Chapter 186 Mission 016

After the examination, the examinees handed in their papers and left the hall to wait outside for the roll call, leaving only the examiners in the hall to quickly mark the papers.

Except for Xiao Yan who had turned on the cheat, he could sense the situation in the hall at this time. The other examinees could only wait outside the hall nervously.

The appearance of the test papers was the same. Except for Xiao Yan, only the emperor himself knew which paper he was holding.

As he looked at it, the emperor suddenly smiled and said directly: "This person has the talent to govern the world, and he should be the top scholar!"

In fact, the content written on the paper was too much in line with his wishes, and it was written in his heart, so he couldn't help but directly decide the candidate for the top scholar without even revealing the name.

Originally, the emperor wanted to wait until the name was revealed and then choose the examinee who won two consecutive prizes as the top scholar, making a happy event of the top three. However, when he saw this paper that was very much in line with his wishes today, he didn't care about the top three. His heart of cherishing talents made him decide the top scholar before revealing the name.

Xiao Ying also relaxed in his heart. Since the emperor said it himself, he would definitely win the title of the top scholar.

Those examiners were all great scholars in the court. They didn't know which paper the emperor had chosen, but being the examiners of the palace examination meant that they had no direct relationship with the candidates of this year, so they accepted the top scholar chosen by the emperor very calmly.

The next step should be that the emperor would hand down the papers with the final rankings, then remove the names, fill in the golden list, and hand it over to a special person to call out the names.

But this time, the emperor actually personally removed the names on the top scholar's paper he had chosen. When he saw the place of origin, he found that the name was Shao Qingyun, who was from Qingyang County, Luoyang Prefecture. The emperor laughed out loud: "My top scholar is really talented, and he is the first top three scholar since the founding of the country!"

The ministers present were a little surprised. It was such a coincidence? But on second thought, the examinees who could win both the first place and the second place must have real talent, and it was not surprising that he won the top prize with real ability.

The candidates waiting outside the hall for news did not dare to make a loud noise under the watchful eyes of the guards around them, but they were all nervous and worried. Xiao Ying had a calm expression and felt no pressure after learning that his ranking had been determined.

The ministers were quite efficient in front of the emperor, and the list of winners came out soon.

In the morning, he was a farmer, and in the evening, he was in the emperor's hall.

Xiao Ying's status here was the lowest among the candidates of this year. Other candidates were either children of wealthy families or descendants of officials. At the very least, they were from landlords and gentry families. Without some family background, they would not have come to this point. The Shao family was a complete poor farming family. Xiao Ying occupied Shao Qingyun's body and stood in the current Jinluan Palace. He was selected as the top scholar by the emperor. In the eyes of others, it was like a fish leaping over the dragon gate.

However, in Xiao Ying's heart, it was just the first step of the mission.

After the candidates entered the hall, the emperor did not show his extra appreciation for Xiao Ying, but only expressed his joy for the "Big Three".

After that, the top three of the first class were paraded in the streets.

The oldest of the three was the third place, who had the elegance and grace of the most popular handsome uncle. The second place was not too old, a young man in his twenties with a decent appearance, but with a slightly dark skin. Among the three, Xiao Yan, the top place, was the youngest and most handsome, and the most eye-catching during the parade.

Xiao Yan smiled as he rode on the horse. Although his smile had become a little stiff, and he felt that the big red flower on his chest was silly, he still had to keep smiling.

Suddenly, his keen senses detected a hateful gaze staring at him. He turned his head slightly and glanced at the window of a box on the second floor of the restaurant next to him with a calm look, but his heart was shocked. It was her? !

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Xiao Yan, who was walking away in the cheers of the people around him, sat on the horse with his eyes slightly closed and fell into deep thought.

Because the owner of the malicious sight he just saw turned out to be the heroine Su Ling who had been forgotten for a long time!

Since the heroine Su Ling left the Shao family and returned to the Li family, Xiao Ying has not paid attention to her anymore. After all, he was busy doing the male supporting role's wish mission and had no intention of conquering the heroine. He didn't pay attention to how Su Ling was doing these days. In order not to disturb his studies, the Shao family would not take the initiative to mention Su Ling in front of him, so Xiao Ying didn't even notice that Su Ling had left Qingyang County and came to the capital!

How did she, a weak woman, come all the way to the capital? Could it be related to the hero Jiang Li? Xiao Ying guessed so, but then he thought it should have nothing to do with Jiang Li. He and Jiang Li still have a good relationship. If Jiang Li brought Su Ling to the capital, he would definitely mention it when he communicated with him.

