Rong Xuan and Ji Fan were not the type to be rigid. They usually liked to flirt with each other. They never expected that they would meet old acquaintances just by kissing secretly in the wine cellar. It was really...
Awkward.
They looked at each other, and the atmosphere was subtly solemn. Rong Xuan guessed that Zhao Su probably didn't see him and Ji Fan kissing each other, at most he saw them hugging each other. If he wanted to explain it later, he could say that Ji Fan didn't walk steadily and he helped him up, which was barely acceptable.
The fact that they appeared together in the wine cellar of Donglin Marquis Mansion is probably difficult to explain.
Ji Fan was not panicked when he saw Zhao Su and the others. He saw Rong Xuan hiding faster than a rabbit, as if he was afraid of being misunderstood by others, and he felt a little uneasy. So he did not answer Zhao Su's words, but asked with a smile: "Then may I ask why His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was seriously injured? Why are you here with General Xuanyuan?"
This was the Donglin Marquis's residence, not the Crown Prince's residence. It was a mystery to Zhao Su himself why he was here, so he naturally had no right to question others.
Ji Fan abandoned his usual gentle and smiling face, and sneered, revealing a subtle edge. Xuanyuan Qing noticed his hostility towards Zhao Su and looked at him unkindly, but saw Rong Xuan reaching out and pulling Ji Fan behind him.
They faced each other, and the atmosphere became tense.
Zhao Su held a stack of paper letters tightly in her left hand. She didn't know what they were, but they seemed extremely important. She covered her chest with her right hand, looked at Ji Fan with a sharp gaze, and said something shocking: "Why did I get hurt? Shouldn't I ask you, Prince Yan?"
She asked word by word: "Xiao Duo is your man, right?"
That day, outside the princess's mansion, Ji Fan saw Zhao Su and Xuanyuan Qing conspiring, so he sent his subordinate Xiao Duo to secretly follow them. It happened that Zhao Su and Xuanyuan Qing sneaked into the mansion of the Minister of Revenue, Chang Sun De, late at night to investigate the disaster silver issue.
As soon as they stole the account book, Xiao Duo showed up to snatch the evidence. The fight between the two groups alarmed the guards in Chang Sunde's mansion, and they were shot to death by arrows. Zhao Su and Xuanyuan Qing fell into a cellar while trying to escape, and accidentally touched the secret room mechanism, which is how they met Rong Xuan and the others.
The secret room in Changsun De's mansion and the secret room in Donglinhou's mansion are interconnected.
Ji Fan had only a few masters under his command, and below Yan Fengchen was Xiao Duo. The latter often guarded beside him, so he was barely a familiar face. When Zhao Su was fighting with Xiao Duo, he took the opportunity to remove his mask and recognized him.
Ji Fan raised his eyes and looked at Zhao Su nonchalantly, neither admitting nor denying. His eyes were dark and heavy, and he even smiled, clearly showing a message: So what if she is his
Rong Xuan knew that Ji Fan had sent someone to follow Zhao Su, and he knew that there might be some conflict, and they might even fight. Although he thought so, he still blocked Ji Fan tightly behind him, not giving way at all.
Ji Fan gently poked his waist from behind, lowered his voice and smiled in his ear: "What should we do? I'm afraid we can't keep our affair secret anymore."
Listening carefully, there is a hint of gloating.
Rong Xuan glanced back at him after hearing this, and felt helpless about Ji Fan's little thoughts: "If I can't hide it, then I can't hide it. What else can I do?"
They had time to waste, but Zhao Su did not. After a while, she fell to the ground due to her serious injuries. Xuanyuan Qing saw this and exclaimed in panic: "Your Highness the Crown Prince!"
He seemed to want to help Zhao Su check his injuries, but Zhao Su held onto his clothes tightly and refused to let him touch them. Xuanyuan Qingren was honest and did not dare to overstep his authority, so he could only stand aside and worry.
Rong Xuan and Ji Fan could not help but step forward, only to see that Zhao Su was seriously injured, and his nightgown was mostly soaked in blood. Even at this point, his right hand was still tightly grasping the collar of his clothes and refused to let go.
