Pei Gonggui

As the examination papers approached, Pei Junyuan had already completed a section of the affairs of the Ministry of Rituals. He thought that he could get away with signing and approving one or two things. Unexpectedly, the cabinet sent a large number of teaching documents for the salt case and ordered the Ministry of Rites to immediately Take a look at it and quickly hand it over to the local concierge without any negligence.

Seeing that someone with a heart is trying to tie Pei Jun up to his wits, that's why he marked it as urgent writing, and delaying it is a crime.So Pei Jun had no choice but to sit down again to recruit all the divisions in the ministry to discuss matters. He couldn't help but greet each of the eight generations of Cai and Zhang in his heart. The sky has risen to sunset.

The day is dark, the rain is still falling, and the spring smoke is densely formed.The sedan chair swayed gently to the south of the city, Pei Jun came down, holding the umbrella given by Jiang Yue in one hand, and bought a bag of candied winter melon in the other hand, walked to Cao Luan's mansion swayingly, saw that the gate was closed, raised his hand and knocked .

After a while, someone came to open the door. Seeing that it was Pei Jun, he hurriedly led Pei Jun into the living room to sit down, and immediately went to the backyard to invite Cao Luan to come.

Pei Jun was sitting in front of the western clock in the front hall, leaning the bamboo umbrella in his hand against the table while the pendulum was ticking. The servants who come and go are not the same as the ones he saw years ago.Not only were there more new faces among them, the atmosphere in the mansion seemed to be no more lively than before, after sitting for a while, it actually made him feel very depressed.

I don't know if it's because of the cloudy sky.

Pei Jun put the candied wax gourd on the table, raised his hand and loosened his front, thinking that he was overly sensitive and thoughtful because he had a lot of things to do recently, and after he was distracted, he saw a newborn boy coming to make tea for him.

The boy put down the cup and added a handful of crushed red leaves to it.Seeing Pei Jun, his brows that had just opened were slightly frowned, and he asked, "Are you new here?"

At this time, the big housekeeper Wu Yong had hurried out to greet him. Seeing this scene and hearing Pei Jun's words, he immediately called out to the boy, "You bastard! Why do you serve Mr. Pei the guests' tea? Mr. Pei only drinks tea from the master's cellar. Hurry up and fetch the leaves!"

Only then did the little boy answer again and again, and took away the cup in a hurry.

Pei Jun's gaze disappeared into the corner of the corridor following the back of the little boy, and he turned his head and smiled at Wu Yong: "Hey, the new doll doesn't know the rules, so it's fine if you don't teach them. Why should you be angry?" Asked: "Is there anything wrong in the mansion recently? Why do you see that most of the people have changed?"

Wu Yong clasped his fists again and again to plead guilty: "Oh, I really made Mr. Pei a joke. Mr. Qi just came back from Zhu County last night, and said that the cleaning of the house has been delayed for more than half a year. Why don't you just take advantage of it today? ——No, we’ve been working on this all night and morning. How could we know that the old man Bo has just left, and the new one hasn’t been taught yet. The first person to be neglected today is Mr. Pei. Damn it!"

For those who are always in the midst of power waves, it is common for people to change in the mansion, and it is even more common for new servants to be ignorant of their old habits. Pei Jun didn't think about it, just sat up a little bit to help him, and smiled quite He said kindly: "Forget it, it's a good thing it's me, not an outsider, otherwise your master's business will be ruined, how much money will it cost?"

Wu Yong hurriedly said yes, and then he said a few more words about Shuncheng, and then he heard the servants outside reported that Cao Luan had come.He immediately confessed to Cao Luan who was pulling his robe into the living room: "Ah, the master is going to punish me today! The servants just served the wrong tea to Mr. Pei, this is really something that hasn't happened in many years——"

"Give him Chengke tea?" Cao Luan listened, walked in and smiled, sat at the table next to Pei Jun, pointed at him and cursed, "My guest tea here is also good tea, and I can't buy it with money outside. If you get a catty, it's just that he doesn't like to drink. If you want me to say, you might as well stop spoiling him at this time, so that he won't keep grabbing the leaves from me."

