Censor Tie’s reputation at court was anything but ordinary.
The old man’s prestige had been earned through countless blunt remonstrances and countless occasions when he had risked his life to speak the truth.
Not only court officials, but even ordinary citizens held him in tremendous esteem.
Officials were always lofty figures, far above the common people. When had they ever lowered their heads to take a look at how ordinary folk lived?
If nothing else, Censor Tie was the most down-to-earth official among them all.
Apart from an elderly gatekeeper, there were no servants in his household.
Everything was done by the family themselves.
Madam Tie cooked the meals personally.
Censor Tie bought the vegetables himself.
What was a truly honest official?
This was one.
As for those who merely chased fame and reputation, they deserved to die.
Everyone had a temper, especially someone like Ren Shuquan.
Though he might not rank among the very best, he had certainly always been above average.
He was, after all, the young master of an official family.
And yet what had happened?
He had been slapped repeatedly by Censor Tie in front of everyone.
Who did Censor Tie think he was?!
He wasn’t Ren Shuquan’s elder.
He wasn’t his superior.
Did holding a higher office give him the right to hit people whenever he pleased?
Jutting out his neck, Ren Shuquan gritted his teeth and demanded: “Why did you hit me?! You’re talking nonsense! My uncle is dead, so now you’re slandering him however you please because he can’t get up and answer you!”
Chang An clicked his tongue.
This Ren Shuquan wasn’t entirely a fool after all.
He seemed to have at least a little bit of brains.
Sneaking a glance at Xie Ying, he asked: “Did you know about all this stuff Censor Tie is talking about?”
For some reason, Chang An had the feeling that Xie Ying was involved in this affair too.
Xie Ying lazily glanced at him.
“Talk less. Watch the show.”
As he spoke, he squeezed through the crowd and headed toward the bookstore across the street.
Qi Zhen, meanwhile, was enjoying himself immensely.
Laugh.
Go on, laugh.
Why weren’t you laughing now?
Just moments ago, Ren Shuquan had been swaggering around, carrying the statue of Confucius and preparing to petition the throne.
He’d looked so pleased with himself.
How come he couldn’t smile anymore?
Leaning over the railing, Qi Zhen stretched forward, wanting to hear more clearly.
Old Marquis Qi practically couldn’t bear to look at his son. Rubbing his temples, he sighed and hurriedly invited Xie Ying to sit.
Then he asked somewhat nervously: “Young Master Xie, I heard that all these storybooks were written by you?”
Xie Ying glanced at Qi Yuan and readily admitted it.
“Yes, they were indeed written by me.”
Someone capable of writing such a story could hardly call himself untalented.
Old Marquis Qi’s feelings were complicated.
After smacking his lips, he asked: “Then where did you learn all these secrets about them?”
The story had taken the literary technique of “raising high before bringing low” to the absolute extreme.
At the beginning, it had spared no effort in portraying Ren Zhong as a man of boundless loyalty and righteousness.
Then later, everything abruptly reversed, painting him as utterly devoid of conscience and humanity.
The contrast was shocking.
The effect was far beyond what anyone could have expected.
Xie Ying coughed lightly and glanced at Qi Yuan.
“Actually, I didn’t come up with it. I was only responsible for polishing and organizing the material. The one who devised the plot was Miss Qi.”
Still clutching the railing, Qi Zhen turned around in disbelief and stared at Qi Yuan.
Good heavens.
Yuan Jie’er even knew all of Ren Zhong’s private secrets.
It was almost as though she’d been hiding under his bed.
How had she managed that?
Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow.
“It’s nothing remarkable. It wasn’t my doing. Credit goes to Lord Lai Chenglong’s intelligence network. After all, the Embroidered Uniform Guard possesses the best intelligence-gathering system in the world.”
If they set their minds to digging, there was no secret the Embroidered Uniform Guard couldn’t uncover.
At that, both Qi Zhen and Old Marquis Qi understood everything.
So Qi Yuan had prepared all of this long ago.
First, she carried Ren Zhong in a sedan chair and elevated him into the heavens, placing him above Wei Zheng, Duke Zhou, and even Zhuge Wuhou.
Then she exposed his true nature.
What a…
Below, the streets were still roaring with noise.
Seeing Ren Shuquan continue ranting and cursing, Censor Tie strode forward and kicked him viciously again.
“With a family as deceitful and fame-hungry as yours, you still dare invoke Sage Confucius?!”
Lu Mingan had waited until Censor Tie finished beating Ren Shuquan before cautiously stepping forward and coughing.
“Censor Tie, these students are students after all…”
“So what if they’re students?!” Censor Tie thundered.
“Are students not subjects of Great Zhou? Are they not citizens of the empire? Who gave them permission to insult Sage Confucius? Who gave them permission to threaten the Emperor? Has everyone in the Imperial Academy, from top to bottom, lost their moral compass? Otherwise how could such absurdity have been allowed to happen?!”
That cannon shot landed squarely on the Imperial Academy.
Director Cheng Ping of the Imperial Academy arrived in a hurry, panting from anger and exertion.
The moment he saw Censor Tie, he rushed over.
Censor Tie brushed him aside and addressed Lu Mingan directly: “Princess Consort Lu! Isn’t your Patrol Bureau responsible for maintaining order? These people have desecrated Sage Confucius and gathered in the streets to cause unrest. Why haven’t you arrested them already?!”
“Arrest them?”
Cheng Ping hurriedly objected.
“That would be inappropriate! The crime doesn’t warrant that, it doesn’t warrant that!”
“Doesn’t warrant it?!” Censor Tie barked. “In my opinion, it warrants far more than that!”
No longer interested in endless arguments, he suddenly climbed onto a nearby stone pedestal and shouted: “I have evidence!”
Ren Shuquan’s eyes flickered.
The students of the Imperial Academy all immediately quieted down.
Evidence?
Could it be that Ren Zhong truly wasn’t the great minister they believed him to be?
Then what did that make all their righteous indignation?
And what about their storming the Confucian Temple and carrying off the statue of Confucius?
What kind of crime was that?
Would they lose the right to sit for the imperial examinations for the rest of their lives?
Panic immediately spread among them.
Censor Tie remained unmoved.
Coldly, he declared: “Ren Zhong was a man who sought fame through deception and committed every evil imaginable! While serving in Xinxiang, Zhengzhou, he seized dozens of mu of farmland to build estates for himself. People said that half of Xinxiang City bore the surname Ren! If he was such a clean official, where did all that money come from?”
Taking a deep breath, he then shouted words that shook everyone present: “I, Tie, swear here and now: if even a single word I have spoken is false, may I die a miserable death and leave behind a name cursed for ten thousand generations!”
Xie Ying sucked in a sharp breath.
For a scholar to swear an oath like that, it carried tremendous weight.
Qi Zhen couldn’t help glancing at Qi Yuan.
He wanted to say something but stopped himself.
How exactly had his daughter persuaded Censor Tie to step forward?
This champion had done his job perfectly.
No, calling him a champion wasn’t even accurate.
After all, Censor Tie alone was enough to completely suppress Ren Zhong and the entire Ren family.
Who wouldn’t now suspect there was more to the story?
Old Marquis Qi also looked at Qi Yuan quietly.
“Yuan Jie’er, you and Censor Tie…”
What agreement had they reached?
Qi Yuan knew exactly what they were asking.
Hearing the question, she merely raised an eyebrow.
“Censor Tie and I have no relationship whatsoever. I never asked him to do anything.”
Why would she ask?
The moment she did, a connection would exist.
And once there was a connection, people could easily accuse them of collusion and use it against them.
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