In the evening, many more people were added to the prison cell in Jingzhao Mansion.
"The Taoist priest Fang Daxu used prophecies to plan for the Du family to establish a crown prince. After the failure, he wanted to abscond. Is this possible?"
"What an injustice! Pindao wanted to leave Du's house because he didn't want to be implicated by the Du family."
"Let me ask you again, do you think the prince sent people to Du's house to discuss with Du Youlin about destroying evidence?"
"What an injustice!"
"You dare to quibble, you will be punished!"
"..."
Ji Wen did not enter the execution chamber, but stopped under the eaves, standing with his hands behind his hands, listening to the shrill howl and admiring the snowy scenery.
When the noise in the execution room gradually subsided, Xin Twelve stepped forward and reported: "Alang, Fang Dashi made a false move. But Quan Rui, the steward of the Du family, refused to admit that Xue Bai was sent by the prince, and only said that he picked him up."
"Picked it up? Pick one up and show it to me."
"The villain will go to trial again."
Ji Wen was noncommittal and murmured: "According to what the cheap servant told me, he has given the evidence to the prince, but there is no reaction from the prince."
"We can still find ways to prove the Du family's crimes."
"Is this important?" Ji Wen said: "So what if we kill all the Du family? The key is the prince, the prince, the prince!"
Xin Twelve responded hurriedly: "The prince sent Xue Bai to set fire to Liu Ji's house to destroy the evidence. The evidence is conclusive. He is in the prince's courtyard. I saw it with my own eyes."
"I went to see the right prime minister and sent the right Xiaowei to search and capture it in one fell swoop! It's just that the matter is serious..."
Ji Wen was firm at first, but later he used a questioning tone and asked: "Are you sure the person is still there?"
"The villain sent someone to keep an eye on them, but he didn't see anyone coming or going until he went to get the Du family siblings."
"Go and verify it, and then I'll prepare to meet with the right minister."
"Alang, wait a moment."
Today, Xin Twelve first guarded Yongxingfang, captured the Du family siblings, and then came back to torture Liu Shang. He had to ask again about what was going on in the Prince's Courtyard.
When he returned to the palace, his face was a little solemn, he saluted Ji Wen and sang, "Alang, it's not good. I don't know why there was a chaos in the Prince's Courtyard. Cars and horses were coming and going, and our people were lost."
"It's really slippery." Ji Wen cursed in a low voice, but finally did not dare to make up his mind to search the Prince's Courtyard, so he had to order: "Send someone to look for it."
"The villain has made arrangements." Xin Twelve said: "The villain has another idea. Du Youlin's son will also participate in destroying evidence. If he is captured in the Prince's Courtyard..."
Before he finished speaking, the concierge of Jingzhao Mansion ran into the courtyard and reported: "Jifacao, the right prime minister has sent someone here."
"Quick, please."
Ji Wen did not dare to neglect and quickly got up to greet him.
After taking two steps, he hurriedly turned around, found a box, took out a female clove, and held it in his mouth.
In fact, he was an extraordinary person. He was the son of a prime minister. He was summoned by a saint in his early years. However, due to his severe bad breath, he displeased the saint. He said, "He is a bad person and should not be used." He almost ruined his official career and had to be attached to Li Linfu. After this incident , whenever he meets an important person, he will hold a clove in his mouth to cover up his bad breath.
…
Ji Wen also met the person who came that day. She was a maid in a Hu robe named Jiao Nu.
Jiaonu was very beautiful, so she became one of Li Linfu's attendants. She often went out to do errands for Li Linfu. She liked to wear Hu robes and had smart makeup.
She came on horseback and tied the horse's rope. Ji Wen had already trotted to the front yard to greet her.
"Thank you, dear lady. I wonder what the Prime Minister's orders are for you?"
Jiaonu was cold and arrogant, frowning and waving his hand to tell him to stay away from her. As he walked, he raised his hand and crossed his arms to Li Linfu, who was not in front of him, and said lightly: "Alang asked you, how did things go?"
"Within one night and one day, the case has been found out!" Ji Wen said loudly, "The prince secretly ordered Liu Ji to make friends with the ministers. Because Liu Ji and Du had a grudge, he reported the matter, and the prince ordered someone to come. Liu Zhai destroyed evidence.”
"Where are the people?"
"This way, lady, please be careful of the threshold."
Jiwen welcomed Jiaonu into the palace and took out several pieces of paper from the case.
