Strange Records of Xijing

A jailer carrying a lantern came to the front, with a flattering smile on his face, and led a man in official uniform to the cell where Pei Jingxing was imprisoned.

Walking behind them, there were two jailers, one of them shrugged his head, obviously just woke up not long ago.Together they lifted a chair and placed it in front of Pei Jingxing's cell. One of them took out a clean handkerchief, wiped it on the stool a few times, and then said: "Xu Shilang, please."

The middle-aged man named Xu Shilang had a white face and a pair of phoenix eyes glanced at the three jailers, and suddenly sneered: "Fortunately, His Majesty ordered me to come and visit, otherwise His Majesty and I would not know that the three jailers have not yet been interrogated. The prison will open first. You guys are overqualified as jailers."

When the jailers heard what Xu Shilang said, they all laughed apologetically. One said "I dare not dare", one hurriedly said "Xu Shilang misunderstood", and the other's last bit of sleepiness disappeared immediately, and kept saying "Excuse me, Xu Shilang!" crime".

Xu Shilang naturally knew that these three people were playing sloppy, they were just ordinary jailers, if no one was behind them to back them up, how would the little jailers have the guts to torture Jinwuwei Street?

Hitting a snake to hit seven inches, Xu Shilang naturally understands this.He made an excuse to show off his prestige again, guessing that these jailers would not dare to torture Pei Jingxing in private again, so he let them go temporarily and ordered them to retreat.

"Mr. Pei, is there any serious health problem?" Xu Shilang sat down, looked at Pei Jingxing in the cell, and asked with his mouth open.

Pei Jingxing shook his head and said, "Xu Shilang came here late at night, isn't he afraid of being used as a fuss?"

Xu Shilang laughed a few times, and said: "My good boy, it's this time, and I'm still concerned about my safety. Don't worry, I'm here this time, His Majesty specially agreed."

"Your Majesty?" Pei Jingxing asked puzzledly, "Why did Your Majesty ask the servant to visit me?"

"You don't believe me?" Xu Shilang raised his eyebrows and said, "Even if your master is in the Northwest Military Camp, out of reach, I'm still here in Xijing, who dares to touch you casually!"

Pei Jingxing trembled his lips a few times, and murmured, "I thought... I thought..."

"You thought no one came to save you?" Xu Shilang smiled and said what was in Pei Jingxing's heart, and then he sighed and said, "You are young after all, do you think that the incident four years ago, Just let it go so simply?"

"It was not my fault in the first place. Your Majesty has already issued a gag order. If I don't say anything, what do they have to be afraid of?" Pei Jingxing pretended to be an old man for more than three years, holding back his grievances, and faced Xu Shilang For this insider, he simply vented it all, "I only hate people with ulterior motives! These people did things that violated human ethics back then, and they used the last resort as an excuse to let His Majesty handle it lightly. Now the old ways have returned. If I had known this, His Majesty would have They shouldn't be spared!"

"What do you want?" Xu Shilang looked at Pei Jingxing and scolded with hatred, "It was not only a few of them, but also the prince who was involved in the incident back then. Do you want His Majesty to abolish the prince? You also Having said that, people have ulterior motives, if you think so, don’t they think so?”

What Xu Shilang said made Pei Jingxing feel like being scolded: "Xu Shilang means..."

"Cut the weeds and get rid of the roots." Xu Shilang sighed again, "You have been hiding for more than three years, why are you so impatient this time?"

Pei Jingxing said vaguely, "Niu Chunhui threatens my friend's life, so naturally I can't sit idly by."

"Is that Su Yan?" Xu Shilang said the name lightly, "I heard that the two of you have gotten closer these past few months."

"Xu Shilang is watching me?" Pei Jingxing narrowed his eyes, "This matter has nothing to do with Su Yan, please don't involve him in this matter."

"Surveillance? That's too harsh to say." Xu Shilang said, "Pei Jingxing, don't you want to trust others again?"

