Lei Yue Longmen

Cen Zhu hurriedly returned to the alley with Li Jingzhu, and Yun Zhong was still there.He also noticed the fire, and was climbing up the carriage to look up at the red light.

"What's going on?" Li Jingchen didn't get off his horse.

"It seems that the yamen of the Ministry of Households is on fire. Just now? The fire was not big, but it is already burning now."

Cen Zhu's heart shuddered, sure enough.

Li Jingxuan immediately ordered: "You? Go to the patrol team immediately and go to the Yamen to help put out the fire." She was worried that the fire broke out in the North Cang. The North Cang had hoarded most of the supplies newly brought in from various counties. If it caught fire, the consequences would be disastrous.

Cen Zhu thought of another layer. She worried that the wild cat knocked over the lamp and caused the fire, but when she thought about it, the time was wrong, and when she came out, she was sure that all the sparks had been extinguished. How could it be possible? What about fire?

When they reached the Hubu alley, the two breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that the place where the fire broke out was neither the north warehouse nor the north wing where Cen Zhu was on duty, but the south wing where two other officials were on duty.

Some officers and soldiers had surrounded the front of the yamen, which attracted people's attention, so Cen Zhu dismounted and let Li Jingchen go first, and walked to the yamen gate by himself, and was able to enter after revealing his identity.

There was a lot of noise in the courtyard, and the fire illuminated the entire Hubu mansion brightly.People rushed to get water into the tank with uneven water-holding utensils in an attempt to put out the fire.The sound of chaotic footsteps, shouts of the crowd, the sound of barrels colliding, and the sound of splashing water mixed together.The beams and wooden pillars of the house were crackling and burning, and the south wing was like a bellows that had been magnified dozens of times, swallowing all the remedies that anyone could.

Du Yu, the official of the Qingyang Division, and Liu Bing, the chief secretary of the Kangyang Division, who were on duty, had been rescued. They sat disheveled and curled up on the steps in front of the north duty room, looking at the burning south wing, their faces ashen ashes.

Li Jingxuan stood among the crowd with a stern expression, frowning tightly, commanding and dispatching.In order to cause more damage due to the spread of the fire, she has ordered all the official documents from other rooms in the south wing to be moved out.Those who can be rescued will be rescued, and those who cannot be rescued can only be destroyed.

Cen Zhu was in a heavy heart. There was a fire in the household department, and it was not good news for anyone during the critical period when the tax bank was put into the warehouse.

She walked up to Du and Liu and asked, "What's going on?"

Du Yu's face was gray and black. Although he tried his best to maintain his usual tone, every word seemed to come out of his mouth: "It's the negligence of the lower officials. The lower officials approved the official documents until late at night, and just took a nap. It just... burned."

Cen Zhu hated iron for being weak. This Du Yu was usually the most cautious person, and he was also very effective in handling affairs under her command, but maybe just this one mistake could ruin all his previous efforts.

"You? If you look back carefully, what's suspicious? If you want to take a nap, it's impossible for everyone to take a nap? Is Liu Bing the same?"

Liu Bing probably realized that the Wushamao was going to be lost, and cried with tears: "Xiaguan woke up in the middle of the night with unbearable abdominal pain, just in time to go to the toilet. When he came back, the window was on fire. Mr. Du was still inside at that time. Xiaguan went to rescue him first. After Master Du came out, it was too late to go to fight the fire. That’s right, that’s right, when the officer entered, he seemed to hear a cat meowing. I don’t know if it was the beast that knocked over the lamp.”

"Cat?" Another cat.Cen Zhu frowned and remained silent.

Two hours later, the fire was extinguished, and the south wing was severely damaged. Fortunately, it was still far away from the lobby, and there was a firewall built on the roof, so no greater damage was caused.The officials who arrived earlier came to report, and they were shocked and panicked when they saw the tragic situation in the South Wing.

Surprisingly, Alang also appeared in the crowd. It drooped its tongue and panted rapidly. It probably didn't understand what was going on. It howled a few times from time to time, trying to attract people's attention.At its feet lay a huge dead cat full of scars, and everyone looked at it with horrified expressions.

