Fangzhou Xier, starting with failing the art exam

The entire garden was completely silent, except for the echo of his grief-stricken voice.

All the students clenched their fists, their eyes blazing with fury.

"Your Highness!"

An old scholar stood up; it was none other than Master Zhou, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy.

He bowed tremblingly to Lacey: "Your Highness, are you referring to those things found in the Wen Canal three days ago?"

Lacey nodded and gestured to Yang Wei behind her.

Yang Wei immediately stepped forward with a tray, on which were the processed paper scraps.

"Everyone, please take a look."

Lacey picked up a fragment and held it high.

"This is the evidence that I personally picked up from that filth!"

"What is written on it? I'm sure those of you here can see it better than I can!"

"A priceless piece of calligraphy! What a priceless piece of calligraphy!" Lacey sneered.

"I have also heard the story of Liang Yuan, the student who drowned."

"A young man who had studied diligently for over a decade and was exceptionally talented drowned in the shallow Qingxi River for no apparent reason, simply because he refused to compromise his principles and vowed to expose the corruption!"

"When he died, there were still traces of ink and dirt left under his fingernails from the fight!"

"I wonder, how desperate must he have felt before he died?"

"Could the principles he believed in, the classics he diligently studied, save him at that moment?!"

Lacey's voice was incredibly captivating.

The students present seemed to see Liang Yuan's hopeless eyes with their own eyes.

They thought of themselves.

If Liang Yuan's present is their future, then what is the point of their years of hard study?

"Woooooooo..."

Suppressed sobs began to rise from the crowd.

An elderly scholar with white hair and beard could no longer control his emotions; tears streamed down his face as he wept loudly.

"I...I am the only son in three generations of my family. I have studied hard for fifty years and failed the provincial examination thirteen times!"

"I always thought it was because I wasn't knowledgeable enough or because I was unlucky! Only today do I realize, only today do I realize!"

He suddenly knelt down and kowtowed three times heavily in the direction of the palace.

"Heaven has no eyes! Heaven has no eyes!"

"Those corrupt officials in the Ministry of Rites! They've not just cut off my path, they've cut off the path for all the poor scholars in the land!"

The old scholar's cries moved everyone present.

"well said!"

A young student suddenly stood up, his face flushed with excitement.

"What is the purpose of us scholars reading the classics?"

"Establish a heart for heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the living and the people, carry forward the unique teachings of the past saints, and create peace for all generations!"

"Now, someone is trying to block our path, to ensure that those of us from poor families have no chance of ever getting ahead!"

"If we remain silent, how are we any different from pigs and sheep waiting to be slaughtered?!"

"Let's petition! Let's go to the Ministry of Rites and petition!"

"Yes! Go to the Ministry of Rites! Make them give the scholars of the world an explanation!"

"A thorough investigation is necessary! A thorough investigation is imperative!"

The crowd was in high spirits, and their call was met with overwhelming support.

The entire literary gathering instantly transformed into a grand rally to pledge allegiance.

The students could no longer sit still; they all stood up and raised their arms in a shout.

Lacey looked at the scene that was almost out of control, but there was no panic in her eyes.

This is exactly the result he wanted.

What he wanted was this overwhelming public opinion, enough to burn everything!

He stretched out his hands and pressed down.

Miraculously, the garden fell silent once again.

All eyes were on him.

At this moment, he is the backbone of all scholars, their only hope.

“I understand your feelings,” Lacey said calmly.

"But such impulsive actions will only give others ammunition to criticize us and play right into the hands of treacherous people."

"They'd love for us to cause chaos so they can accuse us of 'inciting a disturbance and plotting a rebellion'!"

"We are in the right, therefore we must uphold the law!"

"I hereby make this promise to you all, and to all scholars throughout the land!"

Lacey raised her right hand and solemnly swore an oath.

"I, Yan Xi, am determined to handle this matter!"

"I will immediately go to the palace to meet the Emperor and report the whole story to my father!"

"In the name of the King of Qin of the Great Yan Dynasty, I request that my father issue an edict to have the three judicial departments jointly try this case!"

"I will definitely find the mastermind behind this and make him kneel before the world, confess his crimes and submit to the law!"

"Give Liang Yuan justice! Give all scholars in the world justice!"

"Give my Great Yan a bright and clear world!"

