bastard returns

Before the emperor uttered his voice, no one in the room dared to speak for a while, and everyone had an expression of looking at their noses and their hearts.But even so, the emperor still squinted his eyes half-closed, leaning sideways on the dragon chair without saying a word, while the note was twirling at his fingertips.

I don't know how long it took, until the atmosphere in the room was as heavy as a stone, and Ning Yuan heard the emperor whisper: "This note, you really didn't hide it in the pen holder, but someone framed you?"

"The villain is terrified, but this matter really has nothing to do with the villain." Ning Yuan bent down and kowtowed again, and said sincerely: "That pen is really good for the villain, but because the villain is used to it recently is a gift from the teacher. A warm jade pen, this bamboo pen has not been used for a while, and I lent it to a colleague of the Confucian Academy before the exam, but did not bring it to the villain himself. How can a villain cheat with something that he never carried with him?"

At this point, Ning Yuan is still unwilling to believe that the honest Qi Muyun will frame him, thinking that he may also be used by others, this matter is full of strangeness, but only after coping with the current difficulties can he get out to investigate What kind of person is trying so hard to make trouble like this.

"Your Majesty, since that's the case, why don't you bring in that colleague whom Ning Ju mentioned to confront you?" Someone immediately said: "If what Ning Ju said is true and he didn't carry this pen with him, then someone must have set him up. Yu."

"That makes sense." The emperor nodded, and then glanced at the eunuch next to him. The eunuch understood, and asked Qi Muyun's name from Ning Yuan, and immediately led his entourage to fetch him.

A moment later, Qi Muyun was brought up timidly.He seemed to have never seen such a battle before. After kneeling down, he only looked up at the emperor timidly, and then immediately fell down, shaking like a dustpan.

Qi Muyun's timid temperament can be regarded as one of his characteristics, many scholars around know it, and immediately someone comforted him: "You don't have to be afraid, the emperor invited you here just to ask you something, just tell the truth. "

Only then did Qi Muyun nod his head, although his face was still pale, he stopped shaking.

The emperor didn't want to talk too much, so he coughed lightly, and immediately an eunuch walked up to Qi Muyun, told him the whole story, and then asked, "Qi Juren, you should know that the crime of deceiving the emperor is to be punished." Decapitator, whether what Ning Juren said is true or not, I hope you can explain it to the Holy Majesty and the surrounding scholars."

Qi Muyun replied dully, then suddenly turned his head and glanced at Ning Yuan.

Ning Yuan was also looking at him, his eyes were very indifferent, as if he was looking at something that had nothing to do with him, but he seemed to be looking into the bottom of his heart, being looked at by such eyes, Qi Muyun actually started to tremble again, "I" After a long while, he finally bit his lips tightly and said with a suppressed voice, "There is no such thing..."

The moment he heard his words, Ning Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked at the ground in front of him again, his expression unchanged.

It's just that in his heart, those only lucks disappeared, and Qi Muyun was obviously also a part of this conspiracy. It seemed that everything that happened from morning to now was a conspiracy.

"You said there was no such thing?" The bachelors looked at each other, and someone immediately asked, "You mean he didn't give you that pen?"

"No." After uttering the first sentence nervously, Qi Muyun seemed to have exhausted his strength, calmed down a little, and continued to say dully: "Ning Juren and I are just nodding acquaintances, he didn't The reason will give me the things that I carry with me, and many scholars and colleagues in the Confucian Academy will know that I will never lie."

"Qi Juren, you have to think about whether everything you said is true or not." Bachelor Ma had a serious face, but he couldn't stop the smugness in his eyes. The matter is no small matter, one word of yours may decide the fate of Ning Juren, I advise you to think carefully before speaking."

Ma Xueshi's words, on the surface, were to support Ning Yuan, but his tone immediately aroused dissatisfaction from others. Isn't it obvious that he was using a threatening tone to make Qi Muyun perjure himself?

"I...what I said is true..." Qi Muyun seemed to be really scared, but he didn't turn back, and stammered: "I, I know that the crime of deceiving the king is to beheaded, how dare you Talking nonsense in front of the emperor..."

"Scholar Qi is known as an honest person in the Confucian Academy, with a timid personality, and he would never dare to lie."

"Then it means that Ning Yuan is lying without fear? It's really abominable. It's fine for me to cheat for personal gain, and to implicate others. What if it delays others' Qi Juren exams."

"Master Gao really didn't believe it. He rejected Mr. Xie, thinking that he had taken in a good disciple. How could he be such a miserable person? He really disgraced all the scholars in the world."

