EMHTC -Chapter 127 Tearing Apart Someone Else’s Umbrella!

The Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel’s first reaction was actually: Damn! My reputation for getting things done with bribes is ruined!

His second reaction, only after that, was: My corruption has been exposed!

His heart pounded, and he silently cried out in misery. But given the setting, he couldn’t plead for mercy or show remorse in front of the emperor. He could only tremble all the way home after the emperor left.

Thinking that his fate was either to be beaten to death or dismissed and exiled, the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel simply ordered all the strong liquor from his wine cellar to be brought out and started pouring entire jars of it down his throat.

Drinking while crying, drinking and vomiting on the floor.

Did he regret it? Yes! But not because he accepted bribes—he regretted not being careful enough.

The next morning, after drinking all night, the Right Assistant Minister, reeking of alcohol and seemingly with his brain soaked in liquor, staggered into court, adding another crime to his name. The old emperor first charged him with misconduct in the imperial presence, ordering him to be suspended and confined at home for reflection. A few days later, the Jinyiwei “coincidentally” discovered evidence of his bribery. Once reported, his fate was sealed—

The emperor’s ruling: He would be permanently barred from holding any official position, and his descendants would be banned from government service for three generations.

—Because not only did he accept bribes, but he also abused his power by arranging for every county magistrate who had served seven years and had the surname Sun to enter the Hanlin Academy.

As for the magistrate of Shangyuan County, he was, of course, dismissed and investigated as well.

But Xu Yanmiao knew none of this.

At the moment, he was at the imperial examination hall, too busy to care about anyone else’s corruption.

Before the exams began, the examiners had to enter the examination hall one month in advance to finalize the exam questions. The topics previously discussed with the Minister of War were just one of many options. As the chief examiner, Xu Yanmiao couldn’t just prepare a single exam—he had to prepare three to five versions for the emperor to choose from.

Furthermore, once inside the examination hall, the examiners were locked in and prohibited from leaving until after the exam results were announced.

Too busy to even breathe—who had time to worry about corruption scandals?!

A month later, Xu Yanmiao emerged looking dazed, his steps unsteady, like a ghost that had just floated up from the underworld.

“I can finally res—”

A Censorate official suddenly pinched Xu Yanmiao’s arm. “Forgive me, Master Xu! His Majesty has decreed that the chief examiner must also be present for the inspection.”

If he didn’t pinch him, Xu Yanmiao was about to pass out on the spot.

Xu Yanmiao jolted awake. “When does it start?”

The Censorate official replied, “Fourth watch.”

Xu Yanmiao quickly calculated the time.

【1 AM to 3 AM… The candidates are entering the exam hall at that hour?!】

So miserable.

Even worse than the modern gaokao.

Xu Yanmiao pinched his own arm, then asked, “How long can I sleep?”

The Censorate official answered, “Half a day.”

Xu Yanmiao immediately had a reclining chair brought over, slumped into it at an angle, draped a blank scroll over his face, and closed his eyes. “Wake me when it’s time.”

Half a day later, the candidates, freshly bathed from the public bathhouse, began waiting for roll call to enter the examination hall.

Xu Yanmiao sat before a small oil lamp, holding a registry as he began the roll call—

“Liu Yuan, Confucian scholar from Min County, Fujian…”

“Zhang Shu, Confucian scholar from Yin County, Zhejiang…”

“Ma Chaobi, Confucian scholar from Putian County, Fujian…”

For each name called, he would compare the person’s appearance with the records before allowing them to enter the examination hall.

“Dong Chongdai, Confucian scholar from Hejin County, Shanxi…”

Xu Yanmiao’s voice suddenly cut off as he lifted his gaze to look at the examinee. The man eyed him warily. “May I ask, official, is there something wrong with my place of origin?”

The issue wasn’t with his place of origin. The problem was…

Xu Yanmiao glanced at the information from his system, waved his hand, and soldiers immediately stepped forward at his command. “Remove his waistcoat.”

The examinee’s face instantly turned pale as paper. Looking humiliated, he protested, “The bathing process already ensures we carry nothing hidden. Even our freshly changed clothes were provided by the court! Are you accusing me of cheating? This is outrageous! I refuse to take the exam!”

Saying this, he turned as if to storm away, tears brimming in his eyes.

The surrounding scholars were moved by his plight and glared angrily at Xu Yanmiao.

Xu Yanmiao, however, looked genuinely confused.

Oh, he wasn’t confused about their feelings of humiliation. It was more like—“I pointed it out so obviously. Why does he still think this is just a coincidence and that he can get away with it?”

A Censorate official inwardly whispered in response: Wishful thinking. Not just this examinee— even the entire central government knows you have a divine tool, yet corruption and bribery continue unchecked.

Then, stepping forward, the official firmly held down the examinee from Shanxi’s Hejin County and forcibly removed his waistcoat. Glancing at it, he smiled pleasantly. “And what do we have written here?”

The examinee, who moments ago was indignant, now trembled like a leaf. “N-nothing…”

The other scholars widened their eyes. Some quickly caught on and angrily exclaimed, “I trusted you! And you were cheating?!”

As the words fell, the Censorate official unfolded the waistcoat, lifted it up, and shook it in front of the crowd. The gathered scholars erupted in shock.

The text on the fabric was barely larger than an ant (just 3-4 millimeters in size)—and upon closer inspection, it contained handwritten excerpts from the Four Books and Five Classics!

