He Cheng's grip on the knife tightened, and his heart lifted. This Shangjun's identity is unknown, but the silent door sect master is fond of him, and the numb tiger's mouth also reminds him that Shangjun's martial arts are superior to him. If today this person is going to be the enemy of the master, what should he do
Yuhan and Shang Jun, the eyes of the two met, and neither of them compromised. Everyone looked at Shang Jun, waiting for what he would say. However, Shang Jun lightly held his hands, the thin ice on his fingertips landed lightly, submerged in the snow, then turned around and walked to the edge of the bushes next to the woods, standing with his hands behind his back, looking at the red clouds gradually being swallowed up by the clouds, leaving it only to the doubtful people. A lonely figure.
Yuhan raised her eyebrows slightly, raised her heels and walked over. He Cheng nervously wanted to follow, but was blocked by Liu Yun's long sword.
Just standing beside Shang Jun, Yuhan heard a low male voice as soft as string music, but unfortunately it was a questioning voice, "Why do you have to kill them?"
"Murder for life."
Shang Jun put his hands around his chest and asked softly, "Whose fault are they doing this?"
"The court." Yuhan answered without hesitation.
Shang Jun suddenly squatted down, and He Cheng in the distance was startled. The long sword in his hand was almost unsheathed, but he found that Shang Jun was just looking for something in the bushes, and felt that he was making a fuss. He Cheng coughed lightly in embarrassment, but his eyes were still fixed on Shang Jun.
Shang Jun rummaged for a while, and finally caught a small ferret trapped in the branches and leaves from the bushes. He stroked the ferret's cold purple nose. Said: "And now you insist on killing these forced murderers?"
"I don't deny that they embarked on this path because of the incompetence and debauchery of the imperial court, but this cannot be the reason for them to kill people and steal goods." Staring at Shang Jun's gentle profile, Yu Han said in a deep voice, "There is a state law, they It must be upright."
Shang Jun paused for a while while stroking the ferret's hand, but soon put the little ferret into his sleeve to keep him warm, and then asked casually: "In your heart, Fa is more important than love? If you become king in the future, you will definitely Do you want to rule the country by law?"
"Yes."
Yuhan's palms are slowly tightening, I don't know if it's because of the arrogant attitude of Shang Jun, or because of his determination.
The little ferret in his opponent's heart caressed as tenderly as possible, but unfortunately, what Shang Jun said was really aggressive: "You only have cold and hard legal principles in your heart, but no tenderness, how can you understand the suffering of the people?"
Infuriated by Shang Jun's attitude, Yuhan's voice became louder, pointing at the corpses on the ground, and shouting sharply: "What is sentience, what is ruthlessness? I have feelings for these thieves, is it just ruthless to those who died tragically! Why are they so wrong? How many people can the kindness of the king really take care of? Cang Yue is so big, how can we govern the country with love? The so-called cold-hearted jurisprudence is just because it is cold-hearted, so it can more restrain people, whether it is the common people or the people. Senior officials. If everyone abides by the laws and regulations that they should abide by, the people will naturally be able to live and work in peace and contentment.”
There was almost a roar in the ear. Shang Jun looked at Jin Yuhan's excited eyes, and raised the corners of his lips ironically. Compared to Yuhan's excitement, he seemed extraordinarily cold, and asked word by word, "Everyone in your mouth, including yourself?" Or is the emperor's so-called everyone just those poor ordinary people!
"Of course."
Yuhan was wearing a disguise mask, and Shang Jun couldn't see his true expression, but he could see the magnanimity in his sharp eyes carefully, and he could hear the determination in his resolute voice. Squatting down again, let the warm little ferret slowly climb out of his palm, until it gradually ran away, Shang Jun got up and patted the broken leaves on his body and walked back to the carriage. Only when he turned to leave, Yuhan clearly heard a soft moan.
"You better remember what you said today."
Two hours later, at the foot of Xiaojin Mountain, dozens of earthen graves were piled up.
…
Yancheng.
The carriage was bumpy all the way, and it didn't take long before it entered Yancheng. Shang Jun slowly opened his eyes and looked at Xiao Zongqing beside him. He was the same as him, half leaning on the car body and squinting slightly. It's just that the carriage was not big at first. In order to make him lie down more comfortably, San'er was curled up, and his tall body was next to the wall of the carriage.
Shang Jun didn't know if he fell asleep, but he just sat up straight as lightly as possible. It was just the beginning of the lanterns, and it was too quiet outside the car. Shang Jun gently lifted the curtain and looked out the window.
On the cluttered streets, there were almost no people walking around, and if there were, they were running at an extremely fast speed. The shops on the street are basically closed, and some inns only have a small crack open, which makes people feel that the town is dead.
