"This humble subject, Fan Feng, pays his respects to Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor!"

Fan Feng saw that Gu Qingyan hadn't called out to him for a long time, and cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.

"I find your exam paper quite different from the others," Gu Qingyan said in a completely emotionless voice. "Do you think I should make peace with Gu Qingling for the sake of the Empress Dowager?"

"Um?"

The emperor's oppressive aura crashed down on Fan Feng, and in an instant, Fan Feng felt as if his head had already rolled to the ground.

"This humble subject...this humble subject is thinking that after all, the traitor and the Empress Dowager have a mother-son relationship of more than ten years. If war breaks out, it will surely be a waste of manpower and resources. It would be better to make peace."

"So, I should say you wrote well."

Gu Qingyan was almost laughing in anger. Fan Feng in front of him was not only not smart enough, he was an idiot!

"Fan Feng, do you know that among all the papers in this palace examination, you are the only one who advocated for a draw?" Gu Qingyan's words were like the voice of hell, and Fan Feng's whole body immediately went limp. If he hadn't been kneeling on the ground, he would have been even more disheveled.

"This humble subject...this humble subject..."

Fan Feng could no longer speak clearly.

"You said that I should negotiate with Gu Qingling, so that the people of the world would think that the Empress Dowager brought about peace, but neither I nor the Empress Dowager want such a good reputation."

"I, a humble citizen, know my crime. I, a humble citizen, know my crime."

Gu Qingyan slowly walked up to Fan Feng, reached out and lifted Fan Feng's chin, "You mention the Empress Dowager almost every three lines in your exam paper, Fan Feng, you are really much smarter than others."

"You poisoned the Empress Dowager? Are you all tired of living?"

"Poisoning..."

Fan Feng's vision went black. His grandmother had only told him to mention the Empress Dowager more often in his exam papers; she hadn't said anything about poisoning him.

"This humble subject truly knows nothing of these matters, Your Majesty. This humble subject truly did not poison the Empress Dowager. Please, Your Majesty, investigate thoroughly."

Gu Qingyan sneered a few times, "Guards, take him to the Heavenly Prison."

"And all other related persons from the Wenchang Earl's Mansion, take them all in."

"Your Majesty, please see the truth! Your Majesty, please see the truth!" Fan Feng struggled as he was dragged away. What he thought would be a place on the imperial examination had now turned out to be nothing but a mirage.

The Wenchang Earl's Mansion was surrounded by soldiers. As the former high-ranking masters were escorted out, the onlookers dared not utter a sound.

They were terrified that this disaster would affect them.

Zhaoning Palace.

"Mother, the Fan family members have all been imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, and as for Consort Li..." Gu Qingyan spoke softly, clearly wanting to hear Jiang Yu's opinion.

"The reason given by Consort Li is that she missed the late Emperor and followed him in death."

A single sentence decided Consort Li's fate.

Gu Qingyan stared blankly for a moment. Would executing Consort Li so swiftly be too lenient for her?

In his view, someone who poisoned his mother deserved to be tortured to death.

"Using the evidence that Consort Li poisoned me, we'll force the Li family to withdraw from the court." A ruthless glint flashed in Jiang Yu's eyes. "As for the position that's been vacated, we'll give it to the new top scholar."

Gu Qingyan's eyes lit up; this was indeed a good idea.

"The Fan family."

"I still have some scores to settle with the Fan family, and the Fan family members cannot die yet."

The debts from past lives must be settled, one by one.

Gu Qingyan's expression changed drastically. It turned out that the Fan family had a connection with his mother in their previous life.

In their past lives, did the Fan family also participate in various plots to murder the Empress Dowager?

Then it can't just be a simple death.

After leaving Zhaoning Palace, Gu Qingyan's smile vanished instantly. "Qin Wei, don't let the Fan family die so easily."

......

After Wei Ruo became the top scholar in the imperial examination, people came to visit him in an endless stream outside the Zhong family mansion.

Even the matchmakers who wanted to arrange a marriage for Wei Ruo lined up all the way to the alley entrance, but none of them were able to see Wei Ruo. By this time, Wei Ruo had already been forcibly taken to the Dingyuan Marquis's residence by Ling Hai.

"You are Kui Ruo."

The extremely certain tone made Wei Ruo's heart tremble slightly. The man before her wore a silver mask, and his chilling aura made Wei Ruo almost afraid to look him in the eye. A person who could move about in the Dingyuan Marquis's mansion as if he were the master...

Wei Ruo suddenly dared not think too deeply about Gu Lin's identity.

"May I ask what brings you here, sir?"

"Just want to see the majesty of the current top scholar." Gu Lin smirked, his eyes fixed on Wei Ruo before him. "I heard you have a past with the Empress Dowager?"

"I have received great kindness from the Empress Dowager, and I will repay it in this lifetime."

Gu Lin stepped forward and straightened Wei Ruo's plain clothes. "In that case, do your job well and be loyal to the emperor. That will be the greatest way to repay the Empress Dowager."

Kui Ruo was inexplicably kidnapped and then inexplicably sent back to the Zhong family mansion.

"Young Master, who exactly is that person, and why is he able to stay in the Marquis of Dingyuan's residence?" Kui Ruo's personal servant asked with a frown, "And how did he manage to abduct the top scholar of the imperial examination so mysteriously in the capital?"

"Since they are in the Marquis of Dingyuan's residence, they are not our enemies."

Kui Ruo was still somewhat shaken; the man's imposing aura made him hesitant to approach him.

After Wei Ruo left, Gu Lin stood there for a while, then gave a self-deprecating laugh.

He shouldn't have been so impulsive as to have Kui Ruo kidnapped.

"Go to the prison and see the Fan family."

In her past life, the Fan family severely wronged Ayu. Those who betray sincerity must pay the price.

Inside the prison, rats and mosquitoes were everywhere. Everyone in the Fan family, regardless of age or gender, was locked in one cell. Gu Qingyan also had the intention of deliberately torturing them.

"Who are you?"

Wen Changbo was the first to discover Gu Lin. Gu Lin was wearing a mask, which inexplicably made people feel scared.

"How did you treat the late Lady Dingyuan?" Gu Lin's voice rang out, and the Earl of Wenchang shuddered violently.

“We are the maternal family of the Lady of Dingyuan, how could we not treat her well?”

Madam Fan suddenly stood up, her triangular eyes fixed on Gu Lin, "You jest, sir."

"Be good to her?" Gu Lin seemed to have heard something unbelievable. "It seems you didn't leave yourselves a quick death either."

An old lady with a face thicker than a city wall, brothers pretending to be confused, and an elder brother and sister-in-law stirring up trouble and trying to smooth things over.

Back then, Ayu's mother did everything she could to recover from such a blow and return to the battlefield.

In her previous life, Ayu paid an extremely heavy price for clinging to this blood ties.

"What kind of quick death?" Madam Fan's teeth were chattering. Were they all to be executed?

On this day, Gu Lin watched as silver needles were inserted into the bodies of the Fan family members, causing them endless pain but not endangering their lives.

The screams of agony echoed throughout the cell.

But Gu Lin laughed; the voice was truly pleasant to hear.