Chapter 241 Not the Real Wang Qing

Seeing this, the Emperor felt a sense of relief for some reason and said in a deep voice, "Wang Qing, what else do you have to say?"

Wang Qing was stunned. Things had changed. How could this be? How should he deal with it? He should just deny it to the death. Now he was Wang Qing, the son of Master Wang.

"Your Majesty, I truly did not lie. I had no idea when you changed the skirt inside into a fan, deliberately making me think that there was still a skirt underneath," Wang Qing quickly replied.

Before the Emperor could speak, Jiang Huai finally couldn't hold back any longer and questioned in a deep voice, "You were the one who said it was a skirt, and you were the one who said it was changed to a fan. Do you think I know better than you what I bought? I have to ask your opinion, a man, when I buy things for my wife. Do you think I'm a fool? What are your intentions in framing me like this? Tell me the truth."

"What ulterior motives could students have? Students are just..."

Jiang Huai seized the opportunity and rattled off a string of words, "Take a closer look. You keep saying it's a bright green dress, that you personally picked it out for me. Are you blind? You can't even tell the difference between a fan and a dress. The fan has a woman embroidered on it, wearing a green dress. Is that what you're talking about? If you want to frame me, at least find out clearly whether I bought a dress or a fan."

"Writing requires logical order to be readable. Is all you can do is distort the truth? Can someone who can't even speak properly write articles? Even if you were given the opportunity to copy, could you copy it all?"

Wang Qing hadn't expected Grand Tutor Jiang to be so capable, and couldn't answer a single question. "It was you who switched them. This silver was a gift from the student to the teacher. The Imperial Guards found it during a search of the Jiang residence."

These words were clearly somewhat awkward. The Imperial Guards' search of the Jiang residence was ordered by the Emperor and was considered a surprise search. He meant that Grand Tutor Jiang had time to change his fan, but not time to hide the silver.

Even if Grand Tutor Jiang wanted to buy his wife sexy lingerie as a birthday gift, that was his prerogative, and there was no need to ask Wang Qing, an outsider. Wang Qing probably meant to express that he had a good relationship with his teacher, and that's why he risked stealing the exam questions to sell to him, but it backfired.

It turns out that Jiang Taifu had been deliberately hiding the gift box in his arms, afraid that someone would see it, in order to lead Wang Qing to believe that the contents inside were the revealing nightgown that Wang Qing had mentioned. No one expected that Jiang Taifu, who was usually an honest and unassuming schoolteacher, was as cunning as a fox.

But only Jiang Huai himself knows why it turned into a fan.

The evidence is already conclusive, but now Wang Qing's words can't stand up to scrutiny; he's clearly framing Grand Tutor Jiang.

Jiang Huai then said, "Now I want to ask you how you got this box of silver into my house. You didn't even hear the skirt and fan clearly. Who instructed you to frame me?"

Wang Qing couldn't cover up the lie either, so he could only say, "The test questions were given to the students by the teacher, and the silver was also given to the teacher by the students and locked in the vault."

"How did you know I would lock the silver in the storeroom after taking it home?" Jiang Huai persisted.

The entire court was silent. Everyone stared at Wang Qing, and the atmosphere was so cold that it dropped below freezing. He shivered and blurted out, "The Imperial Guards just said they found it in the Jiang family's warehouse."

Jiang Huai was too lazy to argue with him anymore. He knelt on the ground and bowed to the emperor. "If I continue to argue with this good-for-nothing, I will be turned into a fool by him. I beg Your Majesty and the Crown Prince to make a wise decision. I really don't know how this box of silver ended up in the Jiang family."

"How dare you, Wang Qing, frame Grand Tutor Jiang right here in the Golden Palace!" Xie Shang kicked Wang Qing in the shoulder, and Wang Qing groaned as he fell to the ground.

"I did not make a false accusation; perhaps I have misremembered."

"Even if you misremembered, you can still clearly say that the pattern on the skirt is a lotus flower. Who taught you to say these things? Confess honestly, and I can spare the lives of your entire Wang family. Otherwise, your whole Wang family will probably lose their lives." Xie Shang didn't expect Grand Tutor Jiang to be able to turn things around like this. But he really did buy sexy nightgowns, which is probably why someone had the opportunity to take advantage of him!

"Who gave a mere merchant the audacity to come to the imperial palace to frame a high-ranking official? Arrest him and torture him severely; he can't possibly deny it," an official said.

"How could Grand Tutor Jiang possibly accept such a person as a student..."

"Jiang Taifu taught at the Imperial Academy for more than 20 years and received high praise. Many of his students who passed the exams did so because of their own hard work and talent."

"Grand Tutor Jiang is truly cultivating pillars of our Great Zhou Dynasty, and is a truly honest and upright official."

People are also opportunistic. They've completely forgotten the earlier comments about the Jiang family rising to power through nepotism. As long as the Jiang family doesn't fall and Jiang Fenghua remains the Crown Princess, no one will dare to talk about the Jiang family.

Wang Qing was stunned for a moment. "It really was the test question that Grand Tutor Jiang gave to this humble person. I have silver as proof. The box containing the silver has the character 'Wang' on the side, which is my family's mark." Now, no one would believe him no matter what he said.

Commander Shang said, "I have already checked and there is indeed a Wang family mark, which means that the silver did come from the Wang family. If Wang Qing cannot prove that Grand Tutor Jiang accepted bribes and embezzled, then it will confirm that the Wang family bribed officials, which is an unforgivable crime."

Even after hearing this, Wang Qing remained unfazed and stubbornly insisted, "I really did get the exam questions from Grand Tutor Jiang. Even if you kill me, I will still say this."

"He's still so stubborn; it seems he won't shed a tear until he sees the coffin!" one official remarked.

"Grand Tutor Pan and the Five Cities Garrison arrested a group of troublemaking students at the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall yesterday. I think we can interrogate them and find out the truth. No matter how they try to deny it, the evidence is conclusive and they will have no way to deny it," Jiang Jinyan said.

Grand Tutor Pan said, "This old minister has already interrogated them. They are all students who took the exam. They were dissatisfied and caused trouble because they knew that someone had cheated and passed the exam."

"This old minister has a question. Since Grand Tutor Jiang did not sell the exam questions to him, where did he get the exam questions from? Why would he frame Grand Tutor Jiang?" Grand Tutor Pan asked doubtfully. "Wang Qing's testimony said that the exam questions were stolen directly from the Imperial Study. If it wasn't Grand Tutor Jiang, then it means that someone else was stealing the exam questions from the Emperor's Imperial Study."

The Emperor was also thinking about this matter. The Imperial Study was his main office, and he was unaware that someone had sneaked in.

Jiang Jinyan said, "Wang Qing won't confess unless he's severely tortured. My father never taught him to read, nor was he his teacher. Why does he insist that he was my father's student? That's very suspicious."

Seeing this, Su Dehai suddenly left the Golden Palace under the pretext of needing to relieve himself. His actions did not escape the notice of the emperor on the high throne, who also gave Chief Steward Cao a wink, signaling him to follow and take a look.

After that, no one Su Dehai met in the palace escaped the eyes of Chief Eunuch Cao. Chief Eunuch Cao did not expect that there were Su family spies everywhere in the palace. He also knew who the eunuch that General Su took the initiative to contact was. It turned out to be his rival, Wu Changshou.

To avoid alerting the enemy, Eunuch Cao did not approach.