My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Hidden and open schemes

The test questions had been personally taken by Qi Yang from the emperor’s imperial desk this morning. For the moment, she had only taken this round’s questions. After a few days, when Lu Qipei finishes the three rounds of test questions, she would find a way to give the answer booklet to the emperor!

She could not count on letting Lu Qipei directly go to the examination centre to take part in the examination. Firstly, time was too tight. There was no way Qi Yang could arrange it properly. Secondly, one had to go through several rounds to be able to participate in the imperial examination. The scholars able to sit in the examination centre today had put in a lot of hard work. Qi Yang did not want to destroy the fairness of it so brazenly.

Lastly and most importantly, Qi Yang did not want to give either of them any hidden trouble so she chose to put everything out in the open.

However, Qi Yang would not explain all these things to Lu Qipei and she was even less likely to tell her the significance of this imperial examination to the two of them…in any case, her prince consort was still soft-hearted. She only needed to look at her with a hopeful gaze for her to quickly concede.

Yes, Lu Qipei had conceded. Although she had many doubts, she could not hold up against Qi Yang’s pleading.

As she held her sleeve and ground the ink, Lu Qipei looked composed but in actual fact, the thoughts in her head had not stopped racing for even a second —— this was obviously the imperial examination’s test questions. For what reason had Her Highness asked her to do them? To make her take the exam in someone’s place? Was she still not able to escape her fate of helping people to take exams?

However, she had never heard of Her Highness having such close friendships with anyone, to the point of willingly taking a risk in something as serious as the imperial examination!

Thinking about this, Lu Qipei’s heart suddenly turned a bit sour. She lost focus for a moment and went overboard grinding the ink, causing it to become too viscous. She sighed and added some water before continuing to grind the ink, paying more attention to it this time.

After the ink had been grinded enough, Lu Qipei lifted the brush and looked at the blank answer booklet. For a split second, she thought about doing it carelessly.

However, her noble character made it impossible for her to be half-hearted in her work after agreeing to a request, even if she was unwilling to fulfil it.

After muttering to herself for a while, Lu Qipei could finally calm herself down and start writing, scattering long lines of ink across the page — she added new ideas as she answered this question again. Other than writing faster, this essay was also even more outstanding than the one that had stunned the head examiner back then.

This was the ‘open scheme’ that Lu Qipei had decided on after much consideration —— if Her Highness really was getting an essay for someone else, then the person using her essay would also have to show off talents that could match. If not, by giving excellent results in the general examination but messing up the palace examination*, their ignorance would be easily exposed. And if this person really was this talented…what was the point of asking her for essays?!

*the last round, held in the palace, personally supervised by the emperor

Qi Yang, who was standing in the courtyard outside the window, did not know of all the criticising Lu Qipei was doing in her heart. She just watched from afar the youth in the window leaning over the desk to write, specks of ink forming on the paper. Recalling the shockingly talented Number One Scholar of the previous life, she was not worried that the other’s essays would not be to the emperor’s liking.

Only, the image of the youth under the warm spring sunlight waving a brush to write an essay really was a little dazzling…

Qi Yang watched until she lost focus. She stood in the courtyard for a long time until Zhi Ting returned to her side and called, “Your Highness.”

This call brought Qi Yang back to her senses. She first gestured to Zhi Ting to keep quiet, then brought her away. After they had left the courtyard, she asked Zhi Ting, “How is it?”

With much effort, Zhi Ting maintained a composed appearance and replied, “The things Your Highness instructed have all been properly arranged.” She could not help but turn her head to glance at the study. Conflicted, she said, “But Your Highness, like this…isn’t it not very good?”

Hearing this, Qi Yang’s demeanour instantly turned icy, no longer like the little princess who talked and laughed comfortably in front of Lu Qipei, nor the warm person that Zhi Ting was once familiar with. She merely glanced at Zhi Ting indifferently and the latter lowered her head, not daring to speak any more.

In that moment, Zhi Ting simply felt her heart tremble —— she had purely been frightened.

---

As expected, the imperial examination was still a bothersome thing. Even though winter was mild this year and the effect of the weather was already lessened, a large portion of the exam questions and the conditions of the examination centre were not very kind, pressuring the candidates into exhaustion.

The general examination was split into three parts, the ninth, twelfth and fifteenth of the month, and each lasted three days and two nights.

On the eleventh day of the month in the afternoon, the first part was completed. The main doors of the examination centre opened and a group of examinees swarmed out. Some were staggering, some were dazed and naturally there were also some who were glowing with content, though those were few and far between.

In the midst of this crowd, Lu Qicheng, with his sallow face and messy clothes, did not look so conspicuous anymore. He carried his own examination basket, absent-mindedly following people out of the centre. His body that was once still considered to be strong had been hollowed out by this round of exams, his footsteps weak and shaky.

Upon lifting his head, all he saw was a mass of dark heads. A cacophony of people calling out for their family members rang out.

Lu Qicheng was not used to this. Being disturbed by this clamour, his body swayed as though he was about to faint. Fortunately, though he had not found that young servant of his, there was no lack of good people around. When they saw an examinee about to faint, they helped to support him.

After the dizzy feeling went away, Lu Qicheng grabbed the arm of the person who had helped him and turned his head around to say ‘thank you’.

