In the palace, the emperor was in the imperial study and the king of Zhaojun tasting calligraphy and paintings.

"Your Majesty, do you think this wild grass is the highest level here?"

King Zhaojun showed these calligraphy and paintings to the emperor one by one, and then picked up Shen Yanshu's words to show him.

Although Shen Yanshu's words are very free and easy, it seems to be arrogant and arrogant, which is unforgettable at a glance.

The emperor nodded and praised: "It is indeed a rare work, no wonder you are so boastful." Although it is not a work of heaven and man, it is rare to see such an excellent word in recent years. ”

He glanced at the name of the inscription, Shen Yanshu.

It seems that the children of the Shen family are very talented, I heard that this Shen Yanshu piano and chess skills have won the top spot in the school examination, but I didn't expect this calligraphy to be so exquisite.

King Zhaojun said: "According to the emperor, if ten points are a full score, how many points should this pair of words be able to score?"

The emperor looked at him, and suddenly smiled: "You took all the calligraphy and paintings from the Zhaodetang school examination and asked me to score them? Didn't I appoint the second and fourth children to be the chief inspectors, and the two princes were present, which was even stricter than the trial of the third division." ”

"Brother Zhao just wants to know, if the emperor scores, how many points can this word have, and how many can it rank in this school examination?"

The emperor couldn't resist him, and shook his head with a smile, he trusted him so much because of his love for calligraphy and painting.

He muttered for a while: "If I really want to score, I think I will get a minimum of nine points, and as you said, this pair of words is the best among these works." ”

When King Zhaojun heard the emperor say this, he also said happily: "The emperor's opinion is the same as that of his younger brother, otherwise his younger brother would still think that he has been dizzy recently and doesn't know how to appreciate calligraphy and painting!"

"Why do you say that?" asked the Emperor, puzzled.

King Zhaojun pointed to Shen Yanshu's wild grass and said: "A character of this level is tied for eighth place with another person in the Zhaodetang school examination this time, and two examiners have given seven points. If it weren't for the fact that Dingxi Hou Xiao Shizi had nothing to do and asked me to go to see calligraphy and painting together, I am afraid that such an excellent work would be buried. ”

The emperor was surprised: "Only eighth?"

"Yes, my brother doesn't understand. ”

"Two of the examiners this time are Taifu Qi's protégés, right?" the emperor suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he had thought of something.

King Zhaojun shook his head: "I don't know this courtier, but there are two princes here, so I don't think there will be such a mistake." But when the younger brother went, there were already many people on the booth of Zhaodetang who called the school examination unfair!"

While the two of them were talking, Liu Quan, the chief eunuch, came in and said, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness King Ning and His Royal Highness King Ling are asking to see you outside the palace. ”

The emperor glanced at Liu Quan and said, "I'm talking about them, Xuan!"

King Zhaojun bowed and said, "Presumably, the two highnesses have something important, so the younger brother will retire first." ”

"What are you without, what else can they do together, the matter of this school exam is not over yet!" said the Emperor, his tone obviously a little displeased.

King Zhaojun shut his mouth in displeasure, not knowing that it was that sentence that made him unhappy.

Yan Qinghan and Yan Xiao entered the imperial study and stepped forward to salute together: "I've seen my father." ”

"You came just in time, explain to me how you assessed the results of this calligraphy school exam?" The Emperor shook down his sentence and turned to sit back in his chair.

Yan Xiao stepped forward and said: "Father, although there are criticisms about the results this time, the sons are absolutely not partial, and the results are all set by the three examiners." ”

The emperor snorted coldly: "It's up to them to decide, then what do you two chief inspectors do!"

"Father, the son can explain. Although the calligraphy and paintings seen by my father are indeed the most prominent of Miss Shen's, this is not her exam paper. Yan Xiao explained.

King Zhaojun was puzzled, and asked on the side: "Since it is not an exam paper, why did she appear at the booth together, and where did her real exam paper go?"

"Fourth, you tell me about it. The emperor glanced at Yan Qinghan and said.

Yan Qinghan said: "Back to my father, that Miss Shen San originally had a pair of written characters, but later Lord Lin and Master Cheng had some disputes because of different ratings, and suddenly I didn't know what was going on, so Cheng Ying splashed ink on Miss Shen's calligraphy and paintings. This Miss Shen is also pitiful, who can still see if this word is ruined, no matter how low the score is, there is nowhere to reason. ”

The emperor quickly grasped the point, raised his eyebrows and said, "Cheng Ying splashed ink on Shen Yanshu's exam paper?"

Yan Xiao was stunned for a moment, and wanted to interject: "This is probably an accident......

"Erchen also thinks it's an accident, but today's accident seems to be a bit much, the paper and pen given to Miss Shen are problematic, and even the written words can be destroyed, it seems that Miss Shen is not lucky today!" Yan Qinghan interrupted Yan Xiao's words and said.

As soon as Yan Qinghan's words fell, even Yan Xiao didn't say anything more, such an obvious matter against Shen Yanshu, if he said one more word for Cheng Ying, the emperor would definitely be suspicious.

