Chapter 37 — TVF Chapter 37

A Poor Family’s Hereditary Scumbag (9) Qin Jingzhou was no hot-headed rookie. Seeing the policy essay topic didn’t mean he would immediately write some genuinely radical, aggressive proposal to reform the salt administration based purely on his own learning and ideals.

The higher-ranking examination papers from both the metropolitan exam and the palace exam were meant to be read by the Emperor anyway. And because of the Fifth Princess, he had already entered the Emperor’s field of vision ahead of time. Thus, accurately gauging the Emperor’s intent was the real key to securing a high ranking.

The Emperor didn’t actually have strong objections to the current salt laws themselves. What dissatisfied him was that he had no choice but to give Prince Li a huge share of the profits.

As far as he knew, Prince Li had inherited a certain number of salt licenses from his father, the deposed Crown Prince. Great Liang’s salt tax was tied directly to these licenses, which meant Prince Li not only earned money from the licenses themselves, but also took a sizable cut from the salt tax.

Last year, several small teams sent south on secret investigations had been attacked one after another—the mastermind behind it all was Prince Li.

After returning to the capital, the Tenth Prince had submitted a detailed report and indeed obtained quite a bit of witness testimony and material evidence pointing to Prince Li… or rather, to his children. But there was still no decisive, heavyweight proof that could directly topple Prince Li.

The crux of the matter was this: the Emperor knew what Prince Li had done, and Prince Li also knew that the Emperor knew. Yet the two of them still hadn’t reached the point of tearing their faces off completely.

Looking again at the policy essay topic, Qin Jingzhou thought to himself: I’ll just provide a more efficient method of salt-drying. If salt production increased, then salt licenses would naturally be “issued” in greater numbers along with that output. This would effectively dilute the proportion of licenses held by Prince Li, thereby weakening his profits from both salt licenses and salt tax.

He felt that answering the metropolitan exam “in accordance with imperial intent” to this extent was already more than worthy of the Emperor.

Great Liang’s metropolitan exam was the same as the provincial exam—only one session, lasting five days and four nights.

More than a thousand examinees filed out of the examination grounds in orderly fashion. Most of them looked haggard and exhausted. Only Qin Jingzhou appeared no different from usual. Carrying his exam basket, he strolled along at ease, a sight that undoubtedly astonished many.

Whether before taking on missions or after, Qin Jingzhou had long been accustomed to being the center of attention. He followed his attendant to a restaurant one street away from the exam grounds and, in a second-floor private room by the window, saw the Tenth Prince and Ling Jing sitting face to face.

After sitting down, Qin Jingzhou directly answered the Tenth Prince’s question, explaining exactly how he had written his policy essay.

The Tenth Prince studied him for a moment after hearing it, then curled his lips upward. “Not bad.”

Truth be told, it wasn’t difficult to guess that his father wanted to move against Prince Li, nor was it hard to guess that he would start with salt administration—but this particular solution… even he hadn’t thought of it.

He could say with certainty that once Father Emperor read this essay, he would highly appreciate it, and there was an eighty to ninety percent chance he would make up his mind to bestow a marriage between Mr. Yu and Fifth Sister.

Ling Jing also put on a show of commenting, “This is good—no one gets offended.”

She and Qin Jingzhou were working together to cultivate the Tenth Prince and have him go after Prince Li’s heir. As long as she didn’t have to personally go fool around with the plot’s male lead, Prince Li’s heir, anything was fine… That heir’s level of disgust even surpassed Jiang Ruitong from the previous world.

Qin Jingzhou nodded, then reminded the Tenth Prince, “However, after Your Highness returned to the capital, Prince Li’s residence has seemed far too calm. As for Prince Li’s second son trying to use Her Highness the Princess to make trouble for you—that was child’s play.”

The Tenth Prince was a cautious man. Using conventional methods to target him was extremely difficult, so Prince Li’s heir would most likely send his kept woman back into action.

“If his subordinates can even think of using a marriage engagement to threaten me, Your Highness must guard against Prince Li’s faction pulling new tricks.”

The Tenth Prince felt as if he’d been struck by enlightenment; his expression immediately grew grave.

Having lived a second life, he had already more or less figured out how the “Weakening” secret drug had been administered to him. He had thoroughly purged the palace maids and eunuchs around him because of it, believing he could rest easy for a time.

Now, after being reminded of this, he suddenly realized… In this life, by unraveling Prince Li’s southern secret, he had effectively made himself the obvious target. Prince Li might very well want to simply eliminate him.