Once Zhao Su died, the Zhou Kingdom would inevitably be in chaos, but the Duke of Donglin would also lose a mortal enemy. Ji Fan obviously wanted to get rid of the latter. Seeing Xuanyuan Qing motionless, he wondered where this idiot came from: "Your prince is about to die, why don't you treat his wounds?"
Zhao Su heard this and didn't know where he got the strength from. He pushed Xuanyuan Qing away with a pale face and scolded him in a hoarse voice: "No one of you is allowed to touch me!"
Rong Xuan knew that she didn't want others to find out that she was a woman, but her life was at stake, so she obviously couldn't care less. After thinking for a while, he said, "General Xuanyuan is loyal to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so he will naturally not do anything presumptuous. How about letting him treat His Royal Highness's injuries, and we can stay away?"
Zhao Su still disagreed.
The crime of deceiving the emperor was a serious one. If the news leaked out accidentally, not only would she die, but the queen would also die, and Yannian would also be despised. The person who handled this matter would also lose his head.
Xuanyuan Qing is straightforward and can't hide things. It's unclear whether Rong Xuan and Ji Fan are enemies or friends.
Zhao Su didn't want to gamble, and couldn't afford it...
She closed her eyes expressionlessly and said only four words: "I will never die alone."
Rong Xuan was about to say something when he heard this, but he accidentally stepped on something. He looked down and saw a stack of account books that had accidentally fallen from Zhao Su's hands, mixed with many paper receipts for verifying money and grain from various states and counties.
Whenever the emperor sent people to provide disaster relief, he would put seals on the silver and grain boxes to prevent the officials from embezzling money. Whenever they stopped at a county, they would hand them over to the local officials to check whether the seals were intact and the quantity was correct, and then sign and seal as proof.
When Zhen Yuanzhong was escorting the relief money, he passed through 67 states and counties, and the receipts from officials from all over the country were all there. In other words, there was no problem with the money and grain along the way, but it disappeared in Jingzhou. After the investigation, the officials of Jingzhou naturally became scapegoats.
However, after Rong Xuan took a quick look, he discovered a problem and frowned, saying, "It turns out that this batch of money and grain has never left the capital from the beginning..."
Ji Fan frowned when he heard this: "Why do you say that?"
Even Zhao Su and Xuanyuan Qing looked over in surprise, obviously not understanding why Rong Xuan said that, and for a moment they even forgot to take the account book back from him.
Rong Xuan carefully checked the accounts in the dim light of the fire stick: "The Ministry of Revenue's accounts say that a total of 300,000 taels of silver and 10,000 dan of millet were allocated for disaster relief in Jingzhou. However, the certificates signed by the 67 prefectures and counties all say 30 silver carts and 55 grain carts. The numbers don't match at all."
He calculated quickly in his mind while scribbling on the mud with the dagger he carried with him: "Three hundred thousand taels of silver weighs 18,750 catties, and ten thousand dan of rice weighs 270,000 catties, which adds up to 288,750 catties. A carriage can carry a maximum of 2,000 catties of goods, which means that this batch of money and grain will require at least 144 carriages. Eighty-five carriages will not be able to carry so much money and grain."
In other words,
"That batch of money and grain never left the capital from the beginning, and never reached Jingzhou. How could the officials of Jingzhou embezzle it and enrich themselves?"
When Rong Xuan finished speaking, the wine cellar was silent for a moment, and everyone woke up from their dream. They never thought that the mastermind behind the scenes would be so bold that he would not even take the open road and directly withheld the money and grain in the capital.
No wonder the imperial court turned the small place of Jingzhou upside down but didn't find even a single ingot of silver or a grain of rice.
Zhao Su realized something belatedly and looked at Rong Xuan: "Are you and Crown Prince Yan also investigating this?"
She didn't ask why the two were hugging each other. She knew from the beginning that Rong Xuan and Ji Fan were not in a clear relationship.
Rong Xuan deliberately made his words vague: "In the Jingzhou case, hundreds of people were wrongly accused. When the Crown Prince Yan and I heard about it, we couldn't bear it, so we wanted to investigate. We never expected to meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince at the Donglin Marquis' Mansion."
Zhao Su was shocked when he heard this: "What did you say? This is the Donglin Marquis Mansion?!"
Rong Xuan: "Your Highness, don't you know?"
