rebirth first official

Liu Shijia suddenly gave up the investigation of the case, which made Gao Zhanming somewhat disappointed and relieved.

He breathed a sigh of relief, naturally because the immediate problem was solved, if he persisted in investigating the case, the pressure from the Queen Mother and An Guogong would definitely be difficult to deal with.However, he didn't expect to use this opportunity to uproot the moth. He just wanted to find out the extent of the Gao family's serious illness.

After finishing the business of Zhechong Mansion, Gao Zhanming returned to his mansion, led the crane towards him, and said with a smile, "Master, I have your letter from Jiazhou."

Gao Zhanming saw Yinhe's narrow smile, so he knew that the letter was from Li Jingruo.He was in a bad mood after experiencing Zhechong Mansion today, but after hearing Li Jingruo's letter, he couldn't help showing a look of joy on his face.

Yinhe has been with Gao Zhanming for so long, and the friendship between the two has already surpassed that of master and servant. He teased, "Master, look at your smile, what are you happy about today?"

Gao Zhanming glared at him: "If you have nothing to do, go and help clear the books, don't hang around here." He walked quickly to the bedroom while talking.

Gao Zhanming ran into Tang Yun again in the yard.Since he talked with Tang Yun openly and honestly, there has been a tacit understanding between Tang Yun and him. Tang Yun will not interfere with him. He occasionally sends Tang Yun some news. He doesn't ask, in short, he employs people without suspicion, and suspects don't use them.

When Gao Zhanming returned to the room, the letter was cited and put in his drawer. After confirming that the envelope had not been tampered with, he carefully opened the letter.

On the header of the letter, there was the word Madam, and Gao Zhanming couldn't help laughing and cursing: "This guy."

After reading a few lines, Gao Zhanming was a little surprised.Li Jingruo said that his father was in poor health, and he was about to leave Jiazhou when he wrote this letter. Gao Zhanming should have returned to Xiangcheng when he received the letter.In the letter, he mentioned some trivial matters in life, saying that after Gao Zhanming left, the people in Jiazhou missed Gao Qingtian very much, and he also mentioned that Liu Shijia was detained in the capital by Gao's family, so he asked him not to conflict with Liu Shijia.There is another thing that he asked Gao Zhanming to do.He said that he once had two old friends, both of whom were talented, righteous and honest people, but the current situation was not good, and they were unfortunately killed five years ago.In a few days, it will be the anniversary of the death of his two old friends. His two old friends were buried at the foot of the mountain in the south of the city. Please Gao Zhanming personally sweep the graves for his old friends and offer incense sticks to comfort their spirits in heaven. .

When Gao Zhanming saw this, he couldn't help temporarily suppressing the letter and began to meditate.

The letter was delivered in a timely manner, and the two-day anniversary of death was more than ten days later.Li Jingruo didn't understand what he said in the letter. Although he mentioned two old friends named Xu Rong and Zhang Shen, Gao Zhanming seemed to have heard the names of these two people, but after thinking about it, they were very strange.Li Jingruo said in the letter that they were unfortunately killed, but he didn't mention how they died in detail, probably because he was worried that if he said too much and the letter fell into the hands of others, it would cause trouble.But he politely asked Gao Zhanming to sweep the grave for him, and even mentioned the word "personally".Li Jingruo is by no means a person who makes trouble out of nothing, and he must have his intentions when he said so.

Gao Zhanming wrote down the names of Xu Rong and Zhang Shen, picked up the letter and continued to read.The following are all trivial words, but at the end of the letter, Li Jingruo wrote four words - "Be wise and protect yourself".Gao Zhanming is a smart person, he couldn't help being surprised when he saw these four words.Li Jingruo's reminder was probably because he knew something that he couldn't explain clearly, or he had some plans of his own.In short, he would never say that for no reason.

After Gao Zhanming read it, he burned the letter and the envelope together.

On the second day, Gao Zhanming went to work at Yushitai, and when no one else was around during his lunch break, he began to look through the files.Since Li Jingruo said that Zhang Shen and Xu Rong were murdered, and that the current situation was not good, the most likely situation is that the two committed crimes and were executed by the court.These two were officials, and the inspectors of Yushitai had files of crimes committed by officials over the years. Maybe we could find some information about the two of them here.Although Li Jingruo only asked Gao Zhanming to help sweep the tomb in the letter, since these two people were mentioned, maybe there was something he wanted Gao Zhanming to know but could not explain in detail, so Gao Zhanming needed to check it out himself.There is an entire cupboard for the one-year files of the Yushitai, and it is not easy for one person to go through so many files to find the case of Zhang Shen and Xu Rong.But Gao Zhanming has his own method of investigation.

Since Li Jingruo said that these two people are fair and honest, then there is no need to look at corruption cases; the word "poor current situation" has a deep meaning, which shows that these two people are not charged with ordinary crimes. If he is convicted, he will start from here.It was also Gao Zhanming's luck, but within half a stick of incense, he found the names of these two people on the file.

After reading the dossiers of these two people, Gao Zhanming was surprised again.Xu Rong and Zhang Shen were Jinshi in the same year, one was second in the list, and the other was ninth in the imperial examination, both of which were excellent rankings.When they were in the first place, Gao Zhanming was still a private scholar who was preparing for the exam. Scholars naturally paid attention to the scientific exam, so they felt that their names were familiar.After they won the first place, they were left in the palace as Lang Guan.Five years ago, someone found a few sentences in their collection of poems and compositions that seemed to satirize the emperor, and they were arrested and imprisoned for treason, and they were executed not long after.There were articles in the dossier that recorded the crimes they were convicted at that time, Gao Zhanming glanced through it hastily, and it was far-fetched to put a crime of treason on those few sentences.There is no doubt that Xu Rong and Zhang Shen offended someone, and someone wanted to kill them, so they deliberately framed them.

