Zhao Hongrun looked at the examinee who was also staring at him with some surprise. He found that the other candidate was really young, only about sixteen or seventeen years old. It was hard to imagine that a person of this age could stand out from the provincial examination and win the prize in one fell swoop.
Exam quota.
"You really can't underestimate me, a handsome young man from the Wei Dynasty...but what is he looking at me for?"
"What are you looking at?" Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.
But the scholar named Wen Qi just smiled and shook his head. His indifferent smile made Zhao Hongrun feel vaguely unfathomable.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Hongrun asked tentatively: "Are you guessing whether I am a patrol inspector here? Or are you guessing whether I really want to catch fraud?"
Wen Qi was stunned when he heard this, with a bit of surprise in his eyes.
"Looks like I guessed it right."
Zhao Hongrun smiled knowingly and asked in a low voice: "You don't have to guess who I am, it's enough for you to know that I sincerely intend to catch the examination fraud problem... What do you think? Do you have any suggestions?"
After hearing this, Wen Qi looked Zhao Hongrun up and down for a few times, suddenly pointed at his mouth, and then slowly shook his head.
"Mute?"
Zongwei Zhou Pu muttered in surprise.
As soon as he finished speaking, Wen Qi rolled his eyes wordlessly, pointed to the table in front of him, then pointed to his mouth, and shook his head again.
"I see. Scholars in the examination room are not allowed to whisper to each other..."
Zhao Hongrun suddenly understood. He was a little puzzled just now, wondering why the local government government gave the exam quota to a mute. You must know that the official system of the Wei Dynasty stipulates that people with physical disabilities are not allowed to serve as officials, probably because they are afraid of affecting their image.
Bar.
As for the student named Wenqi, he didn't look like he was a young master from a powerful family. The workmanship of his clothes was good or not bad, so he was probably from a middle-class family.
Seeing that the student could not speak, Zhao Hongrun simply stopped asking questions, glanced at the student briefly, and then turned to leave.
But what he didn't expect was that after Wen Qi looked at him for a moment, he suddenly raised his finger and pointed to the bowl next to him.
"Huh?"
Zhao Hongrun glanced at the bowl pointed by the other party, and he was surprised to find that it was just a bowl used to hold candles. After all, lit candles would melt or cause a fire. Therefore, every person in Confucius Temple
There is a bowl like this for candles in every room.
"Is it a bowl? Or...candle?"
Zhao Hongrun looked at Wen Qi in surprise, and the latter looked at him with a smile, a smile that seemed to have hinted the answer to him, and felt that he could guess it based on it.
"Candle...?"
Zhao Hongrun took a deep look at the student and left with an uncertain expression.
After a while, Gao Kuo, the Zongwei sent by him to ask for the household registration information of the candidates in the examination room, came back with a very unhappy expression.
"Your Highness, those officials refused to provide His Highness with the household registration information of the exam candidates, saying that Your Highness's move was inconsistent with regulations and was an act of transgression." Gao Kuo reported to Zhao Hongrun in a somewhat depressed tone.
"Refuse to provide?" Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this and did not turn around: "Who are you looking for?"
Zongwei replied: "Beizhi looked for those fellow examiners, and more than one person was approached, but no one was willing to hand over the household registration information to Beizhi."
The fellow examiners he refers to are the sixteen examiners composed of officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
"Is this happening?"
Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard that. After all, after he used Na Luo Rong to kill chickens and scare monkeys yesterday, the sixteen invigilators were quite awe and tolerant of him. Soon after, they named him to ask for information about the cost of this scientific examination.
The bank statement was delivered to him, but he didn't expect that just one day later, the attitude of this group of people changed again.
"Is it because of the relationship with the prince?"
As soon as his thoughts changed, Zhao Hongrun guessed the reason: "I see, have you found a backer? Ha!"
All the sect guards looked at each other, not sure whether they could understand what Zhao Hongrun said.
"Your Highness, the Ministry of Civil Affairs refuses to hand over the candidates' household registration information to us, so how can we check it?"
"If you don't give it...if you don't give it, just don't give it."
When he said this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but feel a little helpless. After all, those officials from the Ministry of Personnel were right. After all, Zhao Hongrun was just a prince and did not hold a position in the Ministry of Personnel. He was indeed not qualified to ask for archives from the Ministry of Personnel.
If he asks for it by force, it would be an act of arrogance. Whether it is the officials or Luo Wenzhong, they can sue him at this time. It is not worth it.
"It seems like we have to start with the candle that Onsaki was referring to..."
"Gao Kuo, go get a pamphlet, ask me for the names of the sixteen officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and write them all down. The rest of you, continue to inspect with me."
"Yes." Gao Kuo clasped his fists after hearing this.
The "Eighth Prince's Pamphlet", which would frighten the entire government and even other countries in the future, was finally brought out today. I don't know how many people were frightened after learning that their name was on the book.
