Jiang Qing

After nearly two months of training, Bai Bingchen's body is barely getting better.

He hid in the yamen of the magistrate's mansion to recuperate, but instead he became dark under the lights, and no one noticed.

He was not idle during the recovery period, so he took bitter medicine and looked at the money ledger allocated by the imperial court to Cangzhou for the construction of river channels, water transport wharves and flood reconstruction in recent years.

Flipping the abacus in his hand, and writing down some numbers from time to time, Bai Bingchen frowned as he calculated, put down his pen, and roughly flipped through a thick account book that he had read halfway through.

He tapped the account book with his fingers, and said to the accountant standing beside him, "How did such an account book full of errors and omissions get on your Zhizhou desk?"

Just doing half of the calculations, the amount of money was different by more than 30 taels. Bai Bingchen was afraid that he would lose a small treasury if he did the calculations.

"The amount of money allocated by the imperial court above is true, but the amount used for people's livelihood in Cangzhou is also true." Mr. Accountant raised his head and saw the faint anger brewing in Bai Bingchen's eyes, and then lowered his head, but the words he said out of his neck were not true. It is neither humble nor overbearing.

Bai Bingchen smiled meaningfully: "The two balance out, where does the missing money go?"

Mr. Accountant said in a low voice: "When the money leaves the house, it's one amount, but when it enters Cangzhou, it's another amount. Naturally, I don't know where it went."

"The imperial court allocates funds, checks out of the treasury from the Ministry of Households, and hands them over to the Ministry of Industry to build them in Cangzhou. Except for them, they will not go through the hands of others. Do you mean that Guo Zhengyang or Zheng Yuanbo embezzled the money?"

Bai Bingchen looked at Mr. Accountant, as if he wanted to see an answer on his face. After a while, seeing that he didn't respond, he chuckled and said, "That's why Fang Min asked you to show me the account book? He Afraid that I would blame Wei Hushan and the Huang family, you used this account book to block my mouth in advance. Are you afraid that I am in the same group as the one who embezzled official money?"

"You are Fang Zhizhou's teacher. Master Zhizhou believes in you, and I believe in Master Zhizhou." This Mr. Accountant is obviously a straight scumbag, and Fang Min's subordinates really have a bit of his temper.

Bai Bingchen took care of his health in the past two months, and after thoroughly understanding the situation in Cangzhou, he realized that the floods in Cangzhou during the flood season were not only natural disasters, but also man-made.

He also knew a lot about the activities of Lin Hu and the Huang family, but he had always been suspicious. Fang Min was not soft-tempered, so how could he tolerate their wantonness in the territory under his jurisdiction for so long.

Either Fang Min has joined forces with them, or he has other plans.

In recent days, when asked about Cangzhou matters, Fang Min knew everything, and did not hide anything. Today, he sent this ledger specially. Bai Bingchen thought that he must have his own concerns in it.

It's just that Fang Min left the government office early today, and it seemed that some urgent matter held him back, so he didn't come back now.

"Did Master Fang say when he will be back?" Bai Bingchen asked.

"My lord only said that I got some information about Weihushan's secret attack on you today, and I will come back after verifying it." Mr. Accountant thought for a while, and then said: "My lord also said that when he comes back, he will explain it to you personally. It's about the ledger."

The dangling candle was half burnt, dripping onto the pages of the book, leaving traces of solidified wax.Bai Bingchen felt flustered inexplicably, as if something bad was about to happen.

Just as he was thinking wildly, a young man ran in and said out of breath, "Master Fang found out about you falling off the cliff on the boat, and asked you to go and see. My lord is dragging someone, you should go and have a look."

Bai Bingchen frowned slightly, his heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Is he alone there?"

It would be too risky to search for clues alone.

"Don't worry, my lord. The officers and soldiers are all in ambush all around. Without the signal from Mr. Fang, they will stay still."

Hearing that he had a backup, Bai Bingchen's brows relaxed, and he nodded slightly and said, "Let's go."

The sky is low, and the remaining stars are dotted, embellishing the dull night with some bright colors.

Before any holiday year, there are not many painted boats in the river, only one is brightly lit, which is very conspicuous.

It was leaning against the bridge, and the sound of silk and bamboo could be faintly heard from above, and the shadows of several people appeared faintly.

Bai Bingchen was just stepping on the pedals at the end of the bridge, getting on the boat and going into the belly of the boat, when the boy from before called him from behind: "My lord, it's wrong, it's not this boat."

But the surface of the lake was empty, except for the popularity of the painting boat, there was nothing else. Bai Bingchen turned his head suspiciously, and his doubts gradually deepened.

Before he had time to react, someone kicked him hard from behind.

Bai Bingchen standing beside the boat was sent into the water by this brute force, and the river water covered his mouth and nose, rushing in, making him unconsciously struggling to get out of the water.

But every time he was about to float up, a hand would mercilessly press him into the water again. Repeated this several times, Bai Bingchen's body, which had just recovered from a serious illness, could no longer bear it, and soon lost all his strength. The slightest sign of struggle.

Seeing that he was no longer resisting, the people at the bow stretched out their hands and grabbed his skirt, pulled him out of the water, and let him lean against the bow.

Suddenly he got air, Bai Bingchen ignored the confusion in front of him, and coughed loudly. After he spit out the choked water, a person came from his ear and asked through gritted teeth: "You really are not dead."

