Jiang Qing

Ren Heyu really put aside his military affairs and arranged for Xie Xian's marriage.

Cheng Nian had been sent to another courtyard long ago, saying that he wanted to familiarize himself with the wedding process, Xie Xian hadn't seen him for a few days.

These days, there was very little news from outside, only vaguely heard that Mei Shao led troops to attack Nanyang several times, but due to the strict defense of the city, they could only return without success.The two sides were in a stalemate like this, and neither of them lost any troops.

But Xie Xian couldn't sit still. He didn't know Mei Shao's current situation, but he knew Ren Heyu's preparations for this water battle very well. He even transferred the mechanism Liannu from Pingdong, and let the craftsmen install it overnight for the past few days. On board the military ship, Xie Xian knew that it was not far away when he sent troops again.

After waiting for a while, the people Ren Heyu sent to Xiangcheng came back and brought back someone who was familiar with the local wedding customs and etiquette, Xie Xian was called over.

From the moment he stepped into the door, Xie Xian felt that Ren Heyu didn't see him right.

Ren Heyu always smiled when dealing with people, but today's smile carried a hint of certainty.

Xie Xian knew something was wrong, so he sat down with restraint and casually chatted with Ren Heyu about marriage, Ren Heyu suddenly said: "Master Xie, have you ever seen the half-person-high wooden sculpture of Mr. Pingdubai's house? There is also such a frame here, and I will add a new one to my lord after Xie lord's wedding."

Suddenly hearing Bai Bingchen's name from Ren Heyu's mouth, Xie Xian's scalp tingled, and he replied: "I am a petty official, and I really don't have the qualifications to meet the right minister."

"Oh? Really?" Ren Heyu chuckled and said, "Scholars all over the world admire Mr. Bai's literary talents. I thought Mr. Xie was the same. He had already handed over a letter of invitation to see him in Pingdu."

He deliberately paused, and said: "However, Mr. Xie was not qualified to meet him before, but now he is qualified enough to meet him."

"What's the meaning of this, Lord Hou?"

"There is news from Pingdu that Bai Bingchen has been dismissed by His Majesty, and now he is just a commoner, and the courtiers under him are almost scattered." Ren Heyu slowly looked at Xie Xian's face, and said: "Huluo Pingyang was dismissed Dog bully, at this time, if anyone adds a handful of firewood and convicts him of some crimes, such as forging his identity, he will never be able to stand up again."

Xie Xian's heart tightened, and he forced a smile and said: "I just entered the court, I really don't know if I can do this."

"When he was in power, how many people blocked the way, how many people stared at him for such a day, how could he let him go so easily? Ling Che's death, the battle of Shencheng, he has already committed the crime of making a wrong decision At this moment, he can't intervene in the chaos in my Nanyang, and Mei Shao alone can't catch me, a rebellious thief, and even he can't escape the harsh punishment."

Xie Xian was in a mess, tried his best to talk with Ren Heyu for a while, then claimed to be unwell, and went out.

Ren Heyu stared at his leaving back for a while, snorted coldly, and said with great interest: "It seems that Bai Bingchen really has no one under his command, yet he sent such a useless scholar here."

A woman turned around from behind the screen and asked, "Master Hou, do you need me to finish him for you?"

"No hurry." Ren Heyu slowly held the white jade cup in his hand, his eyes flashed, "I want to watch him pass the news, but he is powerless, and by that time, his identity will be pulled out layer by layer by me." Come down and make it public. Since Bai Bingchen has done the thing of forging the identity of a court official, don't blame me for putting this charge on him. At that time, he is a rebellious minister who deceived the emperor, and this Marquis just discovered the rebellious minister. It’s just a conspiracy to send troops north to the side of the Qing emperor, this is the name of a legitimate teacher.”

Ren Heyu turned his head, looked at the woman standing beside him and said, "Your Excellency won't be distressed if you do this, will you?"

"The subordinates don't know what the lord thinks, but the young master must be willing to help the lord."

"Then I would like to thank my lord for finding out his identity for this Marquis. Please help me cover it up in front of his father."

-

Xie Xian sat in the room for half a day, and sent someone to ask Cheng Nian's maid to report back, saying that it was Nanyang Hou's order that the two should not meet before the big wedding.He knew that this was done on purpose by Ren Heyu, and he probably knew his true identity.

Although in Pingdu, Xie Xian followed Bai Bingchen to verify his false identity throughout the whole process. Together with all the customs and habits of Xiangcheng, the staff of Xiangcheng had done their homework. It is impossible for Ren Heyu to find out anything in Xiangcheng, but The meaning behind what he said today is that he really knows something.

Xie Xian didn't have the time to think carefully about where his identity went wrong, but he was just worried about how to pass on the water warfare force he got from Nanyanghou to Mei Shao, and Mei Shao knew the situation of Bai Bingchen that Ren Heyu said I don't know, this is what he is eager to determine.

But now that his identity is exposed, every minute that Xie Xian sits here makes him restless.

Maybe Nanyang Hou will send someone to watch him in the next moment, and he really has no chance to send any information by then.Now that he didn't have Cheng Nian by his side, how to avoid the eyes and ears of the mansion and send the letter out was another problem.

Night fell quickly, and there was no sound in the yard.

Xie Xian, who had been sitting on the stool for a long time without moving, suddenly jumped up and rushed out of the room.

His heart was beating extremely fast, and he walked along a road in his memory to the back garden. He remembered that there was a loose wall under the rockery next to the wall, and it might be possible to pry it out.

The Nanyang Marquis Mansion was very quiet, there were no people watching the night, Xie Xian walked into the back garden smoothly, his back was already wet.

He looked around, and after confirming that there was no one there, he bent down and kicked the floating wall. He kicked a big hole in the wall that was in disrepair, just for people to walk over.

