"People around Pei Yushi said that he would stay in Dali Temple all night to attend to official matters."
Late at night, a group of right guards arrived at Dali Temple. After hearing what the gatekeeper said, they strode into the government office.
There were several jailers behind him, who smiled apologetically and said, "Presumably Yushi Pei is interrogating the prisoners personally."
"It's against the rules. Lead the way, where are the prisoners?!"
"..."
The light of torches and the sound of footsteps disturbed the silence in the public room.
Pei Mian stood by the window and listened. Someone was shouting in the distance.
He guessed that Zheng Qian was not transferred to prison. No wonder he was detained as soon as he entered Dali Temple. Yang Hui used his own name to kidnap people, which shows that he doesn't care about his own life or death at all.
Those two slaps were in vain.
Pei Mian rolled his eyes and said: "If someone from Nanya sees you here, they will definitely implicate the prince-in-law. You hide, I will deal with it."
The two men who were pretending to be slaves and guarding Pei Mian were Yang Hui's confidants. They looked at each other, still wary.
"You come with us."
Pei Mian was surprised that they actually responded. A person like Yang Hui, who was aloof and aloof, would never be so careful, and it must be Xue Bai behind him.
They cooperated with each other once, and that time, a seemingly harmless boy killed more than thirty people in one night.
This time, Xue Bai was bound to kill him. The reason why he didn't do it for the time being was that he was still making up the illusion of killing people in the East Palace.
Fortunately, this is Dali Temple, and he is far more familiar with the terrain than these two slaves.
"Okay." Pei Mian immediately led the way honestly, "Follow me."
The three of them walked quickly through the government office, hearing the shouts of killing getting closer and closer.
The two slaves gradually became uneasy and wanted to strangle Pei Mian directly. However, they were in an unfamiliar place and were worried that they would be caught without Pei Mian to guide them.
"Come on, we can get out this way." Pei Mian kept comforting them, and suddenly opened a courtyard door. The torch flashed in front, and he happened to bump into the soldiers.
"Censor Pei, where is the prisoner?"
The next moment, Pei Mian quickly ran into the dark path.
"Why are you running?!"
Amidst the shouts of surprise, the two slaves also panicked. Knowing that they must not be caught, otherwise they would implicate the prince-in-law, they hurriedly ran out, and finally managed to escape from Dali Temple.
There was darkness in the imperial city. They did not dare to wander around to avoid leaving records of breaking the ban. They simply hid until the movement subsided and Yang Hui sent someone to look for them again.
"Where is Pei Mian? The consort ordered us to get rid of him after the arrangements have been made."
~~
Li Jingzhong was pushed awake from his sleep. He heard what his adopted son said in a daze, and broke into a cold sweat.
"What?! How dare he come here?!"
"Say something fatal."
Not caring about anything else, Li Jingzhong hurriedly put on his clothes and rushed out.
After walking through the spotless corridor, I actually saw Pei Mian kneeling in the gravel.
"Do you want to kill His Highness?" Li Jingzhong gritted his teeth and picked up Pei Mian's collar, wanting to bite him to death.
"Something happened! It's not a pity for me to die, but I have to tell His Highness the news."
Pei Mian spoke very quickly, worried that Li Jingzhong would get rid of him if he spoke too slowly.
He knew in his heart that he was going to be an outcast, and only by being extremely calm could he have a chance of saving his life.
"No matter what, you can't come here at night." Li Jingzhong was worried, "How many traces have you left?!"
"Xue Bai and Yang Hui have joined forces." Pei Mian did not say that his identity was exposed, but only said: "They are going to be detrimental to His Highness."
Even so, Li Jingzhong is still murderous.
He knew that Pei Mian came here to protect himself, otherwise he should have cleared the relationship first... Unfortunately, those dead soldiers were discovered by Suo Douji and had been sent out of Chang'an.
At this point, he suddenly broke out in cold sweat.
"What happened?"
Finally, Li Heng came with his clothes on and said in a dignified manner: "Since Zhang Fu is here, something big must have happened. Let's talk about it in the hall."
Pei Mian immediately knelt down on the ground, knelt down for a few steps, and said: "My identity has been exposed. If you ask for a cockfight, I will kill you. I beg your highness to send me to Shuofang, change my name, and continue to serve your highness."
Li Jingzhong looked at Pei Mian's desperate struggle for survival with cold eyes, feeling angry and having no other choice.
"Pei Qing's words are serious." Li Heng stepped forward to help Pei Mian up with his own hands and encouraged him: "I will never abandon Pei Qing."
