The search of the Tribute Courtyard continued until noon, and half of the candidates had already been searched and entered the Tribute Academy.

Half of the candidates are still waiting in line outside.

At this time, they were so hungry that their chests were pressed against their backs, and they opened the test baskets they carried with them one after another, and filled their hunger with the food they brought.

When it was time for lunch, the kitchen of the Gongyuan also arranged meals for the prince and the examiners.

Huang Dechang and the others brought the meal to the room for the prince to enjoy.

Jiang Shishi and the guards received meals in the dining room and had lunch in the dining room.

When she had eaten her fill, she returned to the prince and saw him flipping through a booklet.

Seeing him come in, the prince retreated from everyone, leaving only Huang Dechang alone.

"This is the list of candidates, you can see if there is your brother's name." Pei Xuanling handed the booklet to Huang Dechang.

Huang Dechang then handed it over to Jiang Shishi.

Jiang Shishi took the thick blue booklet and found a chair to look at it.

There are thousands of candidates this year, and if Jiang Shishi turns the whole book, it is estimated that it will take an afternoon.

Fortunately, she was lucky, but in the time of a stick of incense, she found the name of the original owner's eldest brother.

His eyes fell on the name "Jiang Chongjin", and Jiang Shishi was overjoyed, "Your Highness, I found it!" ”

Pei Xuanling was reading the information, and when he heard the woman say that he had found it, he raised his head and said, "There is the number of rooms for the scholars to take the exam on the booklet, and you can find someone according to the direction and seat he is in." ”

There are thousands of single examination rooms, each five feet long, four feet wide, and eight feet high.

"Well, I saw my eldest brother's room number." Jiang Shishi continued to look through the booklet, "However, tomorrow'er is going to take the exam, I don't plan to look for him now, so as not to distract him and affect his exam, and when he finishes the exam, I will find him to catch up with the past." ”

Pei Xuanling nodded after hearing this, and continued to check the books.

At this moment, a eunuch came in and reported: "Your Highness, Xue Youcai asks to see you." ”

"Xue Youcai? Which Xue is talented? Pei Xuanling raised his eyebrows.

Obviously, he didn't know this person named Xue Youcai.

It was Huang Dechang who reminded softly, "Your Highness, this Xue Youcai is Xue Liangdi's brother." ”

Pei Xuanling nodded, indicating that he understood.

Then he frowned, and said unhappily: "The exam is going to be tomorrow, why don't he study his homework well, why do you come to find a lonely worker?" ”

I don't know how to avoid suspicion at all!

Little eunuch: "The servant doesn't know very well, but he looks at him politely and well-mannered, and his conversation is acceptable, and he looks very anxious, saying that he has something urgent to find you." ”

Hearing that there was an emergency, Pei Xuanling's eyes turned slightly, "Announce him in." ”

Since someone was going to come in, Jiang Shishi immediately put down the booklet in her hand and stood behind the prince to act as a guard.

Soon, the little eunuch brought Xue Youcai in.

"Candidate Xue Youcai has seen His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." After Xue Youcai came in with the examination basket, he saluted the prince.

Pei Xuanling waved his hand and motioned for him to get up, "Sit." ”

Xue Youcai found a circle chair in the house and sat down, and Huang Dechang poured him tea.

His eyes fell on Xue Youcai, and Pei Xuanling asked lightly: "I heard that you are in a hurry to find Lonely?" ”

Xue Youcai took the tea cup handed by Huang Dechang, "Xue does have something important to find His Royal Highness." ”

It's just that he didn't say anything for a long time, and his eyes still fell on Huang Dechang and Jiang Shishi, obviously afraid that they would hear it.

Pei Xuanling: "It's okay, they are all lonely henchmen, you can just say something directly." ”

Since the crown prince said so, Xue Youcai did not shy away from it, and directly said the key point, "Your Highness, someone has brought a small book in my examination basket. ”

Hearing this, Pei Xuanling raised his eyebrows, "Take it for Lone to see." ”

After Xue Youcai responded, he opened the test basket he brought.

Jiang Shishi stood behind the prince, and saw that Xue Youcai was polite and polite, and his appearance was somewhat similar to Xue Liangdi.

She saw Xue Youcai open the lid of the basket and take out the first drawer box.

The first drawer box contained salt, soy vinegar, eggs, etc.

Then, a second drawer box containing steamed buns, pastries, and cakes is revealed.

Xue Youcai also removed the second layer, and the third drawer box was filled with pen and ink, digging and mending knives, paste and other materials.

I saw Xue Youcai take out a small thumb-sized book from the gap in the third drawer and hand it to Huang Dechang.

Huang Dechang then handed it to the crown prince, "Your Highness, look. ”

Pei Xuanling took the small book and flipped through it a few times.

Jiang Shishi stood behind the prince, only to see that the book was thumb-thick and thumb-sized, and it was densely covered with ant-sized characters.

To be exact, those words are smaller than ants, and the three words add up to the size of a grain of rice.

Such a small word, no matter how good the eyesight is, it is difficult for people to see clearly, and it is estimated that you have to use a magnifying glass to see it.

Seeing that the prince was flipping through the book, Xue Youcai said: "This little book has six volumes, and there are more than 40,000 small characters in total. ”

The corners of Jiang Shishi's mouth twitched slightly, there are so many words in such a small book?

After Pei Xuanling flipped through it a few times, he asked, "Who has touched your test basket?" ”

"Xue paid special attention to this exam, since he entered Beijing to catch the exam, he acted very cautiously, and never let people touch my exam basket when staying in the inn."

"Before today's tribute to the courtyard, I also specially checked it, and there was nothing suspicious inside and outside the examination basket, Xue really couldn't think of what was wrong."

Pei Xuanling: "Think about it again." ”

Xue Youcai frowned, looking puzzled.

After racking his brain and thinking for a while, he said, "I remember, when the examiners checked the basket for me, they moved my basket...... Then there was the fact that after I entered the tribute courtyard, a man dressed as a guard hit me and knocked my basket over. ”

"Someone dressed as a guard?" Pei Xuanling asked, "Has the guard ever touched your basket?" ”

Xue Youcai scratched his head, "There were too many people around at that time, and I didn't pay much attention to it." ”

Pei Xuanling: "What kind of clothes are the guards wearing?" ”

There are several waves of guards in the Gongyuan alone, such as the guards around him, the guards around Lao Liu, the guards of the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites, and the guards of the Gongyuan.

And the guards were dressed almost identically, except for the slight difference in the color and texture of their clothes, and some even had the same color of their clothes.

Xue Youcai twisted his eyebrows and thought for a while, and said slowly: "I remember that the guard was wearing blue clothes... Wearing a black belt... The hem has a white topstitch ......"

Huang Dechang shook his head after hearing this, "Xue Juren, what you said is too general, I wonder if you can see what lines are embroidered on that person's clothes?" ”

Xue Youcai thought about it again, and then his eyes fell on the guard behind the prince, "The lines on the guard's clothes are the same as the guards on his body!" ”

As soon as these words came out, Xue Youcai, Huang Dechang, and Pei Xuanling all looked at Jiang Shishi.

Jiang Shishi also looked down at the clothes on her body.

Pei Xuanling: "Are you sure?" ”

Xue Youcai nodded, "Sure!" It's his clothes! ”