In the evening, the carriage of the Criminal Department stopped at the gate of the small courtyard where Shen Ruoyu lived. The personal soldiers guarding the county lord of Cheng'an at the gate have evacuated in accordance with the holy order. Xu Huizu and Hou Tai got out of the car, helped Shen Ruoxiao, who was pale, dripping in cold sweat, and crumbling, out of the car, helped them into the courtyard gate, and sent them directly into the room.

Nangong Qiu panicked, Xu Huizu tried his best to comfort her and said that she was fine, Lord Yibin was frightened in the criminal department and needed a good rest. When Nangong Qiu came over with boiling water, Wei Guogong took his leave and left.

Nangong Qiu immediately pounced on him and asked in a panic:

"What's wrong with you? What happened to you? How did you become like this? What the hell did they do to you? You speak! Ruo Few—"

Shen Ruoyu held her hands in his hands and looked at her face. Nangong Qiu had never seen such a deep horror that bordered on madness in those familiar dark eyes.

"What should I do, what should I do......" he muttered.

"What to do?" Nangong Qiu grabbed him, "What's wrong?" Tell me! ”

Shen Ruoyu stretched out his hand to hug her, and kept muttering:

"What should I do? I'm so scared...... Qiu'er, I'm so scared......"

Nangong Qiu hugged him tightly and looked at his face with great anxiety:

"Ruoxiao, what's wrong, you tell me? What have you suffered all these days in prison? Tell me? ”

"Qiu'er, I saw it...... I didn't think it would be so scary......"

"What do you see?" Nangong Qiu asked.

Shen Ruoyu suddenly had a spasm all over her body, pushed her away from her arms, stumbled out of the door, and vomited on the spot. Nangong Qiu chased him out in a panic, but saw that he was already empty in his stomach, and all he spit out was puddles of pale red liquid. She was terrified. Shen Ruoyu stopped vomiting at this time, turned around, and held her hand.

"Qiu'er, I'm fine." He said weakly, "Just now in the prison of the Criminal Department, I have vomited all my internal organs. I need to lie down for a while. ”

With that, he ignored her gaze, and floated back into the house like a corpse, and fell down on the bed.

That night, he developed a high fever. The next day, Fang Xiaoru came to visit Shen Ruoliao, learned that he had a fever, and reported the matter to the Son of Heaven after he returned.

Jianwen Tianzi didn't know why, so he invited Hou Tai, the secretary of the Criminal Department, to ask; Hou Tai truthfully told the emperor that he and Xu Huizu had forced him to watch the torture under the pretext of the Son of Heaven to order him to hear the interrogation before releasing Shen Ruoliao, but Cheng An Yibin was so frightened that he fainted on the spot, and vomited after waking up. Zhu Yunwen couldn't sleep well after hearing this, and finally couldn't help but tell Fang Xiaoru, which made Fang Xiaoru very angry, and specially found Shangshu of the Criminal Department and Wei Guogong to accuse.

After Xu Huizu waited for Shen Ruoxiao's fever to subside, he came to visit and found a polite excuse to send Nangong Qiu away, leaving him alone in the house. He sat down on the edge of the sickbed, carefully examining the patient's face. pale, trembling, terrified in the dark pupils; The traces of fear are still so obvious.

He asked, "How are you, are you feeling better?" ”

Shen Ruoyu looked at him in disbelief.

"Is Grandpa indifferent?" He asked softly.

