Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 741 Shocking Four Seats (2)_1

Chapter 741: Chapter 741 Shocking Four Seats (2)_1

Compared to others who were rapidly picking up their pens to answer the questions, Mo Qingze’s every move appeared particularly leisurely. However, his seemingly slow pace of answering didn’t involve any pauses, these test questions seemed to pose no difficulty for him at all; he could write down the answers without needing to think.

Everyone’s attention initially converged on Mo Qingze, going from indifference at the start to mouths agape in surprise later. If the Grand Scholar hadn’t expressly stated that the test’s difficulty was on par with the autumn examinations, and the other nine participants’ performances were normal, they would have thought this test was far too simple!

King Heng also noticed the gap between the other nine and Mo Qingze and his complexion immediately turned extremely ugly, his hands clenched into fists inside his sleeves. He only regretted that his previous arrangements hadn’t been meticulous enough, allowing Mo Qingze to find a way out; otherwise, Mo Qingze would have been convicted by now, and the person sitting next to him wouldn’t have fared any better.

Chu Heng caught a glimpse of King Heng’s ferocious expression and was very pleased with Mo Qingze’s performance in his heart. Although he was not clear on the extent of Mo Qingze’s abilities, just from this performance alone, he knew Mo Qingze was someone with hidden depths. Reflecting on it, this turned out to be a stroke of luck for him, for otherwise he would have missed a good opportunity to overthrow King Heng and the Lin Family.

The hall was quiet, with only the faint sound of people flipping through the exam booklets. Waiting was tedious and dull, but not a single person was willing to leave.

Three quarters of the hour before noon is neither long nor short, but only half of the time had passed when it was time for lunch at noon. Not to mention the ten participants who were engrossed in answering questions, even the observing scholars were already starving.

The Imperial kitchen had already prepared the meals, and Emperor Huian had people bring the food to the side hall for everyone to help themselves, while he returned to the inner palace to dine with Chu Heng, King Heng, and other princes.

Mo Yan took two servings of food to the side hall, ate one himself, and then brought the other to his father.

Despite the tight schedule, Mo Qingze could certainly spare some time to eat. He took the meal and ate leisurely and contentedly, making the other nine, who were eager to finish their answers, increasingly ravenous—how could they concentrate on their writing!

With many questions still unfinished, in order not to perform too poorly, the nine forced themselves to look away and continued to answer the questions despite their hunger.

After lunch, everyone returned to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Mo Qingze and the others had finished eating and continued answering the questions. Not long after, Emperor Huian, Chu Heng, King Heng, and the others also returned. Seeing that there were still two hours left, everyone, except King Heng, patiently continued waiting.

By three quarters of the hour before noon, the incense stick from before had burned out, and at the moment the Grand Scholar announced "Time’s up," Mo Qingze finished the last word of his essay. He set down his pen and stood up, looking at the completed exam questions with a smile on his face, evidently pleased with his answers.

The three witnesses, however, were ashen-faced and despondent, clearly having not performed well, especially after seeing a confident Mo Qingze; they looked as if they were about to collapse.

The other six also didn’t look much better. Although they finished the entire set of questions within six hours, they didn’t have time to review those they were uncertain about. As to whether they did well or not, or whether they could leave a deep impression on Emperor Huian and the noble persons, they had no idea at all.

The judges of the scores consisted of the Grand Scholar who had set the questions and the scholars from the Hanlin Academy. It only took half an hour for more than a dozen people to evaluate the ten examination papers on the spot, and the results were out.

The Grand Scholar respectfully handed over the ten exam papers and their results to Emperor Huian. Skimming the answers for the objective questions where the right and wrong answers were immediately obvious, Emperor Huian directed his gaze toward the last part, the essays.