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

What does this matter? When Sun Xiucai thought about how Gu Changfeng didn't care about feelings and wasn't going to show any mercy, he realized that Gu Changfeng was just as ruthless.

His benefactor had also told him that if he confessed truthfully, it would mean he was being coerced by the Third Prince out of filial piety; if he chose to conceal it, someone would come and take the lives of him and his mother that very night.

Scholar Sun took out a stack of papers from his pocket and handed them to Lord Zhao.

"Sir, Dean, this proves that Gu Changfeng was involved in buying exam questions."

Dean Zheng was furious upon seeing it. "Where did you get this?"

"In reply to the dean, this is the topic that Gu Changfeng gave me, and just in case, I prepared two copies to send to him on the same day."

Seeing Dean Zheng's unusual reaction, Lord Zhao asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, our academy usually prepares two sets of exam questions. To prevent leaks, one set is randomly selected for use on the day of the exam. The one this student brought up was the one selected for this exam, but this one is the academy's backup and has not been made public."

Wang Ruyan was at a loss for what to do, so she whispered to Xue Niang beside her, telling her to hurry back and report the situation to the master.

“That means…” Sun Xiucai wanted to continue his statement, but was interrupted.

That doesn't prove anything!

As everyone was discussing, a clear and bright female voice came from the main gate. Everyone quickly turned around to look, and the person who came was none other than Gu Qingwan, the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister's mansion.

Gu Qingwan walked gracefully into the courtroom and bowed to Lord Zhao.

"Greetings, Your Excellency. I am Gu Changfeng's eldest sister. I heard that someone is going to sue my son, the son of the Prime Minister, so I came here to help my Gu family out of this predicament. I hope Your Excellency will not mind that I have taken matters into my own hands."

"It's alright. The young lady is polite and a close relative of the defendant, so it's fine for her to be in court. However, she must not disrupt the court or interfere with my handling of the case."

As Lord Zhao spoke, he glanced in the direction of Madam Gu.

Not only Wang Ruyan, but even Gu Changfeng was surprised that his sister did not come to rescue him. Instead, it was Gu Qingwan, his nemesis, who came. Just a while ago, he had spoken to Gu Qingwan in a somewhat frivolous manner at home. It would have been good enough if Gu Qingwan hadn't taken the opportunity to kill him. Did she really intend to help him?

"Qingwan! What are you doing here, a young lady like you? Where has your manners gone!" Wang Ruyan was also afraid, fearing that Gu Qingwan would take advantage of her misfortune.

"Oh my, you can come here and make a scene, but why can't the eldest daughter of the family help her younger brother? Everyone knows that in a large family, the prosperity and the loss are intertwined."

"Exactly, exactly. It's really strange that we're still discussing manners at a time like this."

"The rumors were true; this Mrs. Gu doesn't like the daughter from her previous marriage..."

Hearing the people outside starting to gossip again, Lord Zhao frowned and ordered everyone to be quiet.

"Miss Gu, please speak frankly."

"Thank you for your understanding and righteousness, sir."

Gu Qingwan turned to look at Scholar Sun: "I overheard the gist of it at the door just now, but even if your evidence is true, it only proves that my brother Feng's talent is fake, which is nothing. As for what Scholar Sun mentioned about buying exam questions..."

“Everything I said is true!” Sun Xiucai sat up and retorted.

"Young master, please don't be anxious. I didn't say that what you said was false. It's just that these things are not enough to prove that my brother Feng bought the questions for you. Perhaps you obtained them from other channels."

Gu Changfeng instantly felt that his savior had arrived. Yes, so what if he had this evidence? He would only have to bear the reputation of seeking fame and fortune. He didn't care about such things in the capital. It was a hundred times better than buying a test and exposing the Third Prince, right?

"That's right, that's right, my eldest sister is absolutely right!"

Wang Ruyan was furious. This girl had just finished condemning her son's academic fraud in a few words, and her silly son still thought she was saving him.

"Qingwan! What nonsense are you spouting? Do you know that what you're doing is ruining your brother's reputation!"

Gu Qingwan ignored Wang Ruyan's angry expression and gently comforted her, "Madam, please don't worry. I won't harm Fengdi."

Before Wang Ruyan could say anything more, Gu Changfeng suddenly grabbed her arm, signaling her to stop talking.

“Miss Gu is right. The evidence you provided, Scholar Sun, cannot prove that Gu Changfeng bought this question for you.”

Suddenly, Sun Xiucai became anxious. In his anxiety, he saw Gu Changfeng's Changchun sneaking around in the crowd. He knew Changchun; he was the one who often came to him to pick up things, and it was Changchun who delivered the test questions that night.

"My lord! It is him! Changchun, Gu Changfeng's personal attendant, is the one who delivered the exam questions!"

Changchun froze, but his instinctive reaction was to run. However, he was caught by the onlookers after only a few steps.

"Hmph, why are you running away?" Lord Zhao asked.

"No! Absolutely not! I'm innocent!" Changchun quickly protested.

"Sir, look!" The constables found Sun Xiucai's manuscript on Changchun's person, which he hadn't had time to destroy.

Lord Zhao, Master Wang, and Dean Zheng took a look, and Scholar Sun immediately recognized it as his own manuscript. He quickly pointed it out, and now Gu Changfeng's reputation for fraud was firmly established.

However, Gu Qingwan was not satisfied with this result. There was still good tea waiting for Gu Changfeng, so it was better to take it slow.

