This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

"Then I'll come in!"

Crunch!

Cheng Chumo pushed open the door and entered, but did not see Cheng Jun's figure inside, and was stunned for a moment.

Turning around, he saw Cheng Jun staring at him solemnly, holding an inkstone. Startled, he exclaimed, "Third brother, what are you doing hiding by the door? And you're holding an inkstone!"

Cheng Jun glanced outside out of the corner of his eye, and after confirming that only Cheng Chumo had come, he breathed a sigh of relief and explained to him, "The door was loose, so I tightened it with an inkstone."

Cheng Chumo asked in astonishment, "An inkstone can be used to lock the door?"

Cheng Jun chuckled and said, "It all depends on human effort!"

"Brother, what do you want from me?"

Seeing Cheng Chumo's strange expression, Cheng Jun changed the subject and asked.

Cheng Chumo's expression turned serious, and he said, "I heard that His Majesty will be selecting censors tomorrow!"

Cheng Jun neither nodded nor shook his head, but instead asked, "Who told you that?"

"I just heard about it from outside!" Cheng Chumo sat down on the ground and muttered, "No wonder my father beat me after questioning me when he came back from court. It turns out it's because of this!"

"You heard it from outside?" Cheng Jun seized on the key phrase: "It's already spread outside?"

"No, my friend told me that."

Cheng Chumo gritted his teeth and said, "My friend said that in addition to the talented people selected from the neighborhood who will enter the palace, civil and military officials will also have to send their sons to participate in the selection of censors! After the imperial edict was issued, the sons of those civil officials were all mocking the sons of us military officials! They were saying some really nasty things!"

"I don't think we're any worse than them. If they can become censors, why can't we?"

Cheng Jun asked curiously, "So, Big Brother wants to become an Imperial Censor?"

Cheng Chumo waved his hand and said, "I know my own limitations; I'm not cut out to be an imperial censor! But I think you can give it a try!"

"You were able to get away unscathed after beating up our father today, which shows that you are both brave and resourceful. If you were to participate in the selection of imperial censors, you would definitely be the best!"

"If you're willing, I'll risk my life to talk to our father and make sure he agrees!"

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "No need for that. Just now in the main room, my father already told me to go to the palace tomorrow."

Cheng Chumo was taken aback. "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Cheng Jun shrugged and said, "You didn't ask."

Cheng Chumo looked Cheng Jun up and down and said, "Third brother, you've changed!"

"You've become more handsome? I know."

"You've become so shrewd and thick-skinned! How did you do that? I want to learn!"

"You want to learn how to defeat Cheng Yaojin and escape unscathed, don't you...?" Cheng Jun looked at him strangely and said, "You just said that the son of a civil official mocked us? Who started it?"

"Wei Shuyu! That kid cursed the most harshly!"

Cheng Jun silently memorized the man's name and said, "If you're upset, I'll help you vent your anger."

Cheng Chumo waved his hand and said, "You want to beat him up? No way, his father is Wei Zheng. If you beat up Wei Shuyu, his father will definitely report us to our father. We can't cause trouble for our father!"

Cheng Jun said, "I didn't intend to beat him up. What I meant was, I want to become an imperial censor!"

Cheng Chumo's eyes lit up. "Really? How confident are you?"

"I've never lost in the workplace..." Cheng Jun looked at Cheng Chumo, not saying what was on his mind, but humbly said, "I still have some chance of winning."

"Is there anything I can do for you, brother?" Cheng Chumo asked.

Cheng Jun thought for a moment and said, "Help me find out who's going to the palace tomorrow. I need their background information, the more detailed the better!"

Cheng Chumo stood up and said, "Alright! I'll go now!"

"Wait," Cheng Jun said, shoving the bright green jade pendant into his hand. "Help me return our father's jade pendant!"

After seeing Cheng Chumo off, Cheng Jun leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, lost in thought. He had originally planned to go to the palace tomorrow to make up the numbers, but he had just discovered a problem: as long as he was Cheng Yaojin's son, he was likely to get beaten up.

If he manages to dodge this time, what if Cheng Yaojin flies into a rage and calls him over again next time?

This trick can only be used once on one person today. Next time, when they are on guard, it won't work anymore.

His elder brother's words reminded him that although the censor's rank was not high, he held a low position but great power and could supervise all officials and report matters based on hearsay.

Moreover, the censor's colleagues are all censors. If he gets beaten by Cheng Yaojin again, even if he doesn't impeach himself, the other censors will definitely impeach Cheng Yaojin if they see it!

Therefore, as long as he can become an imperial censor, Cheng Yaojin will be more cautious and restrain himself from him.

This is much better than a jade pendant!

However, he needed to make sure he won first place in tomorrow's imperial censor selection... Thinking of this, Cheng Jun reached out and opened the door, saw a servant, and called out, "Call Uncle Zhong over."

"promise!"

The servant quickly responded.

Soon, a burly middle-aged man with graying temples strode over.

"Sanlang, are you looking for this old servant?"

Cheng Jun looked at him and nodded.

The man in front of me is named Cheng Zhong. He used to be Cheng Yaojin's deputy general. Later, he was wounded on the battlefield and was placed in Cheng Yaojin's residence as a steward.

