The Eldest Daughter Returns: Imperial Uncle, I'm Pregnant!

Lord Zhao glanced at Sun Xiucai's article and found it to be quite well-written. He nodded repeatedly in agreement and approval.

"My lord, even if Young Master Sun produces the article he wrote, it doesn't prove that he wrote it for me."

"So what do you think we should do?"

Gu Changfeng's eyes flickered, and his attitude became even better than before. He cupped his hands and said, "I think there might be some misunderstanding between me and Young Master Sun. Our two families can resolve it privately. There is no need for you to hold a court hearing."

Upon hearing Gu Changfeng's high-sounding words, Sun Xiucai, who was kneeling beside him, couldn't help but sneer.

"Is Young Master Gu planning to settle this privately and take my life? That day I went to the back mountain of the academy to wait for you, but I never expected that you would hire an assassin to kill me. If I hadn't been lucky, I would have been reporting to the King of Hell by now."

"How can you talk like that? I kindly helped you, but instead of being grateful, you tried to sue me. Now I'm being magnanimous and willing to reconcile with you privately. What's wrong with that? Do you really want to be punished to feel better?"

“That’s right. Since ancient times, people who sue officials have always been punished.” Wang Ruyan chimed in from the side, clearly indicating that this farce was about to end.

“Son, you’re doing well now, otherwise we wouldn’t…” Grandma Sun wasn’t very educated, and she was immediately frightened when she heard that her son would have to be tortured again.

After calming his mother down, Sun Xiucai addressed Lord Zhao, saying, "Our dynasty's laws do indeed stipulate that suing an official is punishable. This is to make the people more cautious, especially to avoid making false accusations. However, Young Master Gu has neither academic honors nor official rank. How can my accusation against him be considered a case of a citizen suing an official? I urge Your Excellency to see the truth."

“Indeed, Gu Changfeng is now merely a defendant in my court. Madam, please do not intimidate the plaintiff. Otherwise, please go outside and wait for good news.”

"You!" Wang Ruyan was so angry she felt like her head was about to burst into flames.

"That's right, that's right. Is the Prime Minister's wife trying to use her power to oppress people? Even if she is going to use her power, she should wait for the Prime Minister to arrive."

"The Prime Minister is an upright man; how could he possibly abuse his power for his own son?"

"Not necessarily, after all, he is the only biological son."

"Does the Prime Minister only have this one son? Is there some hidden illness in his health?"

"No, no, I heard there's another one..."

"No way, how did you know about something so secretive..."

For some reason, the crowd started discussing the Prime Minister's offspring. Lord Zhao quickly tapped the gavel.

"Silence!" Seeing that the people below had stopped talking, Lord Zhao said, "Plaintiff, please continue your story."

"Indeed, as Young Master Gu said, this answer alone cannot prove that Young Master Gu bought the questions. However, you can retrieve Young Master Gu's exam paper and let someone of high standing take a look to see if there is a difference between Young Master Gu's true level and his usual level. You can also compare Young Master Gu's past studies with mine to see if they have my style."

At this moment, the yamen runners invited Gu Changfeng's teacher and the headmaster of the academy over.

Our dynasty respects scholars, especially the heads of academies, who are considered great Confucian scholars. Lord Zhao quickly had chairs brought out for the two of them to sit down.

"Thank you very much, sir."

"We have invited you two gentlemen here today because a case involves you. We would appreciate your cooperation in collecting evidence."

"Please rest assured, sir. We are here to help the court. If there is anything we can do to help, please just say the word."

Hearing the dean say this, Lord Zhao breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had been worried that these scholars might be too proud to cooperate with his judgment.

"It is like this: Scholar Sun and his mother are accusing the eldest son of the Gu family, saying that his usual articles are all plagiarized from his, and that there was even buying of exam questions in this academy's selection exam."

Although Dean Zheng's hair was a bit gray, he was in good spirits. Upon hearing that the exam involved students, he rushed over without hesitation. However, hearing that the exam questions were being bought meant that someone in the academy had leaked the questions.

"Is that really the case?" Dean Zheng asked, frowning.

"No! Absolutely not! Dean, don't listen to such nonsense from unruly commoners!" Gu Changfeng retorted anxiously.

"Let's deal with things one by one. Let's start with Young Master Gu's plagiarism issue."

“My son didn’t cheat. He did all the work on this exam himself, and the teacher was there too. Tell me, isn’t Feng’er’s homework excellent? He could even take the imperial examination without any problems.”

Gu Changfeng's tutor hesitated upon seeing this scene. He had been brought here in a daze, and now that the lady was asking him questions, he couldn't not answer, but he also couldn't lie. So, after considering his words, he said, "Yes, the young master's studies have made great progress recently. Judging from this situation, he has a good chance of participating in the imperial examination in the future."

