Chapter 264: Water Ink - Rebirth of the Noble Daughter

 Chapter 264: Water Ink

“Brother, don’t worry. I’ll go tomorrow and find a way to get this done. The Wen family and Princess’s residence will pay the price for trampling on us!”

The siblings were now blinded by hatred, and if they were told to walk through fire or climb a mountain, they would probably be willing to do so.

Meanwhile, the Kexin Prince and his princess, who were busy preparing the feast, had no idea what would happen the next day.

The night was deep, and aside from street vendors with their night stalls, there were hardly any passersby.

The night watchman, as he walked, muttered: “The weather is dry, be careful with fire.”

When he reached Liu Sange’s wonton stall, the enticing aroma made him stop in his tracks.

“Old Three, make me a bowl to prepare. I’ll eat it when I come back after finishing my rounds!”

“Sure thing! Don’t worry, I’ll add extra scallions, I know.”

The night watchman left a few copper coins on the table and walked ahead.

Liu Sange, having received the money, immediately started preparing the wontons.

During their conversation, no one noticed the three shadowy figures in the dark, who were now scaling the rooftops toward the Ministry of Personnel's building.

Without making a sound, they bypassed the traps and guards set by the Ministry and easily arrived at the building’s entrance.

“I thought this task would be difficult, but the prince sent us three. This simple job could have been done by just a couple of brothers,” Su Cheng complained, kicking the two guards who had been drugged with sleeping powder.

His voice was kept low, not alerting anyone.

Yang Zhao and Xu Lin were focused on unlocking the door.

Xu Lin had a remarkable skill—there was no lock he couldn’t open. No matter what kind of mechanism it was, it was like child’s play for him. Otherwise, how could they have known so easily?

With a click, the copper lock opened.

The sound was particularly noticeable in the quiet of the night.

Xu Lin quickly removed the copper lock, and after entering, he pretended to hang the lock back in place, leaving the door slightly ajar to avoid suspicion.

Inside the building, the sight that met them was a sea of documents.

The pile of documents included official assessments from various years and sealed examination papers.

Su Cheng felt overwhelmed. He hated searching through documents.

“No wonder the prince sent three people. A whole team would be needed for this.”

Who knows how long it would take to find what they needed? It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Yang Zhao rolled his eyes and said, “Stop talking before the job is even done. If you think it’s too easy, go practice more in the Dark Guard camp.”

“You—”

....

This novel is translated by the Eternal Novel Hits translators. Please read it at https://eternalnovelhits.blogspot.com

....

Just as they were about to argue, Xu Lin stopped them.

“Enough, let’s get to work. If we don’t find it before dawn, the prince will skin us and feed us to the dogs!”

Su Cheng shuddered, thinking of the prince’s cold face. It was indeed a possibility.

He plunged into the sea of documents and started searching for this year’s examination papers.

The other two also got to work immediately.

Each document had to be reviewed and then returned to its place.

They were careful to avoid alarming anyone.

Originally, Feng Jinlin was a good candidate, but since he was involved in this examination, it was better if he didn’t come.

Thanks to the Ministry of Personnel’s clerks organizing the documents by year, once they found the right clue, Xu Lin quickly located the freshly reviewed examination papers.

The review process involved new cabinet scholars examining the already scored papers again to confirm their accuracy. Only then were the names and rankings finalized.

Among the new cabinet scholars was Bai Jia’s eldest son, demonstrating his ambition.

The reviewed papers had rankings similar to the initial ones, and were then re-filed with the Ministry of Personnel.

Calling Yang Zhao over, the two carefully opened the documents to check.

Without revealing any names, several excellent essays had received praise from the reviewers.

One essay on 'The Plight of Farmers' was particularly outstanding. It had clear arguments, a logical progression, and smooth writing without excessive embellishments, leaving a lasting impression.

All the scholars favored this essay, making it the top choice in the rankings.

And that top essay was by Yin Canwen.

With his years of experience, Xu Lin quickly spotted something unusual in the documents.

“Look here. The main text is written in ordinary ink, but the name section uses military water ink. This ink can be diluted with water and erased without a trace. As expected, the Ministry of Personnel’s deputy minister must have swapped the papers. The prince guessed correctly!”

He handed the document to Yang Zhao for closer inspection. Yang Zhao, having also served in the military, recognized the water ink immediately.

He sniffed it and confirmed it was indeed water ink!

A cold smile appeared on his lips. “Wen Jingsong really knows how to play tricks! Even managing to get his hands on water ink shows he’s put in effort.”

Opening up the dozens of documents that had made the list, it turned out that all names had traces of water ink.

Following this lead, they made an unexpected discovery.

“This Feng family kid. I thought he was a second-generation spoiled brat, but his literary skills are actually impressive. He ranked sixth! Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover!”

When Yang Zhao said this, he glanced at Su Cheng.

After all, he was closest to Feng Jinlin, and now that he knew this good news ahead of time, he wanted him to see it.

But Yang Zhao remained silent in the corner, not making a sound.

Curious, Su Cheng went over and patted him on the shoulder. “What’s wrong? The documents have been found, why aren’t you looking at them?”

But Yang Zhao didn’t respond.

Seeing Yang Zhao so engrossed, Su Cheng leaned in to see what he was looking at and frowned. There was nothing there.

He gently pushed him. “What are you doing?”

“No, look closely. Isn’t there a faint shine here and here?”

Moving the light source away, the two examined it carefully and indeed noticed a faint glow. If not looked at closely, it would be easily missed.

“This must be the original documents. Let’s see whose documents have this faint shine!”

Su Cheng carefully pulled out the two documents and, using the flame from Yang Zhao’s fire starter, surprisingly found the names “Feng Jinlin” and “Yin Canwen” clearly written.

At this point, both Yang Zhao and Su Cheng were stunned.

How could this be?

Why were there faint glowing marks on their documents?

Was this planned in advance?

The more they thought about it, the more strange it seemed. Yang Zhao was puzzled, but Su Cheng suddenly thought of someone.