"Believe it?" Pei Jingxing smiled wryly, "Xu Shilang, if you haven't seen it with your own eyes, you won't understand my feelings. I can no longer trust others."

"What about Su Yan?" Xu Shilang asked again, "Do you trust that Su Yan?"

"Su Yan?" Pei Jingxing frowned, "He is just an ordinary little Taoist priest who bumped into Xijing by mistake, and I ask Shi Lang Xu not to involve him."

"Forget it, your master entrusted you to me back then, and I can't let him down." Xu Shilang got up and said, "At the court, I will find a way to clear up your grievances, and you and your friends will work hard. "

As he said that, Xu Shilang glanced at Su Yan's hiding place, meaningfully, and said, "If you don't believe me, then tell your story to someone you trust. Pei Jingxing, you are still young after all, and you will still be young in the days to come." Long, do you want to be alone for the rest of your life?"

He didn't wait for Pei Jingxing's answer, and walked away.

After the two jailers cursed and moved the stool away, Su Yan released the blindfold, walked out from the darkness, and walked in front of Pei Jingxing.

"He found me." There was already a thin layer of sweat on Su Yan's forehead, "Is he an enemy or a friend?"

"Let's count it as a friend for now." Pei Jingxing said, "He is my master's old friend, and the two of them have a very close friendship."

Su Yan simply sat down on the cold floor in front of the cell, and asked Pei Jingxing, "Then why didn't you tell him what I found?"

Pei Jingxing shook his head and said, "He wants to save me, but he won't save you. I don't want to involve you."

Su Yan took a deep breath and said, "Pei Jingxing, I still say the same thing. I was grateful when you saved me at the risk of your own life. I, Su Yan, are not a covetous person. Since I know this, It’s impossible to pretend not to know.”

Seeing that Pei Jingxing's face seemed to be loose, he took the opportunity to ask, "Would you like to talk?"

The previous conversation between Pei Jingxing and Xu Shilang seemed to mention Pei Jingxing's experience in the Western Regions four years ago, which made Su Yan more certain that Zhu Zhiwen's killing of Niu Chunhui and framing Pei Jingxing this time was definitely inseparable from his trip to the Western Regions back then. relationship.

Pei Jingxing raised his head and looked at the dark crescent moon in the sky through a small window on the wall. After thinking for a long time, he still told the truth.

"Back then, Niu Chunhui, Zhu Zhiwen and Zhao Shimin and I were all selected into the prince's guard, especially me and Zhu Zhiwen, plus another Shen Guochang, it is not an exaggeration to say that we grew up with the prince My father passed away when I was very young, and Huaiyu was just a baby waiting to be breasted at that time, so I regarded Shen Guochang and the others as my dearest brothers. Six years ago, my master Zhang Feiran led the army, Huaiyu After two full years, I finally repelled the barbarians who had always been a major problem for me in the northwest. At this time, His Majesty suddenly ordered the prince to lead the prince's guards to the northwest to join the northwest army led by my master. The barbarians scattered in the northwest were completely wiped out." Pei Jingxing talked about these past events, his eyes were moist, "Later, when we encountered the Northwest bandits, a strong wind suddenly blew up. We lost our way in the wind and sand, hit by mistake I entered an ancient city. This ancient city has been abandoned for many years, I didn’t check it for a while, fell into a pit, and lost contact with other people.”

"When we went out to battle, we actually received reports from the front that there were small barbarians ahead, so we only had three days' worth of dry food with us. I didn't know how long it would take for me to get out of trouble, so I only had Eat dry food. But then the dry food ran out, and I had to catch sand snakes and things like that.”

When Pei Jingxing said this, his voice became hoarse: "Later I finally found Zhu Zhiwen and the others, and found that they were actually roasting human flesh! They thought that Prince Wei and others had practiced martial arts for many years, and the meat was too old. Just dig out the flesh of their cheeks to eat!"

