Chapter 0220: Sheng Yiren’s Enthusiastic Instigation of Rebellion, Cheng Wuxue’s Fright

When Sheng Yiren saw that translucent, snow-white piece of jade, all her sorrow instantly vanished. She quickly took it to examine and exclaimed, “What fine quality! Its texture is delicate yet tough, smooth and flawless to the touch. This must be Hetian jade from Khotan, right?”

“You understand these things, miss?” Jiang Yuan asked delightedly.

Sheng Yiren cleared her throat lightly and handed the white jade back. “I cannot accept rewards without merit. You should take it back, Young Master Jiang.”

Jiang Yuan waved his hand dismissively. “No need, no need! I have plenty of such things—I’m not lacking!”

“…” Sheng Yiren’s expression stiffened. For some reason, she suddenly grew angry and shoved the jade forcefully back into Jiang Yuan’s arms. “As if anyone would covet it!”

She had initially thought Jiang Yuan sincerely wanted her to be his steward, hence his generous gifts of rare items. But now it seemed he gave them to everyone!

Utterly lacking in sincerity!

Disappointed, Sheng Yiren pulled Cheng Wuxue away and headed toward Shen Yuan and Xie Chengze.

Jiang Yuan stood bewildered, holding the white jade: What was that all about?

Cheng Wuxue glanced back at Jiang Yuan, then at Sheng Yiren’s furious face, and raised an eyebrow. “Did you know Young Master Jiang before?”

Seeing Cheng Wuxue’s teasing expression, Sheng Yiren knew exactly what she was thinking and immediately retorted, “It’s not what you’re imagining.”

“Oh? And what exactly am I imagining?” Cheng Wuxue teased. “That white jade looks incredibly valuable, yet you’re so angry—is it because of his comment, ‘I have plenty of such things’? Did he give you similar white jade before but forgot about it? Do you think he’s fickle?”

Sheng Yiren opened her mouth, then gave Cheng Wuxue a meaningful look.

Cheng Wuxue didn’t know about her cross-dressing business ventures, yet from mere fragments of conversation and her emotional reaction, she had guessed that Sheng Yiren had received gifts from Jiang Yuan before. That was rather frightening.

What a waste not to become an official investigator.

Honestly, given the Crown Prince’s support for women, if he were to ascend the throne one day, female officials might not be a rarity. With Cheng Wuxue’s abilities, she could very well become the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review someday.

So, Sheng Yiren placed her hands heavily on Cheng Wuxue’s shoulders and asked with grave seriousness, “Sister, have you ever considered rebellion?”

Cheng Wuxue: ???

Rebel against wh—?

Weren’t we just discussing Young Master Jiang? How did we suddenly jump to rebellion?!

…

“That’s the situation. What’s your take?”

Xie Chengze relayed to Shen Yuan what Sheng Yiren had overheard outside the chamber.

Shen Yuan pondered for a moment, then glanced at Xie Chengze. “What do you think?”

“I suspect they were trading imperial examination questions,” Xie Chengze immediately rattled off when asked for his opinion. “The Spring Examination is coming up—there’s no way Sheng Shihai would remain idle, right? Didn’t he send someone to ask the Second Prince for favors in our previous life?”

Moreover, in the book, during the second Spring Examination of that decade, to obstruct the Crown Prince and Shen Yuan, the Second Prince colluded with Sheng Shihai’s faction to leak exam questions—brazenly breaking the rules without learning their lesson.

Xie Chengze had well-founded suspicions that Sheng Shihai was behind it.

Shen Yuan neither confirmed nor denied, merely lost in thought. Xie Chengze grew impatient waiting and tugged at his sleeve. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking this matter might not be so simple.” Shen Yuan looked up at him. “To leak examination questions, the chief examiner must be personally involved. Otherwise, those scholars aren’t fools – why would they spend large sums of silver to buy potentially fake questions?”

“Think about it – who’s this year’s chief examiner?”

It was the newly appointed Minister of Rites, Sheng Yiren’s father, whom Xie Chengze had casually appointed during court session.

He wouldn’t dare leak examination questions under Xie Chengze’s watch.

Xie Chengze realized this made sense. “So you mean…”

“What was leaked might be examination questions, but not the secret ones.” Shen Yuan smiled faintly at him.

“The open questions?!” Xie Chengze’s eyes widened immediately before he covered his mouth, exclaiming in a hushed tone, “That additional question about Yi Province’s flood control!”

Many scholars from Yi Province who came to study hadn’t even reached the capital yet. Even those who had arrived wouldn’t easily share the solutions they’d worked hard to learn, so many capital scholars were still discussing this open question.

As for noble scions, they could use backdoor connections – whether they could answer this question mattered little.

Xie Chengze clicked his tongue lightly. “If this is true, who knows how many people bought answers to this question and how much silver they spent.”

After speaking, he couldn’t help glancing back, guiltily twisting his fingers. “Shen Yuan, I just explained the flood control question to the Esteemed Daughters.”

Probably within two days, those who bought the answers would discover they didn’t need to waste their money, as the answers would become so commonplace they might be discarded in the streets.

Shen Yuan showed no surprise. From the poems sent over by the female guests, he’d known Xie Chengze must have been making empty promises again, so explaining a question was perfectly reasonable and unsurprising.

“However, this is just speculation.” Shen Yuan continued, “I’ll send people to investigate. If it really was Sheng Shihai’s doing, he must be aiming for something bigger.”

Using impoverished women for covert transactions might just be testing the waters.

Xie Chengze nodded.

“By the way.” Shen Yuan suddenly seemed to remember something important, looking seriously at Xie Chengze.

“Hmm?” Xie Chengze raised his head, listening attentively.

Shen Yuan spoke deliberately, word by word: “Did you see the poem I wrote for you?”

Xie Chengze: …

Xie Chengze lifted his foot to kick him, but Shen Yuan had anticipated this, chuckling softly as he moved his leg aside in advance, then reached out to steady Xie Chengze who stumbled from missing his kick. “Your Highness, be careful not to fall.”

“Shen! Yuan!” Xie Chengze bared his teeth. “Are you out of your mind?!”

“Your Highness wrote the sentimental poem first.” Shen Yuan said matter-of-factly. “As Your Highness’s loyal subject, how could I not respond with equally passionate feelings?”

“…” Xie Chengze wanted to pinch his face to see how thick his skin really was when surprised voices sounded behind them. “Lord Shen? We’ve been looking for you everywhere – so you’re here?”

The newcomers were young masters from Jingcheng who crowded around. When they saw he was holding a beauty in his arms, they couldn’t help showing teasing expressions. “Oh my, Lord Shen, are we interrupting something?”

Xie Chengze glanced at them and said generously, “No, you’ve come at just the right time.”

The young masters looked at each other in confusion.

What did he mean by “just the right time”?

Shen Yuan glanced at these people indifferently, “May I ask what brings you here?”

“Oh, just casual conversation,” the young noblemen chimed in, then promptly turned their attention to Xie Chengze, perceptively adding, “This young lady, would you care to join us?”

Xie Chengze tilted his head slightly in agreement.

Of course – these scions of influential families would all be attending the Imperial Academy in the future. He needed to seize this opportunity quickly and work on manipulating them more!