Pei Gonggui

Pei Jun hurriedly raised his hand, nodded his eyes indistinctly, and said to Cao Luan, "You don't want to sit down for a while? It's so easy to get together, I have something else I want to talk to you about."

Cao Luan paused for a moment: "Is there anything else?" He looked at the black-clothed guard behind him, and ordered, "Then go outside and wait for me first."

The guard in black heard the words, glanced at the three of them, finally nodded in response, and walked out the door without saying a word.

In this way, the outsiders from all the prefectures in the vestibule had left completely. When Uncle Dong looked at it, he led his servants to the backyard to clean up the cups, plates and bowls, and let Pei Jun and the three sit in the vestibule.

Mei Linyu was obedient, and following Uncle Dong's wishes, he pulled Pei Jun and Pei Jun into the front hall, sat down and poured a cup of tea for each of them: "What's the matter, brother, tell me."

The three of them sat down, and Pei Jun said succinctly: "Old Cui is suffering now, and it is also a wake-up call for us-to let us know that there are unclean people among us, or those who think they are clean, but in fact they have long been in the hands of the Cai family. So I think, now is the time to thoroughly investigate our people, from top to bottom, from inside to outside, and from top to bottom, inside and out, otherwise, the more we go, the more mistakes will be made. I have to ask my brother to help me with this matter. I worry about it."

When Cao Luan heard this, he immediately said, "Zi Yu, checking people is not my specialty."

"If checking people is not my brother's specialty, I'm afraid no one in Beijing will dare to say that specialty." Pei Jun stopped him from being modest.

But Cao Luan still said: "Every line is like a mountain. I'm just a bridge builder, and I can't do that kind of work. If you want to investigate people, I can find Ouyang's family for you—"

"Brother still doesn't understand what I mean." Pei Jun interrupted him again, "It's better to take this matter slowly than leave it to outsiders. You see, Cai Yan can check everything that Cui Yu carefully concealed, If we leave it here, the only way to deal with it is to be right. No matter if this matter is handed over to anyone else, I don’t feel at ease. Brother, please help me, don’t bother outsiders to intervene, first take care of the people around me Sieve them all over and say again—Senior Brother Yan, Xiao Ming Jue’er, Qian Haiqing, check them all. Some of them commit crimes and don’t know it, or if their buttocks haven’t been wiped clean, my brother will bother to clean them up for them. stop."

Seeing that he was determined, Cao Luan frowned for a while, but couldn't push anymore, so he could only ask: "Then besides the people from the imperial court, who else should we investigate?"

Pei Jun pondered for a moment, and replied: "My family members should also check, and the palace. As long as my brother can check, I will check."

Cao Luan listened, and said with a joke: "Then except for the court, except for the emperor and the people in the palace, why don't you check me and Meiliu? After all, your posture is to check the whole capital. My two families are fine."

Pei Jun hadn't spoken yet, but Mei Linyu was so frightened that she hurried up and waved her hands: "No, no, no! If my brother-in-law's broken business is revealed—"

"Come on, no one cares about your brother-in-law." Pei Jun raised his hand to cover Mei Linyu's face, pushed him away, put his left hand and right hand in front of Cao Luan and gestured: "Brother and Mei Liu, it's me, Pei Jun. Two hands. Since they are your left and right hands, what is the meaning of turning them over and over again? Besides, if the two of you are really in trouble, why can’t you run faster than the other? Then you should have figured it out long ago, so what’s the use of me? worry?"

"Then who are you worried about?" Mei Linyu looked at him, raised her eyebrows, and lowered her voice, "Worry about Prince Jin?"

Pei Jun didn't expect him to bring this up suddenly, and was about to speak, when Cao Luan made his move first, stopped Mei Linyu and said, "Lao Liu, this is not a joke. Just say a few words, don't provoke Zi Yu." trouble."

Mei Linyu's eyes widened when she heard the words, she felt that she had been wronged, but she turned to look at Pei Jun to inquire, and seeing that Pei Jun had been robbed by Cao Luan, she also shook her head secretly at him, so she could only shut up After a moment of silence, I asked Pei Jun another question:

"Brother, can I still visit Sister Yan tomorrow?"

