It was dark and the night was dark. On the contrary, the Ezhou market has become more and more lively, with lights in the front and back yards of teahouses and restaurants on both sides of the main street, and lanterns hanging from street stalls to attract business. The officials are mostly out and about during the day, and they are free at night, and Suzaku Street under the light and candle shadow is more lively than during the day. Night travelers with their families stand by shops and stalls to pick up valuables such as pearls and incense. Those who return late can sit down and watch the bustling streets while eating hot tea soup.

Suzaku Street is one of the most lively places in Ezhou, in the morning and evening, the scribes of the various yamen are eating snacks and drinking soup and tea on the street, and the public opinion of the tea stall has been towards the imperial court. The vicinity of Ezhou State School, which is separated by a few streets, is the place where scholars and scholars gather. However, no matter where it was, it was always the noise of the street market that overpowered everything, and the voices of tourists, boatmen, merchants, generals, monks, nuns, Taoist priests, and fortune tellers converged into a huge wave. If you listen carefully, you will hear all kinds of official or gossip news, what you have seen and heard in the south and north of the world, tabloid stories, rich idlers chatting about the wind and snow and the moon with melon seeds, and the people in the market are arguing with vigor for firewood, rice, oil and salt, and the hard-working people are sighing.

The various sounds in the market make people dizzy, and then converge into a huge sound tide, lingering in the sky of Ezhou City.

There was a royal history play, saying that the night market in Ezhou was too lively, people did not distinguish between day and night, inhaling night air, which was the decline of the last days.

Prime Minister Chen Dong only replied: "Nonsense! ”

"What nonsense!" A green-shirted scribe who ate tea scolded loudly, "Yushi's brain was kicked by a donkey." ”

The bystanders looked sideways, and when they saw a few scribes in official uniforms, they turned their heads again. In recent years, the Qing Dynasty has flourished, and the people of Ezhou have become more and more well-informed. This concept of "scholars" includes not only the officials of the court, but also the scholars and scholars. There is a strange concept in Ezhou that Suzaku Street is the territory of the imperial court, which is a fact confirmed by the Marquis of Wuchang with a cannon. This concept seems respectful, but in fact it is a bit rebellious.

"It's nonsense." Fan Changheng carefully agreed.

Fan Changheng started from the end of the year and cherished his current status very much. His seemingly cautious attitude in words and deeds is actually not as sophisticated as people like Li Hongguang and Qin Jiusheng who have been in the public for a long time, because they really know what can be said and what cannot be said. In addition to Li Hongguang, Fan Changheng and Qin Jiusheng have not yet entered the product. Two people are nothing in Ezhou City. It's not uncommon for as long as they don't point at their boss's nose and scold, or make trouble, even if they tear their throats and scold the sky, they are little people who no one cares about.

Ever since the rebellion, the Criminal Department has been under pressure to speed up the trial of prisoners who are in custody awaiting trial. Wen Xunzhi, the secretary of the Criminal Department, is also not fooling at will, and strictly orders all departments to handle every case as an iron case, and the file resolutely does not allow others to accuse the Criminal Department of being careless of human life. In this way, the officials of the various houses who work underground are tired like dogs in the ministry, and they are still infamous outside.

Killing too many people, even the executioner's mind has a problem, in order to prevent the ghost from asking for his life, every three or five times to go to the Buddhist temple Taoist temple to solve grievances and eliminate disasters. Later, the imperial court asked the Ministry of Industry to build a head-cutting machine, which could cut off up to five heads at a time without the need for an executioner to swing a knife, so that most of the death row prisoners in the prison could be executed on schedule. After several months, the accumulated anger of the officials of the criminal department is still difficult to dissipate.

"According to me," Qin Jiusheng said loudly: "If Yushi is shouting like this again, it is better to ask the Marquis of Wuchang to come back and kill them with one shot." He leaned over the table and said to the two, "I heard someone say that Song Shilang is still the senior brother of the Marquis of Wuchang, tsk, do you know about this?" Li Hongguang looked at him pretending to be mysterious, snorting on dozens of small plates of fried rice and fried beans on the table, and couldn't help frowning, and said in a deep voice: "Song Shilang is a disciple of Chao Hanlin, and he is from the same door as Zhao Baoyi, so it is not a secret. Fan Changheng and Qin Jiusheng were surprised: "Why don't I know? Li Hongguang glanced at the two of them with disdain, reached out and picked up a fried soybean and threw it into his mouth, biting it with a crisp sound.

"I'm not blessed to be born in Taixue," Qin Jiusheng just rightly patted the sycophants, "How can Master Li have a wide range of knowledge." ”

Li Hongguang smiled slightly, but he was not modest, picked up another soybean and threw it into his mouth, took a sip of tea, and made a sound with his half-closed eyes, as if it was the elixir and jade liquid. He is usually approachable and has nothing to do with the subordinate prison officials, but at this moment, Fan Changheng naturally realized the differences between them, and spontaneously developed a different kind of envy, jealousy and hatred.

"If it weren't for my livelihood, I would have wanted to go the right way." Fan Changheng thought sullenly.

