Opposite the entrance hall

After the last meeting, Ji Si knew in his heart that Qi Ran had a very bad impression of him, and he was even a little disgusted. He couldn't change it overnight, so he wanted to take it step by step, at least let this person believe that he was sincere. Good official, not for show.

His original intention was to spend more time with Qi Ran, otherwise he would not have tried his best to get errands from Sun Xing, and he was not full of leisure.

When the two came out of the Yamen of Dali Temple, they sent away the two heads of the household department who were following behind on the grounds that they couldn't do without the yamen's business, and then walked briskly to Wuyi Lane with Qi Ran.

In his memory, Qi Ran's taste is the same as his own. He doesn't like sweets very much, but rather spicy. He remembers that there is a restaurant in Wuyi Lane that serves good dishes, very Sichuan-style. The two used to come here often, so this is the time to treat someone to dinner. Naturally, it must be the best, so I came here after thinking about it.

Qi Ran frowned all the way, as if he was not very interested, but patiently maintained his gentlemanly demeanor, and maybe he was worried that Ji Si would be a hindrance and would not transfer money later, so even if he was very unhappy in his heart, he would still be happy on the surface. Respond a few words.

It wasn't until he reached the entrance of the restaurant that his expression became a little strange, and he stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Ji Si asked puzzled seeing him standing still.

"It's nothing." Qi Ran calmed down, stepped over the threshold and entered.

As soon as the front foot stepped into the hall, the waiter on the back foot looked at the two people dressed in official uniforms, and knew that they were not ordinary people. He was about to come up and take good care of them, but was pushed aside by the shopkeeper, and he greeted them himself. Going up, he spoke and behaved quite respectfully, "This small shop is really flourishing today! My lords, please go upstairs, please go upstairs."

Ji Si didn't even look at him, and went upstairs familiarly.

The shopkeeper led the two of them into the private room with the best view in the building. When the two of them were seated, the waiter downstairs was also very discerning and offered good tea. He handed it over with a flattering smile, "Master Qi has been a small shop for a long time, remember it was a few years ago, can you two adults see what we want to eat?"

Ji Si used to come to this place quite often, he was very familiar with it, he opened his mouth to eat a bunch of signature dishes, and at the end he ordered a pot of good Xinghua Fen wine, after thinking about it later, he remembered that he was inviting someone to dinner, and asked in a nice voice : "Is this feasible?"

Qi Ran took a small sip of tea while holding the teacup, when he heard the question, he said lightly, "Just follow Master Ji's order."

The latter smiled, then looked at the shopkeeper standing beside him, "Is it clear?"

"Understood, understood," the shopkeeper nodded repeatedly, "wait a moment, my lords."

When the person turned around and went out to close the door of the wing room, the room fell into silence again. After a while, Qi Ran said, "I don't know when the household department will transfer the money?"

Ji Si picked up his cup of tea and blew away the leaves, took a sip, smiled and said: "Zi Heng is really dedicated to his duties, and he never leaves his official duties."

"This house has collapsed, and a pile of case files in Dali Temple can only be piled up in the courtyard, which is extremely inconvenient. I hope the Ministry of Household Affairs can implement this matter as soon as possible." Qi Ran said in a flat tone.

"It's easy to say, easy to say," Ji Si smiled, "If all the officials in the world are like Ziheng, it will be a blessing for the common people."

Qi Ran said politely: "Master Ji is over-reputed, but it's just that the king's salary is to worry about the king's worries."

Hearing that Ji Si didn't speak, he just picked up the teacup and took another sip, feeling the unique fragrance of the tea in his mouth, and then found a topic, "That room is actually the place where the Dali Temple's cases are piled up. It's been a long time, maybe there are a lot of old case files, but fortunately the new case files were not placed in that house, otherwise it would be bad if it fell down and hit people."

"Master Ji observed very carefully," Qi Ran raised his eyes and looked at the opposite side, "Even I can see that it is the old house of my Dali Temple where the old cases are piled up."

"That's what you said," Ji Si raised his eyebrows, "Those who don't know may think that I have ulterior motives in going to Dali Temple today."

"Isn't it?" Qi Ran followed with a smile while holding his teacup, "I thought Master Ji's threat to invite his dismissal today was false, but it was true to inquire about Zhou Ming's case."

"Based on that, I don't think Ziheng is a person who is easy to be bullied and forced to compromise. Could it be that it's fake to go to my Hongmen banquet today, and it's true that the drunkard's intention is not to drink."

The two looked at each other with smiles on their lips, but the smiles didn't reach their eyes. There was an undercurrent in the air, and the atmosphere seemed extremely tense. Outside the window was the bustling and bustling street of the main street, and all kinds of yelling and selling were overwhelmed. The window lattice came in, forming a sharp contrast with the quiet and silent box.

In fact, what Qi Ran said is correct, it is true that he went to Dali Temple today to meet each other for selfish reasons, and it is also true for Zhou Ming's case.

