Prime Minister.

Chapter 84, 083 [Beyond One's Control]

"Young Master Zongbo".

Liu Yu stepped lightly into the room, looked at Yue Zhongming who was sitting alone at his desk in deep thought, and stepped forward to bow respectfully.

Yue Zhongming didn't raise his eyes, and said calmly, "Xue Huai went back?"

Knowing his benefactor's thoughts, Liu Yu whispered, "Xue Shidu has returned to his residence, and Gao Tingbi is indeed waiting there. I have a concern; I wonder if Gao Tingbi will notice anything amiss?"

"Hehe," Yue Zhongming said with a mocking expression, "Gao Tingbi is shallow-minded and ambitious but incompetent. How could he possibly understand Xue Huai's thoughts? He still views Xue Huai with outdated perspectives, thinking that if he says a few high-sounding words of righteousness, Xue Huai will be willing to be his pawn. But he doesn't know that Xue Huai is no longer the same person he used to be."

He seemed to have forgotten that when he was alone with Xue Huai before, he had also slightly underestimated him.

Liu Yu, unaware of this, simply echoed, "The Junior Minister of State is incredibly astute. Gao Tingbi was indeed eager to take the bait. Otherwise, Xue Shidu would not have fallen into the trap so easily."

Upon hearing this, a smug look appeared on Yue Zhongming's face.

The Emperor attached great importance to this year's imperial examination, personally drafting the questions and then secretly storing them in the palace. Only before the first examination was held did he order the inner court, the imperial guards, and the Jing'an Division to jointly supervise the delivery of the questions to the examination hall, where they were handed over to Sun Yan and Yue Zhongming.

This measure eliminates the risk of exam leaks at the source, ensuring that no one can predict the exam content.

Therefore, it is unlikely that large-scale cheating will occur in this year's spring imperial examination.

Even though some candidates still tried to cheat, this year they would face Fan Dongyang, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, who was known for his sharp eyes and could expose almost any underhanded tricks.

However, Fan Dongyang was the supervisor, and in short, his jurisdiction was limited to the outer curtain. Unless the chief examiner Sun Yan invited him, he could not interfere with the marking work of the inner curtain, which gave some examiners the opportunity to operate in the dark.

With Yue Zhongming newly appointed and his predecessor being a figure like Shen Wang, he naturally wanted to make a name for himself and solidify his position in the Ning Party.

Unlike before, when officials in the court would first think of Xue Minglun, the former Minister of Works, Wei Zheng, the Left Vice Minister of Justice, and Jiang Jizhou, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, when they mentioned the two Grand Secretaries who followed Ning Hengzhi's lead, very few people would mention Yue Zhongming.

Now that Xue Minglun has resigned from his official post and returned to his hometown, Yue Zhongming has finally received a golden opportunity.

His objectives were clear. First, he wanted to use the imperial examinations to expand his influence within the Ning faction, and the most effective way to do this was to offer some of the selected scholars as tribute students, thereby winning over some of the Ning faction's core members. Second, he wanted to target Sun Yan and Ouyang Hui behind him, letting Ning Hengzhi see his abilities and methods.

It was common knowledge in both the court and among the people that Ouyang Hui had long coveted the position of Grand Secretary. Because of the emperor's protection, he was not afraid of the Ning Party's attacks and exclusion.

Such an old bureaucrat who is neither greedy for money nor lustful, who only thinks about crushing Ning Hengzhi, naturally became a thorn in the side of the Ning faction.

Yue Zhongming deliberately put on airs at the beginning of the imperial examination in order to establish an image of integrity and uprightness, laying the groundwork for his later actions against Sun Yan.

However, Sun Yan was no simpleton who was able to gain a foothold in the cabinet. He had noticed Yue Zhongming's intentions from the beginning. He openly supported Yue Zhongming's position while secretly taking strict precautions, making it difficult for Yue Zhongming to find any fault with him.

