Longevity from Liao Zhai

Chapter 140 Meng Jiusheng's Regret
Qinghe County.

The streets were bustling with candidates taking the Tongsheng examination and their parents.

The Tongsheng examination is held in the morning of the first day, and the results are announced on the morning of the second day, so people who come from the village will not go back, but wait until the results are announced before leaving.

Because many scholars came to Qinghe County, the business of the Jiaofangsi was also very good.

Rich or poor, everyone would go to the Jiaofangsi to watch performances.

In order to cater to the scholars, the Jiaofangsi also offered a free promotion. If you only wanted to look but not touch, it was free.

The Jiaofangsi was crowded with people, all there to do was to watch the beautiful women dance and compete in poetry writing.

"Brother Li, you should be able to pass the exam this time. After all, you ranked eleventh last time, and you only need one more place to pass."

"Hey, you're welcome. This time the questions are difficult, and I'm not sure. But the first poem you wrote is obviously better than mine. You will definitely be admitted as a student."

The scholars watched the performance and praised each other.

"Look, look, it's Miss Mingyue."

"Ms. Mingyue, she is an eighth-rank Confucian! This is the highest level of Confucian cultivation in Qinghe County."

"As expected of Miss Mingyue, she is indeed black and white."

After Mingyue appeared, the scholars' eyes all stayed on her.

After the dance, Miss Mingyue paused and bowed: "Tonight we will meet friends through poetry. Those who are good at poetry can talk to me attentively."

The scholars were in a commotion as their chance to get something for free finally came.

Every year, the Jiaofangsi would hold this program during the Tongsheng examination. The content of the program was a poetry contest, and the winner could spend a night with the oiran.

Spending a good night together is second only to the fact that it’s free!
As for the topics for poetry competitions, they are fixed and the topics in previous years are the same as those for the examinations for students who attended college.

Therefore, on the night before the annual Tongsheng examination, the top ten candidates could be found out at the Jiaofangsi.

This year's theme is Rivers and Seas at Night.

All the candidates will come to compete in poetry writing. The poems will be written together and everyone will compare their answers to see who writes better.

The scholars began to write poems, and soon hundreds of poems were displayed in the Jiaofangsi.

Mingyue and the scholars began to select well-written poems.

After about an hour, most of the poems were eliminated, leaving only twenty poems.

The next step is to select the first poem from the twenty.

Those who were not selected have already started to leave.

First, he lost the chance to have sex with her, and then he failed the examination for the title of Tongsheng. The twenty poems that were selected were obviously better than his own, so those who failed to be selected had already started to leave.

Soon, half of the people in the Jiaofangsi were gone.

In the middle of the Jiaofangsi stage, the hosts of the twenty poems came on stage and everyone complimented each other.

"It seems that the top ten students will be selected from these twenty people."

"Yeah, they are the top ten out of these twenty."

The scholars nodded one after another. They all knew that there was a certain amount of room for maneuver in the examination for Tongsheng.

Although there is room for maneuver, the poems you write must be similar.

It would cause public outrage if so many bad poems were selected as the top ten.

"I don't think so. One of the top ten has already been chosen! But that person is not here."

"What do you mean? Someone wrote a good poem?"

"That's right, what does it mean? If he wrote good poems and could make the top ten, why didn't he come here?"

"I also heard that someone has already reserved a place for a Tongsheng this year. However, this person is not good at writing poetry, he is also a bodyguard."

"I heard that too. This person only wrote the first question. The second question is totally incomprehensible, but he must be a Tongsheng."

The scholars were whispering to each other, they knew that someone had already secured a spot for a student.

The scholars exchanged information with each other and soon restored the full picture of the matter.

"So that's how it is. The county magistrate's son is in danger in the secret realm. A young escort is willing to rescue him, but the escort's condition is that he must become a student."

"Is this reliable? Even Magistrate Lu doesn't have the power to do this, right?"

"Hey, didn't you see Meng Ru is here too? It was Meng Ru who nodded."

The scholars pieced together the original story.

"What the hell, a bodyguard can actually take the exam for a student, and he hasn't even finished the test."

"That's right, that's right. What should we, who have studied so hard, do?"

The scholars were outraged, and soon everyone knew about it.

"No, we have to fight."

“Yes, we must fight.”

Someone took up a place for a tongsheng, which had the greatest impact on the twenty people in the middle of the stage, because Zhou Ping took up a place among them.

It is very likely that there is a person who cannot become a student because of Zhou Ping.

The twenty people on the stage began to get excited. They talked more and more excitedly. They no longer cared who would get first place or get intimate with each other. They wanted to go to the county government office to stop the young escort from occupying the quota for the student.

"Escort, the student examination." Mingyue was a little confused. She didn't expect that tonight would be a sleepless night.

The moment Mingyue thought of the escort, she thought of Zhou Ping.

Mingyue looked at the angry scholars and prayed silently: "I hope it's not Zhou Ping."

