Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1354: Chapter 1356 Gold Ranked List_1

In the Imperial Study Room, Tang Yin slammed the table fiercely, and Xue Wenhui below tensed up, advising, ”Your Majesty, do not be angry. Even though the person is dead, the mastermind has already been identified. It is also due to Your Majesty’s sagacity that the candidates were spared from wrongful accusations.”

”Yang Tianhua has become increasingly arrogant; this malignant tumor must be eradicated,” Tang Yin narrowed his eyes, ”Wang Shun, there has been a turn for the better in the military affairs of the Southwest. Send an urgent edict to summon Ma Tongfang back.”

Xue Wenhui was puzzled. Why summon the General of the Southern Army, Ma Tongfang, at this time? Could it be that he was to lead his troops to take out Yang Tianhua? But that wasn’t right either; even if Ma Tongfang returned to the Capital, he couldn’t bring the troops from the Southwest with him.

He dared not ask more. Despite the current Emperor’s youth, he was even more decisive and slightly shrewder than the Former Emperor in meting out punishment.

”Xue Wenhui, deal with those involved in the crime severely. After three days, behead the main culprits at the Vegetable Market so the public and the candidates can know the truth and see the end of these treacherous scoundrels,” Tang Yin ordered.

”Yes, I will obey,” Xue Wenhui knew the Emperor did not want to continue the investigation because there was no point in doing so. The main culprits had been silenced, and everything pointed to the Yang Family, which held military power and had always been powerful. With the Emperor having ascended the throne less than six years ago, he was temporarily unable to shake the foundation of the Yang Family.

The investigation revealed that someone had bribed the officials managing the examination papers and the guards overseeing the storeroom, allowing the official to enter the storeroom before the papers were graded and spill ink over Bai Zepei’s paper.

Fortunately, Bai Ruozhu had prepared for her second brother what others did not have—excellent materials. Otherwise, it would have been hard to clear his name. Not to mention Bai Zepei himself being unaware of the dirty spot on his paper; even if he had known, how could he prove that he wasn’t the one who spilled the ink?

The next day, the golden list was posted, and the person Bai Family sent to keep watch quickly returned with the news, ”Congratulations, Elder, congratulations, Madam, the Second Young Master has achieved second place!”

”Second place? This, this is wonderful!” Bai Yihong’s face turned red with excitement, ”Quick, call Zepei, tell him the good news!”

Bai Zepei was summoned to the Main Courtyard by the servants; his expression wasn’t overly excited, but his mood was undeniably excellent.

”How did Master’s ranking turn out?” Bai Zepei asked, recalling how Master had been unwell before, and later, Yu Hongxiu’s illness after childbirth had delayed him, affecting his arrival in the Capital and possibly his revision.

”Master did quite well, around the twentieth place,” the servant answered.

Bai Zepei nodded and said, ”Master was delayed by other affairs; otherwise, he would have definitely been among the top three candidates.”

Lin Ping’er couldn’t stop smiling beside him, ”Quickly notify the Young Master and others to return; we’ll have a drink at home today to celebrate Zepei. Second place means he is the Runner-up, right? That’s incredibly impressive.”

”Mother, let’s wait until after the Imperial Examination to discuss it,” Bai Zepei said somewhat embarrassedly.

”You have eloquence to spare, I’m not worried,” Lin Ping’er said, her smile deepening. She didn’t know which lifetime’s good fortune she had cultivated to have such outstanding children. Almost none of them needed her worry, except it was a pity that the second child’s marriage still troubled her.

Bai Zepei inquired about the results of Tang Feng, Lin Xufei, and others. The servant answered one by one, all had made the list, and Tang Feng was even the top scorer. Bai Zepei nodded repeatedly to the news, not feeling regret that Tang Feng was the top scorer; in his view, it was just a ranking after all.

At that moment, urgent knocking sounds came from outside. When the servant went to check, it turned out to be Leng Bin, the young master of the Leng Family who was closely associated with the Bai Family.

”Zepei, have you heard the news?” As soon as Leng Bin entered, he was full of rage. Bai Zepei was somewhat surprised. Wasn’t Leng Bin also on the list of successful candidates?

”What news?” he asked.

Leng Bin paced the room in his anger, ”It seems you really don’t know. The delay in publishing the list is not without reason. Remember our suspicions about cheating? Turns out someone actually tampered with the proceedings!”

Bai Yihong and his wife perked up their ears. Who would dare to cheat in the exams at the feet of the Son of Heaven? Who possessed such audacity?

It was then that Leng Bin realized he hadn’t yet greeted the elder, hastily paying respects to Bai Yihong and his wife before continuing, ”And the person whose results were tampered with turns out to be you!”

”What!” exclaimed his wife. ”Who would do such a thing? How could they bully someone like this?”

”They say someone bribed the officials managing the examination papers and the guards on watch. Before the papers were graded, he quietly splashed ink on Zepei’s paper to make it look like Zepei had spilled it himself. That’s why initially Zepei was only ranked eighth,” Leng Bin spoke quickly, clearly furious. ”Fortunately, the Emperor has the wisdom to discern the smallest detail. He had Master Zhang help with the identification, and it was found that the ink used on Zepei’s answer sheet was Longxiang ink, whereas the dirtied spot was premium Hui ink bought from Wenyuan Pavilion. This discovery led to a further investigation.”

”Now the case has been cleared up, and the public proclamation has been posted. They say that in two days, they’ll behead those people at the Vegetable Market!” Leng Bin found solace in this, feeling that justice had been served, and was not so angry anymore.

The old couple of the Bai family was also indignant, but soon they folded their hands in gratitude to the Buddha for his blessings and the Emperor for his wisdom, grateful that their Zepei had not been harmed by the scoundrel.

Bai Zepei had been silent all along, only after a long while murmuring, ”I wonder how my younger sister and the others are doing, when will they return? It is all thanks to my sister this time...”

Leng Bin clapped his hands vigorously, calling out with some excitement, ”Indeed, your sister Ruozhu is truly a remarkable woman. I admire her to no end. She prepared two sets of writing instruments for Zepei’s exams. Because of that, Zepei was not affected when Wang Tianyou sabotaged his pen. And to think, she used Longxiang ink! I would have never guessed. I bought Hui ink from Wenyuan Pavilion myself. If this had happened to me, I would be finished.”

Far away in the Western Regions, Bai Ruozhu had no idea she was being praised so highly. She wasn’t clairvoyant; it was simply habit. In her previous life, she would also prepare two sets of materials for exams, having backups should anything go wrong. As for Longxiang ink, it was purely because she had the money and wanted her family to use the very best.

At this moment, Bai Ruozhu was in the Western Regions, conducting experiments on Jin Jing’s severed hand, wearing a pair of white gloves specifically made for the task. Even though she wasn’t as fearful of corpses as most people due to her training as a doctor, Jin Jing was no longer a mere corpse; if she contracted some kind of toxin that she couldn’t cure, what would she do?

She tested various medicines and, after a day’s work, finally discovered which ones were most lethal to Jin Jing’s kind of corpse. Jin Jing’s severed hand was left scarred badly from her ”torturous” experiments, marred with various wounds.

She quickly improved on the drug powder she had used before, creating the most effective mixture. Once it was sprinkled onto the severed hand, a ’puff’ sound was heard, and the hand appeared to catch fire without flames, emitting a thick, pungent smoke.

Upon closer inspection, a deep hole had been burned into the hand, and the corrosion continued.