When the time was up, someone rang the bell. Zhao Hanzhang pointed with her finger, and attendants immediately came forward to collect the papers.
The examinees let out sighs of lament. They glanced at each other, and seeing everyone’s faces were dark with furrowed brows, they knew the others hadn’t answered particularly well either. Only then did they barely gain some confidence.
Zhao Yunxin couldn’t hold back first. As soon as her paper was collected, she turned to ask Sun Linghui, “Cousin, how did you do?”
Sun Linghui maintained a calm expression, but she gripped the brush in her hand tightly. “I… I didn’t finish…”
Zhao Yunxin looked at her sympathetically. “Although I didn’t do very well either, at least I finished writing.”
A man nearby heard their discussion and let out a cold snort. He raised his head proudly and left. “Just women taking an examination—what officials are they trying to become?”
Zhao Yunxin’s face darkened. She immediately chased after him and blocked his path. “What do you mean by that? What’s wrong with women? Our Vice Administrator Zhao is a woman!”
“If you look down on women, why did you come to Runan Jun to take the exam?”
The other party’s face turned grim. “I came to take the examination for the sake of the common people across the land, not because of Zhao Hanzhang. Moreover, how can you compare yourselves to Zhao Hanzhang? You can’t even finish such simple questions—do you have the nerve to take the exam?”
“You!” Sun Linghui quickly pulled back the angry Zhao Yunxin and whispered, “We’re still in the examination hall. Third Sister definitely hasn’t left yet. Don’t cause trouble.”
Zhao Yunxin’s face flushed red. “Just let him humiliate us like this?”
Sun Linghui was also not someone with a good temper. Hearing this, she whispered, “Today we’ll let it pass for now. We’re adults who don’t stoop to the level of petty people. If we pass the exam, we’ll just let this matter go. I’ll magnanimously overlook his offense. But if we fail… hmph, we’ll find a way to beat him up to vent our anger.”
Zhao Yunxin felt what she said made sense, but she was also somewhat afraid and worried. “I’m still teaching at the academy. If Third Sister finds out I got into a fight, I probably won’t be able to go to the academy anymore.”
Sun Linghui whispered, “When the time comes, we’ll wear masks and put him in a sack.”
This was a good idea. Zhao Yunxin immediately nodded. When she looked up at the other party again, her gaze was ice-cold, though no longer angry. “Today I’ll let you off. Tell me, what’s your name?”
Seeing the two of them whispering and muttering for a while before letting him go, the other party couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. After glancing at Sun Linghui, he said, “I don’t change my name when walking or my surname when sitting—I am Chen Heng of Pingyu.”
“Chen Heng, is it? I’ll remember you!”
Zhao Hanzhang was in the back hall grading papers. Fu Tinghan, Ji Yuan, and Zhao Ming were all there. Hearing the commotion from the front, she couldn’t help but frown.
Zhao Hanzhang had someone go out to look. Soon the attendant returned and described what had happened in detail.
Zhao Hanzhang began rummaging through the pile of papers. “Chen Heng, is it? Let me see how capable he is.”
Zhao Ming glanced at her and handed over a paper.
Zhao Hanzhang took it. The top was marked with his native place and name—indeed Chen Heng from Pingyu County, Runan Jun.
Zhao Hanzhang scanned downward and her expression grew strange. She looked at Zhao Ming suspiciously. “Could there be someone with the same name?”
“Surely not when even the native place is the same,” Zhao Ming said. “And the name is identical too.”
Zhao Hanzhang held the paper and clicked her tongue twice. “This gentleman’s confidence is quite sufficient in other areas.”
The paper had only a few sparse lines written on it, and the handwriting was quite ugly—clearly someone without much learning.
However, Zhao Hanzhang still read through the entire paper carefully. She didn’t even pass it to Ji Yuan and Fu Tinghan, but directly tossed it into the bamboo basket of rejected papers to the side.
Fu Tinghan was very curious. He picked it up to look, then silently put it back down.
Zhao Hanzhang looked at him with amusement. “Does this type of student seem very familiar? No matter how they actually perform on the exam, they must first display full confidence, then put down other students. If they succeed, their chances in the following interview become very high.”
Fu Tinghan said, “But now he doesn’t even have a chance at an interview.”
“True enough,” Zhao Hanzhang said with a smile. “It’s quite a pity.”
Zhao Ming lifted his eyelids to look at her and frowned. “Why do you keep appreciating such cunning and slippery people? How exactly did your teachers instruct you in the past? Your father was such an upright and modest gentleman, yet how did you turn out like…”
Zhao Hanzhang smiled ingratiatingly at him, showing neither fear nor shame.
Zhao Ming rubbed his forehead. “I heard you recently added a new servant to your staff, called Wu Sheng. He’s far too clever.”
Zhao Hanzhang smiled. “I don’t plan to keep him by my side for long.”
She smiled and said, “He’s a very useful talent. Keeping him by my side would be wasting his abilities, so after he studies with me for a while longer, I’ll send him out.”
Zhao Ming was startled. He looked down on Wu Sheng, but he hadn’t expected Zhao Hanzhang to rate him so highly.
He asked, “What exceptional abilities does he have?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “Does being able to get close to people count?”
“What?”
Zhao Hanzhang said, “When chatting with him, one easily develops favorable feelings. He’s also kind-hearted, has an extremely strong will to survive, and learns things particularly quickly.”
Zhao Ming said, “You say he’s kind-hearted, but I heard that before you took him in, he had stolen other people’s green shoots.”
Zhao Hanzhang sighed. “Yes, and when you calculate it, this is the fault of us officials. If we hadn’t driven the people to extremes, why would they do such shameful things?”
Zhao Ming: …
Zhao Hanzhang smiled and said, “However, although there was suspicion of theft, he’s not a bad person.”
“There were so many households in the village, and quite a few in even weaker positions than his, but he didn’t steal from anyone. He only stole from the village chief’s family, which had the best circumstances,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “For other families, losing this handful of green shoots might mean losing their lives, but the village chief’s family wouldn’t suffer that fate. Yet he could use this handful of green shoots to save his life.”
Zhao Ming still frowned deeply. “Just because stealing from the village chief’s family causes less harm makes the act of theft acceptable? Theft is theft—why make excuses for him?”
Zhao Hanzhang shook her head. “I’m not making excuses for him. He did wrong, but Uncle Ming, I’m not just a criminal judge who determines right and wrong. I’m the Vice Administrator, their parental official. I need to think about why he did such a thing, and how I can prevent other subjects from committing such acts again…”
“After investigating the reason, I am the root cause. So he should be punished, but County Magistrate Gao and I should be punished even more. If I hadn’t left the people without clothes to wear or food to eat, such incidents wouldn’t have occurred. Moreover,” Zhao Hanzhang’s expression grew more solemn, her voice lowering, “apart from a small number of people with extremely high moral standards, most people’s morality is built on the foundation that survival resources can sustain themselves.”
“If even survival cannot be guaranteed, cannibalism of one’s own children could occur—what’s mere theft of green shoots compared to that?” Zhao Hanzhang said softly, “By giving him this one chance, I’m actually giving myself a chance.”
Zhao Ming was about to speak when he suddenly heard sobbing sounds coming from who knows where. He paused and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a figure plop down on their knees behind a curtain.
Zhao Ming: …
He turned to look at Zhao Hanzhang.