In the courtyard, Fan Shiyi, Xiaoqing, Liu Ruyan and He Yunqing were playing bridge.

"Mr. Fan, the Jiaofangsi is very lively on this night every year. All the scholars in Qinghe County are there. Why don't you join in the fun?" He Yunqing said.

Fan Shiyi shook her head. She had been in Qinghe County for more than a year, but she had met everyone who could write poetry.

It’s just that these people have no talent, and are even less interesting.

The tone of his conversation with the scholars from Qinghe County was no better than playing bridge with He Yunqing.

Fan Shiyi has been very interested in He Yunqing these days. He Yunqing doesn't look like a girl from the Jiaofangsi, nor does she look like a girl from some wealthy families in Qinghe County.

No matter whether they were girls from the Jiaofang Bureau or girls from wealthy families, they all rushed to be with Fan Shiyi, and some even wanted to drug Fan Shiyi to have children.

He Yunqing was indifferent to Fan Shiyi, which actually stimulated Fan Shiyi's desire to win.

"Hey, how can the girls in the Jiaofangsi be as good as Miss He?" Fan Shiyi took the opportunity to touch He Yunqing's hand while drawing cards. "Tsk tsk, in Qinghe County, even Miss Mingyue's hands are not as smooth as Miss He's."

He Yunqing didn't know that the person in front of her was a woman. She pulled her hand away skillfully: "Master Fan, you are joking."

He Yunqing knew that Fan Shiyi had a prominent status, and a normal woman might throw herself at him, but He Yunqing was different. She was clear-headed and knew her own worth.

There are so many rich beauties in Kyoto, but Fan Shiyi is still single. He Yunqing knows that he can't compare to those women, so there is no need to pay attention to Fan Shiyi.

Liu Ruyan changed the subject: "Zhou Ping, what's the point of entering a secret realm or taking the exam? Isn't it good to be in Qinghe County?" Hearing the word "secret realm", He Yunqing also asked: "Master Fan, is the secret realm dangerous?"

Xiao Qing teased Xiao Bai while saying unhappily, "Thousands of people have died in the secret realm, even the eighth-grade masters have died hundreds of times. Tell me if it's dangerous or not."

Fan Shiyi frowned and said, "Zhou Ping is a cautious person. Normally, he would not want to enter the secret realm. I don't know what conditions the other party offered, but Zhou Ping was willing to enter the secret realm."

"Conditions?" He Yunqing was slightly stunned. She had heard some gossip. "I heard that Zhou Ping was willing to enter the secret realm because the invigilator Meng Ru promised to give him the status of a student."

"What?" Fan Shiyi was so nervous that he crushed the bridge cards in his hand into pieces. "He actually did it for this!"

"For what?" Liu Ruyan and He Yunqing asked at the same time.

Fan Shiyi said: "I told him that as long as he passed the examination, he could enter the academy in the capital to study."

"If he gets first place by cheating, then don't let him enter the academy." Xiaoqing conjured up a bridge card, "Continue playing."

Fan Shiyi looked at the new cards in his hand and frowned slightly. He didn't want to go to the Beijing Academy before, but now he is willing to go.

Fan Shiyi guessed that Zhou Ping definitely did not go to the Beijing Academy for fame and fortune.

"Is there some crisis that is why Zhou Ping is willing to go to the capital?" Fan Shiyi thought, what kind of crisis would make Zhou Ping enter such a dangerous secret realm.

"What's the good of going to the capital? It's so good to stay in Qinghe County." Liu Ruyan sighed.

He Yunqing said, "It's better to go to the capital. There are more opportunities there."

He Yunqing's idea was different from Liu Ruyan's. She felt that if Zhou Ping entered the capital, his value would surely increase, and with the background of the academy, no one would dare to covet the He family's pharmacy business.

He Yunqing hoped that Zhou Ping, her backer, would become more and more powerful! She secretly glanced at her mother, and He Yunqing knew that Zhou Ping had not had sex with her.

He Yunqing's heart is very complicated. She hopes that Zhou Ping and Liu Ruyan have a relationship, but she also hopes that they have no relationship.

"Miss, something bad has happened." Engineer Yuan ran in with sweat on his face.

He Yunqing frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Engineer Yuan was just about to go home after get off work when he ran into the scholars who were causing trouble on his way. They were blocking the county government office and demanding an explanation from Magistrate Lu.

Engineer Yuan inquired about the situation and found out that it was related to Zhou Ping.

"Oh no, it has aroused public indignation." Fan Shiyi did not expect things to develop to this point.

The scholars' disturbance is very serious and Wei Dynasty takes it very seriously. If Wei Dynasty sends people to investigate, Zhou Ping will surely be found.

According to past practice, if someone cheated in an exam, they would be stripped of their status as a scholar and sent to jail.

Zhou Ping’s situation was a little different. He just made a transaction, but in essence, he still cheated.

