"In all the civil and military affairs of the dynasty, no one is innocent, no one is innocent..." Dai Shengyan smiled miserably, "Well said! This world, this court, why did it fall so far? Emperor Taizu is in the spirit of the sky, you should be heartbroken!"
"Sir Dai!" All the ministers in the room looked apprehensive.
Dai Shengyan waved his hand, signalling everyone not to speak, and continued: "However, the state has laws, the court has rules, and today's trial will be conducted by Shen Jue alone. If you want to try others, you must re-report to the emperor's edict from Dali Temple, and then try again. ."
"If the Dali Temple doesn't mention the petition, will the trial be suspended!" Xiahou Lin asked.
"No," Dai Shengyan said solemnly, "Dali Temple does not file a petition for one day, and the old man does not leave Beijing for one day. How the old man impeached Weide in the past, today the old man impeaches the guilty ministers. Therefore, Shen Changchen and the old man must also be tried. !"
As soon as Dai Shengyan said these words, the whole audience was stunned. Everyone's faces were pale, and they looked at each other, unable to speak. Even the Dali Siqing turned pale and asked Dai Shengyan, "Do you want to fight against the entire imperial court with one person?"
Dai Shengyan smiled indifferently and said, "I am old. What a pity for a dying person!"
The whole room was silent and silent.
No one expected to invite Dai Shengyan to interrogate Shen Jue and put himself in. The whole group of servants stared blankly at the withered old man. He sat in the hall with awe, like a rebellious old pine tree, standing proudly in the world and fearless.
Xiahou stared at the patterned tiles that were close at hand, his fists clenched, his teeth rattled, is there nothing he can do? Is there really a trial? How is this possible? How could this be
In the silence, Shen Jue's voice came from behind, as light as a feather, "A-Lian, step back."
back off? How can he go back
Xia Houli suddenly stood up, looked at Dai Shengyan in the hall, and said, "Master Dai!"
"Shut up!" Shen Jue shouted fiercely, "Retreat for me!"
Xia Houlin gave a wry smile and said, "Young master, some things must be faced sooner or later, aren't they?"
Shen Jue froze for a moment, closed her eyes with force, and stopped talking.
Xia Houlin continued: "Sir Dai, you just said something wrong. The twenty-fourth rule doesn't mean that it has nothing to do with my supervisor."
Dai Shengyan frowned slightly and said, "What does this mean?"
Someone below whispered: "Is this person crazy? What is the relationship between Xie's tragedy and Shen Jue? Twelve years ago, Shen Jue was only twelve years old!"
"Yeah, he just entered the palace at that time, Weide didn't know him yet!" Someone replied, "Is this kid helping people or harming people?"
The three words "twelve years old" broke out from the whispers and pierced into Dai Shengyan's ears. He was startled and asked in panic, "What? When was Shen Jue at that time?"
"Sir," Xia Houlin's voice was slow and clear, "The governor is the third son of the Xie family, Xie Jinglan."
As if a thunderstorm fell from the top of his head, Dai Shengyan was shocked, and slowly looked at Shen Jue who was standing beside Xia Houlin.
In the gust of autumn wind, the young man stood at the foot of the hall, with a luan belt around his waist and embroidered pythons on his shoulders. His whole body was covered in bright and splendid embroidery, but he couldn't hide the frost and snow between his brows, and his eyes were sad. Yes, how can there be two people so similar in the world? The stubborn orphan boy in memory overlapped with the young man. It turned out that his talented and intelligent little apprentice did not die. He escaped from the dead and became the head of Daqi's powerful Si Lijian, the Admiral of the East Factory - Shen Jue.
He stood up tremblingly, panting, "You... you..."
The whole room was shocked, and after a while, there was an uproar.
"How is it possible! How is this possible!" Everyone was dumbfounded, showing disbelief.
Shen Jue watched the old man move down from the hall step by step and walked to him. He saw the crisscrossing wrinkles on the old man's face, like ravines, white hair tucked under the net towel, and a few silver threads hanging down in the sky. almost transparent below. The old man stood in front of him, looking at his face inch by inch, as if to find the shadow of the past. That desolate gaze was like an invisible arrow, piercing straight into his heart.
