The prefect's nephew, seeing his uncle kneeling before that man, realized he had offended someone he shouldn't have.
Yinzhen naturally had no right to punish an official appointed by the court, but he could still order the prefect's nephew to be punished.
Finally, Yinzhen gave the prefect a cold look and said, "I've heard quite a bit from your nephew. I hope the prefect won't mind if I detain him and interrogate him!"
How could the prefect dare to mind? He replied, "I don't mind at all, I don't mind at all."
Yinzhen then had someone take the prefect's nephew away.
The prefect's nephew had something stuffed in his mouth and couldn't speak, but his face showed his panic. He wasn't very bright, but he wasn't really stupid, so he naturally understood what his uncle meant.
His uncle has given up on him.
He then became truly frightened and began to regret his actions, regretting that he had provoked such a person.
But it's too late to regret it now.
Upon arriving at their residence, Yinzhen said to Su Peisheng, "Take the man away and interrogate him thoroughly."
This person is probably a repeat offender, and we should be able to get a lot out of him. Yinzhen has never been a magnanimous person; he's very petty. He's been talking nonsense to his little princess. Well, just wait and see!
That evening, Yinzhen said to Tong Cheng'er, "I'm afraid we'll have to wait two more days before we can go back."
Yinzhen had to punish the prefect's nephew for his crimes.
Tong Cheng'er nodded: "Okay!"
She's no longer fixated on returning to Beijing sooner or later; the scenery in Jiangnan is beautiful, so she might as well stay a couple more days.
Su Peisheng took the prefect's nephew away for questioning.
After some interrogation, it was learned that the prefect's nephew was named Liu Yuanming. He was the only son of the prefect's only sister, and the two families spoiled him too much. He got whatever he wanted and acted somewhat domineeringly.
He studied at an academy in Jiangnan and held the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations). He loved beautiful women and often went out with a group of "friends" to visit prostitutes.
A few years ago, he only went to the red-light district to find girls in brothels. Later, he found the girls in brothels a bit tiresome. In addition, he became bolder. With an uncle who was the prefect, he also did things like kidnapping girls in the street.
However, unlike typical thugs who abduct women, this man was reasonably good-looking and skilled at sweet-talking women, so many of those he "abducted" were willing to do so.
However, he not only seduced unmarried girls, but also women with their hair styled in a married woman's bun.
If the woman he was trying to seduce did not agree, he could ruin her reputation. In addition, no one dared to tell the governor's nephew, so he really couldn't seduce many married women.
Of course, he also drove a few to their deaths, after all, there were some women with strong character who were unwilling to submit to a hypocritical and despicable man.
After getting involved, he was so vicious that he had someone make life unbearable for the young woman's ex-husband.
The methods used were despicable.
...
After hearing what Su Peisheng had found out and interrogated, Yinzhen and Tong Cheng'er fell silent. There was a lot of darkness that existed in places they couldn't see. It was one thing not to have seen it, but now that they knew, they still found it hard to believe.
It just felt utterly absurd.
And they also knew that such an absurd thing was not an isolated case.
In places unknown to them, there are many more people and things like this.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, Tong Cheng'er said, "This Liu Yuanming sounds like an uneducated person. How did he pass the imperial examination and become a scholar?"
Liu Yuanming is only twenty years old. Although he has a natural talent for studying, without hard work, even a genius can turn into a fool.
How did Liu Yuanming manage to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar?
Tong Cheng'er only learned when her second brother took the imperial examination that it was actually very difficult to become a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations).
Another possibility is that Liu Yuanming is exceptionally gifted in his studies, but judging from his behavior, he doesn't seem to be a bright person.
How one obtains the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations) is something worth investigating.
When Tong Cheng'er brought up this issue, Yinzhen was immediately taken aback, as he had not considered this possibility.
The young lady is right; that's how Liu Yuanming passed the imperial examination and became a scholar.
Yinzhen frowned, then instructed, "Su Peisheng, go investigate, but remember to be discreet."
If it were true, Liu Yuanming, a "fool," would certainly not have been able to cheat in the imperial examinations; it could only have been done by his uncle, the prefect.
Keep the investigation small to avoid alerting the enemy.
Upon hearing the order, Su Peisheng couldn't help but feel alarmed. If the investigation revealed that there was indeed a problem, then quite a few people would be beheaded.
"Yes, Master."
After Su Peisheng left, Yinzhen felt a headache coming on. He couldn't help but press his head with his hand and then sighed, "This matter is probably not going to be easily resolved."
If it is verified that the prefect was involved in the imperial examination fraud, then historically, no case involving imperial examination fraud has ever been easily quelled.
Tong Cheng'er nodded. She had read about cases of cheating in the imperial examinations in detective stories, and they all involved bloodshed.
"Find out the truth and let Father Emperor handle it!"
If he didn't know, that would be one thing, but now that he did, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing; Yinzhen couldn't bear to do nothing.
Yinzhen nodded: "Investigate first! Hopefully it's not like that."
Otherwise, the imperial court would inevitably face an earthquake, and the Jiangnan region would also need a major purge.
If it were just a simple matter of punishing Liu Mingyuan, the two of them could relax a bit. But now that they have something on their minds, they can't relax at all, and neither of them is in the mood for sightseeing.
While Yinzhen was reading and writing in his study, Tong Cheng'er could only pass the time by reading some storybooks.
Although this was Yinzhen's first time in Jiangnan, he had sent people to do business there a few years ago, and they had already developed their businesses. It can be said that he had influence in Jiangnan.
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