The Prime Minister’s Darling-Chapter 415 - : 208 Announcement of Results (Second Update)

Chapter 415: 208 Announcement of Results (Second Update)

In her dream, Xiao Liulang took the top place in the exam, causing the biggest upset in the history of the Imperial Examination.

No one expected a poor, unknown boy from a rural village to beat Prince An-jun and claim the top spot. All those who had bet a lot of money on Prince An-jun winning first place wept. Gu Jiao made a fortune – the one thousand taels she had gambled turned into eleven thousand taels.

Her neighbors also made a good profit.

At this point in her dream, Gu Jiao started finding it strange. Huh? Could it be that her husband will not be unlucky this time around?

But it turned out that her joy was premature.

Indeed, Xiao Liulang topping the exam was a surprising upset. But what shocked people the most was that Prince An-jun didn’t even make it onto the list of winners.

It was inexplicable that someone as talented as Prince An-jun failed to even pass the exam.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

Prince An-jun himself didn’t believe it. He went to the Ministry of Rites to check his examination papers, only to find they had disappeared!

The Emperor ordered an investigation, which revealed that Prince An-jun’s papers had been stolen by an exam copyist.

Who was behind this, Gu Jiao didn’t see in her dream.

Had this happened to anyone else, they might just have sighed at their misfortune. But those with strong backing would never allow Prince An-jun to suffer such an indignity. Coupled with many candidates doubting their own results, the Emperor, after some deliberation, decided to hold the Provincial Exam again.

The Provincial Exam was restarted.

Bets were placed again at Qingfeng Building.

This time, more people bet on Xiao Liulang. Everyone seemed to have noticed this dark horse. There weren’t many who bet on him winning the first place, but the amount wagered on him making it to the top three was incredibly high.

Qingfeng Building, eager to pocket this large sum of money, tried to bribe Xiao Liulang into failing the exam. However, he refused.

When persuasion failed, they tried using force, but Xiao Liulang managed to counteract their efforts each time.

When it came to strategising, Xiao Liulang had never been defeated.

Of course, when it came to luck, it seemed that he had never won either.

The day Xiao Liulang was supposed to enter the exam site, his carriage collided with another, leaving him seriously injured and unable to enter the exam site.

As for Prince An-jun, his condition wasn’t any better than Xiao Liulang’s. On the day of the exam, there was a slight hiccup at the exam site, and the exam didn’t start until noon. This meant the exam went on until nightfall.

But Prince An-jun had night blindness, which meant he couldn’t see when it was dark. His test paper was left incomplete, leading to a tragic ending as well.

Upon waking up, Gu Jiao sat dazed on her bed.

“This unlucky?”

To prevent such a tragedy from happening, the most prudent approach would be to help Xiao Liulang avoid the accident he was supposed to have on the day of the re-examination. This wasn’t difficult as Gu Jiao knew both when and where the accident took place.

The reason why this was considered the most prudent method was because Prince An-jun was unable to finish his paper due to the dark. Without him in the picture, Gu Jiao was sure that Xiao Liulang could easily take the top spot.

There was another way, to prevent someone from stealing Prince An-jun’s papers. As long as Prince An-jun’s papers we successfully graded, the re-examination would not take place regardless of his score.

But this method carried some risk — do keep in mind, the first exam was administered during daylight hours when Prince An-jun could perform properly. What if he did finish first?

After some consideration, Gu Jiao decided to leave the decision up to Xiao Liulang.

Gu Jiao got dressed, and opened the door.

As it creaked open, the door to the room opposite also opened.

They stared at each other in surprise.

“You haven’t slept yet?”

“You haven’t slept yet?”

They echoed each other’s words.

“You speak first,” said Xiao Liulang.

“Ok,” Gu Jiao responded, “I woke up.”

Xiao Liulang holding his oil lamp, stepped out, “Me too,” he paused, then added, “just came out for a sip of water.”

Water was on the table on Gu Jiao’s side, she casually poured a bowl of water and handed it to him, asking, “If your opponent falls into the water before the exam, would you save him?”

“No.” Xiao Liulang picked up the tea bowl and replied without hesitation.

“Why?” Gu Jiao asked, blinking at him.

Xiao Liulang casually put down the teacup, “Because I have no competitors.”

Gu Jiao’s mouth twitched: “…”

So arrogant?

—

After Xiao Liulang had had his tea, they both went back to their rooms.

But Gu Jiao didn’t fall asleep. Instead, she changed into her black outfit and snuck out of the alleyway.

She went to the Medical Hall and entered her small courtyard through the back door.

Gu Chenglin was currently staying in her courtyard.

