Zhuo Lengping was finally released by Ye Yongjia. Despite this, Magistrate Ye did not allow her mother and son to live in Nanjing for any longer. Therefore, they bid farewell to this ancient city, left their hometown, and traveled far away to an unknown foreign land. No one asked them where they would move to, and Ye Yongjia had no intention of pursuing them. He just regarded them as passing clouds that drifted away and disappeared.
He lost everything he should have, except the power of life and death that he shouldn't have. But although he nominally controls the fate of every living person in Nanjing, in reality there are other people who are restricting him. If you can't even hold on to this sole power, what's the point of living in this world? He hit rock bottom.
Ye Yongjia walked into the library of his residence. The outside of the bookstore is covered with a layer of green cloth curtains. The light inside is dim and not much light can be seen leaking in. Ye Yongjia rolled up the curtains and saw the rosewood table in front of him, with a wide and long scroll behind it. Next to it were rows of bookcases, each containing books divided into classics and history.
Ye Yongjia did not come here just to read. He walked straight to the desk and took down the scroll - a square grid was dented in the wall behind it. There is a beautiful gilded wooden box placed in the grid, which is still locked.
Ye Yongjia took the key and opened the box. He saw that there were large and small official documents with approval marks inside. They were all old and worn, and the handwriting on the paper was yellowed.
He took it carefully and took a look at it, and found that this was the official document that transferred Chen Shuli to the office. He thought to himself, if he hadn't used those clever tricks at that time, how happy he would be now!
He could only sigh and put the official document aside. After a long time, he reached out and took out another notice, and stared at it for a long time - it was the document that Lu Deguang assigned him to serve as a fellow advisor.
He was still frightened when he saw the word "tongzhi" and would never dare to read it a second time. If he hadn't been appointed to this position, I'm afraid he wouldn't have suffered so much verbal and written criticism, becoming the target of public criticism, and ending up like this.
He took out another secret letter from it. There were traces of fire burns on the corners of the secret letter. The content on it was that Lu Deguang had asked him to burn down the household. Ye Yongjia admitted that this was the biggest crime he had ever committed.
Afterwards, he fell silent and didn't know who he was mourning for.
Feeling that he had all the evidence, he put the three documents into his arms, sealed the box, and hid the key.
It was already dusk when he came out of the study. He walked away from the book pavilion and happened to bump into a servant, so he told him: "I want to go out and prepare my horse."
"Where to go?"
"Go to the palace, I have something to give to the prince."
"Do you want an entourage to follow you?"
"No need, I'll go alone." Ye Yongjia turned around, smiled and patted the servant's face: "Work hard! Don't forget that you still have to take care of your family!"
After that, he laughed a few times, lowered his head and walked along the corridor. The servant touched his face and secretly wondered that his master had never been so considerate to his servant.
Ye Yongjia left the house and took the main road towards the palace. He never stopped his horse along the way and ran straight with the wind in his hooves; once he stopped his horse, he could often see the fearful and resentful expressions on the people on the roadside.
When everyone saw the magistrate arriving, they all ducked and got out of the way. Some people were still holding their children. Occasionally, they heard him whisper to the child: "This is the sanctimonious bad guy who is worse than a beast..."
He just ignored these words and did not feel angry. He also felt that leaving this empty street would be clean and undisturbed. Everyone stood aside obediently. Only one person, leaning on a cane, stood facing the sunset on the avenue without moving even half a step.
That is Wei Huai.
Ye Yongjia pulled the bridle, stopped the horse, bowed, and said with a smile: "Mr. Wei, you are fine."
"You're fine." Wei Huai said with a smile.
"Where are you going, Prefect Ye?"
"I have something to discuss with Prince Wanjun." Ye Yongjia replied.
Wei Huai saw that his face was tense, as if his nerves were tense, and he suspected that he had other thoughts, so he said: "Why rush to leave? There is no harm in going to my house to talk about it first."
"...Then let's go." Ye Yongjia no longer had any worries at this moment, and everything seemed a bit casual.
"That's good! The two of us haven't spoken for a long time! I'll lead the way, let's go now!" Wei Huai grabbed the horse's bridle and led Ye Yongjia to disappear into the endless long street.
"This is a good wine that I have kept for many years." Wei Huai walked over slowly, holding the wine pot in his hand, "I bought this wine when I was in Shandong. There were originally two bottles. In the past, my brother Yang died, and I was in a good mood. I'm depressed, I just opened a pot, and now this is the only one left. Drink it carefully, there is no such fine wine in the world!"
He poured a glass for Ye Yongjia and put the wine on the table with a bang.
"How does it taste when you drink it?" Wei Huai looked at him and drank the wine in one gulp, as if he were appreciating a treasure.
"Okay! Not bad, not bad..." Ye Yongjia sighed softly and fell down on the table, looking lonely.
"It's true that 'we are both fallen people at the end of the world, why should we know each other before'!" Ye Yongjia thought to himself.
Wei Huai said nothing and drank a glass of wine.
"How is your reform cause? I heard it is still so bleak." Ye Yongjia took a sip of his wine, which seemed bitter.
"It can't be said that it is bleak. The government still does not prohibit academies. Although some people disobey the official law, their attitude of turning a blind eye has not changed. But I can't think of another strategy to revitalize the academy, so I don't We have made progress." Wei Huai took advantage of his drunkenness and talked non-stop, "The academy is getting more and more into a state of inactivity. As far as Zhejiang, where the situation is most serious, they actually use my name to sell things, and say A set of lies about 'raising funds for reform'. In anger, I directly fired the president of the academy from his post, but this kind of thing happened behind the scenes..."
"Deputy Leader Xia is a very organized person. He has calmly analyzed the mentality of these people. It is simply because the academy system has not been put into practice and there is no strategy for them to follow. They have no goals to pursue, so they Gradually, I lost patience and became less devoted to reform. Therefore, I should enact long-term policies to gather people's hearts. Many people have quietly left the academy because they have become pessimistic, and I have to use my words to bring them back. ..." Wei Huai took another sip of wine and said, "To be honest, I'm really a little tired."
"Mr. Wei is so tired..."
"I am not a staunch reformer like Xia Fumeng. He is a person who can sacrifice everything for justice, but I can't. But sometimes I just think he is too stubborn... As long as the word reform is mentioned, Renying will be like It’s like he’s possessed, there’s nothing else in his eyes.”
Wei Huai smiled bitterly.
What a sympathy!
Ye Yongjia thought to himself.
