Opposite the entrance hall

The thunderstorm roared down, and the lightning cut through the sky like a blade, illuminating every corner of Xiangzhou. Looking through the rain curtain, there was a layer of cold light, the ghost was cold, and it returned to darkness in an instant, leaving only the sound of rain hitting stone bricks.

The lush branches and leaves swayed in the wind, and the shadows of the trees hit the wall, like ghosts with fangs and claws, with black air all over their bodies.

There was no one to be seen on the street, and the eyes were full of depression. Suddenly, a figure was holding an umbrella and hurried across the empty street. It can be estimated from the figure and the footprints left by hastily stepping on the mud pit that he is a strong man.

Hearing the footsteps, the man slightly raised his head and looked left and right. After confirming again and again that nothing happened, he lowered his head and went into an alleyway. He knocked on the door with his back, three times anxiously and one slowly, and knocked twice in a row. There were rustling sounds from behind the door, followed by subdued voices mixed with the sound of rain, "Who are you looking for outside?"

"The hoe at home is broken, and I can't go to the field. I came to buy a hoe." The man said anxiously.

After finishing speaking, the person inside the door did not reply, and a moment later there was a creaking sound, and the door opened in response to a crack as thick as a finger, and in the gap was a middle-aged man with a square face, holding the door tightly and looking at the person outside, and then He opened the wooden door to both sides, looked around for a while in the deserted alley outside the house, and then said in a deep voice: "There are plenty of hoes, come in and pick them yourself."

Then he motioned for the man to step into the yard, and the door behind him closed immediately. The two walked through the open space in front of the house full of farm tools. When they reached the eaves, the man closed the umbrella and shook the rainwater above. Heaped aside, the bamboo hats covering his face were also taken off, revealing an anxious face, it was Zheng Si, the steward of Yuanliang Liang.

Zheng Si took off the bamboo hat and pinched it in his hand, turned his head and hurriedly asked: "Has the master come?"

"It's been a while," the man with a square face replied, "You didn't do very well this time, and you lost a lot of money. The head of the house is not very satisfied."

"Then what should I do?" Zheng Si also had a sad expression on his face, "I did what the master ordered, who would have thought that I would be put in a different position."

"Let's go in first." The man pushed open the door.

Zheng Si looked up, panicked, his legs trembled slightly, his eyes showed nervousness and fear, his mind was tense, his teeth were clenched tightly, and when he lifted his legs, it was as if they were loaded with iron.

As soon as he stepped into the room, the door closed with a bang, the thin door panel cut off the lightning and thunder outside, and candles were lit in the room, not many lit, but it was a bit creepy against the dancing wick The person is weird, Zheng Si hangs his head, his eyes don't dare to wander around, he hastily knelt down on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "When... the head of the house..."

The man in the chair was wearing a solid-color casual dress, the candlelight hit half of his face, bright and dark, and he didn't raise his eyes when he heard the voice, but just lowered his head and played with the jade wrench in his hand, slowly turning the wrench with his index finger and thumb, There is no sound in the house, but the sound of rain outside the house is very clear.

Suddenly, the man stopped turning his fingers and raised his hand slightly. The person standing beside got the instruction, stepped forward a few steps, kicked Zheng Si to the ground with his feet, and immediately next to his clothes The collar slammed heavily on the ground paved with blue bricks, and the muffled sound of flesh and bones touching the ground followed one after another.

Zheng Si's face was covered with blood, and he grabbed the ground with ten fingers and cried hoarsely, "My lord, please forgive me, my lord!"

"Okay." The man in the main seat said.

He raised his head slowly, and his face gradually became clear under the candlelight. It was the governor of Xiangzhou, Dou Yuanliang, who was different from his usual kindness, with a vicious expression on his face, and his eyes were full of displeasure when he looked at Zheng Si.

Dou Yuanliang took a sip of the hot tea on the table, put it back and said, "Guan Zheng."

"The little one is here, the little one is here." Zheng Si broke free from the shackles, knelt down on the ground and quickly moved over. His eyes were covered with sticky blood, and he couldn't see things clearly. He could only hang his head and press his forehead tightly. Pressing against the ground, his body couldn't stop shaking, "My lord, please forgive me this time, I've been with my lord for a few years, no credit but hard work, my lord!"

"Actually, I can't blame you for this." Dou Yuanliang sneered twice, "There are so many commercial grain accounts that have not had any accidents, but our Yuanliang grain accounts cannot match the accounts. This person came prepared and told us clearly. What you want is Yuanliang Lianghao, without you, you have to have someone else, if you really want to make a stumbling block, there are many ways."

Hearing this, Zheng Si breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, kowtowed again and again, "What your lord said is true, that's exactly what it is. The person behind the scenes is only targeting our Yuanliangliang account. It's the same for anyone else. They came prepared, they must want us to kill each other, the small ones are loyal to the grain and the adults, and this matter is not something that the small ones can settle."