"Hey? I don't like to hear my brother's words." Pei Jun pulled his hand and put it on the table, "What do you mean grabbing leaves from you? You make me sound like Mei's chicken."

"The chickens of Renmei's family are very smart. They always pick up the ones that can fight and then fight to win money. It's not like you - all the time they drill into the dens of dragons and tigers, which is much better than chickens." Cao Luan asked. Wu signaled with his eyes, pointing out that the servants in the room don't have to guard, and when he and Pei Jun were the only ones left in the living room, he sighed and said, "I heard about your sister when I came back from Zhu County last night. Son, it seems that you are not only fighting with the royal family this time, but you are also having trouble with the Cai family? Your sister... so what now?"

Pei Jun was about to speak, but at this moment the tea boy came back, poured two cups of fragrant green tea for the two, and placed them respectfully in their hands.

This time the tea was brewed correctly, but the boy who made the tea did not leave after finishing his work, and just stood beside Cao Luan in a daze, as if he did not dare to move around without orders, standing still and blinking his eyes. The mending coat on Pei Jun's body, and looking at the umbrella placed by Pei Jun's table, he looks tiger-headed and tiger-headed, it seems that he was afraid of being scolded just now, and now he is eager to write down this high official who was treated preferentially by the patriarch.

Pei Jun hadn't seen such a dazed child under Cao Luan for many years, he couldn't help feeling that it was amused, he just raised his hand and waved to the boy, "Okay, it's none of your business, you can go down. "

The little boy turned his eyes to Cao Luan timidly.

Cao Luan immediately lowered his face, and said in a cold voice: "Master Pei has already spoken, so why don't you go down quickly."

Then the little boy picked up the wooden tray and left in a small step.

As soon as Cao Luan breathed a sigh of relief, Pei Jun stretched out his hand across the table to poke his face and said, "Oh, hey, it's worth my time to come today—the long-eared old Cao is also angry, I haven't seen it for many years. Seeing that cleaning up the house is really tiring, my family should not move for the time being, just do it first, otherwise it will take a lot of work to find someone, and I can't spare my hands."

"Human..." Cao Luan patted his hand away, and followed his words, "Servants and masters are the same. A clean mind may not be easy to use, and a brain that is too easy to use must not be so clean. If you want to employ people, you have to polish your eyes."

Pei Jun smiled at him: "So it's better for old people to use it for the first time, at least for peace of mind."

After finishing speaking, he saw that Cao Luan had silently raised a cup to drink tea, so he also picked up his own cup, followed Cao Luan's words and said: "Since you have heard about Pei Yan's case, I don't need to talk nonsense. Pei Yan Yan is still in the Ministry of Criminal Justice right now, but the case has been released from the palace, and the first trial will be in three days. Brother, you are a person who is used to litigation, so I don’t need to elaborate on the difficulties of this case. I’m here as a beggar You help-"

"If you have something to say, just say it. Saying 'beg' is slapping me in the face." Cao Luan interrupted him, put down the teacup and frowned, "Hey, it's been almost ten years in a blink of an eye, and I don't know Pei Yan and her then……"

He seemed to be recalling the past when he was young for a moment. He shook his head and sighed again, "Forget it, the most important thing right now is to save people. Just tell me what you want me to do. As long as it can help, I will do it right away." .”

Pei Jun said: "If you have my brother's words, then I'm not too polite. But right now I have something to ask my brother first - my brother has been busy all day, have you ever heard that Li Cunzhi, the magistrate of Wuzhou, entered Beijing this morning?"

Cao Luan thought of Li Cunzhi's name for a while, and his expression immediately turned cold: "Is it the person that Qian Sheng from your house asked me to pick him up?... How is this possible? After my people picked him up and set off on the road, they still haven't delivered the letter to me. Son."

Pei Jun said as expected: "Then you probably don't know - Li Cunzhi immediately entered the palace to beat the drums to complain for his grievances as soon as he galloped into the capital this morning?"

"...He what?" Cao Luan almost stood up.