At this time, an official came back, and Gao Zhanming quickly put the file back.

After leaving Yushitai in the afternoon, Gao Zhanming bought two jars of wine and went to find Gao Tianwen.

Gao Tianwen was a little surprised when he saw Gao Zhanming coming, and enthusiastically brought him into the mansion, his tone inevitably a little annoyed: "What wind brought you here? I thought you had forgotten about my cousin."

Not long after Gao Zhanming entered the court, he voluntarily left Beijing for Jiazhou. After returning to Beijing, he had a lot of things to worry about, so he almost never visited Gao Tianwen.Most of the Gao family's younger brothers in this life are dandies, and they are all snobbish. Those who are born higher than him look down on him, and those who are born lower than him don't look at him when he is down, and they look up to him when he is in power. Getting close to relatives made him not have a good impression of these brothers, but Gao Tianwen was the only exception, and he took good care of him when he was down and down.

Thinking of this, Gao Zhanming felt a little guilty. He punished himself with two glasses of wine as soon as he got to the table, and said, "Cousin, I'm sorry."

Gao Tianwen smiled and said: "Forget it, don't talk about this between brothers, I am also very busy on weekdays, and I don't have time to take care of you." After drinking a glass of wine, he couldn't help feeling emotional: "When I was in Zongxue, I always I wanted to leave school earlier and become a scholar, thinking that it would be more free. I didn’t know that after I entered the imperial court, I realized that it was not as good as when I was studying in Zongxue. Although there are some people in Zongxue, they are always my brothers and relatives, and the calculations are not as good as It's so powerful in the court."

Gao Tianwen is the tallest son of the Gao family, second only to Gao Huachong in his peers. Naturally, no one dares to plot against him in Zongxue, and he is not involved in the dark things in the school, so he naturally feels that it is better to be a student when he is studying. .But Gao Zhanming was oppressed in the past, Zongxue and court, to him, there is not much difference, even in court, he can do more things.But he just smiled and didn't refute.

The two drank and chatted about some gossip and court affairs, Gao Zhanming said: "Brother, I used to only know how to study hard in school, thinking that I would be able to stand out after reading a good book, but now I am working with my aunt and the emperor, and I have discovered many things that I am afraid of. I don’t even understand, and I’m cautious in being a person, for fear of saying the wrong thing.”

Gao Tianwen said: "If there is anything you don't understand, tell me. If I know, maybe I can give you a few words."

Gao Zhanming said: "Brother, have you heard of Xu Rong and Zhang Shen?"

Gao Tianwen stroked his chin and said, "It seems familiar."

Gao Zhanming said: "I didn't speak well in a few words recently, and the officer mentioned these two people, saying that they were convicted because of their words. Be careful that I followed in their footsteps. I was concerned, so I investigated these two people. They were convicted of treason, because they satirized the emperor in the article." He looked around, saw no one around, and lowered his voice, "I read the article where the two were convicted, honestly. It's really far-fetched to say... I'm really curious, why are they convicted?"

Gao Tianwen frowned, and seemed to have no impression: "Really?"

Gao Zhanming said: "A censor named Lu Xi was also convicted together with them."

Gao Tianwen was stunned, and repeated: "Lu Xi...Lu Xi? Zhang Shen...Xu Rong...ah! I have an impression!" He frowned, dissatisfied, "Which idiot dares to compare you with them? What did you say wrong?"

Gao Zhanming said with a dry smile, "It's nothing, it's just that I drank wine that day, talked quickly, and complained a few stupid things that didn't make sense."

Gao Tianwen shook his head and said: "You should have heard of these things, probably forgot. Five years ago, the emperor's [-]th birthday, it is supposed to be in charge, but...you understand. Famous speech officials, self-proclaimed scholars, are a little uncomfortable, so they jointly signed the letter, and they are looking for death by themselves. The words are sharp and fierce, and they also use the words of coercing the emperor to make the princes. So..."

Gao Zhanming suddenly realized.Five years ago, Gao Zhanming was still a commoner after all, and he knew nothing about the open and secret struggles in the court, but Gao Tianwen was different. He was the son and grandson of the Gao family, so he knew the inside story.That's how it turned out.Gao Zhanming had already guessed that the person Zhang Shen and Xu Rong offended might be from the Gao family, but this result still surprised him.Are these two old friends of Li Jingruo?Li Jingruo asked him to visit the graves of these two?If someone finds out about this, especially if someone from the Gao family finds out, they will definitely be suspicious of him... What is Li Jingruo thinking about?

Gao Tianwen waved his hand in front of Gao Zhanming: "Jun Liang, what's wrong with you?"

Gao Zhanming came back to his senses: "Huh?"

Gao Tianwen said: "I've called you a few times and ignored you, have you lost your mind?"

Gao Zhanming took a sip of wine to hide his embarrassment: "I'm a little surprised."

Gao Tianwen shrugged: "Why would your officer compare you to these people? You are from the Gao family. Even if you speak inappropriately, this comparison is too inappropriate. You are also very tolerant. If not, ask your aunt to participate. One book is enough for him to eat a pot."

Gao Zhanming smiled: "That's not the case. Anyway, I'd better be more careful and avoid offending others."

After finding out the experiences of Zhang Shen and Xu Rong, Gao Zhanming had many doubts in his mind.Li Jingruo's request must have his intentions, but no matter what, Gao Zhanming believed that Li Jingruo's intention was definitely not to harm himself.

Therefore, ten days later, on the anniversary of the death of the two, Gao Zhanming still prepared flowers and food, changed into low-key clothes, sneaked out of the mansion through the back door while no one was looking, and headed towards the outskirts of the city.