Chapter 036: Crow Night Cry (V)
As the sunlight gradually weakened, the light from the mountain of lights seemed even grander and brighter.
For a moment, Xu Hexue mistook it for the pagoda in Youdu. The jumping and flickering candle flames looked like the floating soul fire in the pagoda.
"Sir, your mooncake."
The cake stall owner swiftly picked up a few cakes, put them into an oil-paper bag and handed them to him, then couldn't help but secretly glance at the young man.
His face was too pale, as if he had been ill for a long time.
"Thank you very much."
Xu Hexue nodded and took the mooncake. He turned around and saw the girl in the white dress still standing there. There were many people coming and going around her, but her eyes were always looking at him.
Like a child who doesn't remember the way, she just waits for him to pass by, and then she will hold the corner of his clothes tightly.
Xu Hexue walked over, and she actually held his sleeve. He couldn't help but lower his eyes, and took a look at her hand with restraint. He took out a round mooncake from the oil paper package and handed it to her: "It's made with jujube paste filling. Do you like it?"
Ni Su hummed, sniffed, and followed him while biting the mooncake.
Walking past the mountain of lights, Xu Hexue actually found it somewhat unbearable for people to look at him occasionally, even if those eyes were just a casual glance and not a curious peep. But as long as he thought that only fifteen years had passed in the world of the living, he might meet his former classmates in this place, or his teacher, or even those he had known before or who knew him, he found it difficult to face any occasional glance cast at him on the street.
He was afraid that someone would call out the name "Xu Hexue" in front of her. He raised his head and examined her profile, and couldn't help but wonder what her expression would be if she heard this name.
But she was eating mooncakes very quietly, not looking at the road, just holding his sleeve and following him.
Xu Hexue knew that he couldn't let the panic and embarrassment in his heart turn into mist and let her walk the road home alone.
At this moment, she needed someone by her side, someone real, visible to everyone, who could take her quietly and blend into the excitement in front of her.
Xu Hexue no longer has any flesh and blood.
He can't be that person.
But he really wanted to.
Xu Hexue watched her eat mooncakes quietly.
The mooncake is as round as a full moon, but it becomes shrunken when she bites it.
…
The servants in the Wu Mansion were busy removing dust and sprinkling water to drive away the bad luck for the young master who had just returned. The doctor from the Imperial Medical Bureau was treating Wu Jikang in the inner room, while Liang Shenfu, the chief eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was drinking tea with Grand Tutor Wu outside.
"These are all good tea leaves, Grand Tutor. It's a waste of money to give them to our family." Liang Shenfu looked at a maid bringing up a few jade jars of tea leaves, and he said with a smile while holding the tea bowl.
"Liang, the eunuch, has been serving the emperor for so many years. He is used to the fragrance of the emperor's tea. I think he is also a tea lover. Since you love tea, why should we talk about whether it costs money or not?"
As Master Wu spoke, he began to cough.
"Why hasn't the cold you caught in the palace recovered yet, Grand Master? Why don't you ask a doctor to take a look at you again?" Liang Shenfu couldn't help but ask with concern.
"It's nothing," Grand Tutor Wu waved his hand. "There's nothing wrong with me. I just have a bad cough. I should be fine after taking some medicine."
"Grand Master, please take care of yourself. Although the emperor has not seen you, the imperial concubine has been by his side these days." Liang Shenfu accepted the good tea and knew that he should say more. "When the emperor was on a secret tour in Jiangzhou, he encountered a man named Fang who had gathered a group of farmhands and farmers to cause trouble. If you had not remained calm in the face of danger and dared to deal with Fang alone and recruit him, who knows how big a mess would have been..."
At that time, Liang Shenfu was serving beside Emperor Zhengyuan. Emperor Zhengyuan suddenly wanted to visit a Taoist temple on the mountain, but he didn't bring enough people with him. When he got to the mountain, he found that the temple had already been occupied by a large group of bandits.
"Although you are no longer in the court, the emperor still remembers your contributions and hard work. Besides, there is the imperial concubine. How can she watch Yanei die?" Liang Shenfu took a sip of tea and continued, "After all, he was just a scholar. The emperor has never even seen him. But Yanei is different. Since the death of Prince An, the emperor has had no other children. Yanei has visited the imperial concubine more often, and the emperor sees him differently..."
