Yin Zicheng’s expression had become as terrible as it could possibly be. He stood up and looked at his book boy, his eyes nearly spitting fire as he questioned him sharply and sternly, “Are you telling the truth? You heard this with your own ears?!”
“How could this be false?” The book boy’s expression was even worse than his, looking exactly as if he himself had been wronged. “If this young one made up even a single word out of nothing, may I be sent to the hell of tongue extraction! I heard it clearly—it was that servant of Zhou Chengfang who said it!”
Whether it was true or not, they would only know after asking. Yin Zicheng’s ears had turned red, yet he forced himself to calm down, pacing back and forth in the room continuously. After a long while, he finally hardened his heart, gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and instructed his book boy, “Take out the letter Father gave us when we left home. We’re going to find my maternal aunt!”
Censor Tao’s wife was originally surnamed Fu and was Yin Zicheng’s mother’s biological younger sister. However, she had later been given to their childless aunt to raise, so she could only be addressed as maternal aunt. Though the two families were separated by great distances, one in the south and one in the north, they had always maintained contact—after all, they were blood relatives. When he came to the capital, his mother had specifically given him countless instructions to seek refuge with his uncle and aunt, but he had been too proud and arrogant, too concerned with face to go to their door. Censor Tao and Madam Tao had even come specifically to invite him, but he had politely evaded them. Now, however, he had reached the point where he had no choice but to go to their door and ask for help. He could no longer care about face—what face was there to speak of? His face had already been completely lost today at Tianxiang Tower. Just thinking about being so humiliated by that good-for-nothing Zhou Chengfang in front of all those people made the resentment and shame in his heart surge up like an overwhelming tide, almost bursting out.
Madam Tao hadn’t expected her nephew to be so humiliated in public. She was so shocked that her voice changed, repeatedly urging Yin Zicheng to come forward. “Kicked down from the second floor? Did you hit your head? Did you hurt your legs?”
As for all that talk about leaked exam questions, none of it entered Madam Tao’s heart or ears. She had been sent by her mother to be raised by her aunt since childhood. Her aunt’s family had no other children and treated her like a precious pearl, never restricting her or forbidding her from maintaining contact with her birth mother’s side. Therefore, she had been fortunate enough to have two sets of parents, and Yin Zicheng’s mother was her only elder sister. She had always had an excellent relationship with her sister. Now hearing that her sister’s son had been so humiliated on the capital’s territory, she immediately trembled, not knowing what to do, and repeatedly sent people to summon her eldest and second sons.
After being fussed over by his aunt for a while, Yin Zicheng only felt the grievance in his heart grow stronger. “Aunt, I’ve come to find you now because I want you to help me. Your nephew truly cannot swallow this insult. I’m at least a provincial graduate, yet I was humiliated like this by Zhou Chengfang. If I truly find out that he only passed the examinations by throwing silver around, I… I must seek justice!”
Tao Ruyi and Tao Rujin arrived quickly. Hearing that their mother had urgently summoned them, they thought something major had happened. After hearing the full story, they were shocked and looked at each other in dismay. The two of them were different from Madam Tao—they had no feelings about Yin Zicheng being beaten. Their attention was entirely drawn to that statement about Elder Chen leaking exam questions. They stared wide-eyed, half-believing and half-doubting, and asked Yin Zicheng, “Is what you’re saying true, cousin?!”
Yin Zicheng then recounted in complete detail how Zhou Chengfang had been closely associating with Elder Chen’s son, Third Master Chen, before the spring examinations, and also mentioned how Zhou Chengfang had sworn with absolute certainty before even entering the examination hall that he would definitely pass. Finally, he repeated to his two cousins everything his book boy had heard, word for word.
The conflict between Censor Tao and Elder Chen had long existed, and the trend had intensified in recent years. Now that Elder Chen had risen even higher in status after presiding over the spring examinations, their father always suffered difficulties when working under him. The two Tao brothers, who had originally accumulated quite a bit of wealth relying on their father being a censor, had consequently restrained themselves considerably. Now, hearing Yin Zicheng speak like this, they vaguely felt that the opportunity to turn things around had arrived.
The two men almost simultaneously made up their minds to get to the bottom of this matter. On the spot, they ordered people to secretly capture Zhou Chengfang’s servant for interrogation.
As it happened, fortune was on their side. Zhou Chengfang himself was a pustule, and his servant was also one who bullied the weak and feared the strong. With just one beating, he confessed, honestly admitting his crime of stealing exam questions from Zhou Chengfang and selling them to examination candidates.
This matter was actually true! The Tao brothers were so excited their voices trembled. They couldn’t wait to take Yin Zicheng to find their father, Tao Dinghu.
For once, Tao Dinghu didn’t immediately scold them for making trouble. He remembered the Third Master Chen and Zhou Chengfang he had encountered at the Lion Tower before, and a cold smile leaked from the corners of his mouth—usually putting on such an air of righteousness, yet daring to openly play tricks in something as important as the imperial examinations, using it to accumulate wealth!
Yin Zicheng was so angry his whole body trembled, his face full of indignation and grievance. “Uncle, you’re the censor who monitors all officials. You must thoroughly investigate this matter!”
For such matters, if done, they would certainly leave evidence behind. Tao Dinghu pondered for a long time before finally making up his mind. He turned to look at Yin Zicheng and asked, “Does anyone else know about this matter?”
Yin Zicheng bit his teeth. “I… I was so angry at the moment that I told several good friends. Only then did I learn that Zhou Chengfang had already shown the exam questions to Lu Bingyuan the day before, even begging Lu Bingyuan to write an answer for him. He also begged others to do the same. Several scholars felt something was wrong as soon as they left the examination hall.”
So the fire was already about to ignite—it was just waiting for a fuse to crackle and make the fire burn more vigorously, even more vigorously.
Tao Dinghu stood thoughtfully by the window for a long while, then extended his hand to beckon to his two sons and Yin Zicheng. “Come here…”
The next day, word spread that Zhou Chengfang had been dragged out of Tianxiang Tower by a crowd of furious scholars onto the main street and taken directly to the Imperial Examination Hall. Several newly appointed scholars who were close friends with Zhou Chengfang and had played with him were also beaten black and blue and thrown into the Imperial Examination Hall.
Those beaten were all newly appointed scholars from this year’s examinations, and the commotion was so great that it had already alarmed the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s Office and Shuntian Prefecture. But before Shuntian Prefecture and the Five Cities Military Commissioner’s Office could react, the angry scholars surged toward the Imperial Academy. After smashing the statue of the Sage Confucius, they surged in great numbers toward Elder Chen’s residence to smash his gates.
No one had expected the matter to become so serious all at once. The people from Shuntian Prefecture came out in force and arrested all these troublemaking students. However, very quickly, more and more angry failed scholars gathered in front of the yamen. They all claimed that this year’s spring examination chief examiner had leaked the questions, and that someone had received bribes and bought and sold exam questions.