He heard the news very quickly. In just one night, he took the people from the Hanlin Academy and sorted out all the files.
The next morning, officials banged drums and gongs, "The Spring Examination papers are now on public display. You can check them out here!"
All the candidates' essays were displayed. At the top of the list was the essay written by Feng Zhen, the top scorer!
"What kind of crap is this? This is the winner of this year's championship? I'm not well-educated and don't have much experience. Is this the only kind of talent among scholars?"
"Don't even mention you. I'm completely baffled. Not only is the purpose of this article unclear, but there are also many incoherent sentences throughout. Is this something a champion could write? I'm afraid all the previous champions would be banging their heads against the wall!"
Truth will come to light sooner or later. Even the top-ranked champion is like this, let alone others?
As soon as the article came out, everyone knew what was going on with those deliberately planted "background figures"—
Cheating in the Spring Examination!
"I didn't expect that there would actually be cheating in the Spring Examination, and there was more than one person!"
When Qin Shaobei came back from outside, his face began to look energetic again. What he couldn't stand the most was that he was not as skilled as others.
Unexpectedly, hey! It wasn't that his skills were inferior to others, but those people were cheating!
He felt calm at once.
"In my opinion, the champion position should belong to Pei Rushi. As for your brother, I can barely be second." Qin Shaobei said this, and he was not bragging.
Pei Rushi's writing was indeed impeccable. Not only him, but anyone who had read Pei Rushi's writing would not dare to claim to be the best.
As for that fake champion, there is no comparison at all.
Shen Ruoyan smiled and asked, “What about Mr. Zou?”
She was rather curious about what kind of results this family, for whom Mrs. Zou had spent a large sum of money to buy her grandfather's inkstone, could achieve.
This has to do with the price of my grandfather's inkstone next time...
Qin Shaobei recalled it and found that he actually had some impression of it.
"If nothing unexpected happens, he will probably be after me?" The reason he was unsure was that each examiner had a different style. According to Qin Shaobei's own opinion, Mr. Zou's essay was quite ordinary. There was nothing outstanding about it, but there were no shortcomings either.
He is very good at the doctrine of the mean.
And this time's test questions just happen to fit this.
So if there are no accidents this time, he should be able to get a very good ranking.
“Don’t worry, cousin. I think that even if there is an accident this time, it will not happen again.” Shen Ruoyan said with a smile.
As expected, after the Spring Examination papers were released, the imperial court announced that it would thoroughly investigate any cheating in the Spring Examination. The previously published list would be invalidated and would be re-evaluated before being published again.
And this time, nothing unexpected happened.
After the revision, Pei Rushi topped the list, becoming the champion! And Qin Shaobei, as he said, ranked second behind Pei Rushi.
As for Mr. Zou, he actually got a very good ranking of third place, not a single bit off!
This is actually good news. Everyone’s efforts have finally paid off and true justice has been achieved.
However, when Shen Ruoyan heard that someone involved in the fraud case had heard about it, he was still very surprised.
"Wenzhi, are you talking about Master Wenzhi from the Hanlin Academy?" When Qiu Ye brought the news back, Shen Ruoyan was writing and meditating. Hearing this, he threw the pen in his hand. With a clatter, the ink stained the ground black, leaving a mess.
Qiu Ye didn't understand why the lady was so excited. Could it be that this Lord Wen was someone she knew?
But I heard that this Lord Wenzhi is also a very famous scholar. Maybe that’s why?
After all, the lady comes from a scholarly family and is always special to scholars.
"Madam, it's this Lord Wen. I heard that he, as the chief examiner, led the cheating. He secretly accepted money from the examinees and then made things easy for them. This is what caused the chaos in this Spring Examination!"
"impossible!"
Shen Ruoyan immediately straightened his expression. Anyone could accept bribes, but he would never do that just by hearing about it!
His father was falsely accused of corruption and died in prison to prove his guilt. It was said that when he was young, he had suffered countless hardships to overturn his father's verdict, which led to his current situation.
His success was hard-won. I was moved by his tenacity and that's why I went against the majority's opinion and put him in the Hanlin Academy.
How could such a person take the lead in accepting bribes?
"Qiu Ye, call over all the people who were watching outside. Find out from them if there is any useful information." Shen Ruoyan realized that this matter was not simple.
Wen Zhi had no motive or reason to do this. Even if she had misjudged people before, Wen Zhi's wife was the only daughter of a wealthy businessman in Yangzhou. How could he make a mistake over gold and silver?!
I first heard that he was famous for his fairness in the Hanlin Academy.
I took extra care of him because I admired his fearlessness in not fearing the powerful.
But now, not only was he wronged, but it seemed that he was willing to plead guilty on his own initiative.
Then there is only one possibility - he has to admit this crime!
Shen Ruoyan sneered, they are all thousand-year-old foxes, I didn’t expect that there are really people who regard everyone in the world as fools!
He didn't dare admit what he had done, but now he found that he could no longer suppress it. He wanted to push someone out to take the blame and let them bear the infamy of thousands of scholars.
He doesn't feel ashamed, I am ashamed of him!
That night, all of Shen Ruoyan's secret guards were dispatched throughout the streets and alleys of Shengjing City.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com