Chapter 116: Langtaosha (I)
It was freezing cold, and the common people gathered at both ends of the road at Diqian Gate. They looked at the people whose hands were tied with a rope by the officials of the Yeyesi with different expressions.
A young man in a shabby shirt was walking slowly, and the personal officer came up to him and hit him on the back with the handle of his knife without any hesitation: "Hurry up!"
The snow under his feet had not yet melted. The young man staggered, raised his head and glared at the official.
The officer was furious and was about to take action when he heard a voice in front of him: "Stop."
"Deputy Envoy Zhou."
The attendant officials immediately bowed their heads.
Zhou Ting was walking in the front and had stopped at this moment. He turned around and looked at him, "He is an official. No matter what, it is not your turn to treat him like this."
"yes……"
The close officials responded awkwardly.
The young man did not appreciate Zhou Ting's kindness at all. He simply stood still and refused to move forward. "Deputy Envoy Zhou, I want to ask you, how are we guilty?"
"When I saw you working hard for Brother Jiming's case, I thought you were a good man!" He raised his bound hands and pointed at Zhou Ting, who was dressed in a dark black robe. "But what are you doing now? Are you helping those treacherous people to deceive the emperor and father?"
"He Zhongping."
Zhou Ting said coldly, "If you continue to speak inappropriately, your crime will be even more serious."
"Am I still afraid of bearing another serious crime now?"
He Zhongping looked around. Apart from the personal officers of the Night Police wearing long swords on their waists, the people on both sides of the road came to watch the excitement despite the severe cold. He was filled with sorrow. "What crime have we committed? Is it because of Mr. Zhang's last words? So many people heard it on the execution platform that day. Do you want to cut off their ears too? A gentleman should think about it and examine it carefully before he can have no doubts. What exactly did we do wrong?"
"You are an official now, so stop talking..." Chao Yisong couldn't help but stepped forward and advised in a low voice.
He didn't know what was wrong with He Zhongping. Because of Ni Qinglan's case, he was trembling with fear and extremely timid in the night police. How come he seemed like a different person now?
"No need for your reminder," He Zhongping turned his head away, "It is precisely because I am now an official that I cannot bear to see people like you committing unjust imprisonment under the nose of the emperor and father!"
"Take them away!"
Chao Yisong quickly waved to his close officials.
"Are you feeling guilty?" A scholar broke free from the hand of the personal officer. "Why don't you let us speak? Who is so afraid that we will remember Mr. Zhang's last words? Who is afraid that we will mention the name Xu Hexue?"
"We all know what kind of person Mr. Zhang is. If Xu Hexue is really a wicked person, Mr. Zhang would be ashamed to mention his name!"
Another young man spoke out angrily.
Zhou Ting suddenly stared at him. The anger on the young man's face paused for a moment, and he avoided his sight and lowered his head.
"What's your name?"
Zhou Ting walked up to him.
"Chen Xing."
His momentum inexplicably weakened.
Zhou Ting gripped the knife handle tightly, the veins in his neck bulged slightly. He took a deep breath and ordered:
"Bring them all back to me."
This man's words in public completely destroyed the lives of more than sixty people.
He Zhongping was yanked hard by someone. He staggered forward a few steps and shouted with all his strength, "I beg you, my Lord, to re-investigate Xu Hexue's treason case!"
"I beg you, my Lord, to re-investigate Xu Hexue's treason case!"
"I beg you, my Lord, to re-investigate Xu Hexue's treason case!"
There were more than sixty people, and their voices shook the sky.
Xu Hexue and Ni Su had just arrived at Diqian Gate. The closer they got, the clearer they could hear the sounds.
Xu Hexue never thought that one day his name would appear in the mouths of so many people, and the shouts almost hurt his eardrums.
In the cold fog, among the group of people being escorted by the officials of the Night Police, Ni Su suddenly saw He Zhongping's face.
"Mr. He!"
Ni Su pushed through the crowd and ran forward.
The officials of the Night Watch immediately stopped the woman who suddenly appeared. Chao Yisong turned around and said in a lost voice, "Miss Ni?"
He Zhongping and his group had been escorted to the night watchman's office. Zhou Ting turned around when he heard Ni Su's voice. He stood for a moment and said to Chao Yisong, "Go back first and separate Chen Xing from the others."
"yes."
Chao Yisong took the order and turned away.
The voices of He Zhongping and his group gradually faded away, but they were still deafening. Ni Su quickly walked to Zhou Ting and said, "Master Zhou, they only hid the collection of Zhang Xianggong's works. Their crime is not punishable by death, right?"
