However, that happened after Song Yifeng passed the imperial examination and married the original owner. Although Ye Yaming had Zi Jin approach Song Yifeng partly to find such poems and essays, she had also prepared several contingency plans.

In her previous life, the Ye family’s downfall was Meng Chengwei’s doing, and Song Yifeng hadn’t employed any particular schemes. But he and his mother owed the lives of the original owner, Bai Rui, and Lu’E. The original owner’s companion maids were sold by Madam Yu, and presumably didn’t meet good fates.

Therefore, how could merely ruining Song Yifeng’s reputation be enough? As long as his skin was thick enough, he could still attend the prefectural school; as long as he had talent, he could still pass the imperial examination and become an official.

And once he became an official, the revenge against the Ye family that he didn’t take in the previous life, he would certainly take in this one. Even if he didn’t become an official, with his status as a provincial graduate, he could still oppress the Ye family of merchants relentlessly.

So if Ye Yaming wanted to thoroughly push Song Yifeng into the mire, she would have to strike at his roots by stripping him of his scholarly title and having him imprisoned.

According to the Jin Dynasty law, only scholars who cheated in the imperial examinations, committed murder, or engaged in criminal activities could have their scholarly titles revoked when convicted with solid evidence.

Cheating in the imperial examination involved too many complications, and setting up a murder would require someone to die, which was certainly unacceptable.

Finally, Ye Yaming focused on the phrase “criminal activities.”

What constituted criminal activities? It meant wrongdoing and violations of the law.

Having Zi Jin approach the Song mother and son was to allow her to set a trap. As for what kind of trap, Ye Yaming had no definite conclusion; she could only adapt to circumstances and look for opportunities.

This was also why she only had Zi Jin lie low without taking immediate action.

She had just ruined Song Yifeng’s reputation outside, and although she had used Magistrate Wu and his wife’s name, discerning people could guess that the Ye family was behind it. If Song Yifeng encountered more trouble at this point, it would undoubtedly be attributed to the Ye family again.

Although Prefect Qi might favor the Ye family due to Qi Ji’s cooperation with them, they shouldn’t forget that Prefect Qi was also a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations. He and Song Yifeng were of the same kind, while the Ye family was merely a merchant. Where his emotional inclination would lie remained uncertain.

Moreover, there was still Education Director Wang Wenzhi. Cases involving students weren’t solely Prefect Qi’s decision. Everyone tended to protect their own, and Song Yifeng was, after all, a student of the prefectural school and someone Wang Wenzhi had once admired.

So she could only wait—wait for people to forget about this matter and for an opportunity when Song Yifeng would make a mistake himself.

From the original owner’s memories, she knew that although Song Yifeng was talented and outwardly courteous, he was narrow-minded and envious of others’ abilities. His extreme inferiority complex and arrogance often caused him to infinitely magnify others’ neglect and disdain toward him, generating feelings of resentment.

But since he couldn’t express this openly, he often wrote poems and essays to vent and express his dissatisfaction. Sometimes, when there were government policies he disapproved of, he would also criticize them in his writings.

But that was Song Yifeng’s behavior after he passed the imperial examination and became an official. After becoming a minor eighth-rank official in the capital, having lost the halo of a young talent, without background or support, bullied by incompetent superiors, and mocked by second-generation nobles, he was filled with resentment and wrote countless complaining poems and essays.

However, by then he had become a young government official and was much more cautious than now. After writing poems and essays, he would burn them, leaving no trace.

So Ye Yaming hadn’t actually expected to catch Song Yifeng’s weaknesses in this regard but was looking for other methods.

Unexpectedly, what she had been searching for came effortlessly.

Song Yifeng’s evidence of guilt was delivered right into her hands.

The current emperor was not tolerant of scholars and was naturally suspicious. Since his ascension to the throne, there had been two instances where officials were imprisoned for expressing dissatisfaction with the court or the emperor in their writings.

Fortunately, the emperor did not implicate the innocent; in both incidents, only the individuals directly involved were punished, unlike the literary inquisitions in history that implicated countless people.

Literary inquisition was a nightmare for scholars. Ye Yaming hadn’t wanted to use this tactic, but whether it was murder, arson, theft, or other criminal acts, Song Yifeng could shift the blame to Madam Yu, and she, as a mother, would likely be willing to sacrifice her freedom and life for her son. So these methods wouldn’t work.

Only writing was Song Yifeng’s fatal weakness. Because Madam Yu was illiterate, she couldn’t write any poems or essays. Handwriting was also highly individualistic, making it impossible for Song Yifeng to find someone to take the blame.

Ye Yaming had even prepared to have Song Yifeng imprisoned after he passed the imperial examination, but she hadn’t expected that his recent experiences would stimulate him in advance, making him resentful of reality. So he began writing poems and essays to vent.

In his writings, he not only cursed the Ye family, Wang Wenzhi, Magistrate Wu, and Prefect Qi, but also criticized the imperial court and the emperor: cursing the emperor for being too good to merchants, allowing them to make money easily; cursing the court for not strictly disciplining officials, leading them to be biased and unfair in handling matters. In the end, he even cursed heaven and earth, saying that the heavens were unjust.

Because these writings were produced in moments of intense anger, they were genuine expressions of his feelings, with emotions pouring forth, surpassing his usual level. Although Song Yifeng knew they couldn’t be kept, he couldn’t bear to burn them immediately. Instead, he tucked them between several books and placed them in his pillow box, planning to dispose of them in a few days.

“Did Zi Jin mention whether he wrote any other inappropriate poems or essays besides this one?” Ye Yaming asked.

“Yes,” Zhou Xiang replied, “He also wrote many poems cursing Magistrate Wu and Minister Wang Wenzhi.”

Ye Yaming put down the paper in her hand: “Go there personally and look at those poems and essays. If there’s any content detrimental to the Ye family, Magistrate Wu, Prefect Qi, or even merchants in general, take them all out and burn them.”

She held up the paper in her hand: “Regardless of the rest, this one taboo article is enough.”

The article Ye Yaming had seen contained Song Yifeng’s vehement criticism and condemnation of some of the emperor’s political measures.

According to Ye Yaming’s deduction, it was very likely that Song Yifeng had previously written an article targeting the emperor’s attitude toward merchants. As he wrote, he became more fervent and greatly criticized his dissatisfaction with various policies of the court, as well as certain aspects of the emperor that he found objectionable.

The main topic for the metropolitan examination in the Great Jin Dynasty was to write policy essays, requiring candidates to present their views and suggestions on historical events or current issues facing the imperial court.

Song Yifeng was currently studying policy essays. So they had to read court gazettes daily, stay informed about current affairs and court movements, and write excellent policy essays on various political issues within a limited time.

Under these circumstances, Song Yifeng had many views about the emperor and the court, views that naturally couldn’t be expressed in public policy essays. So he wrote them here.

This practice, in Ye Yaming’s view, was like handing his head to her on a platter.