"This is Liu Ji's confession, recording the list of ministers he bribed and the gifts he exchanged; this is the confession of Du's maid, identifying the prince who sent a person named Xue Bai to burn down the study room of Liu's house with Liu Du..."
Jiao Nu didn't like hearing Ji Wen's chatter, so he raised his hand to interrupt him and shouted: "Where are your people?!"
"The prince is hiding, but as long as the Du family is convicted, the prince can be traced."
"It's useless. All his crimes have been accumulated. What the Du family did privately has nothing to do with the prince."
"This... why?"
Jiaonu said coldly: "Because the prince has reconciled with the second mother-in-law of the Du family."
"What?!"
Ji Wen was stunned, raised his eyebrows, rolled his eyes in a circle, and murmured: "What a good trick, once again cut off the gecko's tail and pick it off cleanly."
"You react too slowly."
"Jiwen knows his mistake."
"Two things." Jiaonu said in a arrogant tone: "One, you cooperate with Luo Xixi and capture all those who have any friendship with Liu Ji, and torture and interrogate them. Alang wants the world to know the consequences of supporting the prince. "
"Here."
"Secondly, we must find more conclusive evidence about the prince's order to burn down Liu Ji's study. These are far from enough at the moment."
"Here." Ji Wen hurriedly bowed his hands and said, "There is a way to search. I want to ask the right minister for instructions, but I only need to mobilize the right Xiaowei..."
Jiaonu heard this, nodded and said, "I'll wait until I get back to Alang."
"Hardworking girl running around."
Ji Wen personally went to the gate of Jingzhao Mansion and watched Mei Ji's horse gallop away.
He returned to the palace, picked up the long list of names that Liu Ji had confessed to, and read them softly, like the king of hell calling his names.
"Li Yong, the governor of Beihai, Pei Dunfu, the governor of Zichuan, Wang Zeng, the author of Lang Wangzeng, Xu Zheng, the number one scholar in the Guiyou branch..."
These people may be obsessed with calligraphy, may be accompanying their children, or may be working conscientiously on official matters, but in short they will definitely not feel that they have done anything wrong.
But Jiwen thinks they are not unjust at all.
Making friends that you shouldn't make is a serious crime that means you will be arrested and sentenced to death, and your entire family will be exiled!
At the beginning of the year, he killed countless people involved in Wei Jian's case. Before the year had passed, he had another opportunity to launch an unjust imprisonment.
"Ha, ghosts are blocking the road. Lord Hell will have to work hard this year."
His smile was a little ferocious, and his eyes were filled with excitement.
~~
On the outskirts of Chang'an, a fire broke out in a ruined temple.
"The fire is lit." Qinglan turned around and shouted.
She was shivering from the cold and huddled beside the fire, rubbing her body to keep warm.
After a while, Xue Bai came in with a handful of firewood and shook off the snowflakes on his body. Seeing Qing Lan's appearance, he took off his double-breasted fox fur, sat down next to Qing Lan and wrapped it in the fox fur.
of each other.
These were Du Wulang's clothes. He changed into them before going to the Prince's Courtyard to hide them from others.
Qing Lan was so startled that she trembled, but did not move away.
She didn't dare to say anything and carefully peeked at Xue Bai's side face.
Xue Bai seemed to feel her gaze and said, "I'm so hungry."
Qinglan said: "You obviously just ate at noon, you have eaten a lot."
"I just ate at noon." Xue Bai repeated in a low voice, shaking his head slightly.
Qinglan asked: "If even the prince is unwilling to save the Du family, is the Du family really doomed?"
Xue Bai didn't answer, staring at the bonfire in a daze.
Qinglan knew that he actually had no choice but to deal with such a huge matter, what could two slaves and maids do?
Thinking about what would happen to everyone in the Du family, her eyes turned red and she shed tears silently.
After crying hard, she wiped her tears with the back of her hand and said: "My family name is Huangfu, and I used to be from a scholarly family. When I was six years old, my grandfather was involved in the case of deposing the crown prince and was beaten to death.
Slave, just like you, I have been an official slave."
"Depose the prince?" Xue Bai asked: "Have you already deposed a prince?"
He raised his head and thought, and finally remembered something. His lips moved and he said silently to himself: "Yes, he seems to have killed three sons."
Qinglan only heard his previous question and responded: "Yes."
"What's the specific situation?"