Liang Shenfu lowered his voice and said, "Grandmaster, the emperor knows the pain of blood ties best. It is not easy for you to have a son in your old age. The emperor will not let you lose this son."
"I know everything that Eunuch Liang said."
After listening to Liang Shenfu's words, Grand Tutor Wu sighed as if he had taken a reassurance pill, "This matter is originally my fault. The emperor wants to promote new policies, so the appointment of officials by nepotism has been tightened. I know that the emperor's treatment of my Wu family and the imperial concubine is a great favor, so I wanted Kang'er to fight for his dignity and not enter the officialdom by nepotism, so as to repay the emperor's kindness. So I pushed him too hard, and he did such a foolish thing..."
In a few words, Grand Tutor Wu made it clear that he supported the new policy and was enthusiastic about repaying the emperor's kindness. Liang Shenfu was the closest eunuch to Emperor Zhengyuan. He had been in the palace for many years, so how could he not understand who Grand Tutor Wu was talking to? He smiled and said, "If the emperor listens to these words of Grand Tutor, he will definitely understand your loyalty to the emperor."
Although it was a matter of gratitude, Liang Shenfu was not only interested in the tea from Grand Tutor Wu, whose jar was so rare that it even came in a precious container. The emperor was also fond of the Grand Tutor, so naturally he would be fond of her as well.
Liang Shenfu left with the people from the Imperial Medical Bureau. Grand Tutor Wu sat on the chair and coughed for a long time. Servants came in and out, and the pearl curtain kept shaking.
"Everyone get out."
As soon as Grand Tutor Wu's hoarse coughing sound came out, all the servants were immediately sent away by the eunuch. The room fell silent for a while, and the door was slowly closed by the eunuch from the outside.
"come out."
Master Wu narrowed his eyes and looked at the thin ray of light coming in from the crack in the door.
"Dad, I still feel bad..."
Wu Jikang's body stiffened and he leaned against the bed. He couldn't see his father sitting outside through the screen and the beaded curtain. He tried to make his voice sound weaker.
But he didn't hear any response from his father.
Wu Jikang became even more panicked and no longer dared to stay in bed. He stood up, lifted the curtain and went out.
"Kneel down."
After hearing his father's cold voice, Wu Jikang trembled all over and bent his knees. Before he could react, he had already knelt down.
"The people from the Night Watch didn't torture you?"
There was no unnecessary expression on Grand Tutor Wu's face.
"yes……"
Wu Jikang responded in a low voice.
"Then why did you plead guilty so easily?"
"Yes, it was Jia Yan who recognized me first! Although the people from the Night Police did not torture my son, they tortured Jia Yan in front of me! Dad, Jia Yan pointed out me, I, I was too scared..."
Jia Yan was Wu Jikang's servant.
When Wu Jikang talked about this man, he almost vomited. He remembered that this man had been tortured beyond recognition in the Night Police, and that he had been tortured in front of him.
He didn't even dare to think about Jia Yan's bloody face, or the pair of eyes looking at him, but these images had to drill into his mind. He couldn't stop shaking all over, and his waist collapsed and he began to dry heave.
"I think you feel that since your sister is in the palace and I have found someone to cover up for you, you think you can't die anyway, right?"
Although Grand Tutor Wu showed such deep love for his son in front of Liang Shenfu, his expression now became even more gloomy cold.
"Difficult, isn't it?"
Wu Jikang moved forward on his knees until he was in front of Grand Tutor Wu. He grabbed Grand Tutor Wu's robe with shaking hands, "Dad, I won't die, right? You and sister will save me, right? I don't want to go to the Night Palace anymore. There's so much blood there, so many people are being tortured in front of me, I'm having nightmares... I'm having so many nightmares!"
Master Wu kicked him in the abdomen with such force that Wu Jikang fell backwards, his eyes red with pain, and he curled up on the ground.
"If you had known this, why did you still cause trouble for me?" Grand Tutor Wu stood up suddenly and stared at him condescendingly. "When you first approached Du Cong to commit fraud, did you ever think that this matter would be uncovered one day? I tried my best to cover it up for you, but you failed to frame Ni Qinglan's sister, and instead let Han Qing, a vicious dog like him, get hold of the handle!"
