LOT – Chapter 218 Another Big Melon, the Unlucky Examinee

The thing inside the sack was still moving. Whether it was an animal or a human, it was definitely alive.

Lin Mo walked over excitedly and poked it. Bai Xiao also excitedly activated the protection mechanism for her.

[Momo, I’m telling you, there is definitely a person inside!]

Lin Mo: [Do you even need to say it? Listen to the muffled noises inside—this person definitely has their mouth stuffed.]

The Flower Peacock and the Silly Beauty also came over. The four of them pressed their heads together and began guessing enthusiastically.

Bai Xiao joined the guessing squad as well. In truth, with just a quick search he could know exactly what was going on, but he wanted to play along, too.

The Second Young Master of the Ministry of Justice, hiding at the side: …

Do none of you feel even a little scared?!

If it’s a corpse inside, then it’s dumping a body. Even if it’s living, this is still terrifying!

The Second Young Master carefully edged closer and whispered, “We should leave quickly and report to the authorities. Whoever did this is definitely not a good person.”

Hearing his timid voice, Lin Mo asked in confusion, “How is your courage even smaller than Silly Beauty’s? Your father is the Vice Minister of Justice!”

Bai Xiao: [Exactly! His courage isn’t even half of his father’s. Back when his father pursued his mother, his grandfather disapproved. His father was bold—he secretly met her in the middle of the night. But he got caught red-handed. His grandfather’s vision was poor, so when he saw someone hanging on the wall, he was so frightened he fainted on the spot. Then his father immediately fetched a doctor and served him attentively. Till this day, his grandfather still thinks the son-in-law saved him. He has no idea the “ghost” that scared him was actually his son-in-law climbing the wall.]

Lin Mo listened with great interest. She hadn’t expected the Vice Minister of Justice to have such a dramatic past.

[So later, did the Vice Minister earn his father-in-law’s approval?]

Bai Xiao: [Of course! His father-in-law still believes the son-in-law rescued him. The Vice Minister never dared reveal the truth—after all, he was caught climbing the wall to secretly meet the daughter.]

The three people listening to this: …

The person tied inside the sack: …

The Second Young Master’s face turned scarlet. He had no idea his parents had such a story.  He never imagined that his stern father had once been so bold. His father’s courage was indeed far beyond his own.

After finishing this melon, Lin Mo felt even happier.

The man in the sack had also figured out who the people outside were. After all, only one person in the world had such… abilities.

Lin Mo loosened the rope on the sack. The man inside squinted as he tried to lift his head.

Lin Mo let out a small “Eh?” and stepped back, then said in disgust, “Why are you so smelly? Did you poop in there? Didn’t the people who tied you up let you relieve yourself?”

The Flower Peacock and Silly Beauty also took two steps back in disgust.

They had noticed a faint odd smell earlier but didn’t think much of it—this alley was stuffy to begin with.

But now, with the sack opened, the odor became much stronger.

Bai Xiao: [I know! I know! He didn’t poop in there—he was kidnapped while using the toilet!]

Lin Mo: …

Flower Peacock and others: …

Kidnapped man: …

Why does this little system sound so excited saying that?!

The man held back the urge to roll his eyes and signaled for them to remove the cloth from his mouth.

Lin Mo pinched it with two fingers and pulled it out. “Who are you? Why were you tied up and dumped here? Did you offend someone?”

Bai Xiao answered again before anyone else could: [I know! I know! He’s a candidate coming to the capital for the imperial exam. Because he’s good-looking, a young lady from a wealthy household took a liking to him. But he refused her, so that young lady wanted to punish him and had him kidnapped and dumped here!]

The examinee: …

Should I even bother explaining? The system already said everything…

Those who could come to the capital for exams were basically juren, not ordinary commoners. And since they might become officials, they always investigated the capital thoroughly beforehand.

Naturally, they were especially wary of the little Lin Lord with supernatural abilities.

Anyone with a guilty conscience didn’t dare come for the exam for fear of encountering her. But there were always some people bold enough to risk it for glory.

The examinee clutched the sack awkwardly and said, “I am a candidate here for the metropolitan exam. I seem to have offended the daughter of the Guozijian’s Sacrificial Wine (Head of the Imperial Academy), which is why I ended up here.”

Lin Mo nodded. “So the young lady took a liking to you, you refused, and then she did this to you.”

The examinee nodded. He too hadn’t expected to encounter such a thing the moment he arrived in the capital.

There were many noble young masters in the capital far better-looking than him, and all of them had powerful backgrounds. He couldn’t understand why the daughter of the Sacrificial Wine would take an interest in him.

Wei Zheng’an had some impression of this young lady, though not a pleasant one.

“I think I know who she is. The Sacrificial Wine’s third daughter. She has always been a troublemaker and prefers handsome men with no power or backing.”

“When I first arrived in the capital with my father after his promotion, she nearly tried to make a move on me.”

Bai Xiao added: [This Third Young Miss is the real outrageous one. People call you outrageous, but that’s just because you like to have fun. You never cross the line—you have a bottom line. She doesn’t.]

[She’s spoiled at home. All her servants are good-looking men. Her mother is the County Princess of Cheng’an, distantly related to the royal family. Very distant, but still technically royalty.]

[Honestly, this candidate is unlucky. First day in the capital and he encounters someone like her. But even she doesn’t dare go too far with exam candidates. Otherwise she wouldn’t have just dumped him here.]

Lin Mo frowned deeply. How could someone like that exist?!

She had lived here for years and never heard about her. Her impression of the Sacrificial Wine was that he was a gentle, proper man.

Bai Xiao explained: [The Sacrificial Wine is a good person, but the County Princess of Cheng’an is a different story. The couple fell out years ago. He lives alone in another residence.]

Lin Mo nodded in sudden understanding. Ah, so he wasn’t the one who raised that girl.

Then Bai Xiao announced cheerfully:

[Also, I have great news! The Vice Ministers of the Court of Judicial Review, the Court of Ceremonies, the Imperial Stables, and the Imperial Household are all being promoted tomorrow! They will become Ministers of their respective ministries!]

[They’ve already had real authority for a while, but the Emperor put off promoting them because too much was happening. Now he’s finally doing it.]

Lin Mo asked excitedly: [What about my father? Did my father get promoted?!]

Bai Xiao: […Your father is already a Shangshu (Minister). How much higher do you want him to go? To First Rank? Do you want him to become a Prince?!]

Lin Mo sobered instantly. Right. In this dynasty, Shangshu was already a First Class (from-first-rank) official. The top rank above was reserved for the Grand Preceptor, Grand Mentor, and similar posts.