The scholars around immediately began to whisper, and the words became more and more ugly, but suddenly they were interrupted by an angry shout: "I haven't found out the matter yet, what are you talking about like a bunch of gossips! Ning Yuan! I can trust the child, the ink in his stomach is real, and it can be cheated by doing nothing!" Tian Buwei endured by the side for so long, and finally opened his mouth unbearably.He was usually a stinking stone in the Hanlin Academy that everyone should avoid. He had a weird temper, but he was also a straightforward person. Hearing this group of normally dignified guys chatting non-stop, he was naturally very angry.

However, his yelling also had some effect. Those who talked about it closed their mouths with ugly expressions, except for one person.

"Lord Tian, ​​please calm down. My colleagues are just concerned about it, but I don't think you intend to slander Ning Juren and Sir Gao." Ma Xueshi said: "But this matter is indeed full of strangeness. Ning Juren said that he borrowed a pen. I gave it to Qi Juren, but Qi Juren denied it categorically. It is hard to tell which of the two of them is lying. I asked Ning Juren, when you lent the money to Qi Juren, was there anyone else who saw it? testify?"

"At that time, the two of us were in the busy market outside the examination room, and there should be many people around who witnessed it." Ning Yuan said softly.

"But there are people coming and going in the downtown area. I don't know who has seen it and who hasn't. It's a huge crowd. Where can I find witnesses?" Ma Xueshi shook his head, "Well, if that's the case, I still don't know. There is another way, how about finding the test paper of Ning Juren's last exam and comparing it with the handwriting on the note. If the handwriting is different, then the note has nothing to do with Ning Juren. What do you think? "

This proposal is reasonable, and many people nodded. After the emperor waved his hand to express his approval, a scholar immediately rummaged through the stack of test papers that had just been collected, and soon pulled out a test paper full of words. come out.

The bachelor didn't dare to neglect, and immediately handed over the test paper to the emperor. Now that the emperor is present, no one is qualified to judge.The emperor glanced at the test paper, then looked at the handwriting on the note in his hand, suddenly let out an angry snort, crumpled the two things together, and threw them in front of Gao Yu, "Look for yourself!"

The emperor's reaction made everyone's hearts jump again. Gao Yu, who had been silent for a long time, also frowned. He picked up the paper ball, opened it slowly, and found the handwriting on Ning Yuan's test paper, It is indeed similar to the handwriting on the small note, but because the area of ​​the note is small and the writing is very exquisite, it can only be said to be similar, but it cannot be determined.

But at this time, this "image" can already determine many things.

"Your Majesty, I still don't believe that Ning Yuan can do such a thing." Gao Yu still wanted to defend Ning Yuan, "This kind of thing like myself is completely imitated on purpose, not to mention that this note was not found in Ning Yuan. Yuan Yuan's hand, it can be seen that he did not cheat in the last exam, the emperor clearly learned that Zhongliang must not be misled by a villain!"

"Lord Gao, I don't like to hear your words." Sikong Xu snorted at this moment and said: "You mean, Father is now listening to the villain's words and framed Zhongliang? But this hall is really puzzled." , All the evidence discovered from just now to now point to Ning Juren cheating. The facts are so obvious, but Mr. Gao is still framing one by one. What's more, ordinary people can't do things like imitating handwriting. Are you willing to spend such a lot of effort to frame a small Juren?"

"This..." Gao Yu has never been good at this kind of oral argument, so he was speechless for a while, and Ning Yuan didn't mean to defend himself at all, but when Sikong Xu was speaking, he looked up glanced at him.

This inexplicable look made Si Kongxu feel a chill down his spine, he immediately looked at each other, but Ning Yuan buried his head again.

"Gao Yu, you have been in charge of the Imperial Academy for many years, and you have never made any mistakes or omissions. I used to trust you very much, but I only discovered now that sometimes trust can also cause filthy cancer. You are fighting for yourself and Before your good apprentice defends, take a good look at the contents of that note!" At this moment, the emperor finally sat up straight and paused every word.

Gao Yu listened to the emperor's words, and immediately began to carefully read the content on the note. The more he looked at it, the more weird he felt, because what was written on the note was the same as the questions of this Chunwei exam, and they all came from that ancient book. "Withered Grass Collection"!

"What's going on here?" Gao Yu wondered, "Didn't the Emperor decide on the topic of Chunwei last night? Why did someone find out in advance and write it on this note?"

