Chapter 312: You can breakthrough now (1/2)

Chapter 312: You can breakthrough now

Translator: Sparrow TranslationsEditor: Sparrow Translations

Even though Su Qing was young, he was a few years older than Fang Zhengzhi. They may both be rank four officials, but Su Qing was in a more powerful position.

No matter what...

It was weird for Fang Zhengzhi to say something like that.

However, Fang Zhengzhi did. Furthermore, he said it in such a calm and flat manner. If not for his youth, the officials would have thought that a senior was educating his junior.

Su Qing did not say anything else.

He knew that if he did, he would be cursing and swearing.

He could have superhuman tolerance, but even then, he had a limit. Su Qing’s limit may be high, but he was about to hit it.

Fang Zhengzhi still wanted to say more. He wanted Su Qing to roll on the floor in anger, cursing and swearing all the way.

However, Su Qing did not reply, so he could not continue.

He had to show that he was a man of class.

Nangong Hao did not say anything else either. He placed his script in the hand of the imperial messenger, turned and left.

The maple leaf print on his clothes was blown up by the wind, staining his clothes red.

All of the candidates were shocked. They could see that the stains on Nangong Hao’s shirt were not maple leaves. They were blood in the shape of maple leaves.

Where did Nangong Hao come from?

Why would his clothes be stained with blood. Why was the blood in the shape of maple leaves?

None of them knew.

However, Emperor Lin Mubai did not find it surprising. He watched Nangong Hao leave, deep in contemplation.

...

The theory examination was finally over.

The results were set to be released five days later. The location was the ”Imperial Decree Hall”. This was where the inaugurations and funerals were held.

This was also where the Emperor paid his respects to his ancestors.

However, after Emperor Lin Mubai took the throne, he ordered that the hall be used for the release of the court examination results. Many did not understand why, thinking that only the Emperor should access that hall.

The reason why he was the Emperor was because he was the one true dragon. He was the son of heaven and commoners could not be able to access the same ancestral hall he did.

One of these people was the previous Minister of Rites.

He had already expressed his concerns to the Emperor. He backed it up with examples from history, claiming that it was against the rules of rites.

However...

It was no use.

Emperor Lin Mubai insisted that he did not see anything wrong with it even after examining the twelve rules.

There was no discussion after that.

The Imperial Decree Hall became the location for the court examination results release. For decades, it had not been changed.

This was the hall that most of the candidates wanted to go to, and it was also the most heavily guarded location in the palace.

Today, the light in the Imperial Decree Hall was lit.

This was unusual.

The light was only lit during inauguration, the annual memorial service, or the biannual announcement of court examination results.

However, the light was lit this night.

There was only one possibility, the Emperor himself was in the hall.

The set up of the Imperial Decree Hall was different from that of the other halls. The other halls were filled with gold and jewels, the Imperial Decree Hall was filled with incense.

The incense in the hall was particularly invigorating.

Each of the scripts were placed neatly on the antique tables.

As the Emperor, Lin Mubai should be concerned with the running of the country. He need not look through each script individually. In the past, he did not look through each one either.

The method was simple.

He would usually gather eight officials and have them judge the scripts first. Then, they would pass the top 20 scripts to him for him to rank.

However, Emperor Lin Mubai did not do so this time.

To judge 200 scripts was a tedious task, but Emperor Lin Mubai did it anyways. He began from the end of the court examinations and continued deep into the night.

He did not move at any point within the past 10 hours.

This did not seem very normal.

More importantly, Emperor Lin Mubai did not choose to mark the scripts in his library. Instead, he chose to do so in the Imperial Decree Hall.

The night was cold.