The Ye family has been in mourning for seven days. There is no gongs and drums ceremony, only the whole family wears mourning.
Teachers from Huating Academy came to visit one after another, and students came here faithfully.
The people in the town remembered Mr. Ye's past achievements and cried incessantly in front of the gate.
The Ye family did not set up a white table, but only received a few close people.
Everyone who came only offered a stick of incense in the mourning hall and then quietly left.
Half a month later, the Ye family became completely deserted.
The pain of the flood was slowly erased by time, and Yongshun County officially entered summer and returned to its former appearance.
Returning to the academy, Chen Ping looked at the forest path he had walked with Mr. Ye, and felt as if he had been in another world.
"Let's go."
He Qingxuan stopped for a moment on the bluestone road, his eyes overflowing with memories, and he said helplessly: "Brother Chongwen, won't he come?"
Chen Ping shook his head, "Grandparents and grandchildren are not equal to me, so let him rest more."
He Qingxuan nodded silently and sighed in his heart.
"That's strange." He Qingxuan changed the topic and looked at the students in groups in the corridor.
"The college is very quiet today. Aren't there students making trouble on weekdays?"
On the other side of the corridor, there were only a few students looking at them and whispering.
When he saw two people looking towards them, he immediately looked away and dispersed as if nothing had happened.
Chen Ping didn't pay much attention, "Maybe it's because the weather is too hot."
The heat is rising after the heavy rain.
The teachers who teach all have straight faces, their eyes are dazed, and they are a little uneasy.
Not only the academy, but also people outside are a little impatient.
After class, He Qingxuan decided to find someone to find out.
However, he suddenly discovered that the students around him seemed to be deliberately avoiding themselves.
He told Chen Ping about this, and Chen Ping thought for a while and then realized it later.
Although he was careful, he was so exhausted mentally and physically during this period that he did not notice the changes around him.
"Let's find someone to ask."
Things are indeed a bit strange.
Half a month ago, teachers and students from the academy went to Ye’s house to pay their respects.
Even if people take tea, they shouldn't have such big changes in just half a month.
The two looked at each other and went directly to find their teacher Li Yang.
The acquaintance of Bai Shu passed away, and Li Yang seemed to have been taken away from him.
At this time, I was leaning in front of the window, looking lonely.
There was a chessboard placed in front of him, and there was still an unfinished game on the chessboard.
Seeing the two people arriving, his eyes became more complicated, "You are here."
Chen Ping was surprised, "Did you know we would come?"
He felt that Li Yang's eyebrows seemed to be depressed, and they were even more serious than when he went to pay homage to Mr. Ye's coffin that day.
Li Yang sneered, "If you don't come, I will go look for you instead."
"You have been accompanying Chongwen for the past half month, but you know that someone outside is slandering your master!"
"This group of shameless people, they actually said! They actually said..."
Li Yang is usually very kind and rarely shows such anger.
When the two saw this, they felt uneasy.
Chen Ping asked quickly: "What do people outside say?"
As if he found it difficult to say anything, Li Yang took a deep breath and dropped his sleeves in frustration, "Go out and find out for yourselves!"
"It's a pity that my good friend has lived up to his reputation for most of his life and devoted himself to serving the public good. How could he ever be greedy for ink?"
"But he was so slandered by a bad guy. He was just bullying him and now he can't defend himself. Such behavior is really disgusting!"
Li Yang seemed to be in a very bad mood. After saying this, he stood up and strode away, not knowing where he was going.
Chen Ping only heard the word "greedy", and his heart suddenly tightened, and he suddenly felt that something was not good.
He didn't have time to think too much and ran out of the academy.
He Qingxuan also had a bad feeling when he thought about how his family members had discouraged him from going out in the past few days.
The two of them ran directly out of the academy gate and came to a crowded place.
A low mocking sound suddenly hit my ears!
"If you ask me, there is no airtight wall in this world. Then isn't Ye Wenchang an example of everyone? How can an ordinary flood discharge channel be built like that?"
Chen Ping paused, his eyebrows raised coldly, but he didn't move.
He Qingxuan took a step slower and happened to hear the next sentence: "The dam has not been repaired for ten years. Where did the money go? As for the road construction last time, tsk tsk, I heard that the county government got a lot. Anyway, we ordinary people are the same
I didn’t even see him.”
"I also heard people say that the money has gone into their pockets, but the world is as dark as crows... How many honest officials can there be?"
The drinker shook his head and said to the man next to him: "Officials want to be famous, and famous people want to make a fortune. Don't they just hit it off!"
The drinkers were drunk and dressed in rich clothes. I don’t know which businessman they were.
However, He Qingxuan recognized him as one of the people who donated money to build the road.
"I just said that those who make the fuss are all arrogant. Why is Mr. Ye so keen on dealing with money? It turns out there is another reason."
"It may come out of nowhere, but it may not be without reason..."
Ridiculous!
Ridiculous!
They are actually saying that Magistrate Wang and Mr. Ye colluded to be corrupt.
Chen Ping was furious when he heard this, his handsome little face was filled with anger, and he rushed straight into the tavern.
"Yongshun County didn't even have access to an official road before, so why should we be greedy?"
"My teacher has a lot of friends. I can give it a try even in the capital, so why waste my time here."
"You are full of ridiculous words, do you have any evidence?"
The two of them rushed over angrily, and the drinker immediately woke up and was startled.
He seemed to recognize the two children and immediately started chatting, "Do you think it's true? We just heard about it."
Rumors are as powerful as tigers, and there is no sharper weapon than this!
He Qingxuan immediately said coldly, "If you dare to slander my teacher, don't even think about taking over the He family's business in the future."
The man was immediately stunned, and without daring to stay any longer, he left with a few vague words.
I never expected that in just half a month, someone would slander Mr. Ye so much.
Chen Ping was worried and walked around with He Qingxuan again.
Fortunately, not many people believe this rumor. I think the drinker just now may have been unhappy because he donated money.
"The teacher is an upright person, and this rumor will definitely be disproven."
He Qingxuan said angrily.
Chen Ping frowned, still having doubts in his heart, "Where did this rumor come from?"
He Qingxuan said coldly: "Don't worry, I'll ask my family to check it out immediately. I don't believe it can't be found out!"
Chen Ping reminded, "No matter what, let's not tell Chongwen yet."
However, the development of things was unexpected.
He Qingxuan used all the connections in the family and searched for more than half a month, but still could not find the source of the rumors.
Not only that, the rumor spread like lightning throughout Qingsong Town.
This is clearly someone spreading rumors and deliberately targeting Mr. Ye and County Magistrate Wang.
Seeing that Ye Chongwen is about to return from school.
He Qingxuan was so worried that Chen Ping couldn't keep calm.
On this day, the two of them came to the gate of the college and wanted to intercept Ye Chongwen.
Who would have thought, everything was too late.
The entrance of Huating College.
An arrogant student stopped Ye Chongwen, who had obviously lost weight, and said coldly.
"What did I say wrong? Ye Wenchang colluded with the government to embezzle money and donate money. If something happens, he will bring it upon himself! This is retribution..."
"Oops!"
A bang.
The student flew out the door and fell heavily to the ground, wailing in pain.
Ye Chongwen was stunned for a moment, then turned around and saw Chen Pingping crossing the threshold like ice.
"Damn it, are you trying to talk nonsense again?"
I am so angry that I don’t care about the etiquette of a scholar.