The sunlight penetrated through the high wall holes, and the sour, odorous and rotten mold in the cell seemed to fade a little. With this ray of sunlight, the dim prison became a little brighter. The sunlight fell on the mottled wall inside the cell, and a small piece of moss tenaciously revealed the greenness of life in the corner of the wall.

Zhang Bojin looked at his sleeping father with a sad face, and he used to torture for two consecutive days. The clothes on his father were already broken, and blood was stuck to his body. When he moved, he was twitching in pain. Zhang Bojin tore off a piece of clothes from his body, dipped in water, and gently wiped his father's cracked lips. There was only a scoop of water in the prison every day. Zhang Bojin endured his thirst and gave the water to his father.

The prison cell was full of people, and Zhang Bojin and his son were specially locked in the innermost small room. Zhang Bojin was unattended. Although he was only asked a few times, every time the yamen runners were escorting the prisoner, the "ding bell" sounds made by the sound of iron chains hitting the ground, making his hair and bones shook, moans, sighs, and shouts of injustice intertwined, filling the narrow and long prison cell, which was the hell on earth.

"Oh," Zhang Hongchong moaned, and Zhang Bojin repeatedly called out: "Father, father, father."

Zhang Hongchong opened his eyes with difficulty, and his dispersed eyes were gathered for a while. Seeing his son's expectant gaze, he wanted to smile and touch the wound, and he couldn't help but moan again.

"Father, you didn't have any water and rice all day yesterday. There was a little porridge here. I'll serve Daddy to eat something." Zhang Bojin picked up a bowl from the corner, and there was half a bowl of porridge that looked at people. The taste had changed a little after night.

At this time, it was no longer important. Zhang Hongchong drank two sips of soup, shook his head, and Zhang Bojin cried, "Dad, you eat more or less, otherwise..."

Zhang Hongchong reached out to touch his son's head. As soon as he raised his hand, he felt unbearable pain and let it go. After gasping for half, Zhang Hongchong said in a hoarse voice: "Jin'er, I can't do it for my father." Zhang Bojin was like a bolt from the blue. The bowl in his hand fell to the ground and cried and bowed to the ground.

"Don't cry, while being awake for your father, you have to keep some words in mind." Zhang Hongchong was a little anxious and coughed repeatedly. Uncle Zhang crawled over and gently patted his father on the back, raised his hand, but there was nowhere to fall.

"I am in the Ministry of Justice. I know the dirty things in it. I am afraid that I will not last for a few days." Zhang Hongchong saw his son crying again, glared and said, "Don't cry, listen. They said that my father is the leader of the Yuantian Sect. From the words he missed, I learned that Guo Jingshan was implicated by Guo Jingshan. I didn't expect that Guo Jingshan was a member of the Yuantian Sect. It's hateful. Damn, my father asked him to end up losing Jiang Anyi and Qin Haiming a few days ago. It seems that he was defeated and intentionally involved with his father."

Zhang Bojin hated Guo Jingshan, Jiang Anyi, Qin Haiming, and everyone in this world. For selfish and narrow-minded people, he can plot against others, but it is a great sin to touch him.

"As a doctor in the Ministry of Justice, I have handled many secret affairs. Even the Yuantian Sect bandits saved several people after taking the money. Alas, retribution. Jin'er, you must go out alive. Your mother, your brother, and the whole family are counting on you." Zhang Hongchong suddenly grabbed his son's hand and held it tightly.

Zhang Bojin felt that there was a hard object in his hand, so he cried and nodded, seeing that it was the silver ring worn by his father.

"I invested 5,000 taels in Songhe Tower, Beijing, and occupied 30% of the shares. This silver ring is a token and must not be lost. Remember, you must firmly bite it without knowing it. The government will exil to you at most. You are still young, live well and take the whole family to live." Zhang Hongchong's voice became lower and lower, his hand gradually loosened, and he fainted again.

Zhang Bojin gently laid his father's head on his legs to make him sleep more comfortable. Wearing the silver ring, Zhang Bojin's hatred was hard to eliminate. It was because of Jiang Anyi that he had the trouble today. He gritted his teeth and sweared that as long as he could go out, he must let Jiang Anyi taste the taste of the destruction of his family.

On August 4th, Zhang Hongchong opened his eyes wide and passed away in Zhang Bojin's arms with full of doubts and hatred. At the same time, the north gate of Wenping Prefecture welcomed the examiner of the provincial examination, Lord Ma Jingxuan.

Eight carrying large sedan chairs, blowing and sending them all the way, and the people along the way watched. The most enthusiastic ones were the scholars who took the exam. Some of them were smart and yelled loudly at the sedan chair, "Students met the examiner" and "Someone in a certain place met the examiner", which caused a mess of learning.

According to the Da Zheng Law, senior officials of fourth rank or above can only ride in the eight-carriage sedan when they go on tour. With Ma Jingxuan's grade, he cannot even sit in the eight-carriage sedan, but he is the examiner appointed and is considered half an imperial envoy, so Governor Feng welcomes him with high standards.

Ma Jingxuan sat in the sedan chair with a trance of thought, like a dream, and the "eight daily seats" were the wishes of a young man. Only when fate passed by was the destiny, he could taste his long-cherished wishes. For a moment, all kinds of ups and downs were filled with joy. The sedan chair shook and descended. The prefect's mansion had arrived. Feng led the officials from Dezhou to welcome him in front of the door.

After a little bit of a sudden, Ma Jingxuan stayed in the welcoming hotel in the government office and stayed in the door. As usual, officials from Dezhou would not come to visit them privately to avoid suspicion. On the fifth day, Governor Feng sent someone to send "a gift for one end, a pair of gold and silver" to invite him to attend the curtain banquet.

