CHAPTER XLVII

『Onsaki ......』

Zhao Hongrun looked at the candidate who was also staring at him with a little surprise, he found that the other party was really young, and he was only sixteen or seventeen, it was hard to imagine that a person of this age could stand out from the township examination and win the place in the examination in one fell swoop.

"I really can't underestimate the young man of my Great Wei. …… But what did he watch me do?'

"What are you looking at?" Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.

But the scholar named Wen Qi just smiled and shook his head, his indifferent smile made Zhao Hongrun faintly feel a kind of unfathomable.

After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun asked tentatively, "Are you guessing if I'm here for the inspection?" Or am I wondering if I really want to catch the fraud? ”

Wen Qi was stunned when he heard this, and a little surprise appeared in his eyes.

"Looks like I guessed right."

Zhao Hongrun smiled knowingly and asked in a low voice: "You don't have to guess who I am, you just need to know that I really plan to catch the problem of fraud in the science field." …… How's that, any suggestions? ”

Hearing this, Wen Qi looked Zhao Hongrun up and down a few times, suddenly stretched out his finger and pointed to his mouth, and then slowly shook his head.

"Dumb?"

Zong Wei Zhou Pu muttered in surprise.

As soon as the words fell, I saw that Wen Qi rolled his eyes wordlessly, stretched out his finger and pointed to the table in front of him, then pointed to his mouth, and shook his head again.

"I see. Scholars in the examination room are not allowed to talk to each other......

Zhao Hongrun suddenly wondered, you must know that even he was a little puzzled, and said that the local government government could hand over the test quota to a mute, you must know that the official system of the Great Wei Dynasty stipulates that people with physical disabilities are not allowed to be officials, probably because they are afraid of affecting their image.

And this student named Wen Qi doesn't look like a son of a powerful family when he looks at the clothes, and the workmanship of the clothes is good, and it is almost bad, most of them are in the middle of the family.

Seeing that the student couldn't speak, Zhao Hongrun simply stopped asking, briefly glanced at the other party a few times, and wanted to turn around and leave.

Unexpectedly, after looking at him for a moment, Wen Qi suddenly raised his hand and pointed to the bowl next to him.

"Huh?"

Zhao Hongrun glanced at the bowl that the other party was pointing to, and he was surprised to find that it was just a bowl used to hold candles. After all, lit candles will melt and may cause a fire, so there is such a bowl for candles in every room of the Confucius Temple.

"It's a bowl?" Or is it ...... Candles?'

Zhao Hongrun looked at Wen Qi suspiciously, and the latter looked at him with a smile, a smile that seemed to have hinted at the answer to him, and felt that he could guess it from it.

『Candle...... What?'

Zhao Hongrun glanced at the student deeply and left with an uncertain expression.

After a while, Zong Wei Gao Kuo, who he had sent to ask the officials of the Ministry for the household registration information of the candidates in the department, came back with a very unhappy expression.

"Your Highness, those officials refused to provide His Highness with the household registration information of the candidates in the field, saying that His Highness's move did not comply with the regulations and was an act of transgression." Gao Kuo said to Zhao Hongrun a little angrily.

"Refuse to provide?" Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this, and didn't turn around: "Who are you looking for?" ”

Zong Wei replied: "The lowly post is looking for those fellow examiners, and there is more than one person, but no one is willing to hand over the household registration information to the lowly post. ”

The examiners he spoke of were the sixteen examiners who were composed of officials.

"Is that so?"

Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard it, after all, after he used Na Luo Rong to make an example of the monkey yesterday, the sixteen invigilators were quite in awe and tolerant of him, and soon after, they sent him the report he asked for by name about the cost of this scientific examination, but he didn't expect that just one day later, the attitude of these people changed again.

"Could it be because of the prince's relationship?"

After a turn of thought, Zhao Hongrun guessed the reason: "I see, have you found a backer?" Scold! ”

Zhong Zongwei looked at each other, and he didn't know if he could understand Zhao Hongrun's words.

"Your Highness, the ministry refuses to hand over the household registration information of our candidates, so how can we check?"

"Don't give...... If you don't give it, don't give it. ”

When he said this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but feel a little helpless. After all, what those officials of the Ministry of Officials said was right, he Zhao Hongrun was only a prince after all, and he did not serve in the Ministry of Officials, so he was indeed not qualified to ask the Ministry for archives.

If he forcibly asks for it, it is arrogance, whether it is the officials of the Ministry of Officials or Luo Wenzhong, they can sue him at this time, it is not worth it.

"In this case, we have to start with the candle that Wen Qi implied to ......."

"Gao Kuo, go get a booklet, ask me the names of the sixteen officials, and write them all down. The rest of you will continue to follow me on the tour. ”

"Yes." Gao Kuo hugged his fists when he heard this.

The "pamphlet of the Eighth Prince," which would later terrify the entire government and the opposition and even other countries, was finally brought up today, and I don't know how many people were terrified when they learned that they were on the list.

