Hearing this, Yi Qing's eyes lit up.
Although the matter of the scholars from poor families pleading had been resolved, the case of Xue Bozheng's death in prison was still pending. Now that the Xie family was in such a mess, Yi Qing maliciously hoped that Xue Bozheng's death was somehow related to the Xie family. Then she could let the Xie family be disgraced.
Deng Xiao saw Yi Qing's expression and gave a bitter smile. "Won't you invite me in for a cup of tea?"
"Come in, please." Yi Qing made a gesture of invitation.
Ruo Hong and Xue Miao'er stood on either side, which made Lu Youming feel quite puzzled. It was just a guest coming to the house, so why did it feel like they were facing a great enemy?
"Have you found the jailer who guarded Xue Bozheng before?" Yi Qing asked impatiently as she saw Deng Xiao put down the teacup.
Deng Xiao was unhurried. It was rare to see Yi Qing in a hurry. "We found out that Xue Bozheng and Duke Xie were from the same hometown. When Xue Bozheng came to the capital back then, he sought refuge with Duke Xie. At that time, Duke Xie was not yet a duke but just a vice - minister of the Ministry of Personnel."
Yi Qing thought for a while. "The one in charge of the imperial examination?"
Deng Xiao nodded. "Later, Xue Bozheng failed the imperial examination and was retained in Duke Xie's mansion. A few years later, he took the imperial examination again. By this time, Duke Xie had already become the minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Xue Bozheng ranked last. Given his situation at that time, he could only become a small official in the yamen in the capital."
"Then it seems that Duke Xie and Xue Bozheng had a very good relationship," Yi Qing frowned and thought.
"However, Xue Bozheng didn't become a small official. Instead, he went to Yunyang Academy to teach. It seems that the two of them fell out around that time. Many people even said that Xue Bozheng was ungrateful. Later, something unknown happened in Yunyang Academy, and Xue Bozheng left and built his own Fuyun Cottage, specifically to solve problems for scholars. Within a few years, he became very famous, and many scholars came to him. If they were scholars from poor families, he wouldn't charge them a single cent. For the children of the powerful and wealthy, he would charge a fortune for answering one question. Some teachers in the capital were not convinced and went to compete with him but all ended up defeated. It wasn't until later that several of his students were involved in cheating, and he was implicated." If it weren't for investigating this case, Deng Xiao wouldn't have known that there was such a person in the capital before.
"Then this Xue Bozheng should be very talented. Why didn't he pass the imperial examination with high honors back then?" Yi Qing was puzzled.
"Back then..." Deng Xiao took a deep breath. "Do you think the imperial examination is just about knowledge?"
Yi Qing wasn't that naive. "What about those students who cheated?"
Deng Xiao lowered his eyes and thought for a while. "They all committed suicide out of shame."
"They had the nerve to cheat. Would they really commit suicide out of shame?" Yi Qing didn't quite believe it.
Deng Xiao shook his head. "It was an imperial examination held to celebrate the emperor's accession to the throne. The incident caused quite a stir. In order to give an explanation to other scholars, it was dealt with very quickly."
"Was it Duke Xie who handled this matter?" Yi Qing asked.
Deng Xiao nodded. "By that time, Duke Xie had already been granted the title of duke and was regarded as the leader of all scholars in the world. He felt guilty and self - reproached for this matter and even punished himself by reducing his salary."
Yi Qing still didn't believe it. "By the way, generally, literati who don't pursue an official career look down on officials. Why does Duke Xie have such high prestige even though he has a high position and great power?"
"Duke Xie's talent can be regarded as the best in all history," Deng Xiao sighed. "His works such as *Where to Go*, *Question the Vast Sky*, and *Rowing on the Water* are almost read by all scholars."
"These were written by Duke Xie?" Yi Qing was a bit surprised.
Baozi had also recited these articles. At that time, she had wondered what kind of talented person could write such excellent articles.
