Chapter Nine: Tangled Like a Web

Holding this unparalleled masterpiece, a cultural treasure, Bai Yu found it difficult to gauge his emotions.

A rather abstract question flickered through his mind: If, in his past life five hundred years from now, someone got caught tampering with this painting, how many years would they be sentenced to?

After a long moment of excitement, Bai Yu forced himself to calm down. If this painting turned out to be a forgery, all his excitement would have been for nothing.

However, he was completely clueless about calligraphy and painting authentication, so he turned to AI for research, seeking indirect evidence.

The search yielded a heap of unofficial histories, which roughly stated that Prime Minister Yan Song once demanded the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" from Wang Shizhen’s father, Wang Yu.

Wang Yu gave Prime Minister Yan a counterfeit, enraging Yan and his son.

Last year, Wang Yu was defeated during his governorship, and Yan Shifan took advantage of the situation to implicate Wang Yu, leading to Wang Yu’s conviction and execution—the very public case that had just been announced.

Therefore, the painting truly had some connection to Wang Shizhen. Moreover, judging from Wang Shizhen’s tone today, the likelihood of the painting being genuine was quite high.

Liu Cunyi, seeing Bai Yu staring blankly at the painting, came over and asked, "This painting must be quite valuable, right?"

Bai Yu retorted, "How do you know?"

Liu replied, "It’s simple logic. If this were a cheap item, how could it have brought death upon Governor Wang?"

"Indeed, it’s very precious," Bai Yu sighed. To possess this painting five centuries from now would mean unimaginable wealth and status.

Liu grinned with delight. "Hide it first. Once the heat dies down, take it to the City God Temple fair and sell it."

In today’s capital, temple fairs were a booming commercial model—regular markets held around large temples. The City God Temple fair nearby was among the largest, opening on the first, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth of each month.

At these fairs, not only food and daily goods were sold, but also a vast amount of calligraphy and painting was traded.

Liu added, "Too bad it’s not the most valuable Tang Bohu erotic painting. With such a large scroll, selling it for ten taels of silver wouldn’t be a problem."

Bai Yu was speechless.

To sell the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" for just a few taels? Best not let Liu know too many details.

Finally, Bai Yu put the painting away. "You don’t understand this painting. I’ll keep it for now and see how things develop."

Originally, Liu Cunyi planned to recruit musclemen in the Xiyuan Alley area, but considering he had just publicly snatched a painting, he decided to lay low at home for a while.

After borrowing some provisions from neighbors, the two settled in quietly.

Two days later, Bai Yu found an excuse to go out early and waited outside the main gate of the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters for Shi Jingli.

Passing through the front courtyard, he spotted the thousand-household commander who called himself Yan Hu.

Yan was furiously scolding his subordinate flag guards, and Bai Yu faintly caught the keyword "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" again.

At the administrative office of the Experience Bureau, Shi Jingli took out a document and said to Bai Yu, "This is a certificate proving you are officially registered with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, with no record of evading duties. Here it is for you."

Bai Yu quickly accepted it, gratefully saying, "I will never forget Your Honor’s great kindness."

With this certificate, he could register at the county office to take the county-level imperial examination.

Those familiar with the imperial examination system knew there were three stages: the county exam, the prefectural exam, and the provincial (or circuit) exam, each requiring you to pass the previous one.

Bai Yu had already tested AI’s ability to write the unique examination literary style—eight-legged essays—and it was flawless.

Moreover, since the eight-legged essay had been standardized for nearly two centuries, it had become formulaic and templated—perfect for AI.

As for exam strategy, Bai Yu had long decided to rely on speed.

The county exam was not anonymous; the first to submit the paper traditionally got a chance to interact directly with the examiner and gain their approval.

With little risk in the essay content, Bai Yu’s main focus now was to drill his handwriting.

Just as Bai Yu was about to take his leave, Shi Jingli suddenly asked, "Have you been hiding outside these past two or three days without returning home?"

Facing someone who knew his situation, Bai Yu had no reason to deny it. "Yes, that’s true."

Shi Jingli said, "Our bureau sent officials to the Elephant Training Grounds to verify the situation and happened to learn something.

Your father, Bai He, was injured by an elephant, apparently his left leg was trampled and broken. You should go home and check on him as soon as possible."

What? Bai Yu was stunned by the news. He had only been away for a couple of days, and such terrible news had already come?

He had just barely cracked open an opportunity to advance in life—how could his father be dragging him down again?

Could it be that fate truly specialized in breaking the weakest links and choosing the most unfortunate?

At that moment, Bai Yu had no mood to chat further with Shi Jingli and hurriedly took his leave.

After leaving the headquarters, Bai Yu thought it over and decided to first register at the county office, making matters official, then return home.

He had been worn down by life’s hardships and did not want any more surprises.

Otherwise, if his father flew into a rage and tore up the certificate, how would he cope?

Administratively, the capital was divided into two counties, collectively called the Capital Counties.

The city’s central axis was the boundary: the western half was Wanping County, the eastern half was Daxing County. The Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters and the Elephant Training Grounds were within Wanping’s jurisdiction.

So Bai Yu went to the Wanping County office located northwest of the Imperial City and found the ritual office responsible for the exams.

After verifying his certificate, registering his name, origin, and appearance, they issued him an admission ticket. Everything went smoothly.

By the time Bai Yu returned to Cheng’en Alley, it was dusk.

Old Li, a bricklayer who lived in the back room beside the main gate, stopped Bai Yu and said, "Your father was seriously injured! But just now a hundred-household official came and dragged your father back to the Elephant Training Grounds."

Bai Yu was dumbfounded. What the hell was going on? Could life get any more chaotic?

Old Li continued, "They say your father was found to have embezzled and withheld the elephants’ rations! That’s why the elephant went mad from hunger and injured him."

"That’s utter nonsense!" Bai Yu retorted furiously. "He must be the victim of a conspiracy!"

It was obvious—if his father were really corrupt and withholding rations, how could their family have remained so impoverished?

The daily feed for one elephant—the beans, wheat, and dry grass—was equivalent to a low-ranking soldier’s monthly salary.

If Bai He had dared to embezzle, even a little, the Bai family’s daily expenses would at least have doubled.

What troubled Bai Yu more was an even graver problem.

If his father was successfully framed and officially convicted of embezzlement, it could seriously affect his own eligibility to take the exam.

To say nothing else, under the Ming military hereditary system, if his father was punished and dismissed from his post, Bai Yu would be forced to take his place.

At that point, Bai Yu would no longer be a discharged soldier free to make his own way, but an active-duty soldier serving the court.

But active-duty soldiers were forbidden from participating in the imperial examinations. That would be a terrible predicament.