Chapter 720: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 720: Mo Qingze Imprisoned (1)
The night before the autumn examination, when Xiao Ruiyuan found Mo Qingze, someone had already approached him. After attempts at persuasion, they resorted to coercion when Mo Qingze refused to accept the exam questions and answers. Despite their efforts, Mo Qingze did not believe that these were genuine questions and answers, and he discarded them as soon as the person left.
While Mo Qingze was studying, Xiao Ruiyuan arrived. Upon learning that someone might use the autumn examination to frame him and through his daughter implicate the Crown Prince, Mo Qingze recalled the papers he had been forcefully given earlier and promptly shared this information with Xiao Ruiyuan, providing the papers as well.
Xiao Ruiyuan did not know the actual exam questions and could not judge the authenticity of the papers. However, given that the plotters had gone to great lengths, it was unlikely they would use fake materials. Otherwise, how could they continue the plot to implicate the Crown Prince?
Once it was confirmed that the questions and answers were real, Mo Qingze became calm. He had suspected retaliation from Prince Heng and the Lin family ever since his daughter saved the Crown Prince, which indirectly offended them. However, he did not expect them to manipulate the autumn examination.
Avoiding this trap by giving up the examination was the simplest solution, but after years of hard work and with the chance to succeed right before him, no one would willingly give up.
Mo Qingze was unwilling to be trapped and wanted to counter the scheme. He despised Prince Heng and the Lin family for putting him in such a dilemma and hoped those who sought to harm his family would be thoroughly defeated. Thus, he planned to turn the tables on them.
Xiao Ruiyuan disagreed with his future father-in-law's decision to take such a risk. Despite Xiao Ruiyuan's objections and attempts to dissuade him, Mo Qingze was adamant about proceeding.
Unable to persuade Mo Qingze otherwise, Xiao Ruiyuan agreed to assist him in executing the plan.
The autumn examination questions were relatively difficult for most candidates, but for Mo Qingze, who had a solid foundation, improved memory in recent years, and more life experience, it was manageable. Therefore, he deliberately performed poorly to achieve a mediocre score.
In this way, if accusations of "cheating" emerged, few would believe that Mo Qingze, who had access to the questions and answers, would perform worse than his usual exams.
This approach not only made it easier to clear the suspicion of cheating but also minimized the chance that anyone would link it to Chu Heng, questioning his integrity and fairness.
When Prince Heng and the Lin family learned of Mo Qingze’s results, they had doubts but were so consumed with hatred towards Mo Yan and Chu Heng that they were unwilling to let this opportunity slip. They followed through with their plan and reported Mo Qingze’s alleged cheating to Emperor Huian.
Unaware of the full details beforehand, Emperor Huian, upon receiving evidence of Mo Qingze’s alleged cheating, had his people investigate and quickly discovered irregularities in Mo Qingze’s autumn examination results.
Emperor Huian understood who was truly behind the plot against Mo Qingze. Today, he ordered Mo Qingze to be imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice’s prison. This action served a dual purpose: publicly addressing the issue of exam cheating and privately punishing those who deserved it.
He had tolerated certain matters long enough!
Chu Heng arrived at the Hall of Diligence and directly inquired about the cheating scandal involving Mo Qingze.
Emperor Huian, without concealing anything, explained the situation in detail. Finally, he looked at the elegant Crown Prince and said meaningfully, “In recent years, cheating in the examinations has become increasingly severe. This time, even the father of a county princess is implicated. I intend to personally investigate and severely punish those involved in cheating to restore the integrity of the imperial examinations. Heng’er, what do you think?”
(End of Chapter)
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