Chapter 102: Repaying Kindness
Chapter 102: Repaying Kindness
Wang Hua’s face turned deathly pale. It was a calamity! His son was extremely brilliant, but from a young age, he disliked studying. When he was young and people tried to teach him the Four Books and Five Classics, he told them, “The Imperial Examination is not the most important thing. The most important thing in the world is to study and become a sage.” While others studied the Eight-Legged Essay every day, he went off to read military strategy. When others got married and entered the bridal chamber with great joy, he completely vanished on his wedding day. His family searched everywhere for him and finally found the scoundrel learning meditation with a Taoist.
Wang Hua was a Zhuangyuan. He felt all his lifelong prestige was destroyed by this good-for-nothing. Later, Wang Hua truly had no way to handle him. He didn’t dare ask for anything else, only that his son could pass as a Metropolitan Graduate, so as not to disgrace the family name. This Wang Shouren was actually quite serious. He picked up his books and started reading. Although he often neglected his proper duties, he shone brilliantly directly in the Metropolitan Examination, ranking fourth.
“Ah…” Wang Hua sighed. “Don’t provoke that Fang Jifan. That person is in the House of the Crown Prince, idle and lazy, fooling around with the Crown Prince all day. Although he has taught some good disciples…”
“I understand, Father.”
Understood…
Wang Hua’s expression was very off. He knew exactly what kind of temperament his son had. When his son said he understood, nine times out of ten, he had already gotten involved with someone.
Ah…
A sigh.
A lifetime of prestige…
Wang Hua… after all, was the purest of the Qingliu Faction, a flawless model of morality, a paragon for Scholar-Officials, a representative of immense learning.
How did he end up raising such a good-for-nothing?
…
Warm Pavilion.
Soon after an Impeachment Memorial was delivered to the Warm Pavilion, the Regional Military Commander of the Brocade Guard, Mou Bin, was summoned to the palace.
Mou Bin was an honest man. During his tenure, the Brocade Guard was not overbearing. His Majesty clearly did not like starting major legal cases and was actually closer to the civil officials. This sudden summons made his heart beat like a drum.
Immediately, an Impeachment Memorial was thrown at his feet. What greeted Mou Bin was the livid face of Emperor Hongzhi.
Mou Bin hurriedly picked up the Impeachment Memorial and was instantly horrified.
The supervising secretary Hua Chang impeached the chief examiner Cheng Minzheng for selling examination questions. The matter also involved Xu Jing and others. The memorial also stated that the wealthy man from Jiangyin, Xu Jing, bribed with gold to get the exam questions in advance, and rumors were spreading all over the city.
Cheating in the Imperial Examination was an enormous matter. Not the slightest detail could be overlooked. And since someone had impeached, it definitely wasn’t without basis.
Emperor Hongzhi’s face was stern. Usually tolerant, he now squeezed out just one word from between his teeth: “Investigate!”
“I obey Your Majesty’s decree!”
…
Even though he ranked third in the Metropolitan Examination, Tang Yin couldn’t feel the slightest bit of happiness.
He had lost.
Lost completely.
The thought that he, with this sworn enemy, actually had to acknowledge him as his mentor was even more unbearable than killing Tang Yin.
He shut himself in his inn, either drinking… or simply sleeping in a daze, not wanting to wake up. Tears had soaked his clothes.
Over the past few days, Tang Yin received much sympathy. After all, he ranked third in the Metropolitan Examination and had become a Tribute Scholar. If he performed normally in the Palace Examination, he was sure to be among the Top Three Candidates. His future would naturally be bright.
But even so, throughout the Capital, people still felt sympathy for him. Being beaten beyond recognition and then humiliated by Fang Jifan was an extremely cruel thing for a Scholar.
Many had already spread the word that even if Tang Yin broke his promise and didn’t fulfill the bet, it wouldn’t harm his reputation.
After all, one must adapt to the situation. Could they really let the esteemed Jiangnan talent suffer Fang Jifan’s insult?
But… Tang Yin was still torn. If he went to acknowledge him as his mentor, this sworn enemy would become his Mentor. That was worse than death for Tang Yin. But if he didn’t go, even if no one blamed him and many understood, his own heart would ultimately be unsettled.
He felt extremely anxious but helpless. Right now, he truly wished he could just die.
Early in the morning, someone came to his door. The visitor was a servant in Black Attire and a small hat. He greeted Tang Yin and said, “I’ve been sent by the Right Censor-in-Chief, Liu Chen’en, to deliver a message. Lord Liu is also from Wu County. Speaking of which, he and Mr. Tang are fellow townsmen. Now that Mr. Tang has encountered difficulties, Lord Liu feels your pain. If you have any troubles, you can go to the Liu Residence. Lord Liu is on duty at the Censorate. If that Fang Jifan forces Mr. Tang to acknowledge him as a mentor, Lord Liu definitely won’t stand by idly. There are also several dozen officials from Yingtian Prefecture serving at court who will absolutely not sit back and watch Mr. Tang be humiliated.”
Tang Yin nodded with mixed feelings and saw the man out.
He had heard of this old Lord Liu Chen’en before. The Right Censor-in-Chief was definitely not a minor official. This was a senior court official of the third rank. Unexpectedly, he was also meddling in this idle matter.
Yes, when this bet was made, who could have imagined it would come to this?
Perhaps precisely because of this, Tang Yin being beaten and losing the bet, events that happened under everyone’s watch, now asking Tang Yin to go acknowledge him as a mentor was no different than the humiliation of crawling between someone’s legs.
Many people secretly came to encourage Tang Yin, not just Liu Chen’en. It seemed many couldn’t sit still, couldn’t bear to watch, their sense of justice overflowing.
