Placid Chang'an

Su Cen froze in place, and his first reaction after regaining consciousness was to pinch himself severely.

What kind of absurd scene is this? It's like a big dream that hasn't woken up, followed by another big dream. The scenery in front of you is suddenly covered with a layer of mist. Old, exactly the same as in the dream.

Li Shi lifted his cloak and got off his horse. He was dressed in dust and dust, but he was still handsome and energetic.

"This meeting ceremony is really heavy." The words were addressed to Yang Wanhong, but his eyes kept staring forward and refused to let go.

He didn't know how to punish the serious crime of cheating and concealing it.

Yang Wanhong thought it was the prince who wanted to blame him for his lack of control, so he fell on the ground and did not dare to get up. This group of fake monks are bewitching and inciting the people, and my subordinates are being ordered to arrest them.”

"Bewitching words to confuse the crowd..." Li Shi stepped forward with his hands behind his back, looked down at the officer, his eyes turned cold, and the horsewhip in his hand was raised and lowered, and with a swipe, he knocked the man to the ground.

A cold and severe wound ran from his shoulder to his chest, tearing his coat, and it took a while for blood to ooze.

The official's face turned pale from the pain, but he didn't dare to hum.

The wind of the whip brushed against Su Cen's ears, but his heart was suddenly wet and messy.

Once in front of the officials and above the main hall, those people poked his spine, opened their mouths with white teeth and red teeth, called him "deceiving the world with sophistry", and called him "confusing the public with deceitful words", wishing to pounce on him for the next life. Meat, as if he had really done something outrageous.He woke up in that scene again and again, dripping with cold sweat, unable to recover for a long time.

The most frightening thing was that the person in the dream was also there, looking at him with heavy eyes, without saying a word, but his eyes were full of pain.

This whip opened a gap in the air, and Su Cen suddenly felt that those curses were far away, and the nightmare receded like a flood. He finally surfaced and took a deep breath.

Li Shi threw the whip behind him casually, stepped forward a few steps, and when he stretched out his hand again, his hand trembled a little.

"Zixu, Zixu," a cold finger brushed lightly across the side of his face, "How can I always meet you here."

In a tea house, there were only a few people. Su Cen held a cup of Kuilongzhu, and didn't take a sip when it was too cold.

"That Mr. Yang just now is not a good person," Su Cen said softly with his head down, "He ordered the officers and soldiers under him to drive all the real victims out of the city, and the ones left here are all pretended by him, don't you fell for him."

"The most severely affected by the earthquake was in Fuli County, not Suzhou City. The people there have not eaten for many days. Yang Wanhong took the relief supplies as his own and deceived others. He..."

"We took the road from Xuzhou when we came here, and we made a detour to Fuli to see it. I know what you said, and the people have settled down," Li Shi interrupted, "Is there anything else?"

Su Cen opened his mouth, and at this moment he also wanted to understand, there is nothing in the court that can hide Li Shi's eyes, that Yang Wanhong thinks how capable he is, he dares to play tricks in front of Prince Ning, but the result is naturally unbearable go around.

"Also... and the teacher did not wait for the imperial court's permission to increase the number of soldiers and food in Suzhou. He has always been like this. Can you forgive him for his innocence?"

Li Shi smiled helplessly, "Is this what you want to tell me?"

Su Cen was digging at the rim of the cup with her fingertips, as if she wanted to see a flower in the bluish-white glazed porcelain cup.

In the end, it was Li Shi who spoke first, "How has your year been?"

Su Cen pursed her lips, "It's okay."

"You're thin," Li Shi said after looking at it for a while, "Is someone embarrassing you?"

"No." Su Cen shook his head lightly.

"Why are you with a group of monks?"

Su Cen glanced at the monks of Lingyuan Temple who were eating fast downstairs, and said, "The Buddha Dharma is boundless, you can calm your mind."

Li Shi asked, "Why do you need to be calm?"