It’s just that some people commit fraud with money, and some people commit fraud with something else, but they are all cheating in a transaction.

He Yunqing also knew the seriousness of the matter. She did not expect the situation to change so drastically in a short moment.

If Zhou Ping was really imprisoned for cheating, it would be a disaster for the He family. The He family had long shared the honor and disgrace with Zhou Ping.

"Mr. Fan"

"I'll go to the county government office to take a look."

In the county government, County Magistrate Lu and Meng Jiusheng were equally anxious as ants on a hot pot. They had not expected that the matter would be leaked and arouse public indignation.

Cheating in the Tongsheng examination was a common practice in official circles, and even ordinary people condoned it.

But the premise is that it can’t be done too badly.

Once public outrage is aroused, County Magistrate Lu and Meng Jiusheng may not be sent to jail, but their reputation will be greatly affected.

Magistrate Lu’s position might be lost, and Meng Jiusheng might never be able to see anyone again.

"Hey, who spread the news?" County Magistrate Lu roared, "Wang Cheng, go check for me and find out who leaked the news. I will skin him alive and drain his bones."

Wang Cheng had a bitter look on his face. Many people had seen what happened to Zhou Ping. How could he investigate this?
Meng Jiusheng's mouth was bitter. He regretted coming to Qinghe County to watch the fun.

Normally, for something like this kind of invigilation, anyone from the academy could be the one to do it, but Meng Jiusheng heard that there was a secret realm in Qinghe County, so he went to watch the fun. He didn't expect to get into such a situation.

Meng Jiusheng is a third-rank official and the dean of the academy in Qianzhou City of the Great Wei.

The exposure of the cheating had little impact on Meng Jiusheng's life, but it had a great impact on his reputation.

If he fails to handle matters that anger the people, Meng Jiusheng will lose face as the president of the academy, let alone stay in the Confucian circle.

What Confucianism values ​​most is face.

Meng Jiusheng regretted it deeply: "I shouldn't have come here."

"Meng Ru, you really shouldn't come here." Fan Shiyi entered the yamen and gently bowed to Meng Jiusheng.

The two were also familiar with each other. After all, Meng Jiusheng often went to the academy in the capital, and Fan Shiyi had also seen him.

Meng Jiusheng waved his hand gently, feeling a little tired.

"Brother Fan, you are here." Chen Chaoye had been following Meng Jiusheng and County Magistrate Lu in ranking.

In fact, the ranking was already prepared, nine scholars from Qinghe County plus Zhou Ping. But I didn't expect it to arouse public anger.

County Magistrate Lu looked at Fan Shiyi and his eyes lit up. Fan Shiyi was as gentle as jade, and everyone who saw her wanted to make friends with her.

County Magistrate Lu had heard of Fan Shiyi's name when he came to Qinghe County, but he had never had the chance to meet him. He did not expect to meet Fan Shiyi under such circumstances.

However, at this critical moment, the scholars are about to return to the county government office, and County Magistrate Lu has no intention of making friends with Fan Shiyi.

County Magistrate Lu asked, "Master Fan, is this about the public outrage? Do you have any good solutions?"

After County Magistrate Lu finished speaking, Meng Jiusheng also looked at him, hoping that Fan Shiyi could come up with a good solution.

Fan Shiyi hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know what the situation was at that time."

Chen Chao said: "That was the case at the time."

Chen Chao told the story of Wu Laosan looking for Zhou Ping to enter the secret realm.

After hearing this, Fan Shiyi breathed a sigh of relief.

When Meng Jiusheng and County Magistrate Lu saw Fan Shiyi's expression, they thought that Fan Shiyi had come up with some good idea.

"My dear nephew, do you have any good plan? Uncle Meng's reputation depends on you." Meng Jiusheng still thought that Fan Shiyi had a way to calm the public anger.

Fan Shiyi waved his paper fan gently: "I thought Zhou Ping cheated in the deal with you, but I didn't expect that you guys made a deal with Zhou Ping."

After listening to Chen Chao's explanation of the whole process, Fan Shiyi realized that it was not Zhou Ping who proposed the transaction conditions, but the conditions proposed by Lu County Magistrate and others.

In other words, Zhou Ping was not guilty of fraud, after all, it was the conditions set by Magistrate Lu.

Zhou Ping didn't cheat!
If this is the case, Fan Shiyi can ensure a draw next week.

Meng Jiusheng, County Magistrate Lu and Chen Chao all understood what Fan Shiyi meant. It turned out that Fan Shiyi was not here to deal with the public anger, but to protect Zhou Ping.

"My dear nephew, you..." Meng Jiusheng didn't expect that Fan Shiyi was here to help Zhou Ping. He didn't expect that their relationship was so good!
Meng Jiusheng and County Magistrate Lu fell into despair. Fan Shiyi had essentially put the blame for the fraud on these two people.

"Sir! It's bad. The scholars have rushed into the county government office."

(End of this chapter)