Chapter 52 Rule of Man is Better

Bai Yu had no idea that his father was back at home gossiping about him. He first went to the duty room to check in and report for duty.

After discussing with Qian, the Thousand-Household Officer, about recruiting Liu Cunyi and Xia Da into his banner, Bai Yu asked for a leave of absence.

Qian asked, "You half-grown boy, how is it that you have more personal affairs than a middle-aged man like me? What are you up to today?"

Bai Yu replied, "Next month is the prefectural examination. I need to go to the prefectural yamen to register first."

Qian said helplessly, "My advice yesterday was wasted on you. You really won't turn back until you hit a brick wall."

Maintaining his persona, Bai Yu said, "I have to at least try. As the saying goes, heaven does not fail those with a resolute heart!"

With a trace of dissatisfaction, Qian said, "You claim to be an elite imperial guard, but day in and day out, you never focus on proper business. Every time I see you, you're entirely busy with your own personal matters. The only thing you're enthusiastic about is collecting your official salary—you are simply a parasite on the state!"

Bai Yu let out a long sigh and lamented, "I, too, was once filled with fiery passion, wholeheartedly dedicated to serving the country and actively offering advice to the imperial court. Alas, the court does not allow me to contribute my talents, and instead exiled me to the Xi'an Gate. I am deeply helpless in this."

Left speechless, Qian laughed and scolded, "Get lost!"

The prefectural yamen of the capital was the Shuntian Prefecture office, which governed the capital city and several surrounding counties. It was responsible for organizing the prefectural examination, the second tier of the imperial examinations.

Like the yamen of the two metropolitan counties, the prefectural office was also located north of the imperial city. Its internal administration likewise featured the Six Offices, corresponding to the Six Ministries of the imperial court. Examination registration was handled by the Rites Office.

Holding his guarantee certificate, Bai Yu came to the public hall of the Rites Office to inquire about registration procedures. A clerk surnamed Wang received him.

At first, everything was normal. But after reading Bai Yu's guarantee certificate, Clerk Wang did not proceed with the search and registration. Instead, he asked:

"Are you by any chance the banner officer Bai Yu, who was on duty at the Meridian Gate last month and was subsequently transferred to the Xi'an Gate?"

Looking somewhat astonished, Clerk Wang continued, "I never expected that you would actually pass the county examination. I thought it was just someone with the same name."

Aside from a few individuals directly involved, not many people knew that Bai Yu had participated in the county examination. Because the county examination was the lowest tier of the imperial exams, high-ranking figures generally paid no attention to its results. And those who knew of Bai Yu would never have imagined that a young military officer doing quite well in the Embroidered Uniform Guard would bother taking a county exam.

Therefore, when Clerk Wang matched the youth standing before him registering for the prefectural examination with the officer who had nearly cursed two ministers out of the palace, he was truly shocked.

Then, Clerk Wang said to Bai Yu, "Please wait a moment, honored guest. I will be right back."

Bai Yu said with extreme dissatisfaction, "I am merely here to register, and all my paperwork is in complete order. What other issues could you possibly have?"

Instead of answering, Clerk Wang simply turned and ran off.

The trauma deeply embedded in Bai Yu's soul was stirred once more, reminding him of unpleasant encounters with government offices in his past life. Registration was the simplest of minor procedures; why dawdle and drag things out like this?

After a short while, Clerk Wang reappeared in the public hall of the Rites Office.

Having had his time wasted, Bai Yu could no longer suppress his growing irritability. He slapped the desk and shouted, "It's just registration! Can this be processed or not?"

Clerk Wang replied, "I just reported upwards, and Lord Wan, the Prefect, has issued an instruction stating that your county examination scores are suspicious, and you must undergo an on-site examination!"

*Jingzhao* was the respectful title for the head of Shuntian Prefecture, the Prefect; thus, "Lord Wan" referred to the Prefect whose surname was Wan.

Never expecting to be given a hard time just for registering, Bai Yu instantly flared up and retorted, "What right do you people have to question my county exam scores, and what right do you have to examine me during registration?"

Clerk Wang answered, "This is an order from Prefect Wan, and I can only carry it out."

Bai Yu accused him, "Stop playing innocent! Where did you just go? If you hadn't gone meddling and reporting this upwards, would the Prefect have issued such an absurd order?"

