Lin Linyou, Yang Fang, and Jiang Jianxue set out for Beijing almost at the same time. Although the destination was the same, the route was different.
Lin Linyou took Little Gong'e all the way out of Xin'an County. He had a vague feeling that someone was following him, but when he looked out, he saw no one.
He was sitting in the carriage, leaning on his knife, and there were sachets and bells hanging in front of the window.
The carriage drove steadily on the official road.
"Where is your hometown?" In the carriage, he took a sip of wine, put down the flask, and asked the little Gong'e opposite.
The little Gong'e opened her big eyes and shook her head: "Slave... I don't have a home."
"No home?"
"As long as I can remember, I have been growing up in the palace." Xiao Gong'e said.
Oh, then, they should be the children of the palace servants, or they were sold into the palace.
"Then you should have a name, right?"
"It's enough for the official to call me Nu Xue'e." Xiao Gong'e said.
Sure enough, she grew up in the palace. Although she is not very old, she is very mature and sophisticated in speech, without the shyness of the girl's family.
After all, it is a palace, and it is difficult to survive in that kind of environment if you are not mature and sophisticated.
"Xue'e, each of us will have half of this thousand banknotes." Lin Linyou casually took out half of the stack of banknotes given to him by Zhu Youxi and handed it to Xue'e, "Take it and find a place to stay by yourself." Go!"
Xue'e's eyes widened: "Guanren, won't you take me away?"
"Didn't I already take you out of the palace?" Lin Lin said, "With this money, you can start a new life."
However, Xue'e did not accept the treasure money: "I am a weak woman. If I carry so many treasures, I will be killed and robbed within a few miles. Aren't the officials putting the slave in a dangerous place?" "
"Why do you say that?" Lin Linyou felt a little embarrassed by what she said, "I saw that you were not well received by Zhu Youxi, and I was afraid that you would not have a good life if you stayed in the palace, so I kindly took you out. "The main reason is that I feel pity for the beauty, and I was impulsive and didn't consider it so far-reaching.
How careless!
"That's not what I meant... I said the wrong thing, please don't blame me." Xue'e said weakly, "I'm afraid that the officer will abandon me and be in a hurry..."
"I'm not saying I want to abandon you..." I'm just afraid that I can't support you! Even if life in the palace is not good, food and accommodation are still better than following us! You see, there are natural air-conditioned rosewood refrigerators in the summer. We can only hide under the grape trellis to enjoy the coolness, and watermelon wine can only be iced in well water.
"His Royal Highness has rewarded the slave to the official, and the slave is the official's. Please don't dislike the slave, and don't abandon the slave." Xue'e begged, after staying in the deep courtyard of the palace for so many years, Apart from serving people, she has no other skills. The outside world is indeed a bit strange to her.
"You...what will you do?" Lin Linyou asked.
"Do the laundry, cook, make the bed and fold the quilt... As long as you can follow the officials, you can do whatever you want." Xue'e said.
"Like this..." Lin Linyou's heart moved. He thought it would be better to give it a try tonight to see if he could pass the probation period. So he opened the curtain in front of the carriage and said to the driver: "It's getting dark. We'll stop at the market town in a while." Yes, we’ll stay there tonight.”
"Come on, sir! Then I have to speed up!" The coachman agreed readily, flicked his whip, and accelerated the speed.
Even though it's summer, it gets dark late. But today, it will always be dark.
Even when it gets dark, there will always be light.
Although the sun has set at this time, the wind carries the residual heat of the day and the slight coolness of the night.
It will be night.
It was quiet all around in the wilderness, and I realized that the noisy cicadas just now had disappeared at some point. Only one or two occasionally flew up from the nearby woods and screamed "I know--".
"Get down!" Suddenly, Lin Linyou shouted, pushing Xue'e's head across from him into his arms, and he also lay on her body.
The carriage shook for a while, and the coachman was secretly laughing at how anxious the guest was. Several feather arrows flew over and were all nailed to the carriage. Two of them penetrated the body of the carriage and shot from the rear to the front. One arrow was inserted into the carriage. The back of the coachman's head came out from his mouth, and one was nailed to his back. Half of the arrow shaft and feathers remained in the car, buzzing and trembling against Lin Linyou's scalp.
The carriage lost control, and the horses pulling it were frightened. They stood up with a long hiss and overturned the entire carriage.
The moment the carriage tipped over, Lin Linyou broke out of the window with Xue'e in his arms. At the same time, he reached into his arms, took out a bamboo tube and pushed open the stopper with his thumb, and threw it to the ground. In an instant, white smoke started to appear everywhere...
Fortunately, the smoke bomb has been improved, and the smoke can come out when the plug is pulled out. Otherwise, it would not be possible to light a fire while holding a girl.
