Chapter 410: Chapter 403: I’m Just a Face-Lover 45
An Xin saw that Anning was doing quite well in this time and space and seemed to not need her help, so she started to isolate herself again.
Anning collected the nightmare charm, and then began to plan for Xiao Yuan’s rural examination.
The local Magistrate, surnamed He, turned out to be from the same family as Anning, dating back five hundred years.
Magistrate He’s family was relatively wealthy; he joined the government by donating after becoming a scholar.
Being a Magistrate was quite an achievement already, advancing further was almost impossible.
Therefore, he placed all his hopes on his two sons.
Magistrate He hoped that both his sons could pass the Imperial Examination and have smoother careers than he did.
For his sons, he put great effort into scheming.
This time for the rural examination, Magistrate He changed their family registration to allow his sons to take the exam in the north, thinking the chances of passing would be higher.
However, he was unaware that someone was secretly plotting against him.
This matter was unrelated to factional struggle, it was due to the court’s struggle for the throne.
As of this year, his sons, all in the prime of their youth, naturally vied against each other, all eyeing the throne, thus, the disputes have been ongoing for many years.
Especially the Second Prince and Third Prince’s competition was extremely fierce.
The Eldest Prince devoted himself to martial arts; a few years ago, he saved the Emperor by taking a stab meant for him during an outing, injuring himself, and thus lacked the means to compete for the throne.
Yet, the Emperor greatly favored the Eldest Prince.
The Second Prince, born of the Empress and the legitimate son, was in normal circumstances the most qualified for the throne.
The Third Prince, however, was born of a favored concubine. The Emperor favored Consort Huang greatly and thus favored the Third Prince much more than the Second Prince.
The Fourth Prince, Fifth Prince, and others also harbored their ambitions, causing endless disturbances in the court.
Magistrate He, having connections through the Third Prince’s maternal uncle, found himself implicated as officials under the Second Prince targeted those aligned with the Third Prince.
Magistrate He was also affected.
Someone instigated trouble in the Second Prince’s maternal family, mentioning a certain Magistrate He who had contributed a significant amount of silver to the Third Prince.
Furious, the Second Prince decided to target Magistrate He.
Consequently, right before the rural examination commenced, the Academic Administrator was suddenly replaced.
The new Administrator, siding with the Second Prince, had always been at odds with Magistrate He.
Crucially, Magistrate He hailed from Jiangnan, an official of the Southern Party.
The newly appointed Academic Administrator originated from Lu, a bona fide official of the Northern Party.
Here lies not only a struggle for the throne in the court but also a conflict between north and south; the new Administrator, no matter his reasons, would not allow Magistrate He’s sons to pass the examination.
Magistrate He was well aware and extremely anxious.
Yet, there was nothing he could do at such a time; it was impossible to change his sons’ registration back or hope for a new Administrator, so he could only press on.
What Anning now needed to do was to widely spread rumors that the new Administrator favored flamboyant and ornate essays.
When she learned that Wu Ni’s uncle was also participating in the rural examination, she came up with another idea.
Cui Zhiren was Wu Ni’s uncle, staying continuously in the inn without leaving.
Mainly because the matter of Wu Ping divorcing Ms. Cui left him disgraced.
Many of his familiar classmates knew how Ms. Cui had over the years moved her in-law’s assets to aid her family, causing her husband’s dissatisfaction and leading to the divorce.
Furthermore, those classmates who had minor conflicts with Cui Zhiren ridiculed him at every turn.
This made Cui Zhiren very lose face.
Initially, when Ms. Cui was divorced and sent back to her parental home, Cui Zhiren harshly scolded her, and then kicked her out of the house, stating that he had no such sister who had been divorced, and he wanted to sever ties with her.
Ms. Cui never imagined that after dedicating half of her life to her brother, and even giving up her own biological son, the result would be that her parents and brother no longer recognized her.
Ms. Cui became homeless, and didn’t even know where to go, I wonder if she had any regrets.
After all, Cui Zhiren felt dishonored because of Ms. Cui, and since coming to Prefecture City, he always kept his doors closed.
That day, he was really bored staying in the inn, and the food at this inn was really not good either, Cui Zhiren felt he was about to fade away, so he thought he should quickly find something good to eat, otherwise he was really going to be driven crazy.
That day, he took advantage of the good daylight to go out to find food.
Now, Xiao Family’s restaurant business in Prefecture City was especially prosperous.
Mainly because Xiao Family had this chili sauce, and some spices brought from South Ocean by Mr. Xiao to enhance flavors, making the meals in Xiao Family’s restaurant tastier than other restaurants.
Even the scholars coming to take exams had heard of the reputation of Xiao Family’s restaurant, and they all wanted to come and have a taste.
And Cui Zhiren also chose Xiao Family’s restaurant.
He entered the restaurant, found a spot to sit down, and ordered a few dishes.
While waiting for the dishes, Cui Zhiren heard two people at the adjacent table talking about the rural examination this time.
Those two people were probably from the government office.
The two spoke in very quiet voices, but Cui Zhiren still caught bits and pieces.
"This change of Academic Administrator has really gotten our master worried."
"Isn’t that the truth? The previous Academic Administrator had a good relationship with our master, and the two sons of our master were sure to pass the examination, but this new one..."
"I heard that the new Academic Administrator likes those ostentatiously written pieces the most, the more elaborate the writing, the happier he is, our master has been making the young masters try all sorts of writing styles recently."
"Let me tell you... this I heard from my cousin’s sister, who works in the governor’s house, specifically serving the young masters."
Upon hearing this, Cui Zhiren got an idea.
Normally, he did not pay much attention to the style of his writing.
Speaking of which, Cui Zhiren has poor character, but he does have scholarly talents.
His writing style is pretty plain, but also considered laden with substance.
However, having heard the conversation of those two, he thought about changing his writing style during the rural examination.
After eating, when Cui Zhiren returned, he ran into several classmates.
Those classmates had once mocked him.
Cui Zhiren remembered the grudge and told those classmates that the new Academic Administrator liked plain writing, advising them to be mindful of that.
Those classmates didn’t believe him.
They thought Cui Zhiren had malicious intentions and made an effort to find out more.
Then, they found out Cui Zhiren had lied, and together ambushed him unexpectedly and beat him up badly in a sack.
Following that, there was another classmate of Cui Zhiren, an honest man, who actually believed Cui Zhiren’s words and earnestly reviewed many plain-styled writings.
Anyway, Anning didn’t take long to throw Prefecture City into quite a chaos.
And that Academic Administrator also heard about what was being rumored outside.
He found it quite amusing.
Primarily, this time the Academic Administrator was making things uncomfortable for Magistrate He, those rumors out there perfectly suited his intentions, he not only didn’t stop them but also pushed them along.
In such conditions, the rural examination began.