I was chased by my sickly junior brother who had two lives

At dawn, the red lacquer gate of the Imperial Examination Hall in the capital slowly opened, and many examinees entered in a line, carrying their dreams and worries. Some of them looked solemn, while others were determined to win, all of them were doing their best for this imperial examination that concerned their fate.

Chen Jue was dressed in a blue shirt, with an upright posture and a look of majesty and prudence in his eyes. As the chief examiner of the imperial examination, he shouldered the important task of selecting talents for the Great Chu, and he knew that there could be no mistakes in this imperial examination.

The examination room was completely silent, with only the rustling sound of the pen tip rubbing against the paper. Chen Jue paced slowly in the examination room, his sharp eyes carefully examining every corner, not missing any unusual trace.

However, cheaters always hope to get away with it under the strict supervision. Their cheating methods are varied and extremely covert and clever.

Some candidates are skilled in micro-carving, and they carefully carve rice-sized ivory sheets into thin slices, and then use special potions to write the answers in very fine text. Then they hide the tiny ivory pieces in the secret compartment of a hairpin. The hairpin looks exquisite and gorgeous, but it actually has a lot of secrets inside.

During the exam, they pretended to fix their hair and took out the ivory piece, and secretly examined it with a special magnifying glass under the weak light. The examinee's eyes were nervous and cunning, beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, and his fingers trembled slightly, for fear that he would be exposed if he was not careful.

Some candidates also used the phototropism of insects to transmit information. They set up a special light source device outside the examination room in advance, and the flashing frequency of the light source corresponds to different answer codes. In the examination room, they put a trained small flying insect in their sleeves. The wings of the small flying insect were coated with special fluorescent powder, which would emit extremely weak light in the dark.

When the light outside the examination room flickers, the small flying insects will fly around the examinees' test papers because of their attraction to light. The examinees interpret the answers based on the flight trajectory of the small flying insects and the rhythm of their wings. At this moment, a examinee is staring at his sleeves, his face is nervous, his lips are unconsciously slightly pursed, and his heart is beating like a drum.

Some candidates even adopted an ingenious method called "water shadow transmission". They placed a wooden box coated with special grease in a hidden water source near the examination room, such as an ancient well.

The wooden box contained a piece of gauze filled with answers, which would not get wet when in contact with water, and the writing would not smudge. During the exam, the candidate asked to fetch drinking water from the well, under the pretext of feeling unwell.

When leaning over to get water, he used the reflection on the water surface to see the answer on the gauze in the wooden box. A hint of subtle expectation flashed in the eyes of the examinee, and his hand trembled slightly when he took the scoop.

Chen Jue was on patrol and was keenly aware of these anomalies. He calmly signaled the invigilators beside him to be on high alert, while he quietly locked onto several candidates who were more suspicious.

When he walked to a candidate named Lin Yu, he found that his eyes flickered and his expression was flustered, and he did not have the expression of other candidates who were focused on answering questions. Chen Jue frowned slightly and his eyes fell on Lin Yu's hairpin.

Lin Yu's hand unconsciously moved closer to the hairpin, as if he was deliberately hiding something.

Chen Jue said softly: "Candidate, please let me see your hairpin." The voice was not loud, but it revealed unquestionable majesty.

Lin Yu's face turned pale in an instant and his body trembled slightly. He raised his head, his eyes full of fear and pleading: "Sir, this... this is just an ordinary hairpin, why do you want to see it?" His voice trembled a little, trying to delay time.

Chen Jue's eyes were stern: "Don't say anything more, just give it to me."

Lin Yu had no choice but to slowly hand over the hairpin. Chen Jue took the hairpin, examined it carefully, and soon found the secret compartment of the hairpin. He took out the ivory piece and saw the cheating content on it.

Chen Jue's face darkened: "Lin Yu, you are so bold that you dare to cheat in the imperial examination."

Lin Yu knelt down with a plop, knocked his forehead heavily on the ground, and said in a crying voice: "Sir, I know I was wrong. I was just confused for a moment. My family is poor. If I can't get into high school, I will be ashamed to face my family. Please show mercy and forgive me this time."

Tears welled up in his eyes, slid down his cheeks and dripped onto the ground. His hands kept shaking and he seemed to have lost support.

Chen Jue remained unmoved and ordered his men to take Lin Yu aside and continue his patrol.

Soon, another candidate named Su Jin caught Chen Jue's attention. Su Jin seemed to be concentrating on answering the questions, but his eyes kept glancing at his sleeves, and his expression showed a hint of nervousness. Chen Jue's heart moved, and he immediately walked up to Su Jin.

Chen Jue: "Su Jin, why are you so uneasy?"

Su Jin's body shook violently, and he pretended to be calm and said, "Sir, I am just a little nervous, nothing else."

Chen Jue stared at Su Jin's cuffs with a swift gaze: "Nervous? Then why do you keep looking at your cuffs?"

Su Jin's face turned pale. Knowing that the truth had been revealed, his legs softened and he knelt down as well. "Sir, I was blinded by greed and tried to take shortcuts. I know I was wrong and am willing to accept any punishment. I only ask that you don't implicate my family."

His voice was full of despair and his eyes were empty, as if he had lost his soul.

As the investigation deepened, more and more cheating candidates were caught. Their methods varied, but under Chen Jue's strict supervision, none of them could escape detection.

Some of these candidates who were caught cried bitterly, regretting their momentary greed; some collapsed on the ground with dull eyes, as if all their hopes had been taken away; others tried to defend themselves, but all was in vain in the face of hard evidence.

Chen Jue looked at these cheating candidates with anger and disappointment in his heart. He knew that the imperial examination was an important tool for selecting talents for the country. Such behavior of these people was not only a blasphemy against the fairness of the imperial examination, but also irresponsible to the future of Da Chu.

He ordered a detailed list of all cheating candidates and evidence to be submitted to the court as a warning to others. At the same time, he strengthened the security measures in the examination room and personally supervised the remaining examination process to ensure that no more cheating would occur.

After the exam, Chen Jue reported the details of the cheating to the crown prince. The crown prince was furious when he heard it: "Such evil deeds must not be forgiven. Chen Jue, you have done a good job. You must investigate this matter thoroughly and let all students know that the Great Chu will never tolerate any cheating in the exam."

Chen Jue took the order and then conducted an in-depth investigation into the forces behind the cheating candidates. He found that some of these candidates were wealthy businessmen who wanted to improve their family status through the imperial examination and bribed the examiners and cheaters with huge sums of money; others were officials in the court who secretly manipulated the imperial examination in order to cultivate their own power and placed their own confidants in it.

Chen Jue followed these clues and investigated them one by one. He was not afraid of power or threats, and he uncovered the examiners, wealthy businessmen and officials behind the cheating one by one. During the interrogation, he skillfully used evidence to break through their psychological defenses and forced them to confess their crimes.

Finally, thanks to Chen Jue's efforts, the truth of the imperial examination fraud case was revealed. All those involved in the case received due punishment, either being dismissed from their posts, exiled to the frontier, or having their property confiscated.

Those candidates who passed the exam based on their real talents and knowledge were able to smoothly enter the official career and contribute their own strength to the development of Da Chu.

After this battle, the imperial examination system of the Chu State was further improved and standardized. Chen Jue also won a high reputation in the court and among the people for his fairness, strictness and outstanding ability.