Chapter 125 The Heavenly Decree Slanders
“Since everyone passed the exam, why don’t we go to a restaurant to celebrate?” Zhou Jiming suggested first.
Chen Yunhe was the first to respond: "Great! My treat!"
He was extremely excited; as the son of a wealthy merchant, he had never imagined he could pass the exam.
In his mind, he was already quite good at passing the county-level imperial examination, but he never expected to pass the provincial-level imperial examination as well.
This is truly an incredible stroke of luck!
He was able to pass the exam thanks to Shao Yanzhe.
Recalling the days he spent endlessly reading in the dream world, he couldn't help but shudder.
He never expected that he would be able to persevere.
Let alone asking him to treat someone to a meal, I imagine even if he treated Shao Yanzhe to every meal in the future, his father wouldn't object.
"That won't do!"
"Why not! It's just a meal. My family doesn't have much else, but we have plenty of money!"
"this……"
"Alright, alright, stop talking. Let's hurry up and get to the restaurant to get a table, or there won't be any left."
As Chen Yunhe spoke, he pushed open the door and tried to lead the way.
But as soon as he opened the door, he bumped into a teenager.
"Can't you watch where you're going?!"
The boy's face was full of gloom. He pushed Chen Yunhe hard, knocking him to the ground.
Then he strode into the room, followed by a number of onlookers.
"Cui An! I didn't even have to come looking for you, yet you still dare to come to my door!" Zhou Jiming was extremely displeased when he saw the boy. He glanced at Chen Yunhe, who had been pushed to the ground, and said, "Moreover, you even bullied my people! You're really tired of living!"
As he spoke, he strode towards the young man, Cui An, rolled up his sleeves, and slapped him across the face.
Upon seeing his movement, Cui An quickly retreated, and two servants stepped forward to stop him.
He felt much more at ease when he saw that Zhou Jiming was being blocked.
He looked at Zhou Jiming and said, "I already know. You were able to pass the exam because you cheated!"
Zhou Jiming immediately burst into a tirade: "You're talking nonsense! You're the one who cheated! Your whole family cheated!"
Cui An shrank back and rolled his eyes at him. Of course he knew he was cheating, otherwise how could a spoiled brat like him have passed the exam?
Of course, he wouldn't say this fact.
"Hmph! Just you wait! The soldiers will be here to arrest you soon!"
After he finished speaking, a group of soldiers walked in from outside.
"Who reported the case?" the head constable asked, his face extremely grim.
Cui An immediately raised his hand and said, "It was me! Zhou Jiming cheated on the exam!"
The constable glanced at him: "Where's the evidence?"
Cui An: "You know Zhou Jiming, right? He's a notorious playboy in the capital, stupid and incompetent, and has never studied since childhood. The fact that he passed the exam must be because he cheated!"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Who said Brother Zhou is stupid? Brother Zhou didn't study hard when he was young because he's a genius. He can memorize those books after reading them once, and he can even recite them backwards. He's so talented that he doesn't need to cheat at all! Don't you think so, Brother Zhou?"
Shao Yanzhe looked at Zhou Jiming as he spoke.
At this moment, Zhou Jiming stared blankly at himself and asked, "Huh? Me?"
“Yes!” Shao Yanzhe nodded affirmatively.
Zhou Jiming immediately snapped out of his daze and coughed lightly, saying, "Of course! What I mean is, I can memorize all those articles just by glancing at them."
After hearing this, Cui An stared at him with a puzzled look, his eyes clearly revealing, "You really are a genius?"
Zhou Jiming strained his eyes and looked back innocently. Yes, I really am a genius!
"Furthermore, it's too arbitrary of you to conclude that Brother Zhou cheated based solely on your conjecture. Do you have any other evidence to prove that Brother Zhou cheated?" Shao Yanzhe asked.
Cui An opened his mouth, but he really didn't.
But why would he need evidence to do his thing!
Thinking of this, he looked at the constable beside him and gave him a wink.
The constable glanced at him, then waved to the people behind him.
"Take them all."
A dozen soldiers standing behind him entered and took control of everyone in the room.
"Let me go! Why are you arresting me! You should be arresting Zhou Jiming instead!" Cui An shouted angrily as two soldiers twisted his arms behind his back. He tried to struggle but couldn't break free.
"This is a very serious matter. I need to report it now and wait for the higher-ups to come down and investigate. If you really didn't cheat, that's fine. But if you really did cheat, even the Heavenly King himself can't save you."
The bailiff scanned the people in the room expressionlessly before leaving first.
The soldiers behind them, along with Shao Yanzhe and the others, followed.
Upon seeing this, Cui An was dumbfounded and filled with anxiety. Why hadn't things gone as he had imagined?
Shouldn't it have been Zhou Jiming who was stripped of his official title because of his report? Why is he being linked to him?
His eyes were full of confusion.
Shao Yanzhe frowned slightly. He hadn't expected these people to be so simplistic and brutal in dealing with cheating on the imperial examinations. They simply arrested all the people involved and then investigated thoroughly.
However, he had absolutely no trust in the government offices here. He strongly suspected that, given the crude rules and regulations of this world, he would end up like Yun Weiyue, being convicted of cheating and stripped of his academic honors simply because of one person's word.
