She married a dying prince and she won three babies.

The emperor was on the verge of exploding and looked extremely unhappy.

But the eldest prince still saluted respectfully and then stood up.

"Is something wrong?"

"Father, I brought four people with me: two candidates who had passed the imperial examinations, and two who had failed the exams. They were all killed on the same day, and I rescued them. According to their accounts, the two candidates were involved in cheating in the imperial examinations."

The eldest prince bowed and explained the matter in just two simple sentences.

"Bring him in." The emperor's expression turned even uglier when he heard this.

Four people were brought in.

The emperor looked at the two people on crutches and found that they were the two people he had taken a closer look at yesterday.

The four of them knelt on the ground.

"I pay my respects to His Majesty."

The two men on crutches were shaking constantly, and the two candidates were seeing the emperor for the first time. Although they were embarrassed, they were very frank.

"What's going on?" the emperor asked angrily.

"Liu Jingyi, you speak." The eldest prince kicked one of the crutches kneeling beside him.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty.

I am the son of a silk merchant in Luohe Prefecture. As my family has some small property, my father donated money to help me get the opportunity to take the exam.

I was gifted in studying, but when I came to Beijing, I realized how talented people were there.

Just then, someone found me and can help me pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi, but I need to pay a tribute of silver.

I paid the first payment of fifty thousand taels of silver as promised, and I was admitted as a Jinshi. I only need to wait for the palace examination to pay the next fifty thousand taels.

It's just that I was attacked while I was out and about, and it was His Highness who sent someone to rescue me and my little one."

The student named Liu Jingyi finished explaining his situation tremblingly.

"Who is looking for you?" the emperor asked coldly.

"I am a commoner..." Liu Jingyi hesitated and dared not speak.

"Speak." The emperor almost shouted.

"The other party is about to kill you, but you still refuse to tell the truth?" the eldest prince reminded.

"The other party only claimed that he was an aide to a certain prince, but I don't know which prince's aide he was." After Liu Jingyi finished speaking, he ran to the ground again, shaking even more violently.

"Your Majesty, I, Zhao Qingshan, was also a student who went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, but failed.

We are from the same hometown and rent a small courtyard together.

We were also poisoned not long ago, and it was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who saved us.

Please ask the Princess Zhenguo to come forward and detoxify the two of us, so that we can survive."

One of the two frank men spoke without waiting for the emperor to ask.

After listening to what the two said, the emperor knew everything.

The examination papers of the two sons of merchants happened to be those of two failed students.

Someone must have tampered with their test papers.

All examination papers must be copied before being marked.

It is most likely that something went wrong in this process.

Now that these two people have entered the palace for the palace examination, the matter has been exposed, which is why the fire in the examination room occurred.

The emperor was so angry that he took a paperweight and smashed it hard at the two people kneeling on the ground.

The aim was not very good and it only hit Liu Jingyi's shoulder, but he didn't dare to move and just took it.

The emperor then looked at the list of candidates for the palace examination and the answer sheets of the top fifty candidates on the imperial desk.

Liu Jingyi was ranked fifth in the joint examination and last in the palace examination.

wrong.

Although I don’t know which son did it, those two men can’t escape it.

Are they that stupid?

When choosing people, he didn't know whether he was outstanding or not, but instead chose someone who could get such a good result as fifth place.

It is unlikely that his own son knows it himself. There must be something he doesn't know.

At this moment, several ministers entered the palace and waited outside.

"Your Majesty, several gentlemen have arrived." Eunuch Hai reported.

"Let them in."

The Ministers of Rites and Punishments and the Vice Minister came in hurriedly.

As soon as the two people from the Ministry of Rites received the news that the Examination Paper Pavilion had been burned, they received the emperor's order to summon them.

The two people from the Ministry of Justice were still in the dark and had no idea what was going on.

Prime Minister Zhao kindly recounted everything that had happened today.

The Minister of Rites and the Vice Minister were so frightened that they knelt down and admitted their mistakes: "I have failed in my duty. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

The emperor had calmed down by now.

"Now let's investigate the cheating first. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Rites will cooperate, and you have today to investigate it. Tomorrow is the day when the palace examination results will be announced. I will wait for your results before making a decision." The emperor ordered immediately.

Now is an urgent matter, not the time to assign blame.

The four adults came and went in a hurry.

Launch an investigation immediately.

The four people brought in by the eldest prince were also taken to the Ministry of Justice.

After everyone left, the eldest prince was the only one left in the imperial study.

"Jinqi, tell me, who did it?" the emperor asked.

It is impossible that the eldest son only saved those four people, but he didn't want to say too much in front of outsiders.

"It was done by the Second Imperial Brother. I guess the Third Imperial Brother was also involved."

"Tell me in detail."

"Yes, Father. Princess Zhenguo and her cousin Xiangling were out of town for a trip. They rescued a man named Miao Bingwen from the Tongjing River. He said he had been pushed into the river. He was the last place winner in the imperial examination."

I looked at the test paper he had memorized and found that he answered it very well, but he was ranked last.

This matter caught my attention, so I had someone keep an eye on the two younger brothers. As expected, I discovered some clues.

Mr. Zhuang, who works for the Second Prince's family, sent people to kill the four people just now. My son's people happened to rescue them. I learned from them what they said just now.

"But I can only confirm that the Second Prince wanted to kill to silence the witnesses, but I still can't figure out what's going on with Miao Bingwen. I can only think of the Third Prince."

When the emperor heard the name Miao Bingwen, he took another look at the list and realized that he was the third place in the palace examination.

"Come and see."

The eldest prince stepped forward and saw that the name was ranked third, and suddenly he understood.

"Your Majesty, I guess that the second prince had someone swap the test papers of Liu Jingyi and the other two with Zhao Qingshan and the other two, and someone else swapped Miao Bangwen's test paper with Liu Jingyi. This resulted in Miao Bangwen falling to the last place." The eldest prince analyzed.

Needless to say, both father and son guessed who this person was.

The third prince must have known what the second prince had done.

The purpose is very clear, which is to expose this matter.

If only two test papers with mediocre scores were changed, it is very likely that no one would know. But it is different for the top few. Everything will be exposed once the palace examination is held.

Miao Bingwen was probably killed by the Third Prince in order to expose himself more thoroughly.

This is to press the second prince into the mud and give him no chance to turn over.

He has one less competitor.

Don't waste the opportunity.

But before the facts were clarified, neither the emperor nor the eldest prince came to a conclusion.

Cheating in scientific examinations is watched closely by many students, and once it happens, it is a serious crime.

An undercurrent of scientific examination cheating has quietly begun.

The tribute scholars waiting in the capital cannot be informed yet.

But there are no impervious walls in the world.

Some students still got wind of it.

This is a big deal.

Inform each other.

Then they all gathered in the square outside the palace gate, requesting the emperor to conduct a thorough investigation and to obtain a notarized certificate.

The emperor saw that the matter had become a big deal and that if things went wrong, it might cause a riot among the students.

They cannot be forcibly expelled.

Finally, accompanied by the eldest prince, the emperor personally stood on the palace wall and assured all the students that he would get to the bottom of the matter and give everyone a notarized statement.

All students were required to write a poem and submit it to the Ministry of Rites, which would check the test papers based on each person's handwriting.

The students then dispersed.

The Ministry of Justice acted quickly.

All the invigilators and transcribers were taken under control.

All those who managed the examination room were also arrested.

After a day and night of arrest and interrogation, a complete file was finally written and presented to the emperor early the next morning.