Most Scholars outside also believed that Tang Yin would definitely not go to acknowledge him as a mentor.
Tang Yin hated Fang Jifan to the core. In his worldview, someone like Fang Jifan was truly a disgrace to humanity.
By evening, his heart was still unsettled.
Just then, a voice came from outside; it was the innkeeper: “Provincial First Place Scholar Tang, Provincial First Place Scholar Tang, terrible, it’s terrible!”
Tang Yin hurriedly opened the door and saw the innkeeper gasping for breath: “Something’s happened, a major event! Provincial First Place Scholar Tang, are you close with Xu Jing?”
“Indeed,” Tang Yin composed himself. “What advice do you have?”
The innkeeper looked at Tang Yin sympathetically: “Just a moment ago, I heard that the Right Vice Minister of Rites, Cheng Minzheng, and Xu Jing are involved in the case of selling questions for this year’s Imperial Examination. The Imperial Palace has already issued an order for a thorough investigation. Early this morning, the Brocade Guard moved out and arrested Cheng Minzheng and Xu Jing. The two were chained and taken to the Southern Bureau. In less than an hour, news came out that the two confessed to selling the questions… It’s said… that Xu Jing visited Cheng Minzheng, under the pretext of requesting calligraphy, and bribed him with several hundred gold pieces. Thus, Cheng Minzheng leaked the exam questions to him…”
“…” Tang Yin was instantly as if struck by lightning.
Brother Xu cheated…
Scholars in the Great Ming had privileges. For most matters, as long as they weren’t blown out of proportion, the authorities would generally turn a blind eye. After all, they were the favorites of heaven, and the imperial court tried its best not to do anything disgraceful to refined culture.
But once it involved an Imperial Examination cheating case, it was a completely different story.
He inhaled a sharp breath. Cheng Minzheng and Brother Xu…
He still remembered, back then, Brother Xu repeatedly invited him to visit Cheng Minzheng. Even on the night Fang Jifan beat him up, he had originally planned to go to the Cheng residence.
If… the beating hadn’t happened, then… what would have become of him?
If it had really come to that, he would inevitably have become entangled with Cheng Minzheng, just like Brother Xu. He even remembered Brother Xu mentioning the matter of requesting calligraphy to him. Brother Xu himself admitted that he spent three hundred taels of gold as a writing fee. He never imagined that… this would become ironclad evidence of selling the questions.
Suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine. If he had gone that night, if he hadn’t been beaten beyond recognition and confined to bed, then… that night, he would certainly have, like Brother Xu, gained Cheng Minzheng’s appreciation. From then on, he would have visited the Cheng residence frequently and, also like Brother Xu, together under the guise of elegance, requested a piece of calligraphy from Cheng Minzheng. After all… this was an unspoken rule. Everyone did it; would he have been an exception?
Once you fell into that dye vat, there was no turning back.
Then, today, the Brocade Guard would have arrested not just Cheng Minzheng, not just Brother Xu, but him too, right?
He didn’t believe Brother Xu would sell the questions. Brother Xu was quite a proud person, and also full of learning. Since he had the ability to pass the imperial examination, why would he need to buy the questions? This must be because Brother Xu got too close to Cheng Minzheng, and was finally impeached by someone. Added to that, the relationship between the two was already unclear to begin with. Once investigated, there was too much material to work with.
Tang Yin shivered. He was both worried about Xu Jing in the Imperial Prison, and a strange feeling arose in his heart…
If Fang Jifan hadn’t sought him out, if that scoundrel hadn’t beaten him severely, if that guy hadn’t made him unable to get out of bed, if he hadn’t sent people to watch him and spread rumors about the bet… he… would have been doomed.
The methods of the Brocade Guard were enough to make a dead man confess. Didn’t Brother Xu confess in less than an hour after entering the Imperial Prison?
Once it reached that point, you could cry to heaven and heaven wouldn’t answer, cry to earth and earth wouldn’t respond. All your pride, all your future prospects, would be completely destroyed, even implicating your family.
Fang Jifan… had actually become his savior…
Even if this was just Fang Jifan unintentionally helping, still… it was a fact…
Tang Yin collapsed dejectedly into a chair, inhaled sharply, and stared blankly at the flickering candlelight in the room…
Early the next morning.
Although it was early spring, heavy snow was still falling.
Tang Yin dressed in fresh clothes, even carefully cleaned the short beard under his chin. Afterward, he prepared Preserved Meat, Longan, and other items, and left the inn.
The innkeeper had just gotten up. Seeing this newly advanced Tribute Scholar going out, and so early in the morning, he asked, “Mr. Tang, where are you going?”
Tang Yin smiled faintly. “To acknowledge my mentor.”
Hearing this, the innkeeper was stunned.
But Tang Yin had already stepped out, walking through the snow.
He arrived at the Fang Family’s gate.
Looking at the gold-lacquered nameplate, Tang Yin took a deep breath, then knelt down on the snowy ground in front of the gate, not moving a muscle.
Snowflakes fell, landing on his eyes and nose. The scholar’s scarf he wore was soon covered with a thin layer of snow.
Passersby in the morning saw this scene and thought that the good-for-nothing named Fang was tormenting people again. They originally thought it was a servant of the Fang Family kneeling here as punishment, but upon closer look, some vaguely recognized Tang Yin.
“It’s Tribute Scholar Tang…”
Tang Yin remained silent, just kneeling stiffly here.
The kindness of saving his life! Whether it was intentional or unintentional didn’t matter. A person… must know to repay kindness.
He knelt until his body became stiff and rigid. Finally, someone in the Fang Family got up. The gatekeeper opened the door, saw the scene before him, and was so shocked his jaw dropped. He hurried inside to report.