"Empty shell...... "Bai Ling repeated the word thoughtfully.

"There are many kinds of empty shells." Wei 14 continued, "There are many family members of the court who have committed serious crimes in the Imperial Court, and they are called criminals. And the person who can become a repeat offender in the court is often intertwined in the court, even if his own clan is destroyed, his former classmates, masters and apprentices will try their best to rescue his wife and son.

"But there is only one way to get out of the sect, and that is the emperor's pardon."

The word forgiveness, Wei XIV said slowly and heavily.

Bai Ling thought for a while, "I want to get the emperor's forgiveness...... Is it hard? ”

"It's hard for these people." Wei Shishi said softly, "The emperor will have a batch of amnesties every Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Day, and if it is a good year, there will be an amnesty on the spring of the following year." However, this type of pardon tends to delineate specific offences in each case, and it has always been only those with lesser criminal records that are eligible for pardon. Repeat offenders will never be on this list. However, the only people who can make people pay a lot of money to redeem themselves are the families of these repeat offenders.

So over time, the palace people in the teaching department came up with a strategy to make money, and when they made a book and entered the information of each newcomer in the spring and autumn of each year, they reserved some whiteboards with seals. Then, if someone outside wants to rescue one of them, as long as he finds the right way and sends a sufficient amount of gold and silver, he can buy a blank slate, and when the emperor pardons him, he will use the crime he was pardoned for that year as a model, and make up a false identity, so that the criminal can escape. ”

Hearing this, Bai Ling understood.

"What a stealing beam." Bai Ling couldn't help but sigh, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, "...... Do these emperors know? ”

"Of course I do." Wei Shishi said softly, "This is Jianxi's original method. ”

“…… But he doesn't check? ”

"Don't check," Wei Shixi's voice lowered a few points, "because all this money will eventually flow into the emperor's treasury." ”

Bai Ling only felt like a lightning bolt in his head.

Wei Shishi looked at the courtyard gate and said softly, "Some crimes, the emperor will turn a blind eye and let them go, and others, take the money and release the people and then arrest them back." ”

Bai Ling stretched out his hand to cover his face, amused by the absurd reality, but then felt that it was all in vain.

Think of the courtiers who slept all night to rescue their colleagues, and when they secretly rescued the families of their colleagues who were imprisoned, they probably had a lonely heart.

If they knew that everything they did was looked at by Emperor Jianxi in the shadows, they didn't know how they would feel?

"That's where the problem comes with these whiteboards." Wei XIV went on to say, "It is equivalent to a household registration within one year. With it, the guilty can be renaturalized in the new state capital, so it's a natural shell. Since Lin Jieyu is on the roster of the Teaching Division, she has not left any traces...... Then it is very likely that her identity was fabricated by the Teaching Workshop Division with a tabula rasa. ”

Bai Ling didn't ask more, she frowned and shook her head in disbelief.

"No, there's something wrong." Bai Ling muttered, "This is unbelievable......

Even the palace maids selected to enter the palace have a net worth of more than three generations, and now they suddenly say that the identity of a mother may be an empty shell...... How could the Worship Room let go of such a mistake?

What's more, the trading of tabula rasa is now under the control of the palace, if someone uses it without permission, will the emperor not know?

"That's just speculation." Wei Shishi said softly, "Originally, my next step was to go to the sect to find out if I was the same age as Lin Jieyu in the past five years...... There was a bit of trouble though. ”

"How?"

"I found out that someone was looking at the archives I had recently retrieved in the North Town Fusi." Wei Fourteen said softly.

Bai Ling was stunned, "...... Someone is looking up, what have you been looking up lately? ”

"Yes."

Bai Ling looked at Fourteen, and was a little uncertain about the name he heard at the city gate this morning, "That's it...... Han Chong? ”

"Hmm." Wei Fourteen nodded, "You've seen him in the morning." ”

Can Wei XIV do it?

Bai Ling remembered that the man in black on horseback had dropped such a sentence before leaving.

"Who is this man?" Bai Ling asked.

Wei Shishi fell into deep thought, and said for a long time, "...... A bit of a troublesome person. ”

"If that's the case, then Fourteen can temporarily stop salvaging clues from the intelligence network of the North Town Fusi." Bai Ling pondered, biting the knuckle of his index finger for a while, and finally said in a deep voice, "I have an idea that may be a little risky. ”

……

When Bai Yi took Ah Li back to his courtyard, it was almost dawn.

Neither he nor Ah Li spoke, and pushed open the door exhausted, and after walking a few steps inside, he saw Bai Ling, who had been waiting all night, leaning against the well and falling asleep.

Bai Yi stepped forward and gently pushed, "Bai Ling, wake up, we're back." ”

Bai Ling opened his eyes a little sleepily and saw that he was covered with the blanket he had given Wei Shixi last night, while Bai Yi and Ah Li were both standing in front of him with red eyes.

"It's hard work...... Bai Ling stood up, "How is the Xiaoman family?" ”

Bai Yi shook his head.

He didn't really want to mention that right now.