In the middle of the night, Pei Jingxing, dressed in rags and with red eyes, complained bitterly about the evil deeds committed by Zhu Zhiwen and others back then: "They saw me and tried to trick me into eating with them. They were afraid that after I returned to Beijing, I would expose them. The evil deeds, so they tried every means to drag me into the water. Seeing that I would not follow, they wanted to kill me by taking advantage of the number of people. Later, the crown prince issued a strict order not to allow them to murder me. "

Hearing this, Su Yan couldn't help reaching in, took Pei Jingxing's hand, and pressed on his tiger's mouth a few times, trying to make Pei Jingxing distinguish between the past and reality.

"and then?"

"I don't remember clearly after that." Pei Jingxing tapped his head and said, "I passed out because I was really hungry and refused to eat human flesh. When I woke up, I was already in the carriage. The crown prince disappeared, and Master himself led his troops to search for nearly a month before finding us."

"It's the crown prince who forbids them to take the opportunity to kill you." Su Yan said, "Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to survive until then."

"I know." Speaking of the crown prince, Pei Jingxing let out another long sigh, "Over the years, I tried to convince myself that the situation was urgent and dangerous at that time, and the living were always more important than the dead. They did this kind of thing because of the situation It’s not what they want.” However, at that time, they were still picky about old meat and hard meat, and they were only willing to eat cheek meat, so how can I convince myself?Those who died were brothers we grew up with!

Su Yan shook his arm, and asked again: "You have never done such a thing, as long as you have no regrets."

Pei Jingxing smiled wryly: "I narrowly escaped death, but Shen Guochang and the others were buried in the Western Regions. How could I be innocent of such insults before their bones were cold? After returning to Beijing, the then Niu Guogong, Zhu Guogong, and Zhao Yuanrui, the servant of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, launched an attack at the same time. Because I was on duty that day, I received the battle report and gave it to my master, so my master made this judgment and easily put the prince to death. Under the circumstances at that time, if I did not plead guilty, it would be my master who died. But I Master didn't back down. He secretly met the emperor without telling us all. Afterwards, the emperor dismissed the prince's guard, let the prince live in the East Palace to recuperate, and made me a Jinwu guard and gave me the name Jingxing. You understand Does it make sense?"

Su Yan naturally didn't understand the twists and turns, he shook his head: "I don't understand, does this mean the emperor let you go?"

Pei Jingxing sighed again: "From the Pei family to my generation, they are all from the Huai family. The emperor changed my name to tell everyone that I am different from other descendants of the Pei family."

Having said that, Su Yan, no matter how unsophisticated he is, also understands the sinister meaning of this.It's no wonder that no one from Pei Jingxing's family stepped forward when Pei Jingxing was in trouble!

Just when Pei Jingxing and Su Yan were talking about this old story, Pei Qiong was furious at Minglang County Lord's Mansion.

"My nephew was framed, why didn't you tell me? If Huaiyu hadn't sent someone to send me a letter, I didn't even know that my nephew was in prison."

"So what if I tell you?" Princess Minglang asked with no fear on her face, "When the emperor changed his name, he was telling us that he, Pei Jingxing, has nothing to do with the rest of the Pei family! On weekdays, I can Take care of him, but if something happens to him, we have to stay away!"

"Women and children!" Pei Qiong scolded, "Even if the emperor changes his name, he is still a son of my Pei family! You...you really let me down!"

Princess Minglang's face was aggrieved: "I'm also doing it for the good of our family. You and I are clear about what happened back then. Even if Pei Jingxing lived in peace, his heart is unpredictable. The emperor will never let him live any longer."

"Enough!" Pei Qiong raised her hands angrily, but she couldn't fight anymore.

The husband and wife stalemate for a long time, finally Pei Qiong put down her hands and turned her back: "I have my own opinion on this matter, you don't need to intervene anymore."

Princess Minglang trembled when she heard the words, and asked tremblingly, "Is your husband blaming me?"

Pei Qiong didn't turn his head or speak, he walked out of the room slowly, silently expressing his mood at the moment with actions.

Princess Minglang stared at Pei Qiong's back in bewilderment, and finally her legs gave way, and she fell down on the thick blanket, crying softly.