My Princess Has Been Reborn: Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Smiling especially sweetly

“Father, this answer booklet was sent to the exam centre by someone under this child’s orders,” Qi Yang said in a level tone, as though this was simply a matter of course.

The emperor was still a little stunned, then shocked and angry. Though he had had his suspicions, he could not believe it. Conversely, Fang Chengyue, who was still kneeling at the side, did not find this surprising. He only felt that at this moment, he was even more afraid to raise his head. He simply lowered his eyes and bowed his head, pretending that he did not exist.

With a ‘bang’, the emperor slammed the desk in front of him, causing the teacup beside his hand to jump and the crisp sound of rattling porcelain to ring out, “Making trouble! The imperial examination is to select officials for the country, but to you, it’s a joke?!”

Yet, Qi Yang did not panic but continued to maintain an upright and polite posture while explaining, “Father has misunderstood. This child did not have the intention of interfering with the imperial examination. The reason why I sent this paper there was to borrow the help of all the examiners involved in the imperial examination to evaluate it.” She paused, then added, “The absence of a name was done intentionally to prevent this paper from being selected.”

This statement seemed logical, but no matter how one looked at it, it was a preposterous reason.

The emperor narrowed his eyes slightly and did not speak for a moment. He simply looked at Qi Yang, his expression neither happy nor angry.

Qi Yang also looked at the emperor, her gaze clear with not an ounce of shrewdness. It was only a little sneaky and it looked a bit like she was trying to curry favour —— she was originally already doted on by the emperor, and she always had a sense of propriety. At this moment, with how she was preening and trying to get his favour, the emperor really felt his heart softening a bit.

Seeing how the emperor had temporarily been appeased, Qi Yang looked at Fang Chengyue again and as though nothing had happened, asked, “Senior Fang, how is this paper? I heard you say just now that this had been placed first, now the ranking doesn’t count, but how did this paper do?”

How else could it be? Didn’t you already say that it had been placed first?!

In his heart, Fang Chengyue understood what Qi Yang meant. He merely felt that he was extremely unlucky, but right now he had no choice but to harden his head and say, “If able to win Your Highness’ favour, the person this paper belongs to must be a brilliant talent. This paper is a rarity.” He actually appreciated these texts too, so he added, “This subject and all the examiners agreed to place it as first.”

Once he said this, the emperor also felt a bit curious and temporarily decided to change the subject from Qi Yang’s unpermitted and rash actions. He asked, “Is it really that good?” He then looked at the palace servant next to him, “Pass the paper to me so I can take a look.”

The palace servant stepped up and finally took the examination paper that had been held up by Fang Chengyue for a long time.

In a nine-day exam made up of three parts, when the answer booklets were added together, they made a thick stack. After taking it, the emperor did not pay attention to anyone else and started to flip through it. He did not read it very quickly, after reading two pages, he suddenly looked up and said to Fang Chengyue, “It’s not in line with the rules. This paper was not part of the exam, it does not count. Subject Fang can go back first and push the other rankings up.”

Fang Chengyue had received precise orders and had not been blamed by the emperor. He silently let out a sigh of relief, then quickly agreed and left.

Only after he exited the gate of Xuanshi hall did he then realise that his back was soaked with sweat. On his way back, in his heart he secretly scolded Princess Qi Yang’s unscrupulous behaviour. He thought of the answer paper and felt sorry that this good talent had been affected by the princess, it was really a pity.

Fang Chengyue had already walked out of the palace gates and was once again going back to the exam centre to give everyone an explanation. The emperor, on the other hand, was still looking through that exam paper. The slower he read it, the more carefully he was looking at it. Gradually, he became absorbed in it and even forgot about holding Qi Yang accountable.

Of course, the crown prince and Qi Yang would not disturb him. The two siblings glanced at each other, both feeling that this matter was about eighty percent over.

As expected, when the emperor finally finished reading the stack of papers in his hand, the first thing he said was, “Where is this person now? He is so talented, why did he not go to the exam centre and directly participate in the exam?”

Qi Yang stepped forward to answer. She smiled, no longer looking as serious as before, “It’s someone this child met by coincidence on the way back to the capital. She[1] is extremely talented but has never taken part in the imperial examination. She does not have any scholarly achievement either, it took this child a lot of effort to get her to do these papers in the side residence.” She paused, then blinked, showing the demeanour of a little daughter, “Not only does she write essays well, she’s also very good-looking.”

