Since I met you, people are dying every day

After solving Xia Shu's problem, the big stone in Ye Sirui's heart was instantly lifted.It was sweet and joyful at the same time, staring at Xia Shu non-stop, the corners of his mouth raised unconsciously, holding his hand and refusing to let go.

Xia Shu also raised the corners of his mouth in a rare way, "Don't you have business to do?"

"Don't you ask me what the shopkeeper and I are talking about?" Ye Sirui looked at him with a smile and said.

Xia Tian rubbed Ye Sirui's hand with his thumb, "What did you ask him?"

Satisfied, Ye Sirui slowly talked about a series of things from the beginning of entering the palace. When Xia Shu heard him analyze the North and South Party, the rare smile disappeared from the corner of his mouth. "It's dangerous."

Ye Sirui happily enjoyed his worried eyes again, and then said: "Don't worry, I know it in my heart, this matter is settled with the emperor, I will be fine."

Hearing what he said, Xia Shu really relaxed, "Then go and investigate the case quickly, otherwise those students will continue to get angry."

However, Ye Sirui was not willing to end this short warm time, and slowly followed Xia Shu's hand to pinch his wrist, feeling his pulse, and then closed his five fingers together. "Not urgent."

"Go quickly." Xia Shu urged him again. "I'm right here, I can't run away."

Ye Sirui reluctantly let go of his hand.He really intends to investigate the case with Xia Shu, but the next step is to follow the orders, it is not appropriate to take Xia Shu directly, and he can't bear to let Xia Shu pretend to be a servant.His Majesty personally told him that he was going to report to the Procuratorate, so no matter how reluctant he was, he had to show his face.However, Ye Sirui thought over and over again, but was still unwilling, and decided to procrastinate as long as he could.

So the first stop became Shuntian Mansion.Both Shuntianfu and Zhuangyuanlou are located in the center of Gyeonggi, not far away.Ye Sirui changed his clothes, packed his identity letter, pretended to be a handsome young man and went out.Before leaving, he did not forget to pinch the handle of the fan and smile at Xia Shu, "How about this dress?"

"Very good." Xia Shu watched him off with a smile.

Ye Sirui went out happily.In just half a cup of tea, the Yamen of Shuntian Mansion has already appeared in front of him.Ye Sirui had a purse of broken silver in his sleeve, and when he saw the door, he smiled slightly and pulled out half of the letter in his arms, "I was ordered to run errands in Shuntian Mansion, please do me a favor." Then he took out the purse and handed it over.

The sects here are obviously much less lucrative than the people in the local area. They took the purse without hesitation, looked happy as soon as they weighed it, put it in their sleeves unhurriedly, and let out a way.Ye Sirui swaggered in.Successfully passed the main entrance, and was finally stopped before entering the hall. This time, Ye Sirui generously took out the official letter, "This official is to punish Ye Sirui, the procuratorial envoy, and was ordered to investigate the fraud case of the rural examination. Please cooperate with me in Shuntian Mansion." official."

Ye Sirui's clothes were looked up and down, but the official letter was indisputable, so the dubious servants had no choice but to invite him into the main hall, make tea, and go to inform the governor.

The governor of Shuntian Prefecture is a member of the third rank, a mere matter, not worth his haste to greet him.So Ye Sirui was mentally prepared and slowly drank two cups of tea, only to see a 40-year-old man in a scarlet robe hurrying over. "Your Majesty is here, and this official is too far away to welcome you. It's really rude."

Ye Sirui also knew that he was speaking politely, so he quickly got up to salute, and gave up the seat of honor, "This official came here to disturb you because of the investigation of the fraud case in the rural examination, please help me, sir."

The two of them gave way before sitting down as the host and the guest.Li Changrui, Governor of Shuntian Mansion, slowly drank half a cup of tea, raised his head and said with a smile: "I was just saying that the imperial court should have a commissioner to investigate this case, and then I heard that Mr. Qian, the procurator of the procuratorate, has come."

Ye Sirui was able to sense the thorn in this remark, and quickly and solemnly explained: "Your Majesty must be at ease in investigating the case, but this time the dispute lies in the fact that the candidate on the list is from Pu County, and the next official is the procurator for punishment. The Secretary inspects the affairs of Jiangbei Prefecture, so he took over the matter, and it's just a name, how to investigate, adults can do whatever they want."

After all, this case is a big hole, involving countless officials, and it would be easier to breathe a sigh of relief if it was snatched away earlier.Li Changrui thought about it for a while, then he calmed down, "Your Excellency, you don't need to be modest. Since the court has ordered you, Lord Ye should be the leader in investigating this case. I don't know what you want to know?"

"What happened to the postponement of the previous imperial examination? I heard that someone bought the test questions in advance?" Ye Sirui asked impatiently.

No matter who came to investigate the case, he would ask this question, so Li Changrui was not surprised, and sighed after hearing it: "Every year in the rural examination, there are always some unscrupulous people who spread the word that they can buy this year's rural examination questions with money. No matter how absurd these nonsense are, there are always some students who believe that the official has also organized a manual attack, but these transactions are designed to avoid people's eyes, and they cannot be banned. What's more, there are some people who try to beat the drums, Scolding the official for preventing them from reviewing and preparing for the exam-it's confusing black and white, inexplicable!"

Knowing that he didn't finish speaking, Ye Sirui listened silently.

"This year is no exception. If it is not too much, the official will turn a blind eye and close one eye. It was only until all the test subjects entered the number room and issued the papers that the examiner notified the official that someone really bought the test paper. .”

