My Emperor Father Can Read Minds

Chapter 287 The Final Palace Examination

After dealing with Bai Feiyu, the results of the provincial examination also came out.

As expected, Lu Xiuhan was ranked first, and most of the people Wei Yu privately favored also made the list.

Dong Sheng ranked twenty-third in the second tier, which was a fairly good result.

However, it was still too early to finalize these rankings. After the provincial examination, there was still the final palace examination. Only after the palace exam ended would everyone’s results be truly settled.

On the day of the palace exam, all the successful candidates from the provincial exam gathered in the Hall of Culture.

Emperor Wei personally set the questions and presided over the exam, sitting at the front, watching the scholars answer the questions below.

At such a lively event, Wei Yu naturally showed up quietly.

But he did not appear in the main hall; instead, he hid in a side doorway to observe the talents he had his eye on.

The most conspicuous, of course, was the top scorer, Lu Xiuhan. This person was not only young and handsome but had previously achieved the Top Third Place. Now, being ranked first in the provincial exam was a given; the earlier county-level exam achievements went without saying.

If Lu Xiuhan didn’t make a mistake in the palace exam, his father, the Emperor, would definitely grant him the prestigious “Six Yuan Jidi” honor!

Such a prodigious talent achieving the “Six Yuan Jidi” was an extremely rare occurrence—something that only appeared once in a hundred years.

His future was incredibly bright.

Wei Yu sighed in admiration but did not give all his attention to Lu Xiuhan. After watching for a while, he focused his attention on Dong Sheng instead.

People like Lu Xiuhan were rare, but talent alone did not necessarily mean practical capability. Wei Yu was more concerned about Dong Sheng, who was a pioneer of reform and the future.

Suddenly, Wei Yu felt a strong gaze from above.

He looked up thoughtfully and directly met the death stare from his father.

Wei Yu: ……

Caught, oh no.

Wei Yu chuckled and quickly made a cupping hand gesture to beg forgiveness from his father, then obediently backed away.

Alright, alright, it was his fault for leaving his memorials and sneaking over secretly. He was wrong, very wrong. Couldn’t he leave now…? Wait, these memorials never really belonged to him anyway?!

Halfway on his way, Wei Yu suddenly got angry.

He had worked hard helping his father, yet the old man could sit there and slack off, so why couldn’t he come over to relax a bit?!

Back in the office hall, Wei Yu treated himself to some tribute mandarins.

By this month, the tribute mandarins were almost gone; only the Emperor and a few highly ranked imperial consorts in the harem could enjoy them.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Ninth Wise King’s status was particularly special.

The palace attendants all knew that His Majesty favored the Ninth Wise King. Whatever the Wise King did, even if the Emperor knew and was angry, he would only scold a bit but never impose any substantial punishment.

But mandarins were just mandarins—if His Highness wanted to eat them, he could eat them.

So, when the palace exam ended and the tired Emperor Wei returned, he saw orange peels scattered all over the floor.

Emperor Wei: ……

Did this unfilial son eat all the remaining tribute mandarins?!

The palace exam ended, and the marking took two days.

Because Wei Yu ate all the mandarins his father had left, he feigned illness and took two days off, fearing his father would find trouble with him.

Luckily, Emperor Wei was busy during those two days and had no time to give Wei Yu a hard time, so he narrowly escaped trouble.

After all, before posting the list, the Emperor decided the rankings. Generally, they followed the provincial exam rankings and did not easily change them, but there were always exceptions.

The Emperor considered the top ten newly minted candidates carefully before deciding.

Once the top ten were decided, Emperor Wei would summon them individually in what was called the “Little Presentation of Biographies.”

Wei Yu did not know who the top ten were and did not dare to ask his father; he could only wait patiently for the announcement like everyone else.

When the results were released, Wei Yu found that the top scorer was indeed Lu Xiuhan!

Historically, the top scorer always attracted the most attention. In addition, Lu Xiuhan was young and handsome, so his name overshadowed everyone in the capital as soon as the list was posted!

Almost no one bothered to discuss who the second and third places were.

Wei Yu even heard that several families went that very day to seek Lu Xiuhan’s hand in marriage for their daughters!

Regarding this, Wei Yu sighed to Bai Feiyu, who was now staying at his residence.

“You were also a Top Third Place. If you had participated in the imperial examination this time, who knows who would have been the ‘Six Yuan Jidi.’”

Since Wei Yu did not plan to take the imperial exam himself, he said this without regret, only to see Bai Feiyu’s reaction.

Bai Feiyu, cold-hearted as ever, showed no regret. Instead, he smiled and said he was willing to support His Highness the Wise King in taking the imperial exam as an example for all scholars in the land.

An example, my foot!

Wei Yu couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.

He was like Wei Yu’s Seventh Brother—his Seventh Brother spoke the most venomously, while Bai Feiyu was impervious and frustrating.

After the palace exam results were posted, Emperor Wei held a banquet to celebrate the new successful candidates.

For those who passed, congratulations; for those who failed, they were despondent.

Wei Yu did not mention the successful ones, but for those who failed, he sent people to invite those he valued.

What for?

Of course to have them teach at the academy!

All those scholars who came to the capital were not simpletons. Having them teach children who had never been schooled was a straightforward matter.

The teachers Wei Yu chose were carefully selected—people who came from poor backgrounds but with good temperaments. The teaching conditions Wei Yu offered were extremely favorable and hard to refuse.

However, not everyone was willing to stay in the capital or go to Jiaozhou’s Ji Commandery to teach.

After all, failing the provincial exam this time did not mean they had no hope for next time. No matter how good the conditions, staying in one place to teach was less attractive than traveling and deepening their studies, striving for success in the next examination.

After sending out the invitations, Wei Yu received only seven positive replies.

Well, seven was better than none.

Wei Yu was not very disappointed; everyone had their own aspirations. Ambition was nothing to be ashamed of. For those who declined, Wei Yu specially sent twenty taels of silver to each as sponsorship.

Not for anything else, just as support.

Also, Wei Yu did not instruct anyone to hide his identity; if asked, the servants were told to say it straightforwardly.

Doing good deeds anonymously was foolish!

He wasn’t doing charity; he was making an investment!

These people leaving were talent resources, and they would return to the capital in the future!

If someone failed again in the future, they might be willing to become a teacher at his academy!

Wei Yu thought his investment was a good one.