Chapter 12: Suspected Visitor 2
"I'm bad? How am I bad?" Cheng Jue pinched her soft cheek, raised his eyebrows, and said, "You said you wanted to marry me, and I agreed to your request. I obeyed you so much, so why do you still say I'm bad? You have to ask me to set the wedding date today before you stop saying I'm bad?"
"You..." Zhou Zhenzhen then realized that if Cheng Jue really wanted to argue with someone, no matter how eloquent the person in the world was, he would not be able to beat him.
"It's a pity that His Majesty asked me to solve the case as soon as possible. Even if it's urgent, I can only wait until the case is solved." Cheng Jue said with a smile, "I heard that the wedding ceremony is quite complicated, asking for the name, accepting the marriage, and offering the betrothal gifts... I have to follow them one by one when the time comes."
Zhou Zhenzhen's hand that was pulling Cheng Jue's sleeve loosened and the expression on her face froze.
Ask for the name... offer...
What was asked was her real name, and the betrothal gift was from her family.
But she no longer has these.
Zhou Zhenzhen met Cheng Jue's eyes. At that moment, she finally understood the source of all the uneasiness and discomfort she had felt today. She stammered in a weak voice, "Master Cheng..."
With his ability, he could easily get all her secrets out, just like he did just now, but he didn't. Instead, he told her in this way that he didn't want to doubt anything about her. He wanted her to sort out all her thoughts and give her complete self to him.
He wanted her to speak out herself, and he would accept it all, whether good or bad.
Thinking of this, her eyes suddenly turned red and tears welled up in her eyes, looking both pitiful and adorable.
Cheng Jue raised his hand and wiped the corners of her eyes, and said softly: "Zhenzhen's tears are worth a thousand gold, you can't just let them fall like this."
The yellow leaves are falling outside the window, indicating that autumn has arrived.
Two beautiful women are facing each other inside the window, and love is born from intimacy.
Liu Yan had been seriously ill since he returned to Muer Tower. He had a high fever and kept talking in his sleep. It seemed as if he had lost half his life. He had just lost his beloved daughter, and now his son was also ill. Even Liu Wei, who had experienced many ups and downs in the court, could not bear it. His temples were covered with frost overnight.
Emperor Xuanhe was considerate of his minister and ordered the director of the Imperial Hospital to go to Liu's house to treat Liu Yan and make sure to save him.
When Du Rufeng came to see Liu Yan, Liu Yan had already woken up from his coma. In just a few days, Liu Yan had lost a lot of weight, his cheeks were sunken, and there was no life in his eyes. Du Rufeng put down the supplements he brought, said a few words of comfort, and almost fled from the Liu family. Whenever he saw Liu Yan, he couldn't help but think about what would happen if he rushed to Kuailu Villa according to the words on the doll like Liu Yan.
Can he save his sister's life, or watch Ruyue die in front of him like Liu Yan?
Du Rufeng felt uneasy just thinking about it.
It was just dark when he came out. Du Rufeng didn't want to go back home. He wished he could never go back to that place where Ruyue had lived. Du Rufeng sighed. He didn't want to go to Hexilou either. So he just found a restaurant nearby, ordered a table of food, and warmed up a pot of wine.
He wanted to be quiet for a while, but someone disturbed his peace. Just when two dishes were served, someone walked to his table, bent down to take a look, and said, "Oh!" "It's really Brother Rufeng. Normally, there are people following Brother Rufeng for a whole street, but now he is drinking alone. I didn't dare to recognize him at first."
Du Rufeng looked surprised, but Ji Ling seemed not to notice and sat down on his own, pulling a chair: "Coincidentally, I came here alone today, just in time to meet up with Brother Rufeng. Hey, this vegetable looks really tender, and this wine is not bad either..."
Du Rufeng frowned and poured a glass of wine to suppress his irritability. Ji Ling poked the shredded chicken on the plate, remembered something and smiled, and said, "In fact, I didn't dare to recognize Brother Rufeng not only because there was no one by your side, but also because your sister passed away a few days ago, and Brother Rufeng was not at home to handle the funeral, but went out to drink and eat, which I really didn't expect."
The wine glass fell with a "pop" sound, making a deafening sound. Du Rufeng's face turned pale: "What do you want to say?"