"What Manager Zheng said makes some sense," Dou Yuanliang stood up holding the armrest of the seat, walked up to Zheng Si in squatting steps, slowly leaned over and stared at him for a while, "I really shouldn't blame you. "

Zheng Si raised his head tremblingly, and the moment his gaze met Dou Yuanliang's, for some reason his body felt as if he had fallen into ice, and he was abnormally cold.

"But the [-] dans of grain were lost from you, and I lost tens of thousands of taels all at once. Can Guanshi Zheng make up for the money, or can he make up for the grain?" Dou Yuanliang asked, staring into his eyes.

"Small... small..." Zheng Si couldn't answer.

Dou Yuanliang narrowed his eyes, then got up and ordered in a cold voice, "Get out, and I'll clean you up after this is over."

Zheng Si's pupils suddenly dilated, his head hit the floor heavily, and he cried, "Thank you for your life, thank you for your life."

"get out!"

"Yes, yes, yes," Zheng Silian scrambled to his feet, "Small one, get out, get out!"

Looking at the figure walking away, Wang Zhigui moved closer, a little puzzled, and said, "Why didn't your lord deal with Zheng Si and spare his life?"

"He can't die."

Wang Zhigui was even more confused.

"Longxi chief envoy and the people from Lin'an have all seen him," Dou Yuanliang explained, "If Zheng Si disappears suddenly, it will always make them suspicious. One more thing is worse than one less thing."

"My lord is still thoughtful. Thinking about it this way, if Zheng died inexplicably, it would indeed cause more troubles to make people suspicious."

Later, Dou Yuanliang didn't answer the conversation, just sat back on the chair, took a sip of warm tea, and said thoughtfully, "This time the incident is directed at the Yuanliang Liang, what do people with this arrangement want to do, what are their intentions?" In order to make it unclear, who is secretly against this official? Whether the other two factions in the DPRK and China have anything to do with this matter is uncertain at this time."

"Could it be someone from the chief envoy?" Wang Zhigui asked cautiously.

"Commissioner?" Dou Yuanliang repeated, and then sneered, "Cui Hao prides himself on being lofty, but he has no power or power behind him, relying on his passion and sincerity. He has been reviewing the situation for many years before he can barely stand up as the chief envoy of Longxi." The position, a third-rank official borrows food and silver to live everywhere, he is like an elm straw bag, he knows that I hide the official food and refuse to hand it over, but there is no evidence, not to mention that he must not be clear about the relationship between the food number, Otherwise, there would be no movement for so many years."

Wang Zhigui thought for a while and felt that this was indeed the case, "Then who do you suspect, my lord?"

"Du Heng is not an ordinary person. The No. 33 man in Chengde for [-] years, he may still be ordered to come to Xiangzhou. As for Qi Ran, this man has always had a reputation of being honest and honest. He is loyal to the people and the country. It’s the Qi Mansion again. There are many officials in Lin’an, and their methods are vigorous and vigorous. If they notice something wrong, it’s not impossible to set us up. Both of them are not good people, and they should be dealt with carefully,” Dou Yuanliang touched the finger. , took a breath and said again: "These days, the official has been feeling uneasy, and I have carefully reviewed the things that happened during this period. I always feel that I have overlooked something important, but after thinking about it, I still don't know where it is. Something is wrong, I can't sleep or eat all day long, I just hope that Qi Ziheng and the others can leave sooner, so as not to worry day and night for fear of being caught by these two people."

"Have you ever thought about it, my lord? I was wrong at the beginning?" Qian Duo, who hadn't said a word, suddenly said with a bow.

"Wrong?" Dou Yuanliang was a little confused.

Qian Duo squinted his eyes and said with a smile, "Apart from the few people your lord mentioned, there is one more person here."

"You mean Ji Si?" Dou Yuanliang frowned, "Impossible, I've heard of him a little bit, what can an embroidered grass bag do other than being flattering and flattering, it's pretty much the same thing like a dog relying on others. Everyone knows what Lin'an has done, but I haven't wiped my butt clean yet, how could I have the guts to plot against me?"

"If so, he did it on purpose from the very beginning, just to make adults think that Ji Buyan is just such a thing."

This time Dou Yuanliang didn't answer, just pursed his lips and thought. He had never thought about Ji Si. First, he felt that this person was incompetent. Second, he felt that a treacherous official was investigating a corrupt official. Born from the same root, why bother each other too quickly, it's obvious to make people laugh.

Qian Duo raised his eyes and glanced cautiously, seeing that Dou Yuanliang's face was not very good-looking, his eyes were rolling around, and he changed the topic and said: "Although Ji Buyan is an idiot, he has no ability to plan and plan, but my lord, don't forget, he Whose person is it?"

Dou Yuanliang listened to the voice and cast his gaze over.

"He belongs to the prince," Qian Duo said word by word with lowered eyes.

At this moment, many things suddenly flashed through Dou Yuanliang's mind, and those details that he ignored were connected together one by one by this sentence. If Ji Si acted, if the prince ordered it, if everything was fake Yes, then everything can be explained!

