Honesty is the Best Policy

The uneasy stirring amidst the candidates was too obvious and it was evident that its cause was the examination script. 

The administrators exchanged nervous glances with each other; had something gone wrong? 

But no one could say for sure. The ten examiners for this round, who had personally prepared and checked each script before sealing them away, were already locked up in a compound within the Hanlin Imperial Academy, where they were to spend the next ten days in seclusion until they were done marking the papers. 

No one else present should know the content of the scripts, apart from one.

"What's the matter?" Liu Yao called out as though he had no idea why there was so much unrest amidst the candidates in the hall. 

The Minister of Rites swallowed in nervousness. He had just taken a glance at the question and had gone weak at the knees.