"Uncle Zhong, could you buy me some wooden plaques? The material doesn't need to be fancy, just something that looks nice."

Cheng Zhong asked, "How much do you want?"

"Three hundred, and remember to buy another set of carving knives!"

Cheng Zhong nodded, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Third Brother, please wait a moment. This old servant will send someone to buy it right away."

Cheng Jun was very satisfied with Cheng Zhong's attitude. He didn't ask many questions or raise any doubts. He just did whatever he was told to do. In the company, this kind of person is the most capable secretary.

Soon, Cheng Zhong delivered three hundred small and exquisite wooden plaques and a set of carving knives.

After he placed the wooden plaque on the table and left, Cheng Jun closed the door, picked up a carving knife, and began to meticulously carve the plaque.

In his previous life, he worked part-time as a carpenter during his school years, and carving wooden signs was something he could do with ease.

Soon, exquisite patterns appeared on the three hundred wooden plaques.

In the middle of the wooden plaque is written the word "gentleman".

Cheng Jun looked at his handmade creation with great satisfaction and put it away.

"Third brother, I'm back!"

Just then, Cheng Chumo's shouting came from outside the door, and he walked in with Cheng Chuliang.

"How's the investigation going?" Cheng Jun asked as he prepared cushions for them.

Cheng Chumo smiled and took out a stack of papers from his pocket, handing them to him, saying, "Thanks to your second brother for accompanying me, I definitely wouldn't have been able to finish investigating in a day by myself."

Cheng Jun looked at Cheng Chuliang, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Second Brother."

Cheng Chuliang grinned and said, "We're all family, no need for formalities!"

Cheng Chumo asked curiously, "Third brother, what do you need information about these people for?"

Cheng Jun looked down at the words on the paper and asked, "Brother, do you know how to become an imperial censor?"

Cheng Chumo replied matter-of-factly, "Being chosen by His Majesty means you can become one!"

"Good answer..." Cheng Jun couldn't help but look up at him. Seeing his matter-of-fact expression, the corners of his mouth twitched a few times.

If I asked him how to get rich, would he answer "just have money"?

Isn't that asking for trouble?

After calming himself down, Cheng Jun asked, "Then, how can one be selected by His Majesty?"

Cheng Chuliang blurted out, "I know that! His Majesty will set questions; as long as you answer them correctly, you'll be fine!"

Almost forgot there's one more... Cheng Jun looked at Cheng Chuliang and said, "The selection of censors focuses on language skills, so the questions His Majesty set could not involve arithmetic or military strategy. They should be policy essays, so it has nothing to do with right or wrong."

"what?"

Upon hearing that they had to write an article, Cheng Chumo and Cheng Chuliang looked disgusted.

Cheng Jun said, "In other words, whether or not one can become an imperial censor depends entirely on His Majesty's preferences. If one writes a good article that pleases His Majesty, one will be selected as an imperial censor."

Cheng Chuliang opened his eyes wide and said, "Doesn't that mean the military officer's son has absolutely no chance?"

“Yes!” Cheng Jun nodded and said.

This is also why he felt that the current emperor's statement that he "did not want to favor one over the other" by allowing the sons of military officers to participate in the censor's examination was ironic.

Asking a bunch of military men's sons to write articles is asking too much of them. Even if they could write them, how could they compare to the articles written by the talented men of the district and the sons of civil officials?

Cheng Chumo looked at Cheng Jun and said seriously, "Third brother, our father always said that you should be prepared to serve others according to your own circumstances. We are not cut out to be censors, so let's just forget about it and not make things difficult for ourselves!"

"I'm different from you guys. I'm an expert at competing for positions..." Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, it's not like there's no chance."

"Is there a chance?" Cheng Chumo and Cheng Chuliang looked blank.

"Yes!" Cheng Jun said seriously, "Our only chance is to compete with them in terms of intelligence, not in terms of writing!"

Cheng Chumo asked, puzzled, "Aren't these the same thing?"

"..."

This doesn't seem right at all... Cheng Jun's breath hitched for a few seconds. Pretending not to hear anything, he asked, "Big brother, second brother, do you know what the key is to become an imperial censor?"

Before the two could respond, he answered his own question directly: "The key is to leave His Majesty with no choice!"

“There was no choice…” Cheng Chumo pondered these words.

Cheng Chuliang asked curiously, "What do you mean by leaving His Majesty with no choice?"

"If I'm the only one left in tomorrow's selection of censors, then..." Cheng Jun said seriously, "No matter how good or bad my writing is, as long as I write it, even if it's a pile of rubbish, I can still become a censor! Because I'm the only one left in the entire selection process, and His Majesty has no other choice!"

If he doesn't choose me, who else can he choose?

Cheng Chumo thought there was some truth to it, but upon closer inspection, he realized something was amiss: "But you can't be the only one participating in the selection of imperial censors."

Cheng Chuliang chimed in, "That's right, there are at least two hundred people!"

Cheng Jun nodded and said, "So the key to becoming an imperial censor lies in how to reduce the number of people participating in the imperial censor selection to just me!"

Cheng Chumo and Cheng Chuliang were deeply shocked by what they heard.

Is this how censors are selected?