi slapped himself, frightening Guo Baokun and asking quickly:

“What’s wrong, Dad?”

Guo Youzhi sighed: “It’s not a dream. Hiss, it hurts.”

·······
“It hurts, my heart aches!”

In the Princess Faith’s mansion, the eldest princess was not as exquisitely dressed as usual. She was elegant and graceful. Her hair was scattered and she was wearing a tulle, but it was difficult to hide the charm between her eyebrows, the sexy curves drawn by the wind, and the ravines that aroused people’s reverie.
Even such a beautiful woman has her own worries in this world.

Ever since the princess wrote to Li Chengqian, she has been looking forward to her nephew’s reply day and night, because she couldn’t believe that a man who had been bewitched by her since he was a child would betray the Fan family for a flat-chested woman. The inner treasury was still in her hands, which was neither right nor reasonable.

But she didn’t receive any letter from Li Chengqian for a long time, until Li Chengze came to ask for help.
“I didn’t expect that the man I could rely on in the end was not you, but your second brother.”

The princess sighed deeply, her breasts rising and falling like waves. She let go of the letter paper filled with evidence of Li Chengqian’s betrayal and let it fly away with the wind. She didn’t care about it.

Li Yunrui’s pretty face was full of haggardness, but soon the cold hatred returned to her eyes:

“It must be the Fan who bewitched Cheng Qian. I am going back to Beijing to make Cheng Qian change his mind! Only my aunt can help you. Fan Xian and the Fan family are unreliable! Since His Highness has entrusted you and Fan Xian with such an important task, I will make sure you mess it up and see for yourself how useless Fan Xian is!”

The maid bowed her head and waited for orders. Li Yunrui vented his emotions and regained his composure:

“Give orders to have Guo Zheng cooperate with Li Chengze and do their best to sabotage it.”

“besides.”

“Pick up the letter. I will take it with me and bring it to Cheng Qian.”

The maid crawled and grabbed the letter that was about to be blown away. When she knelt down to hand it to the princess, she accidentally glanced at the contents of the letter. Li Yunrui took the letter without even looking at her: “I am upset to see you, so just disappear.”

The maid looked up in horror, and the next second, she lost consciousness and was dragged away.

Heads on the ground!

·······
“The eldest princess and the second prince are accomplices. I really didn’t expect this.”

Guo Youzhi heard about the recent changes in the court outside the prison and quickly came to a conclusion.

He used to be a subordinate of the eldest princess, but he was considering the face of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, because at that time, everyone believed that the eldest princess supported the Crown Prince. If it was inconvenient to stand on the side of the crown prince, they would choose to stand under the eldest princess, and they would never be wrong to stand on the side of the Crown Prince.

Unexpectedly, the princess was so bold that she not only betrayed Yan Bingyun’s information, but also asked Guo Youzhi to contact Zhuang Mohan, a great writer in Northern Qi. The two conspired to destroy Fan Xian’s reputation, which led to the princess being driven out of Kyoto and Guo Youzhi being thrown into prison. “The Second Prince and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are not getting along. Now His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Fan Xian are in charge of the Spring Examination, and they are seeking fairness for the scholars of the world. Among them, the Second Prince will definitely come to trouble them. You help them. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said: After the matter is done, he will let you go.”

Upon hearing this, Guo Youzhi quickly stood up, thanked the prince for rescuing him, and took the Spring Examination Guidelines given to them by the current Minister of Rites Guo Zheng from Fan Xian.

“Many of the details are correct.”

“But there is no mention of rules other than the details.”

Fan Xian frowned and looked at the prince. Li Chengqian seemed to have expected this and remained unmoved:
“It seems like someone is planning to harm us.”

Guo Youzhi said slowly:

“Guo Zheng is so sinister, who is he under?”

Fan Xian shook his head:

“It’s hidden so deeply that we don’t have any obvious reasons to join forces.”

“But I can see that Guo Zheng must be under the command of the Second Prince and is working for him!” Guo Baokun answered wittily.

Guo Youzhi glared at him and said, “What does it have to do with you if the adults are talking?”

Li Chengqian understood what he meant:
“I’m sure you’ve figured it out. This isn’t just a fight between Fan Xian and my second brother, but also the eldest princess behind him trying to take action against me. Guo Zheng was able to hide so deeply and be used by my second brother. I’m afraid he must have been a hidden pawn that my aunt had planted a long time ago.”

Guo Youzhi nodded. The prince had made clear his hostility towards the eldest princess.

Then he can relax and tell everything he knows.
“Your Highness, are there any of your students among the candidates for this spring exam?”

“Of course there is none.”