In the following time, Zhao Hongrun seemed to have forgotten his fatigue and silently patrolled the rows of rooms. During this period, he paid close attention to the candles on the candidates' tables and the bowls in which they were placed.
He gradually discovered that the number of candles placed on the table among the candidates in the room was different, and the thickness of the candle liquid in the bowl was also different.
It seems that some candidates were very economical with candles and only used one or half of them; while other candidates did not mind the one or two candles and lit them wantonly.
When the price of white wax was mentioned, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but feel angry.
What kind of white wax requires one or two sticks?
But when he asked the handymen in the examination room about this matter, the other party replied that this was to prevent the candidates from staying up at night and affecting the next day's exam, or to prevent those candidates from wasting candles.
It turns out that the examination staff in the Confucius Temple will distribute three sticks of white wax to all candidates. Under normal circumstances, these three sticks of white wax are enough, but there is no guarantee that some candidates will be willing to answer questions at night, or may suddenly be inspired to revise their answer sheets during the day.
.
Anyway, for whatever reason, the Ministry of Official Affairs only distributes three sticks of white wax to the candidates, and those who follow will have to have one or two sticks.
Regarding this answer, Zhao Hongrun had nothing to say and couldn't find any reason.
For example, some candidates have a lot of money and light up the test one after another at night. What can you say about them? They value this test and are willing to review their answer sheets over and over again. What can you say?
Zhao Hongrun couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought about it. At this time, he saw a clerk not far away carrying a basket. The basket was filled with pieces of white wax.
"Go and call him over."
"Yes." Zongwei He Miao nodded and immediately called the young official over.
Zhao Hongrun curiously took out a piece of white wax from the clerk's basket and inspected it carefully, but found nothing wrong.
It was just a very ordinary piece of white wax.
"Could it be that scholar named Onsaki who is playing tricks on me?"
Zhao Hongrun was a little unhappy. He waved his hand to the little official to go and see if any candidates needed candles. However, he looked at the back of the little official and thought deeply. He had some doubts about the candidate named Wen Qi.
Are you kidding him?
Suddenly, Zhao Hongrun saw something out of the corner of his eye.
It turned out that it was the second room on the left from where he was standing. There were obviously no candles on the table in that room, but the candidate turned a blind eye to the clerk selling candles and waved his hand instead.
Tell him to leave.
"..."
Zhao Hongrun stared at it for a moment, feeling a little suspicious.
He quietly walked over and looked at the candidate calmly. He saw that the candidate was wearing a dress made of silk and satin with a clear green edge. He had a handsome face. At a glance, he knew that he was a young man who came from a wealthy family and rarely endured hardships.
"You have run out of candles on your table, why not buy a few?" Zhao Hongrun asked tentatively.
The candidate looked Zhao Hongrun up and down. Although Zhao Hongrun wore a mask on his face, his luxurious clothes and the five armored guards behind him undoubtedly revealed that he was not an ordinary person.
"Are you... on inspection tour?" This examinee didn't seem to care about the rules of not talking casually in the examination room, and asked Zhao Hongrun instead.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun lowered his voice and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "You don't have to worry about whether I'm on patrol or not, you just need to answer my questions."
"It seems that you are on inspection tour..." The examinee smiled, shrugged and said, "However, there are no regulations in the examination room. Candidates must answer the inspection questions. I can choose not to say anything."
"This accent...is it from a local? Is he a son of a powerful local family from Daliang, Chendu?"
Zhao Hongrun thought for a while and said calmly: "Indeed, but I can also choose to supervise you very strictly... Zhongzhao, Zhu Gui, go and bring a stool. From now on, keep an eye on this young master's every move.
Move."
"Yes!" After the move, Zhu and Gui clasped their fists and left.
At that moment, Zhao Hongrun saw panic in the examinee's eyes.
"Inspection... what are you doing, inspection sir?" the examinee stammered: "The student is just joking with you, why should you be angry, inspection sir?"
"There's something...something wrong with this guy!"
Zhao Hongrun sneered in his heart and said lightly: "Then answer me, why didn't you buy some candles just now? Can you guarantee that they won't be used at night?"
"I..." The examinee opened his mouth and said after a while: "The student thinks so. It's daytime anyway, so buying candles is of no use. It's better to wait until night."
"At night? Is there anyone selling candles at night?"
"..." Zhao Hongrun looked at the scholar. He was about to ask but suddenly felt something was wrong, so he pretended to understand, nodded and said, "I see."
After that, he led the clan guards and walked a few steps to catch up with the clerk who was selling candles before, and greeted him to a deserted place.
"Will you still be selling candles here after dark?"
The clerk looked at Zhao Hongrun without knowing what was going on, shook his head and said: "After nightfall, there will be another group of people. We are responsible for the daytime, and they are responsible for the night."
"Okay, you go."
"yes."
The clerk left, and looking at his leaving figure, a trace of suspicion flashed in Zhao Hongrun's eyes.
"If Onsaki didn't play tricks on me, the secret should be among the candles at night...are they different candles? It's interesting, let's take a chance and see."