Xiao Ying didn't take Su Ling, a weak woman, seriously. Before her rebirth, Su Ling was trapped in the Shao family and had never traveled far. She was raised as a child bride, so she had limited knowledge and a cowardly character. Although her character changed after her rebirth, she became more extreme and irrational. However, Xiao Ying was worried about Su Ling's aura as a heroine. After all, she was a beautiful heroine with outstanding looks. If she charmed a man of status, it would be a bit troublesome...

Xiao Ying, who was just thinking about whether he was thinking too much, immediately found that he was not thinking too much.

When attending the Qionglin Banquet held by the emperor, the prince and several princes who were more valued by the emperor were present. As the champion, Xiao Ying's seat was still quite good, close to these nobles, so he clearly saw the fourth prince, the final winner of the battle for the throne in the original work, and the Ningyuan Marquis's son Jiang Li who followed the fourth prince.

When Jiang Li saw Xiao Yan, he smiled and winked at him. It was inexplicably cute for a grown man to do such a small action. Xiao Yan smiled back.

The Fourth Prince seemed to have noticed the small action between the two. He turned his head to Jiang Li and asked softly: "Is this the Shao Qingyun you mentioned?"

Jiang Li also whispered: "Your Highness, yes. Shao Qingyun worshipped under Li Jushi and is a very talented person." Although he was the Fourth Prince's companion and the two had a good relationship, he and Xiao Yan had a close personal relationship. In this case, it was not convenient to praise Xiao Yan too much.

The Fourth Prince's expression was a little subtle, and he just said lightly: "Talent is important, but character is also important."

This made Jiang Li, who was full of confidence in Xiao Yan, stunned for a moment. He wanted to recommend his talented friend to the Fourth Prince, but now it seems that his friend has left a bad impression on His Highness the Fourth Prince under some unknown circumstances.

Jiang Li's expression was calm, and he didn't care about much. He whispered respectfully: "Your Highness, I was saved by him last time when I was in danger. Shao Qingyun is a genius in terms of talent and character. You might as well give him a chance..."

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The Fourth Prince and Jiang Li talked in a very low voice, even those sitting not far from them could not hear it, but Xiao Ying's spiritual sense was turned on and naturally took in their conversation.

Xiao Ying was somewhat touched by Jiang Li's behavior of speaking well of him regardless of the Fourth Prince's dissatisfaction, but he was also very surprised that he had never met the Fourth Prince and had never offended him, why did the Fourth Prince seem to have a big opinion of him when they met for the first time today.

At this time, he heard the Fourth Prince say: "I heard that Shao Qingyun divorced his wife and married a merchant girl..."

Xiao Ying immediately understood that it was the mess left by the original owner.

However, the original owner did not formally marry Su Ling. Even if he later abandoned Su Ling and married Wang Nianyun, it was not considered as divorcing his wife and marrying another. Could it be that the Fourth Prince really had strict requirements for his subordinates to the point that they were not allowed to have any bad personal morality?

Xiao Yan stroked the wine glass, dealing with the conversation with the second place beside him without revealing any expression, and pondered the attitude of the Fourth Prince in his heart.

Suddenly, a light flashed in his mind... He met Su Ling when he was parading today! In connection with the dissatisfaction of the Fourth Prince just now... Xiao Yan felt that he seemed to have guessed something.

Xiao Yan was also a person who had been a superior. He knew the thoughts of the superior very well. As long as the subordinates were loyal and capable, their personal morality was not important. Things like divorcing a wife and marrying another concubine and destroying a wife, which were more or less moral in the backyards of court officials, and even the emperor's trusted ministers who were powerful and influential had poor personal morality, but as long as the officials were loyal and capable, the emperor would not care about these at all.

The fourth prince would definitely not be the kind of person who can't tolerate any sand in his eyes if he can become the final winner. Then he would be unhappy because of the little thing about the original owner Shao Qingyun, which proves that someone has said bad things about Xiao Ying in front of him, and this person may have a high status in his heart!

Xiao Ying couldn't help but think of Su Ling.

Besides Su Ling, who would hate him so much? Or make a fuss about marrying Wang Nianyun. And Su Ling's sudden arrival in the capital also makes people suspicious.

Xiao Ying remembered that his previous random idea that the heroine charmed a male supporting role with status and caused trouble for him might have been realized, so he couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.

The heroine's halo is a bit big. The 'male supporting role with status' he imagined is at most similar to Jiang Li. He never expected that the heroine would directly find the next emperor!

Xiao Ying raised his eyes and glanced at the fourth prince and Jiang Li. Jiang Li was looking at him with an apologetic look, obviously apologetic because the fourth prince failed to recommend him.

Even Jiang Li, the Fourth Prince's closest and most valued companion, was unable to help. It seemed that his plan to get a quick promotion by joining the Fourth Prince in exchange for the merit of following him had failed.