"Nonsense!"

Chen Pingping muttered a curse under his breath. The heads of the Overwatch Council around the table looked at their director with some trepidation as he lost his temper. Chen Pingping pulled the blanket off his lap, coughed twice, his disheveled white hair lacking any aesthetic appeal, and said, "The Council's rules are very clear: we cannot interfere in palace affairs unless His Majesty orders it."

Yan Ruohai, the Fourth Bureau Chief, shook his head with a wry smile and said, "It's just a bit of a shame. We've investigated cases of corruption in the imperial examinations before, but those usually occur within the large, gated mansions. Our manpower is insufficient to find any leads. This time, we've obtained these names and could easily follow the clues to expose the officials behind it, but who would have thought it would implicate the East Palace?"

The speech within the Overwatch Council was always extremely bold and sharp. Aside from their supreme loyalty to His Majesty, the Emperor, these heads of secret agents cared little for anyone else.

Chen Pingping wheeled himself to the window, his white hair contrasting sharply with the black cloth over the window. He coldly said, "This Director's timing is impeccable. His Majesty only decided last night to investigate the corruption in this year's imperial examinations, and he's already presented such a gift."

Yan Ruohai was also extremely curious about the Director he had never met, wondering how the other party had managed to obtain those lists. He responded softly, "It was long overdue."

"Mm." Chen Pingping waved his hand, dismissing his subordinates to arrange matters in their respective bureaus in preparation for the major operation in a few days. However, he kept Yan Ruohai behind. After a long silence, he said coldly, "Many people know the Director's identity, so this matter simply cannot be kept secret. His Majesty still wants to give the Crown Prince some face, so we must not touch anyone from the East Palace."

"Then, the Chancellor?" Yan Ruohai suddenly had a flash of insight, guessing the Director's identity. He was shocked into silence.

Chen Pingping narrowed his eyes at him. "Since you know who he is, you should also know that his father-in-law can in no way be touched."

"Actually, none of these people can be touched," Yan Ruohai said with a bitter smile. "Besides the Crown Prince, one is a favored consort in the palace, one is the Chancellor, and another is a veteran of the Privy Council. Our Council has always had good relations with the military. We can't sever those ties over these minor matters."

"Mm." Chen Pingping grunted through his nose and said, "All three lines must be pursued, but not to the root, or the court will be shaken, and even His Majesty won't be able to clean up the mess. These ministers probably guessed that His Majesty wouldn't thoroughly investigate and punish all the officials in the world for the sake of corruption in the imperial examinations, which is why they've been so bold these past few years."

He suddenly laughed, but the laughter was somewhat chilling. "But they didn't expect that some people in this world are even bolder than they are, actually selling so many people with a single counter-move."

Yan Ruohai frowned. "Director Fan's action is highly inappropriate. He's offended so many dignitaries all at once. How will he clean up the mess?"

"He's handing the problem to me to solve," Chen Pingping's expression was a mixture of anger and agitation, clearly in a foul mood. "He knows that I won't let him stand in the eye of the storm. The reason he gave me this list is just to tell me that he doesn't want to be led by the nose and wants me to help him handle it!"

Yan Ruohai dared not respond, but he was even more shocked. What was the relationship between the eldest son of the Count of Sinan and Director Chen? Why would he dare to act like this? And judging by the director's expression, he actually seemed prepared to follow his plan.

Chen Pingping regained his composure and suddenly laughed loudly, but his laughter was somewhat shrill and unpleasant. "Interesting, very interesting indeed."

Yan Ruohai asked curiously, "What benefit does Director Fan gain from doing this?"

"There are always some eccentric people in this world who don't do things for their own benefit," Chen Pingping said, seemingly thinking of something. A rare expression of respect appeared on his face, an expression Yan Ruohai had never even seen when the director mentioned His Majesty.

"Please instruct us, Director. How high can we reach in this investigation of corruption in the imperial examinations?"

Chen Pingping looked up slightly and said in a cold voice, "His Majesty feels the Guo family has controlled the Ministry of Rites for long enough."

"Understood."

"The First Bureau is currently vacant. Mu Tie isn't clever enough, so you will lead this matter."

"Yes."

—————————————————————————

The spring imperial examination had entered its third round. Fan Xian picked up a warm, wet towel and wiped the corners of his eyes, realizing that he had indeed been feeling tired these past few days. He had even developed more eye discharge. He stood up with a bitter smile and stretched, then carefully looked at the students sleeping on the desks, thinking that even he, as an examiner, was this exhausted, these students must be even more pitiful.

Today was the last day of the spring imperial examination. Fan Xian had been in the examination compound of the Ministry of Rites for several days. Although his family often sent him things to invigorate him and food to eat, his body and mind were already exhausted. He yawned and walked over to Yang Wanli's side, carefully examining him. These days, he had found that this student named Yang Wanli was extremely honest. The things he had hidden in his clothes hadn't been moved at all, which made Fan Xian quite happy.