Du and Liu were passed into the lobby, and when they came out, they all looked pale, and Liu Bing couldn't help wiping his tears with his sleeves.Cen Zhu then asked for instructions to enter the lobby, and by the way, carried the huge black cat into it.

Li Jingchen was lying on the desk? He was writing something, his brows were full of sorrow, and his expression was slightly haggard.

Cen Zhu saw her commanding all night in undressed clothes, and felt a little distressed. She stood at the bottom of the steps to explain why she came. .”

Cen Zhu argued: "I'm not trying to excuse the two, but, wouldn't it be a pity that the two of them lost their lives because of this accident? If His Highness can be merciful, we will focus on writing the section about cat disasters." According to the memorial, the charges against the two of them can be mitigated to some extent, so that their lives will not be in danger."

Li Jingxuan picked up his pen, feeling helpless against her flood of sympathy, and asked lightly, "You? If you say cats are cats, are they cats? What about the evidence? If there is no evidence, who will believe their one-sided words?"

Cen Zhu took a step back immediately, took off the white gauze on the stretcher, pointed to the dead cat and said, "This is the evidence. Many people saw and heard it last night. There was indeed a cat breaking into the yamen. Why don't you go with the flow and let the cat break into the yamen?" Let this end?"

Li Jingchen frowned slightly, "You? Want me to give false testimony?"

Cen Zhu stepped forward and said, "It's not perjury. It's just to borrow evidence for the time being. Then Du Yu has always been cautious and talented. He has never been dereliction of duty before. Then Liu Bing is also honest. I believe He said that when he heard the meowing, he didn't lie, but he suffered from lack of evidence to prove his innocence. The Ministry of Punishment pays most attention to the truth in its judgments. If there is no evidence, the two of them are likely to be convicted. If it is normal, it will be fine, at most However, I have been in prison for a few years since I left my job, but now is an extraordinary period of taxation and treasury. The Holy Majesty will not forgive me, and I may punish you severely as a warning to others. If the two of you fail to get along by then, you will lose your life. But if there is a cat Misfortune is in it, and the two of them can't defend themselves, isn't it too unfair?"

Li Jingchen suppressed his anger: "Wronged? Even if a wild cat is a disaster, it is true that the two of them neglected their duties and did not discover the danger in time, so that it caused serious consequences. You? Who will compensate for the loss? You? "

"Of course I am willing to make up for it. In the final analysis, I am also responsible for this matter. I shouldn't leave my post in the middle of the night under the pretext of catching cats. If there is a crime, I also have the responsibility."

Li Jingchen choked for a moment, and said in a cold voice: "Your duty is in the first half of the night. According to regulations, you can go home at the third watch. What happened to you in the second half of the night? Don't do it to yourself. Take the blame blindly!"

Cen Zhu heard a hint of cover-up from her anger, and his heart warmed up, "But when I came here, I was really worried about what to do if something happened to the North Wing where I was on duty? I hope that someone will come out to testify for me at that time." Comparing my heart to my heart, I am willing to testify for Du and Liu, and even more willing to testify for His Highness."

"What proof do you do for this Palace?"

"I know that His Highness will definitely take the blame for this matter and blame himself for this matter. It is a good thing to have the courage to take responsibility, but it also depends on whether it is worth it. Since His Highness was ordered to take charge of the household department, he must do everything personally and work hard. Everyone sees it. In my eyes, wouldn't it be unfair to be punished by the superiors because of someone else's fault? The minister said that the wild cat was the cause of the disaster, not only to excuse Du and Liu, but also for His Highness's consideration. In this matter? No matter how brave you are to take responsibility, Jinshang and the officials will not care, they will only see the negligence of His Highness. But the wild cat has caused disasters in the inner city for some days, and now it has brought disaster to the government. This is the Shenwu Army The responsibility of inspecting the inner city. Now the witnesses," she pointed to herself, and then pointed to the dead cat on the ground, "there are all physical evidences, His Highness can completely push the boat along the way, and turn the big thing into a small one."

