Do you know: I, a commoner prime minister

Chapter 60 Sun Zhigao is arrested

The poem "Deer Cry" in the Lesser Odes of the Book of Songs begins: "The deer cry 'yoyo,' as they eat the wild apples. I have guests, so I play the zither and blow the flute."

Originally, it depicted the natural scene of deer calling out to their companions after discovering food. The ancients used this imagery to express their welcome and respect for talented people.

The word for deer is a homophone for "prosperity," and it also implies high official rank, generous salary, and a successful career. Therefore, the banquet was named Deer Cry Banquet.

The Deer Cry Banquet was not only to celebrate the newly appointed scholars, but also to invite local dignitaries and wealthy merchants.

It was more like setting up a platform for scholars and local upper-class people to meet and get to know each other.

Some local powerful figures would even choose marriage partners from among them.

Therefore, at banquets, poems and couplets would be presented to give the newly appointed candidates a chance to showcase their talents.

Guan Yan's only concern was that Li Mu would take this opportunity to deliberately make things difficult for him and embarrass him.

Zhou An wasn't worried. Everyone prominent in Tongzhou was there, so even if Li Mu wanted to make things difficult for him, he wouldn't dare to go too far.

"Don't be careless. That guy is shameless and might not care about those things," Guan Yan reminded him, still worried.

"I know what I'm doing!" Zhou An nodded.

He felt there must be other reasons behind the conflict between the Guan and Li families.

The relationship between the prefectural judge and the governor was not one of principal and deputy; it was not that moving Guan Yan's father would allow Li Mu's father to advance further.

Even if Li Mu's father had powerful connections, Guan Yan's father, who could become the prefect of a prefecture, must have been quite extraordinary.

Unless there is a other reason, it is unlikely that they will engage in open or covert struggles.

Since Guan Yan wouldn't say, he hesitated and didn't investigate further.

"Then I'll head back now. You get ready."

Guan Yan joked, "What a pity! If you weren't already married, I'd even consider asking my father to let me marry my sister to you!"

Zhou An: "..."

Not long after Guan Yan left, the prefectural government sent him an invitation to attend the Deer Cry Banquet at Denggaolou before 7 p.m. the next evening.

Zhou An accepted the invitation, gave Shi Tou a tip, and saw the person off.

Not long after he entered the house, some people from the surrounding area learned of Zhou An's success in the imperial examination and came to visit him.

These people weren't visiting to make friends with Zhou An or anything; they were mainly there to share in the joy.

As the saying goes, one cannot hit a smiling face, so Zhou An could not refuse.

After dealing with several groups, he grew tired of it and left the inn with the stone.

On the one hand, it was to avoid those who came to visit, and on the other hand, it was to see what the outside world was saying.

Zhou An strolled through the streets with Shi Tou. When they passed a teahouse, they saw many scholars drinking tea, so they found a place to sit down and ordered a pot of tea and some snacks.

The scholars were indeed discussing matters related to the provincial examination. Zhou An listened attentively for a while and found that although most of them expressed some resentment, they did not question the fairness of the provincial examination.

Hu Yuan was a lecturer at the Imperial Academy and had been in charge of the Imperial Academy. He was highly respected and virtuous.

Because of his prestige, even if scholars felt that the provincial examinations had become more difficult and harbored resentment, they dared not directly criticize Hu Yuan.

However, a few older scholars said that it was unfair to them that Hu Yuan was involved in setting the exam questions.

Actually, this isn't a question of fairness, but rather that they've failed the exam multiple times, causing them immense psychological distress.

Hu Yuan's setting of the questions was merely a trigger for them to vent their pent-up frustrations.

The reason Fan Jin went mad after passing the imperial examination was because his long-term failure in the examinations led to excessive psychological repression, and his sudden success caused a mental breakdown.

Young scholars have experienced fewer failures, but older scholars have experienced many failures and need an excuse to vent.

However, such cases are ultimately few and far between, and perhaps the time is too short for them to fully develop.