"You go inside and sleep for a while." Bai Yi rolled up his sleeves, "I'll go get you something to eat." ”

Ah Li followed Bai Yi and was about to enter the kitchen, but he was also blocked out by Bai Yi.

"It's the same with you, you're tired all night, go into the house and lie down." Bai Yi said and closed the door.

He sat alone in the dimly lit kitchen.

He was used to seeing life and death in the place where he once worked, but the night was still more torturous than he imagined.

Xiaoman's home was in the southernmost part of Pingjing, and they rented a dilapidated old house. Her mother was the only one in the house, and her father and brother were still working outside the home, and it would take about four days to return.

The woman with a sleaky face and a sickly face, holding her daughter's corpse, was stunned in the four-walled room of the house, neither crying nor making trouble, but just gently breathing and rubbing her daughter's stiff and cold little hands.

Ah Li lowered his head, almost unable to face the situation in front of him. He kowtowed repeatedly, begged the woman's forgiveness, and after telling the cause of Xiaoman's death tonight, he blamed himself for her death.

"My aunt has been sick for a few years." Bai Yi asked in a low voice.

“…… Three or four years, right? The woman replied very calmly, she lowered her head and touched the child's little face, and said with a smile, "You want to get me medicine, don't you?" ”

Bai Yi couldn't say comfort, he looked at Xiaoman's mother's bronzed skin and gray eye circles, and knew that he was afraid that this woman was running out of time, this is a standard liver disease, and the lesions of the liver lead to endocrine disorders, which in turn makes the pigment metabolism of the skin abnormal......

This seems to be quite serious.

The woman touched Ali's head, but began to comfort him, telling him not to blame himself.

“…… To each his own life. The woman replied in a weak voice, "It is fate, and you must not deny it." ”

So saying, the woman clutched her belly and bent down in some pain.

Bai Yi and Ah Li wanted to help her to the bed to rest, but the woman didn't want to let go of Xiao Man's hand for a moment, she gritted her teeth to survive this sharp pain, Bai Yi and Ah Li watched her patience on the side, only felt that her scalp was numb and tormented.

“…… Are the fireworks good tonight? The woman asked suddenly.

"Beautiful." Ah Li cried and replied, "Very, very good-looking." ”

In the second half of the night, Ah Li and Bai Yi were busy and found the funeral procession and the monks who prayed for blessings.

There is a saying in Da Zhou, saying that the soul of a child is light, and he cannot be buried on a day like an adult, and he must be buried as soon as possible, otherwise the little essence will be dispersed.

Bai Yi has always disbelieved in this.

But if these illusory things can bring comfort to those who are still alive, he is willing to do his best.

It's just that when everything was arranged, Xiaoman's mother shook her head again, and after thanking her repeatedly, she said that she hoped to cremate the child.

Ah Li cried and didn't follow the only way to go to the ground, how could there be a good way to cremate people, that is the fate that only the most heinous people will have.

The woman said that she could always take it with her, so that the family would not move around in the future, and Xiaoman would be left alone in the cemetery in the south.

Bai Yi's eyes were slightly hot, but he still calmly arranged Xiaoman's funeral according to Xiaoman's mother's wishes.

Before leaving, Bai Yi quietly put the two bags of money in his arms in the woman's hand, "I asked someone to find two mothers-in-law, and I will come over in a while." Xiaoman has been absent in the past two days, and if there is anything wrong with the aunt, I will tell the mother-in-law to do it. ”

The woman thanked her again and again, but the voice of the thank you was almost inaudible.

Ah Li's tears flowed from night to dawn, and on the way home with Bai Yi, he wanted to cry without tears, but he kept choking.

Bai Yi looked at the withered flowers and trees above his head, and only felt cold. The morning breeze of late spring suddenly rose up and blew away the last remaining flowers on the branches.

The wind is blowing, and the only way to survive is to try to survive.

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

A tragedy in Yinfeng Garden, like a breeze, has become a completely different story in the word of mouth of the people.

Xiaoman's age was rumored to be seventeen years old from seven years old, from a child to a thin fortunate woman who looked like a fairy but clinged to the powerful, otherwise only high-ranking officials and nobles could enter the Yinfeng Garden, how could she be mixed with a commoner who would die for a golden step.

It can be seen that his virtue must be tainted, otherwise he will not suffer this retribution.

Some people say that this is the magnates who lost the evil girls who deserved their crimes and went into the dragon pond to pick up gold, and some people said that they were not evil girls, but some noble families were not liked by the maids and maids of the clan, so this caused a panic, and some mothers who had to send their children to the nobleman's house as slaves and maids made the silver find a way to meet the children and ask about the recent situation, for fear that their children would also suffer this misfortune.

Ah Li angrily led people to storm many liquor shops, smashed some storytellers' stalls, and told what he saw again and again in vain. It's just that rumors have wings, and they can't be eliminated.

But what does this have to do with Xiaoman?

All the foul language, partial listening and partial belief, do not constitute one ten-thousandth of the small full, but are all sentient beings themselves at a glance......