Su Cen pursed his lips, he couldn't express those shameful thoughts.

The atmosphere became quiet for a moment, Li Shi lowered his heavy eyes, knowing that he was shouldering the responsibility on himself again.It has been so long, but he is still in prison, refusing to let himself go.

"At the beginning, I left without saying hello," Li Shi said, "I didn't have time to tell you some things."

Su Cen buried her head very low, and said softly, "I have no face to see you."

"Regret?" Li Shi asked.

Regret?Su Cen bit his lip lightly. Countless people have asked him, for the sake of two lives, he ruined himself and almost lost his life after years of hard work. Has he ever regretted it?

It's just that he has been refusing to face up to this problem, because only he knows that he has lost his reputation and status, he has lost three souls and seven souls, leaving only an empty shell floating around.

Li Shidao: "In the early years, when I was inspecting the Huainan Road garrison, I passed by Suzhou, and here I met a man."

It was raining patter outside the window, and the lights in the room were not yet lit, and it was overwhelmed by the gloomy sky outside the window, shrouded in an increasingly dense darkness.

Su Cen raised his head slowly, looking at Li Shi's silhouette hidden in the darkness, a thought suddenly came to his mind.

"Ten taels of silver can save your life, but ten pennies can save your bones, what would you choose?

A gate suddenly opened, and the emotions were vented down.

In Suzhou that year, it rained for a whole month.

He had a bad start as a teacher, his money bag was stolen as soon as he arrived in Suzhou City, he had a persistent high fever and had nowhere to go, so he had to sell paintings on the street for a living.

The ink bamboo painting with excellent shape, spirit and bones could have sold for a good price, but the buyer asked him to draw another golden pheasant under the ink bamboo.

At that time, his young man didn't know what it was like to be sad, and he didn't know what to be afraid of, so he resolutely refused under the impulsive drive.The man became angry, smashed his booth, and broke his paintbrush, but he still straightened his waist and said bluntly: "If you say you don't paint, you don't paint!"

At that time, a voice suddenly sounded from the crowd, it was obviously deep and deep, but it instantly penetrated the noisy environment around.

The voice said: "Ten coins, I bought this painting."

It was cloudy and rainy in Suzhou, and he had already had a high fever at that time. He followed the voice, but he couldn't see the man's face clearly.

Ten cents was a drop in the bucket for his situation at the time, but he happily sold the painting.The man seemed to have known what he would choose for a long time, smiled lightly, counted ten coins, palm to palm, and handed it to him.

He remembered all of these, but he couldn't remember that face.

Now it is superimposed with Li Shi's face in the shadow, and suddenly it becomes clear.

"It was you..." Su Cen looked up, and a line of hot tears suddenly fell uncontrollably.

"Standing proudly and alone, it's in vain to be a vain servant." Li Shiyin said, this is the inscription on his painting, he made it impromptuly when he handed in the painting, and wrote it with a splash of ink. No one except the person who bought the painting have no idea.

"I remembered, I remembered..."

At the beginning, he had a high fever and fell asleep leaning against the greasy table without eating the steamed buns he bought for four cents. In his dream, he vaguely felt that someone was taking him away lightly.

When I woke up, I was in an inn. The tables in the room were filled with exquisite dishes. The tea was fragrant and the desserts were sweet. Compared with the greasy smell of lard, there was a world of difference.

The man's voice was more mellow than all the fine wines in the world, "I saw that your painting is very good, and the ten cents are less, so I will treat you to another meal."

Wine meets bosom friends, and they talk about the scriptures and Taoism together. At that time, he was flamboyant and elegant, using the tabletop as paper and chopsticks as a pen, with the world in mind, and pointing out the world.They talked about the issue of self-respect of soldiers, discussed the pros and cons of disputing the salt order, and cursed the battle between the two parties together, talking and talking all night.

He was elated, but he was also seriously ill. He didn't go to sleep until dawn, but when he woke up, he forgot everything.