Xie Xian was overjoyed, and just about to lean out, he was suddenly pulled from behind and fell back.

Two or three personal guards of the Marquis Mansion followed behind him at some point, but Xie Xian didn't notice it at all. The man in the middle lifted his foot and kicked Xie Xian to the ground, and was about to search him.

Xie Xian tightly clutched the secret letter in his arms, and the two people beside him also stepped forward to help. After a while, they pressed Xie Xian to the ground and took out the secret letter from his arms.

The person in the middle lowered his head to confirm that the envelope had not been opened, then pressed the cheek that was punched by Xie Xian just now, spat on him, and cursed: "If it wasn't for Lord Hou wanting to keep alive, I would have died a long time ago!" ..."

Xie Xian looked at him bitterly, and saw the man in front of him suddenly fall down.

Like a slow-motion replay, the warm blood splashed on Xie Xian's face, reflecting his frightened expression.

Until the three guards fell down and leaned to one side, the blood on the neck was still bubbling out, Xie Xian came to his senses, crawled over tremblingly, and pulled out the blood from the still warm dead man's hand. letter.

A pair of snow-white boots landed in front of his eyes, Xie Xian's heart froze for a moment, and he looked up with a blank face. When he saw someone coming, his face suddenly changed from numbness to surprise, very much like the face-changing in Sichuan opera , the expression change was very abrupt.

Sun Zhe glanced at him condescendingly, holding the blood-dripping sword in his hand, and said disdainfully, "How dare you enter Nanyang Marquis Mansion with such a coward?"

Xie Xian slowly got up from the ground. During the short and long seconds when he got up, his stagnant brain slowly accepted the fact that the person in front of him was the one who let Zhang Huailiu go.

"Master Hou." Xie Xian was obviously terrified, the hand holding the letter was trembling, and he tried his best to hold the corner of his mouth, but he still pressed down slightly, showing a smile that was uglier than crying.

Sun Zhe looked at him, as if he saw himself when he saw a murderer for the first time. At that time, he seemed to be standing in front of someone so cowardly but pretending to be calm.

And she didn't say anything, just reached out and wiped off the blood on her face. It was the first time they met. Unfortunately, she didn't know, and she would never know again.

Sun Zhe let out a breath slowly, and suddenly felt that he was extremely tired, as if it was not impossible to entrust everything to this person in front of him, at least, he could go to see her earlier.

With sadness in his eyes, he took out another letter from his pocket and handed it to Xie Xian.

"Take this letter and give it to Mei Shao. He wants to know all the truth here."

Xie Xian took the letter in a daze, and looked at Sun Zhe standing there indifferently, as if some deep sadness enveloped this person, making him lose any vitality.

Sun Zhe glanced outside, restrained his emotions, and sped up his speech a little, "Now, go back to your own yard, as if nothing happened tonight, and you didn't see anything.

If Ren and Yu asked you later, you said that you came out to my room at night and talked for a while, and then went back, do you understand? "

Xie Xian gripped the two letters tightly, put them in his arms, took a few steps back, turned and left.

Sun Zhe sighed and stood there without moving, waiting to be discovered.

He looked at the blood on his hand, laughed at himself, and wiped it on the snow-white cuff, but one hand moved a step faster, rubbing the blood on his hand onto his body.

Sun Zhe looked at Xie Xian who was going back and forth, startled for a moment, and said angrily: "What are you doing back here! If you waste time here, you won't be able to get out!"

Xie Xian's gaze became calm and firm, as if the flustered person just now was not him, he reached out and grabbed the sword from Sun Zhe's hand, and then rubbed the blood from his hand on his body.

"what are you doing?"

"Master Hou, you go back." Xie Xian repeated Sun Zhe's words word by word, "Just pretend that you haven't been to the back garden tonight, or seen me."

"You're crazy!" Sun Zhe was so angry that he wanted to laugh. What can he, a scholar who has experienced everything, do?Can he stand the torture after being caught by Nanyanghou?Are you trying to protect yourself here?

"Master Hou, you are using my hand to send a message to Master Mei. Ren Heyu must have seen you very closely." Xie Xian said calmly, "Don't worry, I will send the letter."

"Xie Huaide..."

"I'm just a scholar." Xie Xian repeated confidently, "I'm just an insignificant scholar, Marquis, you are far more valuable than me, let's go!"

Sun Zhe took a deep look at him, there was already a faint sound coming from outside, it should be that Xie Xian had disappeared.

"Take care." After Sun Zhe said this, he turned and walked away from another place, and was soon submerged in the night.

Xie Xian suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, glanced at the person lying in the pool of blood, turned around and ran towards his own yard.

He wanted to go back, before the government soldiers found him, and then try to contact Cheng Nian.

Xie Xian ran fast in the night, tightly holding a sword that did not match his identity, as if holding some support, and ran back to his room.

The room was very messy, it looked like it had been rummaged, and the candle lamps on the table had only dimmed a little, indicating that they had just left not long ago.

Xie Xian arrived behind the door, gasping for breath, he knew that the government soldiers would come back in a short time, and he didn't have much time left for him.

He put the blood-stained robe and sword behind the door, strode to the dressing table in the room, took out the hair oil left by Cheng Nian, poured it on the bedding and curtains in the room, and picked up Candles on the table, lit them.

The dimly lit room was slowly filled with fiery red light, oppressive heat and choking black smoke. Xie Xian leaned against the corner, which he purposely surrounded with incombustible things, quietly watching the fire light Devour silently.

The scorching fire danced in front of his eyes, very much like the bonfire he had lit all night outside the deserted temple when he wanted to find Cheng Nian back in front of the whole temple.

And this time he won't wait.

That girl will definitely come to him as promised after seeing the direction of the fire.