Pei Jun smiled wryly and shook his head, "Yeah, isn't it broken? Li Cunzhi went to the palace this morning to beat the drums to protest his grievances, sued the Tang family's case, and yelled at the top of his voice, which made the matter worse. Now If the entire imperial court knew what he was going to do, our plan would be in vain. I saw that he had no physical evidence except the blood letter of vindictiveness, and he was covered in wounds and tired. He was intercepted by many people, and he escaped after a lot of hardships. I don’t know how he escaped to the capital. This case is underestimated."

"This matter is so dangerous?" Cao Luanfeng frowned, "Fortunately, Li Cunzhi is still here. I will immediately ask someone to go along the road to check. If there is really a lawsuit, finding real clues will prove the grievance. How to say? Is this case settled or not? Is Li Cunzhi still alive?"

"Li Cunzhi is still alive, and the palace should also investigate, but the investigation has not been decided yet. I'm afraid there will be more nights and dreams in the future." Pei Jun said, "According to the emperor, the people in the disaster area are not important, he probably just wants to calm things down. , Get over this matter quickly, you should not be willing to deal with the royal family and cause big waves."

He took a sip of tea, put it down, was silent for a moment, sighed and said, "This is not possible."

Cao Luan looked at him in a blink of an eye: "Do you want to use this case to arrest the Tang family and thus contain the Cai family, so as to put pressure on the confrontation and let them let Pei Yan go?"

Pei Jun nodded at first, but then shook his head again: "No, matters in the official court are more complicated than those in the courtroom. This case needs to be solved not only for Pei Yan, but also for a bigger situation. As for putting pressure on the confrontation... ...In Pei Yan's case right now, I'm still stepped on by the Cai family and feared by the royal family, so I can't help but get away. Then in Li Cunzhi's case, it's not good for me to be the bad guy. Let someone else suppress the Cai family to vent their anger."

"Who should be replaced?" Cao Luan raised his eyebrows and thought, and gradually understood Pei Jun's meaning, "...the case prosecuted by the local government should be reviewed by the Yushitai, do you want to use the hands of the Zhang family to solve the case?" Let’s slap the Cai family? But how could Zhang Ling listen to you like that?”

Pei Jun said: "Zhang Ling is absolutely unwilling to take over Li Cunzhi from Yushitai. Today, the court also said that Li Cunzhi was filing a lawsuit. It seems that he wants to dismiss the case."

Speaking of this, he clicked his tongue twice, and his tone became sarcastic: "After all, once Zhang Ling accepts the lawsuit, he admits that there is injustice in the local area and that the world is immoral. How could he pour a big pot of dirty water on his head? But now that the emperor said that he wanted to investigate, the case has already fallen on Yushitai, and it is impossible for him not to accept it, so he can only investigate. And Zhang The nature of the family members, but admitting to death and not taking oil and salt, can be used in the investigation of the case. After all, as long as Li Cunzhi is really wronged, and the victims of the disaster in the South are really suffering, and the iron evidence is in front of them, they will be fine. No matter how unwilling to admit it, but with the face of respecting the law, it is necessary to admit it. Besides, they and the Cai family... don't just deal with it too much.

"Zhang Ling is in the cabinet. He has the same wealth, knowledge, and experience as Cai Yan, but he has been subordinate to Cai Yan for nearly ten years. The Zhang family of Boling and the Cai family of Xilin behind him have rifts in political views and scholarship. It has always been there: one seems to admire Neo-Confucianism, but uses it like the Legalists, and the other holds ancient Confucianism, but in his heart is the art of Tao Zhu. The two have quarreled nearly eight hundred times in the Hanlin Xiushu, and it is only in front of everyone. Still holding the leather mask, are there fewer stabbings in the back? Now if there is a chance for Zhang Ling to stab Cai Yan again, how can Zhang Ling not want to? Not to mention that if the knife is not stabbed, then He has to drink the dirty water that has ruined his reputation. In this way, in Li Cunzhi's case, even if he knew clearly that I wanted to use his Zhang family's knife to kill Cai, he still had no choice but to let it go. Now Regardless of whether he would turn around and splatter blood on me after he stabbed the Cai family, he only said that although Li Cunzhi was there, there was no other physical evidence for the time being. Evidence and lawsuits will not be let go, and even if Yushitai files a case to be investigated, how can he listen to Li Cunzhi's one-sided words without evidence? In this way, I am afraid that I will say that I made things out of nothing and fabricated grievances in order to attack political opponents. You broke the law and impeached..."

