There was silence in the tavern, and even more silence in the private room upstairs.
Xiao Chen's sudden loud voice made Li An hold back his words.
I had no choice but to pick up the chopsticks, casually pick up a piece of meat on the plate in front of me, put it into my mouth, and chewed it silently.
Li An felt a little aggrieved. He was a dignified minister of the Ministry of Justice and was already fifty years old. He was scolded by a young man and did not dare to talk back.
He picked up another piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth. He chewed it with big mouthfuls. It seemed that only by biting all the meat in his mouth could he relieve the hatred in his heart.
For a while, the two of them didn't say anything, they just sat there and came to the tavern just to eat meat.
Seeing that several dishes on the table were being eaten, Xiao Chen stopped using his chopsticks, wiped his mouth with his hands, and burped.
"Thank you Mr. Li for your hospitality. We will come here again next time, but I will be the host." Xiao Chen said with unfinished content as he picked up the teapot and filled their tea bowls.
Seeing Xiao Chen finally starting to speak, Li An hurriedly put down his chopsticks: "Master Ziyi, are my wife and children really safe?"
"What's wrong with purple clothes? If I were stripped of my purple clothes, wouldn't you know how to call me? My name is Xiao Chen." Xiao Chen took a sip from the tea bowl, smashed it in his mouth, and said dissatisfied.
"Okay, I will treat you as a master from now on." Li An smiled awkwardly.
"I'm just an ordinary captain in Dongchang, and you are the Minister of Punishment and a second-rank official in the imperial court. This title is not suitable. Forget it, call me Brother Xiao from now on." Xiao took a toothpick from the table and
Chen slowly picked at the lean meat residue between his teeth.
Li An felt so frustrated. When it comes to business, even a title is so fussy about mother-in-law and mother-in-law. Are you deliberately trying to offend me?
However, he did not dare to refute, so he could only continue to flatter him: "Brother Xiao, how did you know that my wife and children were taken away by Wang Wencheng?"
He lowered his head and saw the meat residue he had just removed spitting out on the ground. Xiao Chen said: "I am from Dongchang. What does Dongchang do? I just watch every move of you imperial officials to find trouble. As long as you are the minister.
There is nothing that happens outside the house that my Dongchang doesn’t know about.”
Li An was stunned. Everyone knew that Dongchang was the eyes of the emperor, and his duty was to keep an eye on every move of his ministers and prevent them from breaking the law and committing crimes.
But what you said is too naked. Just stare and insist on telling people what you are looking for. Doesn’t this embarrass everyone?
I was very dissatisfied in my heart, but I still had to keep a smile on my face.
"Brother Xiao, does he know where my wife and children are now?"
Xiao Chen moved his body back, straightened his back, and his expression became serious.
"Wang Wencheng gave them drugs, took them to a ditch outside the city, and threw them down."
"What?" Li An stood up suddenly, "This Wang Wencheng, I want to cut him into pieces."
Xiao Chen waved his hand: "Master Li, please be patient and sit down and listen to what I have to say."
"This Wang Wencheng, even if he was a spy in the Shangshu Mansion, actually did such a cruel thing to my wife and children. If he is not brought to justice, I am sorry for wearing my official uniform." Li An was angry and sat down on the chair.
"The people from Dongchang have been protecting the safety of Sir around the Shangshu Mansion. As soon as Wang Wencheng went out, they followed him. When they arrived in the wilderness, after Wang Wencheng threw his wife and young master into the ditch and left, the people from Dongchang
We have rescued them and placed them properly. Otherwise, by this time, they would have frozen to death at the bottom of the ditch."
Xiao Chen said with a faint smile.
Pushing the chair behind him, Li An knelt down with a pop: "Li An is here to thank Brother Xiao for saving his life."
After saying that, he kowtowed three times on the floor, then stood up and returned to his seat.
"The purpose of Dongchang is not to let a bad person go, not to wrongly accuse a good person, but it will never allow innocent people to take their lives in vain. Madam and young master are now protected by the captain of Dongchang, so Mr. Li can rest assured. I don't understand.
What’s more, why would Wang Wencheng treat adults like this?”
Xiao Chen dismissed Li An's concerns and got to the point directly.
"Alas." Li An sighed, "Because I have stopped actively targeting Brother Xiao in the past two days, they want to threaten me with my wife and children as hostages so that they can continue to take the lead in attacking Ziyi."
"Challenging Zi Yi? So your target is not me, but the Zi Yi on me?" Xiao Chen smiled faintly. These people are indeed challenging the imperial power.
Li An nodded, hesitated for a moment, and said in his heart: "Today, I will tell Brother Xiao everything."
"In addition to my own efforts, the reason why I was able to sit on the position of Minister of the Ministry of Justice was because of the strong recommendation of the King of Han at that time. So, in general, my position is more inclined to the King of Han. Some time ago, the King of Han sent a secret envoy to come
When you get to the Shangshu Mansion, tell me that the King of Han wants me to call on all officials to make a big fuss about Brother Xiao's execution of Cang Cheng, and arrange some operational details."
"Then, according to the request of the King of Han, I called on all officials to hold Brother Xiao accountable. That day, Brother Xiao came to the house. After some words, I understood that provoking the imperial power was seeking death. The next day,
He was passive and sabotaged, stopped making excuses, and gave up on holding Brother Xiao accountable."
"The King of Han knew about this and was very dissatisfied with me, so he ordered Wang Wencheng who was hiding in Shangshu Mansion to kidnap his wife and children, and asked me to continue the previous operation. He threatened me while using money to win me over, which can be described as soft.
No matter how hard it is, give it."
As he said that, Li An took out the banknote from his arms and said, "This is the banknote that the King of Han asked Wang Wen'an to give me, in the name of allowing me to supplement the family income."
Looking at the banknote in Li An's hand, Xiao Chen smiled faintly: "Here it is, you can use it. Anyway, the money is not necessarily clean. Just spend it for them. However, now that Mr. Li knows the truth, what will he do in the future?"
Do?"
"If they could treat my wife and children well, I would probably do as they asked me to do as always. But now, they want to secretly kill my wife and children, but instead tell me that my wife and children have been properly arranged. Thinking on my heels, I also know that they
He is planning to use me completely and then kill people to silence me."
"I plan to fight them to the death."
Speaking of this, Li An's face was full of determination.
Xiao Chen stood up, walked slowly to the window, looked at the streets of the capital below, and then looked back at Li An: "The fish can die, but the net does not have to be broken. Their purpose of doing this is nothing more than to anger the emperor.
, thus venting our anger on the prince who took the lead in opposing Zheng He's voyage. We just need to destroy their plan."
Li An was stunned: "Brother Xiao, what do you mean, not to move the King of Han?"
"Can you move? You can't move! As long as you protect the prince, it will be the biggest counterattack against the King of Han. As for questioning the guilt, the emperor will not touch him, so we don't have to worry about it in vain."
A hint of helplessness flashed in Xiao Chen's eyes.
