Many officials lay on the torture bench awaiting execution, including Pei Han, who was upright and, although not a dedicated censor, had participated in this petition.

By the way, the two people lying on either side of Pei Han are his sworn brothers, Zhao Xiao and Li Shouzhen.

These two men took the imperial examination in the same year as him. Zhao Xiao was the top scholar that year, and Li Shouzhen was the second-highest scorer. Both of them were older than him. All three of them passed the examination and stayed in the Hanlin Academy.

In other words, the top three scholars, personally selected by His Majesty the Emperor, are all lying here in neat rows.

The three men looked at each other, initially finding it both funny and exasperating. But seeing the damned eunuch's smug and domineering manner, they nearly coughed up blood.

An older imperial censor, trembling with rage, stared wide-eyed at the palace before him, his eyes bloodshot with fury: "Heavens above..."

Before the words were even finished, a series of rhythmic "smack, smack" sounds rang out, and the flogging began.

Jia Ren, however, felt it wasn't enough. He was probably narrow-minded and needed to personally witness these people being tortured to feel better.

Amidst the rising and falling cries of pain from the officials below, Jia Ren continued to carefully read the memorials that criticized him.

If there are words he doesn't recognize, no problem, his lackeys will be happy to explain them to him.

Having read a bunch of books before, Jia Ren felt they were all pretty much the same, but he secretly plotted how to trip them up later, until he saw Pei Han's book.

Jia Ren skimmed through the beginning and his face turned red with anger. Then he saw many obscure and difficult passages, with unfamiliar words everywhere.

The more he looked, the angrier he became. He was even angrier because he couldn't understand it, and he became as round and plump as a pufferfish.

Just then, the execution ended, and the officials helped each other to their feet. Some went back to their departments, and others went into the clinic. No one gave Jia Ren even a glance.

Jia Ren's gaze followed a tall figure with malice. Even though he had just been flogged, the figure still exuded an air of uprightness.

Jia Ren thought to himself: You're just putting on an act. I'll break your spine and make you kneel down and beg for mercy before me sooner or later.

Jia Ren rushed back to his small duty room in a panic. He rummaged through his belongings and found a thick booklet that recorded various official positions in the imperial court.

Jia Ren flipped through the booklet with a rustling sound. After a while, he pointed to a spot and grinned menacingly.

Not long after Pei Han returned to the Hanlin Academy, the imperial edict arrived.

Pei Han had just been flogged and couldn't sit down, so he stood in front of the table and watched Jia Ren walk in with the imperial edict.

"Lord Pei, receive the decree." A shrill voice with ill intent rang out.

Pei Han slowly knelt down. Zhao Xiao and Li Shouzhen, who were standing to the side, were anxious and wanted to help him up, but they were afraid that Jia Ren would take the opportunity to cause trouble, so they had no choice but to stand still.

Upon hearing this decree, everyone in the hall was stunned.

The scholars looked at each other, all thinking there must be something wrong with their ears; otherwise, how could they have heard such an absurd story?

It is truly unheard of that a promising sixth-rank Hanlin Academy compiler and heir to a noble family was demoted to a ninth-rank patrol inspector in a small county town in the southwest mountains simply because of a memorial denouncing the treacherous deeds of corrupt officials!

The inspector was not even a civil official, but a military official; Jia Ren was simply insane.

The scholars all argued their case forcefully.

Jia Ren coldly surveyed the crowd, gave a disdainful "humph," and walked out the door.

Although the result was unexpected, Pei Han was mentally prepared before he even started writing. After all, there's a saying: "It's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings."

Pei Han reassured his colleagues, saying, "Those who do many unrighteous deeds will surely perish. There's no need for you to say anything more for me, lest this villain cause more trouble."

Since the imperial edict stated that they would depart the next day, Pei Han didn't delay any longer and prepared to pack up and go home.

The strongest reaction to this imperial edict came from the censors of the Censorate, who were utterly impressed by Pei Han.

Dozens of professional censors submitted memorials together, yet none of them could criticize an amateur compiler from the Hanlin Academy; they were all ashamed to face anyone.

It should be noted that the duty of censors is to supervise all officials, and if they find anything wrong, they must submit a memorial to impeach them. Among them are many veteran censors who have served for decades and have written countless impeachment memorials.

But this time, he lost the argument, and lost decisively.

Many newly appointed censors secretly changed their idols and decided to regard Lord Pei Han as their new idol.

When Pei Han arrived home, the original owner was sitting on the couch embroidering a handkerchief, while Pei Ji sat opposite her, solving a nine-linked ring puzzle. The mother and son were each doing their own thing, and they seemed quite happy together.

The original owner had been looking down for a long time, so he couldn't help but raise his head slightly to relax his cervical spine.

Looking up, the original owner saw Pei Han standing at the door, and was immediately taken aback.

She quickly put down her embroidery and went to meet him. As soon as she got closer, she noticed something was wrong because Pei Han smelled of blood.

"Husband, what's wrong?" the original owner asked anxiously.

Pei Han gave him a wink and shushed him.

The original owner turned her head and saw her son excitedly climbing off the bed. She quickly gave Ah Mei, who was next to her, a wink.

"Lele has been playing for a long time and must be tired. Let's take her downstairs, feed her some milk, and let her take a nap."

Amei quickly stepped forward and picked up Pei Ji, coaxing him, "Young Master, the kitchen made some fragrant almond milk today. Let's go and have a bowl while it's hot."

Pei Ji looked at his father with longing in his bright, clear eyes. Pei Han didn't reach out to hug him as usual, but simply said, "Good boy."

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