Hypocrites

After driving to Zhangshan Mountain for a few days, and then spent a while in the mountains, it has been nearly a month since Shen Yu left the city.When Ruyang arrived at Wangdu City, if the couriers took turns and swung the whip fast, they would arrive in three days at most.If something really happened, I'm afraid it's already on the line.

Dong Xian was anxious from the bottom of his heart: "Quick! Let's go now!"

Don't worry, just calm down.Words of comfort were on his lips, but he was unable to utter them. Shen Yu's mind was in a mess at this moment, and he suddenly became the most restless one.

The reason why his father sent him to do something was actually to send him away?So what exactly is he trying to do?The answer is simply self-evident - cut first and then play.

The Wangcheng courier will arrive in three days, as long as he dares to execute Shan Guangyi with conclusive evidence of guilt before the imperial decree arrives.When the decree arrives, it will be too late, and it will be inconvenient to ask Shen Jin for his crime, after all, he did not resist the decree.

In this way, the law can be enforced impartially without violating the imperial decree. The only risk is that the single official will be greatly offended.Shen Jin couldn't say what kind of thing this old eunuch with a deep heart would do to retaliate, so he sent his son away first, just in case.

Ding Kou was smart at first, after listening for a while, he understood, and said: "Since Mr. Shen sent him here for his son's sake, and now you are sending him back, wouldn't it be a waste of Mr. Shen's arrangements?"

Dong Xian raised his voice: "As a son of man, shouldn't he advance and retreat, live and die with his biological parents?"

Shen Yu's lips turned pale, and the wine bowl was at hand, he took a sip of the spirits, a hot burning sensation ran through his throat: "The car is parked in the woods, I'm leaving now..."

Ding Kou said: "Taking roads at night is not good. The mountain road is rugged and easy to overturn, and there are many night owls in the forest. The earliest we can start the journey is tomorrow."

Neither of them spoke.

Although this is Dong Xian's unreasonable guess, but he has been friends with Shen Jin for many years, so it can be said that he understands Shen Jin's thoughts better than Shen Yu.This terrible guess was like a seed, which took root and sprouted in the hearts of the two of them, and it was so painful that they couldn't live in peace for a moment.

"Let's go tomorrow morning as soon as the rooster crows. I will drive with you in a different shift, and I can go back to the city in two days and one night." At this time, only Ding Kou could calm down. She took Shen Yu's wine bowl, "Now go to bed early and rest .”

The carriage stopped in the woods, the top was covered with berries, Shen Yu untied the reins, and the berries shook off.

Ding Kou changed into short clothes, the fabric was remade from Dong Xian's outer shirt, and he also put on a bamboo hat to shield him from the wind, sand and scorching sun on the way.

The hard-working old horse trotted down the mountain road with its hooves off.Shen Yu sat on the shaft of the car without saying a word. Ding Kou opened the curtain to take a look, put the bamboo hat on his head, and comforted him: "Maybe he is thinking too much. This person has been in the mountains for a long time, living alone, it is easy have a bee in one's bonnet."

Shen Yu nodded without looking back.

He also thought of Mu Jihe, even if things were as Dong Xian expected, with Mu Jihe and Master Du around, maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

Too bad and how bad can it be?

After changing shifts in the afternoon, Ding Kou drove a little slower, while Shen Yu and his clothes lay in the car to rest, various thoughts flashed by.

Cutting first and then playing, at any rate, it's not a disobedience to the order.The emperor was far away in Wangdu City, and he had no choice but to take Shen Jin, at most, he felt that his majesty was disgraced, and the imperial edict reprimanded him, or demoted him as a punishment.If Shan Guan wanted to make trouble, he might use his influence in Ruyang County to find some difficulties for Shen Jin's governance work, or he might sue the emperor, but the emperor had no choice.

Is there any other possibility?Shen Yu recalled the rumors in Wangcheng that Master Ma He was recruited by Prince Heng as a hooligan, beat him up with a sack, and left Wangdu in disgrace.

Could it be that Shan Guan also wants to play hooligans and find someone to assassinate Shen Jin?Then with the Muzi River there, it should not be a threat.

After much deliberation, things don't seem to be too bad.Clearly he should feel at ease, but for some reason, Shen Yu's heartbeat kept beating very fast, as if there was some crisis that he ignored.

After traveling through the starry night, the horses were so tired that they foamed at the mouth, and finally sawtooth-like battlements appeared in the sky.

The official road rammed with loess leads to the city gate. From a distance, there is a long queue under the city, waiting for inspection one by one.

