fake prince

Chapter 1179 Convicted by Heaven
Xie Hongdao went in directly, and saw that there were poles for drying clothes in the yard, and a row of low wing rooms on one side for the servants to live in, and a few maids were cleaning the yard.

Walking through, not only didn't notice the door, Xie Hongdao went in, passed the flower hall in the corridor, saw two people coming to talk from a distance, but didn't notice.

"Oh, the master has been demoted."

"Yes, Madam was very uncomfortable and cried a lot."

"Not to mention Madam, the master locked himself in the study and didn't come out all day."

Xie Hongdao smiled silently, walked along the corridor, and encountered several servants one after another, but also did not notice.

In the eyes of those people, they may no longer be human, but small flying insects, or even a fallen leaf blown by the wind.

It wasn't that the person disappeared, but that in their eyes, Xie Hongdao's sense of existence had dropped to the lowest at this moment, as if he had been replaced by something else.

When he looked up, he had reached the end of the corridor, which was obviously the location of the study.

The decoration is good, the lacquered pillars are all painted vermilion, and two bird cages are hung under the corridor, just arrived at the door of the study, and was about to push the door open to go in, the door opened with a creak, and a woman came out from inside.

A married woman's dress is not considered young, she looks like a lady in the house at first glance, she is more dignified, her appearance is not very good, her face is pale, with some tear stains, there are slight fish scales at the corners of her eyes, her eyebrows are slightly frowned, as if Very worried.

"..." Taking advantage of not being directly seen, Xie Hongdao flashed to the rockery on the side, retreated a little, avoided, and did not dare to look at her appearance carefully.

"This should be the mistress of this mansion. The most taboo of my spell is to meet the nobleman face to face, so don't make trouble."

Xie Hongdao watched her go away, thinking to himself.

Although it is not uncommon for a couple to come to the master's study, but at this time, when they come, they also have a dignified expression when they come out, and it doesn't look like they just came here casually.

This lady should have business to do when she enters the study.

Xie Hongdao thought so, and walked to the door, pushed the door in, and the door opened with a creak, and was gently closed by him.

Because of the magic spell he cast, this opening and closing did not attract the attention of the man in the study room. He just entered the room and sank. Xie Hongdao immediately understood that the spell had failed.

Or concentrate on contemplation, but the official didn't notice it. Looking carefully, this person looks about in his early 40s, and he should be under 45 years old. Being able to become a Chunwei examiner at this age is considered a potential and promising official. Everything.

When Xie Hongdao approached, he saw the official he was looking for lowered his eyebrows, looking at a letter in his hand, lost in thought.

Xie Hongdao didn't bother him either. He pulled out a chair next to him and just sat down, watching him meditate.

After a while, the official sighed.

Xie Hongdao got up quietly, and glanced at the letter in his hand behind him. He only glanced at the content, and Xie Hongdao recognized that the letter should be written by the official's father-in-law, and it can be seen from the words.

I can understand that the father-in-law sent a letter to give advice. After all, something happened in the imperial examination, and this official was implicated. This matter is not a trivial matter. Most people have to avoid danger, but no matter what happens, it is indeed a safe way for the female relatives to deliver the letter. .

Just as Xie Hongdao thought, this letter was indeed written by the official's father-in-law.

Although the father-in-law has retired, his elder brother, second brother-in-law and others are all officials, and one son-in-law of the father-in-law is even an official in the official department. This time I got the news, and I was a little worried about his affairs.

"...This matter is very dangerous. Fortunately, brother luck is still there, and he got through safely, but it also hurt the foundation. You should hide your strength and bide your time, so as to plan for the future..."

The meaning of the letter is also very clear. This time, there was an accident in the examination room, and even contacts like my father-in-law did not receive any news in advance, which shows that it is dangerous.

Fortunately, there was no real cheating success this time, so the final solution is nothing, even if it is downgraded, it is acceptable, and it is a blessing in misfortune, let him wait at ease, and don't do anything because of it, so as not to fall into the eyes of the emperor , and then punished.

"Let me, Li Hong, accept it with peace of mind?"

The official had read it several times, but when he read the letter again and saw the last instruction, he still couldn't help but feel angry and full of anger.

Li Hong was originally a fourth-rank official. When others saw that he became a fourth-rank official before the age of 45, they felt that his career as an official was smooth and it was easy to reach this stage.

But when he was in his early 20s, he became a Jinshi, entered the Hanlin Academy as the No.4 position in that session, stayed there for more than a year, got a chance to be released by accident, made contributions, and then slowly rose up.

There is also luck in it, if not for the massacre of the princelings more than 20 years ago, and some positions were vacated in both Beijing and other provinces, he would not be so lucky to get the opportunity to be sent to the outside world.

In the past 20 years, from the beginning as a small official of the seventh-rank Imperial Academy to the current fourth-rank, as the son of an ordinary small family, how can people who are born rich understand?
Now that he was implicated innocently, he was downgraded to the fifth rank. Although it was only a three-level drop, it may take half his life for many people to climb from the fifth rank to the fourth rank.

Some even stop at the fifth rank all their lives, and will never be able to rise to the fourth or fourth rank, because there is an invisible threshold between the fourth rank and the fifth rank.

Those who cross the past can become great officials in the frontier, with unlimited future.

Those who can't get over it will be county magistrates all their lives, and their official career will stop here.

It can be seen how much this relegation has dealt him a blow.

In fact, that's all. Since he was able to pass the exam from the son of a small household, and climbed from the seventh-rank official to the fourth-rank official, he has already cultivated a strong heart. It is not unacceptable to climb again.

He's in his early 40s and still has a chance!

The most important thing is that if you are implicated in this matter, you will be marked with a black mark. This is the most terrible thing!
For a civil servant who came out of the Imperial Academy, the biggest goal is to join the cabinet and become a prime minister.

A soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier, and a civil servant who does not want to be a cabinet is also a person who has no political ambitions.

He naturally has political ambitions, but his political ambitions were smashed to pieces.

"Being involved in the cheating of the imperial examination has been marked, and I will never be an examiner in the future."

"Civil servants who can't be examiners can hardly have party members among civil servants. After all, everyone is an official, and being able to form a party is a teacher-student relationship."

"Because of this incident, I left my name with the emperor, and I am afraid that I will never be able to stand up again."

"After all, this matter not only involves fraud in the imperial examination, but also involved in a terrible conspiracy..."

Thinking of this crucial point, Li Hong couldn't help feeling angry and depressed.

"It's really a disaster."

For the common people, this matter is a bit black and white, because the common people are at the bottom, cannot get useful information, and do not know the high-level relationship, so they have no idea what kind of inside story is hidden in this simple conclusion .

But for these officials of the fifth rank and above in the center of the imperial court, it is not difficult to analyze some things clearly.

The emperor set up a trap and took the initiative, so almost everyone was manipulated by the emperor as pawns.

This is also easy to understand. If a person calculates with his heart but not with his heart, this person is still the most powerful person, and everyone else is a subordinate. It is too easy to be fooled for a while.

But the heart cannot be deceived.

At that time, no one guessed that this was because it happened too quickly, and they didn't take precautions. They didn't react for a while, but ordinary people can still act after the fact, let alone these high-ranking ministers?
It didn't take long for all the adults in the court to understand the key points, but because they wanted to understand these, the people implicated in this imperial examination fraud were even more desperate.

"I have been guilty of the crime, and I have nothing to pray for. No wonder my father-in-law and brother-in-law, in the same year, all tactfully hinted that I should lurk and endure, so as to clear up their doubts and ease their hearts."

(End of this chapter)