"What are you afraid of?" Cao Luan smiled, "You have been impeached for almost two years, isn't the emperor protecting you, a good gentleman?"

"It's a good thing sir, don't make me miserable." Pei Jun glanced at him and said in a low voice, "It's different now."

When Cao Luan heard this, he put down the tea in his hand and frowned: "Hey, have you fallen out of favor?"

The word "falling out of favor" is really bad, Pei Jun wanted to laugh, but he couldn't, so he just nodded his head and said, "Forget it. I won't be able to count on the emperor in the future, so I have to go to the single-plank bridge by myself." Once it's over, brother will give me advice."

Hearing this, Cao Luan let go of the fingers holding the cup, and then frowned for a while, looked at Pei Jun, then clenched his fist again, and said first: "Zi Yu, these two cases are very difficult. One is that the royal family of the Tian family sued your sister for murdering the prince, and the other is that the state officials sued the emperor for stealing the country for themselves and the common people, and they still appealed to the court and settled the facts—even if your sister and Li Cunzhi were wronged, The current situation is definitely not beneficial to you. At present, it seems that these two cases are indeed threatening each other. Once they are resolved, they will both be resolved. Among them, Pei Yan's case happened at King Rui's side, and there will be people everywhere. The opening has probably been blocked and filled up by the Cai family, and there should be no place left for surgery, so I would like to advise you to start with Li Cunzhi first."

Pei Jun asked: "The evidence on Li Cunzhi must have been robbed, and the cabinet still has another way to falsely accuse him of dereliction of duty. How do we proceed?"

"Fighting with officials is your business. I can't help you. I can only try my best to help you win the lawsuit." Cao Luan said, "Let's put it this way, since ancient times, why do officials always want to suspend lawsuits and want the world to have no lawsuits? It is because they are afraid of lawsuits, afraid of the word 'change', and afraid that the people will escape their control. Now that Li Cunzhi is wronged, he is suing not only the government officials, but also the royal family. "Great Change", "Great Change", if the prosecution is like this... Ziyu, let me put it bluntly - this case will not survive at Yushitai, and it is impossible to win this case. The Tang family loves to come to Yin You can kill him in prison. The Cai family loves to kill the person behind the thread. You are afraid that you will be in danger. For the current plan, we need to keep Li Cunzhi first, and then let the court feel that this case is not a "big change", but It's 'obedience'."

Pei Jun laughed after thinking about it carefully: "Brother's words are interesting. Li Cunzhi is going to sue the royal family. Anyone who sees it is contradicting the royal family. How can such a naysayer become an obedient person?"

Cao Luan said in a low voice: "Ziyu, it is true that the world belongs to the royal family, but it also belongs to the emperor; the officials in the world are not false to the royal family, but they are even more attached to the imperial power. The royal family, but he is for the people of the world, and the person who sued is also the emperor. Isn't it because he wants to clear the side for the king and stabilize the people for the king? Although the royal family is involved in the imperial power, it is not the same as the imperial power, so Li Cunzhi rebelled Although he is a relative of the emperor, he obeys the emperor, so he is not 'changing', he is 'obedience'. You have to make officials at all levels of the judiciary change their concepts so that they will understand in the future—help Li Cunzhi is not helping the tyrant, but helping the emperor."

Such a few simple sentences have fundamentally changed the starting point of Li Cunzhi's case, turning the case from petitioning for the people and provoking lawsuits to being perseverant and resolving grievances for the monarch.

Pei Jun sounded like enlightenment: "Not bad, not bad, so the preconceived resistance among the officials will be settled first, what's next?"

