Good Man Operation Guide

“There was another war on the border, but it was unusually cold last winter. And even the spring came slowly, so the food couldn’t keep up with the army’s consumption, and the battle was tough. I heard that they were going to make peace with the Huns and that the Hun envoys would arrive at the capital before long.”

“When I was drinking with a few friends in private, everyone said that the Huns would send their Prince to discuss peace between the two countries, so His Majesty would surely send a Prince to greet them. Although none of the princes have been nominated to become the Crown Prince, when the time comes, I’m sure that the ‘Crown Prince’ would be the one whom His Majesty chooses to send down.”

Lin Shiheng, who had always been calm, gently took a step slightly to the side. “Where did this news come from?”

“I don’t know, in any case, according to what was said, right now almost all the courtiers are saying the same thing, so I guess it must be so. After all, although we have fought with the Huns several times and their country is also considered our enemy, this time it’s to discuss a peace treaty, so the necessary etiquette must not be done carelessly. Since the Huns have sent a prince, our country will naturally also send a prince to welcome them.”

Or so Zhao He said, but he still felt a bit uneasy, so he went to his friend and asked, “Brother Lin, do you see anything wrong?”

“Not really.”

Lin Shiheng smiled. “I just think the rumors started too fast.”

“Sigh, Brother Lin always calls in sick, so naturally you wouldn’t know. When I hadn’t been elected yet, I thought that all the ministers of the court were serious people, but when I finally entered the Hanlin Academy, I realized that we are all the same.”

Zhao He had always known that Lin Shiheng was meticulous, so he was relieved when the other had said there was nothing wrong with it. Zhao He then continued, “By the way, I also met Hu Chuan last time. It was really strange that he didn’t go back to his hometown even though he didn’t pass the exam. Instead, he bought a mansion in the capital city, and when he saw me, he even looked quite smug. It is obvious that I’m an official now while he is only a citizen, so what did he have to be so proud of?”

Lin Shiheng naturally knew why Hu Chuan was proud.

The prince he followed was the Third Prince, and now the First and Second Princes have been successively removed from the race, it is the Third Prince who now has the greatest chance of ascending the throne.

Compared with a small official who had only just joined the Imperial Academy, if the Prince he followed became the Crown Prince or even the Emperor, well, how could Hu Chuan not become excited or proud?

As soon as the First Prince and the Second Prince fell from power and influence, many people, who wanted to make contributions to the new dragon, started to set their eyes on the remaining three Princes. However, the Third Prince has a lot of talented people by his side, while Hu Chuan was a mere Juren… So how much exactly could he help the Third Prince?

It depends. But it won’t be long before he would become forgotten by the Third Prince.

With his temper though, he may not be willing.

Unwilling to be forgotten and abandoned, then he may do something… Hoping to help the Third Prince.

But he was just a small Juren, what could he do?

Naturally, it would be necessary to start with the people around him.

“Take the bait.”

Zhao He was still chattering about the gossip he had heard when he suddenly heard this sentence, he quickly looked at the fishing rod in his friend’s hand.

The line was still calmly stretched out, and the lake was very tranquil, a dragonfly had even landed at the end of the fishing rod.

“Where’s the bait?”

Lin Shiheng smiled, his smile was still shy and gentle.

“It’s going to have to wait.”

“An impatient fish will always bite.”

Immersed in the exchange of feelings with his son, the Emperor went to court today with the intention of dismissing the court if there was nothing important to be decided. But as soon as the dragon seat was warmed up, a big bomb was thrown at him from below.

The content was easy to understand.

The fuma of Princess Huyang has been suspected of cheating during the palace examination.

The Emperor’s face immediately sank.

Recently, he has been very regretful. When Huyang needed to get married, he only chose a random fuma for her from a group of commoners.

At that time, his train of thought was very clear. Nancheng was definitely going to be given up in the end, but there was Huyang and Hu’an’s maternal uncle in Nancheng. If the other died, it would be difficult for these two children who were not close to himself to not hate him as a father.