Zhao Su shook his head solemnly, and did not hide anything: "General Xuanyuan and I went to the residence of the Minister of Revenue at night and entered the secret room by mistake. We followed the secret passage all the way here, but we did not expect to come to the residence of the Marquis of Donglin. The two of them were connected in the secret room, and they were indeed colluding privately."
Ji Fan looked around and suddenly found a few silver boxes in the corner. He quietly pulled Rong Xuan. Rong Xuan looked at him and walked over to check. He saw rows of neatly arranged and shiny silver ingots inside, with the seal of the national treasury on them, exactly the same as the one that Zhen He had stolen.
It is no exaggeration to say that the dark wine cellar became a little brighter because of the silver.
Rong Xuan thought for a moment, and finally decided to hand this hot potato to Zhao Su and the others. Anyway, they all wanted to get rid of Donglin Hou, so it didn't matter who came, and they were happy to have some free time.
Ji Fan had the same idea as him. He deliberately moved the silver coins to make some noises. His voice sounded unusually clear and abrupt in the wine cellar: "Huh? Why is there a mark of Jingzhou Prefecture on this silver?"
Zhao Su was injured and could not move. Hearing this, Xuanyuan Qing immediately stood up and walked to the silver box to pick up the silver ingot and check it. His face changed slightly and he said in a deep voice: "This is the disaster relief silver allocated by the national treasury to Jingzhou Prefecture. It is indeed in the Donglin Marquis Mansion!"
Rong Xuan roughly counted and said, "There are only tens of thousands of taels here. I'm afraid the rest has been taken away by him and recast."
After he finished speaking, he searched around again to see if there was anything left. However, when he passed by a wine jar that was half a person's height, he suddenly heard a muffled sound coming from inside, and he couldn't help but startled.
Ji Fan also heard the noise. He pulled Rong Xuan behind him and slowly stepped back. He stared at the big wine jar and narrowed his eyes: "There is someone inside."
Rong Xuan hissed, "Could it be a human pig?"
Ji Fan was stunned for a moment: "What is a human pig?"
There is no such torture in this era.
Rong Xuan explained: "It means blinding a person's eyes, pouring copper into his ears, cutting off his tongue, and then cutting off his limbs and hands, and sealing them in a wine jar."
The wine cellar was dark and gloomy, and Rong Xuan's voice rang in everyone's ears, making people feel creepy. Accompanied by the muffled sounds in the wine jar, a timid person would probably be scared to death.
Ji Fan glanced at him with a smile when he heard this: "This punishment is quite interesting."
Xuanyuan Qing and Zhao Su both looked unhappy, obviously shocked by Rong Xuan's words. In the end, Xuanyuan Qing took the initiative to step forward and directly used his long sword to pry open the seal of the wine jar, but saw a person tied up inside struggling violently, and couldn't help but be shocked: "There is someone inside!"
Rong Xuan and Ji Fan immediately went forward to check and contributed a fire starter. Xuanyuan Qing pulled the person out and saw in the weak light of the fire that it was actually Nalan Chun!
"woo woo woo woo!"
Nalan Chun was tied up like a ball with something stuffed in his mouth. Seeing that he was rescued, he struggled even harder. Rong Xuan immediately untied the cloth wrapped around his mouth and asked in surprise: "Nalan Chun, why are you here?!"
Nalan Chun was deprived of oxygen for too long, and his mind was confused. It took him a long time to regain consciousness. He saw Xuanyuan Qing, Rong Xuan and others were here, and asked slowly: "Are you here to save me?"
Rong Xuan was stunned for a moment: "... Yeah, we are all here to save you, why are you here?"
Nalan Chun got angry when he thought of this: "You really guessed it right! Liu Jianlai, that turtle bastard, had bad intentions. He took advantage of the absence of my guards and directly sent people to tie me up and bring me here, hoping to suffocate me to death!"
His face was bruised and swollen, and he had obviously been through an inhuman torture.
Rong Xuan untied the rope for him, not knowing whether to praise Nalanchun for his good luck or say that he was unlucky: "You are lucky that Liu Jianlai didn't kill you to silence you."
Nalan Chun got up from the ground and stretched his stiff limbs. He found a dark figure sitting in the corner. He went forward to check and found it was Zhao Su. He was shocked: "Zhao Su, how did you get shot?!"
