Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

Qin Yunhe then asked someone to invite the county magistrate and told him the conversation that Wang He had heard.

"What? Boycott the exam?!" Magistrate Lu was shocked and frightened upon hearing this. He was even more angry: "These students are really making trouble out of nothing. It never ends!"

It is no small matter if students in the county under my jurisdiction boycott the exams. If not handled properly, I might even be punished.

"Sir, what should we do?"

Qin Yunhe frowned and said, "County Magistrate Lu, please be patient. I asked you to come here to solve this matter. The problem now is to find out the facts of the adoption by the Han side and to make people accept the results of the investigation.

In this way, you can compile a list of the more prestigious local gentry and candidates, and I will invite them to serve as witnesses.

In addition, you should immediately have the yamen runners go to the streets and sound the gongs to announce that the first inspector will hold court in the county yamen hall at 9:00 tomorrow, and all citizens can come to listen to the trial."

"Yes, I will arrange it right away."

Soon, Magistrate Lu gave instructions to his men and handed over a list of gentry whom he thought were more prestigious in the area.

Qin Yunhe was worried that what Magistrate Lu said was not convincing enough, so he asked about each person's situation in detail and called other people to ask about the situation before he felt relieved.

Qin Yunhe wrote invitations to each person, briefly explaining the situation and sincerely inviting them to come to the hall to testify the next day, and then asked the magistrate to send someone to deliver them separately.

Later, the people who sent the invitations came back, and those who received the invitations all promised to come the next day.

Finally, Qin Yunhe felt a little relieved.

Qin Yunhe got up early the next day, packed his things, and saw that there was still more than an hour left before the time written on the invitation, so he took He Sheng out.

He has been here for a few days, reviewing case files and dealing with the matter of Han Lin's impersonation in the exam, and has hardly gone out.

It's a good opportunity to take advantage of this moment to have breakfast and get to know the people.

The government office was located on the main street. Qin Yunhe took He Sheng out of their residence and walked along the road. Not far away, they saw a large teahouse.

The teahouse has two floors, the upper floor is for private rooms, and the lower floor is for individual tables. But even the individual tables on the lower floor are very elegantly arranged, with large distances between tables and low screens between them.

There were already quite a few people sitting on the first floor. Most of them were respectable people, sitting in groups of three or four, chatting and eating snacks.

Qin Yunhe led He Sheng inside when he suddenly heard a sentence coming from the side.

"......Are you really planning to boycott the exam?"

Qin Yunhe immediately stopped and took He Sheng with him to sit at the next table.

Another person said: "...I didn't study hard for ten years just to take the exam with the untouchables."

The person who started asking the question just smiled lightly and said nothing.

"Why, you want to take the exam with the untouchables?"

The man didn't respond, but said, "Today the inspector is holding a court session in the county government hall. Do you want to go and listen? The inspector is here on the emperor's behalf, so he can't be partial, right?"

"Yes, the Han family can buy the county notice and bribe the inspector? Let's go and listen together today."

"Don't try to bribe them one by one. Who knows how the word got out."

Another person laughed and said, "I know. I think the current county magistrate is careless in his work and may not be able to hear these things."

"In fact, the county magistrate is doing okay now. Although his measures of land survey and silkworm encouragement are learned from others, at least he still wants to do something practical."

Another person laughed and said, "They just haven't learned it well. They are so-so. Hahaha. Did you hear that when the county magistrate first arrived in the local area and learned from others that he only accepted a hundred taels as a gift for taking office, someone joked that..."

The breakfast Qin Yunhe ordered came up quickly. He and He Sheng ate breakfast and went back to their residence together.

In fact, there was still a long time before the agreed time for the court session, but the magistrate had already sent someone to pick him up.

Qin Yunhe changed into his official uniform before taking Wang He and He Sheng to the county government office.

Outside the county government office, Liu Mao and other students had already arrived early and were waiting. It seemed that he had called on a few scholars to come and show his support.

Seeing Qin Yunhe get off the car, everyone bowed and greeted him. Qin Yunhe nodded before entering the lobby.