In the past few days, when Ji Si had nightmares at night, he often saw Master Yuan Ji's memories intermittently. Although he still couldn't see clearly, the inexplicable made him suspicious. , it would be better to say that he wanted him to die.

That being the case, it means that Master Ji must have known some secrets, so that the person behind the scenes had to get rid of him.

He has inquired that this Master Ji is a colleague and boss besides some cronies, and the only ones who have access to any deadly secrets are the current emperor and the current prince.

Therefore, who wants to kill "him" has become the most important question for Ji Si to consider. If there is such a person, then combined with the strange but somewhat familiar voice in memory, one can know, "This People" really know that Ji Si is dead, and at the same time have doubts. This "Ji Si" is not the real "Ji Si", so how to prove that he is Ji Si must be the purpose of this person in the near future. Then he must have something. Come back and test yourself.

He didn't know whether he was worrying too much or just like this, but the enemy was in the dark and he was in the light, the only thing he still had a little thought about was Zhou Ming's matter, so this happened.

But Qi Ran's reason was even simpler. Although he didn't know what relationship Ji Si had with Zhou Ming, Ji Si escorted Zhou Ming back to Beijing and was attacked, and then Zhou Ming hanged himself. There seemed to be no connection between the two. Can be carefully calculated, but also full of problems.

The two were full of thoughts in their hearts, and they didn't speak while holding the teacups. They just looked at each other with a smile, and the knock on the door interrupted their thoughts after a while.

Xiaoer opened the door and came in, bent over, put the dishes and wine on the table one by one, smiled and said with narrowed eyes: "You two are good to eat raw, the younger one is outside, just call if you have something to do."

After he went out, he carefully closed the door.

Ji Si picked up the jug and filled two white porcelain wine glasses. The clear wine collided with the walls of the glasses. There was a strong aroma of wine in the air, refreshing. He put a glass in front of Qi Ran , made a please action.

The latter glanced down, and directly refused: "I will return to Dali Temple in a while, and I still have business to do, so it is inconvenient to drink."

"It's a pity." Ji Si didn't force it, and drank the wine in the glass by himself, feeling his whole body warmed up, and picked up the flagon to continue pouring wine.

"I heard from Mr. Wei that at today's meeting, His Highness the Crown Prince refuted the Dali Temple's retrial of Zhou Ming's case."

Ji Si paused, some of the wine in the glass spilled out, and he continued to pour the wine after he regained his composure.

Li Hongyang is such an idiot, isn't it just to tell others that he has a guilty conscience and that there is a reason why others can't find out if he rushes to get the paperwork at this time!Those staff members raised by the Prince's Mansion are all shit eaters, and they don't stop their master!

Qi Ran squinted his eyes, paying attention to every movement and expression of the person opposite him, paused for a moment, and continued: "I heard that Master Ji should have stayed for a few more days when he escorted Zhou Ming to the capital of Yunnan, but Master Ji But he returned on the same day, and returned to Beijing secretly, why?"

At this point, if the explanation is not clear, I guess I will have to read another book tomorrow. Ji Si sighed, put down the wine glass, and tapped his fingers back and forth on the table, making a thumping sound.

He stared straight at Qi Ran, and opened his mouth after a while, "Why don't we play a game."

"Ok?"

"Each person asks three questions, and the answerer needs to tell the truth. If you don't want to answer, just drink a glass of wine, how about it."

"What if you don't want to answer the three questions?"

Ji Si rubbed his chin and thought for a while, "Then it's only for drinking once."

Qi Ran always felt that this person was going to play some kind of trick again, so he squinted his eyes and asked back: "How can Master Ji guarantee that what he said is the truth and not a lie?"

"I can't guarantee it," Ji Si shrugged, "but I promise, what I said must be true."

Hearing this, Qi Ran pondered for a moment in his heart. Although he knew that Ji Buyan was scheming, he still planned to take a gamble and decide whether it was true or false by himself, "Is there something in Zhou Ming's hand that the three parties are fighting for. "

Ji Si nodded, "A ledger."

Qi Ran weighed it in his heart, and continued: "Who has this account book now?"

"It was in my hands at first, but it was robbed, and now I don't know where it is," Ji Si reminded after finishing speaking, "The last one."

After waiting for the last question for a long time, I heard Qi Ran ask word by word: "Have you ever been to Nandian?"

Ji Si asked this question, he was stunned, raised his head and drank the wine in the glass, not because he didn't want to answer, but because he couldn't answer, Master Ji's memory is intermittent, and what he can see is really limited, so He really didn't know if "he" had Ruo Nandian.

I don't know if I read it wrong, but after answering the last question, Qi Ran's frown deepened.

Ji Si cleared his throat and said with a smile: "The three questions are finished, now it's time for me to ask."

"Master Ji, please ask."

"Let me think about it." Ji Si played with the wine glass in his hand, thought for a moment and asked, "Zi Heng...how do you feel?"

Qi Ran was stunned for a moment, he thought of countless questions in his mind, and he also came up with countless answers in response, how could he have thought that there was such a question at the beginning, and his mind went blank.

