Five Years To Ascend The Throne, Three Years Of Mock Simulations - Chapter 12

A few days later, the Upper Study’s grand exam arrived as scheduled.

The princes and princesses had all taken their seats in the hall early. Even Fourth Princess Ming Xiao, who had claimed to be ill for quite some time, did not dare be absent. She arrived a little later than Ming Tan. The moment she crossed the threshold, she viciously shot Ming Tan a glare, her small face gloomy. In a few steps, she went to her own seat and sat down, not even paying attention when her elder brother Ming Xuan tried to speak to her.

Ming Tan gave a scoff and did not care in the slightest. Ming Zhao, who was sitting with her, however, seemed a little uneasy and lowered her voice. “Xiao Jiu, Fourth Imperial Sister…”

“What’s there to care about her for?”

Ming Tan shrugged and flipped open the copy of Mencius in her hand for Ming Zhao. “If Zhaozhao-jie has time to let her thoughts run wild, you might as well help me look at this. What exactly does the Second Sage mean here?”

Because of Ming Tan’s favor of that kick, Ming Zhao had already become very familiar with this ninth imperial sister of hers. Hearing Ming Tan ask her this, she could only temporarily set aside her wandering worries and patiently explain, “Mencius’s words should be understood like this…”

The spring exam was divided into two sessions in the morning and afternoon. The morning session was a written exam, with questions jointly prepared by the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial Academy. It mainly tested how familiar the students were with the Four Books and how well they had mastered them.

The afternoon session was personally attended by the emperor, who would test the princes and princesses through recitation checks or questions and answers. The scope of examination would be limited to the Classic each person specialized in. Although the content was much smaller, the difficulty rose by a whole level, making it even more nerve-racking than the morning exam paper.

The emperor had always valued his children’s studies most. Therefore, quite a few people had already gathered all their energy, waiting to show themselves properly before their father emperor.

However, the study companions of each family did not need to work as hard as the highnesses. At this moment, they were staying comfortably at home, gaining a free day of rest without needing to participate in this spring exam.

The fine brush in Ming Tan’s hand kept spinning, and her shoes tapped the floor lightly now and then. Her gaze wandered as she listened absentmindedly to Ming Zhao’s heartfelt teaching, while her mind kept muttering without pause.

Why is Zhaozhao-jie explaining it in such a long-winded way… I could understand a little at first, but now the more I listen, the less I understand.

As expected, Lin Shurong really does have some skill.

She unwillingly praised the great demon king once in her heart. Just as she was about to yawn, she saw Teacher Qin walk into the hall holding a stack of papers and stand behind the lectern.

“There is still one incense stick of time before the grand exam begins. May I trouble Your Highnesses to return to your seats, grind your ink, and prepare your brushes as you wait for this old man to distribute the papers.”

Everyone moved at his words and sat properly.

Teacher Qin looked around the hall, reached out to stroke his beard, and appeared very satisfied. “Since all of you have already prepared, this old man shall begin distributing the papers!”

The slightly yellowed paper landed in her hand and was spread flat across the desk. Ming Tan spun her brush, quickly skimmed the words on the exam paper, and unexpectedly discovered that it was even easier than she had imagined.

The current Son of Heaven had always valued learning. After ascending the throne, he had expanded the special examinations even further to select talent. The Upper Study deeply understood His Majesty’s intentions and did not dare be careless when teaching the imperial princes and princesses. Thus, it had long since chosen capable people from the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial Academy, precisely for the sake of setting the questions for this spring exam.

However, perhaps these capable people had considered that the highnesses’ abilities varied, so they had shown much mercy while designing the questions.

Not only were fill-in-the-classics questions like the tiejing simple, even the two major questions—the shiyi question similar to reading comprehension, and the current-affairs policy question similar to a prompted essay—looked very easy to begin.

—At least Ming Tan felt they were easy to begin.

After roughly thinking it through in her heart, she lazily lifted her brush and began slowly writing on the exam paper.

There was no helping it. She was not used to writing with a brush. If she did not write carefully, her characters would look like a dog had crawled across the page. She did not want her score to be deducted into a mess because of the appearance of her paper.

…

Time gradually passed, and more than half of the long incense stick on the desk had already burned.

Ming Yao had always loved learning, and this time, just like usual, he was the first to hand in his paper. Teacher Qin briefly looked over the Fifth Prince’s answers, stroked his clean beard, and nodded in satisfaction. Presumably, he would rank quite high.

He set Ming Yao’s paper aside and raised his head to look around. Just as he was about to guess who would be the second to hand in their paper, a figure no one had expected slowly stood.

Ming Zhao nervously straightened her skirt, lowered her head, and slowly walked to the lectern, handing over her completed exam paper.

