Tianliangyuan

Chapter 78 Terrified

After reading Xu Zhaozhao's letter, Xie Zheng felt even more strongly that this young lady should be his!

However, Xie Zheng's joy was short-lived, as members of the Xie family rushed to deliver a message.

Xie Zheng handed the letter to Xu Junfeng.

"Cheating in the imperial examinations? Is this true?"

Xie Zheng didn't know if the cheating allegations were true or false, but the news from the capital was definitely accurate, so the atmosphere in the capital must be ominous right now.

"According to what this says, your cousin is also involved, and it might even affect your uncle's future. What's your opinion on this?"

Xu Junfeng shook his head: "My mind is a complete mess right now, I have absolutely no ideas."

"Well, we are military officers, so we can't get involved in these kinds of things, and we're unlikely to be affected. But I always feel that there's something strange about this matter."

The capital city, the Sun residence.

Early in the morning, Sun Huaizhi was arrested and imprisoned by the Dali Temple. So far, since the outbreak of the imperial examination cheating case, eight students have been imprisoned, and more than ten people, including examiners, graders, and minor officials, have been imprisoned.

The cheating scandal was exposed in just three days, which shows how quickly Zhao Changqing handled the case.

Grandma Sun had already fainted twice, but no one cared about her condition at the moment. Sun Qingyang wondered if he should hurry to the Jiang residence for help.

At the crucial moment, Xu Lin finally snapped out of her daze.

"Husband, wait a minute!"

Sun Qingyang stopped in his tracks and looked at her with hopeful eyes, hoping that his wife might have some good connections.

“The Jiang family is not involved at the moment. If we take the initiative to visit them now, wouldn’t that make us look guilty? Moreover, it’s very likely that we will drag the Jiang family down with us. Jiang Yanhui is still in prison for bribery. If we come to their door now, the Jiang family will definitely not give us a good look.”

"Then what do you mean?"

“It is a fact that Huai Zhi is on the list. Moreover, based on the evaluations of several gentlemen in the past, Huai Zhi was originally very likely to be on the list. Right now, the Dali Temple has only taken Huai Zhi in for questioning, which may not necessarily confirm his involvement. At this time, we must not panic or lose our composure.”

Sun Qingyang took a deep breath and nodded repeatedly: "What you say is absolutely right, Madam. I was too hasty."

That being said, how could the couple not worry about their son?

Xu Zhaozhao sat on the couch eating fruit, absentmindedly flipping through a couple of pages of a book.

“Miss, in my opinion, you are still too soft-hearted. What right does that young master have to be forgiven by you?”

Xu Zhaozhao smiled faintly: "It's not that I'm soft-hearted, I just simply don't want to cause trouble for the Marquis's mansion."

"What do you mean, miss?"

“I know Sun Huaizhi’s talent. He should have a 70% chance of passing the exam this time. So even if we look at his exam paper, it’s hard to tell if he got the answers in advance. After all, he has his previous essays to compare with. So he will only be a little shocked this time, and it won’t really affect his chances of becoming a Juren.”

Dingxiang frowned: "This servant just thinks you should beat him to death."

“You don’t understand. If Sun Huaizhi is really stripped of all his titles and honors, then Xu Lin’s status in the Sun family will plummet. In order to save face as the legal wife, she will definitely come to the Marquis’s mansion to cause trouble again. If Father softens his heart towards her again, that would be truly terrible.”

Rather than causing trouble for my father, I'd better scare him first. After that, the Jiang family will certainly not dare to interfere in next year's imperial examination. Sun Huaizhi's talent is already insufficient to pass the examination, and this shock will surely disturb his mind. Therefore, he should have no hope of entering officialdom within three to five years."

Dingxiang then realized that she had thought her mistress had softened her heart, but it turned out she didn't want to cause trouble for the Marquis.

Peony, standing to the side, exchanged a glance with her and nodded slightly: "What Miss said is absolutely right. With the young lady's temperament, I'm afraid she'll be clinging to our Marquis's mansion from now on."

The Jiang family did not personally participate in the imperial examination cheating case, but one of Jiang Taifu's students was implicated. Another important reason why Sun Huaizhi was able to pass the examination was that he obtained the answers two days before the exam.

Of course, as long as Sun Huaizhi can withstand the pressure and say nothing, then no one can prove it.

After all, he himself couldn't say who gave him that answer.

Others genuinely paid money to buy it, while he only received favors from the Jiang family because of the Sun Qian incident.

To put it bluntly, even the person who secretly delivered the test questions to him never saw Sun Huaizhi receive the questions. Therefore, even if the case is investigated to this extent, it is not valid without a complete chain of evidence.

As long as Sun Huaizhi denies it, the Jiang family will definitely not let anyone talk about it, and Sun Huaizhi will be released soon.

The cheating scandal in the imperial examinations was quickly uncovered. The results of four people who had previously been on the list were invalidated, and they were stripped of all their academic titles and banned from ever participating in the imperial examinations again.

Sun Huai was released the next day, and his name still appeared on the list of successful candidates in the second posting.

Therefore, Sun Huaizhi's academic degree was preserved.

In this way, the Jiang family was relieved of a worry, which meant that they had fulfilled their original promise and would have no further connection with the Sun family.

Sun Qingyang was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. As long as his son's degree as a Juren was preserved, he could continue to participate in the metropolitan examination in the future.

However, after being detained for several days, Sun Huaizhi had clearly lost his fighting spirit.

Especially after learning that the Jiang family would no longer do him any favors, Sun Huaizhi completely lost the will to continue participating in the scientific expedition.

Sun Qingyang repeatedly beat and scolded Sun Huaizhi, but Sun Huaizhi did not react, which made Xu Lin anxious.

Sun Qingyang's official position was not high to begin with, and he did not have much real power, so he placed all his hopes for the prosperity of his family on his son. However, he did not expect that after his son passed the imperial examination, he did not want to take the exam again!

How is this possible?

Helpless, Xu Lin could only let Sun Huaizhi stay at the manor for a few days to clear his head and let Sun Qingyang calm down.

“My son has just suffered such a great calamity and has only just returned. Do you really have to force him to make a statement now? Master, Huaizhi is your eldest son. Even if he no longer takes the imperial examinations, he still has the status of a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examinations) and can be recommended for officialdom by the Marquis’s family. Why do you insist on making him participate in the metropolitan examination?”

Sun Qingyang flicked his sleeve and turned his face away: "What do you know! You're just a woman, you're so short-sighted! He's just a scholar with the title of Juren, not some famous or talented person. Even if he enters officialdom, how far can he go? I'm only thinking about his future!"

Xu Lin looked disdainful after hearing this: "I don't know about the future or not. Anyway, my son has just been wronged, so he needs to recover first. As for the imperial examination you mentioned, he definitely can't participate next year. Let's talk about it next time."