He had been hiding for so many years, but he still couldn't escape. He felt that he was a ghost who had entered the underworld, afraid of both light and people, but one day he would still return to the world, evaporate under the gaze of the sky and the gaze of his old friend, and disappear without a trace.
Now, the moment has finally come, as if it was meant to be.
Shen Jue lowered his eyes, his voice was hoarse as if he had rubbed countless sands, "Nothing Xie Jinglan, Lord Dai, your disciple is dead, I am Shen Jue, the criminal you want to try."
"Master!" Xia Houlin shouted.
Dai Shengyan lowered his head, looked at Xiahou Lin who was kneeling on the ground, and said in a trembling voice, "What about you, who are you?"
"Xiahoulin, sir, I'm Xiahoulin!" He turned around and bowed at Dai Shengyan's feet, "Twelve years ago, Weide bought the Garan assassins and wiped out the Xie family. I have no relatives. I went all the way north from Nanjing and almost starved to death on the street. In the past, when Wei De was in power, you only covered the sky with one hand. Even you, a great Confucian in the world, with countless disciples, professing twenty-four rules, knocking on the heavenly towers and beating the heavenly drums, still cannot I want his life! How can I claim for this monstrous blood debt other than admitting the thief as my father?"
Dai Shengyan was trembling all over, with tears streaming down his face. He put both hands on Shen Jue's arm, and said angrily, "Why don't you come to find me! At least, I can give you a place to rest, Jinglan!"
"The Garan assassins are eyeing the tigers, and the governor's reliance on you will bring you a fatal disaster! Sir, you are just a Confucian scholar without the power to tie the chicken, how can you resist the assassins from thousands of miles to kill!" Weeping blood, "Sir, moving forward is death, retreating is death, only by falling into the abyss can you survive. If it were you, how would you choose! Xiahou dared to ask Mr., in the vast world, peace is pure, kind and innocent, An You is extremely righteous and no evil!? If you are not good, if you are not righteous, you should die!"
All were silent.
No one would have thought that the sinister and cunning Admiral Dongchang came from a noble family. No one would have thought that he would bear such a bloody vengeance on his body. Many of the ministers in the room had served as officials in the same dynasty as Xie Bingfeng, had dinner together, slept with actresses together, and were full of wine and food. They also called each other brothers and sisters. In terms of seniority, Shen Jue should call them Uncle Shi.
In the silence, Shen Jue lifted his robe and knelt down slowly, untied the tassel under his jaw, took off the gold-painted black gauze curved toe cap, placed it on the ground, and slammed it down deeply. He didn't say anything, just knelt quietly, the shadow between his elbows covered his face, and no one could see his expression. It's just for no reason, everyone felt the iron-like heavy sadness on his shoulders, like Shuanghua falling all over his head and body, cold and pitiful.
Dai Shengyan was deeply mourned, lowered his eyelashes, and wept, "I asked myself that I have never made any big mistakes in my life, but I am the only one who is ashamed. I once promised him every inch of peace and promised to protect him, but I still let him face it alone. A tragic disaster. One wrong step, one wrong step, living on the street, entering the palace as an eunuch, accepting a thief as a father... He went astray, isn't it my fault!? What qualifications do I have to judge him?"
Dai Shengyan looked down at the backs of the two young men, who were lying deep in the dust, motionless. Dai Shengyan gave a wry smile, turned around and walked a few steps, holding the edge of the head-turned desk, as if he had aged several decades in an instant. He was already old enough, but now everyone suddenly felt that he was not only old, but also about to die. His thin back was deeply hunched, and the more he went down, the more he slid down the legs.
"Master Dai!" Everyone exclaimed.
Jin Yiwei rushed up to hug the old man, and the imperial doctor who had just prepared for Xu Ruoyu outside came in to diagnose the old man's pulse. There was chaos in front of Wumen. Shen Jue wanted to go up to see Dai Shengyan, but the crowd blocked him and the dying old man. The crowd was like the mountains and rivers he walked out of these years, and finally he and the old man were separated from each other, and it was difficult to get close. .