Gu Chengfeng had finished his task, climbed over the wall into the courtyard, then entered Gu Chenglin’s room.

He began to get out of his nightwear.

Halfway through, as he was undoing his belt, a cold, quiet voice echoed in the darkness, “Don’t undress, put it back on.”

Frightened, Gu Chengfeng stumbled forward, narrowly avoiding running into a pillar!

He quickly fastened his belt, turned around, and looked at the small figure sitting on the chair with a scared face, “What are you doing here?!” he thundered.

“Looking for you,” Gu Jiao replied.

Gu Chenglin turned over in his sleep.

Gu Chengfeng’s roar stuck in his throat as he glared at Gu Jiao and gnashed his teeth, “Why didn’t you speak up earlier? I, I, I…”

You only speak up after I’ve taken off my pants!

Gu Jiao got up, walked past him, and went out the door, “Let’s go.”

This “Let’s go” obviously wasn’t a goodbye. She was not that courteous to him. So, she was telling him to come with her?

To where?

Gu Chengfeng cast a cautious glance at her petite silhouette, “What are you going to do?”

“Are you coming or not?” Gu Jiao turned around, pointing at Gu Chenglin on the bed, “If not, I will kick him out tomorrow.”

Gu Chengfeng gritted his teeth, You’re tough!

Gu Jiao walked aheadials in the Neizheng Hall were not allowed to step outside the curtain before the exam results were released. They had to eat, drink, excrete, and sleep inside the hall. Thus, the copyist who had withheld Prince An’s paper early on had no chance to dispose of it.

“Why did you bring me here?” Gu Chengfeng asked, standing beneath the wall enclosing the Imperial College.

Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow, scrutinized him from head to toe, with an expression like ‘Don’t you know what you are up to?’

Gu Chengfeng was trembling with rage, clenched his fists, and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, “What are we stealing?”

…

A quarter of an hour later, Gu Chengfeng successfully infiltrated the Neizheng Hall.

All the officials were asleep, only the guards were patrolling vigilantly around the Grand Hall.

Gu Chengfeng searched room by room.

The copyists were all men of roughly the same age. As for their appearances, in the dim light, who didn’t have a nose and two eyes?

However, as the best thief in the capital city, Feishuang had his own identification skills.

He quickly found the copyist whose appearance and physique matched Gu Jiao’s description.

Where he hid the exam paper at this time, Gu Jiao didn’t say, it wasn’t a part of the dream.

Gu Chengfeng searched up and down, and finally found Prince An’s paper in the man’s shoe.

Hiding it in a shoe, no wonder no one found it.

Gu Chengfeng was masked.

But that smell…

Gu Chengfeng suppressed the urge to retch, and using two fingers, carefully extracted Prince An’s paper from the shoe.

There are two copies of the paper, one is a black scroll written by Prince An himself, the other is a red scroll copied by the copyist.

Gu Chengfeng first archived the black scroll, then placed the red scroll in the last stack of papers waiting for review.

It wouldn’t work just to put it in like this, because the last stack of exam papers was made up of high quality papers that had been selected and rated by previous reviewers.

Prince An’s red scroll hadn’t been reviewed yet because it was hidden away right from the start.

Gu Chengfeng had no choice but to imitate the handwriting of other reviewers and carelessly gave it an ‘A’ grade. To his surprise, it looked quite convincing.

In this day and age, you couldn’t even be a thief without any talent.

After doing all this, Gu Chengfeng left the Imperial College.

Gu Jiao covered her nose, looking disgustedly at him, “You stink.”

Gu Chengfeng: Yes, yes, I stink, but who am I doing this for?

“Where’s the reward?” Gu Chengfeng coldly stretched his hand out.

Gu Jiao flicked her fingertip and a copper plate flew out, landing squarely in Gu Chengfeng’s palm.

Gu Chengfeng looked at the lonely little copper plate in his hand and was on the verge of swearing!

He risked his life to sneak into the Imperial College, and tampered with the exam papers, all for a copper plate?

One—bloody—copper—plate!

Gu Jiao turned her small body around, her tiny hand behind her back, and walked nonchalantly away, “No need to thank me, see you.”

Gu Chengfeng a papers, the chief officer handed the paper to a copyist, “Copy it again.”

“…Yes!”

The appointed copyist was another man. He diligently copied the paper.

At noon, all the exam papers were reviewed.

In the afternoon, the Neizheng Hall was opened, and a list of successful candidates was handed over to the emperor under the escort of the Minister of Rites and the guards.

The emperor read it, and then had the Cabinet seal it.

The next morning, the Imperial College finally released the results to all the students across the country.