The next afternoon.

In the hunting garden.

When De'an, who had not been edicted for two days, walked into the hall with a full stomach, and saw Shen Shu and A Luo kneeling on the ground, as well as Li Zhi, who was in a high position, with solemn eyebrows, dressed in armor and gold, and holding a sword on the ground with one hand, his face suddenly turned white if he realized something.

He slowly walked up to Li Zhi, knocked on his knees, and put down the white jade dust in his hand.

Li Zhi looked at the three of them calmly, but the green tendons on both sides of his temples betrayed his anger.

After a while, he slowly spoke:

"Why? I have said, 'Don't touch her...... Why? ”

Li Zhi asked calmly.

De'an's face turned pale, and he could hardly believe his ears - in an instant, that night Shen Shu asked him to design a message into the Changsun Mansion, and Ah Luo answered in the mansion......

He seemed to understand all at once—

No, he shook his head slowly at himself in the bottom of his heart:

He had already understood, he had already felt it, and he was just deceiving himself and telling himself that it was okay to say so......

He tilted his head and stared blankly at his two brothers.

The two were silent, just silent.

"Do you know what you've done?"

Li Zhihan asked:

"You know what?"

After a while, Shen Shu spoke softly:

"Shen Shu and Ah Luo do have the grace of the king, but please deal with it. But this matter has nothing to do with Dean Ryan. Ryan didn't know that Dean ...... Dean was only deliberately deceived by Shen Shu and Ah Luo......"

"But by disposal...... Good! ”

Li Zhi interrupted him with a sneer, and suddenly drank in a deep voice:

"Where is Jin Wu before driving!"

"The minister is here!"

In a thunderous roar, he jumped into the Eighteen Golden Guards and knelt on the ground:

"Ordered!"

"These two people are favored by the king, and they don't think about serving the country and don't know how to sacrifice the king, because they are disloyal and unjust; It is unkind and immoral to know that the matter involves the enemy state, but still blinds the enemy for personal enmity; Being ignored by the legacy of Xianci and putting his clan relatives in danger is unfilial piety; It is shameless to join forces with traitors and evil parties; Ignoring the promise with me and swearing to my brother is disrespectful......

Such disloyal, unrighteous, unkind, immoral, unfilial, unscrupulous, incorruptible, shameless, and disrespectful people should abide by the laws and regulations of the country!

Come! Give a hundred rods to cleanse them from their sins! ”

"Order!"

Jin Wuwei drank in unison again, and then flashed his staff to be executed, but he heard De'an shouting bitterly:

"Lord! Minister......"

"You can't substitute for them, because they are not wrong, and you are indeed an accomplice without knowing it......

But with your wisdom and your strategy, you will not fail to think of the reasons why they told you to do those things.

Therefore you should also be guilty of not reporting what you know, and you should be obscure! It stands to reason that it should be punished! But I will not punish you physically, but only on one side......

This is the punishment I have given you—to punish your mind, to call your conscience! Execution! ”

Li Zhi said something in a deep voice, so that De'an didn't dare to speak anymore, so he could only sit on the ground, staring blankly at the gold and Wuwei shouting "yes" in unison, and the remorseful whimper sounded from his mouth, accompanied by the dull fluttering sound of the stick hitting the person, and the muffled hum that escaped from between the teeth of Luo Shenshu, intertwined into a painful song!

……

It rained heavily, and it was obviously not suitable for hunting.

Li Zhi sat in the hall, looking outside the hall, and beside him, there was a silent Mei Niang.

For a long time, a rush of footsteps interrupted the couple's empty hope—but it was Minghe.

Standing, first slapping a cross hand salute, Minghe immediately knelt down with a plop and kowtowed:

"Ministers are brave, please the lord and the mother, spare the two masters this time!"

Li Zhi was silent, silent for a long time, and only raised his eyes for a while and said:

"I never wanted their lives - because they ......"

Li Zhiyan said this, but closed his eyes weakly, and slowly lowered his head after a while:

"It's their own choice – whether it's good or bad, it's their own responsibility. No one can change what has been decided, only the next choice......

I hope they don't make the wrong choice again. ”

When Minghe heard this, he gritted his teeth and held back tears, but he just kowtowed.

Mei Niang got up slowly, walked to his side and stood still, stretched out her hand for a while and gently but firmly picked him up, and then said to him with tears on his face:

"What you should do now is to call him up for Bengong and let Bengong teach him a good lesson."

Minghe raised his eyes and looked at Mei Niang, and then looked outside the palace, so he bit the corner of his lip, made another big salute, got up, and rushed out of the hall.

Mei Niang just stood in a daze, and after about a quarter of an hour, Minghe's shouting and crying came into the hall first, so that Li Zhi and Mei Niang invariably tightened their palms.

Then, with the help of a group of attendants, Ruian, who was drenched with blue lips and white face, was dragged by Minghe and dragged into the hall by force. Then he pushed hard and pushed it in front of Mei Niang.

Ryan didn't stop, but fell next to Mei Niang.

Behind their master and apprentice, only a bright water mark was left, silently spreading into the boundless rain curtain.

The moment he saw Mei Niang, Ryan gritted his teeth, got up with difficulty, knelt down, raised his hands, raised his sleeves, and bowed over and over again.

The first time, Mei Niang was still able to hold herself, but her eyes were already slightly red.

The second time, she couldn't hold back her tears, turned her face and looked down at the ground.

The third time, she had endured the heartache again, tears were falling, and she gritted her teeth, but she never screamed.