"Your Highness, please grant me your permission."
Li Jingzhong was in a hurry. Pei Mian had left a lot of evidence when he came. Instead of reporting important matters first, you just blackmailed His Highness for protection? It's time to strangle him to death.
"What happened?"
"Xue Bai has exposed my identity." Pei Mian was still threatening, his face was frightened, but his words seemed to have deep meaning, "I am afraid that many things I have done for His Highness will be found out."
He had already prepared that if he died, it would be difficult for the East Palace.
Li Heng's eyes flashed, he patted him affectionately and said, "Okay, you can go to Shuofang with my token to save your life for the future."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Pei Mian said quickly: "I will leave Chang'an in the name of Wang Fei's subordinate, Your Highness, please don't worry."
Li Henglang smiled, and the gloom in his eyes softened a little.
Pei Mian then talked about today's events.
"According to what I see, they must blame the East Palace. Your Highness only needs to point out the collusion between Yang Hui and Xue Bai to escape..."
~~
It was getting dark when Yang Hui got the news and looked at Xue Bai.
“There’s good news and there’s bad news, which one do you want to hear?”
Xue Bai looked at Yang Hui's expression for a while and asked, "Pei Mian escaped? Did he go to the East Palace?"
"ha."
Yang Hui nodded, a little embarrassed.
"After all, I am the consort, and it is inconvenient to do things during the curfew. But this time, Dong Palace's guilt has been confirmed."
Xue Bai glanced sideways at Yang Hui, but said nothing.
He pondered and said: "The prince-in-law goes to the Right Prime Minister's Mansion and keeps an eye on him. Once he gets hold of Pei Mian, he must be killed before he speaks. We must not let Ge Nu know what we did in this matter. Only in this way will Ge Nu bite us." Hold on to Li Heng and don’t let him go.”
Yang Hui said angrily: "But Li Heng already knows."
"So what if you know?" Xue Bai said: "He is the most suspicious person. Is it useful to bite others?"
In the distance, the sound of morning drums came.
Xue Bai listened carefully and said, "Send Zheng Qian back to his home. Don't make any mistakes this time."
"Send it home?"
"Yes, Zheng Qian doesn't know who robbed him. To tell the truth, who would have thought that we were the ones hiding him?"
Yang Hui was not easily manipulated and asked, "Aren't we just fooling around by taking the risk of taking people out and then returning them?"
"The prince-in-law has handed over the evidence. Beiya will take over such a big matter."
Xue Bai patiently explained, hurriedly left the house and joined the bustling crowd in the early morning.
~~
In the early morning, there was a lot of noise in the Imperial College.
Du Wulang left the dormitory, rubbed his eyes and walked out of the courtyard. He saw officials in front of him leading people to search the dormitories one by one.
"What happened? Someone was found guilty of fraud?"
Yang Xuan was leading a group of disciples to watch the excitement. He slapped Du Wulang on the back of the head and said, "Stupid. They have no chance of finding out that I have cheated. They are here to catch Dr. Zheng."
"Dr. Zheng has been captured, hasn't he?"
"Escape from prison, catch him again."
Du Wulang was stunned and patted his face to wake up.
He had more prison experience than these apprentices and knew that it was difficult to escape from prison, but he did not expect that the gentle Dr. Zheng could escape from prison.
At this time, an official in green robe came over, looked around, and waved to Su Yuanming.
"Su Siye, which dormitory does Xue Bai live in?"
"Who are the chief officials? Why are you asking Xue Bai alone?"
"Du Hongjian, the director of Dali Temple, is supervising the case. I heard that Xue Bai has a good relationship with Zheng Qian. Where does he live?"
Su Yuanming said: "I am also on good terms with Zheng Taixue. Would Du Sizhi search my residence first?"
"Take me to see Xue Bai."
"He is just a disciple..."
"Mo Duoyan, take me there."
The reason why Du Hongjian came to investigate was because he knew Xue Bai's reputation.
He admitted that this young man was qualified enough to bear some serious crimes that ordinary people could not bear, and he was more than just a mere apprentice.
Su Yuanming had no choice but to lead the way.
Du Hongjian followed him and walked quickly to the corridor. When he looked back, he saw an ugly fat boy following him all the way. He couldn't help but yelled: "Get out of the way, everyone."
"I live here." Du Wulang responded.
"You live with Xue Bai?" Du Hongjian showed his dignity and shouted: "Did you know that he committed a crime last night?!"