Just a few days ago, the emperor just mentioned Shen Kangzhi as the secretary of the ministry, if Shen Kangzhi's daughter was bullied like this at this time, wouldn't this be a slap in the face of the emperor!

Over the years, Zhaodetang's school examination has always been fair, and this is the first time that two princes have come to sit in charge of the examiner, and if such a thing happens, even the royal family will be laughed at.

The emperor looked at Yan Xiao and Yan Qinghan angrily: "What kind of bad luck, do you also believe this kind of thing? You can't even do this little thing, it's not a shame!"

Yan Qinghan's face did not change: "Father, the son has never been much interested in these calligraphy, paintings and poems, and he doesn't know how to appreciate them, so naturally the emperor's brother is what he says." ”

The emperor glared at him, but he also said helplessly: "You are good at fighting, and it is normal that you are not interested in these things that dance and ink." ”

Yan Xiao can't use such an excuse, among the princes, he pursues everything excellently, and calligraphy will naturally be involved, if he doesn't know how to judge, I'm afraid no one will believe it.

He said: "Father, the son didn't see Miss Shen's paper at that time, so naturally he couldn't judge whether the scores of the three examiners were fair, and as for the paper written by Miss Shen later, it can no longer be used as an exam paper, so please ask my father to know it!"

His reason was reasonable, and the emperor's face improved slightly.

Originally, it was the queen's idea to let the two of them go to be the chief inspectors of Zhaode Hall, after all, the third child had already married the main concubine, and the position of the main concubine in the palace of the two of them was still vacant, if there was a favorite woman in Zhaode Hall, it would save a lot of trouble.

At this time, Yan Qinghan said: "Erchen thinks that the imperial brother has done well enough, this is just a school examination for women's official studies, and it is not a imperial examination for the selection of court officials, so there is no need to take it too seriously." ”

The emperor's originally relaxed face instantly became cold again after hearing Yan Qinghan's words, and his eyes looked at Yan Xiao faintly.

Yan Xiao's heart tightened, and the secret said that it was not good, could it be that his father found out what he had done in the imperial examination?

He turned his head and glanced at Yan Qinghan, but Yan Qinghan looked like he was nothing, he didn't know what he said, I really didn't know if he did it unintentionally or deliberately!

The atmosphere became quiet, and King Zhaojun looked dazed, and was about to say something, but the emperor spoke.

"In Zhaodetang's calligraphy exam, Shen Yanshu deserved to win the championship, and Cheng Ying was fined for three months. ”

The emperor's voice in the imperial study was majestic and could not tolerate a single question.

Coming out of the imperial study, the three of them walked out of the palace gate together.

Yan Xiao said to King Zhaojun: "Uncle Huang, why do you have time to watch the Zhaodetang school examination today?"

King Zhaojun said: "King Ning, don't you think I'm deliberately looking for trouble for you? This will wronged Uncle Huang and me, if you are wronged because of this, Uncle Huang will compensate you!"

He said sincerely, but Yan Xiao couldn't continue, as we all know, King Zhaojun has never liked to pay attention to the affairs of the court, but is particularly interested in poetry and songs, calligraphy and painting collections, if he is serious, even the emperor's face will not be given.

If it is said that King Zhaojun did it on purpose, this is really unreasonable.

Yan Xiao eased his face and said, "Uncle Huang, where is this, my nephew just asked casually." ”

King Zhaojun said: "It's good that King Ning didn't misunderstand, Uncle Huang, I still have something to do, so I'll go first." ”

Yan Xiao and Yan Qinghan bowed their heads and watched him get into the carriage.

Seeing King Zhaojun go away, Yan Qinghan naturally didn't want to stay longer, and was thinking about getting into the carriage of King Ling's mansion.

"Fourth brother. Yan Xiao called him.

Yan Qinghan turned his head and looked at him: "What's the matter with the imperial brother?"

"Is the fourth brother's health okay?" Yan Xiao asked.

Yan said lightly: "I can't die for the time being." ”

Yan Xiao stared at his pale face, and said with a worried expression: "If the fourth brother needs the help of the imperial brother, please speak." ”

"Thank you, Brother Huang, if Brother Huang has nothing else to do, then I'll go back first. Yan Qinghan didn't want to stay.

Yan Xiao said: "I just want to know why the fourth brother has been so interested in the third miss of the Shen family recently, and this school exam has helped her a lot." ”

Yan Qinghan didn't expect him to ask like this, and said with a smile: "My father asked me to be the chief inspector, I just did what I should do, what did the emperor mean to help her in what matter?"

Anyone with eyes can see that in his Ling Wang's intention to help Shen Yanshu, help her speak in the calligraphy exam, in the painting exam, he stood beside Shen Yanshu every step of the way and stared, others couldn't do anything at all, if he didn't mean it, there were really not many people who believed it.

"There is no best. Yan Xiao said, "Brother Huang is also worried about you, with your condition, it's better to worry less." ”

"Brother Huang should care more about his own affairs. Yan Qinghan said, and then got into his carriage without looking back.

Yan Xiao watched him leave coldly, but he was disdainful in his heart, a dying person, what kind of storm could he make?