"Don’t listen to just one side of the story, and don’t blindly repeat what others say. It is easy to ruin a person’s reputation, but difficult to clear oneself of a false charge. A scholar’s life is not an easy one. They must endure ten years of bitter hardship for even the slightest achievement. I implore you, my fellow townspeople, not to believe or spread these rumors. Please wait quietly for the Lord County Magistrate to deliver his judgment before deciding what is right and wrong."

"I trust Mr. Zhao, and I trust Mr. Chen’s character as well. I suggest everyone watch patiently. A conclusion to this matter will be reached soon enough."

Whether it was Huang Chen, Chu Xun, or Wang Jun and Wang Xiao, all four of them were quite well-known, both among the common folk and their fellow scholars.

Huang Chen was ugly, a laughingstock to the townsfolk. But

his family ran a century-old braised meat shop.

Of all the people born and raised in Qingshui County, who could claim to have never tasted his family’s braised meat?

To have eaten his family’s meat was to know the man himself. Though he was as ugly as a demon, his character was upright. He wasn’t the type to act recklessly, nor was he capable of doing so.

Anything he said, if not completely trustworthy, was at least seventy or eighty percent believable.

With these men speaking up, the last vestiges of unrest in the crowd were suppressed.

Zhao Jing and De’an bowed with clasped hands to the men, expressing their thanks. Then, they turned and offered the same gesture to the surrounding townspeople. "We both swear on our lives that if we engaged in any fraud, deception, or cheating in this county examination, we will never set foot in an examination hall again. We declare this oath before Heaven, Earth, the Sage Confucius, and all of you, our elders. We ask you all to bear witness."

Hearing this, Chen De’an quickly repeated the oath as well.

And so, the crowd fell completely silent.

They had to be quiet. In those days, people might not have believed in gods or buddhas, but they all certainly believed in the power of an oath. To dare make such a dire vow showed that they had a clear conscience.

Besides, look at the young gentleman’s face. He had fine, righteous features and a clear, bright gaze. His every move was courteous and refined, and his every word and deed proper and elegant.

It’s true that you can know a person’s face but not their heart, but it was hard to believe a young man with his bearing could be truly bad.

If this young man wasn’t the villain, then who was?

The crowd of onlookers all turned their gazes to the men holding the white banner, who were just then preparing to slip away while no one was looking.

The two men were dressed in silks, but they looked as if they had stolen their master’s clothes. No matter how you looked at them, they did not appear to be wealthy.

The glares from the townspeople were like sharp blades, as if threatening to slice them open and lay their very insides bare. Scared witless, the two men’s faces drained of color, and they collapsed to the ground with miserable expressions.

Finally, perhaps unable to withstand the immense pressure, one of them stammered out the truth.

"I... We were acting on our mistress’s orders. As for whether the Chen family—the father, son, and son-in-law—actually cheated... we... we don’t know."

A sharp, collective gasp went through the crowd.

To come to the government office and make a false accusation without even knowing the truth... they must have nerves of steel!

One of the constables, his face grim, demanded, "Are you men from the Zheng Family?"

The two servants hung their heads like quails, not making another peep.

However, someone in the crowd recognized them and immediately pointed them out. "They’re servants from the Zheng Family! One of them manages the family’s procurement, and the other is in charge of the flowers in their courtyard. That’s them, no doubt about it!"

Once their identities were revealed, the reason for their false accusation against Zhao Jing and the other two became clear.

This was clearly retaliation, born of resentment over the retribution Mr. Zheng had faced.

At this realization, the crowd’s anger boiled over.

"This is going too far!"

"I never imagined this was the truth! How has the Zheng Family fallen so far? They used to be a respected family of scholar-farmers here in Qingshui County. If old Mr. Zheng saw this from beyond the grave, his coffin wouldn’t be able to contain him!"

"The people of the Zheng family are making a Cunxin false accusation, so what about this woman? She was screaming herself red in the face, looking like she was burning with rage. She doesn’t look like someone who was just put up to this. Who is she?"

Now, it was Mr. Li’s turn to be the focus of the crowd’s stares. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Mr. Li felt as if she had been stripped naked, thrown onto the street in broad daylight, and was being pointed at by everyone. She was so mortified she wished the ground would swallow her whole. Her body was frozen stiff; she couldn’t even move.

At this moment, her mind, which had been too clouded by rage to think, finally began to clear.

Once she had calmed down, Mr. Li’s face went deathly pale, as if she’d been tossed into an icehouse in the dead of winter.

As for why she had acted so rashly, it was all because she had been provoked by her son.