That Day I Found The Strangest Egg

8.3 One Plus One Makes Three, Gentlemen

Indeed, he was too late.

Circumstances must have made it to happen that the moment he entered the hall the concubines are already on their position in front of the crowd. The hall is packed with the additional people and going through this crowd will take him time to pass through. What's more, if he will take Lang Yuan from the stage the people will see that something is wrong and will cause more trouble. Zhong Song gritted his teeth for being careless. He will reflect on it later but for now, he has to do get Lang Yuan out from here to get his 'mark'.

There are ways on how to get Lang Yuan away from here.

One, he will walk up front and take the man out. But he already disregarded this idea due to the problems that might arise. Zhong Song might be only partial with this contest but he is still a blood relative of the emperor. If he does something as to involve himself to the candidates, it's almost the same with favoring that person ignoring the rules made for the competition.

Two, he can ask Lady Kang to cancel the contest today and hold it tomorrow. Only by the power of Empress Dowager, she can cancel the event in one word. But that will also hold suspicions and people might try to investigate about it later. Explaining about Lang Yuan's inability to stay on the higher realms is valid but to not properly monitor his condition would be their fault especially now that he is undergoing the trials. They will receive criticism and surely, Yu XueQin will take the blame.

The only thing that he could think of is to have Lang Yuan finish the contest early and he will get him out faster than the wind. However, due to his conditions he might stall a little bit of time. And a few seconds count. The magnanimous power of the higher realm is greater than the lower world. A human who has lesser cultivation could have died by just popping out.

Also, Zhong Song is not sure if Lang Yuan properly studied the scrolls he handed. He was busy with all the affairs that he didn't have time to check Lang Yuan's progress. If ever the emperor will hear this, Zhong Song will surely be punished. But what can he do? He has lots of things to do. It wasn't his fault that things are not moving according to his plan.

Also, he is only a half dragon. His ability to sustain more work is lesser than the pure breeds.

Fortunately, when everyone is only waiting for the emperor to start the competition, a messenger came with a message. Handing the sealed scroll to the scholar, Zhong Song is somehow grateful to know that the emperor would not be attending today's event. The reason was not mentioned but by the gist of it Yu XueQin already predicted that his temporary marking of Lang Yuan will only last until today. By just waiting for Lang Yuan to finish the contest as early as possible, the emperor will take good care of the youth.

This made things easier for the scholar. If ever the emperor did arrive and Lang Yuan finished the contest ahead of time, the emperor leaving after his Empress Candidate finished will bring suspicions. The only problem that Zhong Song has to deal now is Lang Yuan's ability to finish the contest.

In a normal contest like flower arranging, one sichen or two is enough to finish the task. Even if the candidate is idle, one can finish in to three hours. But today's competition is a bit special. Aside from it being a measure of intelligence, mathematics is still considered as a foreign subject by the most people. People in this time only called it as 'arithmetic' that means to only count. They can count a few hundreds using an ancient device close to an abacus. They can count days through a sundial. But never did they able to know the formula for a triangular prism...

Or is that even existing?

While Zhong Song is still pondering over the details, the adorable Lang Yuan has become pale like a slug. If only not from the red paint on his lips anyone can see how ghastly pale he is. The knuckles on his hands have become very pale and yellowish indicating the lack of warmth on his body. He was shaking, both hands hidden beneath his robes to get a bit of warmth from the clothing. What he regretted earlier became his only lifesaver. Like how Sai Weng lost horse, how know not blessing!