Ever since Qi Yang mentioned the side residence, the emperor already had some guesses in his heart —— after all, trouble had happened with Zhang Zhen recently —— now, hearing Qi Yang praise this person as good-looking while showing this sort of demeanour, how could the emperor not understand her intentions?

He found it a bit funny, this matter would not really affect the imperial examination or the court, which meant this was just the mischief of a little girl. The emperor was thus a lot more tolerant. “This person is talented, you have done well in recommending him. Is any reward wanted?”

These words defined the matter as a recommendation, moreover, hearing the meaning behind them, one could see that the emperor wanted to snatch this person from Qi Yang.

Of course Qi Yang knew that the emperor was teasing her again. She blinked, her gaze turning slightly. She smiled and said, “This child has come of age and wants to ask Father for an official residence of the Princess. And as for the person who wrote the essays, how about making her my chief secretary?”

After coming of age, the princess had always wanted to build an official residence of the Princess, so this could not be considered a reward. In the end, it was still all about wanting this person.

The emperor obviously knew this. He pointed at her and laughed, “You’re too much, he’s so talented, wouldn’t sending him to the princess’ residence as a chief secretary be an insult to this extremely gifted person?” He continued, “Besides, the official position you want is not some chief secretary, is it? It’s the position of prince consort that aligns with your desires.”

Hearing this, Qi Yang blinked and smiled especially sweetly, “Father is perceptive, this child also feels that the position of prince consort is good.”
　　

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Her Highness the Princess was overly straightforward. She did not have the slightest bit of bashfulness that other daughters had when talking about marriage. However, the issue of the prince consort could not be settled with just a few words. Even though the emperor had no plans to look for a son-in-law among the noble descendants, the basic surveying still could not be done without.

However, while moral character and family background had to be checked, ability did not need to be checked —— that answer booklet had already confirmed many questions. At least when the emperor looked through the top ten papers, which Fang Chengyue had brought over, he could already confirm that Lu Qipei had shown her talent in the essay and was indeed worthy of being first in this exam. It was a pity that in the end, she had not gone through the proper route of participating in the imperial exam and had previously been without scholarly achievements so she could not occupy a spot in the ranking of the metropolitan examination.

After the emperor pondered for a moment, with a suggestion from the crown prince, he moved his brush and immediately gave a decree to grant Lu Qipei an official position —— the lower sixth ranked[2] position of Hanlin Academy[3] Senior Compiler[4]. Its ranking was lower than the upper fifth ranked chief secretary of the princess’ residence but it was a starting point that only the top scorer of the imperial examination could have!

The current dynasty did not have a rule stating that the prince consort could not participate in political affairs. The emperor was not willing to let go of this talent and also believed that Lu Qipei had the ability to overtake the scholars at the Hanlin Academy. If she couldn’t, then it would be that he judged wrongly. Should she not be able to stay in even the Hanlin Academy, the position of prince consort didn’t need to be considered at all!

The little abacus[5] in the emperor’s heart was clicking and clacking. Hearing his orders, Her Highness the Princess was also satisfied. Only, when this decree was delivered to the Lu mansion, everyone was so shocked that they couldn’t recover from their daze, including Lu Qipei herself who had a face of total confusion.

After the palace servant who came to deliver the imperial decree had left, Lu Qipei was surrounded by everyone’s gazes.

The peace had suddenly been disrupted. The pitiful and confused Lu Qipei trembled as she held the imperial decree. In the end, looking completely lost, she was taken away by Qi Bo.

With complicated feelings, Qi Bo looked at the imperial decree in her hands, “Young…master, what is with this imperial decree?”

Once the decree granting an official position had been given, Lu Qipei’s identity as a female now had to be thoroughly covered up. Otherwise, regardless of why the emperor had issued this decree, they had committed the crime of deceiving the emperor. This was a serious crime that was punished without distinction, so nobody dared to take it lightly. Even in private, they had to be cautious.

