Chapter 261: The Professional Substitute Exam-Taker — Five Candidates Guaranteed Passes (2 / 2)

Inside the Exam Hall

[Whoa—]

[Another cheater!]

[Mark him down! We’ll find a chance to drag him out later!]

…Excuse me, what?!

The entire room of examiners nearly collapsed.

Catching a cheater before the exam starts was one thing. Catching one after the exam had begun? That was a completely different matter!

Especially the latter—it could implicate the examiners and lead to heads rolling!

And it was a good thing they didn’t know that the emperor himself was listening in outside the examination hall. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have almost collapsed—they would’ve been long gone.

The Minister of War sat stiffly in his chair, not daring to move, afraid that any action might draw Xu Yanmiao’s suspicion. But in his mind, he was already rehearsing the steps for banging the gong and sending off the plague god.

Please, I beg you, Xu Yanmiao!

Please let it be an isolated case of cheating! Please don’t let this implicate a large number of people!

Wait—

The Minister of War suddenly thought of something that made his hair stand on end.

He stiffly turned his neck to look at the other examiners, and from their expressions, he could see the same terror reflected in their eyes.

Given how thoroughly Little Bai Ze had searched outside the exam hall, it was practically impossible for anyone to have successfully smuggled in cheat sheets! If it wasn’t hidden notes, then the only explanation was that a candidate had colluded with an examiner!

Outside the Examination Hall

The Examination Department official of the Ministry of Personnel was sweating profusely, praying non-stop: “It has nothing to do with my family, nothing to do with my family, nothing to do with my family…”

The Assistant Minister of the Directorate of Imperial Banquets thought for a moment about his eldest grandson’s personality and let out a small sigh of relief.

Knowing his grandson, if he was the type to cheat for better exam results, he wouldn’t have snuck out the night before the exam to eat hotpot.

—That particular method of sneaking out had, after all, originated from Xu Yanmiao.@@novelbin@@

Inside the Teahouse

The old emperor calmly ate his boiled egg, placing a slice of steamed ham on top—perfect for pairing with rice or congee—as if he hadn’t heard Xu Yanmiao’s inner thoughts at all.

When he glanced up and noticed the grim expressions of those around him, he chuckled, “No need to be so serious. Eat. Eat well.”

He picked up his chopsticks and placed a slice of steamed ham on each of their plates.

“Eat your fill…”

“So you’ll have the strength to draw your blades later.”

Inside the Examination Hall

Xu Yanmiao started searching for the culprit through the system.

[Candidate from the ‘Tian’ section…]

The examiners peered out the windows, scanning the rows of pigeonhole-like exam cubicles below.

[Number 20!]

Countless pairs of eyes instantly locked onto Exam Room 20.

But the visibility inside was poor.

The Minister of War had already begun contemplating how he could naturally walk over there and casually discover the cheating.

For now… he decided to listen and see if Little Bai Ze would reveal the method of cheating.

[Tsk, tsk. That’s some misplaced intelligence.]

Xu Yanmiao clicked his tongue. In his opinion, the candidates who only knew how to smuggle in cheat sheets were too honest.

[Other people are hiring stand-ins to take the exam for them. And not just any random stand-ins—they’re hiring candidates who have already passed the provincial exams. Meanwhile, you guys are still using your real names to cheat.]

[Both people enter the exam hall, but when it’s time to submit the papers, they swap names at the last moment. With the names blurred together, no one can tell who was the real candidate—if it weren’t for the system upgrade, I wouldn’t have been able to catch these two at all.]

The Minister of War’s mouth twitched.

So you’re telling me they’re applying military strategy to cheating?!

What was this? The Thirty-Six Stratagems—Crossing the Sea Under Camouflage?

This was much more discreet than relying on connections and having examiners turn a blind eye during the name verification process. After all, the stand-in was a legitimate candidate with an official exam pass and an assigned seat.

[Hiss—]

[“This guy has already been a stand-in for five imperial exams! And every time, he helped someone make it onto the list!”]

[If you’re this good, why are you even being a stand-in?! Five times! Fifteen years! Do you even realize what rank you could have reached by now?!]

Outside the Examination Hall

The Crown Prince also sucked in a breath.

“Fifteen years?!”

That meant at least five officials were holding positions they didn’t deserve!

The Crown Prince turned his head and saw that his father had already finished his egg. The emperor was leisurely wiping his mouth, a bit of yolk clinging to his fingernail. A moment later, even that trace of yolk was gone.

[Anyway, the first person you took the exam for is now an Assistant Director in the Ministry of War. A fifth-rank official!]

The Tiantong Emperor narrowed his eyes.

There were two Assistant Directors in the Ministry of War. It wasn’t clear yet which one was the culprit, but it would be easy to find out—just check which of the two had taken the imperial exam in the same year as the stand-in.

—And as it happened, these two officials had not passed in the same year.

At that moment, one of the Assistant Directors, who had been casually watching the show, inadvertently exposed himself. Upon hearing these words, his foot slipped, and he nearly fell.

In an instant, the surrounding officials instinctively stepped back—at least ten paces away—to avoid any association. No one wanted the emperor to think they were too friendly with him.

[Oh, oh! There’s also the current Prefect of Tianzhou! And he’s even from the same clan as the Vice Minister of the Imperial Stables!]

The Prefect of Tianzhou wasn’t present, but the Vice Minister of the Imperial Stables was, and he immediately teared up, desperately counting whether his kinship with the Prefect fell within the nine generations that could be implicated.

[And there’s more…]

Xu Yanmiao was excitedly scanning the list, while outside, the Jin Yiwei (Imperial Secret Police) were vigorously taking notes, occasionally licking their lips, eyes gleaming with a predatory glint.

—After all, it was the Jin Yiwei’s job to arrest the families of these corrupt officials!

Another batch of achievements! Another opportunity to seize some… extra benefits!

Now, all they had to do was wait for the first round of the imperial exam to conclude. Once the candidate in Exam Room 20 filled in the stand-in’s name on the answer sheet, they could catch him red-handed. Then, the Jin Yiwei could be unleashed!

“Oh, right.”

The Tiantong Emperor spoke calmly: “Make sure to identify the chief and deputy examiners of those past imperial exams as well. Their failure to supervise properly… Heh.”