At the Emperor’s words, the entire exam hall stirred.
“Silence!”
“…”
“Until now, the exam has been conducted by writing your views on paper and submitting them. But the affairs of the court aren’t handled solely through writing. Each department also needs to directly select the talents they desire. Therefore, this time, the exam will be conducted through oral discussions and debate before me and the ministers.”
“…”
“Additionally, since consistency in your views is important, the answers you’ve submitted in previous exams will also be referenced. You’ll be asked about those as well.”
At the Emperor’s declaration, the faces of the examinees turned pale.
It was already nerve-wracking enough to write answers under the Emperor’s gaze.
And now they were being told to orally present and debate in front of him?
Among the hundred or so candidates, there were a few whose faces turned blue for an entirely different reason.
Song Chi and Go Seong-il.
‘Damn it!’
‘I’m screwed.’
Truth be told, they had studied for the civil exams.
But not enough to actually pass.
The reason they’d passed in the past was because someone else had taken the exams for them.
They were physically present at the test site.
But someone else wrote their answers under their name.
That was how it had always been.
And now, the Emperor’s words struck them like a bolt from the blue.
To make matters worse, they didn’t even know what had been written on the answer sheets submitted under their names all this time.
“Let the exam begin.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Announce the topic.”
At his command, officials from the Ministry of Rites unfolded a large silk banner with the topic written on it.
“The order will be randomized. Eunuch Jeong.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A eunuch named Jeong brought over a wooden box. The Emperor reached into it and pulled out a small wooden plaque.
“Wu Min from Guizhou, step forward.”
At the Emperor’s order, a man trembling from head to toe stepped forward and bowed.
The Emperor waved his hand.
“Rise. From this point forward, those called to the exam shall bow once and rise. This is to save time.”
“Yes.”
“Proceed with randomly calling them into the main hall.”
“As you command.”
The Emperor stepped into the main hall, and Wu Min followed behind.
Surprisingly, the exam proceeded smoothly.
Despite trembling before the Emperor, these were candidates who had fought through brutal competition and passed the Huishi with their skills.
A eunuch announced loudly,
“Song Chi from Shandong! Song Chi from Shandong, enter the hall!”
“…!”
Song Chi’s face turned ashen.
It was his turn.
There was no way out.
Like a cow being led to slaughter, he dragged himself into the main hall.
“Are you Song Chi?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Then present your thoughts on this topic.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
His voice trembled as he began to speak on the topic.
But the Emperor and the ministers quickly wore displeased expressions.
“So, therefore…”
“Enough. Let’s review…”
The Emperor’s face suddenly hardened.
He lifted his head and stared at Song Chi.
Then he quickly shuffled through the exam papers in his hands and sighed deeply.
“Do you take the civil exam for a joke?”
“Pardon…?”
The Grand Secretariat beside him asked,
“May I ask what has happened, Your Majesty?”
“This… is supposedly the answer sheet this man submitted in the previous exam. Look.”
The Grand Secretariat took the paper and began to read.
It was an excellent answer sheet.
‘What could possibly be wrong with it? I have to figure it out… or I’ll lose my job.’
Panicking, the Grand Secretariat carefully examined the sheet.
‘Wait…’
His job wasn’t purely ceremonial—he was sharp.
He immediately caught the discrepancy.
“The handwriting doesn’t match.”
At his words, the ministers all turned to look at Song Chi in shock.
How could one person submit papers with completely different handwriting?
“To think such a brazen fool would dare commit fraud and try to deceive me!”
The ministers began shouting one after another.
“I did think something was strange.”
“This man has insulted Your Majesty. He deserves to be charged with treason!”
“Punish him for treason and restore order to the court!”
Hearing this, Song Chi immediately collapsed to the floor and begged.
“Please… spare me, Your Majesty!”
“Imprison him immediately!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Song Chi was dragged out by the imperial guards.
The Emperor pointed at the stack of answer sheets.