Li Jingchen knew that she was thinking of herself, and his eyes gradually softened. However, given the current level of Li Pinghong's suspicion of her, how could it be so easy to shift the focus?What's more, the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate will not let it go.

She said so.Cen Zhu said with a smile: "What's the difficulty? If Your Highness trusts me, it's not as good as today's memorandum, and I will let you write it for me. Your Highness will copy it later."

Li Jingyin asked, "What's the difference between your writing and my writing?"

"Of course there is a big difference." Cen Zhu walked to the case, took out the unfinished melody under Li Jing's hand, glanced at it, threw it aside, took out another blank paper, and laid it on the case Going up, he hooked his hand towards the opposite side, Li Jingchen reluctantly handed over the pen to her hand, Cen Zhu dipped in the ink, and said: "When I was studying in the academy, I heard a story told by the boat master, that once upon a time, One of Zeng Gong's subordinates often lost battles on the front line and wrote memorials to the emperor to blame himself. Among them were the words "repeated battles and repeated defeats". When Zeng Gong saw it, he adjusted the positions of "war" and "defeat" to become "Repeated defeats and repeated battles", the emperor not only did not punish that subordinate, but praised him greatly. This story tells us that language polishing, which seems to be a trivial matter, will turn decay into magic at critical moments I'm not saying that His Highness's language polish is not good enough, it's just that His Highness takes care of everything in his day-to-day, and he doesn't necessarily care about these minutiae. And I've learned this, so I'm sure that this matter will be 'perfect'."

After speaking, he swiped his pen and wrote.In less than a quarter of an hour, an eloquent article with nearly a thousand characters was placed in front of Li Jingchen. After Li Jingchen tried it out, he felt that although the whole article was avoiding the seriousness and lightly talking about cat disasters, but every word was reasonable and every sentence made sense. .It's rare to imitate her tone, and still be able to speak naturally, with clear writing.Although there is no begging for mercy, it is unbearable to read it.It is indeed much more brilliant than my gloomy and heavy-toned "Confession".

"Worthy of being the number one scholar?" Li Jingchen praised him sincerely.

Cen Zhu was somewhat complacent, and leaned on the case and said arrogantly: "To be honest, I have read the memorials His Highness has submitted to His Majesty in recent years. I don't know who is the one who polishes His Highness's pen on weekdays? Except for the Ministry of Industry Zhihe who is all accounts. There is nothing wrong with the expense report, but the others are... tsk tsk..." She showed a look of "can't bear to look at it directly", "Even my application for leave is more straightforward than his."

"However, fortunately, the one in Dun Wang's Mansion is not very talented. Ming, if two broken chess baskets collide, the East Palace will be slightly better."

"..."

Seeing that she was going to be overwhelmed with complacency, Li Jingchen hooked her up.Cen Zhu leaned forward, wondering, "Why?"

Li Jingchen gently turned her face to the right, holding the three swollen cat claw bloodstains on the left cheek, traced from a knuckle on the lip along the scars, and traced them all the way to the base of the ears. The line on the top is as long as an index finger, "Does it still hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt a long time ago," Cen Zhu was a little depressed, scratching the right side of his face: "It's just that the shape is a bit ugly, like cat's whiskers, I don't know if it will leave a scar, alas, if there is a scar, I will From now on, I won’t have the face to meet people when I go out.”

Li Jingchen held her face in his hands and said in relief: "Why, I think it's very cute. Fortunately, the wound is not very deep. Go back and apply some medicine to take care of it for a few days. When the scabs fall off, you should be fine."

"Then... if I lose my appearance, will you despise me?"

Seeing her bulging cheeks, looking like she was about to cry, Li Jingchen held back a smile: "No, there are so many cats in the house, and at most I need to spend some rations, how can I dislike it. Besides, this cat is very cute." Can write articles."

"..."

Cen Zhu clenched his fists depressingly, it's unreasonable, he started to discriminate now, and he will get it later.