The Sickly Beauty Substitute Called It Quits

74

"The results were chosen by everyone together. What's the use of discussing it now? Are we going to take away the ranking she deserves because of her status as a woman?"

"But Fang JiaYi entered the examination hall disguised as a man. It's against the rules."

"The rules? How do you think she managed to hide herself from the people who searched her body before the exam? Even if she's the beloved daughter of Minister Fang?"

"What the prime minister means is that... His Majesty agreed to this from the very beginning?"

"What else could it be? Look at what happened today. Was His Majesty the slightest bit surprised?"

"Then, are we going to let a woman enter the court as an official?"

"A lot of people will have something to say about this. Right now, only a few of us know, but when the results are announced, all of the officials will find out. Not only that, scholars all over the empire will know. His Majesty won't face opposition from just the court officials."

The prime minister smoothed out the folds in his sleeve and said quietly, "Do you think His Majesty will care what those people think? When has His Majesty ever made a decision and changed his mind because other people opposed it?"

One of the ministers was unhappy. "Is the prime minister going to indulge His Majesty?"

"Your Excellency shouldn't flatter me. This official doesn't have the ability. This official only wants to remind you that it's better to accept the established facts than try to fight against His Majesty."

As long as a person had the ability to truly work for Da Huan, the prime minister didn't care at all about their origin, gender, or other external traits. He was fed up with people who occupied positions and didn't do any work. It greatly increased his workload.

In the main hall, Jiang HuaiQing was still a little dazed, but the mood of the other two people was slightly complicated.

It was one thing to guess the identity of those two men, but facing the truth in person was something else. Hè ChengYu was absent-minded. Compared to Jiang HuaiQing, he hadn't interacted as much with Shen Yu and Shang JunLin. The problem was, from what he'd seen, Shang JunLin was too unlike the popular image of Da Huan's emperor.

Everyone in the world knew that the current emperor of Da Huan had waded through an ocean of blood and corpses and ruthlessly forced his way to the throne. Although the means by which he'd become emperor were criticized by many aristocratic families, his contributions to Da Huan meant that he still had a good reputation where ordinary people were concerned.

Hè ChengYu had heard that Shang JunLin was brutal and decisive, a man of his word who didn't tolerate disobedience. But the Young Master Lin he knew was almost subservient to his wife. He didn't talk much or have much of a temper. No matter how Hè ChengYu tried, he couldn't link the two together.

Two distinct personalities somehow belonged to the same person.

Fang JiaYi's thoughts at the moment were complicated too. She felt a little confused. She knew that the road she'd chosen would be difficult, and she was ready for a hard fight, but she never thought the first step would be so easy.

After a pause Shen Yu said, "Meng Gonggong, bring in some chairs for our newly announced top three graduates."

Meng Gonggong immediately went to carry out the order. A little while later, there were three more chairs in the hall.

Shen Yu pulled Shang JunLin to sit down. "I probably don't need to say this, but I think you must have guessed the identity of myself and His Majesty. It's exactly what you think. When we left the palace, we never thought we'd meet the future zhuangyuan and tanhua."