Li Wei's legs were trembling as he was carried out of the Qiankun Palace by two eunuchs.

The emperor did not punish him for this, but he knew he was about to lose the emperor's favor.

"That unfilial son! That unfilial son!" He was heartbroken. That was the child he had personally raised. How could he be so stupid!

However, Li Mangcai was dragged away and died on the way to the Dali Temple. No one knew who bribed him or who instructed him to sell the exam questions. The matter became an unsolved mystery.

King Xuan lost his trail here. Thinking of the ten-day agreement, he was so anxious that he wanted to bang his head against a pillar!

Meanwhile, Song Yaozhu had already brought Xie Liwei back to the Prince's Mansion. Now, the Xiaoyao Prince's Mansion was surrounded by troops sent by Prince Xuan, ostensibly to protect their safety.

However, it did protect their safety quite well. On the first day after returning to the manor, Xie Liwei was assassinated, but fortunately they were prepared and the assassination attempt was thwarted.

"Your Highness, Madam Song is outside requesting an audience," Qin Mama announced.

The Song family's two sons were imprisoned for buying exam questions, and the Song family is now extremely anxious.

Grand Tutor Song had previously tried to sound out the Emperor's opinion, but ultimately gave up. Hoping for the best, he thought that since the focus was on Peng Si's case, no one would pay attention to the leak of exam questions, so he waited for the storm to pass quickly.

Unexpectedly, pulling out the radish brought out the mud along with it, and not one of them escaped!

"If we don't see them, our household is barely able to protect itself."

A scholar surnamed Lan, who came from the Xie family school, insisted that the Xie family had given him the real exam questions. However, the other Xie family scholars denied this. It was obvious to everyone that this was a frame-up, but the emperor just kept delaying the case, wanting to torture the Xie family to make it a fact.

The trial of Peng Si was difficult. Peng Si insisted that he had never written such an extraordinary article, let alone could have written such an article. In addition, there were testimonies from the invigilators and clerks, who all said that he had been asking for paper to draw during the exam. It was certain that the article had been replaced, but it was unclear at which stage.

King Xuan racked his brains but couldn't figure it out. He naturally couldn't, because the article wasn't written by Peng Si, but by Xie Liwei. There was no substitution of the article from beginning to end.

"What exactly did you write in your article that made it to the top of the list?"

Song Yaozhu naturally had no doubt about Xie Liwei's strength. However, hadn't he been "carefree" for ten years? How come his strength hadn't declined?

Xie Liwei had taken over her rocking chair, his right leg crossed over his left, comfortably basking in the sun.

"I won't tell you." He swung his toes, popped a candied fruit into his mouth, took a sip of tea, and looked extremely comfortable.

The matter was gradually coming to an end, and he was no longer nervous.

"Hmph! Fine, I won't say!" Song Yaozhu snorted coldly. Once the case results are made public, the article will also be made public.

Meanwhile, on Yuwen Wuji's desk in the palace lay the original text of the top-ranked article.

This article, from its structure to its writing, was incredibly fluent and natural, and it hit the nail on the head regarding court politics, which earned applause from the ministers who were reviewing it.

When Yuwen Wuji saw it, he felt the writing style was extremely familiar and immediately named him the champion. Little did he know, it was all part of a scheme.

"Your Majesty, Peng Si insists that he is the victim and knows nothing about the whole thing. In addition, the testimonies of several parties prove that during the examination, he repeatedly stated that he was not the examinee and asked for his release. However, the chief examiner thought that he was under too much pressure and had lost his mind, so he suppressed the accusation. The key to this case lies within the system. Why not release Peng Si?"

After King Xuan finished speaking, he presented a memorial containing the names of the officials involved in the case, the amount of silver they had received as bribes, and the punishments they should be given according to the law.

The emperor remained silent, and just when Prince Xuan thought he was about to erupt in anger, he heard him say, "What's the point of keeping a useless person around to occupy your land!"

He had already guessed who was behind the case.

He had someone fetch the original text of the article, and as soon as he saw the handwriting, he knew it was Xie Liwei's handwriting!

In this world, besides him, who else can write the same handwriting as Xie Wanqing!

Xie Liwei has openly declared war on him!

He knew it; Xie Liwei couldn't possibly have been well-behaved for the past ten years. His obedience all these years was just a facade! He had been fooled by him for so long!

Yuwen Wuji suppressed the raging anger in his chest and said to King Xuan, "Release the prisoners and close the case as soon as possible!"

Upon hearing this, King Xuan bowed respectfully, but showed no intention of stepping down.

"Is there anything else?"

"The Xie family's case..."

"King Xuan!" Yuwen Wuji roared. King Xuan knew he had touched a nerve with Yuwen Wuji, so he dared not say anything more and had to retreat.

Doesn't Your Majesty know that without a public trial of the Xie family's case, there's no way to completely quell public anger?

They may know it, but they still insist on going down a dead-end path.

After leaving the palace, King Xuan did not send anyone to the Ministry of Justice to release the imprisoned students. He first had the statements of the officials involved in the case reviewed again to confirm that they had not sold the exam questions to the student surnamed Lan. Then, he took the statements to the Ministry of Justice.

Prince Xuan was not a brainless man. He first took a tour of the prison under the guise of an inspection. Minister of Justice You Mingwang immediately came over, fearing that this man would take away his job.

You should know that he has now reduced the Ministry of Rites to a mere shell!

"Prince Xuan, what brings you here!" You Mingwang greeted the man cautiously, though he was extremely displeased.

I never imagined that at my age, I would encounter something like this. Sigh!

"I've come to see if all the students are eating and drinking well?"

You Mingwang was speechless. He had arrested so many people and imprisoned them in the Ministry of Justice's jail, without providing them with food or drink; all their meals were paid for from the Ministry's accounts. These people couldn't be treated poorly, which meant their daily food expenses had quadrupled! Once this was over, he would definitely go to the Dali Temple to reclaim this expense!

"Just you wait and see!" You Mingwang accompanied him around the prison, and had a feeling that this man was definitely in trouble, but he hadn't said a word. You Mingwang was afraid that he would suddenly do something big and scare him to death, so he was always uneasy.

Upon reaching Cao Zhi and the others, Cao Zhi, seeing the look in their eyes, understood and shouted, "Your Highness! How's the case going! When can we leave?"

King Xuan sighed dramatically, walked up to him, and said, "Alas, the Peng Si case and the cheating case are almost closed. As for the Xie family's case of buying exam questions, I am not responsible for that. You will have to ask this Lord You."

After saying that, he pretended to be dead and then, as if remembering something, pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper from his sleeve.

"Lord You, I almost forgot, these are all the confessions I obtained from the officials involved in selling exam questions. They didn't mention the Xie family at all! Take a look, take this document, it might come in handy!" After saying that, he put his hands behind his back and took a few steps forward.

Sweating profusely, You Mingwang blurted out, "Perhaps these people don't know. After all, so many people are involved. Who could possibly remember who Da Ju has traded with?"

As if he had been waiting for this, King Xuan immediately replied, "Lord You, you are right! The Xie family's case is not under my jurisdiction, but the case of leaking exam questions is. Your words have given me a hint; there might be some hidden clues that I am unaware of! I now wish to interrogate that scholar surnamed Lan!"

Upon hearing this, You Mingwang wished he could slap himself a few times!