Pei Gonggui

It rained overnight on the official road in Jingmen, and the smooth road for dusting was muddy.The galloping horses stomped heavily over the water puddles, smashed out the mud and rushed it into Beijing, and quickly left dirty and wet marks on the stone brick road in the south of the city, which went straight to Dali outside the North Palace Gate. Temple official office.

Pei Jun jumped off his horse outside the yamen, showed his seal, and all the yamen servants hurriedly gave way.Mei Linyu followed him closely to rein in, but when she got off her horse, she staggered and nearly fell down. Just as she stood still, she heard Pei Jun hastily say "Don't follow me". When she raised her eyes in a panic, she saw that Pei Jun had restrained herself. Yin Xin stepped into the threshold of Dali Temple and walked in.

He hurriedly followed him forward, but the officials on both sides stared at him and blocked him with sticks: "The government office is an important place, you can't enter unless you are on official business!"

Mei Linyu blushed immediately, staring at Pei Jun's back as he disappeared into the corner of the vestibule, gritted her teeth and stomped her feet, finally suppressed her voice and tried to apologize, and asked the clerk if they could be accommodating.

Pei Jun hurriedly turned around the corridor and walked into the inner class. Before reaching the middle hall, he heard a loud dispute: "...the imperial doctor's testimony is dirty, and the facts are right and wrong, right and wrong. How can the lord of the temple rashly impose punishments?" ? If Xiantai doesn't stop this time, wouldn't Dali Temple kill another life in vain?"

The voice was young and powerful, and the words were correct, and Pei Jun soon recognized that it was Zhang San.He was stunned and walked faster, but after listening to Dali Temple Minister's excuses for a while, another male voice continued in a low voice: "Mr. Why did the Ministry of the Temple return the newly submitted lawsuit unopened?"

Pei Jun paused in his steps, but when he heard the voice was Cao Luan, he couldn't help but pause by the door.The officials at the door saluted him in unison, leading the three people in the hall to look at him——Zhang San in black gown and goose badge standing at the desk on the left, with a cold face facing each other, and sitting in the spruce high-backed chair in the middle The Minister of Dali Temple, who is wiping his sweat off his sleeves, stands on the right side of the Minister of Dali Temple, with his hands behind his back and his brows frowned.

Seeing that Pei Jun had arrived, Dali Siqing hurriedly stood up while leaning on the handle of the chair with his sleeves hanging down, and forced a smile in embarrassment: "Oh, Mr. Pei is here, this, this—"

Pei Jun stepped into the hall, squinted at Dali Siqing, and then at Cao Luan: "What's going on?"

Cao Luan handed the lawsuit behind him to Pei Jun, pulled Pei Jun a few steps away, approached him and said in a low voice, "Just after Yin time this morning, the Ministry of the Temple suddenly questioned Pei Yan. I just arrived, and I'm in prison. The interrogation has turned into torture, and non-official messengers are not allowed to enter. Mei Liu and I have heard the news all the way, and we are both in a hurry. He will look for you when he gets the letter, and I will go to Fang Shilang's mansion first and let him go to the censor Taiwan went to Dali Temple to execute torture without reason. Fortunately, it was in the hands of Mr. Zhang, and Mr. Zhang arrived in time, so he was put in court to supervise the case, and the punishment in prison was terminated."

Hearing this, Pei Jun couldn't help but look back at Zhang San.It happened that Zhang San was also looking at him, and when their eyes collided, Zhang San lowered his head and turned away.

At this time, the Minister of Dali Temple came up and looked embarrassed: "Lord Pei, I'm sorry, this is an order issued by the cabinet early in the morning, and our temple department is also following orders, there is nothing we can do."

Pei Jun looked down at Cao Luan's lawsuit with a livid face, then raised his head and glanced at Dali Siqing, and said coldly: "Then this court wants to go to the prison to see my sister right now, I wonder if Mr Siqing has the method? "

The minister of Dali Temple repeatedly bowed his head to make way for the inside: "Yes, yes, please, Mr. Pei, please!"

Pei Jun was led inward by him, passed by Zhang San, and said "Thank you" in a low voice.Zhang San stepped aside without saying a word, but when Pei Jun rubbed his sleeves, he turned to Dali Siqing: "Master Siqing, stop."

