Emperor Wu didn't care about any exam paper other than the set Grand Secretary Fang brought him.
As for Feng Wu... Emperor Wu had mixed feelings at the moment. What happened to the girl's exam paper?
He was still trying to figure it out when the chief steward whispered in his ear. "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness is here."
Jun Linyuan? At this hour? Emperor Wu was bemused. "Show him in."
Jun Linyuan stepped into the hall to find the table covered with exam papers.
"Linyuan, what brings you here?" Emperor Wu knew his son too well to wait for the latter to greet him first.
Jun Linyuan gave Emperor Wu a nod, then glanced at the table.
"These are the exam papers for Imperial College this year." Emperor Wu patted the seat next to him, gesturing at his son to sit down.
The chief steward smiled awkwardly as he observed how the emperor behaved around his son. When the crown prince was around, the emperor reminded one of a mouse facing a cat and didn't dare to step out of line at all.
Whereas with his other sons, His Majesty was all stately and authoritative. He just couldn't behave like a proper emperor in Jun Linyuan's presence.
He tried to establish his authority a few times when Jun Linyuan was little, but each time, he was defeated by the crown prince's relentless comments and blatant disregard. After a few failed attempts, His Majesty gave up ever trying to intimidate His Royal Highness.
Emperor Wu jumped a little when Jun Linyuan sat down next to him. He really did sit as told? Something big must have happened. The kid never showed up here without a good reason.
Emperor Wu told the chief steward, "Put away these exam papers. They're in the way." He then turned to Jun Linyuan. "Well, to what do I owe this pleasure?"
Jun Linyuan kept his gaze on the exam papers that the chief steward tried to gather into a stack. He spotted the one with Feng Wu's handwriting on it right away.
"Well, Imperial College had their entrance exam the other day and I had the exam papers of the top 1000 candidates brought here. You wouldn't be interested, would you? No one here is exceptional enough to be mentioned."
Emperor Wu put away Feng Wu's paper as he spoke and put it on his other side away from Jun Linyuan.
He knew that Jun Linyuan didn't like to see Feng Wu's name or to be mentioned alongside the girl. So Emperor Wu put away Feng Wu's mock exam papers as well.
Jun Linyuan narrowed his eyes, giving off a dangerous air.
After some thought, Emperor Wu moved Feng Wu's papers further away from Jun Linyuan.
Jun Linyuan was speechless.
"Look at these." Emperor Wu waved at Jun Linyuan. "Imperial College is going to have some new talented people once more. No one actually stands out, but quite a few are pretty impressive."
No one stood out? Jun Linyuan frowned at those words.
Emperor Wu thought that Jun Linyuan wouldn't be bothered to look at the exam papers at all. However, to his surprise, Jun Linyuan began to go through the stack one page at a time!
Starting from the one with the highest marks... And his face darkened as he turned the pages...
Emperor Wu was bewildered. What was wrong with the kid? Why did he look disappointed?
"Is this everything?" The look on Jun Linyuan's face was so grim that he looked like he was ready to bite someone!
No wonder the officials said that His Royal Highness was more intimidating than His Majesty. Right now, even Emperor Wu couldn't withstand Jun Linyuan's intense gaze.
"Yes... I think so." Emperor Wu nodded.
"You think?" Jun Linyuan smirked. "What's over there?"
"Well, this..." Emperor Wu brushed everything under the table. "It's nothing official, hahaha."