The two parked the car in the distance to watch. "What's wrong? What are you looking for?" Shen Yu's premonition became stronger and stronger.

"I'll go and have a look." Ding Kou took off the bamboo hat and handed it to Shen Yu to put it on.

She went to the front of the team, asked and returned, without saying a word, she made a movement first - lowered the eaves of the bamboo hat to cover Shen Yu's face.

Shen Yu: "..."

The grass eaves blocked his sight, Ding Kou's voice was very soft, unable to conceal his shock: "Brother, there are notices posted outside the city, and they are arresting you."

This sounds really like a daydream, which is confusing.Shen Yu had imagined many situations - his father's loss of power, the turmoil in the city, the collapse of the government office - but he did not think of it on his own head.No, there is no difference in the first place. How can there be eggs under the overturned nest?The arrest of Shen Yu may mean that something happened to Shen Jin.

"Get out of here quickly," Ding Kou acted calmly, but sweating while grabbing Shen Yu's hand, "It's over if the officers and soldiers find out."

Shen Yu remained motionless: "My father may..."

After a while of silence, Ding Kou understood what he meant.

"I have to go back to the city." Shen Yu couldn't hear his own voice clearly, as if he was separated from the outside world by a layer of veil, and his spirit drifted between shock and trance, "I must go back."

Ding Kou drove a carriage in the queue and slowly moved towards the city gate.There is a portrait on the wall, which is very similar.

"Who's in the car?"

"No one, it's an empty car."

"Your face, look up."

"My lord, I am a woman."

"How do you drive an empty car back to the city?"

"Visiting relatives, I live in Zhuojingfang, the small yard at the end of the alley is here."

The atmosphere in the city is unusual.Everyone bowed their heads and walked without hearing a sound.The wheels of the carriage rolled across the street and became the only sound, turning into Zhuojingfang like a strange person.

It has not been cleaned for a long time, and the wind and rain have destroyed the originally neat courtyard.Ding Ko jumped out of the carriage, the curtain was rolled up, and the carriage was indeed empty.Under the axle, a person emerged from the gap between the wooden wheels, and hung upside down into the city like a bat.

"What should we do next?" Ding Kou was worried, "Go to your father? Or contact Xiaoyan and the others first?"

Shen Yu shook his head, motioning Ding Kou to listen.There was no life in the courtyard next door. Usually, Yan Ran's mother was alone at home, and from time to time she would cough due to her illness, or there would be movements about housework.

He was going to visit the academy first, and had a bad feeling.

Ding Kou thought for a while, then turned around and went back to the house, bringing a dagger the size of a palm.

"I used to live alone, so I had to prepare some self-defense at home," Ding Kou handed him the dagger, "You use it. Be careful in everything."

Shen Yu drew out the blade, the cold light was still threatening, the scorching sun above the city was reflected on the front, and his face was reflected, he felt very strange to himself - probably there was rarely such a serious time in his life.

The dagger was icy against his bosom.Shen Yu woke up in the abdominal wall.At this moment, I had a strange feeling, as if I had already died and was buried in the wall, and next time I dug it out, there would only be a bone left.

Cui Ji came soon and told him a piece of good news—the arrest of Shan Guan has been greatly slowed down recently, and he has not been caught for so long, and it is not good for him to always be under martial law throughout the city.

"Let you come out for some fresh air, brother." Cui Ji joked.

The moment the wall was broken, strong light came in, and Shen Yu heard the shelves full of books sighing.

The air outside is free from dust and musty ink smell, it is fresh.

Cui Ji took him to the West Garden. In the garden stood a screen wall carved with scenes from the academy. Under the screen wall stood a man with a tall and straight back like a pine, his hair tied into a cloth scarf, his hands behind his back, and a sword hanging by his waist.

Hearing the sound, the man turned his head, he was young, his expression was completely indifferent, his eyes were weightless like feathers, and they fell on the man, as if no one was looking at him.

He is an old acquaintance, Shen Yu did not expect to see him at Cui's house.

"Master Du."

The man looked at Shen Yu twice, and couldn't tell what his tone was: "It's so miserable."

Shen Yu said: "It's very miserable, at least he is still alive, Brother Mu is not as lucky as me."

The sword worn by Master Du was exactly Mu Jihe's epee. The last time Shen Yu saw it, he was the one who robbed the prison with the sword, and was surrounded by officers and soldiers who had been prepared to take it down.At that time, Shen Yu pretended to be a prison guard and got mixed up in it. Hearing the crowd surrounded by Shan Hou, he said slowly that he thought he could catch Shen Yu, but he didn't expect that he was just a nobody.

