Chapter 015 Bodhisattva Man (Part 3)
"Thank you for your hard work . We still need to discuss the salary increase. How much and how to increase it? We need to come up with a plan tomorrow and report it the day after tomorrow so that the instructors can know."
In the government hall, a purple-robed gentleman with thick eyebrows and clear eyes sat at the head of the table, "Let's stop here today."
The hall attendant hurriedly collected the policy papers on the table and put them aside to arrange them.
They rushed to the palace for the morning court before dawn and held meetings in the government hall until dark. When they heard Mr. Meng's words, several officials felt relieved and stood up to bow.
Zhang Jing, who was sitting next to Meng Yunxian, was very silent. He supported himself with one hand on a crutch and read the rest of the financial policy. He raised his head and saw that most of the officials in the hall had left. He did not say anything and stood up with the help of his crutch.
"Chongzhi, come to my house. My wife is going to cook a pot tonight and we can eat together."
Meng Yunxian said a few words to the people around him, turned around and saw Hanlin scholar He Tong was about to help his teacher out, so Meng Yunxian walked over with a smile.
"I am used to simple meals, so I won't bother you, Master Meng."
Zhang Jing casually said this and was about to leave, but unexpectedly Meng Yunxian followed him to the door, not caring at all whether he was being ignored or not, "Then I'll go to your house for dinner? I'm used to simple meals."
Zhang Jing paused, then turned around to look at Meng Yunxian's smiling face. After a moment, he said coldly, "Didn't you, Mr. Meng, like to rectify the administration of officials the most? Why are you starting to sort out the finances this time?"
After saying this, Zhang Jing, supported by his student He Tong, walked out without looking around.
Outside the eaves, there was a hazy mist and rain. Meng Yunxian stood at the doorstep, watching He Tong open an umbrella for Zhang Jing and then help him down the stairs as he staggered.
"Why are you doing this?"
Pei Zhiyuan, the secretary of the Central Secretariat, walked up to Meng Yunxian and clasped his hands together, "Mr. Zhang is no longer willing to treat you well, why are you still smiling?"
"I visited him three times and went to his house for dinner every day before I convinced him to work with me to promote the new policy. I have been separated from him for 14 years. I still wonder if he deeply regrets what he did with me."
"But you saw it just now. He was dissatisfied with my return trip, which was neither painful nor satisfying. He thought I had broken a bone, so he started to fawn on me."
Meng Yunxian looked up at the rain and fog.
"You don't have any?"
Pei Zhiyuan brushed away the raindrops on his sleeves.
Hearing this, Meng Yunxian turned to meet Pei Zhiyuan's gaze, and then smiled at him. He stretched out his hand to signal the eunuch not far away to bring an umbrella, and said slowly: "Of course there is. "
When he returned to Yunjing after fourteen years, countless pairs of eyes were staring at Meng Yunxian, like black-eyed chickens, extremely vigilant, fearing that this man would be too aggressive like he was fourteen years ago, and would be eager to touch their interests once he became prime minister.
But no one expected that the first thing he proposed when he came back was the new policy of "generous salaries to maintain integrity".
This is not rectification at all, it is clearly pandering.
"Then Lord Li, the censor who opposed you the most, has become more handsome recently." Pei Zhiyuan was a chatterbox who was almost talking nonsense, and he almost had a handful of melon seeds in his hand.
"How great! It makes us look like close colleagues in the court, and the emperor will listen less to their insults."
Meng Yunxian took the umbrella from the eunuch, opened it himself, and walked into the rain.
After returning home, Meng Yunxian took the tea handed to him by the maid. Seeing that Madam Jiang was still looking outside the court, he smiled and shook his head: "Madam, Zhang Chongzhi refused to come, so we can only eat the pot by ourselves."
Jiang frowned slightly, turned around and wiped the rain off his body with a handkerchief, "You deserve it. You said something he didn't want to hear in Xie Chunting, and made him let his good student run away. A young talent who passed the imperial examination had to run to the border battlefield to be a warrior..."
"Madam, you forgot that I was also born in the military."
Jiang snorted and looked at him, "Yes, you were originally a warrior, but if we need warriors in Da Qi, why do you want to be a civil servant?"
Meng Yunxian was about to say something when he heard a servant come to report: "Master, a guest has arrived."
The old housekeeper did not mention the name of the visitor, but Meng Yunxian already knew who the visitor was. He took off his official uniform and handed it to Jiang, then put on an outer coat and asked, "In the study?"
"yes."
The old butler bowed his head.
Meng Yunxian had just arrived at the study when he saw Han Qing, dressed in casual clothes, sitting on a folding chair with a tea bowl in his hand, lost in thought. He walked in and asked, "How did Ambassador Han find time to come to my place?"
"Mr. Meng."
Han Qing immediately put down his tea bowl and stood up to greet him. "It's not long since my husband returned to Beijing. Han Qing shouldn't have come here at this time, but I personally think that the opportunity that my husband has been waiting for has come."
"oh?"