"Dad, the government must protect me, the government must protect me!"
Wu Jikang breathed hard. "I just don't want her to continue making trouble. I want her to get out of Yunjing. If she can't get out, I will kill her. It's as simple as killing Ni Qinglan..."
He seemed to be trapped in some kind of obsession.
To be precise, he has been in this state of confusion since Ni Qinglan's death.
"You, you, why did I give birth to something like you!"
Grand Tutor Wu was furious. "I haven't asked you yet why you placed Ni Qinglan's body in the clay Buddha statue on Qingyuan Mountain! If you were more careful, no one would have discovered the body!"
"To save the dead."
Wu Jikang's reaction was very slow, as if he was mumbling, "I'll put him into the Bodhisattva, and he will be able to practice with the Bodhisattva, and then he will go to heaven, and he won't become a fierce ghost to look for me..."
"Dad, I just forgot to feed him. I didn't mean to kill him, but he starved to death..." Wu Jikang rubbed his head irritably, his hair falling in disarray, "Why does he have a sister? If it weren't for her, no one would have found out, no one!"
"Look at you! You don't look like my son, Wu Dai! You can't even study well, and you're so cowardly when it comes to killing people!"
Master Wu was so angry that he kicked him hard again.
"Then you can let Ni Qinglan be your son!"
Wu Jikang's sensitive nerves were touched by Master Wu. He was kicked again, and his eyes were wet with pain. He shouted: "Ye Shanlin said that he is very knowledgeable. They all said that he can pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi! Only me, no matter how hard I study, I can never be your good son!"
Wu Taishi's face turned increasingly livid, and Wu Jikang became increasingly frightened, but he held his head and kept talking: "You must force me to study, but even if you force me, I still won't pass the exam..."
Outsiders all knew that Grand Tutor Wu Dai had a son in his old age, and everyone thought that Wu Dai must love his son very much, even the imperial concubine who entered the palace early thought so.
But only Wu Jikang knew that they were all fake.
Compared with his son, Grand Tutor Wu cares more about his face.
So what if he had a son in his old age? He couldn't bear to see his son being mediocre and useless. After Wu Jikang was severely criticized by Hanlin scholar He Tong in Zhaowen Hall in the palace, Grand Tutor Wu began to teach Wu Jikang personally.
After the age of thirteen, Wu Jikang grew up under the extremely strict teachings of Grand Tutor Wu. He was often punished with a ruler by his father, often forced to kneel until his legs became numb, and often would be so frightened that his whole body would tremble uncontrollably just by being stared at coldly by his father.
Even under such strong pressure, Wu Jikang still could not meet his father's requirements.
Originally, Wu Jikang thought that his family had favored him, so he couldn't be too bad. But the government suddenly wanted to reintroduce new policies, and to show his loyalty, his father wanted him to take the imperial examination together with those children from poor families.
As the winter examination approached, Wu Jikang became anxious. He was afraid that he would not pass the examination and would be severely punished by his father. He could not concentrate on reading anything, so he was instigated by his servant Jia Yan to attend banquets hosted by some officials' children.
There were also a few people from very ordinary families at the banquet, all of whom were good at sweet talk and were invited by the other yamen to be amused. Among them was Ye Shanlin.
After three rounds of drinking, everyone at the table talked about the winter exam. Ye Shan, who ran a bookstore, was boasting about a person, "I know a person. He is a candidate from Que County. He showed his talent at Lin Yuanwai's poetry gathering earlier. He was the champion of that poetry gathering! Who knows, he will stand out this time!"
Everyone was talking about Ni Qinglan, and someone became curious about him and said, "Why not invite him here and take a look at him? If he really has so much knowledge, we can make friends with him in advance!"
Ye Shanlin shook his head: "He won't come. I haven't even seen him."
"Just because Mr. Lin thinks highly of him, does this person become more arrogant? We still have several officials here. What important figures can't we invite?"
"It's not that he's arrogant, but I heard that he doesn't like this kind of scene. His talent is not fake. I know a good friend of his, a man named He Zhongping. He showed me his policy essay, and it was really well written. This winter exam is to select talents for the new policy. It would be strange if someone like him didn't get selected!"