"The world keeps it secret, and I don't know the details." Qing Lan shook her head and said, "I was lucky. Not long after, I was bought back to the Du family by my wife. She treated me kindly..."
Thinking of everything she had experienced in the past nine years, she choked up again and began to sob.
"I've been looking forward to repaying my great kindness to my wife. I didn't expect that the Du family would be involved in such a big case again. Do you think I was responsible for it?"
"Don't take the blame on yourself." Xue Bai said: "It only proves that there are too many innocent people involved in this kind of thing."
Qinglan was comforted and felt much better.
Xue Bai sighed slightly and said to himself: "The heart of one person is the heart of thousands of people."
Qinglan didn't understand. She felt that the wind was still very cold, so she unconsciously pressed against his warm body. She soon realized something was wrong and bit her lip.
Snowflakes were falling outside the temple, and the two people hugged each other to keep warm by the bonfire, with darkness behind them.
Qing Lan gradually had other things on her mind. She lowered her eyes slightly and asked in a low voice: "What should we do if we really can't save the Du family?"
"I'm still thinking."
Qinglan lowered her head and said hesitantly: "We have offended the prince, maybe we should find a place to hide our names. Well, men farm and women weave..."
"I don't know how to plow the land, and I don't plan to do it."
"I mean," Qinglan's voice sounded like a mosquito moaning, "Maybe, maybe we can... get married..."
"Why?"
"You saved me today, I am willing to..."
"It doesn't make sense." Xue Bai said in a gentle tone with a hint of joking: "Young lady is greedy. Now that you know I saved your life, you don't mention repaying me, but you still want me."
Qing Lan blinked a few times to confirm that she heard correctly, and then said anxiously: "I mean... I just want to repay..."
"You're joking." Xue Bai turned to look at the bonfire again and said seriously: "I don't want to run away. I don't want to be anonymous and hide."
"But we have offended the prince..."
"The prince wants to kill us, not the entire government."
Seeing that he was calm, Qing Lan was stunned for a moment and said, "It's okay if I don't run away. I, I was just joking."
The two of them stopped mentioning the topic.
Qinglan was a little annoyed for a moment, thinking that this disciple was hugging her and saying such things. But then she thought about it, he saved her life, but she was using this to force him to like her. It seemed unreasonable.
?
She couldn't help but feel very depressed, thinking that Xue Bai just looked down on her, and then she thought angrily that she was obviously very beautiful too.
My mind is spinning in circles, and I don’t know where it’s going.
"Tell me about things in the world." Xue Bai said: "I don't have a good memory. Two days ago, Du Wulang introduced me to the customs and customs, but something happened."
"Okay." Qinglan said thoughtfully, "Where to start?"
"Just say whatever comes to mind? Treat me like a foreigner."
Qinglan supported her chin with her fingers, thought for a while, and said: "I was born in the 18th year of Kaiyuan. That year, the saint invited hundreds of officials to have a drink at the Huaxianhui Tower, and my grandfather also went. The saint liked to be upstairs
Spreading money to officials, my grandpa had just been promoted to a fifth-rank official at that time, and he picked up a few golden Kaiyuan Tongbao and placed them at home. I saw them when I was a child. My mother-in-law said that when he came back, he was so happy that he couldn’t open his mouth from ear to ear. When I was born
So he named me 'Calyx' and said that I had a good fortune. I was born during the Kaiyuan period, the most prosperous period in ancient times..."
She cried again and again as she spoke. At the end of the sentence, she wiped away her tears and said, "But I'm right, now is the most prosperous time since ancient times. Even a prisoner's daughter like me has never gone hungry.
"
Xue Bai was silent for a long time and then replied: "It is extremely prosperous."
The sky is getting darker.
The ruined temple also became quiet.
Qing Lan sat there hugging her knees, resting her chin on her knees, thinking it was time to sleep, but should she lie down and hug him in the wild on such a cold day? Or should she sleep sitting up?
Finally, she decided that as long as Xue Bai didn't move, she wouldn't move either.
"Is that Chang'an City over there?"
Qinglan looked up and saw the bright light rising from the sky through the wind and snow.
Even in Chang'an City under curfew, the firelight illuminated half of the night.
She had never seen the night of Chang'an from this angle, and she was so fascinated that she couldn't help but sigh: "It's so beautiful, isn't it?"
Xue Bai said: "Yes, such a prosperous Tang Dynasty..."