The main character of the banquet was put on the banquet, and the main character of the banquet was Ma Jingxuan, the deputy chief examiner was Lin Hongguang, and the eight examiners were selected from all over Dezhou. Officials from all over the country were Jinshi and officials from Juren. Other officials such as promotion, supervision examination, acceptance of papers, seals, transcripts, reading, patrols, and searching for inspections and other officials came forward to meet the examiner.

The table was filled with delicacies. After three rounds of wine, Ma Jingxuan found that the officials present whispered together and whispered. When he looked at the governor Feng, he looked absent-minded and whispered a few words to the people beside him from time to time.

Ma Jingxuan was very unhappy and was so arrogant that my Texas officials bullied people too much. With a glass of wine, Ma Jingxuan said coldly, "Premier Feng, Ma is not good at drinking, please be admitted to the hospital earlier."

Feng Taishou was stunned. Why did Ma Jingxuan stop drinking at the beginning of the banquet? He immediately realized that he was cold and cold. Feng Shaojun's officialdom has been in the air for many years and has seen various scenes. He immediately stood up and smiled and said, "Master Ma, Feng is rude. Come on, drink this cup, I'm here to accompany him." After that, he raised his glass and drank it all in one go.

Seeing that Governor Feng lowered his posture, Ma Jingxuan raised his glass to accompany him.

Putting down the wine glass, Governor Feng moved the chair to Ma Jingxuan and whispered: "Don't blame Mr. Ma. It's not that the officials in Texas are ignorant, but that a huge case occurred in Wenping Mansion recently. Aftershocks have not yet subsided. Everyone is still scared and inquire about the news."

"Oh?" Ma Jingxuan was stunned and asked, "What case?"

Seeing that Ma Jingxuan was interested, Feng briefly said the Yuantian Sect wanted to do business in Dezhou. He remembered that Zhang Hongchong and Ma Jingxuan were both officials, and they should have known each other, and said casually: "Master Ma, I don't know if you are familiar with Zhang Hongchong, so he will be the master of this time."

The speaker was unintentional, and the listener was intentional. Ma Jingxuan was shocked when he heard that Zhang Hongchong was actually the leader of the Yuantian Sect, and he was no less shocked than a loud thunder in his ears. He was shocked and did not know that the chopsticks in his hand fell to the ground.

When he heard the news, he couldn't get much better. Governor Feng smiled slightly and asked someone to take Ma Jingxuan a pair of chopsticks and greet the officials in Dezhou to come forward to toast Ma Jingxuan. Ma Jingxuan's mind was covered in mud, and he didn't know how to end the banquet, how he came to the tribute court, how he moved into Lianbi Hall.

The place where the main examination and deputy chief examination lived was Lianbi Hall. There were houses in two trunks of Lianbi Hall, and there were 17 rooms in the east and 18 rooms in the west. They were the residences of officials such as the same examination, supervision, promotion, and branch schools. After the examiners entered the examination, the Gongyuan was officially locked up, indicating that the three-year provincial examination began to begin.

Lin Hongguang wanted to find Ma Jingxuan to get close to him, but when he saw that he was in a daze, he thought Ma Jingxuan was tired of being a horse, so he chatted for a few words and advised him to rest early and return to his residence by himself.

Under the candlelight, Ma Jingxuan sat alone, shocked and scared. More than ten days ago, he received a secret letter from Zhang Hongchong, saying that he had sold two places and received ten thousand taels of silver. He was full of joy and had been poor for half his life. He got the opportunity to make a fortune and change his family situation. However, he had never thought that he had a different path with Zhang Hongchong in more than ten days, and the money was wasted. Ma Jingxuan was full of sorrow and lamented: My life is so miserable.

Thinking of the court's handling of the fraud in the imperial examination, Ma Jingxuan shuddered. Now, let alone collecting money, it would be a blessing to not involve him. Fortunately, I heard from Governor Feng that Zhang Hongchong is dead and there is no evidence of death. It should be fine. The secret notation agreed upon is absolutely impossible, otherwise I would fall into the trap.

It seems that I have to take the materials impartially in this provincial examination. Ma Jingxuan sneered, "I haven't lost the benefits, you have to follow me." This provincial examination is only talented, and I have to take a look at all the test papers myself. I want to get away with it, but I don't have any doors. Of course, it's better to be good to you, I'll be good to everyone."

On the sixth day of the eighth month, the examination was issued, and there was a blue ocean in front of the government office. Jiang Anyi stood among the crowd and sighed that the six or seven hundred people were competing for twenty juren places, which shows the difficulty of the imperial examination. Look at the long team in front, today's lunch will probably not be settled until Shenshi.

"An Yi."

Jiang Anyi turned around and it was Liu Yixing. After not seeing each other for two years, Liu Yixing became much more calm. Thinking of the gambling poems on Shaohua Mountain, Jiang Anyi smiled and said, "It turns out to be Brother Liu. How much money did he win this time?"

Liu Yixing looked at the crowd and sighed: "I didn't know how much white my hair was when I was not given the second provincial examination. After participating in the three exams, how dare I act like a young man to hurt my father again? I will not hide it from my brother. I have been studying hard at home for the past few months."

Liu Yixing changed his humorousness in the past and his tone was heavy. Jiang Anyi changed his eyes and advised him: "Brother Liu's filial piety touched the world, and he will definitely win the exam today."

After a wry smile, Liu Yixing said: "I have been lucky enough to win a few people after ten years of hard study. I know that I am just as talented as a student. It is naturally a blessing to win. If I fail to win the imperial examination again, I will simply stop the idea of ​​the imperial examination and find a job in the mansion to support my family."
Chapter completed!