Xu Huizu smiled with some sympathy: "The last two battlefields, you will get used to it." I'm used to it now. ”

"That's what Grandpa wants to tell me, right?" Shen Ruoyu said weakly, "What Lord Hou wants to tell me is different from you, right?" ”

Xu Huizu smiled faintly. "You know better than anyone that you have ten times more information about King Yan than Yu Liang, Zhou Duo and Ni Liang combined. You've just turned twenty, and you're so young and beautiful, and you don't have children yet. Do you think you can withstand the torture that is more poisonous than the other? Even if you could, wouldn't you think about it for the county lord? ”

Shen Ruoyu begged: "Grandpa, what else do you want me to say?" Yan Wang privately recruited the army and trained the troops secretly, I have already admitted these, what else do you want to know? If you want to kill me or not, you will arrest me and let me go, and give me back your official position, but you will drag me to see the torture - if you really want to force me to confess something, why don't you just ask me, you have to play the game of cat and mouse? ”

Xu Huizu said coldly: "If not, how can it shock your heart?" Cheng'an Yibin, don't think that the imperial court is really so easy to be deceived by you. Even if Mr. Fang is pure-hearted and deceived by your schemes, you never want to be able to deceive me. You used Yuan Tingyu to force the Son of Heaven to let go of the third son of King Yan, knowing that Ni Liang must have no direct evidence, you are confident that you can win with logic. I have led troops for many years, and I know that one of the most deceptive things in the world is logic; I also know that there are no coincidences in this world, and there must be calculations behind all coincidences. You just have a flexible brain, a sharp tongue, and the courtiers who bully the Son of Heaven are all naïve and simple weak scholars, taking advantage of the court for a while, but don't forget, the Ming court still has my Xu Huizu, staring at your every move all the time, and I can see all your thoughts clearly. I'm not Mr. Fang; For me, King Yan and the court are already on the battlefield, and in war, all means are fair. You can deceive the court, and I can use the torture of the prison against you. How indestructible do you really feel? ”

Shen Ruoliao covered her face and groaned. Xu Huizu had already heard his will collapse from this short soft groan.

"Grandpa, don't push me anymore. I throw in the towel; It was I who came up with the idea, it was I who asked Yuan Tingyu to sing a prophecy in disguise to force the Son of Heaven to release him, and it was I who pretended to oppose it and prompted the world to make up its mind. You don't need to be tortured, I admit everything. It's just that please don't play games with me again this time, and let the Son of Heaven kill me directly, okay? I really beg you......"

Xu Huizu quietly looked at Shen Ruoyu, who was trembling in front of him. He said calmly:

"It's good if you admit it. Since the Son of Heaven has forgiven you, as long as you sincerely change your ways, everything in the past is in the past. If I really refuse to forgive you for your sins, your lies will be exposed in court that day, and I will not be able to stand idly by. I forced you to confess only because, since you want to stay with the Son of Heaven, I can't tolerate you continuing to lie. You have to have a completely honest history before you can have a clean start again. ”

Shen Ruoyu put down his hand, his face was still incredible. He said weakly:

"Grandpa, Mr. Fang said to give me time and let me think about it. Before I could think about it, the Son of Heaven issued a holy decree. How do you ask me to receive this decree? I was almost scared to death by this court, I can't wait to run back to Beiping immediately, return to King Yan, where do I dare to continue to stay in the capital? The court didn't believe me before, let alone my father, and let alone Emperor Gao's last order here, why did he suddenly change his mind and let me be the imperial guard. The real reason behind all this is probably far from being as simple as Mr. Fang said. ”

Xu Huizu smiled faintly.

"Definitely. The imperial court is trying to take this opportunity to win you over and really snatch you from King Yan completely. The ultimate reason behind it is because of your father. Emperor Gao's last order is here, and Shen Rufeng cannot be reused. However, King Yan is desperate and is already reusing you. Shen Rufeng is a person, he once defeated Deng Yu and Mu Ying's 100,000 army alone. Your martial arts are said to be on par with Ling Zun's back then. And according to my observation, although you are not able to catch up with your father in wisdom and scheming now, you are extremely talented, and if you train carefully, temper more, and gain the same political and battlefield experience as your father back then, you will have the ability to do the same miracle. King Yan is already a generation of heroes, and there are many of you around him, really like a tiger with wings, once the army is raised, how can it be done. If the trend of the world is like this, why does the imperial court bother to abide by Emperor Gao's last order and let King Yan pick up the cheap in vain? If you can be snatched and used for your own use, then quelling the rebellion of King Yan is half the success; If they can't snatch you, then they can only get rid of you, and they must not let you return to King Yan and help you to abuse. ”