Until the day of room allocation and responsibility determination, Xue Huai, Gao Tingbi and Liu Yu entered the Spring and Autumn Annals room, and Yue Zhongming quickly seized the opportunity.

He instructed Liu Yu to deliberately pick out the papers that Gao Tingbi had rejected, and then forcefully recommend them, creating the illusion of secret connections. Gao Tingbi was indeed fooled, and then, at Sun Yan's behest, he pulled Xue Huai into the scheme.

"Second Vice Minister Ouyang and Grand Secretary Sun have always been petty and narrow-minded. In fact, we all know that His Majesty supported Second Vice Minister Ouyang so that he could compete with the Grand Secretary, but he always acts timidly and only wants to stand on the shore and reap the benefits. Is there such a good thing in this world?"

Yue Zhongming sneered and slowly said, "Take this spring examination for example. Grand Secretary Sun greets everyone with a smile all day long, but in his heart he wants to get rid of me as soon as possible. However, he doesn't dare to do it himself and insists on pushing Xue Huai, this new noble of the Qingliu faction, to carry the flag."

Liu Yu said admiringly, "But Grand Secretary Sun could never have imagined that the Junior Minister of Rites could turn the tide so easily and persuade Xue Shidu."

He was quite curious about this matter. Everyone knew Xue Huai's temperament. Perhaps he would be persuaded by Gao Tingbi because of his sense of righteousness, but how could he suddenly become Yue Shilang's assistant?

This puzzled Liu Yu greatly, but he knew there must be a hidden secret, so he dared not ask Yue Zhongming rashly.

"This matter must be kept confidential."

When Yue Zhongming mentioned Xue Huai's request, he looked at Liu Yu and instructed him, "Since you are in the same room as Xue Huai, you will be in charge of contacting him from now on. Agree to everything he asks and let our people do their best to fulfill his instructions."

"I understand."

Liu Yu agreed, but hesitated and said, "Young Master, if Xue Shidu wants to gain the trust of Grand Secretary Sun, he will definitely check our recommendation papers. I'm afraid that they will notice something amiss with those papers."

Yue Zhongming frowned slightly.

Since the emperor appointed him as the vice-chief of the imperial examination, officials and scholars have been coming in droves to ask him for favors. He refused most of them, but he could not refuse the requests of a few key members of the Ning Party, since he wanted to use this opportunity to expand his network.

However, the emperor kept the exam questions very well hidden, and even Yue Zhongming, as the chief examiner, could not know them in advance.

When he learned of the Crown Prince's plans through the spies planted in the Eastern Palace, he took advantage of the chaos by instructing two candidates to use the secret codes from the Eastern Palace and having the other recommended candidates use different words.

As Liu Yu said, no matter how discreetly something is done, it cannot withstand scrutiny from those with ulterior motives.

Let's discuss it again at that time.

Yue Zhongming raised his hand to rub his temples and slowly said, "As long as Xue Huai can find something to hold against Grand Secretary Sun, he won't have the energy to cause us trouble."

Liu Yu nodded repeatedly. Yue Zhongming, however, suddenly felt a pang of doubt.

He recalled that before entering the examination hall, when he visited the Grand Secretary Ning Hengzhi, the latter had subtly reminded him that the Emperor valued this year's imperial examinations and that it was best not to engage in any private exchanges.

Yue Zhongming understood the Grand Secretary's caution, but with over three hundred people selected in the spring imperial examinations, he was only showing favor to a dozen or so out of consideration for personal relationships. What harm did that have to the overall situation?
Thinking back to Ning Hengzhi's words, Yue Zhongming suddenly felt a sense of impending crisis.

He remained silent for a moment, finally suppressing his thoughts. Now that the die was cast, he could not afford to be timid.

……

As dawn broke.

Xue Huai slowly opened his eyes.

As the night passed, the examination hall was quiet and peaceful.

