Chapter 74: Fraud Exposed
Is there a problem with the exam?
Shen Yichen's first reaction was to suspect that there was something wrong and whether there were cheating items hidden in it.
However, the examination basket is the focus of the military service inspection. The personal belongings carried in it are dumped on the table and then checked one by one. Even if the winter clothes they brought are too thick, they will be torn open to see if there is any interlayer inside.
Other foods such as pastries were also broken open and inspected to ensure that they were safe.
Seeing that the military search was so strict but no problems were found, Shen Yichen guessed that he was wrong.
Just as the search was coming to an end and the clan member of the inner courtyard private school was about to be asked to put on his clothes, one of the search soldiers seemed to have discovered something wrong. He came to the table again, lifted up the examination basket and examined it carefully.
This action caused the inner courtyard family school relative, who had already regained his composure, to turn pale in an instant, and his arms suddenly began to tremble again.
Not only Shen Yichen was suspicious, even the other candidates waiting in line for inspection began to whisper, guessing what was wrong with the exam basket.
After carefully observing the search service for several times, I finally found that there were a few bamboo strips with slightly different colors at the bottom of the basket. I fiddled with them with my hands and felt that they seemed to be particularly loose, as if they were not woven tightly.
With the professional experience of this group of search soldiers, they could easily guess that there was something wrong with these bamboo strips. So they pulled out the bamboo strips with force, and only then did they find that there were densely carved characters on them!
"Get it!"
An angry shout broke the atmosphere at the scene, and instantly several soldiers rushed up with ferocious looks and grabbed the relatives from the inner courtyard private school who were checking.
"It's not me...I didn't...this must be a misunderstanding...a misunderstanding!"
Faced with this situation, the Zhu clan members were obviously panicked and their speech was incoherent.
The soldiers in the examination hall naturally would not listen to such an explanation. They had arrested many candidates for cheating, but they had never seen anyone voluntarily admit it after being caught. Everyone claimed that they did not cheat.
In order to set an example, the soldiers not only restrained the cheating relative of the Zhu family, but two of them also brought shackles and prepared to put them on him and tie him up in the square in front of the examination room as a warning to others according to traditional rules.
Let all candidates see what happens when they are caught cheating, and it will also make the cheaters lose their reputation!
"I am a relative of Duke Cheng, and my father is the cousin of the Duke. Who dares to put the shackles on me? Aren't you afraid of being punished by the Duke?"
Perhaps realizing the seriousness of the situation, this clan member from the inner courtyard private school no longer had the fear he had at the beginning, and simply gave up and brought out the title of Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong.
Because if you are caught cheating in the imperial examination, the punishment varies. For example, if you are caught cheating before the exam, there is no evidence to prove that you have cheated successfully, so it can only be considered an attempted cheating.
The lightest punishment is to cancel the qualification for the current exam and have to take the next one. In more serious cases, the qualification may be cancelled for several consecutive times, or even never be admitted.
If someone cheats in the Juren or Jinshi examinations, he will be punished if caught. If the matter gets out of hand and he is in collusion with the examiners, he may even be beheaded.
Therefore, before the punishment is determined, it is better to reveal your background and connections first, so that the punishment may be much lighter.
Under normal circumstances, if this Zhu clan relative brought up Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong, it might have been of some use. But unfortunately, he forgot one thing, that is, the cheating in the imperial examination at Duke Chengguo's private school had already spread among the scholars.
If Shen Yichen had not shown up at the flower-viewing party and responded to the doubts with his absolute strength, perhaps several people in Chengguogong's private school would have faced investigation by the Confucian Studies Administration today.
You already have a lot of stains on your name, and you even use Duke Cheng Zhu Yong to put pressure on others in public. If the examiner chooses to let you go, wouldn't it be equivalent to admitting in public that there was some shady manipulation behind the scenes?
Therefore, in this situation, the more the name of Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong is called out, the heavier the punishment the examiner will receive in order to prove his innocence.
As expected, this shouting once again alarmed the invigilator outside the curtain. He came over and said righteously: "In an important place for the imperial examination, no noise or favoritism is allowed. Even if Duke Cheng is here in person, he must handle it impartially!"
"If you continue to clamor for resistance to the law, we will report you to the court for severe punishment and will never allow you to be admitted!"
The words of the invigilator outside the curtain can be regarded as a very serious warning. If you honestly admit your mistake, there is still room for maneuver.
Otherwise, if the matter gets out of hand and reaches the ears of the emperor, even Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong won't be able to suppress it, and he will never have the opportunity to take the imperial examination again.
Sure enough, after hearing these words, the Zhu clan members who had previously thought of fighting to the death and using the title of Duke Cheng of Zhu Yong to take a gamble, instantly became discouraged, and obediently put on the shackles and were displayed to the public in the examination square.
If only one person from the Chengguo Mansion private school was investigated, it would not be enough to offset the positive impact brought about by Shen Yichen's display of talent at the flower-viewing party.
As a result, after the precedent was set, the second clan member from the inner courtyard private school also found a cheating bamboo stick in the examination basket. This caused an uproar in the whole audience, and the previously suppressed rumors of cheating in the Chengguo Mansion were immediately revived, and even intensified .
