Chapter Sixty-One Refusal Again

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  Thank you for 'Liu Yun Xi Yu' dada's generous reward.

  Give 'sxgfgc' a big thumbs up, you're really generous!

  Urgent recruitment in the group

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  Wu Fangyuan was even more furious, thinking that you were inexplicably going to strip me of my well-deserved title of champion scholar, and now you're again using strong words to go to the Emperor to accuse me of being arrogant, do you really think I, Wu Fangyuan, am a soft persimmon that can be easily bullied?!

  Wu Fangyuan was furious, slamming his fist on the table and shouting loudly: "Zhao Yuankui, others may be afraid of you, but I'm not! If you insist on giving the fake champion to Chu Han today, we'll take it to court, from the Supreme Court to the Imperial Cabinet, and all the way to the Emperor himself. I want to let the Emperor, the officials, and the whole world see if this Buddhist theory is still necessary!" A commoner's anger can splatter blood three feet high, a scholar's anger can make corpses float for ten thousand miles. Wu Fangyuan's extreme rage and thunderous shout stunned everyone on and off the stage.

  Zhao Yuankui's face turned iron-green in an instant, his eyes almost spewing fire. His icy gaze fixed on Wu Fangyuan as he gritted his teeth and said, "Hmph, if you want to go, then go! I'll announce the return of the Void State right now!" After finishing speaking, Zhao Yuankui stood up with a belly full of raging flames, ready to storm off in front.

  Wu Fangyuan's face turned red with rage, staring at Zhao Yuankui and saying urgently: "Fine, fine, I'll go right now! I don't believe the Emperor will let you get away with this!" After speaking, he quickly walked north.

  Wei Zhuo only heard Wu Fangyuan's few words, but still gathered some information. No matter what Wu Fangyuan's intentions were in defending him, he was very grateful to him in his heart.

  Chu Han was even more perplexed, the Chen family was just a small merchant, Zhao Yuan Kui was a Confucian scholar, and Confucians disliked merchants the most. He couldn't understand why Zhao Yuan Kui had to give him the fake Yuanyuan.

  Zhao Yuankui saw Wu Fangyuan take a step to leave, and he just hummed coldly, not stopping him at all. When it comes to imperial favor, he is not inferior to anyone!

  Wu Fangyuan stormed off in a huff, coldly snorting as he strode towards the northern staircase.

  "I've met two Hanlin!" Wu Fangyuan had just taken two steps when Fu Jiong hastily ran up, saluting the two with a bow.

  Wu Fangyuan's face was as black as coal, but he couldn't lose his composure in front of the students. Suppressing his anger, he asked, "What is it?"

  Fu Jiong was overjoyed and didn't care about Wu Fangyuan's expression, hastily pulled out a stack of rice paper from his pocket and handed it over, saying respectfully: "Wu Compiler, this is my teacher's poem, please critique it."

  Wu Fangyuan was furious, but he didn't want to lose face, so he suppressed his anger and took it over. He had intended to glance at it briefly and then return it casually, but as soon as he looked at it, his expression changed, and he began to examine each page carefully.

  As soon as he finished, Wu Fangyuan's originally dark face immediately turned extremely excited and delighted, looking at Fu Yan with a big smile: "Hmm, not bad, you can go back now." After saying that, he didn't even care about Fu Yan and immediately turned his head to walk towards Zhao Yuankui.

  Zhao Yuankui still had a hint of hesitation in his heart, and he sat there without moving. Wu Fangyuan walked over, a stack of rice paper was thrown directly at him, and he hummed: "This is Wei Xiao's poem, take a look."

  Zhao Yuankui slightly furrowed his brow, casting a cold glance at Wu Fangyuan who had returned. With an expressionless face, he stretched out his hand to receive it, and his eyes scanned it lightly, intending to perfunctorily deal with the matter. But as he looked, his gaze changed involuntarily, and the colder his face became, until finally even his normally calm and collected face couldn't help but reveal a hint of **.

  After finishing the last page, Zhao Yuankui stood up with a 'hiss', his eyes sternly looking at Wu Fangyuan and said in a deep voice: "The more talented this child is, the more I cannot let him enter the imperial court!"

  Wu Fangyuan was so angry that he almost burst into a rage, his eyes wide with anger. His chest heaved violently as he shouted: "Fine, fine, fine! Zhao Yuankui, you just wait, I'll go see the Emperor right now!" With that, he strode off towards the north.

