Yesterday's scare was very effective. Even before the punishment, Huang Song had already come clean.
Although Wen Lancheng's parents had both died, there was much family business left behind.
He and his errand boy went to the capital to take the examination. They stayed at the scholar's inn first. After buying a mansion, they moved out and invited Huang Song to stay for a long time.
Huang Song thought the two of them looked the same and their backgrounds were equally pitiful. However, Wen Lancheng had a wealthy family and was talented. He lamented that the heavens were unfair. With jealousy, he tied him up. Initially, he wanted to kill him, but during the act of murder, there was a fire in the mansion. In a hurry, he escaped with Wen Lancheng. The errand boy was burned to death.
The reason why he brought Wen Lancheng was because the fire had burned other property. If Wen Lancheng died, the possibility of him disguising himself would be low. He would be as poor as before!
He tied Wen Lancheng up in the paper craft store.
Every day, he forced Wen Lancheng to write lyrics and songs and sell them to bookstores or brothels. He became slightly famous and received some money.
"Your Majesty, Wen Lancheng has been saved, but he has been locked up for too long. His health is lacking, so he's resting at the criminal division at the moment. When the imperial examination comes, he should be able to sit for it!" Xie Pinggang added.
Huang Song was unlucky.
There was no fortune in his fate.
Just as he was about to disguised into Wen Lancheng, Wen Lancheng's house was destroyed and his belongings were burned.
Furthermore, Wen Lancheng was shocked and started to get sick.
However, even if this talented person was sick, his writing skills were better than the average person's.
Huang Song used the money he earned and spent more than half of it to buy medicine for Wen Lancheng. He was afraid that after he died, he would lose his money generator.
Moreover, it was not easy to pretend to be a scholar. He had to buy ink, paper, inkstone, and books. His clothes had to be decent. Therefore, Huang Song sold many poems, but he was still... very poor!
After Xie Pinggang finished speaking, the ministers were all dumbfounded.
That graduate who was caught... was an imposter?!
The Crown Prince and Xie Pinggang did not humiliate the graduate, but... they saved Wen Lancheng?!
That was impossible, right?
However, it was difficult to fake this matter. Wen Lancheng was taking the imperial examination... In a few days, he will appear in front of everyone!
The ministers who were speaking with conviction were about to faint.
It was over.
What did they say earlier?! They said that the Crown Prince indulged Xie Pinggang and insulted the graduate. He could not differentiate right from wrong and did not understand black from white. They even asked the Crown Prince to reflect on himself?!
Everyone reacted quickly. They could not be blamed by the Emperor. They immediately admitted their mistakes, "Your subjects deserve to die!"
The Emperor's gaze scanned through the group of wretched fools below. The more he looked, the more he despised them.
"All of you know that the Crown Prince is the foundation of the country, but why do you always want to crumble the foundation?! You guys didn't even investigate the matter of the graduate. One after another, the complaints piled up like snowflakes, all for the sake of embarrassing the Crown Prince?! From what I see, all of you want to shake the foundation of the Qianyuan empire!"
The Emperor was furious.
The large group of dejected people below did not even dare to say anything.
The Emperor was really upset.
Before the Crown Prince turned twelve, all the civil and military officials did not have any objection to him being the Crown Prince. Everyone in the world thought it was a good choice for him to be the Crown Prince.
However, ever since his arm was injured, it was no longer the same.
They could not see the Crown Prince's intelligence, nor could they care about his abilities. They only focused on the problem with his arm and turned a blind eye to everything else!
However, it was just slightly inconvenient for his son to move his arm around. How was be crippled?
Moreover, even if he was crippled, it was because he wanted to save his father. Why would a pure and filial person, setting an example for the world, not be the Crown Prince?!