Who Rules The World Episode 12 Recap, Plot

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On the day of the imperial examination, the examinee Xu Yuxin was caught red-handed by the supervisors for bringing in a cheat sheet. Xu Yuxin admitted that the cheat sheet had been sold by a middleman within the examination academy, which shocked everyone present. Given the severity of such a scandal in the exam, Pei Youshuo ordered the examination to be halted and all candidates to be searched.

Feng Qiwu reported the incident at the examination academy to Hei Fengxi, but to her surprise, he already knew. It seemed some people could no longer hold back, and Madam Baili had presented him with a dilemma. If Hei Fengxi insisted on protecting Lord Pei, Madam Baili would use the voices of the court officials to accuse him of forming factions for personal gain and disregarding the law. However, if he did not help, it would dishearten many senior ministers.

Considering that the Lord of Yongzhou would surely send someone to investigate the cheating incident in the next morning's court session, Hei Fengxi asked Feng Qiwu to assist him in taking on the task. Facing the largest cheating scandal in the history of Yongzhou, the Lord of Yongzhou asked Yuan Lu for his opinion.

Yuan Lu believed that the key issue was not the leaking of the exam questions because he had reviewed the examinees’ answers on-site, which were completely different from the cheat sheets. Even the answers of Feng Shiying and Song Sihan differed greatly. Bai Langhua, unable to reach her father, angrily confronted Bai Fengxi, believing she was deliberately hiding the truth. Bai Fengxi consoled her junior, assuring her that their master was always careful and cautious and wouldn’t be in danger.

Besides, she had already asked Hei Fengxi to look for him and hoped Bai Langhua could remain calm. Unexpectedly, their second senior brother Gu Yu sowed discord, insisting that Bai Fengxi hoped something bad had happened to their master so that she could naturally take the position of sect leader. He continued questioning her about why she concealed their master’s disappearance, claiming it was a guilty conscience.

Bai Fengxi publicly stated that she had never wanted the position of sect leader. However, Bai Langhua, emotionally agitated, insisted on going out to look for her father. In the end, Bai Fengxi had to tap her acupuncture point and asked Xiu Jiurong to escort her back to her room to rest. Once the others had left, Bai Fengxi ignored Gu Yu and firmly stated that the matter would be decided by their master.

She also warned Gu Yu that if he dared to stir up more trouble, she wouldn’t show any regard for their fellowship. Little did she know, Bai Jiande had already arrived in Misty Mountain, intending to seek out Wang Shuilong of the Ten-Thousand Sword Manor. The next morning in court, the Lord of Yongzhou flew into a rage, furious that such a scandal had occurred in Yongjing.

He questioned what his ministers had been doing—were they just incompetent officials who bowed their heads in shame, bearing the disgrace of cheating in the imperial exam before the world? Feng Qiwu proactively offered a suggestion, proposing that Feng Lanxi take charge of the investigation. Since the exam served the royal family and was crucial to selecting talents for the realm, it had wide-reaching implications and was tied to the royal family's reputation.

Therefore, it was most appropriate for someone from the royal family to take charge. The ministers echoed the proposal, and Hei Fengxi followed suit, expressing willingness to relieve the Lord of Yongzhou’s concerns. In the end, the Lord of Yongzhou ordered him to get to the bottom of the cheating case within seven days.

After the court session, the Lord of Yongzhou couldn’t understand why his second son would take on such a mess, so he summoned Minister of Justice Zhang Zhongge into the palace. Although Feng Lanxi was now in charge of the investigation, the cheating scandal still fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, so Zhang Zhongge was expected to step up when the time came. Bai Langhua quarreled with Bai Fengxi over their father’s disappearance.

Bai Fengxi comforted her junior and admitted that she had concealed the truth to avoid the current outcome and was more worried that Bai Langhua’s outburst would worsen her condition. As the Tianshuang Sect was their master’s lifelong effort, Bai Fengxi took it especially seriously and hoped Bai Langhua would help her protect the sect.

Hei Fengxi personally interrogated Xu Yuxin and learned that the cheat sheet had been copied onto gold-foil paper, which only ministers of third rank or above could use. The Ministry of Personnel kept records of gold-foil usage, so he tasked Feng Qiwu with checking its distribution. Based on Xu Yuxin’s account, he also sketched a portrait of the middleman. Gu Yu lost money at the Xifeng Gambling Den and borrowed five silver leaves from the middleman.

Now, with interest, he owed twenty silver leaves, which caused trouble at their residence. Although Gu Yu stubbornly refused Bai Fengxi’s help, she still found the middleman and offered to repay only the five-leaf principal. The middleman, seeing Bai Fengxi was a woman, tried to take advantage of her, not knowing she was highly skilled in martial arts. Bai Fengxi forced him to produce the IOU.

Coincidentally, Hei Fengxi arrived with the portrait and offered to take care of the IOU, telling Bai Fengxi to go back and wait. Bai Fengxi realized that every time she got into trouble, Hei Fengxi resolved it for her. She also noticed that he moved about Yongjing freely, sparking her curiosity about his true identity. The middleman confessed that the IOU was with Lord Wu San, a local thug who ran the Xifeng Gambling Den and several brothels.

Hei Fengxi brought the middleman to the Ministry of Justice and forced him to confess about selling exam questions. Upon learning that Wu San had ordered it, he instructed the Ren brothers to bring Wu San in. Meanwhile, Zhang Zhongge reported the investigation progress to the Lord of Yongzhou. Considering Feng Lanxi’s poor health, the Lord told him to go back and rest.

Hei Fengxi understood this was his father’s message—after all, this was a power struggle, and everyone was caught in the whirlpool of politics. Accepting this, Hei Fengxi went to Huai Tree Alley to find Bai Fengxi and handed her Gu Yu’s IOU. In a moment of spontaneity, the two played cuju in the courtyard, and Feng Chang, who had just moved in next door, happened to see the scene.

His once sickly brother now appeared healthy—Feng Chang should have been happy, but the fact that his brother hid it from him left him feeling deeply disappointed. Soon after, Hei Fengxi reported the case details to the Lord of Yongzhou. According to Wu San’s confession, the person who initially gave him the answers was the steward of the Duke of Liang’s residence.

The steward admitted that it was Duke Liang who leaked the questions and later instructed him to pass them to Wu San for fake distribution. Minister of Justice Zhang Zhongge verified that among the seven examinees suspected of cheating, only three had actually transacted with the middleman. The other four were framed—and all four were disciples of Grand Scholar Pei Youshuo. They found gold-foil paper with copied questions from the middleman, and the handwriting matched Duke Liang’s.

It was also confirmed that one sheet of gold-foil paper was missing from Duke Liang’s residence. However, the Prime Minister objected, claiming that the missing sheet from Duke Liang’s estate was in his possession and earnestly requested the Lord of Yongzhou to re-investigate the case.

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