Wasn't the Imperial Preceptor a Little Too Possessive?

Xie Huizhou discreetly hid away a certain pervert's harassing letter and looked at his friend.

"Shanshan, why did you come here instead of taking your bird out for a stroll?"

His friend was named Ning Shan, the heir to the Prince of Pingnan. He was another good-for-nothing who now spent his idle days carrying a birdcage around, showing off his talking parrot.

During the Spring Hunt, amid everyone's outrage, he had beaten up several foul-mouthed people on Xie Huizhou's behalf.

He sat down, set the bird beside him, and took a sip of tea before telling Xie Huizhou what he had seen and heard. "My gut tells me they're coming after you."

Ning Shan could never sit still. He wandered around with his birdcage, eavesdropping for anything new. He was so well informed that he could rival Know-It-All.

In the Capital City, he had heard people from all walks of life peddling Imperial Examination questions to scholars, claiming these questions were guaranteed to appear on the exam and had been leaked by the new question setter, Ninth Prince Xie Huizhou.

Ning Shan realized with alarm that the Imperial Examination questions had been leaked. Wasn't that Examination Fraud?

True or false, a rumor repeated often enough became the truth. The fear was that with enough people saying it, they would turn even a lie into fact.

Once the matter came to light, every investigation would lead back to Xie Huizhou, and he would take all the blame.

The moment Ning Shan sensed the danger, he rushed over to tell Xie Huizhou, hoping he could escape this disaster.

"Zhouzhou, what are you going to do? There are so many of these people that you could never arrest them all. Once the Examination Fraud is exposed, you'll be implicated."

Ning Shan was anxious.

He felt that his friend was simply plagued by disasters. There was never a moment when he could stop worrying about him.

"So it's finally here."

Xie Huizhou had anticipated this situation long ago and was not the least bit flustered. He leisurely drank the freshly brewed tonic. "Let them sell! Not only can they sell, we'll sell too-and we'll sell as much as we can."

Someone wanted him dead, so he would muddy the waters like mad. First, he would swindle every last coin out of their pockets, then steamroll them in the Imperial Examination and let them discover that even though all the material was in the textbooks, they still could not answer the questions.

With him muddying the waters like this, someone behind the scenes would grow restless and was bound to come out to see what was going on.

That would be the perfect chance to bait them into a trap, arrest them, and interrogate them under torture.

Ning Shan said, "Huh? We're selling them too? Wouldn't that confirm the Examination Fraud? If you're short of money, you can tell us. Don't do something that'll get your property confiscated and send you into exile."

Who had led Xie Huizhou astray?

He had never thought of doing anything like this before.

"Who said I was committing Examination Fraud? I just want to muddy the waters." Xie Huizhou was perfectly confident in his reasoning. "We'll put out some false information first, and people with ill intentions will naturally come knocking. Then we can arrest them."

After hearing what he had to say, Ning Shan felt as though he might finally grow a brain.

They went to Li Xu. "Axu, I have another way to make money, and we can screw some people over while we're at it."

Li Xu was deeply shocked after hearing them out.

"Even so, leaking exam questions gets your property confiscated and sends you into exile. It's one thing for us to dabble in indecent pictures, but isn't this going too far?"

He only wanted some spending money, not the full package of imprisonment, confiscation, and exile.

A gentleman loved money but earned it through proper means.

"How is this leaking questions? We're just helping hardworking scholars highlight the key points. It has nothing to do with the exam questions." Xie Huizhou sounded thoroughly justified. "Besides, I'm the question setter. Would I sabotage myself?"

Xie Huizhou gave them a rough outline of his plan, and they understood. They gazed at him as though he were a money tree. Their earth-shaking brotherhood was enough to bring tears to the eyes.

"We'll do it your way!"

The moment Zhang Lanhe entered, he saw them "exchanging affectionate glances." The pleasure on his face vanished completely, and the cold-faced iceberg returned.

"Your Highness, what are you all doing? Such a lively gathering. It seems I've come at an inconvenient time."

Xie Huizhou was always surrounded by all sorts of people, as though someone would whisk him away the moment Zhang Lanhe took his eyes off him.

A disobedient prince deserves to be punished.

The Imperial Preceptor's arrival instantly made the other two shrink like quails, not daring to speak carelessly.

Xie Huizhou was a little surprised and caught the smell of alcohol on him. "Imperial Preceptor, what brings you here? You've been drinking, too."

"A few officials were marrying off their daughters and invited me to their wedding banquets. After delivering my gifts, I stopped by to see you."

Zhang Lanhe had secretly arranged matches for several women the emperor favored as candidates for the Ninth Prince's Consort. Betrothal gifts had been delivered for every one of them, and they had married other men. When the emperor heard, he was so furious that he stayed away from court for several days.

He had successfully disposed of quite a few potential romantic rivals in secret, leaving Zhang Lanhe in an excellent mood.

Zhang Lanhe shared some wedding gossip with Xie Huizhou. As Xie Huizhou listened intently, Zhang Lanhe's gaze gradually softened as he watched him.

Li Xu quietly observed from the side. When he saw how the Imperial Preceptor's gaze kept resting on Xie Huizhou, he began to think.

What's with that look? Something seems off. But I can't put my finger on what.

Li Xu frowned and realized what was wrong with Zhang Lanhe's gaze. Wasn't the Imperial Preceptor a little too possessive of Xie Huizhou?

Zhang Lanhe might have put on an act while they talked, but whenever Xie Huizhou was not looking at him, that devouring gaze was completely undisguised. He looked less like he was watching a prince and more like he was watching his own wife.

The murderous look Imperial Preceptor Zhang Lanhe had given them when he entered was how someone looked at romantic rivals.

That explanation made sense of every strange aspect of Zhang Lanhe's attitude when he came in.

Li Xu startled himself with the thought. I'm overthinking this, right? The Imperial Preceptor and Zhouzhou are just close.

Hadn't the Imperial Preceptor been looking for his cousin's wife all this time?

Li Xu did not dare think too deeply. He feared discovering something incredible and being sent off by the Imperial Preceptor to farm in the Borderlands in the name of gaining experience.

He badly wanted to warn Xie Huizhou to be careful of the Imperial Preceptor, but with Zhang Lanhe right there, he hesitated for ages before swallowing his suspicions.

Once the Imperial Preceptor was gone, he would have to tell Xie Huizhou in person not to let anyone's sweet words blind him.

"Axu, what are you looking at?" Zhang Lanhe directed a warning glance at Li Xu. "You certainly are close."

Xie Huizhou explained their plan.

"Your Highness, that's not enough. Your methods are still too merciful. You haven't left them no way out." Zhang Lanhe sounded quite interested after listening. "I did teach you to cut weeds out by the roots. But it doesn't matter, Your Highness. I will always stand by your side."

Those blind fools dared to target Xie Huizhou, so they would have to bear his wrath.

The Imperial Preceptor decided to act in secret, emboldening them further and further.

They had this in the bag.

And so, after certain people smugly acquired the insider exam papers, the Bookshop began selling secret papers, openly declaring that all the secret papers previously circulating were fakes.

The Bookshop announced that anyone who needed them could come to them for only a little silver.

Some also said this was a word game the Bookshop was using to scam people. Whatever they called these secret papers, they were fake to begin with. Who would openly announce Examination Fraud?

Public opinion began shifting toward a money-making scam.

The Minister of Ministry of Personnel, the instigator of the Examination Fraud case, was the first to lose his composure. His eyes reddened with fury as he listened to his subordinate's report.

"A mere bookshop dares to steal our business and disrupt our plans? They must have a death wish."