The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

Upon hearing this name, everyone in the hall couldn't help but spit out a curse, except for Chang'an, who was greatly shocked and indignant: "Why is my elder brother being dragged into this?! He didn't have this much presence when he was alive!"

Seeing the adjutant glance sideways, he asked again, "According to you, it was Lu Xiaosan who deliberately framed Helai."

"Exactly."

"But as far as I know, the two of them work together at Shangyang Gate, and on the field, Helai protects him like a son. What happened to make him frame his savior?"

The official asked the questions mechanically, as if going through a procedure.

Chen Fugui chuckled and said, "Although Lu Xiaosan has no grudge against Helai, Raymond... has a deep-seated hatred for Helai!"

"Deep-seated hatred? Brother Raymond and I have always admired each other as heroes. How could there be any deep-seated hatred as you speculate?" He Lai couldn't listen anymore, but his eyes remained closed.

The adjutants were stunned, and said with forced smiles, "Hero Helai, you have the magnanimity of a gentleman, but Raymond must be a petty person."

"Sigh..." Helai could only sigh.

"Ahem, so this matter is related to Raymond!" The officials wore their usual gruesome expressions.

Chen Fugui gave a forced smile and continued, "My lord, you are unaware of this, but it has been widely rumored that this Lu Xiaosan was actually sent by Raymond to Shangyang Gate."

The adjutant chuckled and stroked his beard, saying, "So that monk wasn't defecting to the enemy on the eve of battle, but was simply fulfilling his duty?"

"That's one way to understand it, hehehe," Chen Fugui laughed.

"So, in the end, it was Raymond who sent this harlot to seduce He Lai?" the official said, pointing at Xiao Lin kneeling on the ground.

"That's right, sir, that's exactly what I meant." Chen Fugui's smile was full of obsequiousness and triumph.

Chang'an was both amused and exasperated, but didn't know how to expose this guy.

Xiaolin cried out in court, "I'm innocent, Your Honor! I don't know Raymond at all, and I've never seen a monk before!"

Seeing this, the officials couldn't help but ask, "Words alone are not enough. You need to provide evidence that Raymond and Lu Xiaosan colluded."

Chen Fugui bowed again and said with a wicked smile, "Of course I wouldn't dare to talk nonsense. If you dare to say that, you must have come prepared."

"What have you prepared?" the official asked.

"I would like to request someone to come out. Please grant my permission, sir," Chen Fugui said respectfully.

"pass!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a pockmarked young man sitting in a chair was carried out from the crowd.

The young man was deathly pale, slumped in his chair, utterly weak. "This humble one...this humble one greets...you...sirs..."

The young man wanted to kneel down, but he was too weak and could only struggle on the chair.

The officials just watched helplessly.

“No need for formalities,” Hua Chang said, turning the pages of the case file.

"Thank you... thank you, sir..." The pockmarked youth spoke in a weak voice, as if he had just been pulled back from the brink of death.

Seeing the young man panting heavily, the adjutant couldn't help but ask curiously, "Can this guy prove that Lu Xiaosan and Raymond colluded?"

“Exactly.” Chen Fugui finished speaking and then glanced sideways at the pockmarked young man.

The pockmarked young man, panting heavily, said, "Sir... my name is Ou Jianzhong, from Qiantang... my younger brother, Ou Zhuangyuan, was a student at Qiantang Academy... and is... the hope of our whole family..."

“The top scholar Ou, who just went to jail, was indeed a student at Raymond Academy. Could it be… that what he’s about to say is the truth?!” Chang’an pondered.

"But one day, I accidentally discovered... that the owner of Chunhu Academy is none other than that bastard from Qiantang: Raymond!" The pockmarked young man, Ou Jianzhong, gritted his teeth, filled with extreme resentment.

Those in the hall were also greatly shocked and began to discuss the matter animatedly. Chunhu Academy was the most famous charitable academy in Qiantang, and some of the people in the hall even had their children there. To tell them that Raymond was the owner of the academy was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue.

Ou Jianzhong continued, "I originally wanted to expose Raymond, that beast, but my younger brother is determined to pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar, so I can only swallow my anger and let that bastard Raymond continue to roam free."

Chang'an was greatly puzzled, "Scholar Ou is so eager to pass the imperial examinations?! He doesn't seem like it at all."

