My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 66 - Li Nuo’s Shock

Song Zhe furrowed his brow and asked, "What do you mean?"

"There's nothing..."

Li Nuo murmured in a low voice and continued to focus his attention on Gu Wenhan's evaluation form.

Upon closer inspection, he indeed noticed a problem.

The Ministry of Personnel had many assessment items for officials, such as the number of cases in the jurisdiction over a year, the number of thieves, grain production, marriage numbers, population growth, tax numbers, and so on...

In Gu Wenhan's evaluation, for the first six years, he predominantly ranked "A-" overall, with some projects receiving a "B" rating.

This was quite reasonable since an official's energy is limited, they have different strengths, and it's impossible to excel in all aspects.

But during the three years since his transfer to Qinghe County, all his assessments were either an "A" grade or at least a "Class A", with no "A-".

It made no sense that when he was County Magistrate and County Governor, he couldn't even assist the main official to the best of his abilities, but after becoming the Qinghe County Magistrate, he could suddenly top every category.

Either he truly was a talent capable of overseeing the whole picture, or he was fabricating his data.

Li Nuo wasn't a Ministry of Personnel official and didn't know what consistently having "A" or above in the assessments really meant, so he pointed to that section and asked Song Zhe, "Lord Father-in-law, there's really no problem here?"

Song Zhe glanced at Gu Wenhan's assessment form for the period when he was Qinghe County Magistrate and his eyes flashed with slight fluctuation.

After he scored high in the Imperial Examination, he had been serving in the Ministry of Personnel for nearly twenty years, his insight was extremely sharp, and he could tell at a glance that in these three years, Gu Wenhan likely did not skimp on "travel expenses" for the officials dispatched by the Examination Bureau.

These so-called achievements were merely for show.

He didn't hide his thoughts and said indifferently, "There's a problem, the officials from the Examination Bureau must have been bribed during these three years."

The Ministry of Personnel and Examination Bureau were different departments within the Ministry of Personnel; the performance assessment data was provided by the Examination Bureau.

The Ministry of Personnel was only responsible for making promotions and demotions based on this data.

Just as Li Nuo expected, even the Ministry of Personnel's evaluation couldn't guarantee accuracy.

Li Nuo couldn't discern anything more from Gu Wenhan's dossier. After some thought, he suddenly asked, "Could I also see the dossiers of the counties surrounding Qinghe County?"

Without a word, Song Zhe turned and walked out of the room, then waved again at the Ministry of Personnel Lingshi.

In less than a quarter of an hour, three more dossiers appeared on the table in front of Li Nuo.

The case involving Gu Wenhan that year had wide implications, and the entire officialdom of Xuan State had been shaken, with not a single one of the County Magistrates of the three counties neighboring Qinghe County surviving.

These three dossiers were sealed in the Archives, and Li Nuo would not have had access to them without the help of his Lord Father-in-law.

He quickly went over the three dossiers, confirmed a certain suspicion in his mind, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Song Jiaren had been standing by his side, looking somewhat puzzled as she asked, "What did you find?"

Li Nuo opened the three dossiers and said, "Wife, look here, here, and here. Do you see any differences?"

Song Zhe came over, glanced at them, and then seemed thoughtful.

Song Jiaren looked for a long time but couldn't see any apparent reason and shook her head in bewilderment.

Li Nuo pointed to lines of data and explained, "Before Gu Wenhan became the Qinghe County Magistrate, in the three counties surrounding Qinghe County, both the number of marriages and the number of newborns were steadily increasing, but after Gu Wenhan became the Qinghe County Magistrate, while Qinghe County's performance was outstanding, the surrounding three counties saw a three-year continuous decline in the number of marriages, and the number of newborns also began to decrease slightly, with disappearances increasing yearly, and security assessments hitting a C- every year..."

Gu Wenhan was able to bribe officials in the Ministry of Personnel to make Qinghe County's data look so impressive, but the officials of the other three counties didn't have his financial resources and connections.

If he had been secretly trafficking in good families' women, it was likely that the surrounding counties of Qinghe County could not have been spared.

He was clever, having bribed Ministry of Personnel officials to craft an image of himself as a man of integrity and a capable officer, but he wasn't clever enough to falsify the assessment data for the other three counties as well, leaving such a flaw.

Song Zhe seemed to have realized something and asked, "Are you trying to prove that Gu Wenhan was a corrupt official and that Li Xuanjing killed a man who deserved to be killed?"

Li Nuo didn't speak but nodded his head.

Song Zhe suddenly said, "Then have you ever considered that all this might have been designed by Li Xuanjing three years ago? That those women were taken away by his order, just to purge Xuan State three years later and pave the way for King Chun? As the Minister of Justice, it's too easy for him to frame up anything..."

Li Nuo was slightly startled.

He had not really considered this possibility.

He felt that people, no matter how bad, had a bottom line, at least they couldn't...