What kind of mindless and useless, what kind of people are like water and fire, what kind of rotten wood is white, all of them are bullshit!It's all a well-arranged play, and it's clearly for them to sit down and watch!At the end of the song, they won a lot of applause!

I thought it was an ignorant trash, but unexpectedly there were some thoughts hidden in it.

After thinking about everything before, Dou Yuanliang's face darkened, and he waved his hand suddenly. The teacup on the table fell down and shattered, the fragments exploded and scattered, the tea inside spilled all over the floor, and the splashed tea was wet Qian Duo and Wang Zhigui's shirts were covered, their expressions remained unchanged, they still stood aside.

"Ji Buyan is really playing around with us!" Dou Yuanliang gritted his teeth and said coldly.

Qian Duo swallowed his saliva, weighed his tone and said worriedly: "My lord, Ji Si doesn't know what he has found. If he is asked to return to Beijing and bring this matter to the front of the palace, not only the king of Liang will be guilty, but your lord will also be guilty." If you can't get rid of the relationship, the prince will be the one who will benefit in the end, and it will be too late by then!"

"Go back?" Dou Yuanliang snorted coldly, staring at the torrential rain outside the house, his eyes full of fierce light, holding a candle was a little scary, "He can't go back."

"My lord, what do you mean..." Wang Zhigui asked.

Dou Yuanliang didn't make a sound, but slowly got up, stepped on the tiles and walked to the door, staring at the rain curtain formed under the eaves and said to himself: "It's raining too much, maybe it's about to flood."

The thunderstorm rumbled outside the house, the sound was too soft, as if there was nothing there, and it was covered by various sounds before it spread farther away.

When the wind picked up, mixed with a little bit of moisture, it slapped on the person's body and slipped in along the skirt of his clothes. It immediately aroused a chill all over his body, and he couldn't stop shaking.

Ji Si's nasal cavity was itchy, and he sneezed uncontrollably, wrapped his unlined clothes tightly, and continued what he had just said.

Qi Ran on the side looked down for a while, then turned around and retracted the fork that supported the window, closed the window and sat down again.

"Thank you!" Ji Si tilted his head and looked at the person beside him, and said playfully.

Qi Ran took a sip of tea, and replied in a flat tone, "It's a little effort."

"That Ziheng, why don't you just raise your hand and put on some clothes for me." Someone got a bargain and continued to be good.

"Master Ji," Qi Ran put down his teacup and looked sideways at him, and said unhurriedly, "I wonder if someone has praised you for being eloquent and thick-faced?

"No," Ji Si laughed out loud, "Many people praise me for my talent and my good looks."

"People in the world always like to betray their conscience, and there is no half-truth in their mouths."

"It's almost done." Ji Si lifted the teapot to fill up the hot tea for someone, and said angrily, "You're swearing at me in different ways, and I really can't hear it."

"The next official has overstepped."

"Which way is Yue Yue?" Ji Si waved his hand, "Let's not talk about it, just now we talked about the matter of robbing the Yuanliang Grain Company of [-] dans of grain, Dou Yuanliang and the others should have guessed that someone was checking him, I guess not You are Du Heng, and it will probably calm down in the next few days, so you can be careful when you and Du Heng go to the Yuanliang Grain Store tomorrow to get food."

"The granary of the Yuanliang Grain Company can't store hundreds of thousands of dans of grain. Dou Yuanliang must have a private warehouse, but where is this private warehouse? It is impossible for such a large granary to be unnoticed. It must not be built in the deep mountains and old forests." Qi Ran said.

"I haven't figured it out either," Ji Si frowned, "Speaking of it this way, he is worth 10 taels of silver a year, and my annual salary for a third-rank official is not even worth a fraction of his. People are angry."

"Master Ji is joking," Qi Ran said coldly, "Master Ji has been an official for many years, and he has met many people from all walks of life, and his income is only a lot more than Dou Yuanliang."

Ji Si hooked his lips, slowly moved his face closer, stopped at an extremely close distance, stared into Qi Ran's eyes and said sincerely: "I don't deny those corruption things, but Buddhists say , Knowing mistakes can be corrected, there is nothing good, the sea of ​​suffering is boundless, turning back is the shore, I didn’t know it before, but I walked with the ghost gate once, and now I realize this truth, I regard Ziheng as my confidant in this life, if I don’t change my heart, it depends on whether Ziheng is willing or not Ferry me back."

Qi Ran met his eyes, pursed his lips and said nothing, the wind and rain outside the house disrupted the calm of the lake, causing ripples, for some reason, he felt that his breathing suddenly became disordered.

The author has something to say:

small theater:

Dou Yuanliang: [Fierce] I have a way to kill you.

Ji Si: [picking nose] I am the main character.

Dou Yuanliang: I want to do this and that.

Ji Si: [picking nose] The author is my own mother.

Dou Yuanliang: [Viciously] Prepare the coffin.

Ji Si: [Pick nose] Readers love me more

Dou Yuanliang: QAQ is a bully!

ps: Dou Yuanliang is almost finished!