  Zhao Yuankui let out a cold hum and was about to stand up to announce the winner.

  At this moment, a green-clad figure suddenly appeared not far from Wu Fangyuan.

  Wu Fangyuan suppressed his anger, took a few steps forward, and looked at the elaborately dressed servant girl with furrowed brows. In a low voice, he said: "What is it that you want?" But in his heart, he was already cursing the gatekeeper who had let her in, thinking to himself: What kind of person are they letting in here!

  Lan'er looked at Wu Fangyuan's furious face, pouting slightly with her small mouth, feeling discontented in her heart. Her little face still smiled as she said: "My mistress asked me to bring this for you, on behalf of Wei Gongzi." As she spoke, a gold-embossed visiting card was handed over.

  Wu Fangyuan was dissatisfied, but seeing that it was a golden letter of appointment, she hesitated for a moment before suppressing her anger and accepting it. Her chest heaved as she opened it, and her expression changed instantly.

  The Minister of Personnel, Wang Yuanhui.

  Wu Fangyuan's eyes sparkled, and he looked at the column in front of him, thinking about Wang Yuanhui's identity. Wu Fangyuan suddenly burst out laughing, his face full of smiles, and said to the column: "You go back and tell your young lady that I thank her on behalf of Wei Zhao."

  Lan'er didn't know the relationship between the Hanlin in front of her and Wei Zhao, so she responded with a low, puzzled voice.

  Wu Fangyuan held up the name card and turned to face Zhao Yuankui, who had already taken several steps forward, smiling and saying: "Brother Zhao, wait a moment."

  Zhao Yuankui slightly furrowed his brow, not wanting to get entangled with Wu Fangyuan, but also couldn't ignore him. He stopped in his tracks, turned his head with a cold expression and said in a deep voice: "The Emperor is right behind us, Brother Wu surely knows the way?"

  Everyone under the stage was watching the stage, although they couldn't hear the conversation between the two, but it was clear that Zhao and Wu had a dispute, and the reason for the dispute was also obvious, that is, the ownership of the fake champion!

  Weizhuo's championship was supposed to be a foregone conclusion, but the unexpected turn of events on stage left them all bewildered and whispering among themselves.

  Wu Fangyuan smiled and looked at Zhao Yuankui, as if the one who had just stormed off in anger was not him. He politely said: "Brother Zhao, don't be impatient, take a look at this first, then we'll talk." As he spoke, he handed over the golden invitation card.

  Zhao Yuankui looked at the golden invitation card, sneered in his heart. These Hanlin scholars, which one of them didn't have dozens of such golden invitation cards in their hands? Since Wu Fangyuan had handed it over, he couldn't not accept it either. With a cold expression, he took it and opened it with a hint of mockery. But the sneer on his face immediately froze.

  The Minister of Personnel, Wang Yuanhui.

  The Shangshu of the Ministry of Personnel, Zhao Yuankui, never took him seriously and never had. Even when Hanlin saw the old men of the Grand Council, they were on an equal footing. But Wang Yuanhui was an exception, he was the proud disciple of the current Grand Councilor, the son-in-law of King Jin, and more importantly, he was the champion appointed by the emperor five years ago!

  The emperor reigned for twenty years, the only one!

  Zhao Yuankui's hands trembled slightly, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

  Wu Fangyuan's face was full of smiles, his smiling face was stiff.

  "Haha, Wang Yuanhui is such an arrogant person. If you slap him in the face today, it's equivalent to slapping Prime Minister Shou and King Jin at the same time. Even the Emperor himself can't save you!"

  Zhao Yuankui's mind was in turmoil, his eyes darting back and forth. He naturally wouldn't think that Wang Yuanhui would send him a humble golden visiting card, but whoever handed it to him would be doing so on Wang Yuanhui's behalf. If he refused now, he would undoubtedly offend this rising star of the imperial court with a strong background. More importantly, there were also the two great mountains behind him.

  This was not done by Zhao Yuan Kui without hesitation and caution.

  After a long silence, Zhao Yuanke's face sank as he stared at Wu Fangyuan, his eyes flashing with severity. "I'll explain it to the Prime Minister myself," he said coldly. "If the King of Jin blames me, I'll go to the Emperor and clear things up! Hmph, you think I'd let Wei Zhao pass? Don't even think about it!" With that, he flung his sleeve and strode towards the South Pavilion.