"Yes. Scholars are all arrogant. If they didn't truly admire him, they wouldn't have stood on the emperor's side when Duke Xie called on them back then." Although Deng Xiao hadn't experienced it himself, just imagining it made him feel excited.
Yi Qing felt that investigating Xue Bozheng had brought out so many things about Duke Xie. Moreover, she felt that this whole thing was getting weirder and weirder. "Let's analyze this. When Xue Bozheng was teaching and solving problems, he didn't charge scholars from poor families but charged a fortune from the children of the powerful and wealthy, which shows that he was on the side of scholars from poor families. Later, he died because of the cheating in the imperial examination, but his student Song Zhiyu was determined to fulfill his teacher's last wish: to change the unfairness of the recommendation system towards scholars from poor families."
Deng Xiao frowned. "What does this mean?"
Yi Qing always felt that something was wrong. "You go and investigate the jailer first. It's been such a long time, and you still haven't found the jailer. Ruo Hong, get ready. We're going to the palace."
Deng Xiao was thus looked down upon. "It won't be a good thing for you to go to the palace now."
"Would I go to the palace if there were good things?" Yi Qing of course knew it wouldn't be a good thing.
"During the court session today, you and Xiao Jinghan were impeached. If you go to the palace now, you'll just be asking for trouble." Deng Xiao kindly reminded her.
"I'll go and see who dares to impeach me." With that, Yi Qing left.
Deng Xiao's eyelids twitched. He somehow felt that someone in the capital was going to be in trouble.
The emperor didn't go to find Yi Qing to settle the score, but Yi Qing came to the palace on her own. He glanced at Xiao Jinghan out of the corner of his eye, indicating that Yi Qing had come here of her own accord.
Xiao Jinghan ignored the emperor's reminding look and walked to Yi Qing's side to block her. "Miss me?"
The emperor slapped his forehead. This was his imperial study, not the Xiao family. Couldn't they be a bit more reserved?
"I have something to ask the emperor," Yi Qing said as she saw how Xiao Jinghan was protecting her.
"What do you want to ask me?" The emperor was happy to hear that it was for him.
"Do you still remember the cheating scandal in the imperial examination held to celebrate your accession to the throne?" Yi Qing asked directly.
The emperor got angry without even thinking. "Of course I remember. I had planned to hold a special imperial examination to recruit talented people and had specifically relaxed various requirements. Who would have thought that they thought I was easy to deceive and cheated. They really brought shame on all the scholars in the world."
"Duke Xie was in charge of handling this matter at that time," Yi Qing asked again.
"Yes. If it weren't for Duke Xie sharing my worries and calming down the anger of the scholars in the world, I don't know how big a mess that incident would have become."
"So, your main purpose at that time was to calm down the anger of the scholars in the world, and you didn't investigate the truth of the cheating scandal," Yi Qing's expression unconsciously became serious.
The emperor was stunned and looked at Xiao Jinghan. Xiao Jinghan also looked at Yi Qing in a bit of confusion. They both felt that Yi Qing had a purpose in asking this way.
"Right or not?" Yi Qing looked at the emperor's expression.
The emperor nodded. "I had just ascended the throne at that time. I couldn't afford any turmoil."
Yi Qing nodded. "I see."
"What do you see?" Xiao Jinghan didn't want Yi Qing to get involved in the affairs of the court. It would be better for her to clarify her words in front of the emperor.
"If some scholars from poor families had been promoted in that imperial examination back then, it would surely have affected some decisions of the court. More importantly, if the poor families had a say in the court, it would definitely have affected the interests of some people," Yi Qing analyzed.
The emperor and Xiao Jinghan nodded at the same time.
"If I'm not wrong, Your Majesty wanted to let scholars from poor families enter the court back then," Yi Qing looked at the emperor.
The emperor nodded. "Only they know the real sufferings of the common people. I don't want to repeat the tragedy of 'Why don't they eat minced meat'. Even among the powerful and wealthy, those who care about the world don't know some things. How can they make the right decisions?" He had always been troubled by this balance.