Volume Two: Adults and Small Men - Chapter Ninety-Five: Long Since Arranged

After helping Zhang Cong out of his predicament once more, Huang Ming had a thorough discussion with him. He outlined his thoughts on how to refute the courtiers' argument that the Jiajing Emperor should inherit the imperial lineage as a son, and then took his leave.

It was not until they had left the alley and boarded their carriage that Qi Changfeng, who had remained mostly silent throughout, finally asked, "Young Master, why didn't you offer to find another residence for Master Zhang? Or simply invite him to stay at our estate temporarily?"

From his perspective, Huang Ming was quite generous and magnanimous—not only toward Zhang Cong, but toward himself as well.

Although their original agreement was twenty taels of silver per month, in reality, through various pretexts and generous tips over the days they had spent together, he had long since received well over a hundred taels. Why not follow through completely today?

Huang Ming smiled and said, "This is where dealing with different people requires a tailored approach. You and he are different after all, Changfeng."

"How are we different? Just because I am a military man?"

"That is part of it. You are bold, straightforward, and unconstrained by trivialities, so I treat you with absolute sincerity. Naturally, giving you a bit more silver so you can live more comfortably is never an issue."

Huang Ming patiently explained, "However, this Master Zhang is not like that. Although he and I address each other as friends, at best it is merely a cooperation; speaking our hearts to one another is still far off.

"With such a relationship, the greatest taboo is self-righteousness—assuming one is in a superior position and offering too much financial help with the attitude of bestowing charity. As the saying goes: a measure of rice breeds gratitude, a basket of rice breeds enmity. Too much is as bad as too little.

"If I were to give him a residence, or even invite him to live in my manor, what would that make him? If Zhang Cong should someday become a high-ranking official in the imperial court, do you think he would feel grateful for such arrangements, or would he develop hidden misgivings because I witnessed his destitute past?"

Qi Changfeng was left utterly bewildered by this explanation. After a long moment, he could not help muttering softly under his breath, "You scholars have far too many thoughts in your heads. I simply cannot understand them."

Huang Ming did not pay close heed to the muttering, as his mind had already shifted to another thought. There was yet another reason why he had not done so: he only wanted to secretly nudge Zhang Cong to stir up the beginning of the Great Rites Controversy, rather than entangling his own entire self within it.

If he were truly to bring Zhang Cong back to the Huang residence, it would likely take less than a day for both himself and his old man to instantly become targets for everyone.

Huang Ming's reasoning was sound, but sometimes things do not go the way one wishes just by trying to stay out of them.

Shortly after he returned home, a letter was delivered from the Imperial Academy.

It mentioned only two matters. First, after a summer break of more than a month, classes at the Imperial Academy would resume in a few days on the ninth day of the seventh month, and all students were requested to attend.

Second, by imperial decree, a tribute examination would be held on the eighth day of the ninth month of this year.

At that time, not only would a group of scholars who had yet to pass the metropolitan examination be permitted to take part, but fifty outstanding students would also be selected from the Imperial Academy to sit for the exam together.

Those who excelled in the tribute examination would be exempt from the palace and metropolitan examinations, or other routine channels of official appointment, and would be directly appointed as court officials, stepping straight into officialdom.

Upon reading the contents of the letter, Huang Ming fell into deep thought.

The first matter went without saying: the summer holiday was over, and the new semester was beginning.

The second matter, however, carried significant implications. Clearly, the Jiajing Emperor was finally following the advice Huang Ming had given him face-to-face last year, intending to cultivate a fresh faction of power outside the orthodox officials of the imperial examination system.

Although it was still an examination, the initiative was now firmly in the hands of the Jiajing Emperor. Those who attained official posts through this tribute examination would naturally become the emperor's true confidants.

At the same time, Huang Ming recalled the slip of paper his old man had brought out earlier—the one he had looked at and then cast aside. It bore two completely disjointed sentences: "The governance of Emperor Wen made Han strong," and "The Master said: 'He who for three years makes no change from the way of his father may be called filial.'"

One had to admit that as the Great Ming's supreme riddler, the Jiajing Emperor possessed a natural talent.

To be able to concoct such a thing at only sixteen years old.

Fortunately, Huang Ming was not slow-witted, and he quickly deduced that these two phrases were likely the essay topics for a certain upcoming examination.

Yet at the time, he could not figure out what these exam questions had to do with him, nor how they could possibly be considered a reward.

Now, combined with this tribute examination, the answer was finally clear: the Jiajing Emperor had leaked the exam questions to him well in advance.

Good grief! As the chief examiner and the emperor to boot, he was actually cheating and leaking the test questions himself.

Was there still any rule of law? Was there still any heavenly justice?

Oh, wait. The one benefiting from this was none other than himself. Never mind, then.

Realizing this, Huang Ming scratched his head. The Jiajing Emperor had indeed taken great pains, allowing him to prepare early on.

The problem, however, was that even with the questions in hand, he had no idea how to answer them.

Clearly, both of these topics were meant for the Eight-Legged Essay. To say nothing of composing one, he might not even be able to read through and comprehend a single existing essay smoothly.

This craft required a decade of bitter study and rigorous practice to master, and trying to learn it from scratch now was far too late.

As for finding someone else to ghostwrite it, whether their work would be outstanding enough and whether it would suit the emperor's taste was one thing. More crucially, this matter was an extreme secret and must never be leaked casually.

Once he found someone unreliable, the moment the exam questions became public after the tribute examination, people would piece it together, and he would be utterly ruined.

"Is there anyone around me who can help me write these two essays in the Eight-Legged style while ensuring they won't leak the secret?" Huang Ming pondered for a long while.

No one in the household could possibly do it. Although a few stewards and accountants came from scholarly backgrounds, at most they were holders of the lowest degree, and their essay-writing skills were bound to be mediocre.

"Why not ask my teacher?" Huang Ming quickly thought of another candidate, but immediately dismissed the idea. "No. My teacher's integrity is certainly trustworthy, but he would inevitably question me closely. What would I say then? If I answered honestly, he probably wouldn't help me; that is his principle of scholarship!"

"What about Zhang Cong? That won't do either. I just said one shouldn't confide too deeply in a shallow friendship; how could I discuss such a matter in detail with him..."

Yet apart from these two, Huang Ming truly could not think of a suitable candidate for the moment.

With no other choice—who told him never to cultivate close relationships with genuine scholars anyway?

The two offices closely tied to him, the Imperial Academy and the Brocade Guard, were mostly filled with people devoid of true learning. Asking them to beat someone or kill someone was easy, but writing an Eight-Legged Essay would cost them their lives.

"There has to be someone, there has to be... Who could it be..." Huang Ming racked his brains yet again. Finally, after pulling out several strands of his own hair, a slender and graceful figure flashed through his mind: "Right, her! She might be able to help me, and given the relationship between us, I probably don't need to worry about her spreading the truth about wildly... hopefully!"

The person he thought of was, naturally, the refined, gentle, well-mannered, and immensely knowledgeable daughter of the Xu family, Xu Yunzhi.