The young magistrate finished his words, and the whole house fell into a dead silence.
You can hear the needle drop.
There were only one or two sounds of breathing that suddenly became thicker in the room.
While Yan Liulang was waiting for the arrest, the Liu clan brothers showed some strange expressions.
Their eyes quietly drifted between Ouyang Rong, who had a sincere face, and Liu Ziwen, who was leaning down on the bed and trembling all over.
Many of these quietly observing eyes were directed towards Liu Zian, who seemed to be a little restless between Ouyang Rong and Liu Ziwen.
The atmosphere is subtle.
In the Zhou Dynasty, it was not the rule of law society of Ouyang Rong's previous life. Not to mention that Jiangnan Road, where clan culture was strong, still had many towns and villages, which adopted the tradition of township gentry and gentry self-governance, and the royal power did not even extend to the county.
Therefore, many local county governments adhere to the principle of "the people do not promote, the officials do not investigate", which was the official guideline for most officials in the Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, even when the public trial was suspended, Liu Ziwen was attacked by dead soldiers in the street in front of everyone's eyes.
But as long as it didn't happen in the county government or during a public trial, and as long as Liu Ziwen, the person involved, didn't report the case, the Longcheng County government wouldn't have much legal basis to intervene in the case and find the real culprit.
Just when the atmosphere solidified and the scene froze.
Liu Ziwen raised his head suddenly, slowly.
The subtle movement immediately attracted the attention of the audience.
I can't describe what kind of face this is.
It was like dumplings that had been stored in the freezer for a year and were poured into a pot of boiling water. After a puff, the red color of the spoiled meat filling appeared under the frosty white dumpling skin.
Just when Liu Ziwen raised his head, Liu Zian broke the silence first:
"Of course this case must be investigated. Brother, please report it to the official. Let's report the case while the county magistrate is here!"
However, Liu Ziwen ignored Liu Zian's sincere expression and did not even answer Ouyang Rong's question immediately.
His bloodshot eyes turned to the taciturn Liu Zilin, and his voice was as hoarse as a drake:
"You also separated your family?"
Liu Zilin immediately shook his head, "No, brother..."
Liu Zian interjected again:
"Brother, my third brother and I will not leave you. Although the clan brothers in other houses have divided a lot of ancestral property, and the public trial has also paid a lot... But the Guyue Sword Shop was run by you from scratch, eldest brother, and we are still here
Under this house..."
Liu Ziwen didn't look at his second brother and listened silently.
He originally had a sickly look on his face.
Suddenly calm.
Ouyang Rong said to Ouyang Rong, who was watching coldly:
"I won't report it. Sir, walk slowly."
The young head of the Liu family, who had two knives in his chest, spoke every word.
Ouyang Rong raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Master Liu is really kind-hearted."
He nodded and sighed to everyone in the room, who all laughed together.
Immediately, Ouyang Rong didn't stay, didn't even bother to look back, and took Yan Liulang and others out to leave.
Just leave this sentence before going out:
"Master Liu must make it through. Don't die. I'll see you in court another day. I and the people in the county are waiting for you."
But Liu Ziwen, the young head of the Liu family known as "Zhihu", is dead.
Ouyang Rong knew.
Liu Ziwen also knew.
Outside the official residence, there is a long corridor leading to another courtyard where the Jade Immortal is imprisoned.
Ouyang Rong, who was walking at the front of the crowd, stopped suddenly, turned around and curiously asked Yan Liulang and the other officers:
"While you are still alive, how do you feel when you see with your own eyes that the career you have devoted all your efforts to build and the things you care about are destroyed inch by inch?"
He saw Mingfu's face showing the same calm expression as when Liu Ziwen said goodbye just now.
Yan Liulang and his colleagues looked at each other, and the former carefully said:
"It should be...life is worse than death, right?
"As you said to everyone in the Ming Dynasty after the public trial the day before yesterday, for Liu Ziwen, brothers fighting each other, fighting in the same room, and the collapse of the Liu family are killing his heart, which is more important than killing others."
The more Yan Liulang spoke, the smoother he became. As if remembering the face of the young head of the Liu family who was on the sick bed just now, he couldn't help but laugh and said:
"It's still the Ming Dynasty's Gaomou, Liu Ziwen looks no different from dead now."
He sighed and couldn't help but take another look at the young county magistrate's face:
"Well, it seems that the domineering and arrogant Liu family leader will never be seen again, but it has only been two or three months, and the Ming Dynasty has moved too fast."
Ouyang Rong looked at Yan Liulang and others without interrupting, waiting for the latter to finish his words.
"No. I don't feel anything."
He shook his head and said.
"No feeling?"
Yan Liulang and others were stunned, "The Ming Dynasty is just joking. Your life's hard work has been ruined and your career has been overthrown. How can you not feel it even if you are a man?"
Ouyang Rong turned his head, stared at the rainwater gently washing the blue bricks, ancient tiles and patterned floor tiles outside the corridor, and said softly:
"Because what Rokuro said was a private plan."
"Secret plans..."