Cao Luan answered for Pei Jun: "Don't go, you will make trouble for her instead."

"Why is it a trick?" Mei Linyu's nose turned red when she heard it, "Then when can I see her? She's locked in the prison alone, and I don't know what's going on inside. If I keep waiting In Li Cunzhi's case, we can't wait until my sister has suffered so much—"

"That's what I'm about to tell you."

Pei Jun stopped him at the right time, sighed, and whispered to him: "Let me ask you, how is the boat I asked you to sail for me years ago?"

Mei Linyu nodded quickly: "It's almost done. The day before yesterday I heard from my eldest brother-in-law that it was finishing, and it stopped at Jingnan Ferry."

Pei Jun asked, "Can I get well by next month?"

Mei Linyu nodded again: "It is possible. But, brother... What is the use of this boat?"

Pei Jun explained: "Now we want to get Pei Yan out of prison, and Li Cunzhi's case is yet to be lobbied everywhere. I'm afraid that our current money will be spent like water, and we don't know if it will be possible in the future, so we still need to find some money." The way is safe. Just after the palace examination next month, Qian Haiqing will go to the south with Zhang San to inspect the illegal salt. In order to prove the evidence, the stolen salt will be seized and returned to Beijing. Some salt was deducted from the cabin, and when the time comes, it will be transferred to Jingzhao’s salt warehouse to sell with the official salt, so that we can come out with some money empty-handed. According to my estimation, there will be at least seven or eight hundred tans of stolen salt returning to Beijing—— "

"So many?" Mei Linyu was startled, "I remember that the anti-smuggling only took [-] dans of stolen salt back to Beijing for show. If [-] dans of salt were worth seven or eight hundred dans, how big would this be?"

"The eleven stolen goods in this case are far more than the seven or eight hundred." Pei Jun didn't go into details for the time being, but looked at Mei Linyu seriously and said, "Anyway, before next month, I need to see that ship first." Boat."

Mei Linyu responded immediately: "Success. In less than ten days, I will take my brother to watch the boat."

Hearing this, Pei Jun was relieved a little. Seeing that Cao Luan hadn't said a word, he thought of saying to him: "My brother has always been in touch with the Cao Gang and the salt censors from all over the world. At that time, I will ask my brother to write letters and call Don’t worry about that boat if you are a good official on this journey. Qian Haiqing has the turquoise ring cloud pendant that you gave me before hanging on his body. I think it can be used as a token, and you can tell it’s him when you see it.”

Cao Luan nodded without saying a word: "Success, I will do it for you in the near future." After that, seeing that Pei Jun seemed to have finished what he had to say, he looked at the sky outside and said: "It's not too early, I have to go Yes. Xuanxuan has recently suffered from a cold illness, causing her mother to also pant, I have to go back and watch. If there is anything wrong, you can always find me."

"What if I can't find it?" Mei Linyu saw him get up, and stood up too, "Old Cao, I went to your house these days, and Wu Yong said that you were not here. What have you been up to these days?"

"There is a case outside, and I haven't been home for a few days." Cao Luan lowered his head and walked out with the two of them, frowning, "If you have something to do and you can't find me, it's the same to find Wu Yong. will command him."

At this moment, Cao Luan's black-clothed bodyguard was waiting beside the carriage beside the stone lion. When he saw Cao Luan coming out, he lifted the curtain for Cao Luan and invited Cao Luan into the carriage without saying a word.

Cao Luan walked over silently, and before getting into the car, he stopped, looked back at Pei Jun, and ordered again:

"Ziyu, you have to be careful these days."

The words of advice between friends and brothers were nothing more than this sentence, Pei Jun sounded ordinary, so he just waved to him and said: "Okay, got it. You should hurry back and take care of sister-in-law and Xuanxuan."

After sending Cao Luan into the car, he asked someone to prepare a car for Mei Linyu, but Mei Linyu stopped him and said, "Farewell, I'm going to walk back. Otherwise, this heart is not sincere, and I saved money for my sister before." Ford may be blind for nothing."