But for now, he has no other choice but to take it one step at a time and see if the officials are enforcing the law impartially or if they are just trying to use their lives to appease their superiors.
Soon, news of cheating by some candidates in this year's imperial examination was quickly reported to higher authorities.
Ultimately, it ended up in Gu Huiming's hands.
He stared at the Xuan paper in his hand, his eyes calm and devoid of any emotion.
He summoned someone to bring over all the papers from the people above, and after looking at them one by one, he couldn't help but sneer.
"Go to the Cui family and tell them to discipline Cui An properly. If it happens again, confiscate his property. As for these scholars, release them all!"
"Yes!" The subordinate standing respectfully to the side immediately responded and then left.
Gu Huiming squinted, feeling a stinging pain in his eyes. As the Grand Secretary for so many years, he had devoted himself to helping His Majesty handle state affairs, which had led to overuse of his eyes. Now, whenever he used his eyes for a long time, they felt extremely sore and painful, which was very uncomfortable.
His eyes were fixed on the table in front of him, his whole being shrouded in darkness, making him look like a lurking beast that might leap out of the shadows at any moment.
"Sigh! I'm getting old!"
A soft sigh rang out.
He doesn't have much time left, and if Plan T cannot be completed, then he needs to prepare a backup plan.
Gu Huiming's mind raced, and his gaze fell on the test paper he had placed aside, his eyes deep and unfathomable.
...
"Hmph! I already said I didn't cheat!" Zhou Jiming walked out of the cell, completely self-righteous. "But you're still letting me out, aren't you?"
Shao Yanzhe and the others also walked out of the prison one after another. When they saw him like this, they couldn't help but smile.
Zhou Jiming glanced around and quickly spotted Cui An, who was still imprisoned.
Seeing that those people had no intention of releasing Cui An, he was immediately delighted.
"Hey! What are you still doing in there? Are you having too much fun in there and don't want to leave?"
Cui An's face was extremely ugly. He hadn't expected that his attempt to trick Zhou Jiming would backfire and end up trapping himself.
Now that his future is uncertain, he simply can't be bothered to respond to Zhou Jiming's provocations.
Zhou Jiming wasn't angry at receiving a response. He put his hands on his hips and said to Cui An, "Don't forget our bet. After you get out, remember to go to the city gate and shout 'I, Cui An, am a piece of trash' three times. I'll have someone watching you. If you don't go, hmph!"
"Hurry up, hurry up! Unauthorized personnel should not linger!" The yamen runners, having witnessed a good show, were also worried about being reprimanded by their superiors, so they began to shoo people away.
Zhou Jiming wanted to continue mocking Cui An, but Shao Yanzhe quickly stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, let's go first!"
Zhou Jiming glared at Cui An, then followed Shao Yanzhe and the others away.
Cui An, imprisoned in jail, stared at their retreating figures with eyes full of resentment.
Shao Yanzhe walked out of the dimly lit cell, raised his head to shield his eyes from the sunlight, and squinted slightly, feeling the warmth of the sunlight on his body, dispelling the dark and damp smell he had picked up in prison.
In his past life, he was very curious about prisons when he watched movies and TV series. Now that he has experienced it firsthand, he is no longer curious at all.
Not only was it damp and dark inside, but rats and cockroaches also appeared from time to time, and the smell was complicated and indescribable. He stood there in the dark, not daring to sit on the straw inside.
"Meow!" Xuan Yao suddenly jumped down from the wall.
Shao Yanzhe quickly reached out and hugged him, his hand landing on his flat stomach. Instantly, all his thoughts vanished.
"Are you hungry? I'll take you to eat right now!"
After he finished speaking, he quickly called Zhou Jiming and the others to find a decent-looking restaurant and specially ordered a plate of dried fish for Xuan Yao.
After the group had eaten and drunk their fill, they left the restaurant and headed towards the Zhou residence.
After walking for a while, the orange light in the west completely disappeared, the sky darkened, and you could see a dark blue sky when you looked up.
"Um, did we just walk past here?" Zhou Jiming looked at a tree by the roadside, feeling that the tree was very familiar, and asked uncertainly.
Upon hearing this, the others followed his gaze and saw, under the dim light of the lantern in his hand, the trunk of the locust tree by the roadside cast a dark shadow on the wall, its menacing appearance resembling a monster ready to devour anyone at any moment.
"Really? I hadn't noticed before, but I do feel like this road is a bit long," Wen Yanqing said hesitantly.
After hearing this, Shao Yanzhe glanced around. Because his attention had been focused on Xuan Yao, he couldn't immediately tell whether he had passed through this place.
However, he believed that Zhou Jiming would not say such a thing without reason.
The jade hairpin pen in his hand fell silently from his sleeve and was held in his hand.
“Keep going,” he said.
So the group continued walking, this time focusing their attention on their surroundings. After walking for a quarter of an hour, they stopped and their gaze fell on the familiar locust tree by the roadside.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Holding a jade hairpin pen in his hand, Shao Yanzhe's eyes were cold and sharp. He pointed at the locust tree in front of him and said in a cold voice, "Come out!"
As these words fell, the dark shadow of the locust tree cast on the wall began to writhe.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