Soon, a yamen runner came with a man dressed as a juren and reported politely, "Your Excellency the Inspector, juren Pan has arrived."

Mr. Pan was calm and composed. He smiled and bowed, "Pan Ge greets the inspector and the magistrate."

Qin Yunhe stood up and greeted him with a bow: "Mr. Pan, you are so polite. Thank you for coming here to witness it. Please take a seat."

Qin Yunhe asked Mr. Pan to sit on the seat beside the official seat, and the two of them exchanged pleasantries again.

After a while, several scholars and gentry who were invited to serve as witnesses arrived one after another and were asked to sit on the seats on both sides of the official seat.

Qin Yunhe saw that all the witnesses had arrived and the time was almost up, so he called the officer and asked, "Have the Han family father and son, as well as the head of the village, the elders, and others been brought here?"

"My Lord, I have brought it here."

"Have all the witnesses that I asked to be brought yesterday arrived?"

"Sir, except for two police officers who are too old to come, everyone else is here."

Qin Yunhe nodded, and then saw that many people had gathered outside the hall, so he slammed the gavel and said, "Open the court."

The yamen runners on both sides shouted in unison.

Qin Yunhe asked someone to summon the Han family father and son, Liu Mao and others to the court.

"Liu Mao, today I have invited several prestigious gentry in the county to witness and comment. Do you think they are all convinced?"

Qin Yunhe invited all the well-known people in the area, so Liu Mao naturally didn't dare to say that he was not convinced.

"Your Excellency, all of you present here are local gentry of high moral character and prestige. I am convinced."

"Okay, in that case, let's get started. State your doubts again."

“Sir, the student has only two doubts.

One is, since the Han family had no guilty conscience, why did they change the list of clerks? Privately changing the list of clerks should be a serious crime, right?

Another point is that I think there is no real evidence that Han Fang was adopted. The claim that the village elder took the Han family's valuable purple clay teapot is not enough evidence, and the claim that the village head and Han Fang were childhood friends is also not enough evidence.

Even the neighbors who came to testify were all from the Han family’s neighborhood, so they naturally protected him, and they are also insufficient evidence.”

Hearing him repeatedly saying that there was no evidence, Qin Yunhe ordered, "Call the funeral shop owner Li Cheng to the court."

Li Cheng was brought to the court.

"Li Cheng, I heard that you were the one who took care of all the funeral needs of Han Ting. Do you remember who the filial son was at that time?"

Li Cheng pointed at Han Fang who was standing on the side and said, "Your Excellency, I remember that Han Fang was the filial son at that time. The Han family was wealthy, and everything they used was the best."

Qin Yunhe asked Liu Mao: "Liu Mao, is the funeral shop owner's words sufficient evidence?"

Liu Mao said: "Sir, the owner of the funeral shop only knows that it is Han Fang who is in charge of the funeral. How can he be sure that he is the filial son and not the nephew?"

The funeral shop owner said, "Liu Xiucai, although I am not well educated, I still know the mourning clothes of a filial son. And when the funeral procession was passing by, I saw that the funeral procession with banners was all from the Han Dynasty, wasn't it?"

Liu Mao still insisted: "It's not enough evidence anyway."

Qin Yunhe ignored him and ordered, "Send the monk Jiming, the abbot of Puming Temple, to the hall."

Soon, an older monk was brought into the hall.

"Amitabha, I am honored to meet you, sir."

"Abbot Jiming, do you know Han Fang?"

"Han Fang is a pilgrim to our temple and once invited me to chant sutras at the funeral of his father Han Ting."

"There must be many people who ask the abbot to chant sutras. Han Ting has been dead for several years. How could the abbot remember Han Ting?"

"There are indeed many people who have invited me to chant sutras, but only the Han family in Chun'an Town has invited me to go. Moreover, Mr. Han used to accompany his mother to the temple to burn incense, so I recognize him."

Liu Mao's face looked a little ugly. Qin Yunhe said, "Liu Mao, are the words of Abbot Jiming sufficient evidence?"