The steward wasn’t made of iron. Beaten to within an inch of his life, he had no choice but to confess everything.

As a Scholar, Mr. Zheng held a title and didn’t have to bow before the County Magistrate. But while he could refuse to confess, the evidence he left behind was enough to seal his fate.

Steward Zheng was a crafty one. He had secretly hidden a letter handwritten by Mr. Zheng.

It was a letter Mr. Zheng had written to his son, who was studying in the Prefecture.

The letter stated that the Zhao family’s son possessed exceptional talent and was certain to pass this examination. It also mentioned that the boy was mature for his age. Mr. Zheng wrote that he had acted ruthlessly toward the family years ago and feared the boy would seek revenge. Therefore, he concluded it was better to strike first with an unjust act and ensure the boy could never become a Scholar.

Perhaps finding these thoughts too vile and fearing his son’s disapproval, Mr. Zheng had crumpled the letter into a ball and tossed it on the floor.

It was October at the time, not yet cold enough for braziers, so the letter was preserved.

Later, when Steward Zheng came to clean up, he, for some reason, carefully put the letter away. It proved to be of great use today.

Mr. Zheng’s cries of injustice were useless. With both a witness and physical evidence, he was stripped of his scholarly title on the spot.

Furthermore, for his malicious intent and attempted murder—though unsuccessful, the crime was heinous—he was sentenced to fifty strokes of the heavy plank and exile after the autumn assizes.

Naturally, Mr. Zheng refused to accept the verdict. He repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, claiming he only wanted to physically harm Zhao Jing to delay his registration and examination, never to take his life.

He refused to accept the charge of premeditated murder.

But his refusal was useless. The County Magistrate was utterly disgusted with him. Not implicating the rest of the Zheng Family was already an act of great mercy. To ask him to change the sentence or go easy on Mr. Zheng would be a challenge to his official authority.

After receiving the fifty strokes, Mr. Zheng was immediately imprisoned.

Because his crime was so heinous, the men administering the punishment showed no mercy. The fifty strokes left him half-dead.

After being dragged to his cell, he might survive if his family brought medicine in time. Otherwise, he likely wouldn’t even last until his autumn exile.

As Zhao Tang finished his story, a deeply satisfying smile spread across his face.

But the smile quickly faded to anger. "That bastard is truly despicable," he added. "He even had several backup plans."

"If this plan failed, that scoundrel was going to target Mrs. Zhao. As long as she fell gravely ill, Jing naturally wouldn’t abandon his mother."

"If that didn’t work either, they planned to steal Jing’s Mutual Guarantee of Relatives on the eve of the exam, or plant cheat sheets in his clothes and food box right before he entered the examination hall."

"The first plan was bad enough, but as for the second, the current County Magistrate utterly detests cheating in the examinations."

"Word is, a major cheating scandal occurred the year he participated in the Imperial Examination."

"The story goes that in the first session of the Imperial Examination, the Lord County Magistrate actually passed and was set to become an Advanced Scholar. However, that session drained him of so much energy that he hadn’t recovered for the second. He had also caught a cold and was muddle-headed by the time he got to the examination hall. As a result, the title of Advanced Scholar slipped through his fingers; he failed to pass anything in the second session."

"He tried again for another three years but still failed. When his family could no longer afford to support his studies, he had to use connections to secure an external posting as an official in Qingshui County."

"That’s why the Lord County Magistrate has zero tolerance for cheating."

"Since he took office, he only caught a student with cheat sheets in his first year. On that occasion, the County Magistrate declared that as long as he was in charge, that student was forbidden from ever registering for the exam again."

"Later, after many Scholars pleaded that the punishment was too severe, the County Magistrate relented, changing the penalty to a three-year ban from taking the examinations."

"In other words, if they had actually found something on Jing that he shouldn’t have had, then even with Chen Song vouching for him, he wouldn’t have been able to participate in this year’s county examination at the very least."

"And if the Lord County Magistrate took a disliking to him, he would surely face suppression in future examinations as well."

"The county examination is entirely at the County Magistrate’s discretion. If the Lord County Magistrate doesn’t want you to become a Scholar, he has plenty of excuses. Just an accusation of ’flawed character’ would be enough to make Zhao Jing unable to hold his head high for the rest of his life."

"So, Mr. Zheng claimed he had no murderous intent and just wanted to make Zhao Jing suffer a little. But how could this be considered just ’a little suffering’?"

"What’s the difference between that and killing Zhao Jing outright?"

"Thankfully, Mr. Zheng got what he deserved. But to prevent the Zheng Family from retaliating out of spite, Jing will have to be extra careful from now on and make sure nothing goes wrong before the exam."

At this, Zhao Jing spoke up. "We were originally planning to go to my father-in-law’s house in the county town on the sixteenth and stay for a while."

Mr. Zhao clapped his hands in approval. "Go! Don’t even wait until the day after tomorrow—leave tomorrow. The Lantern Festival can wait, but there can be no mishaps with the examination. Sister-in-law, you know what’s more important. Don’t be upset."

Mrs. Zhao quickly replied, "I won’t be upset at all. With his in-laws there to look after Jing, I couldn’t be more relieved. Qing’er, have you two packed your things? Go and get everything ready. You’ll set off first thing tomorrow morning."