Lord Zhao didn't waste any words. For such a guilty servant, he simply took action. "Take him away and interrogate him thoroughly. Make sure you get out what he's trying to hide!"

Before the person in charge could react, Changchun was gagged. Gu Changfeng's back was already soaked with sweat. He held his mother's hand tightly. Wang Ruyan was in pain from her son's strong grip, but she dared not make a sound.

"So what if they caught one of our servants? Young Master Sun's mother sued our Gu family's young master for kidnapping her son. Now that Young Master Sun is safe and sound, the case is no longer valid. Can Lord Zhao drop the case?"

"Yes, I didn't kidnap Sun Xiucai, elder sister, you have to believe me, I really didn't kidnap Sun Xiucai!" Gu Changfeng had lost his mind; he thought everything Gu Qingwan said was to save him.

“I can understand Miss Gu’s favoritism towards her own family, but after interrogating that Changchun, the truth will be revealed.” Sun Xiucai knelt there with great dignity, his back straight, while his mother leaned against him somewhat fearfully.

“Miss Gu, please wait a moment. This matter of buying and leaking exam questions is a very big deal for our academy. We hope that you can consider the overall situation,” Dean Zheng said.

"This..." Gu Qingwan looked at Gu Changfeng, who was staring at her, with some difficulty, and could only sigh and say helplessly, "Then this is the only way. Don't worry, Brother Feng. No one can wrong us for things we didn't do. At worst, we still have Father."

"Hmph, I thought you were all that capable..." Wang Ruyan said in a low voice with some disdain.

“Feng’er…” Wang Ruyan was afraid that Gu Changfeng would do something foolish, so she quickly stepped forward and grabbed his arm.

Gu Changfeng broke free from Wang Ruyan's hand, glanced down at her, and said sarcastically, "Go ahead and act like this. Sometimes I even doubt if I'm your biological son. You've pushed me to this point step by step. If it weren't for you..."

"Feng'er, how could you talk to your mother like that?" Wang Ruyan asked incredulously.

"Mother? I think you are Gu Hanjiao's mother. My elder sister clearly came to save me, and you are still making sarcastic remarks here. If it weren't for you, how could things have developed like this!" Gu Changfeng pushed all the blame onto Wang Ruyan.

If it weren't for his mother's aggressive behavior and her constant boasting, how could he have attracted Teacher Wang and Dean Zheng? Without these two people, how could the issue of buying and omitting questions have arisen? Now, we can only hope that Changchun will be more assertive.

But who is Changchun? He's Gu Changfeng's most loyal lackey. Just like Gu Changfeng, he's a spineless coward. Sure enough, it didn't take long for Changchun to confess everything.

Lord Zhao saw the confession, which described how Gu Changfeng usually had Sun Xiucai do his homework for him. It also involved the Third Prince, how Gu Changfeng obtained the exam questions, and when he met with people from the Third Prince's residence to bring the questions back to Sun Xiucai. However, the confession did not mention Gu Changfeng hiring someone to commit murder.

Gu Qingwan pressed her advantage, saying, "Sir, you see, the matter of my brother hiring someone to commit murder is indeed untrue. Perhaps Young Master Sun has misunderstood. I think this case can be settled?"

"No! I'm telling the truth. Besides Gu Changfeng, who else would want to harm me!"

"Young Master Sun, let's be lenient when we can. Besides, we're both struggling. Let's settle this privately. Our Gu family will definitely provide ample compensation. As for your concerns about your personal safety, our madam is here. She can promise you that if anything happens to you, Lord Zhao can come directly to the Gu family. We will have no complaints."

Wang Ruyan was suddenly brought up, and naturally she was unwilling to make such a promise. She was determined to find someone to either kill this pedantic scholar or at least give him a good beating to vent her anger.

"You...I'm not!"

Dean Zheng knew that the leak of the exam questions was related to the royal family, and that this matter would not be resolved today. He was sure that His Majesty would take notice. He glanced at the girl standing there. The old Duke's granddaughter did indeed have his demeanor of a great family, able to repay evil with kindness and protect her family. He was willing to help this girl.

"Yes, I think your writing is quite good, but you participated in the cheating on the exam, so you cannot enter our academy. This is something our academy absolutely forbids."

Sun Xiucai lowered his head and landed with a heavy heart. He knew he wasn't qualified, but hearing the dean's words felt like being sentenced, and he was very sad.

“However…” Dean Zheng changed the subject, “I pity your filial piety. How about this, you come to the academy to clean? That way you will have a livelihood and be able to take care of your mother. Given time, if you work hard, you can participate in the imperial examinations. With your literary talent, you should have a chance.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Xiucai immediately burst into tears of joy. His benefactor had said yesterday that he would give him an unexpected surprise, and perhaps this was it. This was the best possible outcome, and he was unwilling to fight a losing battle with the Prime Minister's Mansion to the bitter end.

"Thank you, Dean! Thank you, Your Excellency!"

Although the farce is over, the common people have plenty to talk about after dinner. It turns out that Prime Minister Gu's two legitimate sons and daughters are both plagiarists. As the saying goes, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. I wonder if there was something fishy about the Prime Minister's talent as the top scholar back then.

The matter of Gu Hanjiao plagiarizing other people's poems had been suppressed by the marriage, but now it has been brought up again along with Gu Changfeng.

When the news reached Gu Hanjiao, she was furious. Now, those who used to be on good terms with her no longer kept in touch, and they rarely even exchanged letters. Everyone avoided her like the plague, fearing that outsiders would misunderstand that her talent was stolen. Without a good reputation, how could she find a husband in the future?