“Eunuch, go through these and find any other with mismatched handwriting.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The eunuchs immediately began checking the papers and soon found another suspicious one.
“There is another one here.”
“Whose is it?”
“It belongs to Go Seong-il from Jiangsu.”
“Imprison him as well.”
“Yes!”
A storm had erupted in the exam hall.
The remaining candidates felt like they were walking on thin ice.
“Next, Hong Seon-il from Beijing.”
“Yes!”
Trembling, Hong Seon-il stepped into the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The name he was supposed to write on his paper was Song Chi.
And Song Chi had just been dragged away by the imperial guards and thrown into prison.
So had Go Seong-il.
He had no idea what to do now.
After bowing, he stood.
“Then, regarding this topic…”
“Wait.”
“…?”
“Your answer in the recent Huishi caught my interest. Let’s discuss it first.”
Before discussing the topic, the Emperor asked about the answer Hong Seon-il had submitted in the Huishi.
Despite trembling, Hong Seon-il answered clearly and logically.
“That is…”
His answer was precise.
Naturally so.
He had written that answer himself.
“Then, regarding this part of your answer…”
As the exchange between the Emperor and Hong Seon-il continued, the eyes of the ministers slowly filled with greed.
‘At this rate, he’ll be the Zhuangyuan for sure.’
‘A genuine talent!’
‘We need someone like him in our department.’
‘The Six Ministries are already stealing away talents. We can’t let the Hanlin Academy snatch him.’
Meanwhile, the Emperor thought of the man bold enough to request a private audience and force him out on a secret night walk.
Eun Seo-ho.
At first, he was simply the one who saved the life of Jin U-rim, the Merchant Lord of the Salt Balance Merchant Group, who helped him ascend to the throne.
But the more they met, the more the Emperor recognized his true worth.
Hong Seon-il was undoubtedly a talent.
But to the Emperor, the true treasure was Eun Seo-ho.
‘Thanks to him, I’ve caught those who tried to cheat their way into officialdom.’
The Emperor recalled what Eun Seo-ho had said.
“If Your Majesty reviews the answer sheets previously submitted by the candidates, it will greatly aid in selecting the right talents.”
It was hard not to believe he said that fully aware of everything.
‘I really ought to call him in and wring it out of him sometime.’
Seon-il returned home.
Aunt and the family all praised him for his hard work.
Seon-il looked at me with a big smile.
“You were right.”
“…?”
“You were right. Something good did happen today. Must be the nice weather.”
Looking at his face, it seemed everything went according to plan.
“That’s a relief.”
Two days later.
A royal messenger arrived and read the Emperor’s edict.
It was a decree congratulating him on becoming the Zhuangyuan.
Good.
No one knows what kind of challenges Seon-il will face while working in the palace.
But as long as he remembers this event, he won’t end up becoming the cynical, demotivated person he was in the life I remembered.
The greatest accomplishment this time was ruining the Murim Alliance’s plan.
Of course, they won’t give up trying to plant someone in the palace.
But thanks to this, the Emperor would now tighten his vigilance in all matters.
It won’t be easy for them.
A man dressed in black attire with a sword at his waist hurried down the road.
Soon, he arrived at an elegant but not flashy residence and said to the guard out front,
“I have a report for the Alliance Leader.”
When the guard conveyed the message inside, a voice answered.
“Let him in.”
“Yes.”
The man entered the room and immediately knelt.
“I greet the Alliance Leader. This is a report from Beijing.”
The Alliance Leader, who had been tending to a flower vase, nodded.
“Yes. Things were underway in Beijing.”
It was the operation to plant someone inside the imperial court.
It was meant to prevent the palace from meddling in the Murim Alliance’s affairs in the future, something the Alliance Leader had been watching with great interest.
“How did it go?”
“It failed.”
“…What? Failed?”
“Yes.”
In an instant, the Alliance Leader’s Qi swept through the office, making the subordinate break out in a cold sweat.