Yan Liulang murmured and couldn't help asking:
"What about the Ming Mansion? If by any chance, the Dee Gong Gate and Zhiyi Canal did not block the flood behind, and all the things the Ming Mansion led us to build were destroyed, wouldn't the Ming Mansion feel the same?"
Ouyang Rong turned around, walked forward, and strode away.
"Then come again."
Yan Liulang and other detectives on the squad looked blankly at the back of the young county magistrate.
One of them, a young detective from a well-to-do family, suddenly remembered a sentence he had heard while watching a play in a teahouse, and blurted out: "What is private is temporary, and what is public is eternal."
Everyone turned around with stunned expressions on their faces.
…
After the young county magistrate and the police officers left.
Liu Zilin also took out the brothers of the Liu clan.
inside the house.
Only two brothers, Liu Ziwen and Liu Zian, are left.
Liu Zian heard the footsteps disappearing in the yard, turned around, walked forward, and whispered:
"Brother, don't blame me. You fell down a few days ago. My third brother and I couldn't handle the subsequent public trial. Ouyang Lianghan obviously came prepared and had an excuse to grab our hands and put our Liu family on it to roast without spilling any blood.
I really couldn’t do it anymore, so I just...
"Although Mr. Wang protects us from being ransacked, we may still have offended too many people in the past. In the past few days, all these unscrupulous people have jumped out and want to cut off some fat from our Liu family.
."
Speaking of this, Liu Zian gritted his teeth, and a look of sadness appeared on his face:
"These clan brothers who came back to worship their ancestors are all white-eyed wolves. In vain, my eldest brother was so kind to them in the past, and now they have become thieves...
"But don't worry, brother. With Lord Wang's intercession, my third brother and I managed to maintain the business of Guyue Sword Shop. It is not easy to survive in this storm. At the moment, it seems that Ouyang Lianghan
They don't seem to have any doubts about this..."
The words paused here, and Liu Zian frowned again:
"By the way, brother, why didn't you report the case? Is it because you were afraid that Ouyang Lianghan would be called a thief and use him as a starting point to attack us? This Ouyang Lianghan is really ruthless. Not only is he ruthless, but he is also despicable and shameless, and he provokes us brothers.
Friendship…”
Liu Zian just said this.
On the hospital bed, Liu Ziwen, who had sent everyone away with a calm face and listened silently for a moment, suddenly became violent.
Just like on the day of the public trial, he stared into Liu Zian's shocked eyes and held his wrist tightly.
The man on the hospital bed had a ferocious face and roared in a low voice:
"Liu Zian! I don't care if you stabbed the sword or not, from now on, from now on! You will guard the Liu family and the sword shop for me! If the sword is not made, if the Liu family is broken in your hands, not only will I do it
Even if there are evil spirits, they won’t let you go, and the Liu family’s ancestors will not let you go for eighteen generations!! Cough cough cough…”
It seemed that he was emotionally excited, his movements were too large, and his chest and lung wounds were involved. Liu Ziwen covered his mouth and chest and coughed wildly.
It can be said to be a cry of blood.
Liu Zian trembled his wrists. His face was full of fear, innocence, and sadness. He shook his head vigorously and said:
"Brother, it's really not me, it's really not me who did it. You and I, my brothers and sisters, how could I do such a cruel thing like stabbing you in the back? Brother, do you want me to cut out this heart of my second brother?"
letter?"
His eyes were red and his face looked tired as he said:
"And now is not the time for brothers to be suspicious. You take good care of your injuries. We two brothers will survive the present together. In the future, we will work together to build that thing and regain everything we have lost, okay? Okay, okay,
Big brother?"
Liu Ziwen did not answer, or in other words, he did not listen to Liu Zian's pleading words at all.
After he finished coughing, he lay on his back on the squeaky hard bed with his mouth full of blood. The original ferocious look on his face gradually turned into an expression of despair and sadness:
"I don't care whether you stabbed me, whether you were faking it, or whether you used me as a shield...
"If the Liu family is gone, the Liu family is gone... Liu Zian, you are an unworthy descendant and a sinner of the family... You will definitely be blamed for your death."
Liu Zian opened his mouth wide and stared blankly at Liu Ziwen who was mourning in silence on the bed. There seemed to be all kinds of grievances, grief and anger, and confusion in his eyes, and finally they all brewed into a sentence of sorrow and indignation:
"Brother, it's true that the poison from Biyiniao passed through my hands, but Ouyang Lianghan also had it. You gave it to him by mistake at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that day...
"Besides, if it was really me, why did I have to let the dead man shout loudly at Ouyang Lianghan and the others like a fool? This kind of clumsy way of spreading dirt, as long as you are not stupid and a discerning person, you can chew it up afterwards. It is framed.
, Second brother, would I do such a stupid thing?!"
The more Liu Zian asked, the louder his breathing became. He held his chest and gasped, with tears filling his eyes.
But Liu Ziwen didn't look at him.
Still staring at the top of the curtain above the bed, after a while, he said lightly:
"Ouyang Lianghan would not do such a thing. Not only does he not want to do it, he also disdains it."