Jin Yiwei sent Dai Shengyan to the carriage and returned to the small house that Dai Shengyan rented in the capital. It was a cold alley, with a single door and a single door, with faded blessing paper on the door, and two tattered Spring Festival couplets on the couplets on both sides. The outside of the hospital was full of officials who followed him, all waiting for news of the imperial doctor who was treating and treating inside.
Shen Jue stood in the corridor, waiting silently. No one came to talk to him, and an open space was automatically cleared around him, and everyone stayed away from him, pretending not to see him. In fact, they were no different, but it seemed that as long as they didn't stand with Shen Jue, they would still be a gentleman, with their heads held high, and they could stand under the sky.
"Young master..." Xia Houli whispered from behind him.
He didn't answer, he felt so tired that he couldn't speak. He was actually a little thirsty and his legs were a little sore, but he didn't want to worry about it.
The imperial doctor came out and brought good news, saying that Mr. was all right, but he was tired and needed to rest. The people gradually dispersed, and the courtyard soon became desolate. Only Shen Jue and Xia Houlin remained under the porch, their bodies hidden in the shadows, like two silent wild ghosts.
There was a grape stand in the clearing, and the vines had withered, leaving scattered bunches of dry vines wrapped around the shack. There are many flower pots placed against the wall, all wild flowers, I can't tell the name, and they are placed in a row. Some are still open, some are already withered, and they look languid in the dim sky.
I don't know how long I had been standing, but a boy came out from the inside, looking like fourteen or fifteen years old. Seeing Shen Jue and Xia Houlin under the porch, he was stunned for a while, and asked, "You haven't left yet?"
He didn't know Shen Jue's identity, so he stared at Shen Jue a few times, suddenly opened his eyes wide and said, "This son, you look a little familiar."
Shen Jue raised her eyes to look at him.
The little boy entered the house again, and when he came out again, he took out a painting. Shen Jue took it and looked at it. The paper had turned yellow. On it, a young boy was drawn with a fine brush. He was wearing a coarse cotton coat, reading a book under the lamp.
It was Xie Jinglan.
"Look, does it look like you?" The boy took the painting back, "Don't tell Mr. I secretly brought it for you to see. This is a portrait used to pay homage to Senior Brother Jinglan, Mr. carries it everywhere, but baby already."
Shen Jue's throat was astringent, and she asked, "Are you feeling better, sir?"
"It's better, but it's still lying down." The boy scratched his head and sighed, "Mr. has not been very well, it's not the first time he's dizzy. It's all because of those people, you have to call Mr. from his hometown! Mr. How can you bear it when you are old and tired all the way!"
"Can I go in and see Mr.?" Shen Jue asked him in a low voice.
"But Mr. is still sleeping..." The boy stared at Shen Jue for a long time, suddenly understood something, was taken aback, didn't say anything, turned around and ran back to the house, and came out after a while, standing far away by the door He shouted to Shen Jue and Xia Houlin, "Sir told you to come in!"
Shen Jue took a deep breath, walked over step by step, and stepped over the threshold. Xia Houlin followed behind him silently, not leaving an inch.
This is the main room, with doors open on both sides leading to the wing room. The room was empty, with nothing but tables and chairs. It could be said to be a family. A hook was nailed to the front wall, and a censer and a plate of melons and fruits were placed on the yellow wood table below. The portrait of Xie Jinglan just now was probably taken from it.
Dai Shengyan was already dressed and sat on the top.
Shen Jue and Xia Houlin knelt down and kowtowed to the ground.
"Okay, everyone is gone, now there are only the three of us, the master and the apprentice." Dai Shengyan sighed slowly, and said slowly, "Xiao Lin, don't talk for a while."
Xia Houlin clenched his fists and said in a low voice, "Yes."
"Xie Jinglan!" Dai Shengyan drank abruptly, his words stern, "You keep saying that Xie Jinglan is dead, so who is kneeling here now? Could it be that if you change your name, you are not you!"
Shen Jue was shocked and closed his eyes.
