As soon as he said this, Aji suddenly took a few steps back, then stood there with his head down, tears streaming down his cheeks uncontrollably.
Ling Feng glanced at Aji, then looked at Leng Yu with burning worry.
"I brought Aji here. If anything happens to Master Yicheng, I'm willing to take the punishment on his behalf."
"Brother Feng, this is not your fault. I was impatient. I shouldn't have touched someone's sword, nor should I have used it to hurt anyone. Aji is wrong. Aji deserves death."
"Shut up."
Ling Feng turned around and scolded her harshly.
"Haven't you caused me enough trouble along the way? You're my cousin, and I promised Mother that I'd take good care of you. Naturally, I can't go back on my word. If you make a mistake, it's because I failed to discipline you properly. Naturally, I bear the responsibility for this."
"Brother Feng..."
"Stop talking."
Ling Feng raised his hands forward with a serious expression.
"Your Majesty, lock me up!"
Seeing this, Aji rushed forward and hugged his arm.
"This is my fault. If you want to lock us up, lock us up together. I want to stay with you."
Leng Yu frowned without any hesitation and waved to A Yu.
"Lock them in the west wing."
The reason why he did not order them to be locked up in the woodshed was that he took into consideration their identity as Dongyang people.
Ling Feng took Aji, Ayu and several guards out without any complaints.
Leng Yu turned his head to look at Luo Lan,
"Madam, you haven't looked well these past few days. Are you worried about Yicheng?"
Luo Lan looked at him with a face as pale as paper. She wanted to tell him about An An, but in the end she didn't say it.
Today was the three-day deadline he had set for the top scholar, but at this time, Yi Cheng happened to get into trouble again.
With all these things mixed up, she didn't know how to start.
At this moment, Qin Shun came forward to report,
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Miss An An requests an audience."
Hearing An An's name, Luo Lan's heart was in his throat. Leng Yu waved his hand.
"Let her in."
After a while, Aji appeared in front of Leng Yu and Luo Lan in men's clothes.
When Luo Lan saw her attire, he knew that this girl had come to admit her mistake.
But she was also pleased about this, which showed that she was a person who dared to act and take responsibility.
An An came to the main hall, knelt on his knees, and kowtowed three times in silence.
Leng Yu looked at Luo Lan in confusion, then raised his hand to An An and said:
"An An, what are you doing?"
An An did not stand up, but knelt where he was, straightened his body, clasped his hands together and said:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, An An came here today to admit her mistakes. An An is wrong, please punish me, Your Majesty."
For the first time ever, she did not call them dad and mom, which made Leng Yu even more puzzled.
He frowned at her.
"An An, what is going on? What mistake have you made?"
An An glanced at Luo Lan, bit her lips lightly, then took out a piece of straw paper from her breast pocket and spread it out.
When seeing this piece of straw paper, Leng Yu seemed to realize something.
He looked at her solemnly.
"Why did you take down the imperial edict I ordered posted?"
Luo Lan's heart was about to jump out of his throat.
She stared at An An with her charming eyes, afraid that if she said a wrong word, Leng Yu would fly into a rage.
An An looked at Leng Yu with firm eyes. Her body was shaking constantly, but her heart was trying to remain calm.
"Your Majesty, the new number one scholar Ling An mentioned in the imperial edict is me, disguised as a man."
As soon as she said this, Leng Yu's face turned ashen. Luo Lan turned to look at Leng Yu at this time.
Leng Yu seemed to feel her gaze, he turned his head and looked at her sharply, then asked in a cold voice,
"Do you know about this?"
Luo Lan couldn't lie, she nodded immediately.
"Know."
After receiving Luo Lan's affirmative answer, he immediately slammed the table in anger.
"You know? Do you know what crime she committed? She committed the crime of deceiving the emperor. How dare she? How could she do such a thing? Did you condone this?"
Seeing Leng Yu putting the blame on Luo Lan, An An hurriedly responded,
"I didn't condone this. I didn't know about it at first. This is An An's own fault. An An should bear all the blame."
"You're responsible? Can you bear it? First of all, you're a woman, you shouldn't have been in the examination room. Secondly, you took the imperial examination under a false name and won the top spot, yet you haven't shown up for days. You're committing the crime of deceiving the emperor, and you're going to lose your head. Don't you know that?"
An An's face flushed red at this moment. She pursed her lips and nodded heavily.
"I know. I never thought I could get the top score. I just wanted to have fun."
"Play? Do you know the consequences of playing? You usually like to play, and you can play however you want, but how can you play with something so serious? This is the imperial examination, an exam for the country to select talents. You can't play around just because you want to."
Seeing that Leng Yu was already furious, An An buried his head in the ground again.
"I know I was wrong. I take all the blame for this alone. This has nothing to do with my mother or anyone else."
At this time, Luo Lan's eyes had begun to turn red. She looked at Leng Yu and pleaded softly:
"My husband, didn't you say that no matter how big a mistake the new number one scholar makes, we can forgive him for his outstanding talent? Can you be lenient with An An this time?"
Leng Yu had been suppressing his anger. Hearing her say this, he looked at her angrily, pointed his finger at his chest, and questioned her repeatedly,
"Accommodate? How do you want me to be accommodating? The imperial examination is no joke. Are you asking me to tell the ministers that my daughter disguised herself as a man to take the exam and won first place? Are you asking me to tell the people of the world that this was a joke she played on them? What is this exam for? A laughing stock for the world?"
Luo Lan understood his feelings at the moment, but the facts were already there, so what else could he do?
"Husband, don't be angry. An An is at fault in this matter, and I am also responsible. It was my fault for not disciplining her properly. But let's think about it the other way around. She was a woman who won the imperial examination. Doesn't this just show her strengths? It also proves that we taught her well enough..."
After her reminder, Leng Yu suddenly thought of something and turned his eyebrows to look at her.
"You said you disguised yourself as a man and took the imperial examination as Ling An. So, what was the topic of the final exam?"
This question made An An stunned for a moment. After pondering for a while, she mumbled in reply,
"Yes...I...I forgot for a moment."
"Forgot? How could you forget such an important exam?"
At this point, he looked at her warily.
"Since you've forgotten, let me remind you. The last question is: The Liangzhe region is known for its outstanding people and was once known for its many virtuous individuals. Please comment on a few of them..."
As soon as he finished speaking, An An nodded eagerly.
"Yes, that's the question. I forgot it in my haste."
"Humph, you're lying."
While Leng Yu was questioning angrily, he clenched his right fist and slammed the table hard.
"This was the question from the last imperial examination. You accepted it without even a moment's hesitation. This shows that the person taking this exam wasn't you, but someone else."
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