Liyang Palace erupted into an absolute frenzy.
Everyone scrambled for the letters in Chen Xinghe's hands.
The Ten Kingdoms’ Great Talents were now certain of one thing: if these letters contained more Timeless Famous Poems, then Xu Qingxiao truly possessed earth-shaking talent.
But if they did not, that would prove Great Wei had cheated, leaking the topics to favor him.
Otherwise, the Ten Kingdoms’ Talented Scholars would have suffered a crushing defeat today.
Seeing Chen Xinghe refuse to hand them over no matter what only strengthened their conviction. So they simply began snatching at them.
Great Wei's scholars and commoners were growing nervous too. It was not that they distrusted Xu Qingxiao, but that they could not afford the gamble. What if the topics really had been leaked, or a Heaven-and-Earth Grand Confucian of Great Wei had intervened?
They would lose all face from then on.
So even if they had to be forceful, even if they earned these people's hatred, they could not gamble. What if they lost? They would never be able to hold their heads high again.
At that thought, everyone frantically protected Chen Xinghe. Even if it killed them, they could not let the Ten Kingdoms’ Great Talents open those letters.
But the harder they resisted, the more agitated the others became, rushing over to seize the letters and growing ever more convinced that something was amiss.
"Don't grab them! Don't!"
Chen Xinghe was on the verge of tears. He guarded the letters desperately for two reasons.
First, he did not know whether they contained Timeless Famous Poems either. They probably contained poems, but who knew whether those poems would endure through the ages?
Second, Xu Qingxiao had told him ten thousand times not to open them. He did not dare.
They really could barely hold