Chapter 16: Everyone is Suspected Qingshan Lun, written by my late wife...
Qin Yunchen walked over with a folding fan in his hand, placed an exquisitely crafted hairpin on Qin Yuqing's leg and said.
"Sixth sister, I heard the news that you returned to Beijing a few days ago, but Fourth Brother is still in Lucheng, so I didn't see you until today."
Qin Yuqing shook her head and gladly accepted the hairpin. She smiled at Qin Yunchen and said, "It's okay. But can I know what Fourth Brother is doing in Lucheng?"
"There's an old doctor who appeared in Lu City. A few days ago, my father kept complaining of headaches and fever, so I wanted to pay him a visit." Qin Yunchen took out a prescription from his pocket and said, "Fourth brother begged for a long time before the old doctor agreed to come to the palace to treat my father."
"Fourth Brother is really meticulous. But what do you think of what Chen Yijun said?"
Qin Yunchen put the prescription away and sighed, "Sixth sister, you didn't know this before in the temple." Qin Yunchen half-knelt down and said to Qin Yuqing in a low voice, "There is no way there is no cheating in the imperial examination. In the capital, anyone who is well-known and famous has several disciples."
Qin Yuqing's eyes darkened, she understood the implication of Qin Yunchen's words.
"The number of places in the imperial examination is limited. Even if a top scholar is extremely talented, if he is too aloof and conceited and refuses to accept the olive branch, how can he enter the court and serve as an official?"
Qin Yunchen's tone was filled with helplessness towards cheating in the imperial examination, as well as some regret for the talented scholar who had bad luck, and resentment.
"That's the imperial examination. Shouldn't it be the way out for students all over the world?" Qin Yuqing murmured to himself. Just like the modern college entrance examination, although every year it is said that thousands of troops are crossing a single-plank bridge, this single-plank bridge is fair and just compared to most families.
"That being said." Qin Yunchen stood up, covered his face with a fan, and looked at Chen Yijun who was kneeling on the ground with his back straight.
"But, this is just the imperial examination."
The two people looked at each other in silence, and both saw helplessness in each other's eyes.
"Why did you want to assassinate the Sixth Princess?" Lu Jingchuan asked again when Chen Yijun didn't answer. "Tell me."
Chen Yijun pursed his lips, the sunlight shining through the gaps onto his thin body, making him look even more fragile, but his straight spine revealed his last bit of pride as a scholar.
"Because someone told me that if I kill the Sixth Princess, not only can I get a large sum of money, but I can also redress the Park family's innocence and overturn the verdict."
Qin Yuqing looked at Chen Yijun with a deep gaze. Only she and Lu Jingchuan knew the information about the person behind the assassination, so no one could judge the truthfulness of Chen Yijun's words.
"Who is it?" Lu Jingchuan nodded slightly and took out a cloth bag from his arms.
Chen Yijun gritted his teeth, his eyes clear and resolute, his figure as tall and straight as a pine tree on a cliff. He said, "I think General Lu is familiar with the rules of the underworld."
"Yes." Lu Jingchuan turned around and saluted His Majesty, "This minister's subsequent behavior was a bit rude, I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
"It doesn't matter. I just want to know who assassinated Qing'er."
Lu Jingchuan nodded, he pulled out an extremely long silver needle, ordered someone to grab Chen Yijun's finger, and then inserted the silver needle horizontally into Chen Yijun's fingernail.
Qin Yuqing looked at Lu Jingchuan's stern expression and recalled the scene of herself interrogating the man in black. Thinking about it this way, the two of them were quite a match.
He is worthy of being the partner she chose at first sight.
Beads of sweat appeared on Chen Yijun's head. His face was bruised due to the pain, but his eyes were red due to congestion.
While waiting for the fifth one, Chen Yijun couldn't stand it anymore. He said in a hoarse voice: "I'll tell you, I'll tell you."
Lu Jingchuan glanced at Chen Yijun coldly, and suddenly pulled out the silver needle from his fingernail. A shrill scream echoed across the cliff.
"Who ordered this?"