Ji Ling's smile remained unchanged: "During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, I had made an appointment with someone to reunite together, and then we would go to your house together to propose marriage the next day. But because of Brother Rufeng, my agreement fell through."
Du Rufeng's face changed, and he stood up suddenly: "It's you? Did Ruyue come back from Suizhou early just for you?"
Ji Ling's eyes were covered with a shadow, and his smile turned cold: "When Ruyue was kidnapped by the murderer, Brother Rufeng was enjoying himself in Baixiang Tower. Now that her body is still warm, Brother Rufeng seems to be fine. I really admire him."
As soon as he finished speaking, with a "swish" sound, the long sword at his waist fell into his palm. Killing intent suddenly appeared in Ji Ling's eyes, and the sword went straight to Du Rufeng's neck.
The sudden incident frightened everyone in the restaurant and they all fled in all directions. The shopkeeper hurriedly called the waiter and said, "Quick, go to the Ministry of Justice and report the case."
Ordinary places can't handle the noise made by these two gentlemen.
Du Rufeng also knew martial arts, but he had no weapons in his hands, so he couldn't compare to Ji Ling, who was proficient in swordsmanship. After a while, his Shu brocade clothes were torn to pieces by the sword. Du Rufeng covered the new wound on his shoulder and gritted his teeth and said, "Ji Ling, are you crazy? You really want to kill me in public!"
Ji Ling snorted coldly and said, "Killing you is too easy for you. Don't you care about your status the most and are most reluctant to give up your glory? Then I will make you look bad in public. When others mention you, Du Rufeng, they will think of you being hacked to pieces in this restaurant and kneeling on the ground begging for mercy."
Ji Ling swung his sword towards Du Rufeng's lower body. Du Rufeng tried to dodge backwards, but the sword energy cut off his pants, revealing two trembling legs.
Du Rufeng had never suffered such an insult in his life. He was so angry that his eyes turned bloodshot. He picked up the bench beside him and threw it towards Ji Ling.
When the runners from the Ministry of Justice came over, they saw this scene. Young Master Ji Ling slashed the thrown bench with a sword, and sawdust flew everywhere. He turned around and kicked Young Master Du Rufeng in the chest. Young Master Du flew up and rolled to the feet of the runners, vomiting a large pool of blood in embarrassment.
The yamen runners looked at each other and tried to stop Ji Ling's next attack.
"The Ministry of Justice has received a report that someone is causing trouble at the Wanhe Restaurant. We are following the order of the Minister to take the troublemakers back for questioning. Come on, bring them back to me!"
The yamen runners stepped forward, and Ji Ling put away his sword and said coldly: "This time you have an easy time, get out of the way, I can walk on my own."
Ji Ling led the way and pushed everyone out of the restaurant. Du Rufeng wiped the blood from his mouth with his backhand and cursed, "Mad man, what a mad man!"
As the saying goes, "Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles." The news that Ji Ling and Du Rufeng had a fight in Wanhe Restaurant and were subsequently arrested by the Ministry of Justice spread like wildfire in Chang'an City in no time.
People who were having dinner at the Wanhe Restaurant at that time described in vivid detail how heroic and dashing Young Master Ji was and how miserable Young Master Du was, which really provided people with plenty of topics to talk about after dinner.
And this is Ji Ling’s purpose.
It was just a fight, and the Ministry of Justice was very familiar with handling such matters. Within an hour, the Ministry of Justice sent people to Ji Ling and Du Rufeng's homes, asking them to come and pick up the people.
Zheng Yan entered the Ministry of Justice with a lunch box. Out of curiosity, he went around to the duty room to take a look. Du Rufeng was covered in dust and Ji Ling was full of anger. If there were no one watching nearby, this duty room would probably have been demolished.
"The prince is here."
Zheng Yan retracted his gaze, nodded, and asked, "Is Lord Zheng busy?"
The yamen runner said, "Mr. Zheng was supposed to leave the yamen on time, but this incident happened. Mr. Zheng is sorting out documents in the back."
"Thank you." Zheng Yan said goodbye to the runner and walked away. The runner couldn't help but sigh in his heart: This Prince Zheng'an is really a good brother. Whenever Lord Zheng didn't leave the yamen on time, he would bring food from home, for fear that Lord Zheng would be hungry.