"Are you asking me?" The emperor stood up while talking, looked down at them and said, "I also want to believe that I was wrong. You are an old minister anyway, and it is unlikely that you will not be safe at the end of the day." You have done such a thing without hesitation, but I have to believe the facts that are happening now! Do you know what really made me angry about this matter? It wasn't your apprentice who used private notes to do some fraudulent activities, but Gao Yu you !" The emperor stretched out his hand, pointing at the tip of Gao Yu's nose, "It's you! You are so bold that you tried to manipulate the holy will with some small tricks, and let me come up with questions according to your ideas!"

Gao Yu was stunned by the emperor's rapid-fire words, facing the emperor's angry face, he just said in a daze: "Your Majesty, I am terrified, why can't I understand what you said at all? "

"Hmph, did you give the book of dry grass to Concubine Yue on purpose? You know that I will stay at Concubine Yue's place that night, and you also know that I have a habit of reading before going to bed every day, so you confuse Yue with words. The concubine put the book on the bedside to attract my attention, right? At that time, the concubine Yue told me that the book was from your hands, and I was still wondering why you would give such an obscure ancient book to the court lady Study, but the next day, when I went to the study and saw the withered grass collection you presented, I immediately understood what you were thinking!"

"Chen...Chen didn't..." Gao Yu was confused by the emperor's words. When did he do these things?But was soon interrupted by the emperor again, "Shut up! I am also willing to be wrong, and I am not willing to believe that a veteran like you would do such a foolish thing at a later date, so I deliberately used that book Kucaoji came to come up with a topic, and the purpose is to take a good look today, what tricks you can come up with, but you actually let me down so much, your apprentice, you really have a private message containing the content of Kucaoji! It is expected that I will be bewitched by you, and that the Chunwei test questions will come from the book of withered grass that you submitted over and over again, so I am so determined to help my apprentice cheat, right? "

That's what happened.

When Gao Yu was left speechless by the emperor's questioning, a stone that had been hanging in Ning Yuan's heart fell down at this moment.

Before that, he didn't say a word, not because he didn't want to refute, but because he hadn't figured out what the person who made up the matter was trying to do.Because according to Ning Yuan's understanding of the emperor, the emperor's personality has always been sensitive and suspicious, and the matter of favoritism and fraud, whether it is the source of the note, Qi Muyun's testimony, or the handwriting on the note, there are really too many loopholes. Even a little deliberate, according to the emperor's temper, it would not be so easy to believe. If the emperor didn't believe it, but decided that it was a frame-up, then the person who made the conspiracy would shoot himself in the foot. If there is no benefit, maybe I will get myself into it.

But the situation is different now. It turned out that everything that happened to me was just a deliberately created situation. Those people were not trying to harm me, but my master Gao Yu.

In this way, Huyan Yuanchen quietly told himself yesterday that the little actions of Bachelor Ma outside the upper study room and what the emperor said just now are all linked together, and this matter makes sense.With the help of Concubine Yue and Bachelor Ma, they first made the emperor suspicious of Gao Yu, and finally planted a fraudulent name on themselves, so that the emperor's suspicions could be confirmed and the emperor could confirm that Gao Yu was In order to help herself win Chunwei, she deliberately controlled the Sacred Heart in an attempt to engage in favoritism and fraud.

It seems that the person who planned the whole thing knew the emperor's disposition well. He knew that in the absence of hard evidence, the only thing the emperor believed was his own doubts and judgments. And now he has the means to convince the emperor. own doubts and judgments.

Sikong Xu.

It must be him, who understands the emperor's temperament, and can use it so far to turn his mind to such a degree, there is no one else except Si Kongxu.

At this point, Ning Yuan finally figured out the ins and outs of the whole matter, but he still had no idea how to overcome the difficulty in front of him. He didn't have the ability to make calculations. From inside the palace to outside the palace, weaving this net so seamlessly, Ning Yuan felt that this was a crisis that was difficult to overcome.

An anxious mood began to slowly rise from his heart. If the emperor made up his mind, then Gao Yu would most likely be charged with the crime of deceiving the emperor. They will also be detained to death.

"...The minister is guilty." Just when Ning Yuan was thinking about how to solve the predicament in front of him, Gao Yu kowtowed and said something that shocked Ning Yuan.

"I was confused for a while and committed such a crime, but this little boy has nothing to do with this matter. He is also following the orders of my teacher. I should bear the responsibility for the crime. I implore the emperor to be lenient and spare my little boy's life." Gao Yu bowed down and prostrated himself, admitting all these trumped-up crimes.

The emperor still had an angry expression at first, but when he saw that Gao Yu had given in so quickly, he couldn't help being stunned, and after a while he said in a calm voice, "Is this an admission of guilt?"

Ning Yuan wanted to speak, but suddenly felt Gao Yu's hand under his sleeve grabbing his hem, signaling him to keep quiet.

