Nangong has lived for decades, and this is the first time he has heard such a ridiculous thing.
After all, the test paper doesn’t have long legs, so how could it run away on its own—and specifically to the printing workshop?
But he soon realized what Su Wen was trying to express: "You mean, the test papers were contaminated by the extraordinary aura, which is why such a strange phenomenon occurred?"
Su Wen nodded quickly. He couldn't stand Nangong Guan'ai's retarded eyes.
Su Wen was not innocent. He had similar experiences. When the novelist Dong Guoxi fell, his extraordinary power became "Jiangnan Weird Tales", which pulled him into the world of novels. By chance, he even
With the help of Dongguo Xi's power, he was promoted to the first rank of historian.
"This has also been checked."
Nangong smiled bitterly: "The inner factory deals with mysterious forces all day long. We suspected similar possibilities from the beginning. However, after investigation, we found no interference from extraordinary forces."
"..."
Su Wen had many thoughts in his mind, but they were suddenly blocked.
"impossible……"
Su Wen was silent for a while and then said, "There must be some factors that have been omitted."
"Isn't this nonsense! Otherwise, why would I be looking for you?!"
Nangong glared.
"Take me to the scene to see it!"
"And also give me a copy of the confession files of the people you have interrogated!"
Su Wen felt that it was difficult for him to have an idea based on Nangong's words. There may be some clues about the idea that Nangong rejected before at the scene and in the confession files.
"very good!"
Nangong was also very pleased that Su Wen was so active in the case: "I will give you a salary increase later. If the case can be properly handled, you will be the first to contribute!"
"hehe……"
Su Wen just smiled coldly. As the sales of "Qingshan Daily" increased, wealthy businessmen gradually became accustomed to publishing advertisements in newspapers. He now looked down upon the salary of dozens of taels a month.
Just considering the tense relationship between Qingshan Academy and the imperial court, Su Wen wanted to express some of the academy's goodwill to the imperial court by doing something.
This does not mean that he bows to the imperial court on behalf of the academy, but rather shows the academy's attitude of being useful to the imperial court.
Qian Haoran didn't even bother to give Ji Changge such an attitude, he was very strong-backed.
But the disadvantages of this are also obvious.
Without the support of the imperial court, Qian Haoran could not use official support to promote to the sixth rank. In the end, he had to find another way, and even tried to overthrow Cheng Zi's system to seek promotion, which was extremely risky.
Now that Qian Haoran has placed the opportunity for promotion in Guixu, he has avoided an internal conflict within the Confucian sect.
Su Wen didn't know how dangerous this process was at the time, but after being promoted to Chaofan Shijia and gaining a broader perspective, when reviewing the matter, he was still secretly sweating over Qian Haoran's decision at that time.
Not only is the probability of Qian Haoran's success extremely low, but even if he succeeds, it may not be a good thing.
The overturned Confucian sequence will not only cause Cheng Zi to be severely damaged, but also the Confucian extraordinary people who follow Cheng Zi's system will also be severely damaged. More than half of the extraordinary people will not be able to get out of the heavy damage, and the Confucian forces will fall into a long period of decline.
period of weakness.
Qian Haoran will definitely be regarded as a sinner by the Confucian sect.
Even if the Confucian sect can rise in a stronger position in the future, no one will be grateful to Qian Haoran.
The second disadvantage of the tense relationship with the imperial court is that the students of Qingshan Academy are not only suppressed in the talent recruitment ceremony, but even if they get good rankings in the examination, it is difficult to get a good official position, and it is almost impossible to say that they have a future.
Word.
Su Wen naturally did not want the students of Qingshan Academy to continue this fate. If he could help the court solve this case, it might be an opportunity to ease the relationship with the court.
…
The three places where the examination papers were found are all located in the outer city of Daliang City, Chengdong District, where the printing industry is very developed.
The black workshops printed some erotic novels and supernatural stories written by down-and-out literati, which were very popular among the citizens and were frequently banned. Some tabloids even involved cults, as well as sensational remarks that criticized the government, discredited important ministers, and subverted the imperial power. Therefore, the imperial court restricted these tabloids.
The inspections never stopped.
It's just that tabloid costs are low and profits are high, so many black shops are still willing to take risks.
Daliang Mansion can seize several such reactionary publications every month, but the methods are exhausted, and the effect is still minimal.
This time, the raid revealed a major case that Ye Meng, the prefect of Daliang Prefecture, had never dreamed of. However, the person who committed the crime was never found. If the case had not been solved, His Majesty the Emperor would have known about it.
After a beating, the owner of the black workshop that was raided was regarded as the chief culprit, and the case was hastily closed.
There was no progress in the case, and Ye Meng sighed all day long, feeling that his career had come to an end, and he might not even have the possibility of retirement. His home confiscation and exile would be his final end.
Ye Meng was overjoyed when he saw the main stall owner of the internal factory coming to take away the files. He wished he could hand over the case to the internal factory completely and eliminate all responsibility.