"What question?"

Fu Yin twitched his beard and said: "The first question in the Four Books is, 'The fish is not the key, and the yi is not the shoot.'"

This sentence comes from "The Analects of Confucius", which is the first title of the Four Books.This has a great impact.The three-question and four-book questions are the questions that Wufang scholars must take the exam. Once the questions are leaked, all the reference exams will be involved. If you can't change the questions on the spot, you will have to postpone the exam.Ye Sirui was thoughtful, "Did Mr. Zhao come up with this question?"

Li Changrui said: "It is indeed Mr. Zhao who sent it. The examiners have received it in advance. This is also the difficulty of this case."

This question is quite difficult.Ordinary testers read "The Analects of Confucius" to do the questions, most of them pick up the sentences of loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, and rarely pay attention to this sentence.Moreover, this sentence most tests the examinee's ability to see the big from the small. On the surface of the sentence, it depicts the scene of the sage's love for things, but in fact it describes the way of benevolence and righteousness to benefit the world. Third class.

"Then what happened later? What happened to Master Yao later?"

Li Changrui didn't immediately understand what he meant. "All the questions were leaked before the re-examination. Naturally, the questions of the Four Books and Five Classics were re-selected."

That was a big effort, "Then what has been changed to the first question of the Four Books?"

"Zi heard "Shao" in Qi, but in March, he didn't know the taste of meat, and said: 'I don't want to be happy here.'"

Still from "The Analects of Confucius".The "University" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" in the Four Books are relatively short in length, and almost every sentence has been included in the title. In order to avoid collisions in the past few years, more questions in the Four Books have been drawn from "The Analects" and "Mencius".But even if it is from the same book, Yao Yi's question is much simpler than Zhao Rong's.In Qi Wenshao, almost everyone who has learned to write essays seriously has practiced them. Everyone has ready-made essays that have been revised several times. It is difficult to say whether they can see the real talents of candidates.However, it is really difficult for Yao Yi to come up with a complete set of questions within a few days of delay, and it is safe to make it a little simpler.

Thinking of this, Ye Sirui asked naturally: "I don't know how the answers to the test questions in Pu County are? The student who hanged himself, I heard that he passed the No. 18 provincial test, so what about the paper?"

Li Changrui said: "To tell you the truth, Master Ye, once this matter happened, I sent someone to arrest him, and at the same time asked the Ministry of Rites for papers. But the people in the Ministry of Rites tried their best to evade it, and in the end they only took Wan Chengtiao. Oh, it's the paper of the student who hanged himself that fools this official, it's exasperating, exasperating!"

He spoke angrily, but there was no real anger on his face.It can be seen that whether it is the words of the Ministry of Rites or his words are just excuses, no one wants to touch this case.

"Have you seen Wan Chengtiao's body? It was really hanged? What about his papers." He asked hurriedly, and Li Changrui stopped laughing and drank tea seriously.Ye Sirui had no choice but to make amends, "It's the lower officials who are in a hurry. Mr. Fu Yin has always been far-sighted. He thinks it's clear and clear. But with the emperor's orders, the lower officials have no choice but to be rude."

Li Changrui pursed his lips and said, "The cause of death is undoubtedly hanging himself. His paper... In my superficial opinion, it is worthy of No. 18 in the provincial examination. I'll ask someone to show it to you."

He asked someone to get the autopsy sheet and test papers, Ye Sirui thanked him respectfully, and asked: "Does the Lord Fu Yin know that Wan Chengtiao has any acquaintances or suspicions?"

"You are asking the right person." Li Changrui said happily: "There are two familiar candidates who live in the Zhuangyuan Building with him, Wan Chengyu and Li Xinghuan. Wan Chengyu is his brother from the same clan. The one who came to accompany the exam also won the exam this time, but the ranking is a little lower. Li Xinghuan is from his hometown. It is said that he met on the way, but he failed. As for those who have a suspicion..." He deliberately dragged his voice and looked at Ye Sirui , Ye Sirui pretended to be listening attentively. "There is a man named Xie Qing, who is said to have spoken rudely to him at the Luming Banquet, and even hinted at him repeatedly for cheating."

What he said didn't bring anything new to Ye Sirui, but Ye Sirui still had to thank him: "Your Majesty's words, the lower officials have benefited a lot." After the compliment, he could then ask: "I don't know what they confessed?"

Speaking of this, Li Changrui darkened his face again, and said in a rough voice: "Nothing! Wan Chengyu said that Wan Chengtiao stayed alone in the house that morning, just like the previous days, and no one was allowed to disturb him. He and Li Xinghuan lived in an upper room, and Wan Chengtiao lived in a room alone, so I don't know what happened. Li Xinghuan's statement is generally the same. Xie Qing insisted that he just looked down on Wan Chengtiao, who was defiant and deliberately provocative. Dinner in a restaurant. The cause of Wan Chengtiao's death was hanging himself, and these testers were well-known scholars, so I couldn't torture them, so I had to let them go."

"Release?" Ye Sirui asked in surprise.

"Li Xinghuan didn't win the exam, so he should have returned to his hometown, and Wan Chengyu didn't know about it." Just at this time, the autopsy test papers were also delivered.Ye Sirui held the decree in his hand, Li Changrui didn't make it difficult for him, just ask him to sign and make a deposit, and he can leave with the things.

Ye Sirui went out with his good stuff and was thinking where to go when he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind: "Ziqi!?"