Cai Xu died. According to the documents of the Criminal Department, Cai Xu committed suicide by taking poison shortly after Li Xiao left, and no one knew where the poison came from, and no one went back to investigate whether it was left by the little poet fairy. Cai Xu was originally a person who was about to die, compared to beheading him on the street, the current way of dying may be the best result. As for Cai Kun, the explanation given by the Criminal Department was to go with it, and at the same time, in a hurry according to the new law, the Cai family father and son were cremated.

Of course, before the cremation, Dongchang confirmed Cai Xu's identity with the people from the procuratorate. The emperor was merciful and allowed the ashes of the Cai family to return home. At this point, the month-long Wencheng Street incident came to an end.

According to the Jiaku archives: in the middle of the summer of the fifth year of Chenghua, Cai Xu, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, was arrested and imprisoned in early July because of his conflict with Li Xiao, the son of Suzhou, and Wencheng Street, bribing the former Dongchang secret agent, stealing the heavy weapon of the procuratorate, and conspiring with the assassins of the Northland Grassland, and was arrested and imprisoned in early July for the crimes of treason, abuse of power for personal gain, and theft of national weapons.

It happened suddenly, and it ended suddenly. When Li Xiao got the news, it was already night, and he was a little surprised. But the unexpected thing was not Cai Xu's death, but the death of such an accident and so fast. I thought he would live long enough to be beheaded.

Li Xiao sat on a stone bench in the backyard of Wan'an Temple, lightly buttoning the marble table. He suddenly felt that if he went later, would Cai Xu be able to die later. He chuckled, quickly refuting his ridiculous idea. However, when he thought of the handsome young man on Shengye Street and the lonely waiter in the white miserable prison uniform he had just seen, he couldn't help but feel a trace of guilt in his heart. In the final analysis, Cai Xu's father and son died because of him, and in a sense, they are innocent.

"Heh......" he smiled and sighed, there are no innocent people in this world. As the Buddhists say, the cycle of cause and effect, Cai Xu entered this officialdom is the cause, and the current situation is the effect. And as for his cause and effect, what is it?

"Li Gongzi is not resting in the room, why are you sitting here sighing." Outside the moon gate, Pu Jing, dressed in casual Buddhist clothes, walked slowly, looked at Li Xiao and joked with a smile: "It shouldn't be called Gongzi, but Xiao Li." ”

Li Xiao got up unhurriedly, folded his hands, saluted Pu Jing, and said: "The abbot master joked with Li Xiao again, a small member of the army, not to mention that he had no real power, and was thrown away by His Majesty to farm. ”

"Childe is such a poet, don't be modest." Pu Jingbi made a gesture and motioned for Li Xiao to sit down.

Adults are commensurate, and there is always a feeling of rustiness. Li Xiao has lived in Wan'an Temple for a while, and his relationship with Pu Jing and others is also good, and he also talks a lot on weekdays, but because of the assassination on Wencheng Street and the "tofu" business, he rarely stays in the temple these days.

Pu Jing lightly brushed off the stone bench with some leaves, sat down, and continued: "I heard that Gongzi went to the Criminal Department today? It's for Cai Shilang. ”

Li Xiao nodded, a little surprised. Now his whereabouts can be said to be public in Jingshi, and since he left the imperial study, he has a feeling that he is being watched at all times, and he can roughly guess who those are. It is nothing more than the eyeliner of several princes and ministers in the court. He was surprised that Abbot Pujing, who had always been calm and indifferent, took the initiative at this time.

The so-called popularity is a lot, chanting three poems in one night, and at the same time making a name for himself brings endless trouble, he knows this very well, aren't the stars and celebrities in his previous life like this. It's just that the difference is that celebrities face threats mainly from black fans, while he is those who can't see and hide in the shadows.

For example, the plan that I still don't know what it is, and the fifteen-year plan will never end so simply.

"After all, it's a matter of life so far, and when I learned the real murderer, I wanted to take a look." He smiled, his good-looking face still tinged with a hint of tiredness. Since he came out of the punishment department, the tiredness on his face has not diminished.

Pu Jing also saw the tiredness on Li Xiao's face, and was worried, guessing that she had encountered something in the prison today, or heard something disturbing, so she took advantage of the fact that there was no one around, and came to enlighten and enlighten. He is the only person who can get close to the latter now, this child has experienced the life and death of Wencheng Street, his life is big, and he survived, but this is also an assassination, and he almost lost his life, if he stays behind and has a hidden illness or something, it is his mistake.

In the future, I went down and faced Mr. Zhongsu without shame.

"What bad things happened to me, the old man looked at the child's face, it didn't seem to be very good, was he tired?"

It's a bit tiring indeed. After he listened to Cai Xu's words, it seemed that an invisible mountain was pressing on him, making him breathless.

Life and death have their own destiny. Cai Xu's words were like a nail, stuck in his heart, stirring twice from time to time, involving his body.