What surprised him even more was that this Yang Wanli was quite learned. Although the several essays he had written weren't flawless and his insights weren't exactly orthodox, they were grounded in reality and free from pretense, which suited Fan Xian's temperament. The report from the nameless official of the Overwatch Council had also arrived, stating that Yang Wanli came from a poor family, had studied in a clan school in Quanzhou since childhood, and had performed extremely well in the provincial examination. Moreover, Fan Xian had exposed his cheating, so he couldn't help but pay more attention to him.

At this moment, Yang Wanli had finished the last exam question and was looking for any mistakes with a weary expression. He caught a glimpse of Director Fan coming to his side again and couldn't help but feel nervous.

Although they were in the examination compound, Fan Xian naturally couldn't talk to the examinees. However, after being tormented for several days, Yang Wanli was already somewhat dazed. He boldly pinched his collar and looked at Fan Xian with a pitiful expression, seemingly asking the young examiner how he had discovered his smuggling outside the examination compound.

Fan Xian couldn't help but smile, thinking, "With your talent, do you need to resort to these methods?" He didn't want to talk to him, so he simply pointed his right index finger lightly at Yang Wanli's bedding.

Yang Wanli was confused. He looked down and saw the pile of bedding behind him, which resembled a black date. Then he looked at the silk robe he was wearing, which still exuded a noble air despite not being washed for several days. He realized how he had exposed himself. How could an examinee who could afford to wear a water-washed silk robe bring such a dark and dirty roll of bedding into the compound?

He couldn't help but give a simple laugh.

Fan Xian smiled slightly and made a decision in his heart, then put his hands behind his back and walked back.

……

……

As night fell, the examinees gradually left the examination compound of the Ministry of Rites. After several days of torture, everyone was already exhausted, yawning incessantly, reeking of sweat, and looking lost. Some students who wrote slowly were still hunched over their desks, chewing on their pens, while others had fallen asleep under the lights, still fully clothed. The time hadn't come yet, so naturally no examiner would bother them.

A gong suddenly sounded in Copper Camel Lane, next to the Ministry of Rites. The sound of the gong was crisp and seemed to awaken the night that enveloped the capital.

"Time is up, students, stop writing."

With a shout, the officials of the Ministry of Rites began to clear the area, driving the students who were still gripping their pens out of the compound. One examinee, who was at least forty years old and had already gray hair, hadn't finished his test and cried and refused to leave his desk. In the end, he was dragged out by several officials of the Overwatch Council.

For a long time afterwards, people could still hear the examinee's low sobs, a ghostly and unpleasant sound echoing outside the examination compound of the Ministry of Rites.

Fan Xian sighed, but didn't feel much sympathy. The world, this world and that world, were the same. What you could do and what you were suited to do depended entirely on your own efforts. It wasn't that he was a cold and unfeeling person, but for him, the imperial examination of these students had ended, while his own imperial examination... had only just begun.

On the night the spring imperial examination ended, the papers had to be sealed immediately. This was Fan Xian's duty. The chief examiner and the two seat teachers, along with the two supervisors, all sat high in the hall and didn't dare to leave, waiting for Fan Xian to lead the people to complete the procedures of anonymizing and transcribing the papers before they could be sealed and stamped.

The candles were bright, and the entire Second Bureau of the Ministry of Rites was a hive of activity. In the outer room, dozens of old officials were dividing the papers and sorting them. In another small room, Fan Xian was rubbing his temples while watching two officials of the Ministry of Rites anonymize the papers.

All the papers had to be sent to Fan Xian before they were anonymized. Fan Xian didn't dare to neglect his duty, carefully looking at the names on the papers and matching them with the names on the four slips of paper. After a long time, he had picked out a dozen or so papers and placed them inconspicuously on his right side.

The two officials of the Ministry of Rites on his side lowered their heads and exchanged glances, knowing that those dozen or so papers were the ones that the important figures in the court and the palace had requested.

After finishing the work at hand, Fan Xian beckoned to the two men, signaling them to begin anonymizing the papers. The two officials of the Ministry of Rites didn't dare to be negligent and quickly began to cover the names and native places of the students on the papers with pieces of paper.

Fan Xian didn't avoid suspicion and watched carefully from the side, finally discovering how these Qing Kingdom officials carried out this process. It turned out that the strips of paper used to anonymize the papers he had picked out were slightly shorter than the strips used to anonymize the papers of ordinary students.

Watching the officials of the Ministry of Rites solemnly paste the short strips of paper on the papers he had chosen, Fan Xian couldn't help but laugh. He thought to himself, "If Guo Youzhi knew in the future that these papers weren't all requested by high-ranking officials in the court, but that some of them were the papers of truly talented people that he had selected, such as that simpleton named Yang Wanli – wouldn't that old bastard Guo be so angry that he spat blood?"

What he didn't know was that his little trick had fallen into the hands of a veteran of the Overwatch Council, and Secretary Guo probably wouldn't even have the chance to spit blood.