"ah?"
Du Wulang looked confused and asked in surprise: "Then I also committed a crime?"
"what for?"
"I was with Xue Bai all night. If he committed a crime, of course I did it too."
"What did you do?"
"Talk about the annual exam."
Du Hongjian narrowed his eyes, looked at the ugly fat boy in front of him again, and asked, "Are you Du Qi?"
"So the chief official has also heard of my name? Our surname is Du, maybe we are related."
"I am the Du family of Puzhou, after the Prime Minister, I have no relation with you."
Su Yuanming quickly held the ceremony and said, "I'm sorry."
Du Hongjian saw that they were delaying on purpose, sneered slightly, suddenly stretched out his hand, pushed open the door and rushed into the dormitory, taking a quick look.
"Xue Bai is indeed not here. It's already curfew after the annual exam. Can he still go home?"
"Um?"
Someone inside the curtain snorted.
Du Wulang followed, opened the curtain, and said, "Can't you afford it? Didn't you hear the noise? I heard that Dr. Zheng escaped from prison and returned to the Imperial College. It's really strange."
Xue Bai yawned and looked at Du Hongjian lazily. Looking into each other's eyes, they knew something.
"Were you in the Imperial College yesterday?"
"Yes, annual exam."
"Did you pass the exam?"
"Took the test."
Du Hongjian sneered, turned and walked out, pushed aside Du Wulang who was in the way, called one of his confidants, and whispered: "He didn't take the annual exam. Someone must have noticed it and find a witness."
"Here."
"Take me to see Wei Jijiu."
~~
In the academy, a group of officials from the Imperial College and the Ministry of Etiquette were busy.
Du Hongjian waited for a while and finally saw Wei Shu walking out slowly.
"I have met Wei Gong." Du Hongjian accepted the courtesy of his nephew and went straight to the point, pleading in a low voice: "Please Wei Gong take action to save the East Palace."
Wei Shu twirled his long beard, raised his eyes to look at the sky, and murmured: "Is there another problem in the East Palace?"
"Yes, Wei Gong's disciples colluded with traitors and framed him."
"Framing? But is it a serious crime that can shake the throne?" Wei Shu asked in a low voice, "For example, asking for armor privately or wearing armor into the palace?"
Du Hongjian's expression suddenly changed. He didn't know what Wei Shu meant. He hurriedly raised his hands and said, "Wei Gong knows His Highness. He has always been respectful and filial, so it is impossible for him to be like this."
"Then why should I save the East Palace? Instead, there is a doctor from the Imperial College who is innocent and in trouble. Zhixun, you are working in Dali Temple, can you help him? I beg you as my uncle."
"My nephew... he is humble and humble."
Du Hongjian said, unwilling to give up, and said: "Xue Bai, a student of the Imperial Academy, offered dominoes to the saint to indulge in pleasure, or he was ordered. There was a major case in the city last night or related to him. Can his test paper be used as evidence?"
"Alas." Wei Shu sighed, nodded, turned around and walked into the academy.
The papers are being reviewed in the library.
Soon, Xue Bai's paper was brought out.
Du Hongjian looked around and saw that his calligraphy skills were passable, and he was able to get 78% of the scriptures right, which was a pretty good result.
He knew that Xue Bai had contacted Yang Hui before he finished the exam, so he read the poems and policy questions again. When he turned over the paper, he was stunned.
I saw that the examination question for poems and poems was "Le De Jiao Zhou Zi Fu", which used "the foundation of educating talents and training people" as the rhyme, and the rhyme was required to be used in order. For the students of the Imperial College, this was a very difficult question.
But Xue Bai answered, and the writing was very standard.
"The prince teaches his disciples, and guard against arrogance and wealth. The teacher is strict and strict in order to achieve teachings, and he is happy and virtuous to promote education..."
This gift is not very outstanding, but there is nothing wrong with it.
Du Hongjian couldn't believe it. He flipped through the policy questions at the back and carefully identified the handwriting.
"May I ask Mr. Wei, is this the test paper that Xue Bai answered just this morning?"
As soon as this statement came out, some officials around him were immediately unhappy.
"Temple Master, what do you mean by this? We read Xue Baizhi's test paper last night, in full view of everyone. Do you mean that we can't cheat?!"
"I don't dare, I mean, someone saw that Xue Bai was not in the examination room yesterday..."
"Is it true that Du Sizhi has cheated on the Imperial Examination?" Wei Shu said, "As the examiner, Dali Temple might as well accuse me."