The Minister of Dali Temple paused, and Zhang San said with a solemn expression: "Actually, there is not only Pei's case recently, many documents that Dali Temple handed over to the Yushitai for supervision and interrogation are quite different from those investigated by the Xiantai, and they have been submitted to the imperial court... I'm afraid there may be mistakes. I also hope that your lord will not hesitate to raise one or two points, so as to avoid disputes at the court meeting on the [-]nd."

The minister of Dali Temple froze immediately: "This, this—it should, it should." After saying that, he had to plead guilty to Pei Jun and stay, and the Yamen sent him to lead him all the way into the prison.

The corridor in the cell was dark, and Pei Jun's pace became more and more urgent.Cao Luan, who was following him, trotted several times to keep up, but was speechless along the way.

Turning around the dark gray and damp corner of the masonry wall, before reaching the end, he could hear the pained panting inside. After turning the last wooden fence, Pei Jun finally saw the dimly lit prison cell on the right, with an impressive expression on his face. Pei Yan, who was pale and bloody in prison clothes.

Pei Yan collapsed on the hay mat on the stone bed, her temple hair was sticky to her forehead with sweat, and there were sporadic bloodstains on the hay mat.She was trembling with pain all over her body. When she heard the sound of the prison door, she raised her half-closed eyes in horror. When she saw that it was Pei Jun who broke into the prison, the panic in her eyes suddenly turned into trembling of dependence: "Pei... ...Pei Jun..."

"Pei Yan!" Pei Jun ran up to her and held her face in his arms, unable to hide his anger, he yelled at the yamen servant behind him: "Hurry up and call the doctor!"

The yamen servants outside the prison should go again and again in a panic.In the prison, Pei Jun straightened Pei Yan's forehead, suppressed her grief and anger and said, "Don't be afraid, Pei Yan, I'm here, I'm fine..."

Pei Yan's hands were dripping with blood, and her wrists were also covered with bloodstains from whipping.She leaned weakly in Pei Jun's arms, the tears overflowing from her eyes ran across the blood stains covering her tender face, and dripped on Pei Jun's cuffs that were held by her trembling hands, she said angrily: "Pei Jun, I'm in so much pain... ..."

These words made Pei Jun heartbroken.He hurriedly hugged Pei Yan in his arms and hissed, and was about to continue to comfort him, when Pei Yan saw Cao Luan who was following behind him into the prison, and was startled in his arms: "He...he!"

Pei Yan's throat choked tightly, and suddenly her whole body tensed and trembled in a low voice: "You let him go...you let him go!"

Pei Jun thought she mistook Cao Luan for an official, so he comforted him softly: "Don't be afraid, Pei Yan, that's Cao Luan, you knew him in the past. He—"

"I know!" Pei Yan interrupted him, "I know who he is..."

Her wide-open eyes stared at Cao Luan behind Pei Jun with hatred and sorrow, coughed fiercely, gritted her teeth to bear the pain, and said in a low hoarse voice again: "You let him go, let him go!"

Pei Jun didn't understand why, and turned his head to look at Cao Luan in amazement at this moment, but he saw that Cao Luan was not as dazed as he was, but instead looked solemn and ashamed, and he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable and cold: "Brother... what 's wrong?"

Cao Luan's eyes were fixed on Pei Yan, with a look of extreme pain in his eyes. Hearing this, he choked for a while, and finally lowered his head and frowned: "Forget it... I'd better go out and wait for you first." After saying that, he turned and stepped out. to the cell.

Pei Yan's eyes followed Cao Luan's figure as he disappeared into the corridor outside the prison, and when she was finally out of sight, she lowered her eyes and remained silent.Pei Jun led her to sit firmly against the earthen wall beside the stone bed, supported her shoulders and asked, "Have you ever had any trouble with Lao Cao? How come I've never heard of it?"

"Is it a holiday..." Pei Yan's eyelashes moved slightly, and the words seemed to be ironic, but also sighed, "Of course there are."

She raised her eyes to look at the swaying candle on the wooden table beside the stone bed, the light flickered in her eyes, as if she saw something else.For a long while, she seemed to laugh absurdly. This smile seemed to have laughed off all the grievances and partings of a lifetime, but what overflowed from the corners of her lips was bitterness, which went to the deepest point:

"Ten years ago, I asked Cao Luan to do something for me, but he didn't answer me."

Pei Jun gently sat down beside her, only to feel that this sentence sent chills down his spine, and he said, "What's the matter?"

Pei Yan looked at him, her eyes at this moment seemed to penetrate the present, looking at an earlier time, she was sad for a moment, and smiled sadly:

"I let him marry me."