The sword should have been confiscated by Shan Guan, I don't know how Master Du got it.

"Your sword is also in my hand," Master Du said. "The sword is with the people, and the sword is lost. Now your sword is mine."

The Erxie sword was left at home by Shen Yu, presumably it was confiscated when the house was ransacked.Master Du is a daring man of high art, perhaps he stole it from Shan Guan's warehouse, it's unknown.

"Sit down and chat." Cui Ji led the two of them to the side room, closed the door, and took out a piece of silk.

On it was Yan Ran's handwriting, which Shen Yu could recognize at a glance. It was titled "Mingda Listening to Books", and the full text was eloquently written to defend Shen Jin's grievances.This is the first time that Shen Yu has learned the whole story in detail - Shen Jin beheaded Shan Guangyi before the imperial edict was issued, completely angering Shan Guan.Shan Hou pointed out that the deer was a horse, but said that the imperial decree had already arrived in Ruyang, and it was Shen Jin who withheld the envoy and did not announce it, disobeying Shangyi.

The two sides insist on their own opinions, depending on who the emperor trusts more.Judging from the results, the answer is self-evident.

After Shen Jin was dismissed from office and imprisoned, the students of the academy wrote a letter of grievance, a collective petition, and densely packed signatures and fingerprints behind the silk.What Shen Yu knew and what he wasn't familiar with were all on it.Especially Chen Hui, who likes to show off, writes in big and flamboyant strokes, for fear that others will not see it.

Cui Ji said: "Shan Gou arrested the students listed on the petition, Song Jun hid in my house, and was saved from prison."

Shen Yu didn't know about this, so he didn't say anything.

Cui Ji said: "He said that Master Shen taught others to be generous and magnanimous. Now that a catastrophe is imminent, he realizes that he is the most spineless one in the teacher's school. He felt ashamed to see the teacher, cried a lot, and disappeared on the day of execution. gone."

Shen Yu lowered his head: "Hiding and hiding, I'm not qualified to say anything about him."

He was hit hard on the back, and Shen Yu was caught off guard by the blow.

Master Du withdrew his hand, and Shi Shiran said: "Martial arts practitioners, stand like a pine and sit like a bell, and don't hunch your back, which will cause your breath to stagnate."

Shen Yu simply has no temper.Master Du has always looked down on literati who play with pens. Whenever Shen Yu does not practice martial arts with him and wants to go back to study, he has to be ridiculed.Now that the literati are losing power, this wishful appeal for grievances on the case is as shameful as it seems to confirm Master Du's argument that there is no real way to convince people with reason in the world, only to subdue them with strength.

When your voice is loud, others will follow you blindly; when your power is strong, others will follow you.When you have nothing, you can practice martial arts and make others fear you.

Mu Jihe really deserved to be his apprentice. Everyone in the prison was disheveled and dejected, but he was the only one who remained fearless in the face of heavy siege and sacrificed generously.Shan Guan handcuffed him and threw him into a cage. He was still quite embarrassed, and said to Shen Jin: "The petition was delivered too fast, and I didn't even have time to sign it. Do you still recognize me, sir?"

Not having enough food or clothing in prison, Shen Jin said weakly, "I would rather not recognize you than waste my life on you. You are all ignorant."

He leaned closer to Yan Ran again, and Yan Ran was imprisoned for a few days, his body was broken.

"Are you afraid that I will accompany you?"

"roll."

"Here, put your feet into my arms to warm you up."

Yan Ran sobbed: "My mother, my mother is alone, what should I do..."

"It's okay. Before I came, I took her to my house. My parents will take care of her. I told them that this is my girlfriend's mother and my mother-in-law. I didn't pick up my girlfriend after three days. Only the three old ones are left to live the rest of their lives."

Yan Ran stared, tears pouring out continuously: "...You, you are an unfilial son."

"Don't be like this," Mu Jihe said, "No matter what I do, you don't want it. Don't call it 'Ran' in your next life, call it 'Fei'."

The smell in the prison is not good, and the guards wear face towels on their faces and put food on the table.Shen Yu walked to the edge of the railing, his father was leaning on his back with his eyes closed, the keys ringing around his waist, and the officers and soldiers were lurking in the silent place, waiting for their prey.

"Go." Shen Jin murmured.

Chen Hui coughed for a while, and the students sat in a corner, waiting for their fate.

At that time, Shen Yu felt that his legs and feet seemed to be rooted into the ground, and every step he took, towards the exit of the sky, would exhaust all the strength in his whole body.