"Brother, don't worry. I'll go tomorrow and do everything I can to get this done. I want the Wen family and the Grand Princess's mansion to pay for what they've done to you and me!"
The brother and sister were both blinded by hatred. If they were told to go through fire and water now, they would likely be willing to do so.
Meanwhile, Prince Ke and his consort, busy preparing for the banquet, had no idea what would happen tomorrow.
The night was deep, and apart from the street vendors, there were few passersby.
The night watchman, as he walked, muttered, "The weather is dry, be careful of fire."
When he reached Liu San's wonton stall, he was so captivated by the fragrant aroma that he stopped in his tracks.
"Lao San, make me a bowl and set it aside. I'll eat it after I finish my rounds ahead!"
"Alright! Don't worry, add extra scallions, I know you like it!"
The night watchman placed a few copper coins on the table and walked ahead.
Liu San, who had received the money, immediately began to cook the wontons for him.
While the two were talking, neither of them noticed the three figures in the shadows, who were now scaling walls and leaping over roofs towards the Ministry of Personnel's archives.
They silently bypassed the Ministry of Personnel's traps and guards, easily arriving at the entrance of the archives.
"I thought this would be difficult. The Prince sent the three of us, but this is such an easy task, we could have just found two other brothers to do it."
Su Cheng complained, kicking the two guards who had been knocked out by the soporific incense.
His voice was lowered to a whisper, so as not to alert anyone.
Beside him, Yang Zhao and Xu Lin were diligently picking the lock.
Xu Lin had a remarkable skill: there was no lock in the world he couldn't open. Any mechanism was like a decoration in front of him, otherwise, how could they have known about the soporific incense so easily?
With a click, the brass lock opened.
It sounded remarkably loud in the silent night.
Xu Lin quickly removed the brass lock. After they all entered, he pretended to hang the lock back on, leaving the door ajar so that no one could tell anything was amiss.
Inside the archives, they were met with a vast sea of documents.
The countless scrolls piled up inside contained records of the annual performance reviews of officials and sealed examination papers from the imperial examinations.
Su Cheng felt a headache coming on. He hated sifting through documents the most.
"No wonder the Prince sent three people. I say, he should have sent a whole team."
Who knew how long it would take them to find what they were looking for? It was like searching for a needle in a haystack!
Yang Zhao rolled his eyes and said to him,
"We haven't even started the job yet, and you're already complaining. If you think life is too easy, go back to the Imperial Guard for some more training."
"You..."
Just as the two were about to bicker, Xu Lin, standing beside them, stopped them.
"Alright, hurry up and search. Otherwise, we won't find it by dawn, and the Prince will skin you alive and feed you to the dogs!"
Su Cheng shivered involuntarily, recalling the Prince's stern face. It was entirely possible.
So, he was the first to plunge into the sea of scrolls, beginning his search for this year's original examination papers.
The other two also got to work without further ado.
Every scroll they picked up and examined, they carefully put back in its place.
They were afraid of alerting anyone.
Feng Jinlin would have been a good candidate, but since he was involved in this year's imperial examination, it was best to avoid him to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.
Thanks to the fact that the officials in charge of organizing the documents at the Ministry of Personnel had marked them by year, Xu Lin, after finding the right method, was the first to locate the transcribed examination papers that had just been re-examined.
The re-examination was conducted by a new batch of Grand Academicians who reviewed the papers that had already been graded and ranked. Only after confirming their accuracy would the names be revealed, and the rankings finalized.
Among this new batch of Grand Academicians was the eldest son of the Bai family, demonstrating his ambition.
The re-examination showed little difference in the rankings of the submitted papers compared to the initial review. Therefore, the rankings were finalized and sent back to the Ministry of Personnel.
He beckoned Yang Zhao over, and the two of them gently opened the scrolls to examine them one by one.
Without revealing the names, several excellent essays received praise from the judging academicians.
In particular, an essay titled "A Discourse on Farmers of the Realm" was not only clear in its arguments and progressive in its structure but also written in a fluent style that did not rely on excessive ornate language, making it particularly memorable.
All the academicians were particularly fond of this essay, and it was therefore highly favored to be ranked first in both examinations.
And that first-place winner was Yin Canwen's masterpiece.
With his years of experience, Xu Lin quickly discovered something amiss with the scroll.
"Look, the transcribed paper is written with ordinary ink, but the place where the name is written uses military ink. The characteristic of this ink is that it can be diluted with water without leaving any trace. This way, the Assistant Minister of Personnel can swap the papers. The Prince's guess was indeed correct!"
He handed the scroll to Yang Zhao for a closer look. Yang Zhao had also served in the military and naturally knew what military ink was!
He lowered his head and sniffed it. It was indeed military ink!
A cold smile played on his lips. "This Wen Jingsong is quite resourceful! He even managed to get his hands on military ink. He must have put a lot of effort into it."
They then unfolded the dozens of scrolls that had already been ranked. As expected, all the names had traces of military ink.
As they continued to examine them, they made an unexpected discovery.
"This Feng family kid, I thought he was just a spoiled rich brat, but I didn't expect his literary talent to be so good. He's actually sixth place! Truly, you can't judge a book by its cover!"
Yang Zhao said this while looking at Su Cheng.
After all, he was the closest to Feng Er in their daily interactions. Now that he had learned this good news in advance, he wanted Feng Er to see it.
However, he saw Yang Zhao standing in a corner, silent.
Curious, he walked over and patted his shoulder. "What's wrong? You found the scrolls, why aren't you coming over?"
But he still didn't react.
Seeing how focused he was, Yang Zhao lowered himself to look at what he was looking at, frowning. There was nothing there.
So, he gently pushed him. "What are you doing?"
"No, look closely. Are these two spots here and here slightly luminous?"
He moved the light source away from his hand, and the two of them examined it carefully. Indeed, there was a faint luminescence, so faint that if one didn't look closely, they wouldn't notice it at all.
"This is the original scroll. I want to see whose paper is this luminous one!"
Su Cheng gently pulled out the two scrolls. With the help of the fire starter in Yang Zhao's hand, they unexpectedly saw the names "Feng Jinlin" and "Yin Canwen" clearly written on them.
At this point, both Yang Zhao and Su Cheng were stunned.
How could this be!
Why were there faint luminous marks on their scrolls?
Could it be that they had prepared for this beforehand?
The more they thought about it, the stranger it became. Yang Zhao was baffled, but for some reason, a person suddenly popped into Su Cheng's mind.