Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

150. Mounting Public Indignation

Translator: Sissy That Walk

“Hey, how much for three candles?” the fellow candidate asked.

“I only sell them in fives, not in threes, and the price is thirty taels of silver.” the guy sounded so harsh.

Hearing that, Xiao Yi frowned slightly, no way would the candidates need five candles considering they only needed to stay in the compound for two nights.

To Xiao Yi’s surprise, the guy and the candidate kept grimacing at each other and the candidate spent thirty taels on five candles without haggling. Thirty taels could sustain a family of six for half a year!

Then the guy walked to Xiao Yi’s cubicle, he shook his head on seeing the mess, implying that he didn’t have much hope on Xiao Yi. Then he bent over and made eyes at Xiao Yi, “Candles, Young Master? Candles that will help you hear and see well, candles that help you get a good result!”

Xiao Yi raised his head and asked with indifference, “How much for one candle?”

“Thirty taels for five, fixed price!” the guy winked again.

“Isn’t that too pricy for candles?” Xiao Yi asked hesitantly on purpose.

The guy fell for it, he cast a few glances at the ends of the candles intentionally and murmured, “Thirty taels is definitely worth it! Just give it a try!”

The guy was about to give up and leave when Xiao Yi handed him thirty taels of silver, he took the money with great excitement.

“Young Master, can I help you to light it up?” the guy asked, with his voice trembling.

Xiao Yi sneered, he grabbed the candle guy’s hand and shouted, “I got you, cheater!”

Xiao Yi’s shout attracted the troops on patrol, “What’s going on over there?”

“This guy is selling answers!” Xiao Yi roared, “For well over a decade, us poor scholars have been persevering in our studies in spite of hardships! But there is no fair in the exam due to people like him!”

“Unfair! Why do we even bother to take part in the exam now that there’s answers available!”

“We demand fairness!”

“We demand a thorough investigation!”

The candidates in the compound were burning with rage, for scholars of humble origin, this was their only way to realize their ambition and seek for a political career! They would end up failing in the exam because the rich candidates could afford the candles but they could not!

Chief Examiner Officer Liang went to consult Prince Ning after he saw it was Xiao Yi who started this. Liang knew Xiao Yi’s relationship with Prince Xing, he knew he had landed himself in troubled waters.

As luck would have it, Prince Xing had arrived with the emperor’s decree.

Liang begged Prince Ning, “Your Highness, please spare my life! Prince Xing is just at the gate now! Please enlighten me!”

“We are in the same boat now, I don’t think you need me to enlighten you. Plus, do you really think so little of me? Do you really think I’m behind the cheating scandal?” Prince Ning replied with full composure while he was sipping tea.

Liang got more scared when he saw Prince Ning’s reaction, he had a hunch that Prince Ning was going to make him the scapegoat. Poor Officer Liang’s family was depending on him, he slumped down on the ground and kowtowed to Prince Ning, “Please give me your instructions, Your Highness!”

Prince Ning smiled, “That candidate insists there’s something wrong with the candles, but what if there’s not? What if it’s that candidate making trouble? Maybe it’s Prince Xing who has asked that candidate to frame me up. I’m sure other candidates will let it go after you take care of that troublemaker.”

Liang knew what Prince Ning was implying, Prince Ning wanted to use his hand to get rid of Xiao Yi. He trembled with fear, Prince Ning meant to frame up Xiao Yi and Prince Xing!

“Your Highness, I… I’m afraid… …”

“Officer Liang, you are the chief examiner. Do you think you can remain intact after fire and cheating scandal in your compound? Or are you ready to die with your entire family?”

What Prince Ning said struck Liang’s heart like a hammer.

“Officer, please open the gate now! Prince Xing is still waiting outside the gate, we all will be in trouble if Prince Xing loses his temper!” a man reported.

Liang raised his head slowly, he cast Prince Ning a glimpse and said in his heart ‘I will sink with you if you dare hurt my family!’

Prince Ning sneered, “Officer Liang has a heart attack and is now in a coma. Go arrest the troublemaker and the candle guy, check the candles carefully!”

“You… you want to hide the truth from the masses … …” with that Liang dashed out, trying to open the gate for Prince Xing.

Prince Ning’s guards stopped him promptly and locked him in the reading room.

… …

A troop of soldiers marched down to Xiao Yi’s cubicle, Xiao Yi exclaimed in his heart, ‘This doesn’t bode well! This compound is basically hermetic, how can I prove my innocence!’

Xiao Yi shouted, “Why are you arresting me? Trying to destroy evidences? So we are supposed to let it go like this?”

Other candidates shouted as well, “Do not arrest him!”

Xiao Yi gripped the candle guy’s hand and shouted as the troop approached him, “I won’t let you take this guy away before I see the chief examiner!”

The candle guy grimaced in pain and begged Xiao Yi to let go of him.

The candidates’ echoed Xiao Yi, Yao Wenyuan who had recognized Xiao Yi’s voice from his cubicle threw his pen away and jumped out from his own cubicle, he called some of his classmates in other cubicles and ran towards Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi was so touched, he thanked Yao Wenyuan and understood the meaning of the word ‘family’.

Yao Wenyuan raised his head, “No need to thank me! I’m just voicing my discontents, we demand fairness! I hate to see my painstaking effort turn out to be nothing!”

“Check this out!” Xiao Yi withdrew a candle from the basket and broke it off, revealing a tiny piece of paper.

Yao Wenyuan grabbed the paper, it was answers written by mouse whisker.

“My fellow candidates!” Yao Wenyuan raised his arm, “This piece of paper is hidden inside the candle, it’s the answers! No wonder the candles are so pricy, this is a scheme! Someone is trying to tamper with the imperial exam!”

“Shameless!”

“Despicable!”

“Dirty trick!”

… …

The troop rebuked, “Be quiet! And go back to your own cubicles! Otherwise you are disqualified!”