A lamp was on in the backyard room, casting the slender figure on the window paper.
Zheng Xiangrui raised her pen and wrote beautiful calligraphy on the paper. The door creaked open. She looked up and smiled, "Brother, you're here."
Zheng Yan put down the food box, picked up the still steaming cakes and placed them on the table, saying, "Our Lord Zheng has worked so hard, I will give him my full support, how much do you have left?"
"It will be almost done in another quarter of an hour." Zheng Xiangrui held a piece of cake in his right hand and bit it, while his left hand was still holding the pen to write.
"You are just feeling better now, why are you in such a hurry to come to the yamen? How can I feel at ease?"
Zheng Xiangrui smiled and said, "I feel a little bored at home, so it's good for me to come out and do some work. What I do in the Ministry of Justice is not very hard. There was an emergency today, otherwise I would have left the court on time."
Zheng Yan poured a cup of hot tea and handed it to her, smiling and saying, "I've known Du Rufeng for a long time. He used to bully others, but this is the first time I've seen him beaten like this. I didn't realize Ji Ling was so capable before."
He thought for a moment and then said, "I just heard from the people in the Ministry of Justice that Ji Ling took action because of Du Ruyue's matter."
In the thick tea aroma, Zheng Xiangrui lowered his eyes and replied in a low voice: "According to the testimonies of the two, it is indeed so."
Zheng Yan shook his head and was about to say something when he heard voices outside. Zheng Xiangrui turned his head and looked out the window. In the dark night, a group of people holding lanterns were walking quickly into the courtyard.
The door was opened before the runner from the Ministry of Justice could get through. He was stunned for a moment and said, "Sir, someone from the Dali Temple is here."
The bailiff made way for him and Zheng Yan unexpectedly saw an acquaintance.
"Master Zhou, why are you here so late?"
Zhou Zhenzhen bowed and said, "I, the Dali Temple, am investigating the case of Du Ruyue and Liu Fang under the order of His Majesty. I heard that the fight between Du Rufeng and Ji Ling at Wanhe Restaurant was related to this case. Lord Cheng ordered me to bring the gold medal to bring Du Rufeng and Ji Ling to the Dali Temple for interrogation, and to borrow the files from the Ministry of Justice for a while. The Minister of Justice has approved it, so I came here to get the files."
"I see." Zheng Yan said, "My sister is still copying the files. Sir Zhou, please come in and wait!"
"Thank you, Prince."
When Zhou Zhenzhen entered the room, Zheng Xiangrui looked up and greeted her, then continued writing, but a little faster than before. This room was not big, with seven or eight tables neatly arranged, and was nearly half the size of the East Garden where Zhou Zhenzhen had stayed in the Dali Temple before.
It can be seen that the Ministry of Justice is really not taken seriously nowadays.
This is not surprising. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the interrogations in Chang'an, mostly small cases. Even though the workload is huge, it is not outstanding. It is unlike the strange and important cases handled by the Dali Temple, just one of which can make a sensation in the whole city.
Zhou Zhenzhen drank half of her tea when her eyes unconsciously moved to Zheng Xiangrui, who was sitting at her desk. She was sitting there, wearing an official robe and a plum blossom hairpin on her head. She looked delicate and pretty. The faint light shone on her, and her eyebrows and eyes were serious. She was quite different from what Zhou Zhenzhen had seen before.
Zhou Zhenzhen thought of what Ji Ling had said in Hexi Tower before, and couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable.
Compared with Zheng Xiangru, Mr. Cheng really suffered a great loss.
Zheng Xiangrui finished writing the last stroke, placed the pen on the inkstone, and closed the book after the writing had dried a little. He said, "Master Zhou, it's done."
"Thank you for your hard work, Master Zheng."
Zheng Xiangrui smiled and shook her head. Zheng Yan sighed helplessly when he saw her hand, pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve, held her left hand, and wiped off the ink stains on the side of her little finger.
Zhou Zhenzhen paused, her fingers unconsciously clasped the file, and asked casually, "Does Mr. Zheng often get ink on his hands when he writes?"
"Yes, it's been a bad habit since childhood and I can't correct it." Although Zheng Yan blamed him, his tone was full of doting.
Zheng Xiangrui lowered his head embarrassedly and did not see Zhou Zhenzhen's inquiring eyes.