"What's wrong?" A low-pitched male voice like he just woke up sounded in his ears, and his breath sprayed on his face, making it a little itchy. Shang Jun froze, turned his head uncomfortably, put down the curtain, and replied with a pretense of ease: "It's nothing, I just think that Yancheng is a bit strange."
Is his gentleman shy? Xiao Zongqing raised his eyebrows slightly, sat side by side with Shang Jun in a good mood, and slowly straightened his feet. Curled for a long time, a little numb. This small carriage is really uncomfortable, much more uncomfortable than riding a horse. However, he has decided that he will often find opportunities to sit here in the future.
The carriage slowly stopped, Xiao Zongqing lifted the curtain and jumped out of the carriage, stretched out his hand to Lord Shang, and said with a smile, "We're here, let's get off the carriage and talk about it."
He slapped Xiao Zongqing on the palm of his hand hard, and Shang Jun gave him a white look. He was not so weak yet, and he still needed someone to help him in the next car. Shang Jun stepped out of the carriage dashingly, and saw Qin Xiuzhi standing beside the carriage, waiting for Long Liuli to get off.
Long Liuli saw Shang Jun standing not far away in the corner of his light, his eyes flashed, his feet slipped when he was about to step off the carriage, and he fell down with an exclamation. Qin Xiuzhi was quick-witted and quickly supported her arm, but Long Liuli took advantage of the situation and fell into his arms.
The warm and fragrant nephrite was in his arms, and the faint scent of orchid surrounded the tip of his nose. Qin Xiuzhi was stunned for a moment. Because he didn't feel it, he didn't have a rapid heartbeat or a flushed face, let alone a rush of blood, which was completely different from the last time Shang Jun held him. Why does he have no feelings for women at all? Could it be that he has never understood himself, that he originally liked men at all
Xiuzhi didn't push her away, Long Liuli was overjoyed, she stood up slowly, and glanced at Shang Jun as if inadvertently. He was tidying up his slightly wrinkled white shirt as usual, as if he hadn't noticed them, but Long Liuli believed that Shang Jun had seen the scene just now, and that was enough.
Of course, Shang Jun saw it, and he saw it very clearly, so clearly that he did not miss the calculation in Long Liuli's eyes. In fact, why did she do this? He and Xiuzhi were afraid that they would become strangers in the end. Why would she be jealous of a "man" and compete for favor
Although Shang Jun lowered his head and straightened his clothes, he also felt that a group of people rushed towards them. Shang Jun raised his head, San'er had been alertly stopped in front of him. There are not many people in this group, but it can be seen that all of them are masters. Although they didn't rush up, they just stood quietly and looked behind them, Liu Yun's hand still tightly gripped the long sword around his waist.
Shang Jun tilted his head slightly, saw who was coming, patted San'er on the shoulder flatly, and said with a smile, "Liuyun, they are my people."
Hearing Shang Jun's voice, Wei Xi and Qi Ling stepped forward, clasped their fists and shouted, "Master."
"Wei Xi, Qi Ling, thank you for your hard work."
Wei Xi took out a dark black envelope from his arms, handed it to Shang Jun respectfully, and said, "As soon as we received your letter from the flying pigeon, we immediately rushed to Yancheng to wait. This is a letter from Uncle Zhong to you. "
Shang Jun unfolded the letter, and only looked at it for a while, his eyebrows were full of smiles, and the joy was self-evident. Xiao Zongqing rarely saw Shang Jun smile so happily, and asked curiously, "What's so happy about it?"
Shaking the letterhead in his hand, Shang Jun smiled and said, "Shu Qing has been rescued. Now he is learning etiquette in the palace, and he will marry Xuanyuan Yi on the fifteenth of next month." As a close relative, she is about to get married with the person she loves. Shang Jun can't tell what she feels in her heart. She is both emotional and a little excited.
After thinking about it, Shang Jun suddenly asked, "By the way, what day is the beginning of the month today?"
Seeing his happy appearance, Xiao Zongqing shook his head with a smile and replied, "The twenty-ninth day of the first month." Jun has never cared about him so much. What kind of character is this Murong Shuqing
"Twenty-nine." Shang Jun frowned slightly and whispered in distress, "There are still more than ten days, and I don't know if it will be time to prepare gifts. Why is Shu Qing in such a hurry? Is there anything hidden in this marriage? ?"
The night was getting darker and the chill was getting stronger. Xiao Zongqing just wanted to call Shang Jun to advance to the inn, and a cry cut through the night sky. In this desolate night, it sounded especially mournful!
"Grab the rice! Come on someone! Catch him."
Shang Jun raised his eyes and saw that in an alley in front of him, a short and thin man in his early thirties was carrying a large bag of things, running all the way here. Behind him, an old woman in her fifties staggered and chased after him, shouting, "Don't run! Give me back my rice—"
Shang Jun frowned and said softly, "Catch him."
