She married a dying prince and she won three babies.

When the two saw the emperor looking at them, they were so scared that they lowered their heads even lower.

They were forced here by the eldest prince.

The eldest prince said that if they took the palace examination seriously, their lives would be safe.

In order to save their own lives and those of their families, the two had to come.

The crimes they committed were punishable by death.

When they woke up and learned that they had fallen into the hands of the eldest prince, they had no desire to live anymore. They really wished they had fallen to their death at that time, but nothing can go as they wish in this world.

Today, the eldest prince sent people to bring them into the palace.

The emperor glanced at the two of them and didn't ask any more questions. Now was the important moment of the palace examination. He said some encouraging words and started drawing questions from the paper.

The emperor picked up a scroll at random after having to choose from three options.

There is no need to cover up your name in this exam.

The emperor walked slowly among the tribute scholars, looking at this and that.

Sometimes nod, sometimes smile.

When he walked to Yu Qingsheng, he stopped for half a minute.

But Yu Qingsheng was thinking as if no one was around, which made the emperor nod with satisfaction, and then he walked to the next candidate.

After two hours of furious writing, some students put down their pens early, while others stopped writing only when the examiner called the time limit.

The results of the palace examination will be announced on the second day and the announcement will be made on the third day, so time is very tight.

Marking will begin as soon as the test papers are collected.

But the next day, when the results came out, all the officials involved in the marking were shocked.

Especially Mr. Lin, the Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy.

"This is impossible. Something must have gone wrong." Lord Lin said there was a problem.

Prime Minister Zhao was also among those reviewing the papers, and he looked at the ranking list in disbelief.

Compare with the ranking in the imperial examination.

The last person in the imperial examination was unexpectedly ranked third by all ten examiners.

And if there are two in the top fifty and one falls to the last place, he will still try to get fifth place.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, what should we do? This has never happened before. Is it possible that this person could advance 147 places in just 20 days? What kind of genius is this?" Lord Lin asked several questions in succession.

"What do you think, my Lords?"

Prime Minister Zhao glanced at the ten people.

"Submit both lists to the Emperor and let him make the final decision."

"How does the Ministry of Rites operate? How could such a huge mistake happen?"

All ten of them were smart people and they could tell at a glance that there was a problem with the test.

The Prime Minister went to the Imperial Study with nine examiners.

He didn't let anyone leave to prevent the matter from spreading.

But as soon as they arrived at the door of the imperial study, they heard the emperor getting angry inside.

"What is the Ministry of Rites for? The examination room is on fire, and the palace examination has just ended. Go, call the Minister of Rites to me."

Eunuch Hai hurried out of the imperial study and saw ten adults waiting outside the door.

"We have met all the adults."

"Eunuch Hai, what happened?" asked Prime Minister Zhao.

"Hey, just got a report that the Examination Paper Pavilion at the Imperial Academy caught fire. Luckily, the patrolling city guards happened to be passing by and put out the fire in time, so no major damage was caused."

The ten adults connected the dots as soon as they heard it.

This is because they knew that the matter was exposed, so they wanted to destroy the examination papers directly so that there would be no evidence.

Eunuch Hai sent his apprentice to call the Minister of Rites, and then brought ten adults in.

"Your Majesty, we are here to see you." Prime Minister Zhao led the way.

"My dear ministers, are the results out?" the emperor asked, controlling his emotions.

"After careful review and evaluation by ten of us, we have arranged the rankings. The top fifty papers are here. Please review them, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Zhao respectfully placed the list on the dragon table.

Lord Lin also presented the examination papers of fifty people.

The two of them stepped back, lowering their heads. It was obvious that they were behaving differently than usual.

He did not offer to leave so as not to disturb the emperor from reviewing the papers.

"Anything else?" the emperor asked calmly.

"Your Majesty, there is something strange about this palace examination." Prime Minister Zhao said with a stiff face.

He was really afraid that if the emperor knew about it, he would be so angry that something bad would happen.

"Oh?"

"We ranked 150th in the Imperial Examination. In this Palace Examination, all ten of us were unanimously ranked third."

"What?" The emperor was also quite surprised.

"The fifth place fell to the last one." Prime Minister Zhao continued to report.

The emperor's eyes widened when he heard this.

"What a joke." The emperor said, flipping through the list and comparing.

Sure enough.

He took out the third place test paper and looked at it first.

The more I read, the more satisfied I am. The article is indeed well written.

He picked up the test papers of the first and second place students and looked at them.

Each one of them deserves the title.

The examiners were not biased.

After the emperor read all three test papers, he took another look at the list.

What else do you not know? Some people cheated in the scientific exams.

"This is outrageous! Someone come here." The emperor shouted angrily.

"Your Majesty." Eunuch Hai hurried in again.

"Besides the Minister of Rites, call the Vice Minister here, as well as the Minister of Punishment and the Vice Minister. Also notify the city guards to surround the Imperial Examination Hall. No one is allowed to enter or leave."

Eunuch Hai took the order and hurried out to make arrangements.

The emperor's action frightened the second prince so much that he collapsed on his chair.

"It's over, it's over. How does Mr. Zhuang do things? Why is this happening?"

When he saw the two of them going to the palace examination on crutches, he knew that everything was over, but he still had a glimmer of hope that the two of them would perform exceptionally well under pressure and wouldn't be much worse than in the metropolitan examination, so he could still get away with it.

He also kept an eye on the imperial study at all times.

When he learned that the emperor had summoned several ministers and vice ministers, he knew that the matter could no longer be covered up.

He hurried into the palace to find Concubine Yun and told her everything.

When Concubine Yun heard this, she became furious and slapped him in the face.

"You good-for-nothing, do you think you can handle a scientific expedition? You're courting death.

I have taught you many times that you should be down-to-earth. Even if you cannot succeed, you can still be a stable prince.

Now that you've made such a big mistake, how can I help you after dinner?" Concubine Yun's dignified image was completely gone.

"Mother, I know I was wrong, but what should I do now? Father knows everything now." The second prince covered his face, extremely anxious.

"Why didn't you discuss with me before you did anything?" Concubine Yun was really furious.

"Mother, I have no money, and it's very difficult for me to do things. But I don't want to be outdone by my eldest and third brothers. I want you to be the most noble woman in the world. I want to give you the best."

At this time, the Second Prince knew that only his mother could help him. He used filial piety as an excuse.

He was also moved by the 200,000 taels of silver promised by the two merchants, so he made the decision privately.

It was originally a very careful plan, but I don’t know where the flaws occurred and it turned out like this today.

Nothing is hidden.

When Concubine Yun saw that every word her son said was out of filial piety to her, her heart softened a little.

"Alright, leave the palace immediately and discuss this with Mr. Zhuang. He will take responsibility for this matter. Tell him that I promise to keep his family safe and that when the storm has passed, I will give his son a future.

If he couldn't do it, his whole family would die.

Only by getting you out of here can his family be kept safe.

And you're a prince. Even if your father is disappointed in you, at most he'll banish you to your fiefdom and demote you to my concubine, but he won't kill you." Concubine Yun quickly made up her mind.

The second prince hurried out of the palace and returned home.

While the emperor was waiting for several others to enter the palace, the eldest prince brought four people into the palace to ask to see the emperor.

Among them were the two men on crutches.

"Your son greets His Majesty." The eldest prince entered the imperial study first.

Four people remained outside the study, escorted by his guards.