After Nangong took Su Wen to Daliang Mansion to collect the relevant confession files, he took Su Wen and went straight to the crime scene.
The three printing workshops were strictly sealed off, and the factory guards tried their best to maintain the conditions as they were at the time of the incident.
Su Wen first checked the two workshops where the original crime occurred based on the time when the examination papers were discovered.
The first black workshop was very simple, just a two-entry room with a small yard and a shack. Most of the printing tools were piled in the yard.
On the surface, the owner of the shop undertakes some engraving and printing business. He specializes in accepting manuscripts from some arty people and helps engraving and printing them into books. He also takes on the business of printing small advertisements. But privately, he is the publisher of the main black newspaper in Daliang City, publishing
"Feng Yue Tenderness" was published in three issues in January. Each issue printed more than 20,000 copies, and each copy was sold for two cents. The sales volume was astonishing. After excluding costs, the monthly profit was nearly 15,000 taels. According to the owner's confession, excluding monthly
The expenses for up and down management and the net profit were about 8,000 taels, which was more than Su Wen earned every month from "Qingshan Daily".
In the black workshop, Su Wen looked at the "Tenderness of the Wind and Moon" which had poor paper quality, blurred printing, and even smelled of ink. Su Wen couldn't help but fell into deep thought: How could anyone buy such a crudely made thing for two cents a piece?
It seems that the quality level of the citizens of Daliang City needs to be improved.
After going around in a circle, Su Wen found nothing. When he arrived at the second workshop, he also found nothing strange.
This is also normal. If there is anything unusual, the arrester from Daliang Mansion, the old criminal from the Criminal Department, and the factory guards in the inner factory will definitely find out.
Su Wen didn't stay long and went straight to the workshop of "Daliang Daily".
"Daliang Daily" is a newspaper sponsored by the imperial court and is subordinate to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Its predecessor was Dibao, which was published every ten days.
With the emergence of the distribution model of "Qingshan Daily", the Ministry of Household Affairs had to follow up and purchased printing equipment from the academy with a large sum of money to establish "Qingshan Daily", which was an official official media.
However, the content of "Qingshan Daily" still continues the previous official articles, which is very boring, and the number of subscriptions is not much, but the Ministry of Revenue does not care. After all, the main readers of Qingshan Daily are court officials and some people who pay attention to the policy trends of the court.
To Su Wen's disappointment, he still found nothing in the court's workshop.
He could only focus on the hundreds of confessions.
A total of 713 people were arrested from the three workshops.
Among them, the ones who were arrested the most were actually people from "Daliang Daily", which made Su Wen feel a little bit amused.
You must know that Daliang Daily is the property of the imperial court, and the gatekeepers are employed by the imperial court and receive royal salaries.
But it is enough to show the court's determination to thoroughly investigate the case.
It's just that among the more than 700 confessions, none of them can provide value.
No one in the two black workshops knew about the existence of the examination paper. If it had not been searched, they might not have known that such a thing existed in their workshops after the talent selection ceremony.
Only the examination paper from the "Daliang Daily" workshop was discovered by a worker.
When the worker was carrying printing paper, he found that there were some papers with writing on them in the warehouse where the paper was stored. However, he did not pay attention to it, but picked it up and put it aside. The reason for not paying attention to it was also very simple. The worker did not pay attention to it.
Literacy.
The worker then reported the matter to the factory guard who was assigned to the factory and listened to it.
The factory guard was in a state of panic. Hearing something that shouldn't be there in the warehouse, he quickly took a look.
Then I discovered that the first test paper had already leaked out.
"It's really weird..."
It was already late at night when Su Wen had read through all the confessions and files.
More than seven hundred confessions yielded no useful clues.
But Su Wen felt that having no clue itself... was also a clue.
This means that the possibility of it being done by ordinary people is basically eliminated.
Whether an extraordinary person committed the crime, or whether the test paper triggered some unknown taboo power, so that the test paper appeared randomly, is Su Wen's main thinking goal.
After Nangong's application, three test paper samples found in the workshop were also delivered to Su Wen.
The paper of the three examination papers is very ordinary. They all come from the workshop where the examination papers were found. There is nothing special about them.
In order to have a reference, Nangong also obtained the original sample drafts of three examination papers for Su Wen to compare.
After getting the examination papers, Su Wen also discovered that the examination papers for the Talent Awards Ceremony could be so exciting.
The questions involved cover multiple schools of thought, and candidates who only specialize in a certain school of thought will basically give up.
However, there are policy analysis and professional school examination questions at the back, which are the extra points.
But...these contents, which were originally top-secret examination papers, were completely leaked.
Su Wen still noticed the difference between the three examination papers.
The first examination paper found in the black workshop only contained thirteen copies.
The second time they were discovered, there were one hundred and thirty copies.
What was discovered this morning has become 1,300 copies.
Not only are the examination papers discovered faster, but the number of examination papers is also increasing tenfold.
It can be said that if the new examination papers are leaked, the number is likely to become 13,000, following the logic of exponential growth.