Chapter 305: The Difficulty of Arithmetic Problems

The Duan family was indeed not idle.

Since they couldn't directly approach Su Qingyao, they approached Su Qingyao's wife, Ao Shi.

Because her mother-in-law, Old Madam Zhao's eye condition was getting worse, to the point where she could barely see people, Ao Shi, who had always been filial, went to Jingci Temple to burn incense.

She prayed for the Bodhisattva to bless her mother-in-law with good health.

As it turned out, when she was coming down the mountain, she "happened" to meet the Duan family's Second Madam, Yin Shi.

Yin Shi affectionately took her hand, calling her "sister" this and "sister" that, chatting about this and that for a long time.

Finally, she stubbornly steered the conversation to Duan Xiu.

She said Duan Xiu had been clever since childhood and had drunk his fill of ink following his grandfather, full of ambition to take the top spot, but who knew a "Cheng Yaojin" would pop up halfway and snatch his ranking away.

She said if Old Master Duan knew, he would surely be heartbroken, and so on.

How could Ao Shi not understand the subtext?

She was immediately displeased.

"What snatching? The other person wrote a better essay than your nephew, so the top spot naturally belongs to him. Even if Old Master Duan is heartbroken, it's because his own child isn't good enough to beat the other person. What does that have to do with anyone else?"

She smiled without warmth, "Second Madam saying it like this makes it sound like you are blaming my husband for being unfair in his judgment and deliberately not naming your nephew as first."

The Duan Second Madam was choked to the point of almost rolling her eyes.

She hurriedly tried to make amends, "Sister, you misunderstood. That's not what I meant..."

Ao Shi had a straightforward personality and had no patience for her rambling, "Just say what you mean directly. I still have to rush back to serve my mother-in-law her medicine."

The Duan Second Madam had no choice but to lay it out.

"Please, Sister, go back and tell Master Su that the Education Commissioner, Master Bi, will soon be inspecting our Fengyang Prefecture. Master Bi is our old master's favorite student, and the person he respects most in his life, besides the Emperor, is our old master."

"He will definitely supervise this imperial examination well and will never allow anyone to engage in favoritism or fraud."

After saying this, she prepared to leave.

After walking a few steps, as if remembering something, she suddenly turned back, "Right, Sister, our Xiu said that in previous years, the arithmetic problems Master Su set were too simple and really lacked challenge. This year, it would be better to set them harder so that true talent can be selected."

That night, after Ao Shi returned, she told her husband everything.

Su Qingyao had been in the officialdom for many years, and as soon as he heard it, he understood the Duan family's meaning.

"Heh, threatening me?" He sneered, "The Education Commissioner inspecting the imperial examination is to prevent favoritism and fraud, not to escort the Duan family!"

Ao Shi looked at her husband with admiration, "Master is right. We act according to the rules, so we aren't afraid of them."

Su Qingyao paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back.

Afraid? Of course, he wasn't afraid.

The Duan family had extensive connections, but his Su family wasn't easy to bully either; they had people above them too.

It was just that some trouble was best avoided if possible. They all worked in the same place, and they would see each other constantly; it wouldn't be good to have a falling out.

Furthermore, if the Education Commissioner really stood on the Duan family's side and wanted to pick on him, it wouldn't be impossible.

After all, nothing in this world is perfect.

But if he were to close his eyes and favor Duan Xiu, he would feel very uncomfortable in his heart, even feeling a bit sad.

From the moment they were born, the inequality in resource allocation between poor scholars and noble children was destined, and now they didn't even have a chance for a fair exam.

How unfair!

"Master, stop pacing. You're making me dizzy." Ao Shi yawned, leaning against the head of the bed, drowsy, "If it really doesn't work, just do as they say and make the problems harder..."

A single sentence awakened the dreamer.

Su Qingyao suddenly widened his squinty eyes.

That's right, why hadn't he thought of this earlier?

The reason the Duan family hinted for him to make the arithmetic harder in the second round was that they were certain Jiang Zhan came from a small county and couldn't possibly have had any powerful teachers, so no matter how good his arithmetic was, it would be limited.

But Duan Xiu was different.

He had Old Master Duan teaching him personally, and he had those great masters from the Imperial Academy as teachers, plus his own talent; no matter what, he would be a huge step ahead of Jiang Zhan.

In this way, as long as the difficulty of the problems was high enough, Jiang Zhan would likely be unable to solve most of them.

He might even hand in a blank paper.

Then there would be no suspense; Duan Xiu would definitely make a comeback, become the new first place, and the position of Prefectural Top Scholar would naturally be his for the taking!

Truly insidious...

Su Qingyao chuckled, a cunning look flashing in his eyes.

You have your plan, I have my ladder. You want hard problems? Fine, I will grant your wish.

It was time to bring out his "treasure" of problems.

Those were the problems Uncle Si Zhu Xian gave him back in the day; even arithmetic masters couldn't solve them. Let's see how capable you are, Duan Xiu.

If it's hard, let it be hard for everyone. I'll make it so hard it kills you!

Since neither of you can solve it, it could be considered another kind of fairness. ===== CHAPTER 306 =====