Spring has come again.
Another year has passed.
The rampant rumors caused turmoil in Fengjing's upper echelons, with officials being summoned for questioning one after another, leaving them with no mood to celebrate the New Year.
Fortunately, the ordinary people continued to sing and dance, unaffected in the slightest.
Xu Mo stood at the entrance of the second courtyard, watching the carriages coming and going on the street, and the joyful people wearing new clothes, buying pastries, wearing hair ornaments, and setting off firecrackers. His heart finally settled down.
He and the Qi brothers had been planning this for a long time. The reason they decided to reveal it before the Lunar New Year was to make those who had done wrong feel uneasy and unable to sleep.
In addition, it provides the people of Fengjing with something to talk about during the New Year, making it easier for the matter to ferment and escalate.
Cheating in the imperial examinations was no small matter, and the power behind it was beyond his and the Qi brothers' control. To attract the attention of the higher authorities and to provoke the emperor's anger and investigation, ordinary people were needed to stir things up.
I heard that even the Minister of Rites was reprimanded yesterday, and the Emperor ordered him to investigate the matter of cheating in the imperial examinations.
Qi Huai exclaimed that it was a great opportunity, grabbed An Jun's article, and went home.
That article was written by Zhu Zhizhong when he passed the imperial examination.
Not a single word was missing, not a single word was different.
Regardless of how things develop, Zhu Zhi, as the one who sticks his neck out, is bound to get shot.
Now, all we need to do is wait patiently.
Xu Mo was in a calm mood. He stopped watching the jubilant crowd and turned to go back into the house, but bumped into a little ball of flesh.
"Big brother," Jiang Sheng asked, fiddling with the hem of her clothes, "Today is the 30th, and there's still no sign of second brother?"
The little girl thought that her older brother was standing at the door waiting for Zheng Lao Er.
She dared not make a sound, afraid of upsetting her brothers, but she desperately wanted her second brother to come home, so she simply stood on tiptoe and waited behind him.
They waited and waited, until the eldest brother gave up, but the second brother still didn't come back.
Is my eleventh birthday New Year destined to be missed by my two older brothers?
Xu Mo's expression froze.
His mind was so focused on the ghostwriter and the imperial examination fraud that he didn't notice that this was a year of separation and discord.
The third brother is far away in the northern frontier, and the second brother is nowhere to be found.
They scattered to various corners of the Dayu Dynasty in their pursuit of development and strength. Although they are not seen this year, the six siblings will surely reunite and live happily and peacefully in the near future.
"Jiang Sheng, be good, they will all come back." Xu Mo looked into the distance.
He had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before the siblings would be reunited.
at the same time.
Qi Huai returned home excitedly, and seeing the Minister of Rites with a slightly worried look, he raised his voice and asked, "Father, does the imperial family want you to investigate the matter of the ghostwriter?"
The Minister of Rites paused slightly, then slowly turned around. "How do you know about this?"
"Father, don't worry about how I found out," Qi Huai said with a confident smile. "I've come to give you an article, a ghostwritten piece written by a ghostwriter for a scholar. I believe it can be of some help to you."
After saying that, he placed An Jun's handwritten article on the table.
The Minister of Rites picked it up, and the more he looked at it, the more alarmed he became, until his face turned ashen.
Under the premise of keeping the examination papers of the successful candidates confidential, as long as this article is compared with the examination papers of the previous candidates in the metropolitan examination, and the one that is exactly the same, it can be determined that it is undoubtedly cheating.
But the question is, where did this article come from? And what role did the eldest son, Qi Huai, play in it?
The Minister of Rites suddenly raised his head, his voice sharp and stern, "Qi Huai! You're the one who exposed this, aren't you? You chose to do it before the New Year, making everyone in Fengjing uneasy, aren't you?"
Qi Huai's heart skipped a beat, and he took two steps back.
Intuition told him not to admit it, but courage made him nod, "So what if it's me?"
"Rebellious son!"
The Minister of Rites raised his hand and slapped his eldest son across the face. "The matter of cheating in the imperial examinations is no small matter. There are always people who cheat on the exams. Why is it that you are the one who stands out? Why are you asked to expose these things and bring them to the Emperor's doorstep?"
"You...you've gotten yourself into big trouble."
It was clear that the Minister of Rites was both angry and concerned.
But it was precisely because of this that Qi Huai became increasingly angry and disappointed.
"Father, you know about the existence of ghostwriters, right? You also know that the imperial examination is unfair. Just because there are so many people involved, are you going to condone the oppression of innocent commoner students?"
He questioned them repeatedly, "You are the Minister of Rites, the person in charge of the entire imperial examination, the most respected official by the students, and this is how you treat them?"
Before the Minister of Rites appeared pairs of eager faces, bowing respectfully, their longing for the Imperial Academy, their aspirations for the imperial examinations, and their hopes for the future.
But in the end, because of their poverty, all their desires turned to numbness. To make a living, they wrote for others, becoming "ghostwriters" at the bottom of society, ultimately drowning and helplessly adrift.
“Those poor students are indeed pitiful,” the Minister of Rites sighed. “But Qi Huai, this is Fengjing. The powerful families here have extensive networks and influence beyond your imagination. It’s impossible to eliminate cheaters and fraudsters all at once. If you act rashly, you will only become the target of everyone’s criticism. The powerful families will not let you off the hook.”
“So what if they are aristocratic families? Can they bypass the imperial family?” Qi Huai clenched his fist. “Father, the imperial family is not just for show. The fact that they are involved in these matters means that there is a possibility of fairness and justice. We cannot give up, and we cannot admit defeat.”
The boy's earnest demeanor was strikingly similar to the officials' former high spirits.
Who hasn't gone through this?
But who isn't gradually becoming shrewd and worldly-wise, content with mediocrity and only seeking self-preservation?
The Minister of Rites seemed to see his former self in his eldest son. He felt somewhat helpless, amused, and subtly tempted.
"You're not convinced, are you? Fine, then I'll show you the power of the Fengjing family."
After he finished speaking, he picked up the article on the table and strode away.
The article was written by An Jun, and it is indeed identical to Zhu Zhi's article in the list of successful candidates in the imperial examinations. There is no way to fake it.
However, when the Minister of Rites delivered the article to the Emperor, the Zhu family immediately protested their innocence, accusing An Jun of plagiarizing Zhu Zhi's article and implying that the Minister of Rites might have been behind this to retaliate against the Zhu family.
With the addition of the Tao family, the Fang family, and some officials, they jointly accused the Minister of Rites, almost uncovering his entire past.
It seemed that the Minister of Rites was about to be convicted, and An Jun, who had written the article, was also about to be executed.
The Dou family, which was on par with the Fang and Jiang families, finally stepped forward. Dou Weiming, the Minister of Personnel, even suggested that the author of the article be brought to the Golden Palace for questioning.
The emperor sat high on his dragon throne, looking at everyone with a blank expression, and could see that everyone's hearts were practically in their throats.
Finally, he spoke.
"Mention the author of the article!"
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