Upon hearing this, Sun Chongren pulled out a few sheets of paper and a worn notebook from his sleeve and handed them over.
"The two papers above are Xiao Yuanhang's policy essay and Li Mingcheng's policy essay. They are both excellent works by those who passed the imperial examination in that year. Magistrate Liu publicly praised and praised them at the Deer Cry Banquet."
That day, a classmate told me that the county magistrate, upon hearing that my father was injured, specifically sent someone to tell me that I should just stay home and take care of my father, and that I didn't necessarily have to attend the Deer Cry Banquet.
I didn't think much of it at first, but my mother envied the classmates who passed the exam. When she learned that the county magistrate would be holding a banquet to reward the classmates who passed the exam and to appreciate their excellent works, she asked me to go and learn more from them!
When I arrived, I discovered that Li Mingcheng and Xiao Yuanhang's essays were exactly the same as the ones I had written for my previous exam practice. I suspected that they had plagiarized my essays and argued with them. However, I was attacked by Li Mingcheng, Xiao Yuanhang, and Cao Chengan, who beat me up.
The commoner was dissatisfied and went to the yamen to file a complaint. Unexpectedly, Magistrate Liu did not even investigate and directly punished the commoner for disturbing the court, giving him fifty heavy lashes. The lashes reached the commoner's waist, and both of his legs were broken, leaving him bedridden.
As for my father, please allow him to appear as a witness in court.
"Passport Certificate!"
Ever since Xiao Yuanhang heard that someone had seen him tamper with things on the mountain where his father was chopping wood, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his soul almost flying out of his body! He unconsciously muttered to himself to reassure himself.
"Impossible! No one could have seen it! There was clearly no one there!"
However, two boys who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old then came in.
The two children had been under Liu Nan and Liu Bei's care for more than half a month. They had long been taught the rules of testifying in the yamen. Although they were still a little nervous when they saw Han Zhongyu, they were familiar with the Liu brothers, so they were not afraid.
He first bowed to Han Zhongyu, then greeted Sun Chongren, and then glanced at Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng.
Sun Chongren's eyes reddened when he saw the two children. If they hadn't secretly told him about what happened that day, perhaps his father would have died in vain. Composing himself, Sun Chongren said to the two children...
“Erwazi, Xiaoshitou, three years ago, on the day my father fell down the mountain, what did you see? Please tell the governor the truth.”
"Brother Sun, we know."
Your Excellency Governor, Brother Sun left early that day for his exam. Uncle Sun went up the mountain to chop firewood, and Little Stone and I happened to be going up the mountain to gather pig feed, so we went together.
But the day before, Little Stone and I had set traps in the mountains, hoping to catch a pheasant or a rabbit. When we got there, we went to check the traps first. When we came back, we saw this person.”
As Erwazi spoke, he pointed at Xiao Yuanhang and continued...
"He sneaked over to the big rock where the three of us had rested earlier, dug around for a while, and then called out to Uncle Sun that he had heard that Brother Sun had an accident, that his leg was broken and he couldn't take the exam, and asked Uncle Sun to go and check on him!"
Upon hearing this, Uncle Sun hurriedly ran back. We also vaguely heard it and ran back after him. But as soon as Uncle Sun put the firewood on the big rock, he rolled down the hillside along with the rock!
This person ran away without even trying to stay!
By the time Stone and I got there, he had already gone down the mountain. We had to take turns going down to find Uncle Sun and going to the village to find someone.
After Erwazi finished speaking, Sun Chongren continued...
"Your Excellency, I only heard from Cao Cheng'an that someone said something had happened to my family. It seems that my father fell down the mountain and told me to go back quickly. That's why I gave up the exam and rushed home."
But given the timing of my father's accident, there wasn't enough time for Cao Cheng'an to notify me. Besides, Cao Cheng'an's house and my house are in opposite directions; how could he possibly know beforehand? This is clearly a trap set for me. I implore you, sir, to investigate thoroughly!"
Han Zhongyu asked Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng in a cold voice...
"These four essays are identical in pairs. The two on top are your names respectively. The papers also bear the vermilion comments of the examiner from that year, so they are undoubtedly from the exam papers of that year."
The following two manuscripts were taken when I was being flogged by Magistrate Liu and barely clinging to life, and Li Mingcheng and Xiao Yuanhang arrogantly slapped them at my face. At that time, Li Mingcheng even said...
"So what if they confiscate your paper money? Magistrate Liu is my brother-in-law, and I'm his brother-in-law. I can appoint whoever I want to be a scholar!"
These two manuscripts match exactly two pages that were torn from my exercise book! This is enough to prove that they stole my manuscripts to cheat in the exam!
At this point in the trial, the evidence of Li Mingcheng and Xiao Yuanhang's cheating in the imperial examinations was basically confirmed, and the two had no way to defend themselves, feeling utterly hopeless.
But the matter wasn't over yet. Xiao Yuanhang hadn't admitted to the affair involving Sun's father, and Han Zhongyu slammed the gavel again.
"Xiao Yuanhang, you deliberately destroyed the large rock where Sun's father was resting, causing him to roll down the hillside and die from his injuries. Do you know your crime?"
Killing someone and cheating in the exam are not the same thing. The worst outcome of cheating in the exam is a beating, losing one's academic title, and having one's descendants unable to participate in the imperial examinations for three or five generations. At least one's life can be saved!
But the lightest punishment for killing someone is exile to do hard labor for the rest of one's life, or execution after the autumn harvest!
If this were before today, Xiao Yuanhang would have prioritized fame and future prospects above all else. But now, he no longer cared about his future; he didn't want to die, he absolutely couldn't die!
He was only in his early twenties and had a long road ahead of him. His mother had said that if he found a princess or Xiao Yi, they could arrange an official position for him. He still had to live to be an official. Thinking of this, Xiao Yuanhang forced himself to calm down.
Once he calmed down, Xiao Yuanhang still had some sense left and tried hard to recall where there might be an opportunity to turn the tables. Before long, he actually found an opening.
This time he learned his lesson and kowtowed deeply to Han Zhongyu, as if that would prove his innocence.
"My lord, I do not believe it. These two children are from the same village as Sun Chongren. People from the same village are bound to be related. Even if they are not related, they must be close to each other. They are helping Sun Chongren to slander me!"
Even if they saw me that day, I was just passing by and wanted to ask Sun Chongren to come with me.
When I didn't find him at his house, I went up the mountain to ask Uncle Sun how long Sun Chongren had been gone. I just sat on that big rock to rest for a bit. The rock was unstable, what did it have to do with me? Who knows, maybe the rock was going to fall anyway, and Uncle Sun just happened to fall down there!
I ran because I was going to be late for my exam. These two kids were nearby, and I thought they could go find someone to rescue me!
Besides, didn't they go looking for it?
Uncle Sun didn't die back then!
They died two months later because of their own improper treatment; you can't blame me for that.
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