Cao Luan said: "Next, if we think about it from the worst situation - in this case, Li Cunzhi's side has lost all the evidence, and it is not easy to get it back, then we have two ways to go: one is to force the other side Tang Let them show their flaws and send us some evidence; the second is to use the rules of the law to prove that they did not do it as much as possible in the accusation, instead of asking Li Cunzhi to prove that they did. It's not Li Cunzhi, but the Tang family. And if the matter goes to this point, you should help the officials. Now the Tang family's biggest reliance is the Princess Mansion and the Cai family. If you can let this Both families had to cut off their wrists and abandon their pawns to save the car, so the Tang family must be alone and exhausted, and now we are close to winning the lawsuit."

"Brother's strategy is the same as I thought." Pei Jun nodded and said, "Recently, the examination papers for the new subject will start, and I have already planned to—"

"Ahem!—Ahem, ahem!"

Before Pei Jun could finish speaking, Cao Luan suddenly choked on the tea and coughed continuously until his face turned red.Pei Jun couldn't care less about planning, and quickly got up and patted him on the back: "Slow down, brother, please be smooth, why are you so careless?"

Cao Luan raised his fist to his lips, stared secretly at the embroidered screen next to the western clock behind Pei Jun, coughed a few more times before gradually quieting down, then laughed again when he was young, looked at Pei Jun and said: "...Look Look, my throat is getting old, and I can't even drink tea."

"What are you talking about?" Pei Jun whispered to him, "How much older are you than me?"

"Five years old is a hurdle, and old age is old. You will understand when you pass it." Cao Luan laughed at himself, and said lightly, "Ziyu, Li Cunzhi needs a lot of preparations for this case. Well, without further ado, let's split up and attack, when the case progresses, the Cai family will suffer heavy losses, so there will be a breakthrough in Pei Yan's case, and the chances of winning will be greater."

Seeing that he was healed, Pei Jun calmed down, sat back slowly and said, "Although this is the case, the two of us are just talking on paper, and the Cai family will never admit defeat and give up easily, and things still need to be taken a step further. One step. So far, I have caused so much trouble for the Cai family one after another. Although Cai Yang was forced to jump up and down, his father, Cai Yan, has not moved at all. It has to be said that he is too quiet... To be honest , which makes me feel a little bad."

"Recently, you should act carefully, and don't be impulsive." Cao Luan instructed, "You must also be careful about the things around you, and don't leave anyone with an opportunity to take advantage of."

"Okay, don't worry." Pei Jun answered seriously.

At this point, the words have come to an end, and it is not too early.Pei Jun got up to leave, but Cao Luan didn't keep him for dinner, but said that there were too many affairs in the mansion and he would not be able to eat for a while, so he drove him home to eat by himself.

Pretending to be aggrieved, Pei Jun dragged his arm and said that he had changed his mind, but Cao Luan pushed him away so disgusted, he laughed and stopped making trouble with him, only pushed the candied wax gourd on the side table to him and said, "I I haven't seen Xuanxuan for a long time. I remember that she loves Baoxiangji's candied winter melon, so I bought some and brought it here. Your house is full of female relatives, and it's inconvenient for me to see her, so you can just give this to her. Said she sent it from Dad Pei."

Cao Luan looked at Pei Jun and sighed helplessly: "Hey, you always buy her candy like this, it's strange that she always wants to grow up and marry you, but it gives me a bad headache. I beg you not to Buy it again, just to spare my daughter’s teeth, I don’t want to hear you call me brother and old man, it’s too messy.”

"Wouldn't it be nice to have a kiss on top of each other?" Pei Jun joked with him, rolling his brows, "It can be said that Xuanxuan is too obedient, a dozen bags of candied winter melon is enough for the dowry, and it seems that in the future it will be just a girl If you love your husband, brother, what will you do with your old father in the future? Don't feel so sorry for him?"

"...You crow's mouth." Cao Luan picked up the candied winter melon as a gesture to hit him, but finally swallowed his hand, "Come on, don't waste time here, go to work if you have something to do, I'll take care of the case." Watching for you, you just... take good care of yourself and your sister."