Du Hongjian suddenly felt pressured and did not dare to respond due to Wei Shu's qualifications.
~~
"How could Mr. Wei be like this?!"
In the evening, Fang Guan was shocked when he heard the news.
Something big happened today. Nanya is searching for Zheng Qian and Pei Mian. A storm is coming, just like the beginning of the Wei Jian case. And he got the news and confirmed that it was Xue Bai who instigated Yang Hui to frame the East Palace.
The evidence must be obtained as soon as possible.
"Xue Bai has an answer sheet? No matter how cheating it is, Duke Wei must have helped him. Why should he help him?"
Du Hongjian said: "In this case, if we want to confirm that Xue Bai is involved in the case, we must prove that there was fraud in the Imperial College Examination."
"That's all."
"But... I offended Duke Wei."
"How can you care about such a small detail now that things have come to this?"
Fang Guan frowned, worried.
In fact, he knew that there was fraud every year in the Imperial Examination, and most of the nephews of high-ranking officials hung out among them, and the number of students who passed the imperial examination was getting fewer and fewer every year.
Exposing the Imperial College fraud case seems to be meddling in other people's business.
The next moment, a clerk hurried over and reported, "Fang Gong, Zheng Qian has been found!"
"Where?" Fang Guan asked immediately: "Can you confirm that this matter is related to Yang Hui?"
"Not yet. Zheng Qian was found at home. He was found by Jingzhao Mansion at first. Now he has been taken away by Beiya. The villain inquired carefully and got some clues."
"explain."
"Zheng Qian claimed that he was taken away by someone for interrogation and was blindfolded the whole time. But during the search, someone found that he had stepped on a piece of unburned paper under his shoe. Although there were only numbers, it could be vaguely seen that it was a joint letter. Among them, There is a small half of the official seal of the East Palace."
"frame?!"
Du Hongjian stepped forward and whispered to Fang Guan: "It's Pei Mian's seal. I'm afraid it has been found in his home."
Fang Guan was startled and asked again: "Is this thing in the hands of Jingzhao Mansion?"
"No, some unscrupulous people saw with their own eyes that Cao Guan of Bei Ya scraped off the sole of Zheng Qian's shoe and it was in Bei Ya's hands."
Fang Guan's scalp went numb after hearing this, and he stood still holding on to the table.
At the beginning of spring, Xue Bai asked Yan Zhenqing to tell him that "the cost of Huaqing Palace reported by Ge Nu was too high." He got this inside information, planned for a long time, and finally was able to preside over the renovation of Huaqing Palace.
This is a very important position.
But because of his important power and position, Fang Guan knew very well that he would be on the list of Ge Nu's political opponents.
This time, if Dong Gong is found guilty, he will be demoted next time.
Thinking about Xue Bai's role in this matter, people feel that "it is Xiao He who succeeds, and Xiao He who fails".
Fang Guan couldn't help but support Du Hongjian.
"Don't worry, be sure to find out the truth and prove Dong Gong's innocence."
"Don't worry, Mr. Fang, there are many witnesses to this matter. The Imperial College Examination is indeed fraudulent..."
~~
Imperial College.
On the high wall of the school, several long lists were hung.
Du Wulang first looked for Xue Bai's name.
He himself doesn't care, and there is no need to rush into officialdom at a young age. Xue Bai is determined to make progress, but he cares about this matter.
After hesitating for a moment, he chose to start looking from the last row, which was more in line with Xue Bai's level. He looked at each name carefully for a long time.
"Is that your name?"
Yang Xuan suddenly patted Du Wulang on the shoulder, pulled him over, and pointed to the list of people who had passed the Ming Jing Ke examination for him to see.
"Look, is that you?"
"That is Du Zi, he is Puyang Du, and I am Jingzhao Du."
"Du Zi? That's actually the word '子'?" Yang Xuan was quite surprised and asked, "By the way, what's your name?"
"My name, hey, I actually got on the list. My name is right below your name...?"
"Hahaha, I am indeed a few taller than you." Yang Xuan was not surprised, patting Du Wulang on the shoulder and laughing loudly, "But when you put it like this, I still don't know what your name is."
Du Wulang was in a depressed mood and was too lazy to pay attention to him. He looked back at the list just now, but he couldn't find where he saw it.
He simply raised his head and looked at the top of the list, his eyes stagnant.
"Oh..."
Chapter 2 is still being written~~I couldn’t successfully adjust it today, it should be about the same as yesterday~~
(End of chapter)
