All candidates entered the hall and took their seats, waiting for the test papers to be distributed.
At this time, the examiners in the venue handed out a stack of blank papers, one to each person.
This sudden procedure confused the candidates.
"Before the exam starts, please cooperate with me." An examiner coughed and said, "You will definitely be selected as Jinshi in the future. Before you reach that position, we hope to keep your calligraphy treasures. Everyone Write two words on a piece of paper, one with your right hand and the other with your left, whatever you want will do.”
The candidates became energetic instantly.
After becoming a Jinshi in the future, this piece of paper will be framed and hung in the Huzhou examination room, and will be observed by all the scholars. This is their honor.
All candidates picked up their brushes, polished them, dipped them in ink, and put down their pens.
Write one word with your right hand, and then write another word with your left hand. It’s just two words, and it’s finished quickly.
All the papers were collected and quickly sent to the study room at the back. Led by the prefect, twelve examiners gathered together, plus Cheng Wanwan, more than ten people spread out all the papers and examined and compared them one by one.
The cheat sheet was a palm-sized piece of light yellow paper, filled with densely written words. The words were not very neat. A person who could pass the county examination and the first round of the government examination would know how to write no matter what. The calligraphy can be seen with one hand. It is obvious that it was written by the left hand. This person has some brains, but only a little brains.
After Cheng Wanwan wrote down the original handwriting on the cheat sheet, he began to review the two words submitted by the candidates one by one.
It took almost no effort to flip through them one by one and eliminate them one by one. In the end, there were still three suspicious handwritings left.
The prefect's aide was astonished: "May I ask how Suiru decided that these three cards were suspicious?"
"First look at the handwriting on the cheat sheet. As a scholar, few people can write such handwriting that is difficult to see, so I concluded that it was written by the left hand." Cheng Wanwan said in a short story, "Every word of his is similar. For example, this point, because it is the left hand, he is used to going from bottom to top, so the depth can be seen from the pen and ink. Let’s look at the easiest way to distinguish the stroke order. The stroke order of the same radical is a habit developed since childhood. It has been engraved into the bone marrow. This is a detail that is difficult to avoid. These three handwritings are almost exactly the same as the radicals and strokes on the cheat sheet..."
The Lord Magistrate stroked his beard.
It's amazing that Sui Ruren, a farmer and a woman living in the village, understands this.
He asked: "Then how to distinguish these three handwritings? We can't arrest all three of them for interrogation, right?"
The exam is about to take place. If you ask irrelevant people for questioning, it will definitely affect the mood of the examinee, which is not conducive to performance in the examination room and can easily ruin a person's future.
Cheng Wanwan picked up the three pieces of paper, looked at them carefully through the light, and then eliminated one of them.
In the last two pictures, the handwriting is so similar. The depth of the pen and ink, the horizontal and vertical hooks, and the order of the strokes. Whether written by the left or right hand, the words written are almost exactly the same.
In modern times, I am afraid that only professional instruments can be used to distinguish them.
She asked slowly: "What are the names of these two people, and what ranking did they get in the first exam?"
The examiner on the side opened the record and said: "This is Li Zhou, who ranked 197th in the first game, and this is Huang Haoran, who came in third in the last game."
Cheng Wanwan smiled: "Then let someone bring Li Zhou over."
In the second round of the government examination, only the top two hundred people will be selected as Tongsheng, and this Li Zhou is the one hundred and ninety-seventh, hovering on the edge of failing. If he accidentally loses his name, and one less Yu Zhan, then, he It will move up one rank and the chance will be greater.
Yu Zhan's father, Yu Qingsheng, was accused by thousands of people. Yu Zhan cheated, which would not make people feel surprised, let alone sympathize.
Therefore, this man named Li Zhou boldly planned such a trick.
The prefect's voice turned cold: "Bring Li Zhou here immediately!"
The examination room was very quiet. A stick of meditation incense was burning in the incense burner. When the stick of incense burned out, the examination officially began.
All the candidates slowly calmed down and waited for that moment to come.
At this moment, two officials quietly walked into the examination room, walked to the edge of Li Zhou's cubicle, pushed the door open, and said in a low voice: "The prefect has something to ask, please come with us."
The officer's voice was very low and his movements were very light. Only a few nearby candidates heard the movement, and it did not cause a large-scale negative impact.
Li Zhou was escorted to his feet by two officers, and a trace of panic suddenly arose in his heart.
He vaguely understood something, but he wasn't sure.
That Yu Zhan is the son of Yu Qingsheng. Yu Qingsheng committed fraud in the capital and was personally ordered by the Holy Emperor to be disqualified from the imperial examination. Naturally, Yu Qingsheng's son is also such a scum. The examiner will not waste this time to investigate the matter. How could he do it before the exam? During the exam, take him out of the exam room... He must be overthinking it!
Thinking of this, Li Zhou took a deep breath, kept calm, and walked to the study at the back.
Cheng Wanwan raised her eyes to look at the person approaching and sneered. She actually knew this Li Zhou. He also lived at Yuelai Inn. She also had meals and drinks with Shen Zheng and Qian Hui. They were on good terms with each other. Unexpectedly, he would do such a despicable thing.
Li Zhou suddenly froze when he looked at Cheng Wanwan's cold eyes. This woman was in the same group as Yu Zhan, how could she appear in the examination room?
Did Yu Zhan's family persuade the magistrate to investigate the fraud before the exam?
"Come here." The prefect said coldly, "Is this your handwriting?"
Li Zhou didn't even look at what the magistrate was pointing at. He knelt on the ground with a plop and said tremblingly: "This is not the handwriting of a villain, absolutely not. The student was wronged..."
"Your name is clearly written on it." Cheng Wanwan's gentle voice sounded, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth, "Li Zhou, look up and take a look."
Only then did Li Zhou see that the magistrate was referring to the two words they had written just now. Everyone had signed the money in the lower right corner. It was indeed him who wrote the word "diligence".
"Studying relies on diligence, not trapping." Cheng Wanwan shook his head, "If you take the approach seriously, the prefect may be lenient and save you some face. If you persist in resisting, you, Li Zhou, will soon be gone." He will be the next Yu Qingsheng."
Li Zhou's eyes were filled with fear.
There were so many pairs of eyes around him looking at him, and everyone's eyes were scrutinizing. He didn't know how to open his mouth to defend himself.
He didn't even understand why it came to him so quickly...
"Come here!" The magistrate still didn't understand something, so he said coldly, "Put him in jail and interrogate him immediately!"
"I'll do it! I'll do it!"
Li Zhou knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
If he goes to jail, his life will be really ruined.
