Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Meanwhile, Xu Yanmiao continued calling names from the registry.

“Henan, Yanling County…”

“Shanxi, Leping County…”

“Zhejiang, Yuyao County…”

“Wang Li, scholar of Jiangxia County, Huguang Province…”

Xu Yanmiao paused again, looked up, and said calmly, “Take off your shoes. Your height doesn’t seem right—you must be using shoe inserts. I need to check them.”

The examinee’s face changed drastically.

The guards moved swiftly this time, immediately restraining the person, taking off his shoes, and pulling out the insoles. As soon as they tore them open—sure enough, hidden crib notes were inside.

The other examinees who hadn’t cheated looked at Xu Yanmiao as if they were gazing at the Supreme God of the Heavens.

“He never misses.”

“Could this examiner be familiar with every cheating method, so he can spot them all at a glance?”

At this point, many examinees were no longer in a hurry to enter the exam hall. Instead, they stood nearby, watching the young examiner as if he possessed an unerring, prophetic ability. Whoever he pointed out for inspection would inevitably be caught hiding something.

Some had cheat sheets hidden in the layers of their clothing, some had them concealed in hollowed-out inkstones, others had double-layered hats, and one even hid them in their [rectum]—this last method left both the spectators and the culprit dumbfounded as to how the examiner had figured it out.

Surely, he couldn’t have judged it just by their walking posture, right?

Regardless, the watching examinees swallowed hard, one after another.

Some of them subtly changed their expressions and quietly slipped away from the crowd.

But there were still others…

Xu Yanmiao looked up once more, gazing strangely at an examinee in front of him. “You’re quite good at chemistry.”

The examinee was bewildered. “What?”

Xu Yanmiao stood up, pulled at the examinee’s clothing, and, under the panicked gaze of the other, brought a soybean oil lamp close to the inner lining. As the firelight neared, lines upon lines of densely packed ink characters appeared on what had previously seemed like blank fabric.

The surrounding examinees: “Waaa—”

The censor official, practiced and unfazed, called out, “Take him away in shackles!”

And then, the next one.

Xu Yanmiao: “…You two wouldn’t happen to be brothers, would you?”

The examinee made a last-ditch effort to resist: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Xu Yanmiao grabbed a handful of dust from the ground and sprinkled it on the inner lining of the examinee’s clothing. Just like before, what had appeared to be a blank piece of fabric soon revealed hidden writing.

The surrounding examinees: “Waaa—”

The censor official: “Take him away in shackles!”

Gao He arrived carrying his bedding and clothing chest on his back, holding a large sugar-filled steamed bun in his hand as exam provisions. When he reached the tribute academy, he shivered and exclaimed, “What’s going on here?!”

Why were so many people standing outside the exam hall in shackles?

When he asked someone, the person immediately launched into an exaggerated display of gestures and excitement:

“That examiner! He’s incredible! He can tell at a glance whether someone is hiding crib notes! Hats, shoes, inkstones—there’s nowhere to hide them! Even invisible writing doesn’t work! That examiner just pulls at their clothes, throws a handful of dust on them, and—bam!—the hidden text appears! He’s already caught twenty people!”

Gao He clapped his hands together, and a slow smile spread across his face. “Good! They should be caught! We’ve endured years of hardship, carving the Four Books and Five Classics into our hearts—why should they get to cheat their way onto the honor roll? With an examiner like him, it’s a blessing for us poor scholars!”

The exaggeratedly expressive examinee rubbed the calluses on his fingers and nodded seriously. “Exactly. He’s already exposed twenty people. But with nearly a thousand candidates taking the imperial exam, there’s no way only twenty of them tried to cheat. The rest either haven’t had their names called yet or secretly discarded their crib notes.”

Gao He laughed. “No matter what, this time, the imperial exam is guaranteed to be fair and just. When my name is called, I’ll be sure to personally thank that examiner!”

Xu Yanmiao held a cup of strong tea, sipping absentmindedly to stay awake.

He didn’t like tea, but he had no choice but to drink it. His brow was furrowed tightly.

He picked up the next registry booklet and flipped to the first page: “Gao He, scholar of Lan County, Shaanxi…”

[Huh? A familiar name!]

“Here! I’m here!”

A sweat-drenched figure pushed through the crowd and rushed forward, bowing deeply before slowly straightening up. “I am Gao, a scholar from Lan County, Shaanxi…”

“You?!”

The moment Gao He lifted his head, he was so shocked that even his temples throbbed.

Xu Yanmiao: ???

Imperial exam official: ???

How was this possible?! Xu Yanmiao was around the same age as him!!!

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