My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 67 - Familiar Name

Li Nuo finally came to his senses after a long shock.

To make sure this was not a common phenomenon, he flipped to the first and last pages of the volume and checked the top scholars of the Imperial Examination each year.

Then he realized it was not a matter of making a big fuss.

Since the establishment of Daxia and the Imperial Examination, across hundreds of years, apart from Li Xuanjing, no one had managed to become the top scholar in all six subjects in one session. He was truly unprecedented and unmatched.

The most impressive top scholars in the past had only been the number one in three subjects.

Even that had already made history to remember. The volume also specially mentioned that one of those top scholars eventually became the Prime Minister, second only to the emperor.

At this moment, he somewhat understood the kind of look Song Zhen's aunt gave him.

One man, the top scholar in all six subjects.

And so remarkably handsome.

Which woman could resist such charm?

The fourteenth year of Zhisheng in Daxia was undoubtedly Li Xuanjing's year.

Li Nuo stared blankly at this page, dazed for quite some time, even forgetting what he initially intended to do.

Song Zhe was not surprised by his reaction. In that session of the Imperial Examination, although many exceptionally talented individuals emerged, they were like stars outshone by the bright moon in front of Li Xuanjing, completely eclipsed by his brilliance.

After a long while, Li Nuo gradually recovered, glanced at the remaining names, and surprisingly found a few acquaintances.

In that session of the Imperial Examination, his own Lord Father-in-law ranked third, while the Chang'an County Magistrate Pei Zhe placed forty-second, just making it as the last Advanced Scholar...

Unexpectedly, all three of them became Advanced Scholars the same year.

Li Nuo did not know whether his Lord Father-in-law climbed too slowly or County Magistrate Pei advanced too quickly.

Third in the Imperial Examination, upon entering officialdom, one would be appointed a sixth-rank official position, yet it took almost twenty years to rise to a Standard Fifth Rank, advancing only three grades.

County Magistrate Pei, ranking last in the Imperial Examination, began likely as a ninth-grade minor official, but in the same span of time as his Lord Father-in-law, he ascended eight grades. Putting aside the power scales, he at least reached the same official level, indeed a classic example of a dramatic rise...

In that list of the Imperial Examination, Li Nuo also spotted a name that surprised him.

Wang Duo.

Minister of the Examination Bureau Wang Duo, who in that session ranked fifth among the Advanced Scholars, also a highly prominent position.

Li Nuo could hardly believe that Lord Wang, known for his poor parenting and condoning his subordinates taking bribes, had once had such a brilliant past.

Li Nuo found it hard to believe, thinking it was just someone with the same name, and asked, "This Wang Duo, is he the Minister of the Examination Bureau Wang Duo?"

Song Zhe nodded slowly, his tone somewhat melancholic, as he slowly said, "Yes, that Wang Duo. Back in his Qingfeng Academy days, he was quite a figure and even led his peers to cause a commotion at the Chang'an County Government, furiously condemning the Chang'an County Magistrate for his disregard for life, forcing the court to dismiss the then County Magistrate. He was incomparable at the time, but it was unexpected that twenty years later, he would also end up donating all his property and resigning to return to farming..."

Li Nuo was stunned, "Ah, he resigned from his post?"

Song Zhe looked at him and said indifferently, "People from the Ministry of Justice went to the Wang family demanding he hand over his son who broke the Law. As a fifth-rank doctor, how could he not resign? To not resign would mean waiting for death."

This was the first time Li Nuo knew about this affair.

It turned out that the day he handed over his son, Minister of the Examination Bureau Wang Duo donated all his property and resigned to return home.

It seemed that the fear of officials towards their fathers was deeper than he had imagined.

Li Nuo hadn't really done anything wrong...

Wang Duo's son had violated the Law, and just because his father was the Minister of the Examination Bureau didn't mean he shouldn't be arrested.

If Wang Duo still had the convictions he held twenty years ago, Li Nuo wouldn't have needed to intervene at all.

Twenty years was a long time, long enough to transform a passionate and righteous young man into a corrupt worm of officialdom...

Wang Duo wasn't the only one who had changed. Looking at Gu Wenhan's record, his actions before becoming Qinghe County Magistrate were commendable as well...

A breeze blew through the hall, flipping a page on the book in front of Li Nuo, landing on the eighteenth year of Zhisheng.

During the eighteenth year of Zhisheng, there were far more Advanced Scholars than the previous year, totaling a hundred. Li Nuo's gaze swept across the names, and near the end, he noticed Gu Wenhan's name.

Gu Wenhan, an Advanced Scholar in the eighteenth year of Zhisheng, ranked ninety-sixth in the Imperial Examination.

Wu Zongguang, an Advanced Scholar in the eighteenth year of Zhisheng, ranked ninety-seventh.

Zheng Tianxing, an Advanced Scholar in the eighteenth year of Zhisheng, ranked ninety-eighth.

As Li Nuo was about to flip the page back, his hand paused, and his gaze landed on a name.

It wasn't Gu Wenhan.

It was Zheng Tianxing.

Li Nuo was sure he had never known anyone named Zheng Tianxing in either of his lives, yet the name felt strikingly familiar, as if he had seen it countless times before...

As familiar as it was, in that moment, he couldn't recall where this familiarity stemmed from.

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He had received too much information in the past few days, which cluttered his mind and even dulled his thought processes.

He flipped through a few more pages and noticed another issue.

After the eighteenth year of Zhisheng, in the twenty-second, twenty-sixth, and thirtieth years of the Imperial Examination, the number of Advanced Scholars admitted by the court remained around a hundred.

Prior to the eighteenth year of Zhisheng, each Imperial Examination had admitted fewer than fifty people, with the fourteenth year serving as a clear dividing line.

Li Nuo couldn't help asking, "Why has the number of Advanced Scholars suddenly increased in the most recent examinations?"

Song Zhe glanced at him indifferently and said, "The forty-two scholars admitted in the fourteenth year of Zhisheng were implicated in a treason case two years later, resulting in sixteen being executed. In the seventeenth year, Li Xuanjing joined the Ministry of Justice and executed hundreds of corrupt officials within a year. If we hadn't admitted more scholars, the court would have been short of personnel..."

Li Nuo wisely chose not to delve further into the issue.

Yet, he still wasn't willing to let it go and asked, "What exactly was the treason case about?"

Song Zhe said, "If you're that curious, you can go back and ask your father."

The way he said it... If Li Nuo could ask his father, would he be looking it up himself in the Ministry of Personnel?

There were plenty of things he was curious about. He also wondered where his mother-in-law had gone, why they had separated back then—whether it was due to incompatible personalities or if someone had been unfaithful. He had never asked about those either...

Li Nuo inwardly grumbled a few complaints. Suddenly, a light flashed across his mind, and he remembered why the name "Zheng Tianxing" sounded so familiar.

Wasn't Zheng Tianxing Assistant Minister Zheng, the unfortunate man who was killed on his fiftieth birthday by his concubine and her lover?

No wonder the name felt so familiar to him; he had personally written the case file for Assistant Minister Zheng's case.

Back then, he had revised the judgment countless times to test the "Law Code" and its different sentencing enhancements. Naturally, he had written the name Zheng Tianxing numerous times...