Over 40,000 characters, meticulously written in brush script!

With this level of skill, why not pursue something respectable instead of cheating in the imperial exam?!

The Censorate official waved his hand. “Take this cheater to the side and place him in a cangue. Let him stand outside the examination hall for a month!”

With the wooden cangue locked around his neck, the cheating examinee stood outside the exam hall, exposed for all passing scholars to see. Each glance burned him with shame. Worse yet, the cangue’s wooden beam lifted his chin, making it impossible for him to lower his head.

Hearing others whispering and gossiping about him, his tears streamed down uncontrollably, falling onto the wooden frame of his punishment.

If he had known, he would never have bribed the inspectors responsible for the security check.

—This time, he was truly crying.

Meanwhile, Xu Yanmiao continued calling names from the registry.

“Henan, Yanling County…”

“Shanxi, Leping County…”

“Zhejiang, Yuyao County…”

“Wang Li, scholar of Jiangxia County, Huguang Province…”

Xu Yanmiao paused again, looked up, and said calmly, “Take off your shoes. Your height doesn’t seem right—you must be using shoe inserts. I need to check them.”

The examinee’s face changed drastically.

The guards moved swiftly this time, immediately restraining the person, taking off his shoes, and pulling out the insoles. As soon as they tore them open—sure enough, hidden crib notes were inside.

The other examinees who hadn’t cheated looked at Xu Yanmiao as if they were gazing at the Supreme God of the Heavens.

“Amazing…”

“He never misses.”

“Could this examiner be familiar with every cheating method, so he can spot them all at a glance?”

At this point, many examinees were no longer in a hurry to enter the exam hall. Instead, they stood nearby, watching the young examiner as if he possessed an unerring, prophetic ability. Whoever he pointed out for inspection would inevitably be caught hiding something.

Some had cheat sheets hidden in the layers of their clothing, some had them concealed in hollowed-out inkstones, others had double-layered hats, and one even hid them in their 【rectum】—this last method left both the spectators and the culprit dumbfounded as to how the examiner had figured it out.

Surely, he couldn’t have judged it just by their walking posture, right?

Regardless, the watching examinees swallowed hard, one after another.

Some of them subtly changed their expressions and quietly slipped away from the crowd.

But there were still others…

Xu Yanmiao looked up once more, gazing strangely at an examinee in front of him. “You’re quite good at chemistry.”

The examinee was bewildered. “What?”

Xu Yanmiao stood up, pulled at the examinee’s clothing, and, under the panicked gaze of the other, brought a soybean oil lamp close to the inner lining. As the firelight neared, lines upon lines of densely packed ink characters appeared on what had previously seemed like blank fabric.

The surrounding examinees: “Waaa—”

The censor official, practiced and unfazed, called out, “Take him away in shackles!”

And then, the next one.

Xu Yanmiao: “…You two wouldn’t happen to be brothers, would you?”

The examinee made a last-ditch effort to resist: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Xu Yanmiao grabbed a handful of dust from the ground and sprinkled it on the inner lining of the examinee’s clothing. Just like before, what had appeared to be a blank piece of fabric soon revealed hidden writing.

The surrounding examinees: “Waaa—”

The censor official: “Take him away in shackles!”

Gao He arrived carrying his bedding and clothing chest on his back, holding a large sugar-filled steamed bun in his hand as exam provisions. When he reached the tribute academy, he shivered and exclaimed, “What’s going on here?!”

Why were so many people standing outside the exam hall in shackles?

When he asked someone, the person immediately launched into an exaggerated display of gestures and excitement:

“That examiner! He’s incredible! He can tell at a glance whether someone is hiding crib notes! Hats, shoes, inkstones—there’s nowhere to hide them! Even invisible writing doesn’t work! That examiner just pulls at their clothes, throws a handful of dust on them, and—bam!—the hidden text appears! He’s already caught twenty people!”

Gao He clapped his hands together, and a slow smile spread across his face. “Good! They should be caught! We’ve endured years of hardship, carving the Four Books and Five Classics into our hearts—why should they get to cheat their way onto the honor roll? With an examiner like him, it’s a blessing for us poor scholars!”

The exaggeratedly expressive examinee rubbed the calluses on his fingers and nodded seriously. “Exactly. He’s already exposed twenty people. But with nearly a thousand candidates taking the imperial exam, there’s no way only twenty of them tried to cheat. The rest either haven’t had their names called yet or secretly discarded their crib notes.”

Gao He laughed. “No matter what, this time, the imperial exam is guaranteed to be fair and just. When my name is called, I’ll be sure to personally thank that examiner!”

Xu Yanmiao held a cup of strong tea, sipping absentmindedly to stay awake.

He didn’t like tea, but he had no choice but to drink it. His brow was furrowed tightly.

He picked up the next registry booklet and flipped to the first page: “Gao He, scholar of Lan County, Shaanxi…”

【Huh? A familiar name!】

“Here! I’m here!”

A sweat-drenched figure pushed through the crowd and rushed forward, bowing deeply before slowly straightening up. “I am Gao, a scholar from Lan County, Shaanxi…”

“You?!”

The moment Gao He lifted his head, he was so shocked that even his temples throbbed.

Xu Yanmiao: ???

Imperial exam official: ???

How was this possible?! Xu Yanmiao was around the same age as him!!!