“Explain. In detail.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The subordinate frantically reported everything that had happened.
“As of now, the participants are being investigated. It seems Song Chi and Go Seong-il—the ones we tried to insert into the palace—won’t be able to avoid execution. Also, we’ll likely have to abandon several of our other setups.”
“Is that so?”
The Alliance Leader stared at the flower vase for a moment, then swung the dagger in his hand.
The flower heads were sliced clean off and scattered on the floor.
“No helping it. Cut them loose before the trail leads back to us.”
“Understood.”
The subordinate left, and the Alliance Leader glared at the vase.
If the Emperor hadn’t suddenly changed the exam format, everything would’ve gone as planned.
‘But why change it so suddenly?’
It seemed he would have to investigate this further.
With all matters settled, we prepared to return to the main branch.
“Why not stay a little longer?”
Aunt asked, but I shook my head.
“I’d like to, but there’s too much work waiting for me.”
“Well, that’s understandable. You are the Chief of the Virtuous Wind Department.”
I turned my gaze to the three saying their farewells with regret.
Seon-il, Gwak Hyeong-jin, and Seok Il-song.
“Keep focusing on your studies. I guarantee that with your skills, you’ll be capable of becoming Zhuangyuan one day.”
“We’ll take your words to heart, brother.”
“I won’t forget, brother.”
Bringing these two along was a very good decision.
“Alright. Let’s get going.”
“Yes!”
Grandfather and the two got into the carriage.
As I was about to board, Seon-il called me.
“Seo-ho.”
“Yes, cousin.”
“Thank you for helping our merchant group this time.”
The Yeonjun Merchant Group had been in a crisis when their trading partners suddenly cut ties.
I connected them with new partners.
It was thanks to Merchant Lord Jin U-rim and some of the connections I had established in Beijing.
Seon-il handed me a pouch.
It was heavy.
“…?”
“Buy something tasty along the way.”
“Oh! Thank you.”
I never turn down pocket money.
“Take good care of those two as well.”
“Of course.”
It felt like this pouch was really for treating those two to something nice.
“I hope the next time we meet, it’ll be inside the palace.”
“Yeah. I hope so.”
I got in the carriage.
Then we set off toward the Eunhae Merchant Group headquarters.
Time to go home.
.
.
.
On the road back to Hubei.
I was going over documents.
There was so much piled up that I had to work even while traveling.
Soon, we planned to release the self-moving cart designed by Artisan Gong.
In my previous life, toy-sized self-moving carts were popular not only among boys but even adults.
I planned to apply the same mechanism used in the Self-Dancing Doll to the self-moving carts.
That way, people could collect various models.
It was far too good a product to sell as just a one-off novelty.
The carriage steadily made its way toward Hubei.
.
.
.
Finally, we arrived at the Eunhae Merchant Group.
We were home.
Since I was traveling with Grandfather, a messenger had been sent ahead to announce our arrival.
When we entered the courtyard and stepped off the carriage, Father, Mother, and Jeong-ho with his wife came out to greet us.
“Was the journey comfortable?”
“We returned safely. Ah, let me tell you this first. Seon-il achieved Zhuangyuan this time.”
“That’s wonderful news.”
But I immediately noticed something was off about everyone’s expressions.
“Jeong-ho, what’s going on?”
“Huh?”
“The atmosphere feels strange. Something’s definitely wrong.”
At my question, Jeong-ho let out a sigh.
“Well… Jin-ho hasn’t returned yet.”
“What do you mean he hasn’t returned?”
When I came back from Shaanxi, Jin-ho wasn’t at the merchant group.
He’d gone to Yunnan to purchase tea.
Judging by the timeline, he should have returned by now.
“So what happened? Did you find out anything?”
At Jeong-ho’s words, Grandfather urged him.
“So? What did you find?”
Father sighed heavily and said,
“It seems… Jin-ho has gone missing.”
I’d just solved the issue at Aunt’s house, and now trouble had broken out in ours.
–TL Notes–
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