"What did you just say? I asked you to personally detain him, why did you run away?" The emperor looked at Qin Lin who was kneeling on the ground angrily, his eyes full of anger.
Qin Lin knelt on the ground and did not argue. He said, "Father, my son has done something wrong. Please punish me."
"Huh? You are self-aware and know that I will not let you go and will not beg for mercy." The emperor said with a cold snort.
Song Qi, the minister of justice, stood aside and wiped his sweat frequently. This man was thrown into his prison. Although the emperor is interrogating the fourth master now, he will definitely be punished soon, and it will only be more severe.
"Your Majesty, I have something to say." Song Qi knelt on the ground and said.
"What do you have to say? I haven't settled the accounts with you yet, but you can't wait to show up. You were thrown into prison in your criminal department. What do you think I should do with you?" the emperor said in a dull voice.
The sweat on Song Qi's forehead fell rapidly at that time. The emperor just said disposal, not punishment. Although this is only a word difference, the nature is completely different.
If it was a punishment, it would only be a deduction of salary for a few years and dozens of slaps, but the punishment showed that the emperor was going to take serious action. It could be as simple as beheading, or as serious as involving family members.
"Your Majesty, what happened was so sudden. Several groups of people suddenly appeared in the Criminal Department. Some of them didn't seem to be here to rob the prison at all. They were just causing trouble. They even set fire to the house behind the cell. If they are not dealt with in time, they will be involved. The entire Wu Shui Alley, so the first thing we could do was put out the fire. There were really not enough manpower, so we neglected the criminals." Song Qi opened his mouth and told the situation at that time.
No matter how unhappy the emperor is, he still has to tell the truth, because he cannot let himself be implicated, otherwise it will not be his life, but the life of the entire family.
The emperor had a gloomy face, so dark that he could drip water. He sat on the dragon chair, staring at Song Qi who was kneeling on the ground, and did not speak for a long time.
Fang Xing, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice who was kneeling beside him, heard Song Qi's words, looked at the emperor's face, and shook his head. This Song Qi was too self-conscious. The reason why the emperor asked the fourth master, who was no more than thirteen years old, to investigate the assassination this time The assassin was definitely not out of favor, but looking for a reasonable excuse to alienate or even exile the Fourth Master.
Ever since the incident happened, the Emperor has directly blamed the fourth master for the assassin's escape, and even ignored Song Qi. It was not because he had forgotten, but deliberately ignored it, which meant that the Emperor did not want to deal with Song Qi at all, but now He appeared on his own and helped Qin Lin speak.
Even if his original intention was to defend himself, in the eyes of the emperor, Song Qi is now on Qin Lin's side and on the side of the late empress, so even if he escapes this time, he will be in danger in the future. .
Sure enough, the emperor paused for a long time and then spoke again: "So Song Aiqing, you mean that I wronged the fourth child, and the fourth child was not only right, but also meritorious?"
"No, Your Majesty, I didn't mean that. I just told what happened last night, and the one who escaped was the thief who sneaked into the medicine room to steal the medicine. He was not the same group of assassins who assassinated the Emperor before." Song Qi hurriedly explained.
When the emperor heard Song Qi's words, his eyes even showed a chilling air, but it disappeared in a moment. He nodded, suddenly laughed and said: "Since what Song Aiqing said is true, it seems that I have really been wronged." Fourth, I didn’t expect there to be so many assassins. I was negligent. Fourth, please get up.”
After hearing the emperor's words, Qin Lin remained expressionless. He stood up and said, "My son was indeed negligent and allowed the thief to escape. My father did not wrong me."
"Well, I'm very pleased that you think so, fourth, but I was negligent this time. You are only thirteen, and it is indeed not feasible to hand over such a big case to you. You still need to grow up for a few years. "The emperor smiled lovingly and nodded.
This sentence not only reflects the emperor's love for Qin Lin, but also directly denies Qin Lin's ability. In other words, the emperor will never leave important matters to him in the future.
But Qin Lin remained calm, nodded with a smile and said, "Father is right."
Suddenly, he turned his eyes and looked at Song Qi, with a strange look in his eyes. Song Qi felt chills all over and had a bad premonition in his mind.
Sure enough, Qin Lin said: "Father, in order to catch the thief this time, the minister did not do anything wrong. It was all due to improper command by my son. Please forgive me, father."
As soon as these words came out, Song Qi immediately collapsed on the ground. He thought that it was over for him. He colluded with Qin Lin. It would be okay if the emperor reused him in the future, even if he didn't kill him.
When the emperor heard Qin Lin's words, he glanced at Song Qi meaningfully, then nodded and said: "You are right, Fourth, but you can avoid the death penalty, but you cannot escape the living crime, so I will punish you with eighty sticks to serve as a warning to others." Bar."
"Thank you, father." Qin Lin cupped his hands, leaned forward slightly, and spoke in a very respectful tone.
Song Qi was lying on the ground, but suddenly he regretted his panic just now. Maybe he really made a wrong decision just now. If he hadn't spoken just now, maybe life would have been easier.
Watching the emperor leave, Qin Lin slowly helped Song Qi up and said with a smile: "Thank you so much, Mr. Song, for speaking up. I am deeply grateful."
"...Fourth Master...Fourth Master is too polite." Song Qi smiled awkwardly and said. For some reason, when he looked at Qin Lin's smile, he suddenly felt that all this was arranged by Qin Lin.
Qin Lin watched Song Qi's arm withdraw from his hand and didn't care. He turned around and walked out of the hall. His lips were slightly hooked, and he seemed to be in a good mood. Regardless of whether Song Qi wanted to or not, he could only stand there this time. On my own side.
When Fang Xing saw Qin Lin leaving, he quickly walked two steps to Song Qi, sighed and said, "Brother Song Qi, you are really a little reckless this time, please be careful."
Hearing Fang Xing's words, Song Qi said with a wry smile: "If you do something wrong, you will do something wrong. Accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger. If you make a wrong step, you will lose everything."
"Actually speaking, I really miss the time when the late Queen was here. You said that the politics were so clear and clear at that time, and the whole court was full of righteousness. Now that the late Queen has been gone for only ten years, why? That’s what happened.” Fang Xing shook his head and said with regret.
"Brother, how can you say this? Be careful, walls have ears." Song Qi said hurriedly.
Fang Xing smiled and said: "It's okay. I handed in my resignation like the emperor two days ago, and it will probably be approved in these two days. I'm old now, and I originally expected you to succeed me, but I don't know now. Then who is the Minister of Punishment?"
"..." After hearing Fang Xing's words, Song Qi fell silent for a while.