However, the vortex has gradually revealed its true nature. Although it does not involve large-scale cheating, the involvement of the two chief examiners and the fact that Xue Huai has become the pivot of their power struggle have made the situation more complicated.

For Xue Huai, he cannot act solely on passion and a sense of justice.

Before entering the examination hall, he had already offended the Ning faction, the Prince of Dai, and the Marquis of Zhenyuan. Although these things were not his responsibility, one cannot live in an ideal world and must face the real world with one's feet on the ground.

In short, Xue Huai used to target only the Ning Party, but now he has more and more enemies, which is why he wants to seek a transfer to a post outside the capital, hoping that time will dilute some of his grievances.

Based on this, it was really not advisable for him to cause any more trouble before leaving the capital, so at first he just pretended not to understand Sun Yan's hints and did not get involved in the conflict between Gao Tingbi and Liu Yu.

It wasn't until Yue Zhongming revealed the Crown Prince's arrangements for the imperial examinations that Xue Huai was forced to make a decision—if he continued to pretend to be deaf and dumb, there was no guarantee that Yue Zhongming wouldn't resort to desperate measures and expose his connection with the Crown Prince.

Xue Huai never believed that Yue Zhongming had sided with the Crown Prince. This is a very simple logical deduction: if the Crown Prince had a confidant like Yue Zhongming, he would have no need to go through the roundabout way of seeking out Jiang Li.

If Xue Huai were in the position of the Crown Prince, would he entrust this matter to Yue Zhongming, who is the Vice President of the Imperial Examination and holds great power, or would he risk being exposed and come to Xue Huai, the fellow examiner whom he has not yet won over?

The selection process is self-explanatory.

This shows that Yue Zhongming was just luring him into a trap.

During last night's confrontation, Xue Huai realized that Liu Yu had deliberately provoked the conflict with Gao Tingbi, and that he and Yue Zhongming were the real masterminds behind it all.

Now, it seems that Xue Huai only has one path: to use the hostile relationship between Sun Yan and Yue Zhongming to stall for time, and then report everything that happened here to the emperor after leaving the examination hall, so that the emperor can deal with the two chief examiners he personally appointed.

However, he had to consider one thing: if Yue Zhongming were to act desperately and drag the Crown Prince, Jiang Li, and himself into the mess, how would he deal with the Emperor?

This seems to be a dilemma.

If you help Sun Yan fight against Yue Zhongming, the latter is very likely to perish along with you, but if you help Yue Zhongming fight against Sun Yan...

Xue Huai suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh.

If he does this, the image he has built up over the past three years will be ruined. I'm afraid that apart from a few people like Cui and Shen Wang, no one can accept that a rising star who made his name by impeaching the Ning Party will suddenly become a lackey of the Ning Party.

With the situation having developed to this point, it was difficult for him to remain uninvolved. Both Sun Yan and Yue Zhongming would try their best to urge him to take action.

After pondering for a long time, Xue Huai felt a little annoyed, so he got up and went to the table. Looking at the stacks of documents and the burnt-out incense and candles on the table, Jiang Li's face suddenly appeared in his mind.

The reason he was drawn into this vortex was because Jiang Li relayed his request from the Crown Prince and the list of five people.

Thinking of this, Xue Huai silently wondered to himself, "If I ultimately decide to do that, will you turn against me?"

Just then, a soft knock sounded on the door, followed by a cautious voice saying, "Reader Xue."

Xue Huai composed himself, walked over and opened the door. He saw a servant in the courtyard, who was carrying a food box and said respectfully, "Attendant Xue, I've come to bring you breakfast."

"Thank you."

Xue Huai nodded slightly and took the food box from his hands.

"Xue, I have a few words to say to you on the orders of the Grand Minister of Works."

The servant leaned closer, speaking in a very soft tone.

Grand Minister of Works is an honorific title for the Minister of Works, who was also Xue Huai's mentor, Shen Wang.

Xue Huai remained calm and stepped aside, saying, "Come in and let's talk."

(End of this chapter)