Training the Heavens

Chapter 245 Farewell
Things had come to this point. Even if Yin Ruzhan cared about his friendship, he had to save himself first. He immediately seized the letter, banknotes and Tao Ashun and handed them over to Wang Renkan, the governor of Suzhou, for handling.

Wang Renkan was originally worried that the case would involve too many people and would be detrimental to his reputation, so he wanted to reduce the case. Unexpectedly, Chen Qiufang, the son-in-law of the Ren faction of the Zhou family's Zhili Fang, whom Zhou Fuqing had offended before, happened to be working as an assistant in Suzhou Prefecture at this time.

Big family affairs are always troublesome. Chen Qiufang felt that this was a good opportunity to take revenge on Zhou Fuqing, so he insisted on enforcing the law strictly. Wang Renkan had no choice but to send a telegram to the capital while handing over Tao Ashun and the physical evidence to the Zhejiang Provincial Government for processing.

The provincial examination had not even begun when such an incident occurred. The Governor of Zhejiang had no choice but to deal with it severely. After Zhou Fuqing learned the news, he felt that he could not escape the matter, so he ran to the Kuaiji County Government to surrender himself. He has now been imprisoned. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for the crime of cheating in the imperial examination.

Shou Pengfei finished his speech and consoled him, "The situation isn't hopeless. The Zhou family is working hard now, and perhaps they can save Lord Jiefu's life. As long as he's alive, there's a chance. When there's a general amnesty in the future, he might be released."

"That's what I told Ah Zhang when he was anxious." Zhang Xingjiu knew that Shou Pengfei said this because he hoped he could help take care of Ah Zhang.

"Well, I'll go look for my teachers and friends too." The Shou family and the Zhou family have been friends for many years, and Shou Pengfei felt it was not easy to ignore it. At the same time, he once again had the idea of ​​taking the imperial examination. Now he was just a scholar, and he couldn't say much when encountering things. If he held an official position, it would be different.

The main reason for this problem was that the Zhou family's foundation was too shallow. Zhou Fuqing had only been rich for a few years and had not yet accumulated enough wealth. He was unable to hire a capable legal advisor, so such a big thing could only be left to the servants.

If it were a serious Shaoxing lawyer, when he saw Yin Ruzhang accept the letter, he would know that he had agreed to the intercession. Even if he disagreed, he would return the money. After all, he and Zhou Fuqing were of the same age, and intercession in the imperial examination had become a common practice nowadays. He would not ruin his reputation because of this.

However, Tao Ashun was ignorant and didn't know the trick. Seeing that Yin Ruzhang didn't say anything, he shouted it out loud. As a result, he not only didn't get his money back, but also lost himself.

Zhou Fengyi did not escape this disaster. His paper was detained along with that of another candidate who appeared in the letter. He was also arrested and taken to the province. It was basically impossible for him to take the imperial examination in this life.

Not only that, the local magistrate Yu Fenggang had proposed marriage to the Zhou family earlier, but failed and was humiliated by the Zhou family. Now that he saw that Zhou Fuqing had failed in the imperial examination cheating, he knew that the Zhou family probably could not recover, so he sought opportunities for revenge and often sent yamen runners to harass them.

Zhang's grandmother and mother were worried that he would be arrested as well, so they called him back and prepared to send him and his brother to his uncle's home in Huangpu Village for temporary shelter. Zhang was reluctant to leave, saying, "A Tu, just study hard here. I'll be back soon."

As a result, A Zhang did not come back until the Chinese New Year. Shou Pengfei would occasionally give Zhang Xingjiu some news, telling him that A Zhang was fine and that Zhou Fuqing's case would be over soon. By then, A Zhang would be able to come back to study.

After thanking him, Zhang Xingjiu continued to study hard. After memorizing "The Analects of Confucius", he began to memorize "The Book of Songs". He stayed in Sanwei Bookstore all day long and did not come out. Even during the Chinese New Year, he only stayed at home for a few days. On the eighth day of the first lunar month, he came to Sanwei Bookstore to help Shou Jingwu and Shou Pengfei do some work within his ability.

Zhang Fuqing came to the Zhou family as usual this year to help them with the New Year's work, but how could the Zhou family celebrate the New Year this year? Everyone was worried and sold their property to give gifts everywhere, hoping that Zhou Fuqing and Zhou Fengyi would show leniency.

Speaking of this, Zhang Fuqing was very confused. He thought that the two masters of the Zhou family were good people and never withheld his wages, so how could they be thrown into prison? Hearing this, Zhang Xingjiu did not deliberately explain, but only said that since they were good people, they must have good luck, and maybe after some time, they would be released.

When Zhang Fuqing finished his busy month and was ready to go home, Zhang Xingjiu took out the gift he had prepared and asked him to go to Huangpu Village to give it to A Zhang. After not seeing him for several months, Zhang Xingjiu missed his first friend in this world very much.

If it were in the past, Zhang Fuqing would not have traveled so far for such a small matter for his child, but now it is different. Zhang Xingjiu has already gone to school and has been praised by Mr. Shou many times. Zhang Fuqing is usually more careful when talking to him, and he is still willing to help with this little matter.

A few days later, Zhang Xingjiu also received a letter sent by A Zhang. In the letter, A Zhang said that he was having a very bad life in Huangpu Village. His aunt didn't even care about the child who was not her own, let alone him, the nephew. His uncle was a heavy smoker and didn't take care of anything all day long. He was just like a beggar staying there.

Fortunately, his uncle's daughters were all well-educated and there were many other children on the farm to play with. Ah Zhang followed them to the river to fish, to the mountains to herd cattle, and to play war games with them. As they played, he temporarily forgot the sadness of living under someone else's roof.

What’s even more interesting is that his uncle’s family has an embroidered version of “The Outlaws of the Marsh” with exquisite portraits. Ah Zhang used his own change to buy a hundred sheets of “Ming Gong Paper” and prepared to copy these embroidered portraits.

He also sent Zhang Xingjiu a portrait of Lu Zhishen along with the letter, praising the man highly, saying, "For Lu Zhishen, I really have nothing to say except admiration!"

After that, the two occasionally exchanged letters and continued their friendship.

After a while, the yamen officials stopped harassing the Zhou family, and Zhang was able to return from his uncle's house and resume his studies at Sanwei Academy. Mr. Shou made no mention of Zhang's departure, but simply urged him to study hard. He even used Zhang Xingjiu as an example, saying, "Xingjiu entered school later than you, but he's already caught up with you. If you don't hurry up, you'll be overtaken by him."

Ah Zhang just laughed, without any jealousy at all, and took the opportunity when Mr. Shou turned around to make a face at Zhang Xingjiu.

Zhang Xingjiu also responded with a grimace, but he felt a little sad in his heart, because he knew that Zhang's carefree days would soon be over, and the Zhou family's disaster was not over yet.

Sure enough, not long after, Zhou Fengyi was released. At this time, he was completely discouraged, his back was hunched, his hair was white, and he was listless. He didn't study every day. Anyway, he had been banned from taking the imperial examinations, so there was no point in studying.

After a while, news came from the provincial capital that Zhou Fuqing was sentenced to death by prison. Upon hearing the news, A Zhang was stunned.

　Oh, I found that I wrote it wrong. The word "early" was carved by Ah Zhang after he learned that his grandfather was sentenced to death and imprisonment. The word was not there when the protagonist first came to Sanwei Bookstore, but I'm too lazy to change it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)