Chapter 245: Temporary Farewell

Things have come to this point. Even if Yin Ruzhang still cares about his friendship with his peers, he must protect himself first. He immediately seized the letter, banknotes and Tao Ashun and handed them over to Wang Renkan, the governor of Suzhou, for handling.

Wang Renkan was originally worried that the case would involve too many people and would be detrimental to his reputation, so he wanted to reduce the case. Unexpectedly, Chen Qiufang, the son-in-law of the Ren faction of the Zhou family's Zhili Fang, whom Zhou Fuqing had offended before, happened to be working as an aide in Suzhou Prefecture at this time.

Big family affairs are always troublesome. Chen Qiufang felt that this was a good opportunity to retaliate against Zhou Fuqing, so he firmly demanded that the law be enforced strictly. Wang Renkan had no choice but to send a telegram to the capital while handing over Tao Ashun and the physical evidence to the Zhejiang Neitai Yamen for handling.

The provincial examination had not even begun when such a thing happened. The Zhejiang governor had no choice but to deal with it severely. After Zhou Fuqing learned the news, he felt that he could not escape the incident, so he ran to the Kuaiji County Court to surrender himself. He has now been locked up in prison. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be charged with cheating in the imperial examination and will probably be sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

Shou Pengfei finished his speech and comforted him, "It's not like the situation is unsolvable. The Zhou family is trying their best now, and maybe they can save Lord Jiefu's life. As long as he's alive, there's a chance. When there's a general amnesty in the future, maybe he can be released."

"That's what I'll tell Ah Zhang when he's anxious." Zhang Xingjiu knew that Shou Pengfei said this because he hoped he could help take care of Ah Zhang.

"Well, I'll go look for my teachers and friends too." The Shou family and the Zhou family have had friends for many years, and Shou Pengfei felt it was not good to ignore it. At the same time, he once again had the idea of ​​taking the imperial examination. Now he was just a scholar, and he couldn't say anything when he encountered things. If he held an official position, it would be different.

The main reason for this problem was that the Zhou family's foundation was too shallow. Zhou Fuqing had only become wealthy for a few years and had not yet accumulated enough wealth to hire a capable legal advisor. Such important matters could only be left to the servants.

If it was a serious Shaoxing lawyer, when he saw Yin Ruzhang accept the letter, he would know that he had agreed to the intercession, and even if he disagreed, he would return the money. After all, he and Zhou Fuqing were of the same age, and now interceding for mercy in the imperial examinations had become a common practice. He would not ruin his reputation because of this.

However, Tao Ashun was ignorant and didn't know the trick. Seeing that Yin Ruzhang didn't say anything, he shouted it out loud. As a result, he not only didn't get his money back, but also lost himself.

Zhou Fengyi did not escape this disaster. His paper was detained along with that of another candidate who appeared in the letter. He was also arrested and taken to the province. It was basically impossible for him to take the imperial examination in this life.

Not only that, the local magistrate Yu Fenggang had proposed marriage to the Zhou family earlier, but failed and was humiliated by the Zhou family. Now that he saw that Zhou Fuqing failed in the imperial examination cheating, he knew that the Zhou family probably could not recover, so he looked for opportunities for revenge and often sent yamen runners to harass them.

Zhang's grandmother and mother were worried that Zhang would be arrested as well, so they called him back and prepared to send him and his brother to his uncle's home in Huangpu Village for temporary shelter. Zhang was reluctant to leave, "A Tu, you study hard here, and I'll be back in a few days."

As a result, A Zhang did not come back until the Chinese New Year. Shou Pengfei would occasionally give Zhang Xingjiu some news, telling him that A Zhang was fine and that Zhou Fuqing's case would be over soon. By then, A Zhang would be able to come back to study.

After thanking him, Zhang Xingjiu continued to study hard. After memorizing "The Analects of Confucius", he started to memorize "The Book of Songs". He stayed in Sanwei Book House all day long and did not come out. Even during the Chinese New Year, he only stayed at home for a few days. On the eighth day of the first lunar month, he came to Sanwei Book House to help Shou Jingwu and Shou Pengfei do some work within his ability.

Zhang Fuqing came to the Zhou family as usual this year to serve as a busy month, but how could the Zhou family celebrate the New Year this year? Everyone was worried and sold their property to give gifts everywhere, hoping that Zhou Fuqing and Zhou Fengyi would be given a lighter sentence.

Talking about this, Zhang Fuqing was very confused. He felt that the two masters of the Zhou family were good people and had never withheld his wages. So how could they be thrown into jail?

After hearing this, Zhang Xingjiu did not explain deliberately. He just said that since they were good people, they would definitely be blessed by heaven. Maybe after some time, they would be released.

When Zhang Fuqing finished his busy month and was ready to go home, Zhang Xingjiu took out the gift he had prepared and asked him to go to Huangpu Village to give it to Zhang. After not seeing him for several months, Zhang Xingjiu missed his first friend in this world very much.

If it were in the past, Zhang Fuqing would never have traveled so far for such a small matter for his child, but now it is different. Zhang Xingjiu has already gone to school and has been praised by Mr. Shou many times. Zhang Fuqing is usually more careful when talking to him, so he is still willing to help with this small matter.

A few days later, Zhang Xingjiu also received a letter sent by A Zhang. In the letter, A Zhang said that he was having a very hard time in Huangpu Village. His step-aunt didn't even care about the child who was not her own, let alone him, her nephew. His uncle was a heavy smoker and didn't care about anything all day long. He was just like a beggar staying there.

Fortunately, his uncle's daughters were all well-educated and there were many other children on the farm to play with. Ah Zhang followed them to the river to fish, to the mountains to herd cattle, and to play war games with them. While playing, he temporarily forgot the sadness of living under someone else's roof.

What’s even more interesting is that his uncle’s family had an embroidered version of “The Outlaws of the Marsh” with exquisite portraits. So Zhang used his own change to buy a hundred sheets of “Ming Gong paper” and prepared to copy these embroidered portraits.

He also sent Zhang Xingjiu a portrait of Lu Zhishen along with the letter, praising the character highly, saying, "For Lu Zhishen, I really have nothing to say except admiration!"

After that, the two occasionally exchanged letters and continued their friendship.

After a while, the government officials stopped harassing the Zhou family, and Zhang was able to return from his uncle's house and re-enter Sanwei Book House to study. Mr. Shou did not mention his departure, but only told Zhang to study hard. He also used Zhang Xingjiu as an example, "Xingjiu entered school later than you, but now he has caught up with you. If you don't hurry up, you will be overtaken by Xingjiu."

Ah Zhang just laughed, without any jealousy at all, and took the opportunity when Mr. Shou turned around to make a face at Zhang Xingjiu.

Zhang Xingjiu also responded with a grimace, but he felt a little sad in his heart, because he knew that Zhang's carefree days would soon be over, and the Zhou family's disaster was not over yet.

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Sure enough, not long after, Zhou Fengyi was released. At this time, he was completely discouraged, his back was hunched, his hair was white, and he was listless. He didn't read books every day. Anyway, he had been banned from taking the imperial examinations, so there was no point in studying anymore.

After a while, news came from the provincial capital that Zhou Fuqing was sentenced to death by prison. Upon hearing the news, Zhang was stunned.

Oh, I realized I wrote it wrong. The word "早" was carved by Ah Zhang after he learned that his grandfather was sentenced to death. The word was not there when the protagonist first came to Sanwei Book House. But I'm too lazy to change it.

(End of this chapter)