Placid Chang'an

Su Cen walked under the sour jujube tree, looked down at the pit, and slowly frowned: "How could this happen?"

Ning Santong also came closer and looked at the depth of the pit: "The pit is more than seven feet long, just enough to bury a person. Tian Pingzhi should have been dug away by someone first."

Feng Yiming asked: "Who knows that Tian Pingzhi is buried here?"

"People from the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy? Or people from the Dali Temple that undertook the case?" Ning Santong counted them one by one, "Who else?"

"There's one more." Su Cen said suddenly.

Feng Yiming and Ning Santong looked over together, only to see Su Cenning looking at the pit, and after a long time, he said softly: "Tian Pingzhi and Liu Yu were close friends before they were alive, let alone whether Tian Pingzhi's death has anything to do with Liu Yu Does it matter, my good friend died in the tribute courtyard in the end and failed to go out, it is impossible for Liu Zhen not to know."

Ning Santong suddenly realized: "You mean Liu Xiang stole the corpse?"

Feng Yiming also nodded, "And the Ministry of Rites is Liu Xiang's people. If Liu Xiang really sent someone to dig up the corpse, he could easily get the key to the gate of the Gongyuan."

Su Cen didn't raise her eyebrows, and squatted down to twirl the piled soil. The soil was soft and dry, and it had just rained the night before!

"But, how did he know that we were going to investigate Tian Pingzhi's case, and he could steal the body before us?" Su Cen threw away the dirt in his hands, dusted his hands, and quietly looked up at Feng Yiming and Ning San Tong, there is a cold mist that can't be seen clearly.

"Brother Su...what's the matter?" Ning Santong felt terrified at being watched, and rubbed his nose uncomfortably, "Did you find anything?"

Su Cen slowly looked away, "It's nothing."

Feng Yiming asked: "What should we do now?"

Su Cen meditated for a moment, then said, "Go to the Ministry of Rites."

He Zhongqing, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, is well-known among Beijing officials for his good temper. He served in the Ministry of Rites, and he has indeed confirmed the saying "Speaking of a gentleman, warming him like jade", he treats everyone with humility and courtesy.But it was such a person who was repeatedly forced to jump by Su Cen.

He Zhongqing firmly insisted that in the past six months, no one has borrowed the key of the tribute house except Su Cen.

"Never loaned it out?" Su Cen bowed his hands modestly and politely, "Then can you take a look at the transfer files of your ministry?"

He Zhongqing frowned slightly: "You don't believe me?"

"Naturally, we trust Mr. He," said Ning Santong, "it's just that the Ministry of Rituals has a lot of affairs, and there are always things that people miss. You let us take a look and feel at ease, isn't it better than spending so much time?"

He Zhongqing sighed helplessly, these people are not friendly, just one Su Cen, and one Ning Santong, no matter what, Taifu's family still has to give face.

He ordered his servants to bring the transfer file from the Ministry of Rites, and He Zhongqing took it and handed it to Su Cen.

Several people carefully looked through the entries in recent days, and there was indeed no record of the key being lent to the Gongyuan.The walls of the Gongyuan are solid and thick, the walls are more than two feet high, and there are thorn walls on the walls. If it is not through the key, how can the corpse be taken out?

Su Cen raised his head and asked, "Apart from the Ministry of Rites, does anyone else have the key to the Gongyuan?"

He Zhongqing shook his head and said: "Although the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy are coordinating the imperial examination matters, the keys have always been stored in the Ministry of Rites. There is no record here, which means no one has ever entered."

Su Cen flipped forward a few more pages, and was about to return the file, when he suddenly noticed something, flipped forward a few pages, compared the front and back, and finally carefully identified in the gap between the sealing lines, and said after a long time: " There's a page missing here."

He Zhongqing's face turned pale, "Maybe it was written wrong before, tear it up?"

"But the entries don't match up. The first page is the secondment record of the first month of this year, and the next page is March. So the Ministry of Rites has not seconded anything during the entire February?"

Su Cen stared at He Zhongqing with a pair of icy eyes, and felt chills in his heart. He was about to defend himself, but Feng Yiming said from the side: "The one from the year before last was also missing a page in February."

Several people flipped through several copies one after another, and found that there was a page missing from the secondment in February for several years, and the tear marks were still fresh, which should have been torn out recently.

Ning Santong: "But last year's is complete."

Su Cen frowned and thought for a while, "Last February was just in time for the triennial examination. The Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Academy were in and out of the Gongyuan to prepare for the scientific examination. The personnel were messy, and it was easy to get in without a key."

Feng Yiming said: "That is to say, there is a person who goes to the tribute courtyard every February, but the records are destroyed."

Su Cen looked back at He Zhongqing: "Master He is not going to give us an explanation?"

He Zhongqing was forced to sweat in the crisp autumn days, wiped his sleeves several times, and then stammered: "I don't know, I don't control this file, I really don't know... ..."

"It's Liu Xiang?" Su Cen said suddenly.

He Zhongqing's expression froze, and he fell silent.

Su Cen knew in his heart that the only one who could make He Zhongqing defend this was his superior, the prime minister at the court—Liu Yu.

"But this secondment was in February," Ning Santong didn't understand. "The soil in the Gongyuan was obviously dug out recently, so it couldn't have been dug in February."

