The Zhou family case was very involved, and Yu Fang Jing was tried day and night for several days.
Upon further investigation, the intricate connections revealed that most officials in the south were implicated, including even his immediate superior, Meng Xueli. In a state of panic, Yu Fang Jing stopped urgently and cautiously talked in secret with His Highness the Crown Prince for several hours.
The next day, the post envoy rushed to the royal capital carrying dozens of envelopes. The two ancient seals of "Di Qiu" above the city tower were covered by dust rising all over the sky, as if the whole city was filled with haze.
The people in Diqiu County only saw the guards tightening the martial law and arresting batches of people. The city was in turmoil and rumors were spreading.
One hundred and forty-nine corpses in Shangsi Village were burned by Zhou Hou, but other corpses abandoned in remote mountains and remote areas were brought back, so you can often see the guards with cold faces and quick steps carrying white cloth coverings. Bodies passed quickly through the city streets.
The evil of the Zhou family was so unscrupulous that the people could not believe it even if they only heard about one or two of them.
During the days when the interrogation was suspended, Yun Qi finally found some time to relax and sit under the big locust tree in Yun Mansion's courtyard to drink tea.
Lu Taotao squatted next to him and ate melon seeds. From time to time, he moved the position of a melon seed shell on the ground, watching with interest the little ants always spinning around in the same place.
Xunqing and Ma Dan sat on a long stone bench, both holding their faces with their right hands, looking like they were wandering in the sky. For a long time, they sighed quietly at the same time.
Lu Taotao once again put the melon seed shell in front of the ant, tilted his head and said: "What unlucky look do you two look like so early in the morning?"
"Alas..." Xunqing put his hands on his face, "Donor, our fate has ended. I will leave tomorrow."
"Who is destined to be with you, little Taoist priest?" Lu Taotao moved over, stretched out his hand and pinched a handful to find out, "You have a big face, are you reluctant to part with the food here?"
When Xunqing was told the central issue, he blushed and said, "Donors, please respect yourself. Men and women are not allowed to be intimate."
Yun Qi looked over and said, "I found your master's disciple."
Xunqing nodded heavily, "Well, my uncle sent me a letter two days ago, and we agreed to meet at Sanyuan Temple."
"I'll ask Guanyue to see you off tomorrow."
He looked up and made a gesture with his hands, saying, "Thank you, donor. Please take care of me during this period. If we meet again someday..."
Before he finished speaking, Lu Taotao waved his hands repeatedly, "Come on, I've met you, an unlucky kid, and nothing good has happened. I'll never see you again!"
Xunqing scratched his head and asked Ma Dan, who had been living and eating with him these days, "Master Ma, what's bothering you?"
Ma Dan still wears the same apricot-yellow Taoist robe, and he still has a bit of an immortal spirit when he is pretending, but now he has a droopy face with constipation, and even an outsider has been dragged into the mortal world.
Ma Dan complained silently, while Lu Taotao laughed and said, "He is sad about the hundred taels of silver he didn't get."
The Zhou family was arrested, and the incense money promised by 'Steward Zhou' was of course nothing. Ma Dan had been praying for several days, but this time it was all in vain.
Lu Taotao gloated: "I lie to ghosts all the year round, so I can be tricked by ghosts, hee hee hee."
Ma Dan's eyes moved and he looked at Xunqing's face with his mouth slightly open. He coughed and immediately sat up straight. He said with a righteous expression: "Is this a poor man just arguing over a few taels of silver? He just sighs that the world is so big and people's hearts are so empty." In ancient times, the evil deeds committed by the Zhou family were unheard of. It is no wonder that the poor man chanted sutras for several days and his soul was restless. He thought that his grievances had not been redressed and he was unwilling to leave this world."
"Honestly, if I hadn't known that your name was Ma Dan, I would have believed it." Lu Taotao clicked his tongue.
Xunqing said seriously: "Master Ma, I believe in you! You have the same Tao roots as my master."
Lu Taotao rolled his eyes, "Just hang out with him, and sooner or later you will become a little liar."
Ma Dan was extremely touched. He really liked this child Xunqing. Not only was he not as willful and reckless as other children at his age, but Xunqing was too sensible and made people feel sad.
"Xunqing, you will leave tomorrow, and I don't have anything else to say goodbye to you, but I got a manuscript from Taoist Master Qingyun last year, which may be useful to you on your path to Taoism."
If Dongyue Zhenren was active in the court and admired by the people, then Taoist Master Qingyun, who was as handsome as a leisurely cloud and a wild crane, was very prestigious in the monastic world.
Lu Taotao kicked Yun Qi's shoes and said, "Ma Dan lied and lied, and tricked himself into it?" He really thought he was a Taoist priest.
Yun Qi lazily raised his eyelids and said, "Are you very free?"
"I'm also asking you, what happened to Lu Anran?" Lu Taotao jumped onto the trunk of the big locust tree and lay down, looking down at Yunqi, "Something didn't feel right after I came back that night."
Yun Qi's eyes moved and he said quietly: "Recuperate."
Lu Anran went back to her room after asking those questions that day, but Yun Qi knew that she couldn't get over this hurdle.
Not only was she upset and guilty, but the deeper reason was that she began to question herself.
There is no doubt that Lu Anran is a smart person, and they all have no doubt that if Lu Anran studied medicine, she would also be a very good doctor, just like when she later joined the medical clinic and helped Yun Qi solve every case.
It's not that I'm conceited, but I still made mistakes.
Wu Zuo - Examine the deceased and explain the things that the deceased had no chance to say.
Yun Qi told her, "The corpse was so destroyed that even Magistrate Qian couldn't recognize it. In addition, Zhou Hou was jumping up and down. We were all deceived, not just you."