Lu Qipei had been lost at first but when she returned to the guest courtyard, she already had a guess —— she didn’t need to think much at all, other than Qi Yang, she did not know anyone who could come into contact with the emperor and even help her ask for an official position. Moreover, thinking of the imperial exam papers she had left in the side residence, she had most likely gotten the emperor’s attention because of them!

She thought she had been helping someone else but unexpectedly, it was just that her thinking was not upright. However, this sort of outcome was not what she wanted either!

Thinking of the papers she had poured in much effort back then to write, Lu Qipei suddenly had an urge to smash herself with a rock. She was so sullen she simply wanted to cry but she had no tears. In the face of Qi Bo’s questioning, she could only answer weakly, “Perhaps it is because a few days ago I helped someone write a few essays.”

A few essays could get a sixth-ranked official position? Not just Qi Bo wouldn’t believe it, nobody else would!

However, Lu Qipei was not someone who could lie. At a glance, Qi Bo could see that she was telling the truth. Then he looked at the sudden decree granting an official position and grew suspicious, “What essays were they?”

Lu Qipei thought about it and without another word, she simply repeated the questions from the imperial examination one by one.

What she said was the truth, but the more Qi Bo heard, the more shocked he felt. There was no other way, even though Lu Qicheng had not finished participating in this imperial exam, he had ordered people to collect the questions —— who knew if he could participate again in three years’ time, there was nothing wrong in doing some additional preparation.

Qibo was a shrewd person, even if Lu Qipei did not speak any further, he could guess that she had met a person of nobility. This did not quite match his investigations. His eyebrows creased but in the end, he did not say anything extra, he just said, “Young Master should take it as good luck, having met a noble person and then been recommended. Now, Young Master has entered the Hanlin and done away with the troubles of taking part in the imperial exam. Young Master should credit himself for this…”

Hearing this, Lu Qipei felt some unease. She kept feeling that the situation was developing in the same direction as it had in the previous life —— hearing Qi Bo’s endless reminders, what kind of similarity did it have with the previous life? They were still counting on her to be a puppet substitute!

While distracted, she suddenly heard Qi Bo ask, “Young Master, who is the noble person who had helped you? We are extremely grateful, we should prepare some gifts to thank them.”

Lu Qipei quivered upon hearing this. She made up her mind to distance herself from Qi Yang and said, “I do not know her identity.”

Qi Bo glanced at her again after hearing that but he did not force it, though there was a profound look in his gaze.

The person here who had been granted an official position was frowning worriedly. On the other side, the injured and bedridden Lu Qicheng was feeling unbearably furious. The moment he heard the news, he immediately smashed the bronze mirror next to him —— the wound on his face had yet to heal, while Lu Qipei had received an official position. Even if there was a day when he recovered his former appearance and took her place, he would be using Lu Qipei’s name and identity. The substitute would become him!

As someone who thought so highly of himself, Lu Qicheng naturally could not accept this. His mental state that had calmed not long ago instantly collapsed again.

The author has something to say:
Qi Yang (smiling cutely): Father is so perceptive, Father’s words are important, this child thanks Father on behalf of the prince consort!
The Emperor (confused): Wait, I haven’t agreed to anything right?

[1] ‘She’: Just to reiterate, in spoken Chinese him/her/it all sound the same (ta1)

[2] ‘lower sixth ranked’: In case you’ve forgotten, in the court system in Ancient China, there was a ranking system for officials. There’s 9 ranks in total, each with an ‘upper’ and lower’ section (so technically, there are 18 ranks) with the ‘upper first rank’ being the highest and the ‘lower ninth rank’ the lowest. The lower sixth rank is thus effectively 12th out of 18 ranks.

[3] ‘Hanlin Academy’: As taken from Britannica, ‘Hanlin Academy, Chinese (Pinyin) Hanlin Yuan, (Wade-Giles romanization) Han-lin Yüan, elite scholarly institution founded in the 8th century AD in China to perform secretarial, archival, and literary tasks for the court and to establish the official interpretation of the Confucian Classics, which were the basis of the civil-service examinations necessary for entrance into the upper levels of the official bureaucracy.’

[4] ‘senior compiler’: Their duty includes recording the emperor’s words, national history and drawing up manuscripts related to ceremonies. The top scorer of the imperial exam is often given this position.

[5] ‘abacus’: An abacus is a calculating tool from ancient times.