He calmed down and lost his pleasure-seeking adrenaline.
It was late autumn. When there was a breeze, he felt that he was cold from head to toe. His legs were shaking and his buttocks were trembling. He was scared.
Seeing the change in his facial expression, Liu She snorted coldly and said, “The assessment has an impact on the country and the future of Dongqing. It’s such a serious and sacred matter, but someone actually went naked in public without a sense of shame. The philosophies you’ve learned have all gone to waste. This is really eye-opening.
Every scholar remained silent. The frightened servants knelt on the ground and trembled.
Seeing that the guards did not take any action, Liu She said calmly, “Drag him away. Do you not understand the human language?”
A few deputy examiners were about to beg him for leniency. Although they also felt that what the scholar did was too much, consuming the Hanshi powder had become a trend among the upper class in Dongqing. It was a kind of pleasure. Even if one had a huge reaction, it was because he did not dispel the drug from his body correctly. The matter was not a special case, so it should be handled according to the circumstances.
“What a bunch of scatterbrains!” Liu She reprimanded before they could speak. Although he did not mention their names, how could the old foxes not know that they were the ones being scolded?
Suddenly, their facial expressions became so fascinating; they were all different like a colorful palette.
The guards lowered their heads and dragged the scholar away.
With an icy look on his face, Liu She folded Wei Ci’s answer sheet, which had dried up, and put it into his sleeve.
The audience in the streaming room could not hear what Liu She said, but judging from his facial expression, they knew that the streamer’s father was really angry. More importantly, the scholar’s actions looked like he was high on drugs.
Tushu Guanliyuan: “It’s weird. Why do I feel like something isn’t right about the way that the scholar acted?”
Daming Yiguan: “It’s more than just strange. He was poisoned by someone. What’s the difference between this and taking off your clothes during the college entrance examination and act indecently towards the other students? Regardless of who the person is, he must be taken away… I don’t know if I’ve watched too many imperial and modern dramas. I feel that there’s something more to this matter. Maybe this candidate has fallen into a trap… I suddenly thought of the drama called Beyond the Realm of Conscience.”
Laosiji Lianmeng: “I think he’s taken too much Hanshi powder. It’s not a trap.”
Diqiu Diyi Meinan: “Hanshi powder? What’s that?”
Laosiji Lianmeng: “Hanshi powder is also called Wushi powder. It’s a highly toxic medicine that can lead to addiction and illusions. As the toxic starts to spread after the consumption of the Hanshi powder, a huge amount of internal heat is produced in the body. Long-term consumption will result in chronic poisoning… However, the ancient people believed that the consumption of the Hanshi powder could invigorate one’s state of mind. One would excel in writing and poetry… I think the kid took it during the assessment because of this…”
Niuzhatang: “Isn’t… isn’t it a drug?”
Seeing the contents of the bullet screen, Jiang Pengji could not help but raise her eyebrows. She knew about it. The Hanshi powder was a popular luxury item among the gentries in Dongqing. In Liu Xi’s memory, he had seen many aristocrats of Hejian using the Hanshi powder to liven up the atmosphere during gatherings.
An audience member had looked up the information about the Hanshi powder on Baidu. He copied and pasted a lot of information, which could be used to educate the people who did not know about it.
Laosiji Lianmeng: “The Hanshi powder is addictive, but in some aspects, it’s scarier than drugs.”
Jiang Pengji glanced at it and put it down disinterestedly.
The audience in the streaming room belonged to the non-feudalistic era. The Hanshi powder was still a terrifying thing to them. However, Jiang Pengji grew up in an interstellar era in which technology was highly developed. Drugs that people once feared were nothing to her.
Bintang Ningmeng: “Gosh, that’s horrible. If a person is accidentally addicted to this drug, isn’t he done for? It isn’t easy to detox in the ancient times, right? Thinking about our Hua Country and opium, the consequences would be disastrous if this drug was widely promoted…”
This bullet screen received a lot of support from the audience.
Host V: “There’s no need to worry so much. The Hanshi powder is only circulated in a small area. It’s a very expensive drug. Hence, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to afford it, which puts an end to the possibility of a huge spread. After consuming the Hanshi powder, a series of complicated steps to dispel the drug from the body have to be carried out to dissipate the excess heat in the body. If there’s something wrong with the process of dispelling of the drug from the body, in some serious cases, it threatens people’s lives. Ordinary people cannot afford to toy with their lives.”
Despite that, the harm of the Hanshi powder could not be ignored.
In the non-feudalistic era, if the upper class was in the doldrums, the social ethos would be ruined. The lower class people were still the unfortunate ones.
Looking at the scholars who participated in the assessment, Jiang Pengji frowned slightly. She suddenly lost her interest in watching the assessment.
The Hanshi powder was indeed nothing to her because, judging from the physical quality of future humans, it was basically impossible to use the Hanshi powder and become addicted to it. However, the humans in the non-feudalistic era were different. They were too weak. The aristocratic families, who had been spoiled since they were young, were even weaker.
Once one was addicted, it would be difficult for them to come off it. Perhaps no one had the manpower to quit doing drugs on their own.
The aristocratic scholars had the money to buy the Hanshi powder. It would be fine if they continued consuming it, so why would they make themselves suffer by quitting?
In the current social pyramid that was full of illiterates, the influence the elite upper class had on the ordinary lower class was too great. The decadence of the elites would make the rest of the society decadent. If they were trash, the entire social ethos would be in a pandemonium…
She pursed her lips so tightly that they became a straight line. Without alerting anyone, she left the octagonal pavilion quietly.
With such an episode, Liu She did not have the mood to preside over the assessment. When all the scholars had completed their essays, he ordered someone to collect all their answer sheets. For the sake of fairness, the names of the scholars were covered with white cloths and their answers would be assessed slowly.
Han Yu was very worried. “Zixiao has suffered too much loss this time…”
Was it because he did not look at the Chinese almanac before leaving the house? He actually encountered such an unfortunate incident.
Lu Zheng said, “Zixiao is a meticulous person. I hope that this incident will not affect him too much.”
Their master, Master Yuan Jing, was not surprised at all about Wei Ci leaving the venue in the middle of the assessment.
Instead, he smiled a little. “I know about this. Don’t worry. Zixiao has his own plans already.”
Wei Ci had never thought of serving Dongqing. The result of the assessment was meaningless to him.
If it was not for Master Yuan Jing’s request, Wei Ci would not have been there that day.
Jiang Pengji went back and happened to run into Feng Jin, who had come to look for her. “The compounds of the royal palace is a restricted area. Haven’t I told you not to roam about?” Feng Jin stared at her from head to toe. He only secretly heaved a sigh of relief after he made sure that there was nothing abnormal about her. It did not look like she had created any trouble.
“I just wanted to look at the setting of the assessment. People were everywhere. If I’ve created trouble, you can’t just blame it on me.” Jiang Pengji glanced at the other aristocratic ladies, indicating to Feng Jin that she was innocent.
“I’m just scared that you don’t know the rules here.” It was not easy for a wounded person to look after a kid. “The royal palace may be glamorous, but who knows what’s in the dark? If you’ve accidentally ruined someone’s affair, you may not be able to keep your head…”
Jiang Pengji walked up to Feng Jin’s side. The two of them walked side by side on a narrow, winding trail. They were quite far away from anyone else.
“It seems like you’re very experienced. I found out that Wuma Jun was having an affair with a girl called An Yina in the cave of the rockery just now. Tsk, tsk. It was so intense! Is this a big deal?”
Feng Jin was speechless.