Lu Anran refused to let him go, "But I'm the one who made the mistake, right?"
If the corpse is not even inspected, how can we talk about justice to the deceased?
Lu Taotao groaned, resting his chin on his arm, "I was hit."
Yun Qi thought that Lu Taotao was right, Lu Anran had suffered a fatal blow this time.
Lu Anran usually behaves indifferently, but as a child of the Mengdu Lu family, she must be proud deep down. She just doesn't show this side to others, but goes deep into her own field.
Picking up the lancet, she can split the blue clouds among the corpses and uncover the sun and the moon.
Calm, decisive, to the point, and calm.
Therefore, when you make the most basic mistake, you find it so difficult to accept it and refuse to let yourself go.
"How... can I make her think about it?" Yun Qi said to himself.
Lu Taotao turned over, picked at the bark of the tree and said with a smile: "There is a saying, get up wherever you fall. Lu Anran's world has collapsed, so just create another one for her."
Yun Qi glanced at Lu Taotao faintly. When Lu Taotao's hair was about to explode at the sight, Yun Bi nodded and said, "It makes sense."
Lu Taotao: "..." What did she say? She's just messing around.
—
royal capital
The eight-hundred-mile express was so fast that it was like a storm sweeping through Zhuque Street, heading straight towards the Dongfang Palace.
This wind blew as far as Linhua Hall.
In the imperial study room, the emperor read the letter hastily, his eyes fixed on a place stained red with blood, and his face was so gloomy that it could drip.
"Your Majesty, Lieutenant Zhao saved his last breath to deliver this letter to the post station. The minister did not dare to delay. He drove day and night and killed seven horses along the way." The post envoy glanced at the emperor's face from the corner of his eye and knocked his head in fear. Live on the ground and dare not breathe.
The emperor grasped the letter tightly, with so much force that the paper crumpled together, almost torn to pieces, and said in a cold voice: "Step back."
The messenger held his breath and slowly backed away, back to the threshold, stepped out carefully, and finally left the Linhua Palace. Only then did he really take a breath, and suddenly felt a pain in his heart. The imperial power of the Tian family just now was too heavy, and he was so suppressed that he did not dare to raise his head. Looking straight at it, there is an illusion that one could lose one's life at any moment.
Wang Qi was waiting outside the palace, his eyelids twitching. He had a premonition that something bad was going to happen. He heard a call from inside: "Summon Prime Minister Liu into the palace."
He saluted inward and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."
As he jogged to deliver the message, he bumped into the second prince who had been in confinement for many days and thought about his past.
"Your Majesty, where are you going in a hurry?"
"I have met the second prince, and I want to send you a message for the emperor."
Zi Sanghao and Concubine Shu got the news. The Zhou family that was wiped out in Diqiu not only survived, but became the murderer. Because it was related to Xue Tai, Concubine Shu was also a little unable to sit still, and wanted the second prince to come and find out what the emperor said first. .
But looking at Wang Qie's expression now, "Father, are you in a bad mood?"
"I dare not make any assumptions."
The words were unclear, but Zi Sanghao had already sensed it from his expression, "The prince is busy, I'll come back another day."
The king had no time to worry about the second prince, so he cupped his hands, picked up his clothes and left quickly.
As a confidant of the emperor, it was not unusual for Liu Xiangzhi to enter the palace every two days. Although he held a high position, he was always gentle with others. His middle age did not diminish his charm at all, but added to his mature charm. Therefore, the palace The maids in the palace blush every time they meet.
Usually Liu Xiangzhi would give people a considerate smile, but today he walked all the way to Linhua Hall, as if he regarded everything as nothing, his face was a little serious, and the smile that often hung on his face was gone.
He walked to the door and nodded to Wang Qie.
Wang Qie whispered: "Mr. Liu, please wait a moment."
"Let him come in." The emperor heard the commotion and said to the outside world without waiting for the king to come in and report.
Liu Xiangzhi entered the palace to salute, and the emperor stood in front of the window, facing him sideways, his face alternated between light and dark, and his expression was calm.
"Your Majesty, is there something wrong with the new army?" Liu Xiangzhi asked first.
The emperor pressed his fingers on the letter and turned around, his face as sinking as water and his eyes as sharp as eagles, "How do you know?"
Liu Xiangzhi said calmly: "Every once in a while, the New Army will send messages to me by flying pigeons, but we have been disconnected for five days recently, and I have a bad feeling."
"Following the route, where should they be?"
"Akagi is three hundred miles away from Shajia City."
"He disappeared in Chicheng." The emperor said coldly.
Liu Xiangzhi was shocked, "All ten thousand horses and horses are missing?"
"Zhao Shuxing ran out despite his serious injuries and delivered the letter to the inn. He was already dead."
After reading the letter, Liu Xiangzhi was even more shocked, "How is it possible that a ghost town appears on the plains?!"
The emperor put his hands behind his back, and his whole body seemed to be enveloped by a cold air, making his whole body more depressed. "As Zhao Shuxing said, all these ten thousand people will be eaten by the ghost city."
The so-called new army was originally meant to deceive others, but now an entire army is missing and they don't know whether they are alive or dead. The emperor's plan is about to fail.
This Diqiu Dojo was not going well from the beginning.
The emperor even felt that it was the prince who introduced a group of beasts to destroy the dojo that might have triggered a series of changes. His unhappiness increased and he became even more dissatisfied with the prince.
When Wang Qie heard that there was no sound inside, he stepped across the palace door tremblingly and reported inside: "Your Majesty, Mr. Yang, the minister of Guanglu Temple, and Mr. Du, the counselor of the army, are requesting a face-to-face meeting."