After listening for a while and finishing his snacks, just as Zhou An was about to ask Shi Tou to pay and leave, a commotion arose from a nearby inn.

Some scholars who were drinking tea went over to see what was going on, and Zhou An, seeing this, had Shi Tou pay for it and went over as well.

The inn was completely surrounded by people, and Zhou An could not see what was inside.

"I heard that two scholars failed their exams and, drowning their sorrows in alcohol, somehow got into a fight."

"This is truly an insult to scholarship! Few are admitted to the provincial examinations; failing is the norm. Their actions are a disgrace to us scholars!"

The onlookers were abuzz with discussion, and many began to condemn the instigator.

Zhou An shook his head, turned around, and said, "Let's go!"

"Sun Zining, you're the one who introduced me to this person, saying you could find out who the chief examiner would be beforehand. I spent a thousand taels of silver on this; you owe me that!"

"Although you spent money, there was nothing wrong with the information provided by others."

A quarrel broke out inside the inn, and the crowd of onlookers immediately erupted in uproar.

Zhou An didn't hear clearly, but the voice sounded familiar, so he turned around again.

"Make way, everyone make way!"

A shout came from behind, and several constables came over.

Although the provincial examinations have ended, the number of yamen runners patrolling the streets has decreased significantly.

However, all the candidates taking the exam were still in the city, and the government had not withdrawn all the patrolling officers.

A fight broke out at the inn, so the innkeeper sent his waiter to fetch the authorities.

The constables parted the crowd and entered the inn, and soon came out escorting two people.

When Zhou An saw the two people, they were indeed Sun Zhigao and Guo Xun.

The two were disheveled, with bruises and scratches on their faces, and kept their heads down, not daring to look at anyone.

Zhou An had roughly guessed the cause of the matter: Sun Zhigao must have dragged Guo Xun along to give money to the "son of an official" he knew.

He later realized he had been tricked, but dared not speak out. After failing the exam, he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and got into a fight for some unknown reason.

After listening for a while, just as he had guessed, he left with the stone.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't a big deal, since they only paid money to find out who the examiner was beforehand; they didn't cheat during the imperial examination.

However, their reputations are definitely ruined, and they'll probably be too ashamed to participate in the provincial examinations again.

However, this matter was far beyond Zhou An's expectations. That night, he was reading in his room at the inn when Guan Yan hurriedly came looking for him.

"De Kuan, why are you in such a hurry?"

Seeing that his complexion was off and his breathing was rapid, Zhou An invited him to come in and sit down and rest.

"Huai De!"

Guan Yan asked sternly, "Are you and that Sun Zhigao jointly guaranteeing each other's rights?"

"That's right, we have a joint guarantee." Zhou An nodded, a bad feeling creeping into his heart.

Could it be that after Sun Zhigao was arrested, he made baseless accusations, claiming that he was also involved?

If that's the case, then it's hard to explain, since he did pass the imperial examination.

However, Zhou An quickly dismissed this speculation, as Sun Zhigao would gain nothing from slandering him.

Sun Zhigao and Guo Xun both failed the exam. They only paid money to find out who the examiner was in advance, so it cannot be considered cheating.

But if we involve him, the one who passed the exam, it will be hard to explain.

Even if Sun Zhigao is stupid, he can't be this stupid, right?

"You weren't involved in this, were you?" Guan Yan asked urgently.

"No, he mentioned it to me, but I refused!" Zhou An shook his head.

"That's good!" Guan Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou An breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "De Kuan, what exactly happened?"

He realized that Guan Yan was in such a hurry because he knew that he and Sun Zhigao were jointly guaranteeing the case and was worried that he had also been involved.

"Did you know that Sun Zhigao and Guo Xun, who were acting as guarantors for you, have been arrested?"

"I know, I saw it with my own eyes not long ago!"

Zhou An asked doubtfully, "This isn't a big deal, is it?"

He had been in Tongzhou for nearly a month. When he went out before the provincial examination, he encountered many people who claimed to know the chief examiner in advance, as well as some who sold prediction questions.

Although he wasn't fooled, some other test takers certainly were.