Chapter 94 So-called Cheating

  It is often said that "plans can't keep up with changes." Just like a young man secretly fell in love with a girl and worked hard for her. When he finally achieved success, the young man went to find the girl, but she already had... a girlfriend. What?! She likes women.

  Jiangxia also feels that plans can't keep up with changes.

  At this moment, he was looking at the notice posted on the outside of the Guozijian Gate with a gloomy face. He seriously suspected that Zhu Houzhao had planted a spy in his Tianjiao, otherwise why would the Ministry of Rites issue a notice just after the meeting yesterday, announcing that the imperial examination would be held one month earlier than scheduled. At the same time, Guozijian announced that the internal examination within Guozijian would begin ten days later.

  A month in the plan is now reduced to ten days. Two months in the plan have become only one month's time.

  Jiang Xia's plan was completely disrupted, but at the same time it also stirred up his determination. What Jiang Xia had planned to do must be done successfully!

  Going in from Zhengyangmen Gate for 100 steps, the place on the right hand side is the Ministry of Rites. It is adjacent to the Ministry of Revenue and is one of the most spacious government offices among the Six Ministries.

  The Ministry of Rites has many officials, including the Minister, Vice Minister, Director, Deputy Director, and other senior officials totaling 13 people above the sixth rank, not to mention those who are not part of the mainstream, such as the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master of the Ministry of Rites' Printing Office.

  At this moment, in the house of Gu Xue Ming, the chief of the Department of Rites and Ceremonies, the Proctor of the Imperial Academy and the Chief Administrator were gathered together. Among the three, the Proctor of the Imperial Academy held the highest official rank, being of the fourth grade. However, it was Gu Xue Ming who held the most prestigious position, after all, he was serving in the Ministry of Rites, which was the superior administrative department of the Imperial Academy.

  Three people were discussing the matter of the national examination within the Imperial Academy at this moment.

  As the internal examination of the highest academic institution in the Ming Dynasty, all three attach great importance to it and carefully discuss it. In recent years, the actual strength of the students of Guozijian has been declining, so when discussing the exam questions, they try to make them simpler.

  As usual, the three of them each came up with a question and then began to discuss which one would be the main topic and which one would be the backup. The so-called backup question was another question that could be used temporarily if the main topic question was found to have leaked. Generally speaking, among the questions proposed by the three of them, the ones proposed by the Ceremonial Officer were usually the main topics, while the ones proposed by the Wine Server were the backups. As for the Schoolmaster's questions, they were only brought out to prove the wisdom of the Ceremonial Officer and the Wine Server.

  After all this is done, the theme will be sealed and sent to the Imperial Academy of Scholars, while the pre-questions will first be handed over to the Libationer for safekeeping, only to be taken out when needed.

  It is well known that the core idea of the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination is to only follow the "sacred and virtuous books" designated by the court, with only one subject for the jinshi degree, which is to test the meaning of the classics. Therefore, the questions that can be tested are actually very simple, just a sentence from the Four Books, but no one knows what this sentence is.

  After the three men had their discussion and left, six days later, the supervisor of education who was selected from the Hanlin Academy would bring the topic to the Imperial Academy, and then wait for three days before starting the exam. If Jiang Xia and others wanted to steal the topic, they would have to wait until the supervisor of education brought the topic to the Imperial Academy before making their move.

  Perhaps because it was still early, Jiang Xia didn't rush to worry about the exam questions, but instead went to settle the store first. Jiang Xia's store was located at Sanlihe Street, which is a bustling intersection of a ten-lane road, making it an extremely good location. After selecting the location, Jiang Xia hired workers to renovate the place and then posted an advertisement.

  "Fei Feng Dan, you're no good, I can make you work! Jiuyang Dan, will you be effective tonight? You say whether it's effective or not!"

  These two sentences may seem incomprehensible at first glance, but anyone with a bit of insight will more or less guess what they mean. However, these two sentences were just casually written by Jiang Xia and he didn't think about the impact they would have. When it comes to selling medicine, only good efficacy can truly lead to sales and profits.

  The store decoration was handed over to the craftsman by Jiang Xia, and then he let Han Mu Feng supervise it. Jiang Xia himself took people from Tian Jiao every day to start training their memory. His methods were bizarre, but each one made the Tian Jiao people exclaim with interest. In the end, even someone like Wang Wenbo became addicted to memory training, constantly challenging his own memory limits every day.

  Those familiar with the eight-part essay know that its foundation is the Four Books and Five Classics, or more accurately, the Four Books. As long as you can memorize the Four Books completely and understand them, you will not be far off during the actual exam.

  The memory method taught by Jiang Xia is hundreds of years ahead of its time, which makes it possible for them to transform from impossible to possible within a month. When Jiang Xia himself teaches the Four Books, he also deepens his understanding of the Four Books again and again. Recently, Li Dongyang has examined him several times, and the articles written by Jiang Xia have been praised repeatedly, and he has said that Jiang Xia already has the strength to compete for the top three in the Imperial Examination.

  Time flies, and the nine-day period has passed in a flash. Tomorrow, the National Imperial Examination will begin. The people in Tianjiao are all anxious because Jiang Xia still hasn't given them any answers to the exam questions yet.

