My virtue is above yours.

Chen Jingxuan asked, "What is it?"

"You can't stay in the dark any longer. I heard that Shengyang Academy has already received the money. It was the old headmaster who embezzled it and deliberately refused to move, wanting even more benefits."

The people in line behind them crowded around: "Really? Is this old man that bad? He's taken in many orphans and teaches them to read. He doesn't seem like a bad person, does he?"

"What do you know? He always invites the women in the neighborhood to learn to read and write. Can he be a good person? I think he only adopts those orphans to swindle money from people's kindness." The man grabbed Chen Jingxuan's hand. "Young Master Chen, you're a good person. Don't be fooled by this old man anymore. It's not worth it."

Chen Jingxuan released the other person's hand, suppressing his displeasure, and asked calmly, "Where did you hear this news?"

"It's the foot inn next door, everyone's saying it, it's all over the place. They say that old man embezzled two thousand taels! That's more than I could earn in my whole life. Don't let him fool you again!" The man's eyes widened, his words utterly certain.

Chen Jingxuan asked, "So, it's just hearsay, without any real evidence?"

"Is everything I've heard true? They all say it, how could it be false?"

Chen Jingxuan smiled and said, "I see. If that's what they all say, then it must be true."

The man nodded seriously: "Yes."

Chen Jingxuan checked his pulse and said casually, "You have erectile dysfunction."

The man jumped up abruptly: "Master Chen, don't talk nonsense. I... I'm perfectly fine, in excellent health!"

"I said you're impotent, and that's it!" Chen Jingxuan shouted to the people in line behind him. "Is everything you've heard true? Don't you all agree?"

Everyone echoed and agreed.

The man shouted excitedly, "I'm not impotent! I'm perfectly fine!"

"We believe you're doing just fine." Everyone looked at him with strange expressions.

The man felt deeply humiliated, and he reached out to unbuckle his belt: "I'll take it off and prove it to you."

Chen Jingxuan quickly grabbed his belt: "Stop messing around! You're not impotent. You're just a little hot-tempered."

The man breathed a sigh of relief and shouted to the people behind him, "Did you hear that? I'm just angry!"

Chen Jingxuan asked him to sit down, and he asked in confusion, "Master Chen, why did you say I was impotent just now?"

"You believe everything people say so easily, and you spread it around everywhere. Do you now realize that hearsay isn't always true?"

The man suddenly realized, "So that's what you meant, Taoist Master."

Chen Jingxuan quickly grabbed the other person's wrist: "You're only understanding now? Let me check your pulse again, and I think there might be something wrong with your head."

Chen Jingxuan asked the people behind him to wait a moment, and then got up and went to the foot massage shop.

As soon as I entered, I saw a man dressed as an ordinary person talking loudly and telling everyone who passed by about the bad deeds of the headmaster, Cui Cheng.

He was holding a teacup, talking excitedly, without even noticing that the tea had spilled out.

"Guess why that old man adopted so many orphans? Did he really think he was doing it out of kindness? He was a child predator!"

The store was filled with excitement, everyone talking about it with great interest, creating a joyful atmosphere.

Suddenly everyone in the shop fell silent, except for that man who kept excitedly talking: "There's a tunnel connecting to the academy! He goes through the tunnel to the mansion to rest at night, where he's served by young and beautiful maids. You really think he sleeps in this dilapidated academy?"

No one spoke; they simply watched him silently.

A hand patted his shoulder. He turned his head and saw a young Taoist priest: "Who are you?"

Without saying a word, Chen Jingxuan punched him squarely in the face, and he fell to the ground with a thud, blood streaming from his nose.

He dragged the man to the shop entrance, turned around, and said to the trembling customers inside, "I'm sorry, everyone, I heard someone was spreading rumors here, so I've come to arrest him. You can eat and drink as you please."

Everyone nodded in agreement, not daring to make any comments, and buried themselves in their food.

Chen Jingxuan dragged the man into a dark alley, slapped him so hard he howled, and grabbed him by the collar, yelling, "Shut up. I'm asking you, who told you to do this?"

"I don't know who that person is either!"

Chen Jingxuan glared at him, and the man cried out in fright, "I really didn't know! He gave me two hundred coins and told me to say that. I haven't even spent the money yet."

The man pulled out a money pouch, which Chen Jingxuan snatched away: "Ill-gotten gains. Confiscated."

The man had nothing to say and could only stand there and sigh as he watched the man's departing figure.

Chen Jingxuan grew angrier the more he thought about it. This Vice Minister Fan was simply going too far. Not only did he cut off the academy's path to survival, but he also tried to smear the old headmaster, such a noble and virtuous man.

Fortunately, the old man's leg injury hadn't healed, so he couldn't go out. Otherwise, hearing these rumors would have definitely made him very angry.

Chen Jingxuan saw patients until evening, but there were fewer patients today, so he closed up shop early.

A man dressed as a clerk approached the stall, handed over a stack of letters, and whispered, "The young master asked me to bring these to you. What you requested is indeed in the Ministry of Works."

As the man was about to leave, Chen Jingxuan quickly grabbed him: "You came from the Ministry of Works?"

"Exactly."

"You should know who handled this, right?"

The man pointed to the stack of letters: "They're all inside. You'll know as soon as you see them, Taoist priest."

After the man left, Chen Jingxuan found a secluded corner and opened the envelope.

The letter reads: "The deeds to the house and land of Shengyang Academy have all been sealed in the treasury, and there are also documents for the transfer of ownership of the academy. The relocation funds have all been disbursed, and the payment records are complete. The person in charge was Yuan Sheng, a ninth-rank official and the head of the Construction Department. It is understood that this man is a devout follower of the righteous path and has a long-standing friendship with Vice Minister Fan. In the past, when Vice Minister Fan was serving as an official in a prefecture or county, Sheng served as his staff member. When Fan Chengyu was promoted to the Ministry of Works, Sheng was also recommended for promotion, and he is truly a confidant of Fan."

Chen Jingxuan understood that Vice Minister Fan did not need many procedures to embezzle the resettlement funds. He only needed to control Yuan Sheng, the cashier in charge of the Construction and Renovation Department, which was also the Demolition Office, to pocket the money.

Yuan Sheng was a man of loyalty and integrity, and a trusted confidant of the Fan family. He was practically an unbreakable rock, so Vice Minister Fan naturally had no need to worry that Yuan Sheng would betray him.

Chen Jingxuan felt it necessary to meet with Yuan Sheng. If he could get him to be a witness for the prosecution, there would be a chance to bring down Vice Minister Fan.

He was thinking about how to deal with Yuan Sheng all the way home, and before he knew it, he had returned home to find a plate of leftover snacks on the table.

Holding the plate of leftover snacks, he asked, "Are my senior brothers and sisters back?"

The maid Chunhong replied, "A young man with a wild and unconventional personality came by. He said he was your friend. After waiting for a while and not seeing you return, he left."

Chen Jingxuan asked, "What's his name?"

"He didn't say."

Chen Jingxuan was somewhat confused: "Then what is he going to do?"

"He didn't say. He only said that if you have any trouble, you can go to the Wang family to find him."