I am also very happy that my invention has finally been put to use. When I return to the capital, what else does Zhang Bi have to say?
However, following the instructions of the Gunpowder Company, I added three spoons of sugar, and it turned out to be very powerful! The thick smoke kept flowing, choking him and Xue'e to cough, and bringing tears to their eyes.
Could it be that my spoon for adding sugar is too big?
Lin Linyou raised his sleeves and covered his mouth and nose, protecting Xue'e - to be precise, Xue'e hugged him tightly - and carefully moved to the edge of the thick smoke.
Fortunately, Xue'e is petite, otherwise it would be really inconvenient to move around.
As soon as they were halfway out of the thick smoke, several feather arrows were fired at them. Several people were shooting arrows while running towards them. The leader was none other than Zhu Youxi's personal bodyguard!
Lin Linyou swung his sword to split the incoming arrows. The rain of arrows was so fierce that he could only retreat into the thick smoke.
There seemed to be footsteps all around, slowly approaching them, and arrows kept falling from above. Fortunately, there was a smoke barrier. They missed their aim, but a few of them still hit the two of them, but they were all missed by Lin Lin. The ability to identify the location by listening to sounds has been eliminated.
But there was no way to hide in the smoke like this. If you didn't get shot to death, you would be choked to death.
Looking at Xue'e's little face, she was already flushed with pain.
Lin Linyou was about to fight out when he suddenly heard a few more coughs in the smoke. He guessed they were from the coachman. This guy was very lucky. He was obviously bleeding profusely. It looked like the arrow hit his head. s position! Isn’t this even dead? But Lin Linyou couldn't take care of him. He took out two bamboo tubes, rushed out of the smoke, threw one in the direction of the guards, and then threw another to the right. He broke away from Xue'e's iron hoop-like hand, and warned He shouted "Follow me" and swung his knife to kill to the left...
…
Yuan Jiang and a group of Jin Yiwei were imprisoned in the county prison in Qiantang County. Yang Fang wanted to visit them several times, but Chen E persuaded the county magistrate Ye Zongxing to stop him.
Ye Zongxing said: "Sir, if you go to see them, aren't you asking for trouble? It's better not to see them!"
"What do you plan to do with them?" Yang Fang asked.
Ye Zongxing said: "I can't be the master of this matter. I have to wait until Mr. Han Tiezong comes back to make his own decision."
Little did he know that Han Tiegong Zhou Xin was also imprisoned in a prison at this time - the Yuhang County Government Prison.
Yuhang was also the area under Zhou Xin's inspection. Knowing that the magistrate of Yuhang was amassing money and showing off his power over the people, Zhou Xin had just returned from inspecting the floods in western Zhejiang. Before he could take a breath, he took off his official uniform, dressed up as a commoner, and went to Yuhang County incognito. Went on inspection.
By coincidence, he happened to catch the Yuhang magistrate whipping people on the street. Zhou Xin stepped forward and scolded him. The Yuhang magistrate did not know his identity as an honest envoy and ordered the officials to arrest him.
Zhou Xin was not in a hurry and did not reveal his identity. He took the opportunity to learn about the situation from the prisoners in prison and learned about the charges of corruption in the county.
It is said that there was a prison chief in Yuhang County Yamen Prison, also named Zhou and named Ji Li. In addition to understanding the situation from the prisoners, Zhou Xin also obtained a lot of information from Zhou's cell leader.
But it wasn't him who asked, but Prison Head Zhou who took the initiative to reveal it.
It was not confided to Zhou Xin, but unintentionally said.
Because Ji Li usually brags and talks this week, listening to him talk has become a great pastime for the prisoners in the prison.
Zhou Jili: "You prisoners! I tell you, listen, first, princes, generals and prime ministers are of the same kind! Second, a family that accumulates good deeds will always be happy! Third, do your best and obey the destiny!"
He also said to his fellow jailers: "The greatest fairness in this world is unfairness. It is our duty to benefit the country and pass it on to our family. I repeat this sentence in my heart every day."
Jailer: "Taught, taught by the jailer."
Zhou Jili also meant what he said. Not only did he repeat that sentence in his heart every day, but he also kept repeating it in his mouth. It has become a mantra.
Not long after Zhou Xin entered, he heard him say this no less than three times.
So he asked: "So, your family, prison boss, is unusual?"
"Are you talking nonsense?" Zhou Jili became even more excited when he saw that some prisoners were questioning him, "Do you know that the new inspector is coming to us soon? His surname is Zhou, and my surname is Zhou too. ,you understood?"
"...I understand," Zhou Xin, "but I don't really understand."
"Haha, if a prisoner like you and I can explain this to you, that would be weird!"
…
