Startled Meng

In the 20th year of Chengzhou, the palace examination was presided over by the emperor. Thirty tribute students entered the palace and took their seats.

Usually the palace examination is not compulsorily collected until evening, and it lasts for a long time, so the emperor will leave on his own after only a quarter of an hour.

Some candidates answered quickly and thought they could leave earlier, but this palace exam is a little different from usual.

After answering the test papers, the examinees walked in a strange way, because they were not allowed to go to the toilet in the middle of the test paper. He actually entered the Wenhua Palace, saying that he was going to take another test!

The extra examination papers were not too difficult, but when they were presented together with the palace examination papers, the emperor was furious, dropped the paperweight, brushed the teacup, and all the officials in the palace fought, knowing that something was wrong.

"Zheng Lang, Yan Cijing, immediately kill with a stick! The rest of the examiners will be sent to prison for trial!"

"Don't" came one after another in the hall, and the prime minister, deputy prime minister, academician and a group of courtiers tried their best to dissuade them, and the two examiners saved their lives, were whipped twenty times, and imprisoned.

Not yet finished, the results of the examination were invalidated, the Hanlin Academy reissued the questions, and the academician Su Hongzhang presided over the re-examination, and ordered the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and Yushitai to thoroughly investigate the case of imperial examination fraud.

Everyone in the palace is in danger, and gossip outside the palace is difficult to calm down for a while, but they don't want the prison to become the quietest place.

It's just eerily quiet.

Yu Fangzhi walked forward with a lamp in his hand, passed by the prison where Zheng Lang was held, shook the candle lamp in his hand, saw that he was sleeping soundly, and saw that there was not much blood on his back. can go out.

Yu Fangzhi smiled contemptuously and left.

Zheng Lang's situation is not bad, so Yan Cijing can't be too bad, right?After all, the case has not been thoroughly investigated, the crime has not yet been convicted, and it is not now that torture is used to extract confessions.

But he was wrong.

The eunuch who was punishing was merciless to Zheng Lang's men, but he was merciless to a young servant who had been an official for less than three years and had no splashes.

Stripped of his official uniform and hat, and reduced to a prisoner, Yan Cijing didn't have much time to feel sorry for himself, because he soon fell asleep due to exhaustion.

Dreaming of frozen bones in an ice cave, he curled up and shivered, and dreamed of scorching midsummer, which made his whole body hot and dripping with cold sweat.

The jailer's ridicule and sarcasm couldn't wake him up, and the rotten food that fell in made him tremble in a dream, but he still didn't wake up.

Late at night, the dark wind howled in the prison, Yan Cijing gasped for breath, his eyelashes were tangled together and trembling, and he seemed to hear the sound of chains falling and straw rustling in his drowsiness.

The person who came was not a jailer, the jailer would not be patient enough to wipe off all his cold sweat with a warm towel, and the person who came was not a doctor, the doctor would not apply the medicines lightly or heavily, and the shaken powder would be uneven.

It was probably a fairy, who took off his bloody clothes and put on a clean robe for him, and also fed him water to moisten the sand between the roars.

Yan Cijing struggled to open a slit in his eyes, and vaguely saw a shadow, which was not very clear, and weakly uttered a name: "Yu Fangzhi..."

"Don't get up, Ansheng lie down." Yu Fangzhi couldn't persuade him, so he had to sit on the edge of the bed and let him lean on it. He couldn't put his hands on his back, so he had to hug Yan Cijing and let him lean into his arms .

"What happened today..."

Yu Fangzhi turned his face away, and said coldly: "I can't hear what you are talking about, let's eat something first." As he spoke, he picked up a bowl of gruel and brought it to Yan Cijing's mouth.

Yan Cijing didn't refuse, and raised his hand with difficulty, holding the porcelain spoon and sending it to his mouth in small bites.

"It's much better." Yan Cijing let go, and the porcelain spoon fell back into the bowl with a clatter.

Yu Fangzhi put his arms around him, held a porcelain spoon, and put it into his mouth: "That boy in your house is called Juniper, right? He boiled it himself, wiped his tears as he boiled it, finish it."

Yan Cijing sniffed and smiled, his lips were so pale that there was almost no blood: "He is full every time, I can't finish it."

Yu Fangzhi grabbed the porcelain spoon and poked Yan Cijing's mouth: "In case I don't have a chance to drink in the future."

Yan Cijing smiled again, his eyes were crooked, his pupils were like mirrors, Yu Fangzhi stretched out his hand to touch his forehead: "Why are you still smirking when the fever subsides? Could it be that you are returning to the light?"

