Song County Magistrate how could not manage, he waited for this moment, waited till the flowers were about to wither.
"County Magistrate," Liu Teacher also quickly came forward and said, "Don't believe this shrew's nonsense!"
"That's right, sir," the other examiners also came forward one after another, "This woman must be deliberately confusing the matter because her son did not pass the exam. I hope Your Excellency sees through this clearly."
"This..."
Song County Magistrate pretended to be in a dilemma, and finally looked at Manager He who was in a daze.
"Manager He, I wonder what you think?"
"What did you say?" Manager He turned his head and put his hand to his ear, asking loudly, "County Magistrate, speak up, I can't hear you!"
Seeing this, Zhang County Captain went to his ear and yelled, "The County Magistrate asked if you want to investigate the cheating!"
"Why are you yelling so loud?" Manager He frowned and turned his head away, "You've deafened me!"
Zhang County Captain: ...
Everyone: ...
"But you said someone privately made weapons?" Manager He went on to say, "That's a serious crime! How could the County Magistrate not do something about it?"
Everyone: ...
"Good," without waiting for everyone to react, Song County Magistrate yelled, "Since Manager He agrees, then investigate!"
Liu Teacher: ...
Liu Teacher cursed inwardly, this blind and deaf Manager He, how could he drop the ball at the critical moment?
Now Song County Magistrate was covering up his mistake, wanting to investigate cheating, which undoubtedly created considerable trouble for him.
But it didn't matter.
The exam papers of Li Xian and the other three were indeed replaced by him secretly, but he also secretly copied the replaced exam papers and told them to memorize them.
And the names on the students' original exam papers were also changed.
So if it was really thoroughly investigated, the cheaters would be Wang Er and the other two who did not pass.
As for how they exchanged the exam papers, who knows?
With this safeguard, Liu Teacher put his heart back in place: "Since that's the case, then investigate. I just don't know what the County Magistrate wants to investigate?"
"This is simple, take out the students' two exam papers and compare them..."
"No need!"
Before Song County Magistrate could finish speaking, Li Yao interrupted him.
She saw through Liu Teacher's meticulous arrangements, knowing that using conventional methods to investigate would not only be useless, but would play right into his hands.
"Mrs. Li, what do you mean by no need?" Song County Magistrate asked, "How can it be determined whether there is cheating or not without comparing the two exam papers?"
"Exam papers can be faked."
"Absurd!" Liu Teacher snorted coldly, "According to what you said, there is no way to investigate this matter?"
"Of course there is a way," Li Yao said, "Exam papers can be faked, but people cannot be faked. You just need to have the students copy out the exam papers they answered again from memory, then compare them with the originals. Whoever writes inconsistently cheated."
Song County Magistrate pondered for a moment, and looked at Manager He again: "Manager He, what do you think?"
"Huh?" Manager He was confused again, "If the County Magistrate wants to reconcile, then reconcile. Harmony is valued everywhere in the world."
Everyone: ...
"Good, then do as Mrs. Li suggested."
Soon someone brought in tables and chairs, pens and paper, and had the six students copy out from memory the essays they wrote during the exam.
Li Xian did not expect this foolproof thing to sprout branches again. He glanced coldly at Li Yao, then sat down. But he had already received Liu Teacher's signal, so he knew what to do. After sitting down, he quickly wrote out the essay from memory.
After everyone finished writing, Song County Magistrate had people collect the exam papers, and everyone was stunned.
The six exam papers were supposed to be different, but after collecting them, they found that Li Xian and Wang Er's, Zhang Zhan and Lv Xiucai's, and Song Zhe and Hu Ling's were exactly the same!
The six people only wrote out three exam papers. Who would believe there was no cheating!
"Humph," Song County Magistrate snorted coldly, "Come, seal up all the exam papers! Today we must get to the bottom of this!"
"Yes!"
Zhang County Captain immediately took a group of yamen runners to collect all the exam papers.
And Liu Teacher sneered inwardly.
Go ahead and investigate. Hurry up and investigate.
Soon Wang Er, Lv Xiucai, and Song Zhe will be proven to be the cheaters!
Let's see how you end this then!
"Your Excellency," Zhang County Captain said, "All exam papers have been collected."
"Compare them immediately!" Song County Magistrate thought for a moment and said, "Let's start with Li Xian and Wang Er first."
Zhang County Captain took out the two students' exam papers, as well as what they just copied, and compared them together.
But soon, he frowned.
"County Magistrate, this..."
"What are the results?"
"After comparison," Zhang County Captain glanced back at Li Yao, saw her nod to him, then reluctantly said, "Li Xian's original exam paper is exactly the same as what he copied. Wang Er's original exam paper is different from what he copied. So the evidence shows that Wang Er...has the most suspicion of cheating."
"How can this be?"
Everyone was stunned.
No one expected that Li Yao's son, who made the biggest fuss, turned out to be the cheater!
What was going on here?
Liu Teacher watched coldly, sneering inwardly the whole time.
They were still too inexperienced to compete with him!
And this was just the beginning, the good show was still to come!
"Continue comparing the other exam papers!"
"Yes."
Zhang County Captain and others compared the remaining exam papers, and their faces were even uglier.
Because for Zhang Zhan and Lv Xiucai, it was Lv Xiucai whose didn't match.
And for Song Zhe and Hu Ling, it was Song Zhe whose didn't match.
This result made everyone dare not say a word, because Song Zhe was Song County Magistrate's only son. Being caught cheating red-handed by his own father, this matter would really blow up!
"County Magistrate," Liu Teacher said, holding back his laughter, "why don't we just let this matter go. After all, these three cheaters didn't pass either, it doesn't affect the results."
He felt that if he gave Song County Magistrate a way out, he would naturally take it.
After all, his son cheating was not an honorable thing.
But unexpectedly, Song County Magistrate's face was black as he coldly ordered, "Why let it go? Those who dare to cheat must be punished! Come, arrest these three for me!"
"Wait!"
Just as Wang Er and the other two didn't know what was happening, Li Yao stood up again.
"How dare you make trouble again, you shrew?" Liu Teacher scolded loudly, "Or do you dare to question the County Magistrate's verdict?"
"County Magistrate, examiners," Li Yao yelled, "are you sure you looked through all the exam papers carefully?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just now from a distance I saw the essays Li Xian and Wang Er copied, and found they wrote different things."
"What?" The examiners were stunned, "Where are they different?"
"What Li Xian wrote was missing a sentence compared to Wang Er's," Li Yao said. "See for yourselves if you don't believe me."
The examiners hurriedly checked and indeed found a missing sentence at the end.
"So what if that's the case?" Liu Teacher said, "What Li Xian copied matches the transcribed and original exam papers. It's Wang Er who added a sentence, that's making something out of nothing!"