Chen Heng studied by the light in a ruined temple, but during the county-level examination, Qian Yi, the son of a wealthy family, falsely accused him of smuggling in notes.
The chief examiner tore up his paper in front of everyone. "A lowborn nobody like you thinks you deserve to pass?"
Three years later, Chen Heng placed first in all three rounds of the imperial examinations. At the palace examination, the emperor personally asked him about the injustice he had suffered.
Bowing, he replied, "Without that humiliation, I would never have understood the weight of the examinations or the darkness of officialdom."
A quiet laugh came from the throne. "Qian Yi's father has been executed, and the chief examiner has been exiled three thousand li."
Chen Heng looked up and saw that the woman seated behind the beaded curtain was the physician who had given him silver all those years ago.
On his first day as a newly appointed official, the yamen gates were crowded with examinees who had testified falsely against him back then.
Chen Heng gently helped them to their feet. "Please rise, gentlemen. A scholar's backbone must never bend."
As they looked at him through tear-filled eyes, a sheet of paper slipped from his sleeve. It was a secret order to wipe out the entire Qian family.