In this case, it was better to get rid of all of Shen Hu’an’s support from the beginning and let him lose his power. Then even if there was an ill intention in his heart in the future, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Therefore, he chose a commoner’s child for Huyang as her husband, while saying that it was because Huyang loved scholars.

Although he felt a little guilty, he only felt guilty for a few days before letting it go, but who would have thought that things would have thought this world could have been so twisted and complicated?

Ever since he found that he had misunderstood Consort Liu and that Consort Liu had been thinking of him until her death, the Emperor has transferred all his love onto the children she gave birth to.

Shen Hu’an lived in the palace, which facilitated his loving teaching, but Shen Huyang never returned to the palace since she got married. At first, the Emperor thought that his daughter hated him as a father, but it was only after checking that he realized that the fuma, whom he randomly chose, turned out to be a weak scholar who was always on sick leave!

Huyang loved to go for an outing when she was still in the palace, but now she would always be worried about the Fuma’s body and almost never leaves the residence anymore.

The Emperor regretted it.

He remembered that when Huyang was born, he had promised Consort Liu that he would protect his daughter’s well-being for the rest of her life.

It turned out to be a slip of the tongue.

He only hated that it was too late for him to discover the truth. And now, even regret couldn’t bring Huyang directly back to the palace.

Fortunately, the fuma was in poor health, and he would die before long. When that time comes, he would definitely welcome Huyang back to the palace in style, and then carefully choose a new husband for her!

In the Emperor’s imagination, everything was beautiful, but he didn’t expect that even before he could wait until the fuma could die, the news of his cheating in the imperial examination has already come to light.

He was instantly furious and stared at the impeaching ministers with gloomy eyes for several moments, taking down names and faces before asking, “What evidence do you have for this?”

Since the man stood up, he had certainly prepared evidence.

He immediately presented Lin Shiheng’s ranking and articles when the other was a scholar and Juren.

It could be said that Fuma’s previous writing style was not bad, but it was only average, so how could he write such a good essay like the one on the exam?

Moreover, he really did find that there was a leak of the questions before the exam, and even caught the names of the officials who were involved and the students who bought the questions.

On the list, Fuma’s name, Lin Shiheng, was written impressively.

Shen Hu’an, who was allowed to go to court, frowned as early as when the official who reported this stood up. So when he saw that the man was eloquent and even said that Lin Shiheng should be deprived of the Fuma’s official position and exiled thousands of miles according to the law, Shen Hu’an couldn’t help but stand up.

“Emperor Father, I was taught by the Fuma, he is very talented and a good man, he definitely wouldn’t do such dirty things. Begging Emperor Father to please make a thorough investigation.”

Contrary to what one might expect from the Emperor’s anger, he simply read it and tossed it aside, “This matter should indeed be treated with caution. It will be discussed later.”

He had to first find out whether Fuma really cheated or not, and if he did, at least for now he was still Huyang’s Fuma, so he had to suppress this matter. Otherwise, it would definitely affect Huyang and thus affect his plan to make Shen Hu’an the Crown Prince.

Others might not know what was in the Emperor’s thoughts, but some of the veteran officials – who have been in court for a long time – would know that the Emperor was going to stand on the side of Princess Huyang’s Fuma and suddenly became silent.

But though they did not speak up, the impeacher, however, refused to let up and insisted on the Emperor immediately disposing of the cheaters, otherwise, it would be unfair to those who had been suppressed, who were obviously gifted with real talent.

This group of old ministers was almost on their knees.

Everyone knew that this kind of thing must be investigated, but the Emperor has made it clear that he wanted to discuss it later, yet this man was still questioning like this. Didn’t this mean he simply wanted to annoy the Emperor?

What’s more, it also involved the fuma, which was a royal household affair, especially since Princess Huyang was the elder sister of the Fifth Prince! The Fifth Prince had recently become favored! These other ministered didn’t know where this rookie came from, so they rushed up.