"Originally there was still room for maneuver, but now,"
Zhou Ting looked at her, "But I can't explain it clearly."
"You're not even allowed to speak?"
Ni Su's eyelids turned red and her voice was almost trembling.
"It's not that I'm not allowed..."
Zhou Ting's throat was dry, and he tightly grasped the hilt of the knife in his hand. "Someone took advantage of their innocent hearts and pushed them to death. Ni Su, if I could, I wouldn't want them to die, but now, I have no choice."
If the Night Watchman was not a government-run Night Watchman, there would be no need for it to exist.
He must never disobey his king and father.
His ambition to be in charge of the prisons for the emperor when he was young pushed him into the desperate situation of Daxing's unjust imprisonment.
That Chen Xing had already put He Zhongping and others to death. He said that if he believed in Zhang Xianggong's character, he would be refusing to acknowledge Zhang Jing's death penalty, refusing the emperor's edict, and being disrespectful to his monarch and father.
He said that if Xu Hexue was really a treacherous and evil person, Prime Minister Zhang would be ashamed to mention his name. Even if they did not verify the facts, they would deny the crime of treason committed by General Xu Hexue, who was found out by the court sixteen years ago, based on Zhang Jing's few words.
Both of these are capital crimes.
Zhou Ting didn't need to think too much about who was behind Chen Xing.
This person is willing to die, it must be because someone has caught him in a vital position.
"Deputy Envoy Zhou, Dong Yao has been found!"
A personal officer of the Night Watch suddenly ran over and shouted.
"Where?"
Zhou Ting's expression froze.
"In a small black boat on Yong'an Lake! Lord Ding has already led his men there!"
When Zhou Ting heard this, he couldn't suppress his anger and grabbed the man's collar, "Why didn't you report it earlier?!"
When Ni Su heard the name Dong Yao, he immediately turned his head. Xu Hexue had already turned around. He raised one hand, and the fine dust flickered and turned into a long sword.
“Go!”
Zhou Ting had just given the order when he saw Ni Su suddenly turn around and run away.
He glanced at her back, immediately asked someone to bring the horses, and then rushed to Yong'an Lake with a group of personal officials.
Yong'an Lake was surrounded by heavy troops sent by Ding Jin. The Imperial Censor Ding Jin stood in Xie Chun Pavilion, staring at the young man in coarse linen standing on the black-covered boat in the center of the lake. "Dong Yao, I advise you to be sensible. Come up on your own, and I don't need to send anyone to arrest you!"
"What crime have I committed that you, Lord Ding, would mobilize an army to arrest me?"
Above the lake, Dong Yao shouted loudly.
"You hid Zhang Jing's last words in the Collected Works of Jingchen Jushi and used it to deceive people," Ding Jin was shocked and coughed heavily a few times before continuing, "I know you acted this way because you respect Zhang Jing, but why didn't you think about your adoptive father Dong Chengda who was far away in Wen County? I heard that he never had a biological child because of you."
When Dong Yao mentioned his adoptive father, his heart seemed to be stabbed. He immediately understood, "Ding Jin! How dare you touch my father? Do you still have the law in your eyes?"
"That's exactly what I want to remind you of,"
Ding Jin narrowed his eyes slightly, "Do you still have the law in your eyes?"
The ice on Yong'an Lake was cut by civilians and stored in ice cellars, but the water was so cold that no soldier dared to go into the water. So they could only call on the people's boats and row them to the center of the lake.
"Dong Yao, in fact, if you just come up and explain it clearly, it's actually just a matter of an anthology. It's better than you staying on the lake and saying nothing or arguing nothing, right? The officials in the Censorate who are trying the case will not be partial to each other, so what are you worried about?"
Ding Jin spoke earnestly.
"Can I still explain it clearly?"
Dong Yao laughed bitterly, "If I could explain it clearly, how could He Zhongping and the others be arrested and taken to the Night Police?"
"They are them,"
Ding Jin leaned his hands on the railing, "They are the ones who talk too much, but you still have a choice."
The lake was covered with mist and the water was cold. Dong Yao watched several small boats rowing towards him. He touched his face and wiped away his tears. "Ding Jin, don't think I don't know what you guys are planning!"
He wanted to bring up the old case of Princess Wenduan's mansion again. As the son of Lu Heng, the captain of Princess Wenduan's mansion, if he chose to live in disgrace and was silenced by Ding Jin, the old case could be suppressed.