And yet he had brought Xiao Li into the capital early on—she was his soft spot!

Just thinking of this made the Tenth Prince unable to sit still.

Ling Jing smiled and asked him, “Do you really not want me to help you plead with Father Emperor to issue an imperial marriage edict?”

The Tenth Prince first gave a bitter smile. After a moment, he explained, “My mother consort looks down on Xiao Li. If Father Emperor bestows the marriage, and I’m her own son, she wouldn’t do anything openly—but Xiao Li, as her daughter-in-law… would probably have a very hard time. My mother consort hasn’t had it easy all these years. Asking her to be tolerant of Xiao Li might only make things worse.”

Ling Jing’s impression of the Tenth Prince improved a bit more. For a man in ancient times to proactively consider mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations, to be considerate of both sides and try to avoid putting either in a difficult position… The Tenth Prince truly loved Rui Li.

“For now, let her hang out with me.”

The Tenth Prince looked up at her with pitiful eyes, not saying a word.

Ling Jing rolled her eyes and deliberately said, “Who do you think you’re looking down on?”

Qin Jingzhou couldn’t help but smile.

He gently patted the back of Ling Jing’s hand. “Better not. Interfering in household matters will just make you the bad guy on both sides.”

Ling Jing replied, “That’s true. Isn’t running my own business much nicer?”

The Tenth Prince knew that for Mr. Yu and Fifth Sister to agree to marriage after only two meetings, there had to be careful calculation behind it. Still, this tone was far too familiar… One had to know that even after he and Xiao Li had spoken openly, they still hadn’t reached this level of closeness.

So he shook his head helplessly. “You two… really hit it off.”

Ling Jing let out a light laugh. “Jealous? Envious? Why aren’t you leaving already and letting the two of us have a private chat?”

The Tenth Prince took a deep breath and, as expected, stood up to take his leave.

Watching through the window as the Tenth Prince led his people out of the restaurant and into a carriage, Ling Jing finally spoke again. “Consort De is no easy opponent. Before she realizes she’s harmed her precious son, she’s been breaking up lovers left and right. Prince Li’s heir obtained a secret drug from his kept woman that causes the body to grow weaker and weaker. Using the female official Consort De placed by the Tenth Prince’s side, he slipped the drug into the Tenth Prince’s tea and even into the incense he used daily.”

“So that’s how it was.”

“In the plot on my side, the Tenth Prince is indeed the final villain, but he doesn’t get much screen time.” Ling Jing laughed at herself as she spoke. “You know those old-school ‘kept woman’ stories? That’s exactly the flavor of the plot I got. I almost threw up reading it. Anyway, in that world, only that kept woman is pure and beautiful—no matter how many people she poisons without discrimination, she’s still pure and beautiful.”

Qin Jingzhou was equally speechless. “That flavor really hits hard.”

Ling Jing sighed. “I also think that if we push the Tenth Prince to the top, both our missions will be rock solid. But if I just lie back and win the whole way without making any contribution myself… even if the mission is completed, the rewards won’t be much.”

Qin Jingzhou caught the subtext. “The Emperor is alive and well. Suppressing Consort De is easy for you. So… wait until the Tenth Prince comes to ask you.”

Ling Jing tilted her head, her eyes spinning. “Let’s do that!”

There were over a thousand candidates sitting the metropolitan exam, but only three hundred were selected.

These three hundred tribute scholars would then participate in the palace exam… The palace exam didn’t eliminate anyone, so as long as they didn’t do anything suicidal during it, they would all become jinshi. First-class jinshi numbered only three; second-class had thirty slots; the rest were third-class.

Thus, under normal circumstances, the examiners only submitted the top thirty-three metropolitan exam papers they had selected to the Emperor—and only the policy essays. After all, the “objective questions” were basically undisputed and didn’t need to waste the Emperor’s precious time.

After reading through all thirty-three essays, the Emperor felt rather bored. The overall level of this cohort was passable but unremarkable—nothing truly impressed him.

Just as he was about to pick up his vermilion brush, he suddenly remembered that the Prince Consort candidate his precious daughter favored wasn’t among them. He then instructed his confidant to make a trip to the Ministry of Rites and retrieve that person’s paper.

When the head eunuch arrived, the chief examiner happened not to be at the Ministry. The two deputy chief examiners hesitated, clearly wanting to speak but stopping themselves.

At a glance, the head eunuch’s heart sank. Examination fraud was no small matter—once confirmed, people died for it. Taking the paper from the two troubled deputies, he decided to also retrieve the original handwritten script, just to prevent any fabrication.