The night was getting deeper, and Qin Jiusheng and the others ignored why Fan Changheng was silent, and talked and laughed loudly to themselves. The market was still full of traffic, people coming and going, and everyone went to pay special attention to the three officials in official clothes at the tea stalls on the street. If in the past, when you saw someone wearing official clothes, everyone had to deal with it carefully. The world is different, if it weren't for the direct relationship with the Criminal Department, there really wouldn't be too much to worry about them. This is especially true for those who are literate and self-disciplined.

Separated by three streets, is the courtyard wall of Ezhou State School, with a small door on the wall, which is not closed late at night.

Wuben Lane is the place where the state school students usually gather and eat tea. In Ezhou City, Wuben Lane is also a famous place. In addition to the state bachelors, there are also many merchants, coolies, servants, palanquin drivers, storytellers, girls who accompany wine, and so on. The weather is getting warmer, and it will be a difficult hot season in two months, but the kaki shirt that accompanies the wine is already light, and it is even more difficult for the merry men to linger here. Although there is a huge disparity between the status of scholars and girls, after all, they are strong in blood, often scholarly, directing the country, and being a prince of dung. Sometimes they even have a red-faced argument.

"Zhao Baoyi's literature can be attached to the public, and the martial arts can be powerful to the enemy, and "The Gentleman's Country" is full of tens of thousands of words, and it is even more ......"

"Humph! Zhao is just a butcher with personal virtues. Wrong in your own body! Qi family can't! How to govern the country and level the world? ”

"Yes, he is the prime minister, is he bullying me and no one in the Song Dynasty?"

"That's Kansai doing it! You use the topic to play, is it Xia Guo's meticulous work? "Phew, you're the one who works, and you're the next one!"

The argument between the two sides soon turned into a quarrel, mixed with a large number of quotations and accusations, involving dozens of students at the adjacent table. Three tables away from here, Fei Wei frowned and said, "It's getting more and more unruly, it's really insulting." Peng Bo, a Confucian student next to him, sighed and said: "I thought that the state school was a place to do learning, but I didn't expect it to be noisy like this." He looked at the red-faced classmates in the distance, and said in a deep voice, "I plan to go to Changzhou and apply for Donglin Academy." ”

"Brother Peng?" Fei Wei looked at him in surprise. The imperial court has not opened a department for a long time, and in any case, state learning is a shortcut to entering the office.

"Ezhou is a place of right and wrong," Peng Bo shook his head and sighed, "even if it is a shortcut to the south, I have no intention of climbing." He looked at Fei Wei and said with a smile, "If you don't want to, you are strong, and the reins and locks can't restrain me." He picked up his glass and drank it down, looking particularly chic. In fact, young people like them are the most enthusiastic, and this decision is not easy for Bloomberg. Young people always influence each other, and Fei Wei was quite touched by Bloomberg's decision, he brought the wine glass to his lips, looking at the bustling hustle and bustle of Wuben Lane not far away, and did not drink this cup of hot rice wine for a long time.

In the dim light, the light of the lantern just shone on a low table, Li Du took the scroll handed over by the other party, opened it gently, his brows couldn't help frowning, he looked at it at a glance, his eyes became more and more suspicious, and he said in a low voice: "I said why did this book suddenly circulate recently, it is a bit too much to do this." He took it easy, and on the scarlet page of the scroll were the five big characters "The Legend of Qin Xianglian".

I don't know when it started, the story of Chen Shimei and Qin Xianglian spread among the people, and it was far-fetched to Bao Gong. Li Du knew about this book recently, but it was completely alluding to Zhao Xingde and Li Ruoxue. In addition to the general experience similar to Zhao Xingde, the behavior and words of the characters in the middle are extremely slanderous, and even say that Chen Shimei ambushed the assassin in the middle of the way to harm Qin Xianglian's mother and son in order to get along with the princess. Chen Shimei's character was so despicable that even the assassins couldn't stand it. So after the assassin informed Qin Xianglian of Chen Shimei's conspiracy, he killed himself with a sword, and Qin Xianglian returned to Guanzhong with the child. In the teahouse, the people below are scolding them with their teeth below, and some people are whispering, intentionally or unintentionally, telling people that this is a metaphor for a big man in this dynasty.

"This kind of practice," Li Du put down the scroll and frowned, "It's really too inferior." ”

"What's next? You should really go and see the bloody scene at the entrance of the Prime Minister's Mansion. The other party's face was hidden in the dark, and his voice was very low, but with endless hatred, "Zhao Xingde, this butcher, is the best to be ruined!" Li Du sighed, glanced at the cover of the book, reached into his sleeve, and said in a low voice: "But who would believe this thing?" ”

"It doesn't matter if you don't believe it." The man said, "The key is the human heart. ”

"We shed so much blood in the Prime Minister's Mansion that the people forgot about it in a few days. Zhao Xingde, the butcher, instead became an official and became a knight, hugging left and right happily. Only these filthy and messy things will the people talk about it, and this is the human heart. Everyone knows that casinos are going to give thousands, but they still gamble. Everyone knows that this kind of rumor may not be credible, but they don't care if it's true or not, as long as it's interesting. This is the human heart! These vulgar people, just for the sake of jokes after tea and dinner, will make this butcher uncomfortable for a while with spittle. The man laughed dryly, took a glass of wine, and whispered, "It's just to make him uncomfortable, but it's always good." Our biggest goal is to bring down Chen Dong......"