Meng Yunxian sat down next to Han Qing and motioned for him to sit down as well. "What do you mean?"
Han Qing sat down as he was told, then took out the handwritten letter from his arms and handed it to him: "Please read it, my husband."
Meng Yunxian reached out to take it, leaned close to the candlelight and read it word by word.
"Since Ni Su is the deceased's biological sister, why was she imprisoned in the Guangning Prefecture's Records Office?"
"She told Guangning Prefecture that she was visited by an innocent person in her dream, so she went to Qingyuan Mountain. Lord Yin Zheng of Guangning Prefecture thought that her words and actions were absurd , so he took her to the Silusi and threatened to kill her with a stick."
Han Qing said truthfully.
"The wronged person came to me in a dream?" Meng Yunxian couldn't help but laugh, "Is this woman in your night watchman now?"
"yes."
Han Qing nodded.
Meng Yunxian pondered for a moment, put away the handwritten letter, and said with a refreshed look: "What Envoy Han said is right. Ni Qinglan, the candidate for the winter exam, is the opportunity we have been waiting for."
…
The Night Guard could not hear the falling rain outside. The close officers on duty at night were eating and chatting in the duty room opposite the torture pool. Someone also brought food to the sleeping Ni Su and placed it on the table.
But she couldn't get up and didn't respond.
"The young lady can't get up, so I'm afraid she won't be able to eat..." The officer who delivered the meal returned to the duty room and talked to his colleagues.
"What? You want to feed her?"
Someone joked, "Or hire a maid for her?"
"Our envoy hasn't tried her yet, and I'm just afraid that she's dead." The close official picked up the peanut shells and threw them at his talkative colleague.
"When the envoy comes, we will ask for instructions and find a doctor to see her."
The sound of unrestrained talking could be heard faintly in the duty room. Ni Su slowly opened her eyes and saw the young man in the dark prison, groping patiently at the table.
Ni Su watched him touch the porcelain bowl on the table with his hands. He paused, then touched the spoon on the bowl, and then slowly walked towards her step by step based on his feeling.
"Ni Su."
Xu Hexue didn't know that she was awake, so he sat down on the edge of the bed and called her softly.
"Um."
Ni Su responded.
Xu Hexue was stunned when he heard her respond so quickly, then said, "You haven't eaten all day."
He held the spoon, scooped a spoonful of porridge, and slowly moved forward.
"A little to the left."
Ni Su looked at his hand that had strayed in the wrong direction, her voice weak and hoarse.
Xu Hexue moved a little to the left as instructed.
"A little further."
Xu Hexue tentatively moved forward a little.
Ni Su's lips touched the hot porridge in the spoon, and she barely opened her mouth to eat it, but looking at Xu Hexue, she always felt that his figure was much lighter.
Tiny dust is floating.
Her weak hands barely tugged at his sleeve.
Xu Hexue couldn't see it, and was not prepared for her sudden movement. Her sleeves slipped back a little, revealing wet bloodstains and hideous, cracked wounds.
At this moment, Ni Su just remembered that if he left her without permission, he would also suffer.
Even so, he still asked someone to write a handwritten letter.
Ni Su watched him gather his sleeves. She glanced at the brightly lit entrance to the duty room and stood up despite the severe pain. Her black hair was already soaked with cold sweat. Her face was extremely pale. She put one hand on the iron railing and knocked heavily on the copper lock of the cell door: "Someone, come quickly!"
She screamed so loudly that her throat felt like it was being cut by a knife.
Xu Hexue didn't know why she was like that, but when he heard some noise from the duty room, he put the bowl down without saying anything.
"Girl, what are you doing?"
A personal officer approached.
"Give me a few candles and a tinder, please."
Ni Su panted softly and spoke with difficulty.
When Xu Hexue heard the word "candle", his long eyelashes trembled slightly, and his lifeless eyes looked towards the direction of her voice.
Several personal attendants didn't know what she wanted the candles for. They looked at each other and finally brought a few unlit candles from the duty room. However, based on their way of doing things in the night watch, they gave her the tinder and stayed there. They watched the young woman get up from the couch, force herself to hold on with trembling hands, and light the candles one by one.
The attendants thought she was just afraid of the dark, but they still took away the tinder. Worried that she might have bad intentions, they placed her lit candle on a tall candlestick embedded deep in the wall, making sure that a seriously injured woman could not touch it. Only then did they return to the duty room with peace of mind.
The light was flickering in the quiet prison. That was the light that Ni Su gave to Xu Hexue.
At this moment, Xu Hexue saw how miserable Ni Su was after being tortured. She was covered in blood, and her light hair, wet with sweat, was stuck to her cheeks. She was extremely fragile. She lay weakly on the couch, resting her hand on the back of her head and said to him, "I don't want to be seen like this."
Xu Hexue lowered her eyes for a moment, picked up the bowl of porridge, scooped a spoonful and put it to her lips: "I know."
He never wanted to be seen.
"But I am willing to light a lamp for you."
Ni Su ate the porridge he fed her and said softly.
