When Cai Xiaoxiao and the others were happily eating and celebrating, on the other side, there were a few people who were also very interested in the list on the examination list.

The first to bear the brunt of the natural monarch of a country, the current emperor.

In the morning, he sat alone in the imperial study to review the folds.

"Your Majesty." The emperor's personal eunuch Chen Gonggong walked in with many scrolls in his hands and shouted to the emperor who was immersed in reading the folds.

The emperor raised his head, saw the scroll in Gonggong Chen's hand, put down the brush in his hand, rubbed his somewhat tired eyebrows, and said, "Bring it." ”

"Your Majesty." Gonggong Chen stepped forward and handed a yellow scroll inside the scroll to the emperor first.

The emperor took it and opened it, and the contents of the scroll were exactly the names of the top three hundred in the test.

The emperor didn't care much about the ranking behind, he only looked at the names of the ten in front of him: "Zhao Kangcheng ......"

"This is his paper." Gonggong Chen heard the emperor read out Zhao Kangcheng's name, and then took out Zhao Kangcheng's test paper in time and handed it to the emperor.

The emperor put the yellow scroll aside, took the test paper, opened it, and carefully reviewed it.

During his review, Gonggong Chen put the remaining nine test papers on the right hand side of the emperor one by one, and the nine test papers were all the test papers of the top ten people on the list.

"Good, good, very well written!" The emperor suddenly said happily, he patted the test paper, and said to Gonggong Chen, "The content on this test paper is really good!" It's been a long time since I've seen such a good article. ”

"It is really a blessing for this person to be so praised by the emperor." Gonggong Chen smiled.

"I'm looking forward to his performance in the next palace exam!" The emperor said.

Gonggong Chen complimented, "He will definitely live up to the emperor's expectations." ”

The emperor put the test paper aside with a satisfied face, and then picked up the remaining nine test papers and read them one by one, although he sometimes showed an appreciative expression and nodded again and again, but he was not as excited as he was to see Zhao Kangcheng's test paper at the beginning.

After reading all the test papers, the emperor nodded with satisfaction and said, "This year is really full of talents. ”

"Congratulations to the Emperor." Gonggong Chen said, "It is a blessing for the people to have so many talents to serve the emperor." ”

"Well said!"

……

East Palace –

The prince and the prince were sitting in the imperial garden discussing some things about the court, when the prince's personal eunuch Li Gonggong, like Gonggong Chen, also came over with a bunch of scrolls: "Your Highness, the slave has brought it!" ”

The prince and the prince looked at each other, and the prince said, "Well, let's put it here." He gestured to the stone table in front of him.

"Yes." Gonggong Li carefully placed the scroll on the stone table.

Seeing this, Taifu asked, "Does Your Highness want to select talents from among them who can be used by us?" ”

"Sort of." The prince picked up the yellow scroll from among the many scrolls, opened it, and looked at it carefully.

Taifu also leaned over and said, "But this can only be used as a reference, and the real strength still depends on the palace test in ten days...... Wait a minute! This is? His face changed suddenly, and his eyes were fixed on one of the names on the scroll.

The prince looked up, looked at him, and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?" Isn't there a teacher in it that you know? ”

"I can't say that I know each other, it's just that there are some entanglements." Taifu said with a not very good face.

"Entanglement?" The prince became more and more puzzled, "What entanglement?" ”

Taifu looked at the prince, a little hesitant, not knowing whether to say it or not.

As soon as the prince saw his hesitation, he knew that he had a plan to hide it, and immediately ordered with a serious expression: "Teacher, this palace doesn't want you to lie to this palace!" ”

"Yes." Taifu took a step back slightly, arched his hand, and said with some awe.

"So, who does the teacher know?" The prince asked.

Taifu took another step forward, pointed to the name at the top of the scroll, and said, "This Zhao Kangcheng, if it is not the same name and surname, then he should be the one whom Lao Chen knew many years ago." ”

"Years ago? Is he from the capital? "If you are a person from the capital, those who can be admitted to the first place in the list are generally extraordinary talents, although everyone says that the palace examination is the final test, but in fact, sometimes the first place in the list is equivalent to determining the final champion.

Such a talent will definitely enjoy a reputation in the capital, but the prince has never heard the slightest rumor about this name.

"No, he's not from the capital." Taifu shook his head and said.

"Isn't it?" The prince was surprised, "Since it's not, how does the teacher know him?" ”

Taifu said: "He participated in the imperial examination nine years ago, but he failed at that time, and the old minister did not expect that he would participate in the imperial examination again many years later, and also won the first place in the list." "He's hiding some facts.

"Maybe it's because of all these years of hard work." The prince was not suspicious, he rummaged through the test papers, and then found Zhao Kangcheng's test papers, "Let this palace come to see how he has improved after nine years of hard study." "Open the test paper, spread it out on the stone table, and read it carefully.

He didn't see it, Taifu showed a slight expression of weakness behind him.

"This ......," the prince's always indifferent face showed a rare expression of surprise, "It's really a good article!" This kind of writing is really rare. ”

"It seems that he has improved a lot in the past nine years." Taifu said.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh." While reading it, the prince nodded again and again, obviously very satisfied with Zhao Kangcheng's article, and after reading it, he put away the scroll and said to the prince, "This person is definitely a rare talent, since the teacher knows him, then help Bengong to gather under Bengong's subordinates." ”

"Yes, Your Highness." Taifu bowed and said. But he was in a dilemma in his heart, because he knew very well that with the grievances between him and Zhao Kangcheng, Zhao Kangcheng would definitely not be willing to join the prince's camp!

At that time, the prince must be very puzzled, maybe he will personally ask Zhao Kangcheng the reason! Taifu knew very well that in order to fight against King Jiang, the prince was very talented.

And at that time, the prince will be very angry when he learns that he missed Zhao Kangcheng's talent because of him!

Taifu really didn't expect that the emperor would change the invigilator this year, and this Zhao Kangcheng still did not give up participating in the imperial examination, and he also won the first place in the examination again, which attracted the attention of the prince!

Taifu can't attack Zhao Kangcheng now, once Zhao Kangcheng has an accident, the prince will definitely find out the reason!

Thinking of this, Taifu really had a headache.

"That's right." The prince suddenly spoke, startling the prince:

"What's the matter? Your Highness. He hurriedly asked.

The crown prince was still checking other people's test papers, and he said: "Help me keep an eye on whether Zhao Kangcheng will come into contact with Uncle Huang's people, such a rare talent, I think, Uncle Huang will definitely not give up." ”

"The old minister knows."