Traveling through time and space to become a child, supporting the family by catching fish and shrim

In order to expand his influence and establish prestige in the minds of students taking the provincial examination, Ji Jiahui deliberately placed the trial venue at the gate of the government office.

However, he never expected that Chen Lang, a little boy, would be so presumptuous and start calling himself a corrupt and incompetent official.

Ji Jiahui was so angry that his old face turned red, and he even started shaking uncontrollably. After a moment, he angrily slammed the gavel and said, "You have no respect for your superiors and are so presumptuous!"

"Come here, drag him away and give him fifty lashes!"

There was no fear on Chen Lang's face. He shouted "Who dares?" and frightened the constable who was coming to arrest him so much that he stood there in a daze.

Shouting at the constable to retreat, Chen Lang glared at Ji Jiahui and said with full force, "The prefect and the magistrate Yan Xiaoguo are in cahoots with each other and are trying to kill me!"

"In that case, let's get straight to the point without any more beating around the bush."

"Your Excellency said that students cheated, but do you have any solid evidence?"

"If not, it's a blatant false accusation! According to Dayan law, anyone who falsely accuses others of cheating will be permanently disqualified from taking the exam!"

"As far as I know, the leader of this group of rioting candidates is none other than the eldest son of the prefectural governor!"

"If it's proven later that the student didn't cheat, the prefect can naturally use his privileges to exonerate his son. But the other candidates won't be so lucky. Their path to the imperial examination will be cut short!"

The faces of the students participating in the sit-in changed.

Ji Jiahui gritted his teeth and said, "What if you really cheated?"

Chen Lang laughed: "Sir, you are the prefect, is it possible that your understanding of Dayan's laws is not as good as that of a student like me?"

"The laws of Dayan clearly state that those who commit fraud will be stripped of all their honors and their entire clan will be exterminated!"

"Chief Examiner, I will remove you from office, strip you of your title, and exile you three thousand miles away!"

"These people are accusing students of cheating, and the prefect is personally interrogating them. It's become a life-or-death situation."

"Today's outcome will either result in Nie Xuezheng and I being left with no place to rest, or the prefect's eldest son and those who followed him in causing trouble will be disgraced. There is no third outcome."

Chen Lang's words were not addressed to Ji Jiahui, but to Nie Ziru.

In the entire Guangling Prefecture's officialdom, Chen Lang's only ally was Nie Ziru. After arriving at the government office, he found that Nie Ziru was in a very abnormal state, and looked as if he had accepted his fate.

The old man is old and easily loses his composure when encountering difficult things. In addition, he was suppressed by Ji Jiahui from the beginning, and is currently in a state of leaving everything to fate.

The purpose of Chen Lang's words was to activate the "fighting spirit" in Nie Ziru's heart.

Old man, you have to stand up!

You are the principal of the provincial school and have no interest in Ji Jiahui. Why should you be afraid of him?

If you want to maintain your reputation, you must fight Ji Jiahui to the end. If you allow Ji Jiahui to slander Chen Lang, then as the chief examiner, you will inevitably be charged with the crime of leaking questions and cheating, and your reputation for life will be completely ruined!

These words indeed made Nie Ziru wake up.

Things have come to this point. The worst outcome would be exile three thousand miles away and being severely scolded by students all over the world.

But if it can be proved that Chen Lang did not cheat and he did not leak the questions, the unlucky person will be Ji Jiahui!

Maybe your reputation can be taken to the next level!

I had actually expected Ji Jiahui to seek justice for me. How naive and ridiculous.

After living for most of my life, there is still no one who can see it clearly.

Nie Ziru really wanted to slap himself.

But even though I figured it out, the situation hasn't improved yet, so I'll save that slap for later.

Nie Ziru swept away his previous dejection, his expression becoming as serious and solemn as ever. He said, "Chen Lang is right. What this candidate just provided was only suspicion, not evidence."

"It's obviously unreasonable to conclude that Chen Lang cheated simply because of doubts."

"What we need to do now is to investigate these suspicious points. If it is ultimately confirmed that Chen Lang committed fraud, it won't be too late to convict him."

"If this is a false accusation, then these people must be severely punished by the law!"

At this point, Nie Ziru's expression showed a hint of struggle.

Because he thought of what Chen Lang said at the beginning.

The prefect Ji Jiahui and the judge Yan Xiaoguo were in cahoots with each other.

In this life-and-death situation, every word Chen Lang said must have a deep meaning. Moreover, there has indeed been a long-term exchange of interests between Ji Jiahui and Yan Xiaoguo. This is a secret known to everyone in the officialdom of Guangling Prefecture.

An order came from the capital, asking Yan Xiaoguo to return to Beijing to report on his work. Taking into account the recent actions of the cabinet and the various remarks made by the King of Qin, Nie Ziru quickly concluded that Yan Xiaoguo would most likely be sacrificed to the heavens by the emperor.

Although Nie Ziru has spent most of the past decade studying and not caring much about official affairs, unlike Sheng Chuliang, Nie Ziru has never left the officialdom from beginning to end. Even if he doesn't want to know some things, they will be passed on to his ears by people with ulterior motives.

This led to Nie Ziru's analysis of the official situation being quite accurate.

Yan Xiaoguo belongs to the "Shang Party" and is incompatible with the Shilin Party. Although Ji Jiahui was born a civil servant, he has been colluding with Yan Xiaoguo for a long time and has long been branded with the Shang Party.

He did this just to get himself back into the arms of the Shilin Party.

As for why Chen Lang was chosen, the reason is very simple. Chen Lang was born into a merchant family. Although he was just a student, in the eyes of others, he was also a reserve talent of the "Merchant Party".

Getting rid of him would be like submitting a letter of allegiance to the Shilin Party.

The more Nie Ziru thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case, so he continued, "Chen Lang just said that the prefect and the magistrate Yan Xiaoguo were colluding for profit. This matter also needs to be thoroughly investigated."

"We can't let Chen Lang's words ruin the prefect's reputation."

Ji Jiahui was furious and said through gritted teeth, "Nie Xuezheng, what do you mean by that?"

"Are you questioning the relationship between this government and the traitor Yan Xiaoguo of the Shang Party?"

The angrier Ji Jiahui gets, the happier Nie Ziru feels. It's time to let you experience the feeling of being slandered.

"My Lord, this old man did not mean that. Please do not misunderstand me."

"I say this for your own good. After all, you don't want to be branded as colluding with the treacherous Shang Party."

"If the final investigation reveals that Chen Lang has made false accusations and slandered you, I will definitely not forgive him!"

The students outside the government office also started talking after hearing these words.

Today's events are full of weirdness.

When the young student Chen Lang saw the prefect, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he scolded the prefect severely.

Even though he was born into a merchant family, he actually accused the prefect of colluding with the treacherous merchant Yan Xiaoguo.

On the contrary, Tiangang is no more than this, right?