"Great! You are worthy of being Grand Master Ge's last disciple. Even the little fat boy from the Lu family has made such progress after being influenced by you for so long!"
The emperor clapped his hands in admiration, then looked at the servant who had come forward and stated his conclusion in a nonchalant tone.
"If you follow Zhang Shou's method and confirm that the plaque is not hollow, then you have falsely accused your superiors and have ulterior motives. You should be executed for your crimes. If you follow his method and confirm that the plaque is indeed hollow, then you have known about it for a long time but did not report it. You should be punished for your crimes and beheaded for your disrespect!"
Zhang Shou didn't expect the emperor to make such a sudden decision. He was stunned at first, but then he agreed and admired it in his heart.
This kind of behavior of taking advantage of the emperor's presence to report superiors' violations of law is absolutely not worth promoting!
Although Zhou Xun was a high-ranking official, he was only the chief academic officer of the Imperial College and could not cover up everything in the entire capital. If one really discovered that his behavior was unusual, there were various ways and means to report it. But this person chose to jump out today, which meant he had ulterior motives!
After the emperor's words, which were not very sharp but had very clear meaning, the servant could no longer maintain his stubborn kneeling posture and instantly collapsed to the ground. The next moment, he finally raised his head again and shouted in despair, "It was Zhang Shou, it was Zhang Shou who ordered me..."
Before he could finish the next word, Ah Liu, who had been as quiet as a virgin just now, suddenly moved like a rabbit, rushed behind the man, and knocked him to the ground with a knife. When he turned around, he looked at the emperor with an innocent face: "I'm afraid he has a hidden weapon."
Zhang Shou's expression was even more innocent than Ah Liu's. He didn't even know who this guy was, so what was he doing to ordering him around
I didn’t even know Zhou Xun, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, before!
Before Zhang Shou could even think of how to defend himself, Zhu Ying rushed forward angrily, "Your Majesty, this guy is slandering me!"
"If I didn't know that he was slandering me, would I have sentenced him like this?" The emperor was both angry and amused. He shook his head and glanced at Zhang Shou. Then he looked at Zhu Ying and said, "You have good taste. Zhang Shou is calm and composed, quick-witted, and a talented person. Remember to bring him to the palace for the empress dowager to see, so that she won't think you are too willful to get married!"
Without waiting for the angry Zhu Ying to explode, Chu Kuan gestured to the guards to rush forward and drag away the servant who was knocked unconscious by Ah Liu. He did not even search his body to look for the possible murder weapon that Ah Liu mentioned.
Zhang Shou bowed deeply and said, "I am ashamed to accept your praise, Your Majesty. However, the claim that the Grand Secretary knew that the inscription contained a secret scroll and therefore wanted to find out the secret and even take it out is completely absurd. Regardless of whether the inscription is really hollow or not, I think that as a senior in the literary world, the Grand Secretary would not do such a thing. Please be clear about it, Your Majesty."
"Oh." The emperor looked at Zhou Xun, who seemed to be in a dream and in a trance, with a half-smile, and pursed his lips, "Go and help him up."
Seeing Zhang Shou immediately stepped forward and helped the man up, he smiled.
“As the Grand Secretary of the Northern Academy, is it necessary for you to hang around the Imperial College storehouse every day, resulting in a case of false accusation by a petty official? You are not the only one who likes the calligraphy of Emperor Taizu. Tell me, it is not impossible for me to allow you to copy the original works in the General Collection of Ancient and Modern Art. Why do you have to do that?” Seeing Zhou Xun finally raised his head, his eyes were filled with surprise, shame, and gratitude... In short, it was extremely complicated, and the emperor laughed again.