Chen Yijun was crawling on the ground like a dying dog. He kept gasping for breath and pointed at Qin Yunchen with a trembling finger that was oozing with blood.
"It was the Fourth Prince. He came to me a few days ago and told me that if I could successfully assassinate the Sixth Princess, I could overturn the case for the Park family."
Qin Yunchen was somewhat speechless, but he still knelt down and said honestly, "Your Majesty, I am wise. I was in Lucheng a few days ago. How did I end up in this mountain of literature?"
"Furthermore, I only learned today that Sixth Sister had also come to Wenshan. How could I have known her whereabouts in advance?"
Qin Yuqing looked carefully at the expressions of everyone present. Most people's eyes were full of shock and disbelief.
"Chen Yijun, if you tell the truth, I can still keep your body intact." Lu Jingchuan said as he wiped the blood-stained silver needle, "How can the Fourth Prince in Lucheng meet you in Wenshan?"
"Yes, if I remember correctly, Lucheng and Wenshan are two days' drive apart." Qin Youqian clapped his hands and added.
The next moment, Chen Yijun turned his finger around and pointed at Qin Youqian and said, "I remembered it wrongly. It was him who came to me and said that if the Sixth Princess was not removed, his position as Crown Prince might be in jeopardy."
Qin Youqian didn't expect that the suspicion would be transferred to him just because he said a word.
"Brother Prince, you really think highly of me, your sister." Qin Yuqing looked at Qin Youqian with a smile.
"Sixth sister, please stop mocking me." Qin Youqian smiled bitterly. He didn't expect Chen Yijun to start making irresponsible remarks, but he still explained honestly, "Your Majesty, I understand. Your Majesty has been unwell for the past few days, and I have been taking care of her in the palace."
"My brother, the Crown Prince, and I were both in the Queen Mother's bedroom at the time." Qin Qinqin also spoke up to explain on behalf of the Crown Prince, "The palace maids and eunuchs present can all testify for the Crown Prince."
"Chen Yijun, our patience is limited." Lu Jingchuan said coldly.
Chen Yijun chuckled foolishly. This time, he pointed at Qin Junyi and said, "It's him! He said the Sixth Princess is a variable and must be eliminated, otherwise he won't be able to sit in that high position."
"Second brother, I didn't expect you to think so highly of me."
This time, when Eunuch Zhang heard Qin Yuqing's words, he consciously turned his wheelchair so that Qin Yuqing faced the second prince Qin Junyi.
"Sixth sister, you're just enjoying the fun." Qin Junyi also knelt down to defend himself, "I was confined to the palace by my father a few days ago, and I haven't even left the palace."
"Besides, I have never had any other intentions. I hope your Majesty will understand."
Listening to the answers of several princes who would be in trouble in the future, it was true that none of them had the opportunity to take action, but Park Qinghe would not lie to her about this.
Qin Yuqing tapped the blanket on her legs from time to time. She recalled the plot transmitted by the system again and thought about other possibilities.
Could it be that there is an illegitimate child?
Just as Qin Yuqing was thinking, Chen Yijun pointed his finger at her, and then she heard his shocking words: "It was the Sixth Princess who asked me to assassinate herself. She said that this would attract everyone's attention. She craves attention."
"?"
"What? Who assassinated who?"
"No? Say it again, I want to hear it?"
Perhaps it was Qin Yuqing's three consecutive confused expressions that caused many people in the hall to laugh softly.
"Sixth sister, this top scorer in the imperial examination three years ago said that you were planning to assassinate him." This time it was Qin Qinqin's turn to take no risks. She walked up to Qin Yuqing and couldn't help laughing again.
"Fourth sister!" Before Qin Yuqing could say anything, she heard Chen Yijun turn his head and point at Qin Qinqin.
"I remembered it wrongly. It was the fourth princess, Qin Qinqin. She was jealous of all the princesses, so she asked me to assassinate her."
"It's your turn, Fourth Sister."
A person's smile will never disappear, it will only transfer to other people's faces.