At that moment, Song Zhe spoke again in a neutral tone, "However, a small Xuan State isn't worth such a grand scheme for him, and if he wanted to kill someone, he wouldn't need a reason. This Gu Wenhan was indeed a man who deserved to be killed..."

Li Nuo cast a speechless glance at his Lord Father-in-law, thinking about playing games with him. If he wasn't his wife's father, Li Nuo would have really wanted to give him a piece of his mind...

After collecting his thoughts, Li Nuo leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

No matter what others might say, at least in this matter, he hadn't done wrong.

Song Jiaren stood next to Li Nuo, her gaze slightly unfocused.

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Almost every time she thought he was already very smart, he proved that he could be even smarter.

If it weren't for his reminder, even if the evidence was laid out in front of her, she wouldn't be able to see it.

Indeed, the teacher was right; she really was very foolish…

Song Zhe's gaze also lingered on Li Nuo.

At that moment, in Li Nuo, he seemed to see the shadow of that person when he was young.

After personally investigating Gu Wenhan's case, Li Nuo finally felt a weight lift from his heart.

However, since he had come all the way to the Ministry of Personnel, it would be a waste to simply return without taking further advantage.

He looked again at Song Zhe and asked, "Lord Father-in-law, may I have a look at the examination papers of the advanced scholars from the fourteenth year of Zhisheng?"

This time, Song Zhe did not grant his request, but waved his hand and said, "The examination papers of the advanced scholars from the fourteenth year of Zhisheng no longer need to concern you. That batch of papers has already been destroyed by the court; there are no copies left anywhere…"

The fourteenth year of Zhisheng, the treason case involving over ten new advanced scholars, was the case Li Nuo truly wanted to investigate in detail.

Unexpectedly, the court was so secretive about this case that it had even destroyed all the papers.

Li Nuo, seeing no other option, settled for the next best thing and said, "If the papers are gone, there should still be a record of the list of advanced scholars for that year, right?"

Song Zhe did not answer but walked over to a bookshelf on one wall, pulled out a register, and handed it to Li Nuo.

Each department in the court, and the Ministry of Personnel most of all, was deeply involved with the Imperial Examination. The Ministry not only kept records of the names of advanced scholars for each examination but also specifically compiled registers that were updated every four years with each examination.

Li Nuo took the register and casually flipped it open to a page crammed with names.

He quickly located the list for the fourteenth year of Zhisheng.

In that year's Imperial Examination, 460,000 candidates partook, and the court appointed forty-two as advanced scholars.

This was a true one in ten thousand selection, or rather one in ten thousand among the literati. Even those ranked last among the scholars were undisputed protagonists in their own stories.

Li Nuo's eyes instantly locked onto one name on the page.

Because this name was the first on the list.

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Advanced Scholar of the fourteenth year of Zhisheng, Li Xuanjing.

Does that mean, his father, was the top scholar of the fourteenth year of Zhisheng's Imperial Examination?

Li Nuo only knew that his father was an advanced scholar that year, but he hadn't expected such a spectacular accomplishment. To be first among 460,000 scholars was far more prestigious than any modern civil service examination could offer...

However, what shocked Li Nuo even more was still to come.

The Imperial Examination of Daxia rested upon the foundation of Confucianism, testing six disciplines: Rituals, Music, Archery, Horse Riding, Books, and Mathematics. The highest scorer across all Six Arts would be crowned the top scholar, but aside from the overall top scholar, there would also be top scholars for the individual subjects.

The so-called subject-specific top scholars were those who achieved the highest scores in each of the Six Arts, such as the Ritual Department Top Scholar, Music Department Top Scholar, Archery Top Scholar, Mathematics Top Scholar, and so on.

While these subject-specific top scholars only received a symbolic honor, it came with tangible benefits.

For example, if someone's total score across the Six Arts was not sufficient to be ranked among the advanced scholars, but they had the highest score in a single subject, they could still be exceptionally appointed based on their particular skill.

This was to accommodate those who excelled in one discipline, a rarity, but not unheard of, in the history of the examination.

Each examination's top scholar represented the strongest overall abilities, not necessarily being the first in any single subject, and possibly not first in any at all.

But in the fourteenth year of Zhisheng...

Li Nuo looked at the neatly written rows of characters on the paper.

Top Scholar of the Imperial Examination, Li Xuanjing.

Ritual Department Top Scholar, Li Xuanjing.

Music Department Top Scholar, Li Xuanjing.

Archery Top Scholar, Li Xuanjing.

Horse Riding Top Scholar, Li Xuanjing.

Book Department Top Scholar, Li Xuanjing.

Mathematics Top Scholar, Li Xuanjing.

He was both the Imperial Examination top scholar and the top scholar across all Six Arts. One man's name filled seven lines, neatly arranged on the paper, creating a strong visual impact.

Li Nuo's eyes widened.

What was this equivalent to -- akin to a national unified college entrance examination, where one person sat for all subject exams in both Arts and Sciences, and topped every single one...

Was this even humanly possible?

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