"Gao Yu, Gao Yu, you used to be one of the most respected scholars, and now you are in this situation, why are you bothering?" The emperor shook his head and sat down again, with a look of resentment on his face , "Do you know that what you committed was the crime of deceiving the emperor!"

When Xueshi Ma heard the words "crime of deceiving the emperor", he finally couldn't hold back the corners of his lips. He thought that Gao Yu could still have today, and after getting rid of this pious guy, according to the agreement between himself and the Fourth Highness and Da Da, The next Grand Bachelor will definitely be his own.

But after thinking about it, the matter of face has to be passed. Before the others moved, he, Bachelor Ma, was the first to kneel down, and began to intercede for Gao Yu with tears in his eyes. There is hard work without merit, but it is only because of a wrong idea at the moment, I implore the emperor to be magnanimous and forgive Mr. Gao!"

At the same time, many scholars began to kneel down to intercede for Gao Yu, but Tian Buwei, who had the best relationship with Gao Yu on weekdays, did not move. The veins popped out, not because he was unwilling to intercede, but based on his understanding of Gao Yu, it was impossible for Gao Yu to do such a thing, and he pleaded guilty to take all the blame to protect his apprentice Ning Yuan, If he knelt down and begged for mercy, wouldn't that mean he agreed with Gao Yu's guilt?

"Father, Lord Gao is also the teacher of my son. Although I am very surprised that he committed such a mistake, I beg my father to be lenient and save Lord Gao from the death penalty." Si Kongxi finally couldn't hold back his words. To put it bluntly, he is Gao Yu's nominal second disciple. Although he has some resentment towards Gao Yu because of Xie Changqing's matter, if he doesn't help him with a word, it will be hard for him to save face.

Sikong Xu kept silent all the time, no matter what, his goal today was achieved, he didn't need to care about whether Gao Yu died or not, he just quietly looked at him with a kind of vague gaze that has been lowered all the time Ning Yuan at the head, he always wanted to see that person's flustered or even anxious expression, but unfortunately from just now, even when Gao Yu pleaded guilty, there was only a flash of shock on Ning Yuan's face, and then Immediately he calmed down, making him feel so boring.

The emperor pondered for a moment, and seemed to have finally made a decision, and said: "Gao Yu, you are a criminal who deceived the emperor. Originally, you could not escape the death penalty. You are dismissed and exiled to Yanzhou, and you will never be able to return to Beijing."

"Thank you, minister." Gao Yu leaned over with trembling lips.

"As for you." The emperor's eyes fell on Ning Yuan again, and he paused before saying: "Chunwei field favoritism and fraud are originally an unforgivable capital crime, but it's because you are ignorant that you followed your master to do stupid things. , I don’t want to kill them all, and I also pardon the death penalty, but from today onwards, the title of Juren will be confiscated, and I will never be able to participate in the imperial examination forever!”

Huyan Yuanchen had just rushed to the door with Yan Fei, and what he heard was the phrase "I will never take part in the imperial examination again". He stood stiffly at the door, did not go into the case hall, just looked at Ning Yuan and said He bowed down and kowtowed at the words of thanking the leader.

Deprivation of the title of Juren is already an extreme humiliation for any scholar. Immortality not to participate in the scientific examination is tantamount to cutting off his official career. Even if Huyan Yuanchen is not from Zhou, he understands how serious the crime is , but Ning Yuan was like a normal person, even when he said thanks, his tone was calm and steady, and he didn't feel the slightest tremor.

"Young master, Mr. Ning..." Yan Fei saw that Huyan Yuanchen's face was not right, and he hesitated to persuade him, but Huyan Yuanchen raised his hand to block what he wanted to say.

The tense atmosphere in the room finally dissipated after the emperor pronounced the sentence. After saying those words, the emperor seemed unwilling to stay here any longer, so he started to drive back to the palace with the support of the eunuch. The two princes naturally wanted to Escort their father back.It's just that the Chunwei exam is still going on, the emperor can leave, but the invigilating bachelors can't. They still stay in the room, watching Gao Yu slowly get up, trembling hands, and take off the hat that symbolizes the title of bachelor on his head. The gauze cap, supported by Ning Yuan, moved out of the house step by step.

All the bachelors in the room were silent, each with their own expressions, some were sorry, some gloated, but most of them were watching the fun, Tian Buwei flicked his sleeves and turned his back, as if he couldn't bear to watch any more.

The author has something to say: Some people say that Ning Yuan has become stupid, but in fact it is not. Before the incident, even if you have doubts, there is no way to prevent it. This is just a turning point~