The water droplets hanging on Bai Bingchen's face flowed down his eyelashes and cheeks, because he was suffocated under the water just now, his eyes were slightly congested, and even the ends of his eyes were slightly red after being insulted.The whole person is pale and fragile, like a piece of fragile white porcelain.

A hand gripped his chin tightly, forcing him to look up, swallowing back the water that hadn't been spit out.

Appreciating his slightly open mouth panting lowly, and his breath becoming heavier due to the water filling, Mei Shao affectionately wiped away the water drops on his eyelashes, restraining him to face her, watching his eyes gradually Focus until your own shadow is reflected in those glazed eyes.

"Lord Bai, long time no see." Mei Shao showed a mischievous smile, and after he saw his appearance clearly, he pushed him into the water again.

"I've heard from folklore that raccoon slaves have nine lives. Could it be that Mr. Bai has become a goblin, so why is it so difficult to kill?"

He smiled lowly, with a sense of ridicule, but his men worked hard to lock the person under the water firmly, until he tried his best again, and then pulled him back to the surface.

"Lanzhou, you sent Zhou Yue to trick me back to the capital. In the prison, you executed the execution yourself. In Pingdu, you forced me every step of the way. Cangzhou wanted to use the power of the water to get rid of my confidant. Bai Bingchen, how much do you hate me? So spare no effort to chase from Pingdu to Cangzhou, just to put me to death."

Mei Shao stared at his disheveled clothes and fuzzy appearance, but the anger in his heart was not relieved in the slightest.

"You are so ruthless that you don't have the slightest sense of guilt about what happened back then. You don't listen or read, don't listen or ask. I regret it. I was too naive and wanted to keep your life in my hands. Slow torment, unexpectedly there is a poisonous snake entrenched on the side of the bed, I should have killed you long ago, but it is not too late now."

Mei Shao took one last deep look at the red marks on his chin that she pinched, and raised a relieved smile. She didn't give Bai Bingchen a chance to speak at all, and regardless of whether he heard her own words, she suddenly let go of her hand. .

Bai Bingchen submerged slowly into the water without making any sound, nor did he float up, just sank like this.

Staring at the small vortex rolling inwards, and soon regaining calm, Mei Shao found that she didn't feel any pain at all.

"thump--"

There were a few sounds of falling into the water from the shore, and Mei Shao squinted at the angry Fang Min who led the officers and soldiers around the boat and stood viciously in front of her.

"Mei Shao, it is a capital offense to kill an official of the imperial court!"

Mei Shao laughed mockingly, as if she had heard a big joke, and squinted at him: "You really belong to Bai Bingchen."

Fang Min didn't have time to talk to him. Seeing the officers and soldiers who went into the water fish him up, squeezed the water in his stomach, and went to check Bai Bingchen's breath.

Fang Min's nose was aching from the faint breath. He took off his coat, put it on the wet white coat, and watched the officers and soldiers carry him away.

"Fang Min." Mei Shao was still standing on the boat, without even moving his position, his eyes were deep and calm, and he said with hatred, "Pay attention during the day, be careful at night, I will personally take his life, You can't protect it."

"The lives of people under my jurisdiction are not something you can easily take away."

Fang Min paused, but didn't look back.

------

The scorching hot breath surrounded him, but turned into a biting chill in the next moment. Bai Bingchen frowned, feeling like a piece of iron being tempered, tormented repeatedly in the raging fire and cold water, wanting to struggle but unable to find a way out .

Just now he was ups and downs in the water, obviously his ears and eyes were invaded by the water waves, blocking all Bai Bingchen's sense of the outside world, but he clearly saw Mei Shao's expression and heard his words.

Bai Bingchen had never seen him look at him like that.

He has seen the hatred in Mei Shao's eyes, the disgust, the joy, and even his terrifying eyes with an extreme desire to destroy, but he has never seen the calm, stagnant indifference.

Like weak water that can't float anything, Bai Bing was allowed to drown in it, and he was so tired of this entangled relationship that he wanted to end it in the most decisive way.

He didn't even give himself a chance to say a word. Did he know that what he said were cruel and hurtful words, or did he not care about his answer at all?

In the coma, Bai Bingchen felt a strong sense of loss, which he had never felt when he sent Mei Shao to Hancheng and made plans to never see each other again in this life.

He found powerlessly that the last bond between himself and Mei Shao, which was pulled by hatred, was on the verge of breaking.

Bai Bingchen thought he could maintain this fragile balance, but the rationality in his heart could no longer suppress his feelings that gathered into a sea like a trickle of water day and night.

Every step he walked calmly and self-sufficiently seemed to be laughing at him, laughing at his self-righteousness, laughing at his tricks, and finally lost that young man.

Was my plan for so many years really wrong?Thinking over every step and making the best choice at the moment is actually leading to such a dead end.

In the endless darkness, Bai Bingchen realized that he had turned into a kingfisher again, and the overwhelming dark clouds, wrapped in heavy rain, were chasing and beating him.

All the pain and sorrow originated from the torrential rain in the summer of the 36th year of Qinyuan.

The torrential rain that Bai Bingchen avoided from the beginning to the end.

The author says:

How did Ji Pu become a master of the generation?

Answer: You need a patient who has survived poisoning, falling off a cliff, and drowning.

Another: The next few chapters are memories!It tells the truth about the Cangshan Incident. If you have friends who don’t like to read memories, you can choose to skip it automatically.