CHAPTER 587: CHAPTER 490: TOP SCHOLAR’S TALENT! (UPDATE COMPLETE)

Lu Zhaoyan shot a glare at Prince Ming: "He doesn’t know, but you do?"

Prince Ming glanced at the true and false Qilin sitting in the middle of the grand hall: "I don’t know, which is why I’m not the one taking today’s exam. Since he’s up there, he has to!"

Lu Zhaoyan asked coldly, "Who told you that being up there means he has to know?"

"So he really doesn’t know?"

Prince Ming’s heart ached so much he could hardly breathe.

His ten thousand taels of silver! He had staked his entire fortune!

All to strike big and recover the silver he’d lost before...

Now it was all gone, just like that...

Lu Zhaoyan had no time to humor his younger brother’s anguish over his silver. From his vantage point, he could see both his son’s and Lu Qi’s progress clearly.

Although he couldn’t make out Lu Qi’s answers, the way his brush moved swiftly and decisively suggested he was completely at ease.

But why hadn’t his son started writing yet?

His son wasn’t an idiot, absolutely not.

Could there be an issue with the exam paper?

No, that was impossible.

In front of Your Majesty and all the ministers, no one would dare tamper with the exam papers.

When the palace attendants had taken out the papers, he had inspected them thoroughly. They had been sealed with three different wax fingerprints.

Inside the seal were five exam papers, all based on the Four Books. Lu Zhaoyan guessed they were likely similar to traditional texts or sutra transcription exercises.

Lu Qi wielded his brush as though divinely inspired, his serious demeanor exuding an increasingly commanding presence.

Before long, he had completed two exam papers, while Lu Yuan was still just staring at his paper in a daze.

Zhang Qufeng, gradually straightening his posture that had been bent by Prince Ming’s pressure, spoke in a low voice, laced with no small amount of sarcasm: "We agreed on one hour, and look how little time has passed. The Commandery Prince has already completed half. Why hasn’t the Imperial Grandson written anything yet? Does he not want to write?"

Not want to?

Clearly, he doesn’t know how!

The little credibility he’d built through farming was quickly eroding as he stubbornly refused to lift his brush.

The neutral officials were beginning to lean subtly toward Lu Qi’s side.

"Grand Tutor, Qi’er’s schoolwork..."

Prince Jin asked the Grand Tutor behind him, his tone laden with implication.

The Grand Tutor replied softly, "Your Highness, rest assured. With the Commandery Prince’s abilities, he is more than capable of handling these exam questions."

Prince Jin responded impassively, "What I want is not just to manage, but to win."

The Grand Tutor said, "The Commandery Prince will undoubtedly win."

Only then did Prince Jin feel at ease.

In the earlier farming trial, Qi’er hadn’t lost by much. His contest with Lu Yuan had been evenly matched so far.

Qi’er was exceptionally gifted—even if he needed more practice under the Minister of Agriculture in the future, it wouldn’t be an issue.

But as for Lu Yuan—what use was his minor survival ability from the common folk?

Unable to even wield a brush, what a fool. Could he be relied upon to learn the ways of state governance, to master military tactics and strategy? Could he even learn those things?

Prince Jin leaned toward Gongsun Yanming beside him and whispered, "State Preceptor, Qi’er is going to win."

Gongsun Yanming said nothing.

His understanding of Lu Yuan was almost entirely based on two people: Prime Minister Xun and Yan Hanshuang.

He trusted Prime Minister Xun because of Yan Hanshuang.

But Yan Hanshuang had betrayed him.

When, exactly, had she betrayed him?

If it had been much earlier, how much of the information she’d passed on to him had been true? And how much had been false?

"Why hasn’t he picked up his brush yet?"

Eunuch Yu couldn’t help but wonder.

After a moment of consideration, he descended the steps and approached Lu Yuan, leaning in to ask softly, "Prince Changsun, are there issues with the brush, ink, paper, or inkstone? This servant will fetch you a new set."

Lu Yuan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly: "No need. I’ll just write with what I have."

Eunuch Yu and the civil and military officials alike froze.

What did he mean, "just write with what I have"? It sounded awfully reluctant.

The Minister of War commented, "I see now. He can’t answer the questions and is just going to scribble nonsense."

The Minister of Rites added, "It’s good that you understand. Why say it out loud and embarrass Prince Changsun?"

Prince Ming snapped irritably, "Hey, what are you lot chattering about? This is an exam hall. Quiet, don’t you know?"

The two ministers gave him a side-eye wordlessly, thinking, Your Highness, you’re clearly the loudest one here.

Five exam papers in total.

From the moment Lu Yuan picked up his brush, he began sighing heavily, writing one sheet and sighing again.

Who could have predicted this? He had left Great Zhou, climbed up to become the Imperial Grandson of Liang Country’s royal family, and now he was confronted with an exam on questions from ten years ago?

Who was so lazy, honestly?

Local exams, provincial exams, metropolitan exams—they had picked questions solely from his year and wrung them dry.

Recycling old questions shouldn’t be done so carelessly. At least they could’ve drawn from several years’ worth of exams and filtered them. But to copy them verbatim? What was this nonsense?

Finding himself faced with exam questions from ten years ago was already absurd enough, but what Lu Yuan didn’t expect was that the officials working under his imperial grandfather were even more ridiculous.

The last two exam papers were actually palace examination questions he himself had written as the Grand Commander, having already moved beyond the scope of the Four Books.