CHAPTER 331: CHAPTER 325: SUBJUGATION

As soon as the time was up, someone sounded the bell, and Zhao Hanzhang pointed a finger, immediately prompting a government official to step forward and collect the papers.

The examinees sighed, looked at each other, and seeing that everyone had dark faces and furrowed brows, they knew the others hadn’t done well either, which barely gave them some confidence.

Zhao Yunxin couldn’t hold back any longer and as soon as her paper was collected, she turned and asked Sun Linghui, "Cousin, how did you do?"

Sun Linghui had a calm face but clenched the pen tightly in her hand, "I, I didn’t finish writing..."

Zhao Yunxin looked at her sympathetically, "Although I didn’t do well either, at least I finished writing."

A man nearby overheard their conversation and snorted coldly, raising his head arrogantly as he left, "What are women doing taking the exam for officials?"

Zhao Yunxin’s face sunk, and she immediately chased after him, blocking his way, "What do you mean by that? What’s wrong with women? Our Zhao County Governor is a woman!"

"If you look down on women, why are you here in Ru Nan County to take the exam?"

The man’s face darkened, and he said, "I’m here to take the exam for the sake of the people of the world, not because of Zhao Hanzhang. Besides, how can you be compared to Zhao Hanzhang? If you can’t even finish such a simple test question, do you have the nerve to participate?"

"You!" Sun Linghui hurriedly held back the angry Zhao Yunxin and whispered, "We are still in the examination hall, your third sister must not have left yet, don’t cause trouble."

Zhao Yunxin’s face turned red, "Should we just let him insult us like that?"

Sun Linghui, not being a person with a good temper either, whispered, "Let’s let him go for now, and wait until the results come out."

She said, "If we pass, we’ll let it go, as adults we shouldn’t bear grudges against petty people. But if we fail, hmph, then we’ll figure out a way to teach him a lesson and vent our rage."

Zhao Yunxin thought what she said made sense, but she was also a bit fearful and worried, "I’m still teaching at the academy, if my Third Sister finds out I was fighting, I probably won’t be able to go to the academy anymore."

Sun Linghui whispered, "At that time, we’ll put on masks and cover him with a sack."

This idea was good, Zhao Yunxin immediately nodded, and when she looked at the other party again, her gaze was icy but no longer angry, "We’ll let you go today, now tell me, what’s your name?"

The other party squinted, seeing that the two of them let him go after murmuring for a while, looked at Sun Linghui and said, "I do not change my name standing or sitting, I am Pingyu Chen Heng."

"Chen Heng, is it? I will remember you!"

Zhao Hanzhang was reviewing papers in the back hall. Fu Tinghan, Ji Yuan, and Zhao Ming were all there. Hearing the commotion out front, they couldn’t help but frown.

Zhao Hanzhang then asked someone to go out and take a look. Soon, a government official came back and recounted what happened in detail.

Zhao Hanzhang began searching through a pile of papers, "Chen Heng, is it? Let me see how impressive he is."

Zhao Ming glanced at her, reached out, and handed over a paper.

Zhao Hanzhang took it; the paper was marked with place of origin and name, it was indeed Pingyu County in Ru Nan, Chen Heng.

Zhao Hanzhang scanned downward, her expression became peculiar, she suspiciously looked at Zhao Ming, "Could it be a case of the same name?"

"Even the place of origin can’t be the same," Zhao Ming said, "And the name is the same too."

Zhao Hanzhang clicked her tongue twice as she held the paper, "This gentleman may be average in other respects, but his confidence is certainly ample."

The paper was sparsely written with a few lines of words, and the handwriting was rather ugly, an unmistakable sign of a man without any erudition.

However, Zhao Hanzhang still seriously finished reading the paper. She did not give it to Ji Yuan and Fu Tinghan but directly tossed it into the bamboo basket for disqualified papers.

Fu Tinghan was curious, picked it up, glanced at it, and then silently put it back down.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at him and laughed, "Doesn’t this student seem very familiar? No matter how he does on the exam, he first presents a great deal of confidence and then puts down other students. If he succeeds, his chance at the following interview will be very high."

Fu Tinghan said, "But now he doesn’t even have a chance at an interview."

"That’s true," Zhao Hanzhang said with a smile, "It’s a pity."

Zhao Ming raised his eyelids to look at her, frowning, "Why do you admire such sly and slick people? How did your former teachers teach you, when even an upright and courteous gentleman like Uncle Ming couldn’t..."

Zhao Hanzhang smiled at him ingratiatingly, neither afraid nor ashamed.

Zhao Ming rubbed his forehead, "I heard you recently added a servant named Wu Sheng to your group, he seems too clever."

Zhao Hanzhang laughed, "I didn’t plan to keep him by my side for long."

She laughed, "He’s a very capable talent, keeping him beside me is underutilizing his abilities, so after learning with me for a while, I’ll let him go."

Zhao Ming was taken aback, he didn’t think much of Wu Sheng, but didn’t expect Zhao Hanzhang to hold him in such high regard.

He asked, "What special abilities does he have?"

Zhao Hanzhang laughed, "Does being personable count?"

"What?"

Zhao Hanzhang said, "Talking with him makes it easy to feel good about him. He’s also kind and has a strong will to survive, and learns things particularly fast."

Zhao Ming: "... How is that a merit?"

Zhao Hanzhang said seriously, "It’s a very important merit."

"You say he’s kind, but I heard that before you took him in, he once went to steal other people’s young crops."

Zhao Hanzhang sighed, "Yes, when you think about it, it’s the fault of us officials. If we hadn’t pushed the people to the limit, why would they do something so disgraceful?"

Zhao Ming: ...

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and said, "However, although he’s guilty of theft, he’s not a bad person."

"In the village, there are many households weaker than his, but he didn’t steal from any of them, just from the wealthiest village chief," Zhao Hanzhang said, "Other households might lose their lives losing even a handful of crops, whereas the village chief’s family wouldn’t, and he could survive with that handful of crops."

Zhao Ming still frowned tightly, "Does stealing the village chief’s crops make theft acceptable because the damage is minor? Stealing is stealing, why justify it for him?"

Zhao Hanzhang shook her head, "I’m not justifying it for him. He was wrong, but Uncle Ming, I’m not just a judge of right and wrong, I’m the County Governor, their parental official. I need to think about why he did such a thing and how to prevent other citizens from doing the same..."

"After understanding the reasons, I am also to blame, so he must be punished, but County Magistrate Gao and I should also be punished more. If it weren’t for us leaving the people destitute, such things wouldn’t happen, and moreover," Zhao Hanzhang’s face became more solemn, her voice lowered slightly, "aside from a small number of people with extremely high moral integrity, the morality of the vast majority is based on the assurance of survival resources."

"When survival cannot be guaranteed, even something like eating one’s children could happen, let alone stealing crops?" Zhao Hanzhang said softly, "Giving him this chance is actually giving myself a chance."

Zhao Ming was about to speak when suddenly he heard a sob from somewhere, he paused, looked towards the sound, and saw a figure kneeling down behind a curtain.

Zhao Ming: ...

He then turned his head to look at Zhao Hanzhang.