After the three turns, Ryan straightened up, crossed his hands, and looked blankly at the golden cloud under Li Zhi's throne in front of him.

Li Zhi sat in the candlelight, and the bright red flame reflected the tears on his face:

“…… Do you know what you're doing? ”

Hearing this, Ryan withdrew his gaze and stared at the ground, and spit out a grit word for a while:

"Atonement."

"For whom?"

Li Zhi gritted his teeth, but still asked softly.

"Brothers......"

Ryan replied sneeringly. At this time, he had long since lost his radiance, as if his soul had been withdrawn from his body, leaving only an empty body.

Li Zhi closed his eyes again, and said in a dumb voice for a while:

"Their sins have nothing to do with you."

"The ...... of the Sinner"

"Shut up!"

Before Ryan finished speaking, he was suppressed by Li Zhiping's thunderous shout!

All the servants were so shocked that their faces were like dirt, and they knelt down at the same time, saluting non-stop!

Ryan only froze for a moment, and then spoke slowly:

"Sinners ......"

"As soon as your words come out, it is not you, your good brothers, but the Lord who is guilty."

Mei Niang's cold voice sounded again, although it was very light, but it unexpectedly suppressed the words that Ryan wanted to speak, and also calmed the angry scolding that Li Zhi almost wanted to blurt out.

Ryan was shocked and hesitated slightly.

Mei Niang continued:

"In the whole world, the greatest sin is disloyalty and unfilial piety. You are a sinner......

What is the Lord going to do to make amends......

You should know this better than anyone else. ”

Rui'an's body trembled violently, and after a long time, he regained his composure, and his face was full of despair.

The three of them were silent for a while.

For a long time, Li Zhifang said:

"You will atone for their sins, and I will not stop you again...... You will go with him to serve in the long street, and I will do as you please...... But only one thing,"

Li Zhi looked at him, choked up and said softly:

"Thou shalt not die. Nor shall he die.

Even the two of them shall not die.

Any one of you who has the will to live and die is known to me...... I will make you sleep under the nine springs—do you understand? ”

Ryan closed his eyes, but tears kept flowing, and Li Zhi's voice came from his ears again:

"Instead of you dying...... But there is me...... When you have an edict with Mei Niang, you have to come immediately to listen to the announcement......

This is your sin, do you understand? ”

Li Zhi asked lightly, but Ryan cried silently.

Li Zhi gritted his teeth and drank with tears:

"Do you understand?"

"Lord...... Above......

Lord......! ”

Ryan choked up and muttered a few words from between his teeth, and finally couldn't bear the heartache, collapsed on the ground, and cried loudly.

And Mei Niang, who was standing on the throne and His Royal Highness, also sat or stood in place in a daze, letting tears wash over her face.

……

Next.

The sky was a little clearer, but the dark clouds on the horizon still showed no sign of completely dissipating.

Mei Niang sat on the top of the phoenix tower of the hunting palace, and let the cold wind blow her clothes fiercely.

Beside her, there stood Minghe, who had swollen eyes, Murong Yan, who sighed, and Suqin, who had not dried her tears.

All four looked ahead, a simple carriage heading northwest.

After a while, Ming He said lightly:

"The mother and the lord instructed a few things, Minghe has done it......

Masters...... As soon as they returned to Chang'an, Master Zhou would immediately come to pick them up and arrange them in the long street...... The people over there are also all taken care of, up and down, and so on, all know that they have to take good care of the two of them......

And also...... Also, the food along the way has also been arranged......

And ......"

Minghe couldn't go on, just shed tears.

Mei Niang didn't cry, but asked quietly:

"Ryan's body has just been drenched in the rain, but can I ask Brother Sun to catch the medicine?"

"Caught...... also took care of Master Li Yun and Master Jing'an, who accompanied him all the way back, and would always let him take medicine well. What's more, whether it is the lord or the mother, they have all ordered him not to commit suicide......

Master he ...... He won't ......"

Minghe couldn't say any more, just bowed and saluted.

Mei Niang blinked and waved him to stand down.

Murong Yan on the side shook her head and sighed:

"Ryan is a good boy, it's just a pity that there are brothers like that who drag him down."

Mei Niang was silent, and Su Qin also said sentimentally:

"And Dean...... He's a good boy too......"

"He? And he did. ”

Murong Yan snorted lightly:

"Although the wife of her family is crazy and lives like a childish child when she is involved in her affairs, she is still clear in her heart in major matters. This time he was right, if De'an had a heart, such a thing was so strange, he would never really listen to his brother......

Speaking of which, in his heart, she was still a person who could be used—not like the wife and fool whom he was loyal to, even if he sacrificed himself, and his brothers could not take advantage of it. ”

When Su Qin heard this, she glanced at her with some hesitation:

"Sister......

"It doesn't matter, although she doesn't like it, it's the truth."

Mei Niang said lightly:

"At least Dean is on top of that...... No, it's always been more than Hongu's position to consider Jiro's position. In fact, this is what this palace likes most about him. ”

With a slight sigh, Mei Niang lowered her head and said softly:

"Actually, this time, Bengong didn't have the intention to blame him for anything...... But ......"

Mei Niang looked up, watched the carriage disappear into a small black dot on the horizon, and stared for a while:

"But he shouldn't...... You shouldn't have dragged Xian'er in......

Although he absolutely didn't know, he would never have imagined that the other party would take advantage of Xian'er......

But it was he who made Xian'er so frightened.

So, it's better to teach him some lessons, let him know what he was wrong, reflect on it for a few days, and come back again......

It's good. ”