Ning Chen picked up the paper packet and weighed it in his hand, then turned to look at Shen Wanzhou and Zhou Anshi.

"You bought this much arsenic. What were you going to do, poison the whole field of candidates?"

Both men's faces changed completely.

"My lord prince, this student is wronged! I beg my lord prince and Lord Geng to look into it clearly."

Zhou Anshi loudly protested his innocence.

Shen Wanzhou bowed low. "My lord prince, Lord Geng... the two of us did not know Wang Bo and Li Jue well. We were only on nodding terms with them." (TL Note: 點頭之交, "a nodding friendship" — two people who know each other well enough to nod in passing, and no better.)

"That day, Wang Bo and Li Jue invited the two of us for a drink in front of everyone. Refusing them in public would have cost them face, so Brother Zhou and I accepted."

"But who could have imagined something like this would happen? We have no idea who put the arsenic in our room... We truly are wronged. I beg my lord prince and Lord Geng to look into it clearly."

Ning Chen looked at him and said evenly, "Don't worry. Lord Geng misses nothing... If you're innocent, he'll clear your names. But if you're counting on slipping through, think hard about what that will cost you."

Shen Wanzhou went down on his knees and pleaded.

"This student would not dare lie. But the imperial examination is little more than twenty days off... We beg my lord prince and Lord Geng to find the truth quickly and clear our names. We have spent ten years at a cold window, and we don't want to miss this chance!"

Ning Chen nodded slightly, then asked with some curiosity, "One of you is from the south and one from the north. You can't have known each other before, can you?"

Shen Wanzhou said, "We met after we came to the capital. Brother Zhou and I were of the same mind, we got along wonderfully, and we wished we had…