Zhao Su had lost too much blood and his vision was blurry. He saw Nalan Chun and moved his lips silently, as if he wanted to say something, but he was exhausted and couldn't utter a word.
Xuanyuan Qing was also extremely anxious: "Little Prince, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was hit by a palm strike and an arrow. I'm afraid his internal organs were injured."
Hearing this, Nalan Chun rolled up his sleeves and was about to tear open Zhao Su's clothes to check the injury. Rong Xuan was startled and quickly stopped him: "What are you doing?!"
Nalan Chun: "Of course I'll help him pull out the arrow. What if it's poisonous?"
Rong Xuan was the only one who knew that Zhao Su was a girl, so naturally, he was under the most pressure. Especially since Nalan Chun was a big mouth, it would be a disaster if he knew about it: "Can't you pull it out through the clothes?"
Nalan Chun looked confused: "How can I pull it out through the clothes?"
He was about to tear off Zhao Su's clothes again, but Rong Xuan held his hands tightly, still struggling: "Why don't we leave here as soon as possible and find a doctor to see her."
Nalan Chun was thinking about why Rong Xuan was so hesitant today: "We have to pull the arrow out first. Don't worry, I have experience."
When he was shot in the buttocks, the doctor told him that if the cold blade remained in the body for too long, there was a risk of suppuration, and it had to be removed.
Rong Xuan still felt bad. Zhao Su was a woman after all. It was unbearable for her to be seen by so many men. She held on and refused to let go. Xuanyuan Qing was furious when he saw this. He raised his sword and stabbed Rong Xuan without warning. He asked in a deep voice, "Mr. Rong, why do you repeatedly stop His Highness from healing his wounds?!"
Rong Xuan didn't expect Xuanyuan Qing to suddenly attack, and he dodged quickly. With a swish sound, his sleeve was cut. Seeing this, Ji Fan's eyes turned cold, and he drew out the soft sword from his waist and stabbed Xuanyuan Qing. The sword was so fast that it hit Xuanyuan Qing's heart point. His voice was so gloomy that it could drip water: "You dare to hurt him, you are looking for death!"
Ji Fan was at the third rank, still a step away from the second rank. But because of his agility and killing intent, he was not at a disadvantage in the fight with Xuanyuan Qing, and others could not get in the way at all.
Rong Xuan wanted to go forward to help, but was blocked several times by the sword winds from their exchanges.
Nalan Chun had no idea why the two of them started fighting for no reason, and he was extremely anxious: "Stop fighting! Just give me, Nalan, some face and stop it now!!"
No one paid any attention to him, his face was worthless. Even Rong Xuan was too concerned about Ji Fan's safety to care about anything else.
Nalan Chun could only continue to help Zhao Su pull out the arrow. However, just as he tore open the other person's collar with a swish, he saw a shocking scene and fell to the ground in panic: "How could this happen?!"
His exclamation attracted many people to watch, especially Xuanyuan Qing, who was even more anxious. He thought something had happened to Zhao Su, so he threw his flying sword in a hurry, and while Ji Fan was dodging, he escaped and landed beside Zhao Su with a light leap.
Ji Fan did not expect Xuanyuan Qing to abandon the sword directly. His pupils shrank suddenly, and he was unable to dodge. The sword tip, wrapped in cold wind, brushed past his face and disappeared into the wall with a whoosh.
He only felt a coolness on his cheek, and then something warm liquid flowed down, accompanied by a sharp stinging pain.
Ji Fan was stunned, and subconsciously raised his hand to touch his face, but felt something hot and sticky. His face was extraordinary, like a cold moon outside the Zhugeqi, and like a flawless jade. At this moment, a bloodstain appeared out of nowhere, like a crack on a peerless porcelain, which made people sigh with regret.
When Rong Xuan saw this scene, his heart couldn't help but shrink for a moment. He hurried forward to check on Ji Fan's injuries. His tone was anxious, and he rarely lost his usual calmness: "Are you okay?!"
Ji Fan stared at him blankly, not knowing why he didn't say anything.
Rong Xuan held Ji Fan's shoulders tightly and checked him up and down. Seeing that he only had a shallow scratch on his face and that his life was not in danger, he breathed a sigh of relief.
People safe is good…
People safe is good…
If Ji Fan died at the hands of Xuanyuan Qing again, he would wish he were dead.