No wonder Li Shi would look at him through a light gauze curtain when we first met in Dongshi Tea House. No wonder Li Shi knew the best place for him at the Qionglin Banquet at a glance.

But he over-interpreted the meaning in that look, thinking it was ridicule, a mockery, and resented that no matter what he did, he would be seen through at a glance.

His hostility was inexplicable, but thinking about it now, he just wanted to regain that feeling of being evenly matched, and he was not reconciled to being at a disadvantage in the first confrontation.

Su Cen took a few digs before finding the money bag he was carrying with him, and poured out a copper plate from it, holding it in his chest, his back was trembling violently.

Li Shi got up, and comforted him: "That proud young man is still there, and he has always been there. He cleared the prison for the Great Zhou, rectified the law, upheld justice, and never bowed his head in the face of tyranny."

"He's not wrong, he just took care of himself while everyone was drunk. If he really chose the ten taels of silver, he wouldn't be the Su Zixu I know."

"Whether it's Suzhou City or Chang'an City, neither should be your shackles, He Qinghaiyan, you still have to look after me."

It was rare for Su Cen to have a good night's sleep. There was nothing in her dream, and she slept soundly and soundly.

When I woke up, the sky was already clear, and the victims outside the city poured in in large numbers, and they finally had a good meal. The bustling voices finally brought life to the former fake city.

After dealing with all this, Li Shi has already hurried back to Beijing.

Back then, Li Shi left him ten coins and a body of pride, but now he broke the shackles for him and returned him to freedom.

After waking up from a big dream, everything was back on track. He had known for a long time that he might not be able to accompany him to the end, but Li Shi was with him in the place covered by the territory of the Great Zhou.

After returning from Suzhou, Su Cen stopped going to Lingyuan Temple, and he was no longer the half-dead look before, playing piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and wine, all with unique attainments.And slowly helped Su Lan handle the business of the tea shop. He is a smart person, so he followed Su Lan a few times, and he got started quite quickly.

Su Lan was overjoyed. Seeing that she finally regained her energy, she tentatively mentioned the matter of starting a family and starting a business.

Unexpectedly, Su Cen nodded without much hesitation. The male college is about to get married, so he just obeys his brother's arrangement.

The marriage between the young master of the Su family and the young lady of the Wang family was scheduled on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. On the day of the wedding, the wedding was full of red makeup, and the alleys were empty for a while. According to the memories of the old people in the city, it had been decades since such a scene had been seen.

The bridegroom was riding a tall horse head-on, with a jade complexion and a dignified appearance, followed by a bright red eight-carriage sedan chair, and the dowry alone was spread out for nearly a mile behind the sedan chair.

Before the Su Mansion, Lin Zongqing personally hand-carried the four big characters——Tiancheng, a good couple, which is not at all smaller than the ones in the premise of the Gongyuan Gate.

With Lord Inspector as an example, people of all sizes in Yangzhou City came to the scene one after another, and the huge Su family's house could barely fit in.

The auspicious time has come, and the three books and six ceremonies are complete, a couple of newlyweds are led forward slowly by a red lead, and they stand together under the main hall.

Just at this time, there was a commotion among the crowd, a figure broke through the crowd and rushed directly to the courtyard where the salute was about to take place.

"Mr. Su, hurry up six hundred miles from the capital!"

Speaking of which, Su Cen knew this person, he was a servant of the British government, and he usually obeyed Zheng Yang's orders.Su Cen frowned, for a moment he didn't understand what Zheng Yang was going to do, but just as he was about to step forward, Su Lan stopped him with a look.

"The auspicious time has come, let's finish the ceremony first."

Su Cen hesitated for a while. It was really not good to keep these people waiting, so he signaled to the servant to wait.

As soon as he turned around, the servant made a decisive sound in a hurry.

"Ning Wang Li Shi is suspected of colluding with the Turks, murdering the late emperor, and intending to rebel. He will be temporarily detained in the Xingqing Palace and will be executed soon!"