After Mei Linyu finished speaking, she was about to go back to discuss with Pei Jun whether to invite a ritual ceremony, but when she looked back, she saw that Pei Jun was still looking at the direction where Cao Luan's carriage was going away, seemingly thoughtful.

"Brother, what are you looking at?" he asked.

Pei Jun stared slightly, and said slowly: "Mei Liu, do you feel that... Lao Cao is not quite right recently?"

Mei Linyu heard the words, thought for a while, nodded and said: "I don't think it's right when you say that. First, I couldn't find anyone, but now I finally got together, and he was in a hurry to leave while talking. It always seems like you don't want to hear more from us, and it seems like you're hiding something..."

Speaking of this, he clapped his hands together suddenly: "It's broken! Could it be that he—"

"Could it be what?" Pei Jun's mind was tightened by his words.

Mei Linyu looked at him solemnly, and said earnestly: "Could it be that Lao Cao has someone outside behind his sister-in-law's back?"

"..." Pei Jun was furious when he heard that, he raised his hand and slapped him on the back of the head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "Is there anything else in your mind besides these rotten things? Is Lao Cao that kind of person? "

"Hey, how can this be accurate?" Mei Linyu mumbled, covering her head, "People are not rocks, if they want to change, they should change. Don't you, brother—"

"Then why haven't you changed?" Pei Jun cut off his words, pinched the back of his neck and shook his head, "I asked you to get married a long time ago, seven or eight years ago, where did you get married?"

Mei Linyu was quite reasonable: "My brother hasn't been found yet, why am I so anxious? Am I waiting for my brother?"

Pei Jun grabbed his ear and lifted it up: "Who asked you to wait? You can save me, it's not rare!"

Mei Linyu cried out in pain.The cry blew into the wind in the spring night, and spread far away to the carriage that was drifting away in the alley, causing Cao Luan in the carriage to hear it and turn around, sighed, and looked silently at the person sitting opposite him. Guards in black.

After a while, the carriage returned to Cao's Mansion in the south of the city, and the mansion was brightly lit.Cao Luan followed the man in black through the second gate and walked into the backyard. All the "servants" stood in the courtyard, not so much welcoming the head of the family back home, but their expressions were not at all happy.And who among these "servants" is who, Cao Luan, as the head of the family, actually doesn't know all about it.

Among these expressionless "servants", Cao Luan's wife, Mrs. Lin, and her daughter, Xuanxuan, were standing tremblingly in the center—Ms. Lin was closely surrounded by people around her, while Xuanxuan was being protected by her. arms.

At this time, Xuanxuan saw Cao Luan coming back, and immediately cried and called Daddy, but the maid behind her grabbed her hair and pulled her back, she was so frightened that she immediately shut up, leaving only a pair of big black eyes to look at Cao Luan, Tears kept falling, and my whole body trembled even more.

Cao Luan frowned and looked aside, only to hear the black-clothed guard walk forward and said in a cold tone: "Mr. Cao, I should have said that if you try to warn Mr. Pei again, we will not be polite to you again. ..."

When Cao Luan heard this, her heart turned cold and she didn't have time to react. The maidservant next to Lin suddenly took out a knife, and Cao Luan mercilessly cut Lin's face with the knife in Cao Luan's startled cry, calling Lin Shi screamed and knelt down covering her face, the bright red blood immediately flooded the back of her hand and dripped onto the stone bricks under her knees.

Suddenly, the scream of a girl and the cry of a woman resounded in the courtyard. Cao Luan, who was about to rush over, had already been pinned down to the ground, with blue veins on his forehead and neck: "Bastard! Come to me if you have anything! Give me first!" I let them go!"