Yan Cijing shook his head, gained some strength, and said gratefully, "Thank you."

Yu Fangzhi nodded, and asked again: "You have nothing to say to me?"

"Huh?" Yan Cijing glanced at the unclosed prison door, the food box on the floor, and the medicine powder and gauze beside the bed, thinking that words of kindness and virtue are not enough, and added, "Wait for me Go out and come to the door to say thanks."

"Let's not talk about how you got out." Yu Fang knew, "Is there nothing that needs my help during this time in prison?"

Yan Cijing thought for a while, and said: "The house has been raided, right? The Juniper brothers, and Pei Yuantang who is staying in Beijing, can you take care of me for a while?"

Yu Fang knew that Qu Zhi tapped his head: "Now you are a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and you can't protect yourself."

Only then did Yan Cijing explain: "Zheng Lang's dereliction of duty leaked the question, and accepting bribes is a certainty. Because he is blindly arrogant and excludes me, I am not qualified to judge the papers. Before the rankings are reported to Zhongshumen for review, I need to sign and mark. That's right. , but I don’t know who is on the list.”

Yu Fang knew: "Whether you are innocent or not is not up to me to decide, even if you are really innocent, there is no guarantee that Zheng Lang will not bite randomly."

Yan Cijing was silent.

During the palace banquet, Zheng Lang first identified him as the murderer of Chen Kaiyang, but then the situation reversed and his attitude changed drastically. This time the two were sent to prison at the same time, no matter whether Zheng Lang can escape unscathed, he will not let him go easily .

Knowing that his complexion was not good, Yu Fang said with relief: "In the past few days, the Criminal Department and Dali Temple will investigate everywhere, and the interrogation of you and Zheng Lang will be inevitable. The emperor will personally intervene in the case, and Wei Cheng can't do much in the third trial. Big hands and feet."

"Zheng Lang and Wei Cheng have a very close personal relationship. When something happened to Zheng Lang, Wei Cheng didn't dare to act rashly. It doesn't mean that others won't look at him and act." Yan Cijing frowned, "I can't avoid this pain." .”

Yu Fangzhi asked: "Zheng Lang has Wei Cheng, is there no one behind you to help you?"

"Huh?" Yan Cijing was dazed, and when he saw the smile in Yu Fangzhi's eyes, he realized that this was not a temptation. Yan Cijing continued: "You visit the prison at night, without the permission of Dali Temple Secretary Fu Chun, I'm afraid you will It's not that easy."

"The matter of Zheng Lang leaking the question, you ordered someone to break it open?"

Yu Fangzhi nodded in recognition.

He urged Wang Yu to lead the deceived examinee to make a real-name report, and he found Zhang Shaoqiu, the deputy minister who was always waiting to correct Wei Cheng's mistakes.Zhang Shaoqiu moved quickly and did not disappoint him.

Everything is going great, it's just...

Yu Fangzhi helped Yan Cijing to lie down on his side: "Do you blame me?" Blame me for hurting you...

After a day of tossing around, the strict speech became exhausted, and the breath gradually grew longer: "Paper can't hold fire, it's not you, it will be someone else, I'd rather be you."

Yu Fang knew how to laugh, and tucked Yan Cijing's long windproof coat to his chest, seeing Yan Cijing's eyes closed and his lips moving slightly, Yu Fang knew to listen, and heard him say: "Zheng Lang deserves to die... ..."

Yes, all of this is for the death of Zheng Lang, Yan Cijing was implicated and imprisoned as a last resort, the most important thing is to let Zheng Lang die.

Yu Fangzhi stood up and left, holding a lamp, Yu Fangzhi's long figure slanted to the ground, passing Yan Cijing's quiet face.

In the dead of night, the jailer fell asleep and dozed off on the table, Yu Fang knew it was like entering a land of no one, but he ran into Fu Chun behind the door.

Yu Fangzhi bowed respectfully: "Master Fu."

Fu Chun nodded and turned around: "Maybe you visit the prison for your father's sake, no matter how much..."

Yu Fangzhi followed and held the lamp for Fu Chun: "Don't worry, my lord, the grassroots will never interfere with the government's handling of the case."

Fu Chun was silent for a while, but still couldn't help saying: "You have an unusual relationship with that Shilang Yan, but I want to remind you that Shilang Yan is not only involved in the imperial examination fraud case, it's not that easy to get out."

"I see."

The author says:

More more more!Good night

(Yan Cijing: All right, I don’t have a good piece of meat on my back, next time I get hurt, let’s change the place.)