Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

Chapter 351 Guess

Hearing Li Ping's guess, Ye Changyan nodded, then shook his head, looking at Li Ping with a puzzled look on his face.

"You're nodding and shaking your head at the same time. Tell me, was Lu Xiaotong bribed to fix the match in the final?"

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the private room, and then the waiter started serving the dishes.

After the waiter served all the dishes and left the private room and closed the door, Ye Changyan looked around hesitantly.

Seeing this, Li Ping spoke.

"Jingzong and Jingzu are guarding outside, so no one should suddenly break in. Come on, let's eat and talk."

As he spoke, Li Ping picked up his chopsticks first, and called on Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng to also pick up their chopsticks.

The three of them then stretched out their chopsticks to pick up the food. Li Ping picked up the wine jug that the waiter had just brought over, filled a glass for Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng, then filled his own glass, put down the wine jug and raised his glass.

"Come on, come on, congratulations to the two brothers for winning the competition and receiving the reward from His Majesty. Cheers!"

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng also raised their glasses. The three of them clinked their glasses lightly and drank them all in one gulp without any hesitation.

Ye Changyan put down his wine glass, and Li Ping poured fresh bamboo wine into everyone's glasses. Ye Changyan picked up a piece of food with chopsticks, put it into his mouth, chewed for a while, and then continued with the beginning of the story.

"On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, after the polo match entered the final, Lu Xiaotong was not in good shape. At that time, I saw a ball from the War Wolf Knights team flying towards Lu Xiaotong, but Lu Xiaotong seemed to be out of his mind and didn't notice it at all. I rushed to the field in a hurry, and saw Lu Xiaotong being hit in the face by the polo ball, and then fell off the horse."

Liang Jingcheng and Li Ping both put down their chopsticks and listened attentively to Ye Changyan's description of the details of that day.

"When I ran to Lu Xiaotong, he had already lost consciousness. I was very anxious at the time. I thought he must have been seriously injured, so I didn't dare to touch him easily. I was afraid that he would never wake up, so I kept calling him. Fortunately, he finally heard my call and came to his senses."

Ye Changyan raised his glass to Liang Jingcheng and Li Ping. After the three of them clinked their glasses again, Ye Changyan continued.

"After the doctor examined Lu Xiaotong and was about to take him to the clinic, Lu Xiaotong whispered in my ear that before the official Dragon Boat Festival competition, someone privately approached him and asked him to get a chance to represent the Guozi Tiangang team in the draw. They also asked him to be the last one to draw lots, and they would give him 1,000 taels as a reward afterwards."

Liang Jingcheng and Li Ping were both a little surprised, and then they listened to what Li Ping said.

"It seems that Lu Xiaotong has really been bribed to fix the match!"

But Liang Jingcheng looked confused.

"But this doesn't make sense. If what Lu Xiaotong said was true, and he was bribed to be the last to draw lots, then why did the people from the other three teams hesitate to stretch out their hands to draw lots after I drew lots?"

Li Ping and Ye Changyan both nodded. There was indeed something strange about this. According to the conditions offered by the other party to bribe Lu Xiaotong, at least the other three people who drew the lots were also bribed.

"This is indeed a bit suspicious. This is also a question that I have not been able to figure out in the past few days."

Seeing Ye Changyan's puzzled look, Li Ping suddenly had an idea and seemed to have thought of a possibility, so he spoke.

"Could it be that the other party originally wanted to bribe Yang Fugong, but the two sides could not reach an agreement on the terms, or that Yang Fugong had a change of heart and changed his mind? He changed the originally marked lot slips, so the people from the other three teams who were going to draw lots kept staring at the lot slips in Yang Fugong's hand, but they could not find the secret mark that had been agreed upon long ago, so they were reluctant to reach out to draw lots?"

After hearing Li Ping's analysis, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng seemed to have been cleared of confusion, as if they had grasped some clues.

"If it is as you analyzed, then our previous doubts can be explained. However, Yang Siye has always been known as a fair and honest person in the Imperial College. It may be difficult to bribe Yang Siye."

Hearing Ye Changyan's doubts, Li Ping just snorted and laughed.

"Whether Yang Fugong is such a person or not, I have no way of judging, but in this world, there are many cases where people know a person's face but not his heart. For fame and fortune, what dirty and absurd things can't they do?"

As they spoke, the three of them raised their glasses, clinked them lightly, and drank them all in one gulp once again.

"So, Lu Xiaotong was really bribed?"

Hearing Li Ping's curious question, Ye Changyan shook his head.

"He didn't agree to it at first, so when I suddenly suggested that Jing Cheng go to draw lots, he didn't object. So he was at most bribed but failed. However, after the Guozi Tiangang team defeated the Fenghuo Xiaoqi team and entered the finals, Lu Xiaotong was threatened, which indirectly led to his fall from his horse later."

Seeing Liang Jingcheng and Li Ping looking at him in surprise, with gossip fire burning in their eyes, Ye Changyan continued speaking.

"I guess there was a problem with the draw. The final draw result was not the grouping that the other party had originally planned. That's why the Wolf Knights defeated the Black Armor Cavalry without any effort. To be honest, the Wolf Knights were indeed the most favored team among the four teams. The other party wanted to ensure that the Wolf Knights defeated the Imperial College Tiangang Team in the final. Therefore, they threatened Lu Xiaotong with his father's official status. That's why Lu Xiaotong was so distracted on the field that he didn't even notice the polo ball coming straight at his face, and he was eventually defeated!"

Liang Jingcheng looked incredulous, but Li Ping smiled knowingly and spoke.

"When one plan failed, try another. When the game was nearly halfway through and they were trailing 1 to 5, their plan really worked. But they never expected that the substitute player of the Guozi Tiangang team would come up with a killer move that caught the opponent off guard. Even though they had planned everything, they still failed in the end!"

After he finished speaking, Li Ping raised his glass, and the three of them clinked glasses again. Then Li Ping spoke with some emotion.

"As far as I know, this Lu Xiaotong is not some unknown person. His father, Lu Zhiguang, is a fourth-rank censor-in-chief of the Supervisory Council. This censor-in-chief is a powerful position in the Supervisory Council. The other party failed to bribe him, and he dared to use the status of a fourth-rank censor-in-chief as a threat in front of Lu Xiaotong. It seems that the other party must be from a prominent background."

As he spoke, Li Ping smiled, picked up a piece of food with chopsticks, put it into his mouth, and then continued.

"I feel that this matter will not end here. As a censor of the Supervisory Yuan, Lu Zhiguang will definitely not easily suffer such a big loss."