"It turns out that the Duke of Chengguo's Mansion really relied on cheating to get admitted. Who previously refuted the rumor that they were talented?"
"It's because Shen Yichen is the best among all the heroes. His strength is there. Who dares to question his fraud?"
"Now that the truth has been revealed, I'm afraid that Shen Yichen's previous dominance was just a show put on by the Duke of Chengguo's Mansion, right?"
"Now it seems that no one in the Chengguo Mansion Private School is innocent, and the case of Shen Yichen is even more suspicious!"
The candidates waiting were gradually getting restless, because for the ancient scholars, the imperial examination represented everything for their future.
To use a similar analogy from later generations, if you study hard for more than ten years to take the college entrance examination, but after the results are announced, you find out that all the admitted candidates are children of high-ranking officials who got there by cheating, how angry and dissatisfied would you be?
Moreover, if you fail the college entrance examination in later generations, you can still go to the factory to screw screws. In ancient times, these scholars were powerless. Many of them studied hard for more than ten years and were completely out of touch with society. They did not even have the basic ability to survive alone, which was equivalent to cutting off their life roots.
"The imperial examination is unfair, and the first place in the case is questionable. I hope the invigilator will conduct a thorough investigation and give the examinees a fair and clear result!"
A young man stood up in the crowd and loudly petitioned the invigilator outside the curtain in a leadership manner.
It would definitely be too late to report to the Confucian Academy at this time, but the ancient imperial examinations were also supervised by the curtain official system.
The word "curtain" actually has a similar meaning to the "curtain divides inside and outside" in the couplet written by Shen Yichen during the previous palace examination.
This "curtain" refers to the courtroom that has a curtain separating the inside and the outside. Inside the curtain sit the chief examiner and co-examiners, whose main responsibilities are to mark the papers, supervise the examination, and control the overall situation.
The invigilator outside the curtain is responsible for maintaining discipline in the examination room, investigating cheating by examinees, etc. Under normal circumstances, in order to maintain fairness, the invigilators inside and outside the curtain do not interact with each other, and all official matters are handled at the inner curtain door.
Therefore, before entering the examination room to report cheating, one can only report it to the invigilator outside the curtain. Today, all the candidates are outraged and an explanation must be given.
As for the person who said these righteous words, he is also an "old acquaintance" of Shen Yichen. He is Xu Donghai, a student of Zhaowen Academy.
After the flower-viewing party, Xu Donghai's arrogance, like Zeng Mengjian, was defeated by Shen Yichen time and time again.
Therefore, Xu Donghai was unusually low-key in today's college entrance examination. He just wanted to do well in the exam and get the title of scholar. As for Shen Yichen's results, it was none of his business, and it was useless to be envious and jealous.
But he never expected that the body search before entering the exam would reveal such a fascinating scene. All the students in the Chengguo Mansion's private school were really cheating!
Regardless of how much the cost of this kind of "micro-carving" on bamboo strips is, it is almost impossible to write down all the Four Books and Five Classics on these few small bamboo strips, even if the words are carved very small.
Even if such a masterpiece was really carved out with such amazing craftsmanship, it would be difficult to see it clearly with the naked eye.
Therefore, the cheating in the private school of Duke Chengguo’s Mansion was not as simple as bringing in smuggled materials into the exam, it also involved the leakage of exam questions!
If they could even get hold of the imperial examination questions, then who could guarantee that Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong didn't spend a huge amount of money hiring someone to write for Shen Yichen's several works?
Before the maid gave birth to a child, she was not taken seriously and was not included in the family tree. So what? Wasn't Shen Yichen still the bloodline of Duke Cheng? After he became successful and recognized his ancestry, who would care about his status as a maid's child?
Even Xu Donghai felt that Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong was really shrewd and didn't put all his eggs in one basket. For example, Shen Yichen succeeded in cheating in the imperial examination, and Duke Chengguo was proud of the gains.
Even if he failed, this kid is not included in the family tree and cannot be considered a member of the Duke Cheng’s Mansion. What does he have to do with me, Zhu Yong?
It's really a business that is sure to make money.
Shen Yichen looked at Xu Donghai who stood up, his expression somewhat embarrassed. This kid jumped out again and again, but he thought he was just a little kid and didn't take him seriously.
At this sensitive moment, the criticism is directed at me again. I feel like this is intolerable.
"The case is in doubt, are you referring to me?"
To everyone's surprise, Shen Yichen did not choose to remain silent at this time, but stood out from under the entry card, stared at Xu Donghai and asked coldly, not caring at all about the suspicion of confession.
Facing Shen Yichen's eyes, if it was during the county examination, Xu Donghai would have nodded and admitted it on the spot, saying, "What's wrong with you?"
But for some reason, this time he didn't dare to point out that he was talking about Shen Yichen, but instead replied, "Whoever got the first place in the case by cheating and favoritism, that's who I'm talking about."
Hearing this, a sneer appeared on Shen Yichen's face. He thought this kid was so tough that he dared to cause trouble again and again.
Now it seems that he is nothing more than a clown!
