A few days after the Third Prince and the First Imperial Prince fled, the Spring Examination began.
As Deputy Chief Examiner of the Spring Examination, Jian Ruonan caught quite a few candidates cheating while proctoring at the Ministry of Rites' examination compound.
Cheating methods among ancient examinees truly came in every shape and form. Some bribed examiners and wrote secret marks on their papers; some hid crib sheets up their backsides; some hired substitutes; some used carrier pigeons to deliver answers; some paid for a few extra hours of writing time...
Jian Ruonan found a palm-sized crib sheet densely packed with over three hundred thousand characters. Someone had even covered a vest in crib notes...
Sure enough, every era was the same. People would rather waste time and effort racking their brains to make crib sheets than spend that time memorizing the material.
Bringing crib sheets was small-time stuff. The most outrageous thing was that thieves had actually sneaked in to pass information to candidates...
Their cheating methods rivaled modern ones. It was a real eye-opener for Jian Ruonan.
Each sitting of the Spring Examination lasted three days, and candidates could bring cookware to prepare meals. Most ate dry rations or steamed buns to save time, but someone was actually cooking hot pot in the examination hall.
It was authentic hot pot, rich with fragrance, and the smell left the neighboring candidates unable to concentrate on their papers.
Jian Ruonan came to handle the complaint, only to discover that the hot-pot eater was an old acquaintance-Wang Defa.
After some time apart, Wang Defa seemed to have grown a little taller.
Dressed in a scholar's robe and cap, he had something of a refined scholar's air about him. Jian Ruonan almost failed to recognize him at first glance.
When he saw