After hearing the head eunuch’s report, the Emperor’s expression darkened. Without saying anything first, he opened Qin Jingzhou’s policy essay to see how it had been answered.

Reading it in one go, the Emperor immediately felt refreshed. He said to the head eunuch, “Little Five really does have good taste.”

The head eunuch naturally knew how to respond. “Princess Zhaoming is practically carved from the same mold as Your Majesty.”

The Emperor burst into laughter. After laughing enough, he ordered the eunuch to run to the Ministry of Rites again and summon the two deputy chief examiners.

On their way to the Qianqing Palace, the two deputies already knew the situation was dire. Exchanging looks, they muttered, “We’re done for.” Now standing before His Majesty, they answered every question without concealment.

Upon learning that the chief examiner had personally decided to strike Qin Jingzhou’s name off the list, the Emperor laughed in anger. “Just how many benefits did Prince Li give him?!”

From beginning to end, the Qin Jingzhou his precious daughter favored had only offended Prince Li. His policy essay had also targeted Prince Li in accordance with imperial intent… Did the mastermind even need to be named?

The two deputy examiners knelt on the spot.

The Emperor looked at them with a half-smile. “How did they threaten you?”

This was different from ordinary examination fraud. At a glance, he could tell the two deputies held deep resentment toward the chief examiner.

Normally, disputes between chief and deputy examiners over candidates’ names were common. They could argue endlessly, then bring it before the Emperor for a final decision—nothing unusual about that.

To make the two deputies turn a blind eye and stay silent, bribery didn’t seem likely. That left only coercion.

And hadn’t the two deputies confessed everything?

From them, the Emperor heard mention of Prince Li, Prince Li’s heir, Princess Zhaoming, and the Sixth Prince. He laughed again. “They even know how to mix truth with falsehood.”

Princess Zhaoming was the Fifth Princess; the Sixth Prince was born of the Noble Consort.

Since the Empress had no children, under Great Liang’s rules of status following the mother and honor following the son, the Sixth Prince held the highest status among the princes.

On the surface, this son and daughter of his did indeed appear to be quite close to Prince Li’s faction.

The Emperor understood his precious daughter’s intentions—but as for Old Six… he really wasn’t confident.

He knew his own son well. If Prince Li offered to help Old Six contend for the throne, even knowing Prince Li harbored ill intent, Old Six likely wouldn’t be able to refuse.

The more the Emperor thought about it, the angrier he became. Yet even in his anger, he didn’t delay proper business. He had the two deputy examiners follow his confidant straight to the Ministry of Justice, then personally rearranged the metropolitan exam rankings, placing Qin Jingzhou first.

As for the chief examiner—when the Minister of Justice and the Left Censor-in-Chief arrived together with their men, he merely let out a long sigh. No matter how he was interrogated afterward, he stubbornly insisted that Qin Jingzhou had been sowing discord between His Majesty and Prince Li, and that his intentions were punishable by death!

The Minister of Justice and the Left Censor-in-Chief jointly submitted a memorial. The Emperor said to his precious daughter, who had come to accompany him for dinner, “Even at this point, he still tries to bite back.”

Ling Jing poured her Emperor father a cup of wine. “Looks like Prince Li has a pretty lethal hold over him.” She hinted pointedly, “He’s already the Minister of Rites. If he just hosted the exams properly and followed the usual path into the Grand Secretariat, wouldn’t that be fine? Why take such a huge risk? Father, you should investigate his children and his love debts. No one understands how alluring—and how tormenting—the word ‘love’ is better than your daughter.”

The Emperor was amused. “Very well.”

He really did have his intelligence chief thoroughly investigate the obstinate chief examiner… Following the trail, they discovered that in his youth, the examiner had kept a mistress who bore him a daughter, then disappeared.

And that mistress’s background was anything but simple—she was the granddaughter of the last emperor of the previous dynasty…

When the results came in, the Emperor didn’t hide anything from his precious daughter. “You were right.”

Prince Li’s heir’s kept woman was the chief examiner’s own biological daughter. Their family truly passed down the tradition of being kept women. Ling Jing laughed. “So how will you reward me, Father?”

The Emperor asked, “Bestow your marriage earlier?”

Ling Jing frowned. “That’s not very sincere! Forget it—I don’t want it.”

The Emperor laughed heartily.

Having caught yet another remnant of the previous dynasty—and one with considerable assets at that—he decided to give his precious daughter more pocket money… He would grant her another entire county as her fief.