"Your Highness Chitose!"

I don't know who was the first to shout it out.

Immediately afterwards, a deafening roar of shouts echoed through the sky.

"Long live His Highness! Long live His Highness!"

The hundreds of students present knelt down in unison and performed the solemn salute of a subject to a ruler before Lacey.

The hearts and minds of the people belong to this place.

……

The literary gathering at the Prince of Qin's residence was more like a mobilization meeting for the entire scholar community in the capital.

When those student representatives walked out of the Qin Prince's Mansion with tears in their eyes and clenched fists, they carried with them a sacred sense of mission.

They are no longer the bookish scholars who only know how to bury themselves in their studies and are oblivious to the world around them.

They are warriors, warriors who fight for justice for all.

"Fellow students! His Highness the Prince of Qin has already shown us the way!"

"We cannot place our hopes solely on His Highness! We must also raise our voices!"

"Yes! We'll go to the Ministry of Rites! We'll go to the Censorate! We'll go to every place where we can reason with them!"

"We will let the officials in the court hear our roar!"

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

The news quickly spread from these representatives to the Imperial College, the Hundred Kitchens Academy, and dozens of other academies, large and small, throughout the capital.

"Cheating in the imperial examinations? Murder to cover it up!"

"The Ministry of Rites' corruption is outrageous and cannot be tolerated!"

"Give me justice! Punish the culprits severely!"

Angry slogans resounded in every corner.

That afternoon, thousands of students, dressed in white Confucian robes and wearing square headscarves, spontaneously set off from various academies and surged toward the Ministry of Rites.

They carried no weapons; their only weapons were the classics and the indignation in their hearts.

The people along the way, seeing this unprecedented sight, all stopped to watch and discussed it.

When they learned the whole story from the students, they were all filled with righteous indignation.

"These officials are so heartless!"

"They'd even sell a scholar's future!"

"Yes, my son studies like crazy, hanging his head from the rafters and pricking his thigh with an awl, hoping to make something of himself one day. If the imperial examinations are this corrupt, what's the point of studying at all!"

"Support these students!"

"Make a scene! Make as much noise as you want!"

"If those corrupt officials aren't brought down, the Great Yan Dynasty is doomed!"

Public opinion began to spread from the Shilin district to the entire capital.

……

Ministry of Rites.

Minister Qian Yunhe was restless, and everyone was as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

He had already heard about the literary gathering at the Prince of Qin's residence, and also heard that the students were heading towards him.

"Rebellion! Rebellion! Everything has rebelled!"

He paced back and forth in the public housing in a fit of rage.

"What is this King of Qin trying to do? Is he trying to incite the students to rebel?"

Wang Qinian, the Right Vice Minister, was ashen-faced and slumped in his chair, completely lost.

"Your Excellency, what should we do? What should we do?"

"They...they're coming for us!"

His son, Wang Teng, is the person who appears most frequently on the list. Once the matter is exposed, his Wang family will be the first to be raided and exterminated!

"What's the panic!" Qian Yunhe reprimanded, his tone fierce but his voice weak.

"What can a bunch of unarmed, poor scholars do to cause trouble?"

"Issue my order: close the government offices, and none of the officials are allowed to leave!"

"I'll see what they can do to me!"

He spoke toughly, but inside he was terrified.

He immediately wrote a letter and sent his trusted confidant to the Grand Tutor's mansion to ask for help.

At the same time, he sent people to the cabinet to seek help from several familiar cabinet ministers, hoping they could come forward to impeach the King of Qin for "bewitching people and having treacherous intentions" and suppress the matter.

However, he underestimated the power of the storm.

Before his messenger even left, the Ministry of Rites was already surrounded by thousands of students.

Instead of storming the government office, the students sat in the square outside and recited "The Great Learning" in unison.

"The Great Learning teaches us to manifest our bright virtue, to love the people, and to abide in perfect goodness..."

The sound of reading aloud echoed, striking a chord with the conscience of every official in the Ministry of Rites.

Some young, newly appointed officials in the Ministry of Rites, upon hearing the reading aloud outside, showed expressions of shame and struggle on their faces.

They too rose through the imperial examination system, and they too once dreamed of writing inspiring prose and commanding the nation.

But now, they have become the very kind of people they despise the most.

Inside the government office, there was a deathly silence.