Qin Yuqing finally understood that Chen Yijun was just accusing others of nonsense. He didn't know whether he was really crazy or just pretending to be crazy.
"Enough! Drag him away and put him in the Sky Prison. Behead him in three days." The emperor spoke to end this farce.
But who knew that Chen Yijun suddenly broke free from control, rushed to the guardrail of the cliff, looked at everyone present and said.
"The imperial examination is open to all students in the world. There are no restrictions. Both men and women can participate!"
His eyes were brighter than ever before. He looked at the emperor and said loudly, "I am about to die, and my words are kind. In fact, I came here today for only one thing."
"What's the matter? Why are you making such a fuss?" The emperor stopped the guard and asked.
"Your Majesty, this three-year Qingshan Lun was indeed not written by me, but it was definitely not copied or cheated!" Chen Yijun's eyes were filled with tears of blood. He looked into the distance and said, "I want everyone in the world to know that Qingshan Lun was written by my late wife, Chen Ning!"
"When she was dying, she sat in the courtyard and wrote this Qingshan Lun. She said how wonderful it would be if she were a man."
Everyone looked at Chen Yijun in shock, and even many ministers murmured.
"Isn't that possible?"
"How could a woman write such a masterpiece?"
"It must be fake. They just refuse to admit to plagiarizing the imperial examination."
"Study, enter the officialdom, be a good person, become an official." Chen Yijun's tearful voice echoed in the hall, "Why does the imperial examination have to be divided into different levels? Why does the imperial examination have to restrict students? Why can students only be sons?"
"I hate this injustice in the world, I hate cheating in the imperial examinations, and I hate that women can't enter the civil service." Chen Yijun stepped over the railing. "But unfortunately, I am a man! But unfortunately, I can pass the imperial examination. I have misled her expectations."
Chen Yijun's life may be bleak. He carries the expectations of his deceased wife. The world has no chance to know what he felt when he wrote his deceased wife's Qingshan Lun on paper.
But at this moment, although he is a bird with broken wings, he has also tried to climb the big tree. Maybe he will fail in the end, but he has tried.
At the last moment, he will burst into brilliant light and meet his deceased wife without any guilt.
There was a moment of silence in the hall. No one expected things to turn out like this.
"Come, give them a proper burial." The Emperor looked at the spot of blood red amidst the yellow below. "My dear ministers, what are your thoughts on what the top scholar Chen Yijun said about women taking the imperial examinations?"
All the ministers looked at each other in confusion, and many of them still insisted that women were not allowed to enter the officialdom.
"I believe that rules cannot be abolished," an elderly man came out and said in a serious tone, "and the Qingshan Lun incident is only Chen Yijun's one-sided opinion."
"Besides Lord Guo, does anyone else have anything to say?"
Guo Yun, the Minister of Rites, is in charge of all matters of the Ministry of Rites. In the original book, he is a notorious old stubborn person, and even the articles he wrote have a sense of self-satisfaction.
As long as we can convince him, it seems that the imperial examination will be no problem.
"I have a memorial to submit." Father Lu suddenly stepped forward, supported by Lu Jingchuan. "I believe Chen Yijun is absolutely right. The imperial examination should be fair and just, and the students of the world should be judged in a broad sense, not a narrow sense."
With Father Lu and Lord Guo taking the lead, many people expressed their opinions, but most supported Minister Guo.
Most of the people standing behind Lu's father were military generals. At this moment, the dividing line between civil and military officials became clear.
"You, a bunch of military generals, do you understand what literature is?" I don't know who started it.
"We don't understand, but we do know that women can be talented and knowledgeable, not just men." A younger general stepped forward, her hair simply tied up. "Women can fight on the battlefield, so why can't they take the imperial examinations and enter the officialdom?"
Shen Yanqing, like the fourth prince Qin Yunchen, is a character that is not given much attention in the original book.
But she was a gifted general. She had a high talent for martial arts since childhood and was very good at leading troops in battle. She was able to guard the southern border alone at a young age.
She used her hard work to tell everyone that women could also lead troops in battle.
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