"But paper can't cover fire forever. A few days ago, I finally caught Raymond red-handed at Spring Lake Academy! At that time, that bastard was in cahoots with that evil monk, plotting how to frame He Lai, the hero."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall held their breath, but the person involved, He Lai, kept his eyes tightly closed and ignored what his fanatic fan had said.

Ou Jianzhong gritted his teeth and continued, "It's just a pity that my skills are too weak, and I was caught by those two beasts. They... when they realized they'd been exposed, they were furious. They thought... they'd kill me to silence me..."

Two small tears slid down his pockmarked face, and he actually cried.

"These two bastards are even more inhumane than I imagined. They...they not only killed my parents! They also...tortured me severely...cough cough cough cough!"

"In the end, Raymond was afraid that he would be exposed, so he used Wei Shanshan to castrate the little one and send him to the palace to become a eunuch! Then... he kicked my unsuspecting younger brother out of the academy, causing him to lose all his dreams and end up on the streets, and his whereabouts are still unknown."

Ou Jianzhong's eyes widened, and he cried out, "Sir, you...you must do justice for my whole family!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall clenched their fists, filled with extreme indignation. Only Chang'an struggled to suppress his laughter.

Then Chen Fugui said again, "Sirs, this is the truth. Please order the arrest of the bastard and that evil monk as soon as possible, so that justice can be served for He Lai."

The adjutants still had grumpy faces, but compared to before, they seemed to have gained a bit more smugness.

"Although he spoke sincerely, he still failed to produce any substantial evidence, so we cannot draw any conclusions easily at this time," the adjutant said quietly.

Those in the audience nodded in agreement. A case cannot be decided based on one side's testimony alone; a verdict can only be reached when there is irrefutable evidence.

At this point, Ou Jianzhong continued, "Sir, of course I have evidence... A few days ago, the students at Chunhu Academy all saw a foul-smelling monk go to the academy."

"Where are those students now?" the adjutant asked.

Ou Jianzhong smiled slightly, "I was afraid that some people would gossip behind my back and say that I had bribed... those students, so I didn't notify them beforehand. I'll have to trouble you gentlemen to verify what I'm saying."

By saying this, he not only cleared himself of suspicion of bribing students, but also inadvertently made people feel that what he said was true and that he was definitely not bribed.

The adjutant nodded. "We'll send someone to investigate, but until then, we can't trust you."

Ou Jianzhong gave a bitter smile, "It's alright, I have another piece of evidence..."

After saying that, he sat there and pulled down his pants, then, enduring the excruciating pain, he peeled off the blood-stained white cotton balls from his wound one by one.

He thus exposed his private parts completely in court.

"Ah!" Xiaolin screamed and turned her head away, too scared to look.

"Wow!" The hall erupted in an uproar.

Panting heavily, Ou Jianzhong said painfully, "If there were... a master swordsman on the field, they would know... who... did this to me..."

The hall fell silent instantly, and no one spoke again.

Finally, a clear and slightly youthful voice rang out: "Eight sections and twenty-four segments, such a fast sword, it is indeed the work of Wei Shanshan."

The speaker was Hua Chang. The White Cloud Sword Immortal only glanced at her before drawing such a conclusion.

More importantly, these words came from Hua Mingfu's mouth, which is tantamount to confirming what Ou Jianzhong had just said, and further proves that Raymond did indeed collude with Lu Xiaosan to frame Helai.

At this point, the officials finally revealed their sinister smiles, and Chen Fugui and Ou Jianzhong finally breathed a sigh of relief. Only Xiaolin looked desperate, yet she didn't know how to defend herself.

The people in the hall began to discuss and argue amongst themselves.

"Silence! Silence!" the official shouted, but to no avail. How he wished the gavel was in his hands, not in Hua Chang's.

"Bang." That was the sound of the case file closing. The sound was extremely faint, but its penetrating power was strong enough to reach everyone's ears.

The hall was so quiet that only Ou Jianzhong's breathing could be heard, and everyone was eagerly awaiting Hua Chang's next instruction.

"Hahahaha, what a dead eunuch, hahaha." A man in the hall suddenly burst into laughter, seemingly oblivious to the majesty of the Hua Ming Mansion.

So everyone's attention was immediately focused on this person, and that person was Chang'an.