Chapter 163 (1/2)

The sun slowly rose, lessening the chill in the air of the exam hall The nervous students finally had a chance to warm themselves They rubbed their hands endlessly to e did not appear too stiff; pen criterion for the exah the exao,pen to paper It seemed that many of the scholars in the exa of their own

Fan Xian strolled through the exa a sound so as not to disturb the candidates' thoughts Strangely, what they usually fearedbehind the their examination papers up and down But when these students discovered that the one who had stopped to observe theuished Master Fan at the entrance to the exam, they could not help but feel their self-confidence increase ever so slightly

Fan Xian did not seem like the other two examiners, who supervised the on his face, and so every student who dared to lift their head to look at Fan Xian felt that the s patrolled every part of the exaate where Mu Tie aiting for him with sohed and spoke in a low voice ”This is rather boring Master Fan, it’s fitting that you’ve chosen to rest here You have a connection to the outside world froate, so it's not so difficult”

Fan Xian smiled If he were really to return to the main hall and sit doith Minister Guo, perhaps the minister would not be pleased Fan Xian wouldn't feel co odd The Crown Prince had given hi them After he had entered the capital, he had learned that He Zongas a student of the Grand Secretariat and that he was secretly an official in the Eastern Palace Logically, he should now be sitting in the civil service exam

He teaze over the countless separate little heavy doors, and then to the innerhtly absurd notion; if he had not used his drunken stupor to frenziedly recite Li Bai and create the poetry anthology, then he would not be sitting here watching over the testers Life really wasn't a level playing field

If those students ere scribbling away knew the results of these grand exah by the major players in the royal court and in the palace like watero so very slowly Fan Xian was already close to falling asleep in his chair at the corner gate before he discovered that the sun had risen in the sky The relevant government offices had sent reet theate After they had carefully inspected the tableware and found that nothing was amiss, they delivered six boxes of food to the central hall

Fan Xian went into the central hall to eat lunch with the other s They had repri student in the southeast corner The supervisor shook his head and sighed ”I have seen cheating students, but I have never seen a student cheat so blatantly like that To go so far as to overtly copy fro desk, presu that the curtains around them mean that no one will discover them They had no idea that the officials around them have sharp eyes”

Guo You, Director-General of the civil service exam and Director of the Board of Rites, suddenly frowned ”How did they bring the book in?”

Fan Xian knew that this was histoo slowly, and the official fro us for ti the time limits set by His Majesty, so I iveness, sir” He was asking for forgiveness, but was also foisting half the blame onto the Overwatch Council It was very slippery slope

Guo You looked at hiive hi that was inevitable in every generation of imperial exams He could not attack Fan Xian for it He si Master Fan's first experience with this He is inexperienced You should all be helping him out”

Fan Xian smiled and cupped his hands in salute to the other officers around hie ”Principal, please forgive uidance”

The principal, Secretary Shu of the Ilared at by His Majesty that night in the palace hall, He was a student of Zhuang Mohan, but had alorked for the glory of the people of the Kingdo, so he did not re Mohan spit blood with any malice Instead, he chuckled and pointed at Fan Xian ”Dear acade could dare call theeable?”

The other adhed and poked fun at Fan Xian ”The greatest scholar in the illustrious Kingdoat astonishi+ng speed, gnawing at dry bread in hunger, rather than sit here with us eating lunch”

Even Guo You could not help but laugh at this Fan Xian himself did not have an ounce of self-confidence in his own scholarly talent But it seemed that no matter whether it was in the bureaucracy, or the entire nation, everyone else had far more confidence in Fan Xian than he did

The students in the exaan to fade, and Fan Xian strolled around the hall a few ti at everyone's test papers He saw that a few of them were truly talented, and could not help but stop and look Although in Danzhou he had read the scriptures of this world, he had not thought that he would be taking the official exa such essays, he feared he would be worse off than most But after all, he had lived in torlds; it was soeration to say he read extensively, but he had a particular way of looking at things

He secretly memorized the naate and faked a yawn cocking his head, he found that Mu Tie was almost asleep as he leaned to one side on the chair He couldn't help but laugh This Mu Tie was a clever person, and extre would not have rity was so Perhaps he had only just learned how to flatter Every tireatly respectful, and for some reason this made Fan Xian feel soatethe interate, there was an uncomfortable look on the Overwatch Council officials' face He blocked the way ”Other than for deliveries of food and water, the corner gate must rehed ”I just wanted to have a look around, and see if there's anything fun”

His talk seemed somewhat odd and not in accordance with decoruhty nation, Fan Xian was an examiner, and yet he wanted to look for ae was that this official, hearing his words, also smiled in response ”There's a lot of fun to be had in the exam hall Come around later”

Fan Xian was quiet as he looked at the official's ordinary-looking face Suddenly he spoke ”Is it you I should be looking for?”