"Let me ask you," Dai Shengyan said sternly, "In the twenty-ninth year of Qianyuan, Wei De framed the Minister of Rites, Jiang Dajiang, and was exiled for 2,000 miles. On the way, he was cut off by bandits and died. Admiral Dongchang, but what Weide ordered you to send Dongchang to do?"
Shen Jue gritted his teeth and said, "Yes!"
"In the 30th year of Qianyuan, Lord Zhou Cunzhou was slandered and imprisoned during the incident. The pipa was completely worn out. When he was released from prison, he was no longer in human form. Is it your hand!?"
"Yes!"
"In June of the same year, Wei De, in order to vent his personal anger, ordered to kill the late emperor Zhongnu Wang Quan in Nanyuan, is that what you did?"
"Yes!"
"All of the above, when Weide ordered the murder, did you ask for love for them? Did you say a word?"
Shen Jue's fingertips pressed down on the ground, and he took a deep breath and replied, "Never!"
Dai Shengyan stared at Shen Jue on the ground, and slowly asked the last question, "I was walking in Mentougou that day, and Wei De gathered gangsters to beat me, but suddenly a group of righteous men from all corners of the country came to the rescue. I asked their names, but they all kept silent. Yan, sneak away. Are they the people you sent?"
The room was silent, and the boy outside the door stared blankly at the three people in the room. In the silence, he heard the young man on the ground whisper:
"Yes."
Dai Shengyan closed his eyes, a turbid tear dripped down from under the drooping eyelids, reflecting the cold light, which was strikingly bright.
He let out a long sigh and said, "In the past in Wangqing Pavilion, when I accepted you as my apprentice, I told you that the world is so difficult, and your heart is precious and kind, just because you are lonely and trampled by others, and I am worried that you will enter by mistake. Going astray, you will never return. Your father is confused, your mother is domineering, you are struggling in the Xie Mansion, I pity you and want to take you away, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Good luck fooling people, I once said that you are persevering, He is too hard-hearted, if he doesn't do great kindness, he must be a big traitor, but I didn't expect it to be a prophecy!" He lowered his head, looked at Shen Jue on the ground, and said solemnly, "Xie Jinglan, just now in front of the Meridian Gate, all Xiaolan can help you. Now, I want to listen to you, why did you do this?"
"In order to hold my own life!" Shen Jue's words seemed to be carved into the bone marrow, "Mrs. Xiao, who is only the mistress of an official family, can beat and kill my servants at will and drive me into a corner. Wei Virtue, he is only a servant of the emperor's family, but he can destroy the entire family of Xie's house. No one can compete with him! Sir, benevolence and righteousness can't save me, loyalty and filial piety can't protect me. , I can take my own life!"
"Xiao Lan, do you think so too?" Dai Shengyan asked.
"Yes," Xia Houlin said, "I think so too."
"That's why you aided Zhou and abused the emperor, followed the shock and anger, and became a traitor! I know that you are loyal to the Lord, but you are foolish and loyal!" Dai Shengyan sighed, "Children, you say you want to take your own life, but you Do you really hold it? Make friends with what you used to hate, and do what you used to be ashamed of. Is this the life you hold? Jing Lan, if this is the life you want, then this old man hopes that you might as well stay in the twelfth He died in that disaster a few years ago and never escaped!"
Shen Jue's heart seemed to be beaten hard, and it was in severe pain.
He didn't speak, but the wind from the outside blew in, making him cold, and his heart felt like a mass of ice and snow, and it was cold from the inside to the outside. He has nothing to say, this is the path he chose, the life he chose, and all the censure and retribution must be borne by him.
Dai Shengyan stood up slowly, and moved his steps with difficulty to Shen Jue, and suddenly fell to his knees with a plop. The skinny shadow shrouded in front of Shen Jue, he raised his head in astonishment, and saw the desolate gaze of the old man.
Shen Jue said in shock, "Sir!"
Xia Houlin also raised his head, surprised.