“T-Teacher…”

Teacher Qin froze, then took it as if only just waking from a dream. For once, he was slow to react, and only said “oh” twice before praising her, “Third Princess answered very quickly today.”

Ming Zhao nodded with a red face, then turned and ran back to her seat in a flash. In the front row, Ming Tan turned her face and smiled at her encouragingly, which only made Ming Zhao grow even more embarrassed.

Because of her mother consort, Noble Lady Ying, she had always acted in a low-key manner. Even in previous years, when she had finished the questions early, she had never been bold enough to be the second student to hand in her paper early like she had today…

After Ming Zhao handed in her paper, no one else stepped forward for a long while. The long incense stick on the desk continued burning, sending an elegant sandalwood fragrance through the room. Seeing that it was about to burn to the end, Ming Tan seemed entirely unaware and remained with her head lowered, carefully finishing her essay stroke by stroke.

Meanwhile, the siblings Ming Xuan and Ming Xiao exchanged a glance, then stood at the same time and handed in their papers.

At the same time, the incense stick burned out. Teacher Qin glanced at Ming Tan, who had finally stopped writing, and coughed lightly to remind her. “Time is up. Has the Ninth Princess finished answering?”

“I’m done.”

Ming Tan satisfiedly blew on the ink on her paper and was just about to rise when Ming Xiao, who had returned from handing in her paper, walked straight toward her. The corners of her lips lifted, and she gave Ming Tan a malicious cold smile.

In the next second, she swept her wide sleeve, and the inkstone at the corner of Ming Tan’s desk was overturned, the whole thing flipping upside down right onto the latter’s exam paper!

“—!”

Ming Tan had not expected the other party to use such an obvious trick. Caught completely off guard, she let Ming Xiao succeed. The ink quickly soaked deep into the paper, staining the entire sheet. Never mind the answers she had painstakingly written—even the questions written in red brush could no longer be seen clearly.

“Aiya! Ninth Imperial Sister, what happened to you?”

Ming Xiao’s tone sounded both astonished and innocent, but the expression on her face was clearly written with the word “contempt.” Lying with her eyes wide open, she said, “Such a perfectly good inkstone. How did you knock it over?”

“…”

Ming Tan’s expression darkened. She raised her eyes coldly, just in time to meet Ming Xuan’s gaze behind her.

The Fourth Prince was the oldest and had grown tall. His position behind his younger sister was also rather clever, happening to block Teacher Qin’s line of sight completely.

No wonder Ming Xiao was so fearless, opening her mouth to accuse the victim first.

The exam paper was already completely ruined. Dark ink was still dripping down the desk and staining Ming Tan’s snow-white dress.

Ming Tan knew Ming Xiao was waiting for her to lose her temper so she could slap another crime of “falsely accusing her imperial elder sister for no reason” onto her head. She withdrew her gaze, tossed away the brush in her hand, and still did not say a single word. Yet her feet moved, and within a few steps, she arrived before Teacher Qin.

“Ninth Princess, what happened…”

Teacher Qin did not understand and had just been about to ask in detail when he saw Ming Tan raise her brows, grab the exam papers the siblings had just handed in—

And without even blinking, tear both sheets to shreds.

“Ah! My paper!”

Ming Xiao recognized her own handwriting among the scraps at a glance. She screamed and lunged over, preparing to fight Ming Tan. “How dare you—you slut!”

Ming Xuan’s paper had suffered the same cruel fate. He sucked in a sharp breath, furious, and made as if to step forward and help his younger sister teach Ming Tan a lesson.

However, just as he took a step, Ming Yao reached out and blocked Ming Xuan. He said coldly, “Fourth Imperial Brother, you must not act impulsively!”

Ming Xuan’s eyes reddened with anger. He struck Ming Yao’s arm with one hand and roared, “Why are you stopping me? She tore up my paper too!”

Ming Yao frowned in pain, but his arm did not move an inch. He coldly glanced at Ming Xuan, then simply reached out and clamped a hand on the other boy’s shoulder, not allowing him to move in the slightest.

“Ming Xuan, calm down!” Ming Yao lowered his voice and shouted at him as well. “The Ninth Princess is the legitimate daughter of the Central Palace, Father Emperor’s most beloved daughter! As her elder brother, if you dare touch her, aren’t you afraid of bringing trouble down on Consort Ning? Hurry and tell Ming Xiao to stop too!”

Ming Xuan froze and instinctively turned his head to look.

He saw that Ming Xiao had already rushed up to Ming Tan. One hand was gripping the latter’s clothes, while the other was raised high, and any moment now—

It was about to fall toward Ming Tan’s cheek!