If I told the truth, I might be held grudge by Ji Buyan. If I spoke out of conscience, I would be ashamed. After hesitating for a long time, I hesitated and said in a more tactful way: "The moth of the country, the shame of the community, the people's livelihood disgrace."

Ji Si: "..."

I expected that Qi Ziheng wouldn't say anything good, but such... so outspoken, it still made Ji Si feel cold. He didn't feel anything about what he said before, but now he is scolding himself, and the feeling is completely different. .

He looked a little embarrassed on the surface, but he didn't think it was inappropriate to talk to him. Ji Si couldn't laugh or cry. He filled the wine glass and put it aside, and said, "Second question."

"Master Ji, please ask."

"Does Ziheng have someone he likes?"

"..."

This time it was Qi Ran's turn to be speechless. He didn't know why none of the questions Ji Si asked was what he expected, and one big old man asked another big old man if there was someone he liked, what do you think? How weird, if he hadn't known that Ji Buyan hated him deeply, and even opposed him everywhere, he would have felt that this person might have the habit of Long Yang for him, so it would be better to share his love.

Putting this possibility aside, then his question has two meanings, either it is purely for disgusting himself, or there is a fraud behind it!

Thinking of this, he can only say ambiguously: "There used to be."

After his answer, Ji Si felt uncomfortable again. When the two of them were studying in the palace, they had never heard that young master Qi Xiangjia was getting closer to the daughter of any adult family. Hearing romantic anecdotes, no, there is a woman who walked closer, the daughter of General Pei's family.

The Qi Pei family has been close friends for generations, and he and Pei Yao are Xiao Ding's baby relatives, but after Young Master Qi heard the matter, when the adults on both sides mentioned this matter at the two parties, he snorted coldly: "Ding Wa You can, but if you want to marry Pei Yao, I would rather marry Pei Zhan, at least we have slept together."

As soon as these words came out, the whole audience fell silent. At that time, Pei Zhan was so frightened that when he met Qi Ran for a long time later, he would walk away from him, and he would decline every invitation, because he was very worried that his brother would covet his own body.

This was said by Pei Zhan when the three of them were drinking, so Ji Si really didn't know when Qi Ziheng's "everything" happened. After thinking about it, maybe it happened in the past six years, and his heart was even more irritable Panicked, almost unable to control the table and hold the man's shoulders and swing back and forth, shouting hoarsely, "Who is it, who is it, who is it, who the hell dare to touch my man!"

As he thought about it, he asked directly, "Who is it?"

Qi Ran on the opposite side didn't speak, just hung his head and was thinking about something. After a while, he heard the man sigh, and took a drink from the glass on the table.

Seeing this man's affectionate appearance, Ji Si panicked even more.

The two were quiet for a while, Qi Ran collected his mind and asked again: "Is Master Ji still busy?"

"what?"

"If there is nothing to do, I will go back to the Yamen of Dali Temple first."

"No hurry, no hurry, this..." Ji Si was a little anxious, but couldn't find a reason, looked around, and could only point to a table of delicacies and said: "It's a pity not to eat the delicious dishes on this table! "

Qi Ran politely refused: "There are a lot of things in the yamen that haven't been dealt with yet, I hope Lord Ji will forgive me, and the lower officials are actually not very good at spicy food, next time when the Lord is free, I will thank you."

After speaking, he opened the door and walked out.

Ji Si was taken aback.

Not too spicy?

He was very confused, and he didn't know which link in his memory was wrong, so he could only touch his nose, staring at the white jade porcelain cup opposite him and said in embarrassment: "This person has changed so much, even his taste is different from before. "

He didn't feel wronged as he said that, thinking that it shouldn't be wasted, he froze for a while, and when he walked out of the restaurant, he walked with his feet on the wall.

Little did they know that after the two had left, the waiter in the building came over to clean up the leftovers on the table, only to find that the matching white jade porcelain cup bought with a lot of money was missing. hell!

The author has something to say:

small theater:

Many years later, Qi Ran accidentally found copper coins and porcelain cups in the alley.

Qi Ran: [suspicious face] What is this?

Ji Si: [eyes dodge] Money, cups.

Qi Ran: [Continue to doubt] Why are you hiding this?

Ji Si: [continues to look away] Nonsense, I didn't!

Qi Ran: [Gritting teeth] Good thing you don't say anything for a season, you have a token of love with someone behind my back.

Ji Si: [Can't laugh or cry] Yes, yes, yes, with a certain idiot.

Qi Ran: [angry] Okay, okay, okay, you're fine!

then xxooooxx

the next day:

Qi Ran: [blushing] You said earlier that it was mine, so I'll take it easy.

Ji Si: ... [His voice was so hoarse that he couldn't speak, he could only roll his eyes to express his feelings. 】

ps: Mr. Qi doesn't know anything now, the road to chasing his wife is long.

Because I have something to do three times in the past two days [to prepare for the interview, save more manuscripts along the way to get into v as soon as possible], so I won’t update it on Wednesday, and I will update it on Thursday. I’m sorry, I’m afraid you will wait on Wednesday, so let me say it first.