Jiangnan Gongyuan, in front of Longmen.
The autumn wind was bleak, rolling up a few dead leaves on the ground, but it could not disperse the stagnant atmosphere in the venue.
Thousands of scholars, dressed in robes, stood quietly on both sides of the corridor, waiting for the final inspection. In previous scientific examinations, there would have been whispered conversations and encouragement to each other, but today there was total silence.
Lin Xuan stood in the crowd, his figure was thin, and his washed-white clothes looked out of place among the many brocades of silk and satin. He could clearly feel that invisible lines of sight were intertwining into a network, shrouding this chilling place.
The examiner was a protégé of Qin Hui, the powerful prime minister of the dynasty. This news was no longer a secret. In the venue, those children from aristocratic families were gathered in small groups, exchanging tacit signals with each other, as if they were not here to take an exam, but to participate in a feast that had already been arranged.
The air was filled with the fragrance of ink and a rotten, disgusting smell of fraud.
It's Lin Xuan's turn.