"I didn't say it was dug up before," Su Cen tapped the paper with his fingertips, "I mean how did he know that we were going to investigate him and could destroy the records in advance, and since he can destroy the previous records, the most recent Can't it be destroyed?"

Su Cen raised his head and stared straight at He Zhongqing, "Who asked you to do it?"

He Zhongqing obviously didn't say anything serious, but He Zhongqing felt chills all over his body for no reason. His eyes were so real that he staggered back a step, and stammered: "I don't..."

"Master He wants to go to Dali Temple to talk?"

"It's Liu Xiang! It's... Liu Xiang..." He Zhongqing drooped his shoulders slumped, "Just before you came here, a man came, claiming to be sent by Liu Xiang, and asked me to erase all records about Liu Xiang. I It is also involuntary to obey the orders of others, but, there are really only records from February of the previous year, and Liu Xiang really has not been to the Gongyuan in the past few days..." At the end of the day, he did not forget to add: "What I said is true, true I did not lie to you……"

After listening quietly, Su Cen nodded, "Thank you very much."

He Zhongqing was stunned at this moment, he is an official of the imperial court, Su Cen can't do anything to him without real evidence, and this person is half a level below him, he has dominated the officialdom for decades, but in the end he was manipulated by such a brat .

The fame of the first life was ruined once, and He Zhongqing really had no face to stay any longer, just as he walked to the door, Su Cen called out again behind him: "Lord He."

He Zhongqing shivered in Qingtian Bairi, turned around in a daze, and saw the young man with a jade-like face, and smiled at him, "I want to read Yonglong's 22nd year examination paper again."

In the dark warehouse of the Ministry of Rites, each of the three people guarded a stack of test papers and began to look through them. After all, more than ten years had passed, the ink on the paper was damp and smudged, and some were moldy. what to write.

Ning Santong's speed is obviously not as good as that of Su Feng and the other two. He didn't feel sleepy when he was asked to look at the corpse for a day and a night, but he started to fall asleep after reading so few pages. Asked: "Did you check these test papers because you thought there was something wrong with the scientific examination? Liu Zhen stole Tian Pingzhi's test paper and won his first prize?"

As Su Cen replied, the movements of his hands did not stop at all, "It is unlikely that Liu Zhen stole Tian Pingzhi's test paper. As for the cages you saw today, they will be locked from the outside after people enter, and there are numbers outside the door." It is guarded by the army, and unless you hand in the test papers and leave, you will not be able to get out of it at all. It is too difficult to change the test papers in the examination room, and it is almost impossible to complete."

"Could it be that someone helped him?" Ning Santong asked again, "Bringing off the horned army outside the door or the Hanlin worthy of examination?"

"But at that time, Liu Zhen was just a humble kid with no money and no background. Where did he get the money to bribe?" Su Cen finished reading his pile, and then got half of it from Ning Santong, "Besides, the exam is responsible for transcribing The Hanlin of the Han Dynasty once said that Liu Jue "has no real talent and learning, and is deceitful." That is to say, the article Liu Yu wrote that day must not be very good. To kill to steal?"

Ning Santong bit his pen and frowned, "Then I can't figure it out."

Ning Santong suddenly raised his head from the moldy test paper, "Look at this."

Su Cen and Ning Santong went over together, only to see the sheet that Feng Yiming took out, signed by Tian Pingzhi, swaying freely in regular script, writing all over the world, analyzing the segregated regimes of feudal towns, discussing the self-respect of frontier generals and soldiers, and getting to the point , Whip penetrating into the text, after many years, you can still see the youthful spirit between the lines.But such a smooth and flowing article stopped abruptly in the middle, and a few drops of blood fell on the paper. Over the years, it became dark and black, mixed with ink, and it was no longer discernible.

The Star Arch, died at the beginning of his ascension, in such a small house less than ten feet wide, his decline was silent.

Feng Yiming sighed silently, and there was a feeling of sympathy between the brothers. If Tian Pingzhi could live to this day, wouldn't this court be another situation?

Su Cen lowered his eyelids to cover up the emotions in his eyes, and said softly, "Let's keep watching."

At the end, Ning Santong fell asleep holding a stack of books at some point.At dusk, Su Cen and Feng Yiming put down the test papers in their hands, looked at each other, and shook their heads together.

There is no test paper for Liu Zhen.

As the number one scholar in the last scientific examination during the Yonglong period, Liu Zhen couldn't find the test paper that he won the championship that year.

Suddenly, Ning Santong raised his head from the book and looked around blankly: "Where is it burning?"

Feng Yiming was taken aback for a moment, and couldn't help teasing: "You've lost your sleep."

Ning Santong sniffed, "No, it really smells like cigarettes."

As soon as the words were finished, a tongue of fire burst out from the corner of the library, engulfing a bookshelf in an instant.

Su Cen's complexion sank: "Go!"

After running two steps, Feng Yiming was still standing there, trying to find Tian Pingzhi's test paper from thousands of test papers.

Su Cen turned back and pulled him back, "It can't be saved, let's go!"

Almost instantly, tongues of flame swept up, turning everything into nothingness.

The three of them rushed out of the warehouse in a scrambling manner, and when they looked back, thick smoke was billowing, the fire was raging into the sky, and under the long smoke and dust, everything ceased to exist.