Rong Xuan saw the blood on Ji Fan's face and raised his hand to wipe it for him. But for some reason, Ji Fan suddenly turned his head away from his sight as if he had received an electric shock. The injured half of his face fell into the shadow, looking a little gloomy. He said without being able to tell his emotion: "Nothing."
He said, "I'm fine..."
Rong Xuan was slow to withdraw his hand when he saw this, and then he remembered to go to Xuanyuan Qing to settle the account. However, when he turned around, he saw Xuanyuan Qing and Nalan Chun both sitting on the ground in panic. He looked over and saw that Zhao Su's clothes had been torn open at some point, revealing a piece of skin as white as snow and a white cloth used to wrap her chest.
Any fool would know what happened.
Rong Xuan was also stunned. Ji Fan sensed something was wrong and looked in the direction he was looking. Seeing the scene in front of him, his pupils shrank slightly, and he squinted his eyes and said in surprise: "She is a girl?!"
Rong Xuan reacted and immediately raised his hands to cover Ji Fan's eyes and whispered, "Don't look around."
After saying this, he quickly stepped forward, unbuttoned his coat and covered Zhao Su with it, and looked at Nalan Chun unhappily: "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and pull out the arrow for her!"
Nalan Chunren was already dumbfounded: "I...she..."
Xuanyuan Qing also looked like he was in a state of shock and had difficulty recovering from the blow, and it seemed as if he had begun to doubt his life.
Rong Xuan pushed Xuanyuan Qing away, thinking that it was no wonder that Zhao Su looked down on him. He was stupid and could not accomplish anything. He directly pulled Nalan Chun in front of him, frowned and scolded: "Hurry up and pull out the arrow for her. If the people from Donglin Marquis' Mansion find out, none of us will be able to escape!"
Nalan Chun woke up from his dream, trembling, and reached out to check Zhao Su's injuries. Seeing that his heart was not injured, he grabbed the arrow shaft, gritted his teeth, and pulled it out with a whoosh. Blood splattered, covering his face.
Zhao Su groaned and fainted.
Nalan Chun held the arrow shaft with a confused look on his face: "What should I do? She... She seems to have lost too much blood and fainted..."
Rong Xuan glared at him: "Why don't you say that she fainted because of you?"
No wonder Zhao Su in the original novel was a widower and unwilling to get married all her life. Look at these lousy men, none of them is reliable.
Rong Xuan tied his coat tightly to stop the bleeding from Zhao Su's wound, and said coldly to Xuanyuan Qing: "You carried her on your back!"
Today the situation is urgent, so I won't bother with him for now. The next time I see him, I will use a knife to carve a big turtle on his face.
After Rong Xuan finished speaking, he turned around, packed up the scattered account books and stuffed them into his arms. He also picked up a few ingots of silver as evidence, and then pulled Ji Fan out of the dark room.
Xuanyuan Qing finally came to his senses, silently carried Zhao Su off the ground, and turned to go out. Nalan Chun looked around, bent down to restore the wine jar to its original shape, and quickly followed: "Hey, hey, hey, wait for me!"
Rong Xuan and Ji Fan had already climbed up the ladder. They listened for a moment and saw that no one was moving outside, so they lifted the board of the wine cellar and climbed up.
Xuanyuan Qing tied a rope around his waist and Zhao Su's waist and followed closely behind. Nalan Chun was afraid that Zhao Su would fall, so he could only stay behind and support him with his hand.
The people in the Donglin Marquis' Mansion should have all gone to bed, and it was quiet everywhere. Rong Xuan and his companions climbed over the wall under the cover of night and left the place. There was a carriage parked across the street.
Rong Xuan and Xuanyuan Qing were not going their way, so he naturally didn't need to give them a ride. He got on the carriage and was about to drive away, but suddenly found that Ji Fan was unusually silent today. He subconsciously raised his eyes and saw Ji Fan staring at him: "What's wrong?"
Ji Fan heard this and withdrew his gaze silently, shaking his head: "Nothing..."
He unconsciously covered the injured half of his face. Thinking that the man in front of him loved beauties the most, his brows and eyes became gloomy and inexplicably covered with a layer of gloom.
The author has something to say: Ji Fan: qaq wants to find a doctor.
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