Duan Yanhua's chest heaved with anger as he repeatedly poked Song Gaoli's temple with his finger.
"Why are you so inflexible? This small matter is just a lift of a finger for Ye Liangyu to handle."
"Your relationship with the Song family is meant to be used at a time like this. Go find Song Qiming tomorrow and ask him to put in a good word for you. Ye Liangyu will definitely agree."
Song Gaoli clenched his jaw, lowered his head, and his voice was muffled.
"Teacher, doing this is forcing him into a difficult position. Besides, I might not necessarily fail the exam. I might just pass."
Duan Yanhua glared, wishing he could rip out all of his hair.
"By the time the results are announced, it'll be too late! I've already seen the exam papers of your senior fellow students; they have no hope at all. If you also fail, all my years of hard work will be in vain."
Song Gaoli hesitated and mumbled, "I want to try on my own. If I don't pass, I can take it again in three years. But if I'm caught cheating, it's all over."
"Timid and cowardly! What kind of future can you possibly have acting like this? I was truly blind to have chosen you."
Watching Duan Yanhua storm off with a flick of his sleeve, Song Gaoli let out a deep breath, his breathing slightly trembling.
He wanted to become a Jinshi, but not through such despicable means.
If he really spoke to Song Qiming, he couldn't even imagine how the other party would look at him, and the knot in his own heart would never disappear.
At worst, he would just wait another three years. Maybe he would even perform better then.
During the wait for the exam results, Xiao Chengjing made no moves, as if the last-minute change of exam questions had never happened.
Xiao Rongche and Xiao Rongyan's anxious hearts gradually calmed down. Perhaps it was just a sudden whim of their imperial father; otherwise, how could there have been backup questions prepared from the start?
If their actions had been discovered at the last minute, the questions would have been thought up on the spot, not prepared well in advance.
Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Xiao Chengjing sat on the dragon throne, his gaze sweeping over the heads of the civil and military officials, finally landing on the Prince of Qi and the Prince of Ying standing at the very front.
Every metropolitan exam, he was aware of the little tricks played in secret; it was just that the matters were usually too small to bother with.
Water that is too clear has no fish; sometimes one shouldn't be too strict.
This time, using the backup exam papers was firstly to give certain people a warning, letting them know who the real emperor was; secondly, it was to select more scholars from humble backgrounds, compressing the power of the Prince of Qi and the Prince of Ying in the court.
As for digging out the cheaters, Xiao Chengjing had no such intention for the time being.
Before any other princes were born, he only had the Prince of Qi and the Prince of Ying as his sons; they could not bear a tainted reputation.
In the chill of early spring, the mountain peach blossoms in the garden of the County Princess's estate quietly bloomed.
These days, Song Jinzhao was either busy with business or entering the palace to treat the Emperor and Empress.
Although her true purpose was to help Xiao Chengjing's concubines get pregnant, the Empress's migraines were a useful cover that she also had to attend to.
Fortunately, the bodies of Xiao Chengjing and the fourteen concubines had been adequately conditioned. Song Jinzhao called for Gu Jupu and handed him a calendar with circled dates.
"On these days circled in red, intercourse is most likely to result in pregnancy. Have the Emperor take his medicine and go to these concubines' palaces on those exact days."
"These are the best intercourse positions for conception, and I've also written down what the concubines need to do afterwards. They must follow my instructions exactly."
Gu Jupu stared dumbfounded at the erotic illustrations Song Jinzhao handed him.
The bizarre and varied poses of the naked, intertwined men and women on the paper made it hard to imagine that the intelligent County Princess Linghui had drawn them herself.
One must know that Song Jinzhao was eighteen this year. Let alone being a married woman, she didn't even have a marriage arrangement. How did she come up with all this?
Despite his confusion, Gu Jupu tucked the papers into his robe and obediently followed Song Jinzhao's orders to inform the Emperor.
Upon hearing that he could resume sexual relations, Xiao Chengjing, who had been holding back his desires for twenty days, immediately began summoning the concubines marked on the calendar for the night.
After downing a potent bowl of medicine, his body indeed felt much better than before.
The concubines in the inner palace were full of astonishment when they heard the news.
"The Emperor hasn't entered the inner palace for twenty days, why would he suddenly summon Low-Rank Concubine Yan?"
There were many concubines in the inner palace, and those of low rank were practically like palace maids. They had never been summoned by the Emperor in all these years.
For this to happen so suddenly left many quite surprised.
A higher-ranking concubine curled her lip in disdain, "What else could it be? Low-Rank Concubine Yan must have pretended to bump into the Emperor and seduced him. Otherwise, how could he possibly remember her?"
With over five hundred concubines and having not seen her for over a decade, he probably didn't even remember her name or face.
To everyone's surprise, Xiao Chengjing summoned Low-Rank Concubine Yan for three consecutive days.
Just as the jealousy of the previously favored concubines reached its peak, Xiao Chengjing switched his favor to someone else.
Thus, the usually tranquil inner palace began to see frequent scrambles for favor, with concubines constantly running to Xiao Chengjing to offer pastries and soups.
Unfortunately, despite the gifts, Xiao Chengjing ignored them all. Instead, the low-ranking concubines were repeatedly summoned to serve him at night.
Unable to figure it out, the other concubines had to attribute the reason to age, as the ones summoned were all the youngest in the palace.
Before the metropolitan exam results were even posted, Songjing Village, thousands of miles away, had already received good news.
Old Man Song gripped Song Yongnian's shoulders tightly, repeatedly saying "Good," his face wrinkling with a massive smile.
Following Song Qiming passing the provincial exam, Song Yongnian from the first branch had finally passed the county exam this year.
In the courtyard, Second Song looked at the smile on his eldest brother's face and felt incredibly stifled.
Yongnian passed, but his own son failed.
Among the first, second, and third branches, now only their second branch was left behind.
Feeling humiliated, Second Song turned and walked away. A step behind, Second Aunt Song looked at Old Man Song's high regard for Song Yongnian and felt a bitter taste in her mouth.
Nowadays, the third branch sent so many things to the old couple every year, and probably silver too.
Now that Yongnian had passed the county exam and the third branch wasn't around, wouldn't the old man prioritize the first branch for everything in the future? What were they to do!
Returning home, Second Song felt angry just looking at Song Yaozu and pointed at his nose to scold him.
"You go to school together every day, how come Yongnian passes and you don't?"
"Did you not study properly at the private school? How did I give birth to such a useless, stupid son?"
Eleven-year-old Song Yaozu stood there without a word.
Seeing him silent like a sealed gourd, Second Song waved his hand in anger.
"Since you can't even pass the TongSheng exam, don't go to the private school anymore. Stay home and farm, at least you can harvest some grain."
Second Aunt Song, who had half a foot through the doorway, immediately became anxious.
"No, he must keep studying."
"It's just two failures. Didn't the village chief's Song Gaoli take the exam many times before? And what happened later? He soared to the sky."
"Yaozu is just young, his mind hasn't opened up yet."