Ye Shanlin burped and spoke fluently. In the end, he even recited some poems and essays written by Ni Qinglan.
Wu Jikang asked his servant to give Ye Shanlin some silver and asked him to recite Ni Qinglan's poems. However, after reading this, he could no longer drink a sip of wine.
He was ashamed of his mediocrity.
At the same time, he secretly thought that it would be great if all those poems were his. In this way, he could be consistent in his words and deeds, be a good son to his father, and enjoy unlimited glory.
It only took one night for such an idea to evolve from its inception to fraud.
Wu Jikang used his father's relationship to give a lot of silver to Du Cong. Du Cong arranged the matter very well. As long as he exchanged Ni Qinglan's paper with his, he could directly enter the officialdom and would no longer be forced to study hard by his father.
In order to ensure that Ni Qinglan would not do anything bad after the winter test, Wu Jikang had someone knock her out on the night of the winter test and then locked her up in a room outside the city.
The book boy Jia Yan was the one who helped him do everything. Even when he discovered that Ni Qinglan had escaped, it was Jia Yan who took people to capture him and tortured and beat him.
At first, Wu Jikang just wanted to wait until the winter exam was over and he was successfully admitted as an official, then he would make Ni Qinglan's voice hoarse and use some money to release him back to Que County.
But that night, Jia Yan hurried back from outside the city and said, "Young Master, some of our gatekeepers got drunk and let it slip that Ni Qinglan already knows why you locked him up! From the look of him, if you let him go, I'm afraid he won't let it go! What if the emperor hears about this, what shall we do..."
Official?
How could Wu Jikang care about what the government thought? His mind was filled with his father's insults and family rules.
As if things didn't get worse, early the next morning, he heard news from the palace that the emperor had adopted the suggestion of the Censorate and changed his mind. After the winter examination, there would be a palace examination.
Wu Jikang went to see Ni Qinglan that night.
Even though the young man's clothes were stained with blood, he was still well-dressed. In the simple and moldy room, he stared at him calmly and said, "Since the matter with the young master has failed, how about we forget about it and never mention it again?"
"Really not going to mention it?"
Wu Jikang was shaken.
He instinctively envied Ni Qinglan. He didn't know how this man could remain so calm in such a terrible situation.
"I have no intention of going against Yanei."
Ni Qinglan said.
Wu Jikang really believed him at first, but his servant Jia Yan said later: "Young Master, didn't you hear what Lord Du said? Ni Qinglan's paper will definitely be selected. If you let him go now, isn't it like letting a tiger go back to the mountain? He may not have the ability to oppose you now, but if he becomes an official in the future, who knows where he will climb. When he settles with you, what will you do?"
"I'm afraid that if our Grand Master knew that you..."
When Wu Jikang heard Jia Yan mention the Grand Tutor, he felt his blood run cold. He was instinctively afraid of his father, and Jia Yan kept whispering in his ear, "Young Master, he escaped before. He deliberately tricked us into believing that you changed the test paper. He is definitely not a pushover! He is deceiving you!"
After hearing these words, Wu Jikang felt that Ni Qinglan must be deceiving him. In a fit of anger, he said, "Don't give him any food these days!"
Not only did Wu Jikang not give Ni Qinglan food, he also ordered Jia Yan and others to hang Ni Qinglan up and beat him. Although the torture was not fatal, it caused Ni Qinglan to suffer from soul-leaving syndrome.
Actually, Wu Jikang didn't want to cause any death. He just didn't know how to deal with Ni Qinglan so that the matter would not be discovered. However, he never expected that after Ni Qinglan suffered from the soul-leaving syndrome, he couldn't eat a single bite of food.
People starved to death.
At that time, Wu Jikang was still hesitating whether he should hire a doctor for Ni Qinglan. He was extremely afraid of being discovered, but while he was hesitating, the person died.
The sky was gloomy, thunder rumbled, and soon a violent storm came.
Grand Tutor Wu looked at his son, who was lying on the ground like mud. There was no warmth on his wrinkled face. He picked up a whip and lashed it hard on Wu Jikang, gritting his teeth and sneering:
"If Ni Qinglan was my son, even if you only touched his papers and didn't kill him—"
"I want you to pay with your life, too."
Unfortunately, he is not.
You are.
