northernbook Chapter 146 Unfair Competition
Chapter 146 Unfair Competition
Ever since those students appeared, Fang Youwei hasn't said a word.
Looking closely, I saw that his face was pale, sweat was on his forehead, and his body was shaking slightly. He was kneeling on the ground, hunched over, no longer showing his previous pride and arrogance.
Fang Zhenghua, who was in the team of court officials, was originally accepting congratulations from his colleagues.
Everyone said that he raised a good son. Although he was the eldest son, he did not rely on the influence of his ancestors. Even though he had been conferred the title of the Loyal and Brave Earl, he still insisted on studying and taking imperial examinations, and was very promising at a young age.
Fang Zhenghua was originally very happy, but now, seeing these students jointly suing Fang Youwei, his expression suddenly changed.
"Uncle Zhongyong, what's going on?" a colleague asked.
"I don't know either. I guess someone must have deliberately framed my son." This is all Fang Zhenghua could say.
Under everyone's doubts, the emperor spoke:
"Let's talk about each thing one by one. Liu Luping, take care of your problem first."
So, the twelve students who had previously studied at Songshan Academy explained one by one in front of the emperor how Fang Youwei had bullied Liu Luping in the past.
They all have more or less evidence in their hands.
There are three reasons why they are willing to testify:
First, they were not Fang Youwei’s small gang and did not participate in bullying Liu Luping. They just turned a blind eye when Liu Luping was bullied in the past. The crime was not that serious.
Second, some of them had been bullied by Fang Youwei to varying degrees. Now that Liu Luping had become the number one scholar and wanted to seek justice for themselves in front of the emperor, they decided to get involved and add strength to Liu Luping.
Third, Cui Yuwei used his "cash power" to give money directly, or to use money to help the other party solve the problem, so that the other party would be willing to produce evidence and testify for Liu Luping.
Some time ago, Liu Luping and Cui Yuwei went out early and came back late because they were busy with this matter.
Liu Luping also had some evidence in his hands, but it was not enough, so he needed to seek help from these classmates. They reached an agreement privately just for today.
As for the other thirty-five people, they came to them after hearing that they were going to deal with Fang Youwei.
The leader of the thirty-five people was called Du Kang.
After the emperor heard the evidence of Liu Luping being bullied, he turned his gaze to him:
"You said that Fang Youwei had ruined your years of hard work. What happened?"
Du Kang glared at Fang Youwei fiercely before saying to the emperor:
"Your Majesty, I am from Jingzhou. I arrived in the capital a month before the imperial examination to prepare for the exam. At that time, I lived in the Ping'an Inn."
"A few days later, Fang Youwei came to my house and said that he would give me some money to let me give up this exam and wait three years before taking the imperial examination again. I studied hard for ten years just for this opportunity, why should I waste three years in vain? I refused and parted with Fang Youwei unhappily."
"For a period of time afterwards, I reviewed in the inn and occasionally exchanged ideas with a few fellow villagers. I did not see Fang Youwei again. I thought the matter was over, but three days before the imperial examination, I was called out for a meal."
"The person who invited me out said that the guests were students from Songshan Academy. We had a meal together before the imperial examination to bond and exchange ideas. After all, if we pass the imperial examination in the future, it would be a favor for us to serve in the same court."
"The student thought it made sense, so he went. When he got there, he found out that the person who treated him was Fang Youwei."
"There were more than a dozen people who had dinner together that day, and four of them were staying at the Ping An Inn with the student. The day after the meal, the student and the four people all felt unbearable abdominal pain and weakness in their limbs, and then they all fell into a coma."
"The innkeeper called a doctor for us. After examining us, he found out that we were poisoned. We couldn't even muster any strength in our bodies. Let alone going to the exam, even getting out of bed was difficult. By the time we were well enough to walk, the exam had already been held for the fifth day."
"Your Majesty, if only one of my students had problems, I could say that I was just unlucky, but since four of them had problems, how could I not think too much? Considering Fang Youwei's behavior of asking students to give up the exam, I believe that this was done by Fang Youwei!"
After Du Kang finished speaking, the group of thirty-five people could no longer bear it.
Except for the four people who had been tortured by poison for several days like Du Kang, the others came out one after another and explained to the emperor what had happened to them.
There were students who were hit by falling objects from high altitude and were seriously injured the day before the exam.
Some were taken to an empty alley, had their hands broken and were unable to hold a pen.
Some were kidnapped and taken to a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of Beijing and missed the exam.
……
These thirty-five people have one thing in common, that is, they missed the exam for various reasons, but when checking their grades in their hometowns, they are all top students, outstanding students who are highly regarded by their teachers and parents.
But they clearly had a chance to get into high school, but they wasted their time because they missed the exams.
And all this has something to do with Fang Youwei.
Not to mention that Du Kang was personally approached by Fang Youwei, just the fact that Fang Youwei had to calculate so many students in a short period of time was definitely impossible for him to do it alone, and he needed help.
And these helpers are the flaws and the evidence.
After the thirty-five students finished their accusation, Du Kang kowtowed to the emperor:
"Your Majesty, we know that it is difficult to get another chance once we have missed it, and we do not bear grudges against other students who have passed the exam. However, Fang Youwei bullied his classmates in the academy, and used such despicable means to compete for a higher rank. We are dissatisfied and beg Your Majesty to make the decision!"
With Fang Youwei's knowledge and his ranking in the academy, he would be able to pass the imperial examination, but his ranking would not be very high, at least not the first class, maybe among the top few in the second class.
But for the sake of the reputation of the Earl's House of Loyalty and Bravery, and in order not to disappoint his father, he resorted to unfair competition.
He investigated a number of students who came to the capital to take the exam, identified those among them who had the potential to surpass him but had no background, and used despicable means to prevent them from taking the exam.
Therefore, he naturally ranked at the front.
These students studied hard for more than ten years and finally reached the crossroads where they could change their fate, but it was ruined by Fang Youwei. Even if there is no evidence, they will make this matter public even if they die.
Not to mention, they have evidence.
Therefore, after Du Kang and others learned that Liu Luping, Cui Yuwei and others had joined others to sue Fang Youwei, they took the initiative to ask to join in order to increase their bargaining chips to defeat Fang Youwei.
At this time, the people who went to Songshan Academy also came back, and brought back the teachers of the academy and some other students.
Faced with such irrefutable evidence, the teachers at Songshan Academy had no way of denying it.
They could only bow their heads and plead guilty, admitting that they were forced to turn a blind eye to Liu Luping's situation in the academy because of Fang Youwei's status as the son of the Loyal and Brave Earl.
At this point, the truth of everything came to light.