Soon, one of the nine people ran to the gate of the Textile Bureau and told everyone that Master Qin had accepted 5,000 silver coins.
For a moment, the crowd was outraged. Even the usually polite teachers and scholars were so angry that their eyes bulged like bells and they clenched their fists.
Many people outside the door shouted, "Old Qin, get out here and explain things to us!"
Master Qin knelt on the ground and trembled.
[Hurry up and let Master Qin out! Look how enthusiastic everyone is! They're all eager to see him!]
Xia Miaoyuan glanced at Master Qin's huddled back, with an expression as if he was waiting to hear some gossip.
The Queen listened to the shouting outside and said meaningfully, "In my opinion, Your Majesty no longer needs to hold Master Qin accountable."
A knowing smile flashed across Xia Zhengqi's face. "Master Qin, I understand that you are so old, so I won't pursue this matter. You can go back."
Master Qin raised his face, his face pale and red: "Your Majesty..."
"Your Majesty, why don't you just deal with me?"
Xia Zhengqi said sternly, "If you don't get out of here, I'll exile you two thousand miles away."
Master Qin was so frightened that he scrambled to his feet and walked out: "Your Majesty, I'm leaving now!"
In less than a cup of tea, an old man's wailing was heard coming from outside.
"Help! I can share the money with you!"
"Don't hit my face!"
Afterwards, it was said that Master Qin was beaten for half an hour by the angry literati. He was covered in wounds and had multiple fractures. He was unable to take care of himself.
If the imperial guards had not stopped him, he would probably have been beaten to death on the spot.
Xia Zhengqi said sternly, "Since Feng Panpan and her daughter are so restless, I don't need to show mercy."
Xia Zhengqi immediately issued an order to thoroughly investigate the results of various embroidery competitions in the capital over the past few years.
The winning works of all previous embroidery competitions are collected in one exhibition hall.
As soon as Xia Zhengqi gave the order, all of Feng Panpan's award-winning works were brought out.
The senior judges of the embroidery competition gathered together and repeatedly compared Feng Panpan's works over the years. They found that the needlework and habits of each year's works were different.
In other words, these works were not embroidered by the same person.
They called Feng Panpan to ask her face to face and asked her to embroider on the spot. Feng Panpan could not embroider anything decent, so she had to admit that all her previous works were embroidered by other embroiderers.
The embroidery competition took back all of Feng Panpan's prize money and trophies, and finally issued a notice stating that Feng Panpan had used other people's works to participate in the competition for several consecutive years to cheat and win a place.
As a punishment, Feng Panpan was banned from participating in embroidery competitions for life.
For a time, Feng Panpan became the laughing stock of the entire capital.
It is said that the whole family stayed at home, never going out, and tried not to see guests.
When the Empress Dowager learned about this, she was so angry that she almost vomited blood. She cursed Jiang Shuyi and her daughter as idiots in Shoukang Palace.
When the Queen and Xia Miaoyuan heard the news, they both felt extremely happy.
[What a loophole in the punishment!] Xia Miaoyuan bit his fingers and muttered to himself.
[With her crappy skills, is it really necessary to ban her from participating in the competition? Even if she wasn't banned, how could she possibly submit her own embroidery to the competition?]
The queen was stunned for a moment, it seemed to be true.
Late at night, the Jiang Mansion was silent.
Ever since the incident in the Jiang family, Grand Tutor Jiang has been seriously ill.
He was bedridden for almost half a year before he recovered.
After he recovered from his illness, he seldom went out because of his depressed mood, and spent most of his time staying at the Jiang Mansion.
Late that night, he was reading in his study when he was suddenly overwhelmed by a strange feeling.
In the invisible corner, there seemed to be a pair of eyes staring at him.
With a swish, Grand Tutor Jiang drew out the sword hanging on the wall and shouted at the darkness outside the window, "Who! Who is causing this? Come out!"
However, the only responses he got were the mottled shadows of the trees outside the window and the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the branches.
"Who! Come out now!"
Master Jiang was unwilling to give in and asked again.
After asking, he suddenly kicked the door open.
There was a "whoosh" sound, and it seemed like a shadow was passing by.
Looking outside again, the shadows of the trees seemed to shake violently, but there was still no one in sight.
Grand Tutor Jiang was full of doubts. He stood at the door with his sword in hand for a while, then slowly walked into the yard of his eldest son Jiang Zhiyuan.
Looking up at the three main rooms in the courtyard, the room where Jiang Zhiyuan slept was lit by flickering dim candlelight.
Since Jiang Zhiyuan fell unconscious in prison, he was sent back to the Jiang Mansion and taken care of by his wife.
For several months, he saw many doctors and took a lot of medicine, but he showed no signs of waking up.
However, for Jiang Zhiyuan's wife, falling asleep is not necessarily a bad thing.
At the beginning, Xia Zhengqi issued an order to sentence Jiang Zhiyuan to behead, and the execution would be carried out after he woke up. If he woke up, he would not be able to escape death.
He was half asleep, but at least he was still alive.
Master Jiang walked to the outside of Jiang Zhiyuan's bedroom in the dark, stretched out a finger, wet it with the tip of his tongue, and slowly poked a hole in the window paper.
Then lean forward and look inside.
Master Jiang vaguely saw that in the dim light, there was a person lying flat on the bed, and it seemed to be Jiang Zhiyuan.
A woman's scream of "Ah" came from inside the house.
"Who's outside?!" An old lady came out of the house holding a lantern to check.
Master Jiang looked indifferent and said in a cold voice: "It's me. I couldn't sleep at night, so I came to see Zhiyuan."
"It's the master! Please come in and see. It's cold outside, be careful not to catch a cold." The nanny immediately changed her tone to a gentle one.
Master Jiang then went into the inner room and saw Jiang Zhiyuan's wife, Wu, wiping his face.
"Father, you're here." Mrs. Wu stood aside holding a handkerchief.
"Well, I'll just take a look and leave." Master Jiang said, sitting down beside Jiang Zhiyuan's bed and looking him up and down.
Finally, Master Jiang's gaze fell on Jiang Zhiyuan's feet.
"In the cold winter, the quilt must be tucked in properly." Grand Tutor Jiang said calmly, as if instructing his daughter-in-law.
As he spoke, he reached out to tuck Jiang Zhiyuan's quilt.
"I understand, father." Mrs. Wu's voice was low.
Master Jiang tucked the quilt with his hands, moving from the upper body to the lower body, and was about to reach Jiang Zhiyuan's feet.
Master Jiang suddenly grabbed the corner of the quilt and was about to lift it up when Wu suddenly rushed over and held down the corner of the quilt.
"Father, let me do it." As he said this, he tucked the corner of the quilt around his feet.
Grand Tutor Jiang was stunned and said lightly: "Okay, you guys take good care of him, I'll go back first." After that, he stood up and walked out.
Wu stood up and watched her father-in-law leave until she heard Master Jiang's footsteps getting quieter and quieter. Only after she confirmed that he had left the yard did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