The one who had helped him was also a young servant who wore a robe and a small hat. He looked good-natured as he said, “This inferior one cannot take this master’s thanks,” after which he carefully looked at Lu Qicheng’s face and said, “Young Master, you don’t look well, I’m afraid that you may not be able to go back on your own. Do you have family members coming to pick you up?”

In front of outsiders, Lu Qicheng was always modest and polite. Even though the person in front of him was just a young servant, he still courteously said, “Thank you for your concern, I naturally have family members coming to pick me up.” He then looked left and right before saying worriedly, “It’s just that I don’t know where they are.”

At this moment, the examination centre had just opened its doors. It was even more crowded and chaotic now than when they were just entering the centre. Finding someone was really not easy. Thus, the young servant hesitated a bit and glanced at the crowd again before saying, “There’s too many people, I don’t know where my master is either. I think at this rate, you won’t be able to squeeze out of here. Why don’t I send you out of here first, then you can wait for your family at a quieter spot.”

Lu Qicheng naturally thanked him. With the young servant’s support, he finally squeezed out of the crowd. The servant did not stay for longer than necessary, after informing him he hurriedly squeezed back into the crowd and soon, not a trace of him could be seen.

Leaning against a tree at the side of the path, Lu Qicheng watched the noisy crowd, his gaze cold. Even though he had just been helped up by someone, there was no gratitude in his heart. In fact, he felt that the servant had no sense of propriety, not prioritising his master but rather caring about other people’s business.

If his servant dared to be like this, he would definitely punish him severely!

As he thought about these trivial things, Lu Qicheng did not realise that before leaving, the servant who had already disappeared into the crowd had silently hung a handkerchief on him —— the coral-coloured handkerchief was not anything out of the ordinary, but contrasted with the colour of his robes, it looked very conspicuous.

Not long after, Lu Qicheng’s servant finally found him. His robes were embarrassingly tight and even one of his shoes was missing. He simply looked like he had just fled a calamity, making Lu Qipei want to avoid him.

However, at this moment Lu Qicheng had no energy to acknowledge him. He asked which direction the carriage was in and left for it.

The servant naturally rushed to carry the examination basket and support him. As a result, when Lu Qicheng lifted his hand, he saw the handkerchief hung on his robes. The servant helped him to take it off. Confused, he asked, “Young Lord, you don’t have a handkerchief of this colour right?”

The style of the handkerchief was masculine but the coral colour added a bit of femininity to it so Lu Qicheng naturally would not use it. However, at this moment he was very giddy and was not in the mood to fuss over this. He only thought that he had brushed past someone in the crowd just now and accidentally gotten the handkerchief hooked onto him. He was disgusted by it and carelessly tossed the handkerchief away, saying, “Don’t talk nonsense, hurry up and help me back so I can rest!”

Seeing his pale face and the dark circles beneath his eyes, the servant did not dare to talk anymore and mumbled an acknowledgement before hurriedly supporting the person back.

The Lu mansion’s carriage had already been waiting since early on but there were many people outside the examination centre so it had stopped a distance away. By the time Lu Qicheng was brought up into the carriage by the young servant, he simply felt that all the energy in his body had been drained out completely. He did not even manage to give another order before falling asleep.

Among the examinees, this was normal. Nobody thought that there was anything strange about it. The servant knew to keep quiet and sat outside in the carriage’s shaft with the driver. With a lash of the whip in the driver’s hand, the horse started pulling the carriage along, clattering its hooves as it went.

The carriage was neither hurried nor slow, it was just steady, not alarming the person in the carriage sleeping soundly.

This continued until they had crossed two roads and completed more than half the trip back. For some reason, the horse that had been docile and obedient the whole way suddenly became anxious. Before the driver could react, the horse neighed and ran!

The unprepared servant was the first to get thrown off the carriage. He hit his head and it bled. The driver was still doing his best to hold onto the reins but even though his hands had been rubbed raw to the point of bleeding, that crazy horse had not gotten under control at all, still dashing about madly as it raced forward. It disrupted countless passers-by and toppled countless roadside stalls, instantly throwing the whole road into disarray.

This level of chaos finally shook Lu Qicheng awake. At this moment, he was not very alert and held his head as he staggered out of the carriage. Just after he asked ‘what happened’, like the servant, his body swayed and he fell off the carriage.

This all happened as fast as lightning. The driver was so startled that his whole expression changed. He no longer cared about the crazy horse and shouted ‘Young Lord’ before jumping off as well.

Lu Qicheng did not fall lightly. He clutched his injured leg, unable to get back up. It was the driver who frantically ran over and helped him up. When he looked up, he nearly fainted!

Lu Qicheng’s face was dyed red with fresh blood. He had hit something when he fell down the carriage, causing a gash that ran from the corner of his eye to his lower jaw! The glaring red blood paired with the hideous wound had thoroughly destroyed his originally handsome face.

However, at this moment, Lu Qicheng had no capacity to care about the wound on his face. He could only hug his leg, his whole body sweating from pain. After a long while, he finally managed to squeeze out in a trembling voice, “Leg, my leg, it’s broken…”

The author has something to say:
Lu Qipei (contented): If my essay is written better, even better, an untalented person would not dare to pass it off as their own!
Qi Yang (complicated feelings): Alright, it’s fine as long as you’re happy…in any case, I’m also quite happy