  It's just nine days of effort, and they are far from being ready for the exam. Time is running out, because even if they steal the test questions tonight, there won't be enough time to find someone to come up with answers. Okay, even if they do come up with answers, they may not be able to memorize them completely.

  The second morning.

  Jiang Xia put on a brand new set of clothes under the service of Nian Nu and Ru Shuang, then kissed each of them on the face before leaving the Xuan You Mountain Villa.

  When he arrived at the gate of Guozijian, Jiang Xia found that Liang Wenhuan and others had been waiting for him. After seeing Jiang Xia, Liang Wenhuan and others ran over to surround him and asked: "Brother Jiang, what should we do now? None of us have the exam questions."

  "That's right, and I just received the news that many people in Guozijian have bought exam questions through connections, and the price is not expensive, only 300 taels." Wang Wenbo said.

  Jiang Xia shook his head and said in a low voice, "Since you've come, then just calm down. You'll understand in a moment."

  Just as Jiang Xia finished speaking, a horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of the Guozijian gate. The Minister of Rites got out of the carriage and hurriedly walked into the Jiexuan Gate with a wooden box in his arms. He ignored the guards who were saluting him at the gate.

  "Alright, let's go on stage now, I wish everyone a great performance."

  As he spoke, Jiang Xia walked into Ji Xian Men alone.

  When they saw Jiang Xia enter, the rest of the people on duty could only sigh and follow him in. As for this exam, they had almost given up any hope.

  The imperial examination is being held in the Imperial Academy, but everyone has been shuffled and is sitting in different classrooms. For example, Jiang Xia is now sitting in Huang's classroom, with unfamiliar people all around him.

  Jiang Xia's five senses were different from ordinary people, and only the fat man in the last row behind him whispered to his friend beside him: "How is it? Do you have any confidence this time?"

  "Of course, three hundred taels are not spent in vain?"

  "Anyway, anyway, I don't want to take the imperial exam anymore. At worst, I'll just get a jinshi title and go back."

  "Yes, I meant the same thing."

  Hearing such a discussion, Jiang Xia smiled slightly and then concentrated on arranging his own brush.

  Just a moment ago, the academician who came to supervise the exam arrived. He was a young man with a pale face and a weak physique, full of bookish air. Along with him came a wooden frame, which was specially used for hanging examination questions.

  Xue Zheng swept his gaze over the crowd, took out the test questions from the wooden box and hung them on the wooden frame. After a few moments of waiting, a crisp gong sounded outside, followed by someone shouting, "The exam has begun."

  Jiang Xia glanced at the test question, a faint smile appeared on his lips, and he secretly thought: "The people in Tianban will probably be surprised when they see this test question."

  Indeed, Liang Wenhan and Wang Wenbo, who were sitting in the Xuanban Academy, both let out a "hmm" when they saw the test question. Because that test question... had been memorized by them long ago.

  A few days ago, Jiang Xia had them memorize an eight-part essay, and the title of that essay was this sentence: "A scholar cannot but be broad-minded and strong-willed, for his responsibility is heavy and his way is long."

  It turns out that Brother Jiang had already given us the answer a long time ago. This is too incredible, can he really predict and calculate?

  At the same time, many others in the school also discovered something was amiss. For example, in Huangban School where Jiang Xia was, a fat boy and his friend let out a simultaneous "hmm". The fat boy whispered to his friend, "Isn't that wrong? Didn't they say the topic was 'After harsh cold, then one knows the pine and cypress are last to wither'?"

  "What's all the commotion?" The academic officer in charge of proctoring growled, his gaze sweeping over and scaring the fat kid into shrinking back.

  At this time, in the doctoral institute, the room of Jiǔ was also noisy.

  Qing Li Si Lang Zhong Gou Xue Ming said with a discontented face: "How can this be, how can this be? Why did that theme get lost?"

  "I really don't know, they were all there when we checked last night, but this morning they were gone. So we quickly notified Lord Huang to bring over the test questions." Minister Xia Mao also said with a puzzled face.

  It was Huang Ruhai who was relatively calm, holding his teacup and blowing away the floating tea leaves: "Forget it, forget it. Anyway, the exam questions have already been changed, so the lost questions won't have any impact."

  "Ugh... Ah..." Kou Xue Ming stomped his foot in frustration, thinking to himself that they might not have a problem, but soon many people would come to ask him to return the silver. He looked at the silver that had already been obtained, and it was going to be returned.

  Huang Ruhai raised his teacup to take a sip while secretly glancing at Gou Xue Ming with the corner of his eye, and in his heart he coldly snorted: "You eat meat, but don't even give us a mouthful of soup. Luckily my preface was still sold for 1,000 taels of silver."

  Huang Ban's Jiang Xia wrote quickly and finished an answer sheet, after checking for no mistakes, Jiang Xia thought to himself: "The topic has long been revealed, even if we answer well, it's not guaranteed that all of us will be within the top 100. Now I'm forcing them to use the predicted questions, only the 28 of us know the exam questions, this is the only way to guarantee entering the top 100."

  At this thought, Jiang Xia's mouth corners rose again with a hint of a smile.