"That's right, everyone knows Master Wang, right? He's an old teacher who has taught countless students. My Prime Minister went to great lengths to invite him to our home to teach the children, so his words can't be lied about. I don't know how my talented son didn't even make the list during the academy's exams."

Gu Changfeng's expression at this moment was hard to describe, but he appeared calm on the surface. He lowered his head because he knew he was doomed.

"I have also brought the examination papers that Lord Zhao asked me to bring. Now that the examination is over, there is nothing to hide. If anyone thinks that the grading of the papers by this court is wrong, they are welcome to come to this court to check at any time."

As they were speaking, a constable came up and found Gu Changfeng's exam paper. Not only that, Dean Zheng also brought over the papers of the top three students. Everyone passed them around and gave the top three papers a satisfied look.

But when it came to Gu Changfeng, Master Wang's brows began to furrow.

"This shouldn't be happening. Based on your usual performance, young master shouldn't be able to produce such a result... such a result... sigh..." Master Wang really didn't know how to describe Gu Changfeng's exam paper. It was completely incoherent, even worse than what a three-year-old child could write.

"See? See? Young Master Gu is really a good-for-nothing." When everyone saw that Master Wang had said this, they immediately felt that their guess was correct.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Wang Ruyan couldn't stand it anymore and ran forward, grabbing the test paper and reading it from beginning to end.

Although Wang Ruyan was not very well-educated, she was still literate and somewhat talented in order to please Gu Ziming. When she saw her son's test paper, Wang Ruyan felt dizzy. How could he have written such a thing? It was completely nonsensical.

Seeing this, Xue Niang knew something was wrong and quickly stepped forward to support the lady: "Madam! Madam! You must take care of yourself."

Dean Zheng sat firmly on the ground, carefully reading the essay written by Scholar Sun that Lord Zhao handed to him.

"It is what it is. I have no reason to do anything shady. This article is very well written, so why wasn't it taken to the academy for the exam?"

Sun Xiucai quickly bowed and said, "In reply to you, sir, my family is poor and I have a mother to take care of me, so I cannot afford to go to school."

Upon hearing this, Master Wang also stood up and went to see Dean Zheng. Dean Zheng had always been a figure greatly admired by these scholars and writers. He founded the first academy in our dynasty and contributed many outstanding talents to the court and the country. Whenever the court was in trouble, the academy would generously donate money at the first opportunity.

An article that is affirmed by Dean Zheng must be good. Sure enough, when Master Wang took a look, he immediately felt that this policy essay was well-reasoned, with clear and novel arguments.

But after looking at it for a while, he frowned.

"What's wrong, Master Wang?" Dean Zheng asked.

"Oh, oh, it's nothing. I just thought this child's writing style was so familiar, and the font..." Teacher Wang suddenly realized, picked up Gu Changfeng's test paper and compared it again. After confirming his thoughts, he was so angry that his hands trembled.

"You, you, you! You're absolutely infuriating!"

Wang Ruyan was also completely bewildered, not knowing what had happened. She asked, "What's wrong, Master? Is something amiss?"

"Although I am now the tutor of Young Master Gu, I must emphasize that I was only recently invited by Prime Minister Gu to teach Young Master Gu. I have never seen him before. It was only during our first meeting and examination that I felt that Young Master Gu's foundation was relatively weak."

"Yes, it was indeed our master who went to great lengths to invite you back. What's the problem?" Wang Ruyan was still puzzled.

Gu Changfeng's face turned pale. He thought to himself, "It's over. The teacher still found out."

Seeing Gu Changfeng's reaction, the teacher felt even more ashamed: "However, I just saw Young Master Gu's test paper and read this student's essay. I am certain that the handwriting of the homework he usually hands over to me is from this child."

"Master, you can't be talking nonsense. You and Feng'er study and teach together every day. Don't you know what kind of handwriting he uses?"

“What you say is true, but without comparison, I really couldn’t tell that the handwriting is so well imitated. Moreover, most of the teaching is done orally, and Young Master Gu rarely writes by hand in my class.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Xiucai burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Lord Zhao asked.

"I laughed at Young Master Gu for not daring to write in front of the teacher. At first, he copied what I gave him, but later he was too lazy to even copy it and asked me to imitate his handwriting. He even gave me extra silver for this. Coincidentally, I was afraid of being exposed, so this time I also imitated Young Master Gu's handwriting. Young Master Gu, you didn't expect to shoot yourself in the foot this time, did you?"

Sweat poured down Gu Changfeng's face as if it were free. Seeing this, Xue Niang quickly used a handkerchief to wipe his face clean and nudged him to cheer up and talk.

But Gu Changfeng was already terrified and dared not say anything. At this moment, he only had one thought in his mind: he was doomed.