Chapter 86

In the interrogation room of the Eastern Bureau, rhythmic tapping sounds came from behind the black pearwood desk. Lu Guanlin secretly glanced up.

Qin Yan leaned back in his chair, hidden in the dim yellow light.

His crimson official robe contrasted sharply against the grayish-blue brick wall, making it impossible to ignore.

His distinct facial features—the slender jawline framed with a gold-trimmed collar—possessed undeniable handsomeness yet emanated a fierce aura that made people both intrigued and apprehensive.

Lu Guanlin trembled and lowered his head again. He had been standing there for half an hour, his legs growing numb and weak. Qin Yan remained silent, and Lu Guanlin couldn’t utter the prepared words of protest.

Having never been to the Eastern Bureau or even an ordinary court, Lu Guanlin entered the room under clear skies outside, but as soon as he stepped into the interrogation room, it turned pitch black. Only a lit candle remained on the terrifying man’s desk in front of him, and he dared not approach it.

Lu Guanlin knew Qin Yan’s identity and had heard stories about him, even from his own father, who had scolded him countless times. Lu Guanlin had thought Qin Yan was an old, effeminate man, but he turned out to be so exquisite and beautiful. No wonder his father despised Qin Yan so much every time he mentioned him. It was the same feeling he had when he saw Jian Yujue—someone more formidable and better-looking than himself.

Qin Yan remained silent, leaving Lu Guanlin with his jumbled thoughts. After all, he had promised his father that he wouldn’t admit anything, and as the legitimate son of a second-rank official, Qin Yan probably couldn’t do anything to him.

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Fweeldzu, vbl vyrrkdt nlyple, yde Nw Qwydzkd’p xkde oldv czydj. Tl kdpvkdnvkhlzu zssjle vsoyaep Ckd Zyd, obs bye y byzq-pxkzl sd bkp qynl, bkp lxsvksdp wdalyeyczl.

Mbkp kdlmrzknyczu pvyavzle Nw Qwydzkd. Gqvla pwnb y zsdt vkxl okvbswv ydu iwlpvksdp, nswze vbl nbklq lmyxkdla cl alpsavkdt vs vsavwal vs lmvaynv y nsdqlppksd?

Gqvla ldewakdt qsa ps zsdt, Nw Qwydzkd nswze ds zsdtla bsze cynj. “Nsae, R byhld’v esdl yduvbkdt vbkp vkxl.”

Rv oyp vbl vawvb. Gqvla yzz, kv oyp yzz bkp qyvbla’p eskdt.

Ckd Zyd’p tygl qlzz sd Nw Qwydzkd’p valxczkdt zltp, yde bkp zkrp nwazle pzktbvzu. “Pke vbkp Nsae xldvksd yduvbkdt ycswv obyv usw eke?”

Mbkp oyp vbl qkapv vbkdt Nw Qwydzkd blyae Ckd Zyd pyu pkdnl ldvlakdt vbl kdvlaastyvksd assx. Tl eked’v jdso obu, cwv obkzl pkzldnl bye qaktbvldle bkx lyazkla, Ckd Zyd’p nypwyz vsdl dso xyel bkx lhld xsal yqayke.

“Ls, dsvbkdt,” Nw Qwydzkd pvyxxlale.

Fkdnl vbl vsrkn bye clld casynble, bl bye ds nbsknl cwv vs nsdvkdwl, lhld okvb y cayhl qynl. “Nsae, kq usw’al alqlaakdt vs vbl awxsap ycswv vbl lmyx, R byhl vawzu clld qayxle. Nssj yv vbl svbla lmyxkdyvksd ryrla; lhld vbl lmyxkdyvksd dwxcla kp kdnsaalnv. Fsxlsdl xwpv cl rzsvvkdt ytykdpv xl, vaukdt vs vyadkpb xu alrwvyvksd.”

“You seem to know the details quite well.”

“It’s all hearsay. My father never leaks any official business to me.”

Qin Yan smiled and picked up the unsealed answer sheet from the desk. “So, this answer sheet for the top rank is yours.”

“Lord, that’s for sure. If you don’t believe me, you can compare the handwriting, and I can even recite the entire contents of what I wrote!”

Lu Guanlin said this with confidence. The handwriting of Jian Yujue was written just like the copybooks. Lu Guanlin had practiced for a long time to barely imitate it. After the Ministry of Rites unsealed it, Lu Wenguang immediately transcribed a copy and sent it home, forcing him to memorize the answers for several days, just in case. He didn’t expect it to actually come in handy.

Qin Yan looked at the anxious Lu Guanlin in front of him, who seemed to have no evidence. Although Lu Wenguang wasn’t particularly clever, it was clear that his son was even worse.

Unaware of this, Lu Guanlin thought he was being meticulous and preemptively said, “Master Supervisor, although I wrote it, it has been a while, and I may not remember all the details clearly, but the overall content should be correct!”

“Hmm.”

…

Lu Guanlin stammered as he recited everything. He believed it was fairly smooth; after all, even if it was Jian Yujue, he didn’t believe he could recite everything without any mistakes or omissions.

Qin Yan hummed, “There are a few ink marks on this answer sheet. Did you accidentally smudge them?”

“Yes, Lord, I was nervous during the exam, and I accidentally smudged a few ink marks.”

Qin Yan looked at the clean and traceless answer sheet. In fact, he knew from receiving the confidential letter that this answer sheet couldn’t be Lu Guanlin’s.

But whether the top scorer was manipulated or willingly substituted, it didn’t matter to him. All he wanted was Lu Wenguang’s official hat, and the implicated examiners had already confessed and signed their names. Now, dealing with Lu Guanlin and Jian Yujue was just a casual act.