As soon as the words fell, Qi Ling walked up to meet him, grabbing the man's back with a pair of iron fists. The man was dragged to the ground. Seeing Qi Ling's awe-inspiring aura, the man couldn't care less, so he smashed the bag on his shoulders at Qi Ling. Qi Ling took a step back and grabbed the mouth of the bag with one hand. The man took the opportunity to take off his shirt, slipped out like a loach, and burrowed into the alley desperately.
Qi Ling put down the bag and was about to catch up. Shang Jun raised his hand gently, indicating that he didn't need to chase. Walking to the front of the bag, Shang Jun lightly touched the edge of the bag, it was indeed rice.
At this time, the old woman also stumbled over. Shang Jun smiled and said, "Auntie, this is your rice."
"It's mine, it's mine." The old woman jumped on top of the rice bag and wrapped the rice bag in her arms, and then thanked her all the time, "Thank you, thank you, son, thank you."
Shang Jun was slightly startled. It was just a bag of rice. How cold must the ground be on this winter night! Shang Jun carefully helped the old woman up and persuaded, "Auntie, get up first."
With the help of Shang Jun, the old woman slowly stood up. Looking at the sturdy Qi Ling behind Shang Jun, and looking at Shang Jun's warm and friendly face, the old woman fell to her knees with a plop and begged: "Young Master, I beg you, a good man will do it to the end, can you please let me He sent me home? I bought these rice for ten taels of silver, which is the only savings in the family. If someone robs me, the old man and I will not have to live. "
Shang Jun was startled, "Ten taels of silver? Auntie, get up and talk." Holding the old woman's elbow, Shang Jun gently pushed the belt and helped the old woman up.
Shang Jun asked inexplicably: "This is only 30 catties of rice, why is it so expensive?"
The old woman sighed and replied, "Hey! We don't know, but the price of rice has been going up in the past few months. But even if it goes up, it's less than a tael of silver, so I can barely survive. But these ten days or so. The price of rice is going up like crazy. Two days ago, it was 6 taels for a bag, and today I just sold it to 10 taels. If I don’t buy it, I’m afraid I won’t be able to eat rice anymore.” As he spoke, The old woman was so sad that she sobbed.
A bag of rice has risen more than ten times? what is the problem? Shang Jun supported the old woman and asked softly, "Does the government care?"
The old woman wiped the corner of her eyes with her sleeve, shook her head, and replied, "How do we ordinary people know about the affairs of the government. I'm old and I don't understand anything. One day is one day."
The old woman carried the rice on her back, took two steps and seemed to feel uncomfortable, put it down again, and held it tightly in her arms. After all, it was 30 pounds of rice, so the old woman had to move forward slowly. The cold wind blew her thin old cotton coat, and her silver hair danced with snowflakes.
"Qi Ling, send the old man back."
"Yes."
Shang Jun's face was slightly cold, looking at the direction where the old woman left for a long time, he was speechless, and Ren Hanxue swept past him.
Xiao Zongqing walked to his side and patted his shoulder lightly. Shang Jun slowly turned around, staring straight at Xiao Zongqing.
Facing the gaze of Shang Jun, Xiao Zongqing's heart trembled, but he didn't dodge.
Liu Yun and Wei Xi glanced at each other, both of them were a little embarrassed, they each walked towards the inn and stood at the door, only looking at their master from a distance, not walking far.
"What do you want to tell me?" As the head of the Silent Sect, anything that happened to Cang Yue would not escape his eyes, but he deliberately concealed it for one reason. The skyrocketing food prices must be related to him. related!
The cold voice of Shang Jun made Xiao Zongqing's brows lightly frown, and he felt unhappy, and his tone was a little rushed, "What do you want to know?"
"what have you done?"
"What do you think I'll do?"
"San'er!" Shang Jun growled, he just wanted to figure out what happened, is he going to fool him like this
Holding Shang Jun's shoulders tightly with both hands, Xiao Zongqing replied in a deep voice: "Jun, if you want to accomplish something, you must make sacrifices. You want to take care of everything, but in the end, you will only care about nothing!"
Did he admit it when he said that? Shang Jun took a deep breath and asked word by word, "What did you do?"
Shang Jun's uncompromising gaze finally made Xiao Zongqing relieved: "The northern garrison already knows the news of Prince Rui's distress, and is approaching Tiancheng in the name of a traitor in the army, and at the same time drives the poor peasants to move south. A large number of refugees are pouring out. After entering the country, there is a shortage of food, and the price of rice will naturally skyrocket. Soon, the refugees will have conflicts with the imperial court because there is no food. If Long Chimu sends troops to suppress the refugees, he will not have the strength to control the northern garrison in Beijing. If he sends troops to suppress the north When the army is stationed, Tiancheng will also fall into chaos. In troubled times, no matter who you want to help ascend the throne, you can get twice the result with half the effort.”