Pei Jun agreed with a smile, thanked him, got up and brushed off his robe before making a fuss, then picked up the umbrella by the table to say goodbye to him, turned around and was sent out of the house by his servants.

Cao Luan watched Pei Jun's back completely disappear behind the screen wall in the front yard, and the smile that was always on his face cooled down bit by bit. In just a short moment, his expression was only bitter cold and complicated, and the dignified look that was blowing The wind blew against him, and he felt that the clothes on his chest and back were wet with cold sweat.

At this moment, the western clock in the room slammed the hour, and the sudden sound of gold and iron pierced the dead silence in the hall, and amidst the sudden strange sound, behind the beautiful screen next to the western clock, unexpectedly A man in black with a sword stepped out.

The man walked straight to Cao Luan's side, every step made no sound, as if he didn't even breathe, he was like a ghost.His whole body was exuding the chill of being killed for a long time. Before he could stop, he just smiled coldly and said to Cao Luan: "Your Excellency and Mr. Pei really have a deep friendship. The current situation in the mansion is already like this, but your Excellency still does not forget to remind you secretly several times. Master Pei, be careful around you...you are so loyal."

Cao Luan sat in the chair without moving, and said with a cold expression: "I have done as you said, and you have hidden here to spy on Shaofu Pei. I hope you can keep your promise and stop coercing my wife, daughter and family."

"Don't worry, Your Excellency," the man comforted without any real meaning, and said coolly, "The emperor just wanted to know more about Mr. Pei, and he had no intention of hurting your wife and daughter. It is my duty to inquire about Mr. Pei's affairs." Your Excellency, as long as you behave as usual in the future, then you can just think that your house has added more guards like me, and our swords will only be in the sheath, and will not be placed on the madam like today On Miss Cao's neck. But if Your Excellency continues to warn Mr. Pei overtly and secretly, don't blame me for waiting for Miss Cao—"

"When will this matter end?" Cao Luan suddenly interrupted him, his voice trembling slightly, "Pei Shaofu is meticulous and has a great memory, I, Cao Luan, am ashamed of myself. He is just careless because of the miscellaneous things at hand. Think a lot about the affairs in my mansion, if you wait for a long time, you will definitely find countless flaws, when the time comes—"

"At that time, I will entrust your Excellency to correct these mistakes. Your Excellency, you'd better not let that day come." The man in black glanced at him darkly, and smiled, "I don't know why, Mr. Pei seems to believe in your Excellency." If you are suspicious and act like a brother, then as long as your Excellency maintains this letter, Lord Pei will never be suspicious."

Cao Luan gritted his teeth and said: "...Zi Yu believed in me, Cao Luan, with the utmost sincerity and sincerity, but the emperor wants to use Zi Yu's closest people to spy on him and spy on him. How can this be a king? Is it the way of benevolence? Is it the way of human affection?"

"Then Mr. Pei is double-faced and deceitful, is it the way of humanity?" The man in black raised his hand and waved outwards, and the boy who was making tea just now ran in cleverly.

The man in black said to the little boy, "Come on, tell Mr. Cao what kind of umbrella Mr. Pei is holding just now."

The little boy said in a shrill voice: "That is the carved bamboo umbrella specially made by the palace judge for the princes last Mid-Autumn Festival. Every prince has one, and the umbrella surface of each umbrella is different."

When Cao Luan heard the words, his eyes were wide open, and his forehead was instantly filled with cold sweat.

The man in black continued to say to the little boy: "Then tell me again, which prince did the umbrella that Mr. Pei brought just now, the umbrella cover for?"

"The umbrella surface is the color of perilla, and the embroidery on it should be Yunyan." The little boy answered clearly word by word, and his face had long since lost the blank look just now, replaced by extremely clear and vigilant, That shrill tone was like golden needles, piercing Cao Luan's ears and drums, and his next words were even more shocking like a bell:

"The purple swallows in the palace are used to reward Jin Wangfu, so that umbrella must be the umbrella of Jin Wang."