Oriole Line

I said how could Da Sima be so impatient? After all, I didn't think carefully. "

"What? What about going back home?" Pu Chen frowned.

"If Da Sima returned to the mansion first, he would have seen a handwritten letter Wen Tao left for Da Sima, explaining the reason. If Da Sima had seen the handwritten letter, he probably wouldn't be so drunk tonight." Qi Dai smiled calmly.

Pu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly: "What did he write?"

Qi Dai said with a smile: "When Da Sima came back to the mansion, he knew that what I said today was not a single lie. Si Jiange interrogated Wen Tao because he was involved in the case of imperial examination fraud. Da Sima must have heard about it, and some people from Bingzhou Candidates from a poor family sued the imperial examination for fraud, and His Majesty personally interrogated all the more than 2000 test papers one by one. Unexpectedly, a fire in the Ministry of Officials burned all the test papers, and Zheng Yong, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, hanged himself at home."

Pu Chen let out a breath from his nasal cavity: "Hmph, everyone in the court has known about this for a long time. What does Wen Tao have to do with the basket that the bureaucrats themselves made?"

Zhou Yu coughed lightly: "Brother Yi Xing, Zheng Yong, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, sent a list of 26 candidates who bribed him to get the exam questions in advance before committing suicide and sent them to Dali Temple. Wen Tao is one of them."

Pu Chen was stunned for a while, and said firmly, "Impossible."

Zhou Yudao: "I don't believe it either. But Wen Tao had a banquet with the cheating candidates before the exam, and handed in the papers in advance in the exam room, and he was very satisfied. These are all witnessed by people. I also thought twice before agreeing to Qi Sijian to interrogate Wen Tao .”

Pu Chen sneered: "Candidates who cheated will bite at will. Wen Tao comes from my family and won the first place. Naturally, they are a thorn in their side. Is this kind of testimony credible?"

The smile on Zhou Yu's face was a bit embarrassing, but Qi Dai said: "Da Sima, during the few days of Wen Tao's exam, Da Sima was not at the house, right?"

Pu Chen raised his eyebrows: "If you're not here, so what?"

"Since he is not there, Da Sima cannot be Wen Tao's witness. I am free to interrogate Wen Tao's whereabouts in those few days. If I can prove that Wen Tao is wronged, I will release him immediately."

Pu Chen was thinking in his mind that this kind of testimonies of cheating examinees gnawed at each other, and he didn't know when he would find out. If there was no witness, would Wen Tao have been locked up in Sijian Pavilion?He thought for a while and said to Zhou Yu: "Your Majesty, is it necessary to confirm who is involved in the fraud?"

"Exactly, especially those who have won the list, not only may obtain the test questions in advance, but may also cheat during the examination process." Zhou Yudao.

"There are a total of 50 people on the list, just take the test again. Your Majesty will personally write the questions and mark the papers. Aren't all the people who pretend to be numbers just exposed?"

Before Zhou Yu said anything, Qi Dai said: "No."

"Why not?" Pu Chen emphasized, "Is Qi Sijian investigating a fraud case, or is he simply trying to detain people in my family?"

Qi Dai was neither humble nor overbearing: "Wen Tao has an outstanding literary talent, no matter how many times he takes the exam, he will not have any flaws, but this cannot prove that he did not participate in the imperial examination fraud."

Pu Chen sneered: "Qi Sijian also knows that Wen Tao is an outstanding literary talent, so how dare you ask Qi Sijian, a person with outstanding literary talent, what is his motive for participating in the imperial examination fraud? If there is no motive, wouldn't it prove that he was wronged? "

Just as Qi Dai was about to speak, Zhou Yu waved his hand and said, "Brother Yixing, Zheng Yong sent the list to Dali Temple before committing suicide. Except for Wen Tao, the other 25 people have been imprisoned in Sijian Pavilion. Since I have handed over this matter to Sijian The purpose of Jiange is to give me and the court an explanation as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your trust. I will do my best to find out the truth about the fraud in the imperial examination as soon as possible." Qi Dai hurriedly agreed as if trying to silence Pu Chen.

Seeing this, Pu Chen knew that there would be no further progress tonight. He sighed secretly, and was anxious to go back home to find the handwritten letter Wen Tao gave him, so he clasped his fists and said, "So, I'm leaving. I'm so rude tonight, I hope Your Majesty Forgive me."

Pu Chen's last two words were icy cold, but Zhou Yu didn't take it as disobedience, and said kindly: "Da Sima is drunk today, let's go after drinking sober soup."

"No." Pu Chen said, "Wen Tao must have prepared hangover soup for me, I'm not used to the hangover soup outside."

After Pu Chen left, Zhou Yu sighed.

Qi Dai said: "It is the minister who did not do well enough, His Majesty was surprised today."

Zhou Yu patted Qi Dai on the shoulder, with a worried look on his face: "You have done well enough, and I didn't expect that Da Sima couldn't wait all night, and directly led the troops to break into the Sijian Pavilion." He said Sighing, he said for a long time, "You were right at the beginning, we should wait for the split of the Wuchang Army to be settled before Wen Tao..."

Qi Dai thought about it for a while, and finally suppressed a matter that he almost said, and only said: "Yes".

