In the county government office, Shopkeeper Xu was kneeling in the hall, surrounded by students who were borrowing books from the bookstore. Now they have all become suspects for buying and selling test questions.
The students were confused and still confused about the situation, but meeting the official before the exam still made most of them panic.
"Sir, the students were wronged!"
"Yes, sir, I just bought two books, not the test questions at all."
…
"quiet!"
There was a lot of crying and commotion below. The county magistrate's eyes were sharp and he struck the tree with his hand, but no one dared to speak.
"Sir, Shen Yanqing and Xu Ziwen are here."
"Bring it up!"
Shen Yanqing and Xu Ziwen were escorted to the front of the hall by officers and pushed to the ground.
"Kneel down!"
"Shen Yanqing, Xu Ziwen, do you know your guilt?"
"Students don't know, but I can ask you, sir, what crime have we committed?"
Shen Yanqing's posture is upright, even when he is kneeling, he is like a green bamboo, unstained by the dust of the world.
"You..." The county magistrate was so amazed by his temperament that he almost forgot his question.
"You open a bookstore to sell exam questions privately, and you have all the witnesses and material evidence. How dare you deny it?"
Lin Yusheng usually hates sanctimonious people the most. No matter how good-looking he is, he is just a polite scum.
Selling test questions is a big deal, and the rural test questions haven't been released yet, so no one knows whether the test questions are on paper, so the two can only be convicted of the crime and serve as a warning to others.
"Students are from poor families and have no way to get test questions, and they are also candidates of this class. If there are real test questions, why sell them to others to increase their opponents?"
Shen Yanqing was right, and other students nodded.
If it were them, they would just watch it privately, why would they publicize it in a big way?
Seeing Lin Yusheng speechless, Shen Yanqing kept up his efforts.
"My lord, why don't you call the witness? I'll confront him face to face."
Lin Yusheng stared at him for a long time. Seeing that Shen Yanqing was calm and showed no signs of lying, his mind changed towards him.
"Bring the witnesses."
Li Qun, with his head hanging down, was escorted by the officers through the hall and knelt down next to Shen Yanqing.
His head hung on his chest, not daring to look at the people around him.
"Li Qun, tell the truth about the transaction between you and Shen Yanqing!"
Li Qun's body trembled with fear as a result of a slap in the jaw. He trembled and tried to open his mouth.
"Sir, I don't, I have no dealings with Shen Yanqing..."
After speaking out, he became bolder.
"Mr. Shen was framed!"
"You lie! You are covering up!"
Sun Hao was listening very proudly from the outside, but Shen Yanqing refused to shed tears without seeing the coffin. He would feel better later. Before he could finish being happy, Li Qun's words left him stunned.
"You openly cover up criminals, have you ever thought about your mother's feelings?"
Li Qun shrank, and he could tell that Sun Hao was threatening him with his mother.
A sarcastic smile appeared on Li Qun's lips. Sun Hao was just a despicable person. Fortunately, he didn't listen to him before.
"Quiet, no noise in the hall."
Lin Yusheng shouted sharply.
"Keep talking!"
Li Qun had regained his composure. He looked up at Shen Yanqing with guilty eyes.
"Someone bribed the villain to slander him."
There was a commotion in the hall, and the students who were already supporters of Shen Yanqing were full of anger. Who on earth wanted to put Shen Yanqing to death, and also harmed these students.
Sun Hao was anxious, fearing that Li Qun would make false accusations and testify against him. He should not have softened his heart at that time and promised to let Li's mother recover from her injuries at home. If he could hold her back, there was no need to worry about Li Qun's betrayal.
Sun Hao now regrets it endlessly. He thought Li Qun was cowardly and timid, but something went wrong here.
"Sun Hao is anxious!"
Dean Qiu and Mr. Wei stood behind the crowd. They originally planned to go in to help clarify, but as soon as Li Qun's words came out, Mr. Wei stopped him from stepping forward.
"This thing has a twist, let's see."
Shen Yanqing was neither humble nor arrogant, and he was calm and unhurried in situations, which made Mr. Wei take a higher look.
"Who is the person who ordered you?"
Lin Yusheng didn't expect that there was something really fishy about this matter, so he frowned and asked.
"It's Sun Hao!"
"Sun Hao? It's him!"
"Why did he do this?"
The students were shocked and confused. Sun Hao was about to become an old disciple of Wei. He had a bright future, so why bother with Shen Yanqing?
This... is not necessary.
"Is it possible that because Shen Yanqing is too strong, Sun Hao was worried that he would fail the exam, so he came up with this trick to plot against him..."
A student interrupted in a low voice, and others also responded.
It is very possible, after all, Mr. Wei promised to accept a disciple after Qiu Wei, and he also planned to make a decision based on his performance.
But just because of a quota of disciples, he was ruined and even lost his head. Everyone shuddered and looked at Sun Hao with complicated eyes.
This person is so cruel!
"Sun Hao, do you know your guilt?"
"Sir, he lied. What reason did the students have to frame Shen Yanqing? Besides, he said before that Shen Yanqing was selling test questions, and now he said that I was instigating it. This man changes his orders day and night without telling the truth. I suspect he is deliberately slandering I!"
Sun Hao suppressed his inner panic and quickly thought of a countermeasure.
Anyway, he was careful and did not leave any physical evidence for Li Qun. As long as he refused to admit it, no one could do anything to him.
Seeing Li Qun speechless, Sun Hao felt proud again.
"You! My mother is seriously ill, and you threatened me with money. As long as I bring the test questions to the bookshop, you promised to give me one hundred taels of silver!"
"Oh? But I didn't know that your mother was seriously ill, and I never gave you any money. There are people who have testified to this."
Sun Hao's student who slept with him came forward and proved that he and Li Qun did not interact with each other on weekdays.
Now the students who originally believed that Sun Hao had harmed others were a little doubtful. Could it be that they had wronged him?
"What if I have proof?"
Li Qun looked directly at him and took out a jade pendant from his arms with the character Sun engraved on it. It was the same jade pendant he had worn since childhood.
"Why do you have this jade in your hand?"
"Of course you gave it to me when you plotted to frame Shen Yanqing last time."
"You fart, I only promised to give you money, when did I give you the jade pendant!"
Sun Hao exclaimed, and by the time he came back to his senses and wanted to refute, it was already too late.
Now that the evidence is complete, there is no point in denying it.
Li Qun lowered his eyebrows to hide the sarcasm in his eyes.
Shen Yanqing was kind to him and helped his mother treat her illness regardless of past suspicions. Li Qun stepped back from the cliff and agreed to help him testify against Sun Hao.
If Sun Hao really succeeds, he will not end well with his viciousness and jealousy.
Shen Yan was cleared of all charges, but the leakage of test questions was still a big deal, and Lin Yusheng was worried and didn't know how to solve it.
"Sir, there is an old gentleman outside who wants to report to the police and accuse Sun Hao of paying to commit murder!"
