Chapter 330: Chapter 133: Sensation
After returning to her room, Chen Wanqing discussed the matter with Zhao Jing.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to keep her brother’s secret. It was just that their voices had been a bit loud, and Jing had surely heard everything—both what he was meant to hear and what he wasn’t.
He’d even stepped out of their room to see what was happening, but for some reason, he had turned back and gone inside.
De’an had been standing with his back to the room, too agitated to notice, but she had seen Jing’s shoes and the hem of his robes quite clearly.
"De’an has a guilty conscience. He couldn’t stay at the Wang Family’s home, so he ran back here to take refuge."
"’Take refuge.’ A perfect choice of words, Wanqing."
Chen Wanqing smiled at his words. "I’m actually familiar with the Third Miss. She’s the epitome of innocence and naivete. De’an bumped into her twice, so she must despise him now and think he’s rotten to the core."
"Perhaps."
"Jing, what are you doing?"
"I’m reenacting De’an’s collision. Don’t talk, Wanqing, just play along."
Chen Wanqing had no intention of playing along and pushed Zhao Jing aside.
He was still being kept in the "cold palace." Until her body had fully recovered, she was determined not to let him out.
In Chen Wanqing’s mind, her mother’s words were proving more and more valuable.
’You can’t spoil a man, especially not in this regard. If you go easy on him, he’ll grow brazen. He’s at that age, full of vigor and curiosity about... *that*. Three times in one night would be just the start.’
’But she was far too delicate down there. How could she possibly withstand him "tilling the fields" day and night?’
For the sake of her own body, she had no choice but to tighten his leash.
Zhao Jing, now on his metaphorical leash, spent the entire night sighing dramatically.
His sighs left Chen Wanqing’s heart in a jumble, and the occasional, mournful glance he cast her way filled her with guilt, as if she’d committed some unforgivable crime.
But while his abstinence was good for her, it surely had its benefits for him as well.
"Jing, doing... that... too often will drain your vitality."
And what was Zhao Jing’s reply?
He declared with mock righteousness, "Wanqing, my vitality is abundant! I’m not afraid of a little drain."
"But De’an is staying in the next room. It wouldn’t do to make a commotion."
"I can tell De’an to get lost and go back to the Wang Family."
Chen Wanqing threw a pillow at him. "Jing, they say there’s no such thing as a poorly plowed field, only an exhausted ox. You need to think about the long term..."
Before Chen Wanqing could finish, she saw Zhao Jing roll onto his side, his shoulders shaking with muffled laughter.
How could she not understand? Jing was deliberately teasing her.
She couldn’t help but scowl and shoot him a few harsh glares.
This, of course, only prompted the shameless Zhao Jing to sidle over, wrap his arms around her, and whisper all sorts of wicked nothings in her ear.
Another peaceful day passed. Then, on the day before the examination results were to be posted, something major happened in the Prefecture.
Without any warning, constables from the Prefectural Magistrate’s Office stormed the city’s official posthouse. There, in front of all the other clerks and county magistrates, they arrested the County Magistrate of Guyuan County.
The County Magistrate of Guyuan County repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, insisting the government officials had to be impostors and that someone was out to get him.
A few of the other county magistrates, swayed by Cui Wei’s protests, couldn’t help but block the constables. "Who are you people? Do you have an arrest warrant? What crime has Mr. Cui committed? Where are you taking him?"
The man in charge of arresting Mr. Cui was the head constable from the prefectural government office.
This head constable was a seasoned veteran and had all the necessary documents on his person. He answered the first two questions properly before stating, "Mr. Cui is guilty of trafficking connections. The Lord Prefect himself has ordered us to apprehend him. As for the details, if you gentlemen are curious, you’re welcome to attend the hearing at the government office."
What exactly was the crime of "trafficking connections"?
It was the core offense outlined in the *Imperial Examination Regulations*, a crime that referred to collusion and cheating between an examinee and an examiner!
The moment they heard it was related to the examinations, and recalled what "trafficking connections" implied, everyone present understood the situation.
Cui Junrong was Cui Wei’s son. According to the rule of avoidance for examinations, he should not have taken the exam in Guyuan County. Instead, he should have returned to his ancestral home for the county-level exam or participated in a "special examination."
This "special examination" meant that whenever the children, relatives, or in-laws of a supervising or chief examiner were to take an exam, a separate, specially monitored examination hall would be established for them.
Cui Junrong certainly hadn’t returned to his ancestral home for the exam; he had taken the special examination.
The supervisors for this special examination were officials from the Prefecture.
Any official from the Prefecture with half a brain wouldn’t get mixed up in such a scheme, so Cui Junrong had earned the rank of top county scholar entirely on his own "merit."
Previously, when the other county magistrates had heard that Cui Wei’s son was the top scholar, they had muttered amongst themselves that Cui Wei must have bent the rules for him.
But after reading the selected examination essays, they no longer thought Cui Wei had shown favoritism. They just thought he was unlucky; this year, there simply weren’t any truly outstanding scholars.