"My few lessons are not Huanghuang Tianyu, not the golden rule, and nothing can change. Xiaolian asked me before, whether there is pure kindness in this world, and whether there is extreme righteousness, I can't answer, I can't answer! You child, you are destined to be like this Ku, how can I blame you for taking this road!" Dai Shengyan supported Shen Jue's shoulder, the young man's thin shoulder trembled slightly under his palm, he wept, "But if you don't die, I'm sorry to die in vain. Innocent people in the hands of you and Weide!" Dai Shengyan took a breath and said solemnly, "Now, there is only one way! Dai is so shameless, I implore the factory master to promise Dai something!"
Shen Jue said bitterly, "Sir, please speak."
Dai Shengyan took a deep breath, his thin cheeks were solemn, and he said word by word: "As long as the factory owner is in office for one day, you will do your best to assist the young master, clear the dynasty, and restore Daqi, Haiyan and Heqing. Peace! No obstacles, no death!"
He gritted his teeth every word, every word into his bones, at that moment, it seemed that only his old voice echoed in circles in the whole world. Shen Jue raised his eyes to look at him with difficulty, his face was as cold and solemn as the green pines and old rocks on the cliff.
Shen Jue supported Dai Shengyan's arm, lowered his eyes, smiled miserably, and said, "Okay."
"Do you know what the consequences will be if you, as the inner supervisor of the central palace, the servant of the emperor's family, do not have the same heart as the sage, but have the same morality as the ministers?"
"I know."
"Do you know what would happen if the emperor was tired of your persuasion, and there were traitors who interfered with you, and you were rejected by the Lord and expelled by the Lord?"
"I know."
"Do you know that no matter how hard you try, maybe you will never get rid of the name of a traitor and eunuch in your life, which will be spit on by the people and will be abandoned by the world?"
"I know."
Xia Houlin listened to Shen Jue's cold voice and suddenly felt very sad, but he had no way, no one else.
"Okay, okay." Dai Shengyan smiled sadly, stretched out his palm, and said, "Three high-fives are an oath."
Shen Jue pursed her lips and hit Dai Shengyan's withered palm. One by one, crisp applause echoed in the narrow room, each sound was resolute and decisive, and it was transmitted far away, until the end of his life.
After three hits, Dai Shengyan looked at the two young people in front of him with a sad smile. Deep exhaustion came up from the deepest part of the body, and the sky suddenly became bright and dazzling. At that moment, Dai Shengyan suddenly had a premonition that the destiny was approaching.
He stretched out his hand and stroked Shen Jue's pale cheek, this child has suffered too much, he understands, he always understands. So he hid his selfishness. He made the biggest mistake in his life. He should have enforced the law fairly and tried him to death.
How could he send him to die? This kid has such stubborn eyes! It has always been since childhood. Even if he was buried in the dust, he tried his best to raise his head. His heart is so arrogant, others can trample on his body, but they cannot trample on his arrogant heart. Tears welled up in Dai Shengyan's eyes, he stood up with Shen Jue's arm, and pushed him out the door: "Go, go, child, do what you need to do."
Shen Jue and Xia Houlin kowtowed again and left the courtyard. Looking back, the old man was standing in the deep courtyard, slowly turning into a dark shadow.
Shen Jue turned around, supported the wall, and walked to the carriage step by step. Xia Houlin silently looked at his back, and suddenly felt that this narrow alley was endless and stretched until it was inexhaustible, and Shen Jue was walking there alone, alone. Xia Houlin wanted to catch up very much and said, young master, don't go alone, I will accompany you.
"Xiahou," Situ Jin, who was originally a marquis outside the door, suddenly came over and said in a low voice, "Zongren's mansion said that the queen mother was filthy and messed up the palace, and as usual, she should give poisonous wine and come to report to the governor. The appearance of the Lord... is it convenient to say now?"
Xia Houlin stopped, but still looked at Shen Jue.
He raised his eyebrows, and the eyebrows suddenly became cold, "Don't say it, just give it."
Situ Jin was silent for a while, and then asked again: "There is also Zhu Xia, the Queen Mother's personal maid, what should I do?"
Xia Houlin remembered that woman. When she was in Guangling Temple, she sat alone in front of the Guanyin Hall and wept, probably because she was sad for Shen Jue.
"Where is she?" Xia Houlin asked.
"Zongren Mansion."