"You... truly mean to bring charges?"
"Of course. Does the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen open its doors to the street only to deny a humble scholar the chance to cry out for justice?"
Was this about whether they would hear him? This was about everyone dying together! If he had known this calamity was written in his fate, why had he bothered studying for the imperial examinations? He might as well have been a wastrel.
"Take these people into custody for now. I'll report to my superior."
Magistrate Lin knew perfectly well that whether he wanted to accept this complaint or not, he had to. If he turned the man away now, the spit from the Censorate and all the examination candidates and scholars in the capital would drown the threshold of the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen by tomorrow.
But how could a mere magistrate shoulder the affairs of the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen alone?
And so the matter soon landed on the desk of the prefect of Heaven-Following Prefecture. His name was Chen Hezhi, and he was upright to the bone, impartial as iron. Otherwise, he could never have attained his post.
When he heard about the case, his thoughts were much the same as Magistrate Lin's, but he was not nearly as timid. A scholar who looked like His Highness the Crown Prince had entered the capital, only to be attacked by twenty assassins at Sincerity Tower in the dead of night. No matter how he looked at it, these waters ran deep.
"You say you came to Shengjing for the examinations nine years ago, but were hunted down, fell from a cliff, and barely escaped with your life?"
"Every word this student has spoken is true. I ask Your Excellency to judge wisely."
This was a scorching hot potato. But