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

Looking at the anxious Zhang Chun below, Qin Yunhe felt mixed emotions.

He lowered his head and looked at the records on the case file again.

The case file shows that it was indeed a doctor who testified that Zhang's mother accepted the silver from Xu Zhongzhi, but it did not say that Zhang Yu was ill at the time and might not have known about the silver at all.

"Didn't you tell Tian Xun about these things?"

"The inspector was only looking for witnesses from all sides to verify Xu's family background. When it came to verifying the guarantors, the mutual guarantors were not investigated, and the guarantors were only suspended for one subject.

Those who had previously provided guarantees for his other brothers were not held accountable.

Only my cousin Zhang Yu, because the informant insisted that my cousin was willing to give a guarantee because he received money. The inspector said that A Yu had the audacity to give a guarantee and had bad conduct, so he was stripped of his official title and sentenced to caning.

Although it sounds unfair, Qin Yunhe can probably understand why Tian Fen made such a judgment.

In fact, he probably didn't want to implicate too many scholars. One reason was that they really might not know the truth. Another was that if the punishment was too severe, no one would be willing to take the risk of guarantying others in the future.

But Zhang Yu was different. He actually received a lot of money, especially when he was being pursued by the whistleblower.

In fact, even if Zhang Yu knew about the silver, it didn’t mean that he knew the origin of Xu Zhongzhi’s ancestors.

He's just unlucky.

In this situation, it is unlikely that Tian Fen would let him go even if he wanted to. After all, if he really did not punish him, it would become more troublesome if the practice of accepting money and randomly providing guarantees was established.

The Zhang family naturally said that they knew nothing about it, but what the doctor said...looking at the previous situation, he should have thought that Zhang Yu should know about it.

It is not easy to prove whether Zhang Yu knew about the silver issue or not. It all depends on what the witness says.

There was nothing wrong with Tian Fen's judgment, but Qin Yunhe did feel sorry for Zhang Yu.

"Why are you the one who comes to appeal for justice? Where is your cousin Zhang Yu?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chun was both angry and helpless: "Ayu has been gloomy and miserable since he was stripped of his title. I told him to come and appeal for justice, and the adults would definitely help him, but he refused to do so.

I was afraid that the inspector would leave in a few days and we wouldn’t be able to find him, so I hurried here on my own.”

Qin Yunhe understood as soon as he heard it. This was not only unfair to Zhang Yu, but also a great humiliation. He must have felt ashamed, angry and discouraged.

“Go back and tell Zhang Yu that if he feels he is wronged, he can come and protest. As long as he is truly wronged, I will definitely give him justice.

Even if it is finally proven that he is not wrongly convicted, he will never be convicted a second time.

But if he doesn't come, no one can give him justice."

Zhang Chun's frown relaxed immediately upon hearing this, and he kowtowed and said, "Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much, sir. I will go back and persuade Ayu."

Qin Yunhe then asked someone to find the doctor who testified and asked him to come here tomorrow to be questioned.

The next morning, just after breakfast, the official came to report that the brothers Zhang Chun and Zhang Yu had arrived.

Qin Yun was not surprised. The person who was most anxious about this matter was probably Zhang Chun.

Qin Yunhe ordered someone to bring the two brothers in, and soon Zhang Chun came in with Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with a pale and thin face, and at first glance he looked like a weak scholar.

Zhang Chun pulled Zhang Yu to kneel down and kowtow to Qin Yunhe, and Zhang Yu followed suit.

"Get up."

From being a respected scholar to being stripped of his title, Zhang Yu must have been ridiculed a lot, both openly and covertly.

Looking at Zhang Yu's expression, one can tell how much of a blow this incident has been to him.

Qin Yunhe said, pointing to two stools on one side: "Sit down and talk."

"Thank you, sir." Zhang Chun bowed repeatedly before pulling Zhang Yu to sit down.

"Zhang Yu, your cousin said you were wronged. Tell me what happened. If you are really wronged, I can help you."

"Yes, my lord."

After saying this, Zhang Yu paused for a moment before slowly speaking again: "In the twelfth month of the year before last, Xu Zhao brought his son Xu Zhongzhi to me and said that his son would take part in the county examination next year and asked me to issue a guarantee for him.

I had given guarantees to people before, but I didn't take it seriously, so I wrote one for him.

Later, I fell ill and was bedridden. I don’t know whether Xu Qizhong heard about it or went to visit my mother at home. At that time, my mother was asking the doctor if he could buy two prescriptions on credit, and Xu Qizhong took out a few taels of silver and gave it to my mother.

My Lord, you are wise. When this happened, the guarantee had already been written. And we also said that we would return the money to him when we had more money. Who knew that Xu Zhongzhong was later reported to have been a slave? I was a little worried at the time, so I hurried to ask the Xu family, but Xu Zhongzhong insisted that his family was innocent. As a result..."

Zhang Yu stopped here and didn't say anything further.

"How does Xu Zhao know you?"

Although knowing each other is not necessary to ensure security, there must always be an opportunity to find Zhang Yu.

"I got to know the Xu family because they asked me to write something for them before."

"That's considered some contact, but you haven't heard anything about his family background?"

Zhang Yu's face was full of bitterness: "Sir, I just wrote something for his family. How could others tell me about his family background?"

"Did you know that Xu Qizhong gave money to your mother?"

Zhang Yu was silent for a moment, then said, "I know."

Zhang Chun stood up and said, "Ayu, what are you talking about? The adults are asking if you knew at the time. You were so sick at the time, what did you know?"

Zhang Yu said again: "Sir, I knew it at that time."

Zhang Chun was furious: "What nonsense are you talking about? You were sick and confused at the time, what do you know?"

Qin Yunhe was just asking a routine question and didn't expect to get anything out of it.

After all, since Zhang Yu came here to seek justice, he would never admit it even if he really knew.

Who knew he would easily admit that he knew it.

If he had said the same thing when Tian Fen asked, then it would be no wonder that Tian Fen was so ruthless.

Qin Yunhe took a deep breath and asked, "Zhang Yu, I want to ask you, when Xu Zhongzhong gave your mother the money, did you know about it?"

Zhang Chun looked at Zhang Yu eagerly, hoping that he would change his words, but Zhang Yu continued, "Sir, I dare not hide anything. Although I was very ill at the time, I was still conscious and knew about this..."

Zhang Yu raised his sleeves and wiped away tears: "But I really don't know Xu's family background. I really didn't hide it on purpose. I didn't accept the money because of this. I didn't refuse because I wanted to live, and my family had no money to buy medicine..."

Qin Yunhe sighed.

Although the court was not officially in session at this moment, at least Wang He, as the clerk sent by the Censorate, was definitely present.

After Zhang Yu said this, it became even more difficult to overturn the verdict.

Zhang Chun naturally knew that it would be extremely difficult for his cousin to overturn the verdict after he said this. He was so angry that he could not speak. His chest heaved for a long time before he raised his hand and pointed at Zhang Yu and said, "Zhang Yu, I don't need to care about you anymore."