It will also put Meng Yunxian, who is in charge of the case, in the spotlight.
"Let me remind you again, no matter what choice you make today, it will harm more than just you." The fog was so heavy that Ding Jin could hardly see the person on the boat clearly.
"My adoptive father spent half his life for me. He didn't want to have a son of his own, and he didn't want Yunjing's future... He raised me up, but he didn't want me to be a coward who is afraid of death and harms others!"
"If I listen to you today, even if I can see my adoptive father alive in the future, he will definitely point his finger at me and scold me for not being worthy of being a member of the Dong family, let alone being Lu Heng's son!"
Thinking of Zhang Jing, Dong Yao's eyes were filled with tears. "Poor Mr. Zhang! He was honest all his life, exiled for several years, and his family was as poor as a beggar, but he was slandered for greed! Most of his salary was used to support students like me who could hardly move in Yunjing... How could such a person be greedy?"
The boats with soldiers standing on them were getting closer and closer. Dong Yao shouted hoarsely, "It was me who hid Mr. Zhang's last words in the Collected Works of Mr. Jingchen. It was me who believed in Mr. Zhang and every word he said to his best student before he died. It was me who wanted to reopen the old case of Xu Hexue's treason!"
"I did everything! It has nothing to do with He Zhongping and others!"
Dong Yao leaned back into the boat and took out the Four Books and Five Classics that he had been reading on the boat for the past few days. He tore them into pieces and threw them into the air. "A gentleman should not be insulted. I have read the books of sages for twenty years and learned the principles that the sages have passed on to us young people. It's a pity that the winter is here and spring is not coming..."
When Zhou Ting arrived, he heard a sad and miserable laugh from the lake.
The torn pages of the book fluttered in the cold wind, and he vaguely saw the man on the small black boat in the middle of the lake suddenly take something out of his arms.
"Dong Yao!"
Zhou Ting was startled and dismounted immediately.
No one on the river bank noticed a wisp of mist moving towards the center of the lake.
But the laughter stopped abruptly at this moment.
Bright red blood flowed down Dong Yao's neck, and he fell down and plunged into the cold lake water.
With a "bang", water splashed everywhere.
Xu Hexue didn't even have time to grab his sleeve. He almost stood still at the bow, with tiny pieces of paper falling from the sky like white snow. He stared at the light red bloodstains on the water.
"Master Ding! What are you doing? You forced Dong Yao to death!" Zhou Ting was so angry that he couldn't suppress it. He walked quickly to Xie Chunting and asked in a cold voice.
Ding Jin's expression was also very ugly. "How could it be that I forced him to death? I was clearly trying to persuade him to turn back!"
He went through so much trouble not because he wanted Dong Yao to die.
Ni Su was almost there, she lifted her skirt and walked towards the flooded stone steps below. Looking from afar, she saw a solitary boat in the middle of the lake, filled with cold smoke, and a person standing on the boat.
Only she can see it.
The sword in his hand shattered into dust, which suddenly attacked the boats where the soldiers were standing. The people on the boats felt a chill on their faces, and their bodies seemed to be pierced by sharp thorns. They screamed and fell off the boat, soaking in the cold water.
Ding Jin, Zhou Ting and others in Xie Chunting also felt as if they were stabbed by something and the pain was sharp.
The Yingchen entangled all the soldiers on the shore of Yong'an Lake indiscriminately, but when they brushed in front of Ni Su, they suddenly retracted their sharp edges and fell into her palm as if they had no support.
Ni Su got on an empty black boat by the lake. She held the bamboo pole, looked at the man in the center of the lake, and walked towards him.
She avoided the soldiers who were struggling in the water to get to the lakeside. The boat was getting closer and closer. The water surface was light red, and the man on the boat had a smoky blue robe that was almost soaked in blood.
Ni Su wiped her face. When the two boats touched each other, she dropped the bamboo pole in her hand and took a step forward. She held his hand and said, "Xu Ziling, don't kill them. Don't kill them..."
She choked with sobs.
You will disappear because of this, did you know that?
Xu Hexue raised his head, his pale face expressionless.
The scattered dust particles floated back to his side and merged into his body. The screams disappeared and the soldiers in the water swam towards the shore in panic.
Xu Hexue held her hand, but could not feel her warmth.
She is cold.
But he still held it tightly.
Ni Su watched him slowly squat down, the pale red blood soaking the torn paper floating on the water. He stared at it for a long while, "Ah Xi."
"I already have,"
"We can't wait any longer."