Shen Ruoyu screamed: "Grandpa, I can faint and vomit when I watch a torture, how much can I do?" The court can worship me as a general now, but even if I really want to be a fool of the Son of Heaven, I am afraid that as soon as I go to the battlefield, I will be killed by King Yan without leaving a single piece of armor. Of course I don't want the court to kill me, but my father is my father, I am me; It's just that the court thinks I'm as corrupt as my father, and now they think that I have his god-like abilities, and they think too highly of me, right? If I stay, sooner or later I will not meet the expectations of the imperial court, and in the end I will still be killed by the Son of Heaven. ”

Xu Huizu pondered for a moment and said lightly: "You still want to go back to Beiping and follow King Yan?" Presumably you were completely impressed by King Yan's heroism, and admired him so much that you would be so desperate. And you were just frightened by torture again, and in your eyes, the court is tantamount to a demon and a ghost beast at this moment, which makes you feel like an arrow, which is not surprising. It's just, how much do you know about the imperial court? How many times have you been in contact with the Son of Heaven? Contact with the courtiers, how many people in total, how many days? Can you confidently say that you are fully aware of the imperial court and are free from any prejudices? When you first arrived in the capital two months ago, you broke into the palace proudly and recklessly, arrogantly wanting to be the imperial guard of the Son of Heaven. Only two months have passed, but today you are talking to the court, and you are trembling when you see me. Have you ever asked yourself why this has changed? ”

Shen Ruoyu looked at Xu Huizu in horror; Wei Guogong was so clever, he really never realized it.

Xu Huizu softened down and said softly: "Ruo Xiao, do you still remember why you left Yanshan, where you were born and raised, and wandered alone to the strange and huge world outside the mountain? How did you leave Yanshan? ”

Shen Ruoyu was silent, and looked at Wei Guogong intently.

Xu Huizu said softly: "The uncle in your clan did evil for treachery, first killed Ling Zun, and then poisoned the patriarch, and then blamed you, beat and persecuted you, and killed you, so that you were forced to escape from the mountains and run to Beiping to join Lord Yao." The court knows everything about your background. ”

Shen Ruoyu looked at Xu Huizu quietly, his eyes that were still frightened just now fell silent at the moment, and only darkness remained. Wei Guogong instinctively felt a cool air rushing up his spine. It was the first time he had seen Shen Ruoyu have such eyes.

He asked softly, "Now, King Yan is plotting to rebel and take the throne of his own nephew, how different is it from your clan uncle?" Even though he can say that his purpose is a thousand years of merit and a high-sounding achievement, in the final analysis, he is just murdering his own nephew for the sake of power. What about you? not only was indifferent, but also worked hard and desperately to help him; When will you wake up? ”

Shen Ruoyu turned his face silently and stopped looking at Wei Guogong.

Xu Huizu smiled faintly and said, "The Son of Heaven has given you a month's vacation, and you still have time, you can recuperate at home and meditate." At that time, even if you still want to return to Beiping, the court will not kill you, after all, you are a guest of honor in Cheng'an, you can still enjoy food and clothing, and enjoy glory and wealth. But you must be confined at home, I will personally order heavy troops to guard it, and until the imperial court quells the rebellion of King Yan, I can't let you go out of the house for half a step, let alone let you have any contact with people outside your family. If you have figured it out and decided to accept the appointment of the Son of Heaven and serve as the imperial court, you must have a fresh start, you must be loyal to the court with all your heart, and you can no longer have two hearts; I will keep an eye on you all the time, and I will not tolerate the slightest repetition of you. Rest well. ”