Amid their conversation, Fu Leisheng had already written an eight-legged essay. Though it was only slightly over two hundred characters, it was steady and well-balanced, encompassing the breaking of the theme, expanding the theme, preliminary exposition, entry, initial leg, middle leg, later leg, and concluding leg. Its words were brief yet rich in meaning, and its craftsmanship was peerless, with gorgeous parallel prose that rolled trippingly off the tongue.
Tian Huaiyi praised it as wonderful, blew the ink dry, and said, "The county magistrate just died, so Xinxiang County currently has no magistrate. This makes cheating on the county examination much easier. By the time the higher-ups appoint a new county magistrate, this matter will have long since passed and no one will investigate."
Fu Leisheng said, "He is merely a xiucai; who would come to investigate?"
Tian Huaiyi said, "There is also Shen Yusheng, whose literary fortune flourishes and who has received the favor of a true god, obtaining a divine embryo. I am afraid it will draw the covetous gazes of quite a few people. Venerable Teacher must offer him heavy protection. His future is boundless, and he no longer needs to take the county examination; at the very minimum, he will be a juren."
Fu Leisheng nodded and said with a troubled expression, "Only in autumn is the provincial examination. Only by passing the provincial examination can one stop worrying about others cutting out one's divine embryo. We must protect him until autumn. Fortunately, the Zhao Family has fallen."
Hearing this, Tian Huaiyi also revealed a smile. "Fortunately, the Zhao Family has fallen. If the Zhao Family had not fallen, Junior Brother Shen's divine embryo definitely would not have been preserved!"
Today, although there were still some powerful households in Xinxiang County, their influence was far from