Zhuang Wei's hand trembled.
He knew he had acted on impulse. He had originally thought that even if Fang Yun struck back, it would amount to nothing and would not bring any unforeseeable consequences. That was why he had come to make trouble for Fang Yun—to vent the Liu Household's anger and make his wife and the Liu Household happy.
But who could have imagined that a Grand Academician would let a mere Licentiate revise poetry and prose!
That was Li Wenying's poem. He was a scholar who had nearly slain a dragon, an official who dared directly execute Metropolitan Graduates, and an unrestrained madman who had called the Left Prime Minister an old dog.
Zhuang Wei knew that even if the poem had been smeared into this state, Li Wenying would merely laugh it off. It was, after all, a misunderstanding, and Li Wenying would not lower himself to act against a Provincial Graduate student like him. But Li Wenying's old friends and former students would never laugh it off; none of the Literary Academy's officials would laugh it off; not a single scholar in all Jiangzhou would laugh it off.
Those people would rack their brains to make things difficult for him. Once they caught hold of any weakness, they would not hesitate to employ the harshest punishments. One misstep, and he could be barred from the Imperial Examination. Zhuang Wei did not have the ability to make a Sage Appeal.
Several people who had been closely following Zhuang Wei silently left. This was not abandoning an old friend; those who understood the times were the true heroes.
One instructor had always worshipped Li Wenying and could not help cursing, "The shame of scholars, a stinkbug of the Literary Academy! A Provincial Graduate bullying a Licentiate—you've thrown away