In the ensuing time, Zhao Hongrun seemed to forget his tiredness, and silently patrolled the rows of rooms, during which he paid close attention to the candles on the tables of the candidates and the bowls where the candles were placed.

He gradually discovered that the candidates in the room had different numbers of candles on their tables, and the thickness of the candle liquid in the bowls was also different.

It seems that some candidates are very economical and only use one or half candles; And some candidates don't mind the one or two pieces of white wax and light them wantonly.

When it came to the price of white wax, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but feel angry.

What kind of white wax should be one or two?

But when he asked the handymen in the field about this, they replied that this was to prevent the candidates from not sleeping at night and affecting the next day's exam, or not to prevent those candidates from wasting candles.

It turned out that the examiners in the Confucius Temple would distribute three white waxes to the candidates, which are usually enough, but there is no guarantee that some candidates are willing to answer the questions at night, or suddenly have the inspiration to revise the answer sheets during the day.

Anyway, for whatever reason, the officials only issued three sticks of white ash to the candidates, and the next ones had to be one or two.

Zhao Hongrun had nothing to say about this answer, and he couldn't find any handle.

For example, some candidates have a lot of money and order one after another at night, can you say him? People attach importance to this scientific examination, and they are willing to review their answer sheets over and over again, what can you say?

Zhao Hongrun couldn't figure it out, and at this time, he saw a small official carrying a basket not far away, and the basket was full of white wax.

"Go, call him."

"Yes." Zong Wei He Miao nodded, and immediately called the little official over.

Zhao Hongrun curiously took out a piece of white wax from the basket of the little official, and carefully examined it, but did not find anything wrong.

It was just a very ordinary white wax.

"Could it be that the gentleman named Wenqi is playing tricks on me?"

Zhao Hongrun was a little unhappy, waved his hand and motioned for the little official to take care of himself to see if there were any candidates who needed candles, while he himself looked at the back of the little official and thought deeply, he was a little skeptical that the candidate named Wen Qi was not playing tricks on him.

Suddenly, Zhao Hongrun's afterglow was overshadowed by one thing.

It turned out to be the second room on the left-hand side from where he was standing, and there were no candles on the table in the room, but the candidate ignored the candle seller and waved him away.

『……』

Zhao Hongrun stared for a moment, a little suspicious.

He quietly walked over and looked at the candidate quietly. I saw that this candidate was wearing a shirt with a satin texture with blue edges, and his face was delicate, and at a glance he knew that he was a son from a wealthy family who rarely endured hardships.

"You've run out of candles on your desk, so why don't you buy some?" Zhao Hongrun asked tentatively.

The candidate looked Zhao Hongrun up and down a few times, although Zhao Hongrun had a mask on his face, but the luxurious clothes on his body and the five armored guards behind him undoubtedly revealed that he was not idle.

"Are you...... Patrol exams? The candidate didn't seem to care about the rule that no casual talking was allowed in the field, and asked Zhao Hongrun.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun lowered his voice and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "You don't care if I'm on a tour or not, you just need to answer my questions." ”

"It seems that Your Excellency is right to take the exam...... the examinee smiled, shrugged his shoulders and said, "But there is no rule in the department, and the examinee must answer the questions of the exam." Ben Gongzi can choose not to say it. ”

"This accent...... Native? Is it the son of a local magnate family who was born in this Chen capital Daliang?"

Zhao Hongrun thought for a moment and said lightly: "Indeed, but this inspection can also choose to take extra strict care of you." …… Zhu Gui, go and move a stool, and from this moment on, keep an eye on this son's every move. ”

"Yes!" Chong Zhao and Zhu Gui hugged their fists and left.

At that moment, Zhao Hongrun saw a look of panic in the examinee's eyes.

"Patrol ...... What do you do? The examinee stammered, "The student is just joking with you, so why should the examiner be angry?" ”

"This guy...... Something is wrong!'

Zhao Hongrun sneered in his heart, and said lightly: "Then answer this official, why didn't you buy some candles?" Can you guarantee that you won't use it at night? ”

"I'm ......" The candidate opened his mouth and said half-loudly: "That's what the student thinks, anyway, it's daytime, and it's useless to buy candles, so it's better to wait until the evening." ”

"Night? Is there anyone who sells candles at night?'

"......" Zhao Hongrun looked at the scholar, and just wanted to ask but suddenly felt inappropriate, so he pretended to be, nodded and said, "I see." ”

With that, he took the guards and walked a few steps, caught up with the little candle seller before, and beckoned him to a place where no one was.

"Do you still sell candles here after dark?"

The little official looked at Zhao Hongrun inexplicably, shook his head and said, "After nightfall, there is another shift of people, we are in charge of the day, and they are in charge of the night." ”

"Alright, there you go."

"Yes."

The little official left, looking at his departing back, Zhao Hongrun's eyes flashed a few suspicious looks.

"If that Tsuzuki hadn't played tricks on me, the secret would have been in those candles at night...... Is it a different candle? If it's interesting, just bet on it.'"