Liu Zian's tearful pupils shrank and he mouthed.
But Liu Ziwen continued to act as if there was no one around, and continued to say with a blank look in his eyes:
"If Ouyang Lianghan really wants to use off-the-table moves to deal with me, Ouyang Lianghan has countless opportunities and countless methods. Couldn't he have thought of everything we can think of?
"But he chose the most just and troublesome way to expose us in front of the people of the county and put the Liu family on trial...
"You said that such a person would hire dead soldiers outside the market to assassinate me?"
It was quiet inside and outside the bed for a while.
Liu Ziwen's face was ashen, but his tone was surprisingly calm and he said:
"I lost, I still lost after all. I lost from the time I used the off-game move of buying a murderous beheading. From then on, in Ouyang Lianghan's eyes, I was no longer a respectable opponent.
"But he still didn't use the same violent methods, killing the other person with his own way. Instead, he still used an upright public trial..."
After a pause after saying this, Liu Ziwen on the bed trembled violently, and Liu Zian fell off the stool in fright.
Liu Ziwen stared and gritted his teeth and growled:
"Damn, you really deserve to die, Ouyang Lianghan, you really deserve to die, why, why didn't you die in Donglin Temple, with such a murderous intention, you deserve to die, you deserve to die!"
The public trial proposed by Ouyang Rong was the greatest contempt and hatred for him.
It's more uncomfortable than being stabbed to death by a dead soldier.
It was precisely because Liu Ziwen saw these things so clearly that he felt particularly painful and felt like a knife.
Ouyang Rong might as well kill him.
When the man on the hospital bed who looked like he was returning home became quieter, Liu Zian couldn't help but say:
"Since it's not Ouyang Lianghan, is it possible that it's Mr. Wang..."
"Okay, shut up."
Liu Ziwen suddenly interrupted, his voice weak.
He lowered his blue eyelids and asked with trembling lips:
"How much of the Liu family's property is left now?"
Liu Zian lowered his head:
"If it takes these two days to do what Ouyang Lianghan said just now... the county government will collect the goods, compensate the people, and after the houses are divided, probably only the big house on Xiaogushan and the Guyue Sword Shop on the west bank will be left.
Yes, by the way, maybe a small part of the water transport business can still be preserved."
Liu Ziwen suddenly laughed: "Hahaha... cough cough cough..."
He coughed up blood in his mouth, and the blood spurted out like a fountain from his throat.
"Brother."
Liu Zian called out with concern and couldn't help crying:
"Brother, don't be angry. As long as we still have swords in our hands, we can still have a chance to turn around. This is what Mr. Wang hinted to us the day before yesterday. We can abandon the other ancestral property for the time being and give it to Ouyang Liang first.
Han and those unscrupulous people should bow their heads and admit their mistakes first, and survive this disaster...
"It's okay, brother, we are just patient for the time being... The furnace sword is still there, and the Liu family hasn't fallen yet!"
Liu Zian held Liu Ziwen's cold palm tightly:
"Brother, please forgive me for now. Get well soon. It's time to wait. My third brother, my sister-in-law, and I are waiting for you at home..."
Liu Ziwen made a hoarse voice and interrupted: "Won't you take me back now?"
Liu Zian looked a little embarrassed: "Brother is still guilty, so it's hard to offend Ouyang Lianghan..."
Liu Ziwen suddenly asked:
"Do you want to be a sword master?"
Liu Zian looked confused: "What are you talking about?"
Liu Ziwen stopped talking.
Later, Liu Zian comforted his brother for a few words. Seeing Liu Ziwen's silence, Liu Zian just said not to disturb his rest and prepared to say goodbye and leave.
"Liu Zian, remember what you said, save the Liu family and lead the Liu family out of Dragon City... If you can do this in the end, you are not considered a sinner."
Before leaving, Liu Ziwen spoke in a trembling voice.
Liu Zian: "Brother, I..."
"Remember my father's porridge shed. The porridge shed must be opened, it must be opened... you go."
Liu Ziwen laid his head back and closed his eyes.
Liu Zian was about to say something but stopped, seeing this, he said goodbye and left.
Only the empty house was left, and the man on the hospital bed looked like a walking corpse.
I don’t know how long it has been.
That night.
The house was pitch dark.
There was strong wind and late rain outside the window.
Suddenly, a gust of wind howled, and the window suddenly blew open with a "bang" and then closed again with a "bang".
The only sound inside the house was the soft patter of rain outside.
Other than that, there was only the faint sound of Liu Ziwen's weak breathing on the bed.
But in front of the bed, a dark shadow appeared vaguely.
This humanoid black figure seemed to have an empty sleeve, and the other hand was holding something long.
The swordsman with a broken arm stood quietly in front of the bed for a while, seeming to be staring at something.
A few moments.
"you……"
There was a burst of snow-white moonlight that suddenly lit up the whole room, and Liu Ziwen's voice suddenly stopped.
Immediately, darkness returned to the house, leaving only the sound of rushing rain and no more breathing sounds.