Li Chengqian advocated fairness in the imperial examination, and Lao Guo was obviously testing it.

“So, are there any students who are close to you?”

“nor.”

Li Chengqian responded calmly that he had once told Fan Xian not to have any contact with the examinees.

So as to prevent them from getting into trouble and being implicated innocently.

Fan Xian also nodded in response, saying that he had never met her privately:

“Except for the anonymous encounter outside the examination room, if they don’t make it known, no one will think they are our students, and they won’t get into trouble.”

Guo Youzhi originally breathed a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, Li Chengqian shook his head:

“Whether we have contact is one thing, and what they do is another. I always feel that Hou Jichang, who is obsessed with being an official and wants to climb up the social ladder, is likely to be implicated. I hope that won’t happen.”

·······
The prince’s disciple, Fan Xian’s apprentice, has a bright future. Hou Jichang is ready to go to the examination room.

Today is the first day of the Spring Examination. All the candidates get up and prepare before dawn.

They either review their studies or set out early, rushing to cross the Zhuangyuan Bridge.

Hou Jichang and Shi Chanli traveled together, the former full of confidence.

Because of the frequent sidelong glances from others:
“Isn’t this the candidate who met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Little Fan Shixian in the examination room?”

“He is incredible. He will definitely pass the imperial examination this spring. He may even be a student of those two masters behind the scenes.”

“I really envy him. He is so lucky. Not only can he witness the Crown Prince punishing Minister Guo, but he can also be appreciated by the Crown Prince.”

“Incredible, incredible! This person must be a rare talent. I must get to know him after the exam!”

“I also want!”

Shi Chanli reminded worriedly:
“Brother Hou, didn’t Brother Yang tell you not to publicize the fact that we had been with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Master Fan? Now that everyone is talking about you like this, I’m afraid it will cause trouble for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the others.”

Hou Jichang waved his hands quickly:
“I’m not talking nonsense, I’m not making it up. I just said that we met once. Isn’t that the truth? What they say is their business. Maybe the examiner will mistakenly think that I…”

I didn’t dare say those last few sensitive words because if I had, I would have really angered everyone.

Yang Wanli walked quickly past him from behind, sighed deeply, and was disappointed in him.

Shi Chanli also followed Yang Wanli’s steps and walked forward quickly:
“Brother Hou, think twice.”

“You two are so stubborn.” Hou Jichang complained in his heart. When he hurried to catch up, he bumped into someone and almost knocked the bag on his shoulder off. When he was about to get angry, the person had already left:
“This person is really strange.”

Hou Jichang didn’t think much about it and followed Shi Chanli and Yang Wanli to the examination room. After watching Fan Xian’s speech, the candidates lined up to enter the room. When they saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sitting in the first seat, Hou Jichang winked at him but did not deliberately say hello.

Although he wanted to cling to the banner of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he was also smart.

If Hou Jichang interacted with the prince so obviously, outsiders would be suspicious.

Even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would probably try to avoid him as much as possible.

“Name.”

“Hometown.”

“Take off your clothes.”

The officers and soldiers in charge of supervision conduct body searches before the test.

Yang Wanli and Shi Chanli were the first to pass by, and Hou Jichang was also ready to follow.

But at this moment, the officer found a roll of notes from him and his face suddenly changed:

“Somebody come!”

“Get him!”

Swish! Several officers and soldiers rushed forward and captured Hou Jichang.

The unusual scene caused many candidates to look at each other in confusion, and even Fan Xian stood up to watch.

But Guo Zheng looked like he was in control of the situation, and he and His Royal Highness were calm and composed as they sat in their seats. He realized that he shouldn’t be so calm, so he pretended to be angry and stepped forward to reprimand:

“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that cheating will be cracked down on in this spring’s imperial examination. How dare you bring a cheating note into the examination room? How dare you! Come, take him to the Ministry of Justice and disqualify him from this spring’s imperial examination!”

Hou Jichang’s face turned pale, his original confidence was shattered, and he explained in panic:

“I didn’t, I didn’t! I really didn’t cheat!!!”

Fan Xian looked at Li Chengqian and signaled with his eyes:

Is this the second prince’s counterattack? Has it begun?

Li Chengqian waved his hand, telling him to calm down, and then looked at Guo Zheng who was looking angry:
“Minister Guo, why don’t you take a look at the contents of the note before making a decision?”

Guo Zheng had a puzzled look on his face, and saw the prince’s slight smile.

His heart skipped a beat.

There won’t be any mistakes in the Second Prince’s arrangements, right?
　I’m exhausted from reviewing and writing books all the time. Please understand and I’ll update more once I get through this period. Thank you!

　
(End of this chapter)