Bai Yu was certain that when Clerk Wang had vanished a moment earlier, upon discovering his identity, he had assumed that "delivering intelligence" would curry favor with the Prefect, and so had rushed to report it.

Without answering directly, Clerk Wang merely repeated, "In any case, Prefect Wan has ordered an examination first, followed by registration."

Bai Yu felt as though his temper was about to blow the top of his head off. "Bullshit! There has never been any such rule as taking an on-site test before registration!"

Clerk Wang countered, "If you possess true talent and genuine learning, you shouldn't be so afraid of an examination."

Bai Yu angrily retorted, "This has nothing whatsoever to do with whether I have talent or not! I absolutely refuse to accept such an unreasonable and chaotic order! If there are doubts about the county exam results, you can petition a censorate official to investigate—that is the proper channel. What reason does your prefectural office have to directly overturn the county exam results and deliberately harass a candidate during registration?"

While confronting Clerk Wang, Bai Yu opened his AI assistant and quickly searched for information on the head of Shuntian Prefecture.

Originally thinking it was just a simple registration and not expecting complications, Bai Yu was now forced to look up background information on the fly.

A search revealed yet another infuriating individual.

It turned out that the current Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was named Wan Jiong. A native of Jiangxi province, he was a die-hard partisan of the formidable Grand Secretary Yan Song.

In his early years, when Wan Jiong served as a director in the Bureau of Evaluations within the Ministry of Personnel, he and Fang Xiang, a director in the Bureau of Operations within the Ministry of War, were known as the "civil and military stewards" of Chief Grand Secretary Yan Song. This single detail spoke volumes about his character.

Under normal circumstances, the position of Shuntian Prefecture Prefect carried immense weight and would never pay attention to such a minor matter as prefectural exam registration.

Yet Bai Yu had not anticipated running into a petty scoundrel like Clerk Wang, who, upon seeing his records, had proactively gone to report to the Prefect.

Though Bai Yu did not know what motive prompted this die-hard Yan faction prefect to order an on-the-spot examination of his scholarship, he resolutely refused to accept it!

What difference was there between such groundless suspicion and public humiliation? As the saying goes, a scholar may be killed, but not humiliated.

By institutional design, registration was simply registration, followed by taking the exam after registration. There was no logic in forcing someone to be tested just to register!

Seeing that Bai Yu refused to submit, Clerk Wang sneered contemptuously, "If you don't wish to register, please take your leave."

With that, he sat down, picked up his brush, and pretended to resume his official duties, ignoring Bai Yu entirely.

This attitude of making things difficult for someone and then completely ignoring them once finished triggered Bai Yu's painful memories of the bureaucratic bullying he had suffered in his past life, causing a trans-spatial emotional resonance.

With a crisp *shing*, a flash of cold light gleamed as Bai Yu, now completely enraged, drew the standard-issue saber of a banner officer!

In his past life when he suffered grievances at government offices, he hadn't possessed a weapon in his hands; but in this life, he did!

In a rule-of-law society where even legitimate self-defense could be judged as a mutual brawl, one could only swallow their insults, act timidly, and dare not step out of line!

Yet having transmigrated to a society ruled by men, if he still had to swallow the insults and endure the bullying of this petty yamen clerk, wouldn't his transmigration have been in vain?

If he didn't unleash a heavy blow this once, it would be an insult to the saber issued by the imperial court!

Ancient societies ruled by men did have one advantage: as long as you were in the right, even over-the-counter-behavior could be smoothed over afterward.

Clerk Wang was feigning productivity with his brush and ink, pondering internally whether this incident would earn him a favorable impression in the Prefect's eyes.

Could he secure a promotion from a clerk to a regular official during this year's evaluations?

Suddenly, a flash of cold light crossed the edge of his vision. Before he could even react, he felt a force press his right forearm flat against the desk, immediately followed by a piercing agony shooting from his right arm!

Clerk Wang subconsciously looked down, only to see a steel saber deeply embedded in his right forearm, the blade biting straight into the bone and flesh of his arm!

His right arm was completely paralyzed, and the writing brush slipped from his hand onto the desk! Apart from the agonizing pain, he felt nothing else at all.

The spurting blood stained his sleeve and flowed onto the drafting paper on the desk.