To tell the truth, he also recognized this sentence in the past, life and death have their own destiny, so he will safely accept everything that those people arranged for him, learn martial arts, study medicine, travel thousands of miles to Beijing, and then under the arrangement of those people, enter the palace for treatment. Of course, he resisted and wanted to end it early and return to Suzhou, but the result was an assassination of Wencheng Street that I don't know if it was arranged by those people. For this reason, after more than ten days of coma, as soon as he woke up, he began to desperately investigate the case, but in the end, there was nothing, but a substitute for the dead ghost ended everything, some irony, and some powerlessness.

Now he didn't know what to do next, and he was at a loss. From childhood to adulthood, he didn't have a clear goal, thinking that everything would be arranged by others, so he was at the mercy of others, as Cai Xu said, "If you are at the mercy of others, you must also have the qualifications to be manipulated." ”

I don't know when he began to dislike the feeling of being at the mercy of others. Looking at the empty courtyard, he liked the environment of Wan'an Temple very much, the melodious bell rang so that his heart could get a short period of comfort, the last time he escaped from the fear of killing, part of it was relying on the help of the masters of Wan'an Temple and this bell.

"Abbot Pujing, I'm a little confused, I don't know what to do and what to do." Li Xiao frowned, looking at the lines on the marble table, and suddenly became confused in front of him.

Hearing Li Xiao's words, Pu Jing was stunned for a moment, and didn't react for a while. The young man is heroic, and he has just won an official title, and his future is very good, but he said something he didn't know what to do at this time, which is not what a teenager has to say.

coughed, shook a few drops of crystal dew on his shoulders, and said: "If the prince doesn't know what to do, it's better to listen to Your Majesty's words and go to the suburbs to rest for a few days. ”

When he was not in Wan'an Temple today, someone from the palace came, in order to get it from rice paper, first praised Li Xiao's poetic talent, and then read the official title that was sealed last night, and then there was a lot of nonsense, such as rewards, but except for gold and silver jewelry, silk and satin, there was nothing new. In the end, the errand that the emperor handed over to Li Xiao was read, but he didn't say the chili pepper. Of course, the same holy decree was also passed on to the Jingzhao Yin Mansion, because the matter of planting chili peppers was brought by the new Sicang to join the army with the subordinate officials and officials of the Jingzhao Yin Mansion.

"Yes." Li Xiao nodded subconsciously, and then he had to help the emperor anyway, and it might be a good choice for a few days of leisure and recreation in Taicang Mountain in the east of the city.

With a brief direction, it was inexplicably somewhat comfortable. Next, he is going to the east of the city to plant chili peppers, so that he can stay away from the court, he is now hot, and all forces are watching him, and he can get out at this time, and he can avoid a storm. And, it seems, he will need to participate in the scientific expedition in the near future.

The scientific examination has always been one of the most important things in all dynasties, related to the election of talents, and the key to the protégés of various ministers, no one will let go, therefore, the chief examiner who participated in the scientific examination will deliberately avoid it every few days. The emperor strictly forbade the formation of parties for personal gain, especially in the matter of scientific research, and it was never allowed to mix with the taste of officialdom in advance. Of course, there are also things such as cheating, which absolutely belong to the taboo of the emperor.

As a new examiner, Li Xiao is young, so he naturally becomes the primary target of various ministers, and if he continues to stay in the city, it is estimated that countless people will come to look for him. He didn't like the set of practices in the officialdom, and he has always adhered to the attitude of respecting and staying away, but what annoys him is that people are sophisticated, and now he happens to have a legitimate reason to avoid it, which is naturally excellent.

The place where peppers are planted is outside the city, and if those ministers do some bells and whistles, it is estimated that there is no need for him to refuse, and the emperor will personally do them. "Bashi!"

"By the way, abbot, Li Xiao has one more thing to ask." Li Xiao turned around and faced Pu Jing: "The abbot trusts the mandate of heaven?" ”

"Destiny?" Pu Jing's hand stroking his beard stopped, and he looked at the young man opposite with a puzzled expression, the little boy, and he actually said the destiny of heaven. After a pause, he continued to stroke his beard: "As soon as the mandate of heaven says, if you believe it, if you believe it, if you don't believe it, then you don't believe it." Lao Qu is a Buddhist person, and he believes in the Buddha and Bodhisattva in the extreme west. ”

"The Mandate of Heaven, what is the Mandate of Heaven, no one has ever said clearly, there are people in ancient times who will win the sky, what is said is the plan of man, and it is the will of heaven that wins. Just like our dynasty, no one believed that Emperor Taizu, who was herding cowherds, could create a prosperous ......"

"People are determined to win the sky, and half of the wall has no sun and moon for a long time." Li Xiao thought quietly. This is one of the sayings, in which man will conquer heaven.

Pu Jing's heart fluctuated for a while, smiled slightly, and then said: "There was once a person who gave a message to the old man, the destiny of heaven has been decided, what will happen in the future, it is yourself who can change, not the sky. Confucianism has a saying......"

Li Xiao looked at the dark night sky and muttered, "My life is up to me, not to the sky......"