“Chief, Jian Yujue has been brought here.” Zhou Zheng walked to the door and knocked, announcing.

“Come in.”

Zhou Zheng crossed the threshold and saw Lu Guanlin, his face clearly showing disgust toward Lu Guanlin.

“You continue the interrogation.” Qin Yan was already impatient to exchange words with this person.

“Yes, Chief.”

Qin Yan stood up, adjusted his sleeves, and prepared to leave. He casually looked up, but with just one glance, his hand froze and his brows furrowed.

He slowly walked towards Jian Yujue behind Zhou Zheng, his expression not looking good. Qin Yan was tall and slender, and his imperial robe seemed to carry an invisible pressure as he moved.

As he got closer, Qin Yan’s brows furrowed even more. Zhou Zheng stood beside him, somewhat puzzled. He had never seen Su Mi, so he had no idea of the resemblance between these two people.

There was a huge difference between men and women, and Jian Yujue’s appearance was not exactly the same as Su Mi’s. But strangely, at first glance, Qin Yan couldn’t help but think of Su Mi, as if there was an inherent connection between Jian Yujue and Su Mi.

This feeling made Qin Yan quite unhappy. He was slightly taller than Jian Yujue, and his gaze turned colder as he looked down at him.

Jian Yujue could sense the inexplicable anger from the man in front of him, but he had never seen Qin Yan before. It was like when Lu Guanlin inexplicably kicked up that fuss back then. Why were these people inexplicably hostile toward him?

He took a step back, creating some distance between him and Qin Yan, and bowed, saying, “Jian Yujue, I pay my respects to the Lord.”

Jian Yujue met Qin Yan’s gaze directly.

His voice was neither humble nor overbearing; it was warm yet mixed with a hint of aloofness. Qin Yan stared at him for a while, then turned his steps, returning to the chair behind the desk. “Zhou Zheng, you may begin the interrogation.”

“Yes, Chief.”

Zhou Zheng had long grown accustomed to Qin Yan’s occasional bursts of anger. He walked to the center of the two individuals and cleared his throat. “You should have heard the rumors. There are two identical answer sheets with your names on them.”

Jian Yujue simply responded, but Zhou Zheng, who had been in the shop before, thought it was just a rumor. He looked at Lu Guanlin, who had deliberately avoided his gaze when he entered the room and was still doing so now.

Lu Guanlin, half shielding Jian Yujue, was visibly excited as he faced Zhou Zheng. “Sir, someone is framing me. I have many enemies in the Imperial College, but I have no idea who would harm me like this!”

Zhou Zheng impatiently replied, “Other examinees wouldn’t go as far as jeopardizing their own future to harm you.”

“Yes, I don’t know what that person was thinking.” Lu Guanlin couldn’t fathom it himself. Who could hate him so much? He was about to succeed, and then this unexpected obstacle appeared.

Zhou Zheng couldn’t be bothered to watch his performance. The composition of the examination paper was not something he had control over, but the fact that four answer sheets emerged this time was indeed unexpected. However, he couldn’t bring himself to believe that someone deliberately harmed Lu Guanlin by using their own future.

Zhou Zheng didn’t know how to proceed with the questioning for a while. As he pondered, a commotion suddenly came from behind the desk.

“Lu Guanlin, recite the answers you just recited again.”

“Huh?” Recite it again? Lu Guanlin felt helpless. He had to do it in front of the Lord. But he had no choice but to comply with Qin Yan’s request. He stared at the ground and began reciting nervously.

Jian Yujue, who was standing aside, heard the first sentence, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes. He pursed his lips and looked at Lu Guanlin, but he didn’t interrupt him until he hesitantly finished reciting all three sets of answers.

“Question 51.” Jian Yujue turned towards Lu Guanlin and said, “You got question 51 wrong.”

So many… Lu Guanlin’s mouth hung open for a while before he managed to squeeze out a sentence. “It’s normal to make mistakes when reciting something you’ve written before. Who remembers it that clearly? It’s normal to make mistakes.”

“I remember.” Jian Yujue walked towards Lu Guanlin, his voice firm but resonant. “The answer sheet you just recited is clearly mine.”

At this point, there was no need for further verification. Jian Yujue had already figured out everything. Uncle Li’s guess was correct. His answer sheet had indeed been replaced by Lu Guanlin. As for the extra answer sheet, the image of Shangguan Yan’s expression when he asked Jian Yujue to wait suddenly flashed in his mind. Could it be Shangguan Yan? If it really was Shangguan Yan, was he helping him or did he have other intentions?

Lu Guanlin had always known that even if nothing happened, Jian Yujue would eventually figure it out. However, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. But then he had a sudden idea. “You say it’s yours, then it’s yours. After I finished the exam, I compared the questions with you and even showed you the draft. Now you remember it even more clearly than I do.”

Jian Yujue furrowed his brow. “I don’t.”

“Then where’s the evidence?” Lu Guanlin seemed to have found a loophole and felt proud of himself.

Zhou Zheng couldn’t help but think that since the examiner had already acknowledged it, why was Lu Guanlin still putting on an act? But Qin Yan remained silent, clearly wanting to see how it played out. Zhou Zheng could only resist the urge to roll his eyes.

Unaware of all this, Jian Yujue lowered his head and saw a small red thread poking out of his lapel pocket. It was the talisman, and he suddenly recalled the inkstone that was tainted with incense powder.

“I have.”

Lu Guanlin was startled by his words. “Jian Yujue, if you have evidence, then show it.”

Seeing that they were getting into the topic of evidence, Zhou Zheng quickly fetched paper and a pen to make notes. Jian Yujue slowly began, “The ink I used for my answer sheet was tainted with the temple incense from Banshan Temple.”