Without further ado, Grand Secretary Fang gave his instruction. “Find me Feng Wu’s exam paper, serial number 10001.”

The teacher in the record office gave Mr Zuo a pleading look.

Mr Zuo frowned. “Grand Secretary Fang, what are you doing? It’s very inappropriate to investigate a candidate’s paper in private like this.”

“Mr Zuo, Master Bai is here. Do you think it’s still ‘private’?” Grand Secretary Fang smirked.

Mr Zuo was speechless.

Master Bai smiled. “Mr Zuo, we’re here on behalf of His Majesty. Go ahead.”

“Of course, I’ll do as told when the order comes from His Majesty!” Mr Zuo said with a smile and he remained where he was.

He had an excellent ability to mimic someone else’s handwriting and he was very confident about the paper he had written himself. He was sure that there wouldn’t be any problems.

Soon, the teacher found Feng Wu’s paper.

He then handed it to Grand Secretary Fang.

With the paper in hand, Grand Secretary Fang let out a breath of relief.

“This is Miss Feng Wu’s paper, right?” With his hands behind his back, Mr Zuo smiled at Grand Secretary Fang.

Master Bai looked at Grand Secretary Fang as well. “You taught Miss Feng Wu yourself. I’m sure you can recognize her handwriting.”

Grand Secretary Fang nodded. “That’s right. This is —”

He stopped abruptly and frowned!

This wasn’t right!

One look at the paper and Grand Secretary Fang knew something was off!

Feng Wu’s paper was perfect!

She got everything right!

However, there were mistakes in this paper from the third question onward. The fifth question was wrong, and then…

There were many more wrong answers!

Some simple memorization questions were incorrect, which was unacceptable!

“This is ridiculous!” Grand Secretary Fang tossed the paper on the table. “There’s no way that this is Feng Wu’s paper!”

He had seen through the scam? Mr Zuo panicked a little, but covered it up soon enough.

“What’s wrong?” Mr Zuo feigned an innocent voice. “Look at the serial number and the name. It’s Feng Wu’s, isn’t it?”

Master Bai also glanced at Grand Secretary Fang. “And the handwriting is identical to that paper you brought in earlier.”

Mr Zuo smirked. “Grand Secretary Fang, this is too big a matter for you to say whatever you want!”

His tone was already intimidating.

It would do everyone good to just leave it as it was.

However, Grand Secretary Fang cherished all talented people, especially someone as exceptional as Feng Wu! He wouldn’t be fooled like this!

Grand Secretary Fang snorted. “Mr Zuo, you can’t turn white into black and black into white! If His Majesty discovers malpractice in the exam and the exam papers were switched, well, I hope you can live with the consequences!”

Face dark, Mr Zuo said, “Grand Secretary Fang, I see you’ve set your mind on smearing the reputation of Imperial College! May I remind you that you’re a member of the education board as well? You won’t be better off if the college is affected!”

“Smear its reputation? I’ll show you who’s the real culprit of that!” Grand Secretary Fang stormed off with the paper.

Narrowing his eyes, Master Bai gave Mr Zuo a look.

Mr Zuo nodded back confidently, indicating that he was sure of his win.

Master Bai gave him a nod, then left with Grand Secretary Fang.

In the imperial palace.

Emperor Wu was looking at a pile of exam papers with a big frown.

Henyee Translations Henyee Translations

Emperor Wu didn’t care about any exam paper other than the set Grand Secretary Fang brought him.

As for Feng Wu…

Emperor Wu had mixed feelings at the moment.

What happened to the girl’s exam paper?

He was still trying to figure it out when the chief steward whispered in his ear. “Your Majesty, His Royal Highness is here.”

Jun Linyuan?

At this hour? Emperor Wu was bemused.

“Show him in.”

Jun Linyuan stepped into the hall to find the table covered with exam papers.

“Linyuan, what brings you here?” Emperor Wu knew his son too well to wait for the latter to greet him first.

Jun Linyuan gave Emperor Wu a nod, then glanced at the table.

“These are the exam papers for Imperial College this year.” Emperor Wu patted the seat next to him, gesturing at his son to sit down.

The chief steward smiled awkwardly as he observed how the emperor behaved around his son.

When the crown prince was around, the emperor reminded one of a mouse facing a cat and didn’t dare to step out of line at all.

Whereas with his other sons, His Majesty was all stately and authoritative.

He just couldn’t behave like a proper emperor in Jun Linyuan’s presence.

He tried to establish his authority a few times when Jun Linyuan was little, but each time, he was defeated by the crown prince’s relentless comments and blatant disregard. After a few failed attempts, His Majesty gave up ever trying to intimidate His Royal Highness.

Emperor Wu jumped a little when Jun Linyuan sat down next to him.

He really did sit as told?

Something big must have happened. The kid never showed up here without a good reason.

Emperor Wu told the chief steward, “Put away these exam papers. They’re in the way.”

He then turned to Jun Linyuan. “Well, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

Jun Linyuan kept his gaze on the exam papers that the chief steward tried to gather into a stack. He spotted the one with Feng Wu’s handwriting on it right away.

“Well, Imperial College had their entrance exam the other day and I had the exam papers of the top 1000 candidates brought here. You wouldn’t be interested, would you? No one here is exceptional enough to be mentioned.”

Emperor Wu put away Feng Wu’s paper as he spoke and put it on his other side away from Jun Linyuan.

He knew that Jun Linyuan didn’t like to see Feng Wu’s name or to be mentioned alongside the girl. Hence, Emperor Wu put away Feng Wu’s mock exam papers as well.

Jun Linyuan narrowed his eyes, giving off a dangerous air.

After some thought, Emperor Wu moved Feng Wu’s papers further away from Jun Linyuan.

Jun Linyuan was speechless.

“Look at these —” Emperor Wu waved at Jun Linyuan. “Imperial College is going to have some new talented people once more. No one actually stands out, but quite a few are pretty impressive.”

No one stood out? Jun Linyuan frowned at those words.

Emperor Wu thought that Jun Linyuan wouldn’t be bothered to look at the exam papers at all. However, to his surprise, Jun Linyuan began to go through the stack one page at a time!

Starting from the one with the highest marks…

And his face darkened as he turned the pages…

Emperor Wu was bewildered. What was wrong with the kid?

Why did he look disappointed?

“Is this everything?” The look on Jun Linyuan’s face was so grim that he looked like he was ready to bite someone!

No wonder the officials said that His Royal Highness was more intimidating than His Majesty.

Right now, even Emperor Wu couldn’t withstand Jun Linyuan’s intense gaze.

“Yes… I think so.” Emperor Wu nodded.

“You think?” Jun Linyuan smirked. “What’s over there?”

“Well, this —” Emperor Wu brushed everything under the table. “It’s nothing official, hahaha —”