Zhou Yu seemed to let out a sigh of relief with satisfaction, but immediately became disgusted with himself, just like facing Pu Chen's hundreds of personal guards just now, and stopped Qi Dai who was about to leave: "Don't leave tonight, Stay in the side hall."

Qi Dai took two steps and his legs were fixed in place, he didn't even want to turn back, especially tonight, Qi Dai, who is as exquisite as a crystal heart, naturally knows Zhou Yu's worries and fragility tonight, he is afraid that he will not be able to maintain a courtier decent.However, he deeply knew that he would never be able to say "no" to this man.He took a breath, put on his usual smiling face, and replied softly, "Okay."

101, 101.

When Pu Chen rushed back to the mansion, the first thing he did was to find the handwritten letter left by Wen Tao.The handwritten book was placed in the study room, stacked quietly, Pu Chen opened it, and read the letter:

Apu,

Due to the case of imperial examination fraud, he needs to temporarily stay in Sijian Pavilion for a few days.Brother Sijun is an old friend, so he won't embarrass me.Don't worry, don't read, wait for me to come back.The long night is long, fortunately, there is a white rabbit lantern to accompany you, to express my heart.

The inscription is a word "Tao".

Pu Chen read it several times, and felt that his eagerness and enthusiasm seemed to hit the clouds, light and light, but at the end of the reading, he was completely wrapped by the clouds, and there was a little sweetness that could not be described in his sadness. .He folded Wen Tao's letter again and hid it in his sleeve, and went back to the bedroom silently.

After a long time, Tang Yu knocked on the door and came in with a bowl of hangover soup.He knew that he made a mistake in bringing troops to Sijian Pavilion today, so with a sullen face, he handed the tray forward and said, "Wen Tao ordered to make hangover soup before he left."

Pu Chen waved his hand: "Let it go."

Tang Yu was obedient and retreated silently.Pu Chen picked up the porcelain bowl, touched his lips, and the emotions that had been suppressed just now surged up again.He felt uncomfortable about Wen Tao's participation in the imperial examination from the very beginning. Perhaps he himself didn't want to admit that he actually hoped that Wen Tao would remain in his Da Sima Mansion for the rest of his life.But since Wen Tao really wanted to give it a try, he prepared for Wen Tao to be a courtier, but he was involved in this case of cheating in the imperial examination, knowing that Wen Tao's character could not be the same as cheating. This word has nothing to do with it, but they are still arrested and interrogated in Si Jian Pavilion, and they have to prove Wen Tao's innocence in those mixed testimonies.That feeling is like holding a piece of beautiful jade by yourself before it is too late, but it will be stabbed and burned by others, and no one will return it until everyone believes that it is really a beautiful jade.

It's fucking frustrating.

Pu Chen drank the hangover soup in one gulp, lay on his back on the bed, and happened to see the white rabbit lantern hanging beside the bed.Wen Tao always likes to bring this lantern with him when he goes out. Every time he wants to buy a new Wen Tao but he is unwilling. Others say that things are not as good as new and people are not as good as old, but Wen Tao says that things and people are not as good as old.Pu Chen remembered the last sentence in Wen Tao's letter, so he got up and shook the lantern, but suddenly found a ball of paper hidden inside the lantern.

Pu Chen's heart was shocked, and he picked up the ball of paper and unfolded it. There were only eight words on it: "Don't use troops, there are differences between monarchs and ministers." It was Wen Tao's handwriting.

Pu Chen took a deep breath, he thought that the letter in the study must have been written by Wen Tao under Qi Dai's supervision, and he couldn't write it with confidence.Wen Tao expected early on that he would not be satisfied with such an explanation, and would probably force his way into Si Jian Pavilion for him, so he found an opportunity to leave these eight words for him.At that time, he was obviously about to be arrested and taken to Sijian Pavilion, but he was still thinking about himself, afraid that he would be impulsive.As for myself, as expected, I was moved by him.To say that there is a connection of hearts in this world, there is probably no one who understands them so deeply.

Pu Chen clenched his fists, wishing he could crush Wen Tao's note.

At this moment, Wen Tao was in Sijian Pavilion, blindfolded as usual.This is Si Jian Ge's rule, once in, blindfolded with cloth strips before interrogation.Wen Tao discerned the direction of where he was. He should be on the second floor underground. The upper floor is probably the torture chamber. The interrogators were blindfolded and deprived of their vision, so they would be extremely sensitive to hearing. These screams from the torture chamber on the upper floor could deter the interrogators to the greatest extent.

Qi Dai really became more and more sophisticated.Wen Tao sighed in his heart. When he was in Guangling Academy, Qi Dai loved to read Taoist and Buddhist writings, whichever was accessible to nature. Its killing is too heavy.Who would have thought that after so many years, the owner of Sijian Pavilion would be that young man who was in the moonlight and the breeze back then.

Wen Tao waited for three days, but Qi Dai did not look for him.In the past three days, he heard various punishments and screams. According to the sound, there were whipping, branding, and rod punishment. He could also feel the liquid dripping from the top on his body from time to time. I don't know if it's water or blood.Others would have been terrified, but Wen Tao confirmed it on the first day