"Mr. Cao has long sleeves and is good at dancing, and he is the best at drilling camps. If we can fight, why would we make such a bad move?" The black-clothed guard pulled out the sword at his waist, and casually tapped Xuanxuan's pink and green silk shirt twice with the tip of the sword. On the front of the front, he glanced at Mrs. Lin, who was lying on the ground, and then looked at Cao Luan, who was glaring and trembling, and said without any waves: "Okay, Mr. Cao, come and answer me a few questions, and I won't be like cutting off your wife. Go cut your daughter's face again."

Cao Luan was trembling with anger, and struggled again in vain, but to no avail, so he could only stare angrily at the man in black.

But the man in black didn't care about his anger, he just asked softly and cleverly: "Dare to ask, just now Mr. Pei took you to the backyard, what did he say besides resigning? He didn't say that Prince Jin would like to Rebellion, how to rebel? What deal does he have with King Jin?"

Cao Luan said coldly: "Lord Pei is only concerned with saving his sister now, and the King of Jin took advantage of his danger to rob the six powers and positions. Naturally, it is impossible to explain whether he did or did not, and nothing else has been mentioned yet. "

"Oh? Haven't talked about it yet?" The man in black slightly moved the tip of his sword away from Xuanxuan's neck by two points, and continued to ask: "Then Mr. Cao, which seat in the Sixth Division does Prince Jin want?"

Cao Luan looked at his wife who covered her face and fell to the ground with blood on her hands, then looked at her daughter who was so frightened by the blade that she could no longer cry, her shoulders trembled slightly, her hands tightened her knees, and she remained silent. For a moment, after all, he was unwilling to speak.

The man in black urged impatiently, and the sword in his hand was sent to Xuanxuan's neck again, scaring Cao Luan to speak out in a hurry: "The Ministry of Punishment! This is the seat of the Ministry of Punishment... Cui Yu."

The man in black didn't move the tip of his sword, and asked again: "Who does Prince Jin want to replace?"

At this point, Cao Luan struggled to no avail, in order to protect his daughter, he had no choice but to say: "Zhang San."

"Oh, Master Zhang's son?" The man in black rolled his eyes when he heard this, "Interesting." As he spoke, he immediately attracted a young man who looked like a tea boy, and Su Rong whispered, and ordered: "Go, take Pei Pei first." Let the emperor know about Jun's secret meeting, I'm afraid there are other things involved, I still need to have a good chat with Mr. Cao tonight, and I will return to the palace tomorrow to report."

The tea boy nodded obediently, and immediately took orders to run outside the mansion.After the man in black gave his orders, he put away his sword, strolled up to Cao Luan, squatted down, and was at the same height as Cao Luan who was forced to kneel down, looked at Cao Luan's embarrassed expression with raised eyebrows, and asked again with a smile: "Cao Luan What did Pei Jun say after Mr. sent me to the Marquis of Zhongyi just now? Why didn't you let me listen?"

Cao Luan's throat seemed to be blocked by a boulder, and he didn't speak, and he didn't look at him anymore.

The man in black was dissatisfied with his actions, and lazily said to his back: "Come here, cut off Lin's other—"

"I say."

Cao Luan gritted his teeth and spit out these two words, interrupting the order coldly, with a frightening hatred flashing from the bottom of his eyes, he looked at the man in black: "If you don't hurt my wife and children, I will say whatever you want to hear." "If you still want to hurt them, I, Cao Luan, will not say a word from now on."

The man in black approached him and smiled: "Do you think you can still negotiate terms?"

Cao Luan said calmly: "Whether the life of my wife and children is more important, or the emperor's order is more important, you should not be unclear about this question. If you want me to continue talking, you can ask someone to bandage my wife and let her take it Take my daughter back to the house, then what do you want to hear, I tell you, you can ask as long as you want, as long as you don’t hurt them.”

Hearing this, the man in black looked at Cao Luan quietly for a while, then got up suddenly, turned his head and whispered to the "servants" in the first courtyard: "Go, find a doctor to stop the bleeding for the lady, and let her take the young lady back first." Let's go to the house."

As he said that, he waved his hands to the strong men holding Cao Luan: "Since Mr. Cao has already spoken, let's stop pushing it. Let's ask Mr. Cao to explain in detail. We have a lot to ask. "