The snow and wind enter the mountains

Li Qingyun has been walking this road from Donghuamen to Qianqing Palace for eighteen years.

He experienced thunder, lightning, rain, honor, disgrace, right and wrong.

Therefore, when this thick stack of memorials came pouring down on him, he knelt down extremely smoothly without any hesitation.

"Li Qingyun! You be good to me..."

Ji Mingxiu slammed the table and took a breath, but before he could even utter the question, he was blocked by Li Qingyun.

"I know my crime, Your Majesty, please calm down."

…………

The rage in his heart suddenly found a way out, and it kept surging in his heart until his chest felt stuffy and painful. Only then did Ji Mingxiu suppress his emotions, glanced at him, shook his sleeves and asked.

"Tell me, what are the crimes? Are they all true?"

"I shouldn't have made Your Majesty angry. Your Majesty's anger would cause your liver to become pent up, which might harm your body. This is a serious sin."

Bang!

Ji Mingxiu threw the remaining books on the table fiercely, not caring whether they hit his shoulder or forehead.

"Oh, the Prime Minister is really sharp-tongued."

The anger that had just been suppressed was instantly ignited by these extremely perfunctory words. His rationality was instantly overwhelmed by the torrent. Ji Mingxiu simply walked around the table and kicked the memorial on the ground in front of him.

"I wonder if you can still be so eloquent after being sent to the Dali Temple Prison?"

Li Qingyun picked up the memorial on the ground and flipped through it casually. It was a confession document submitted by the Dali Temple regarding the interrogation of Ji Qingyi. It was filled with dozens of pages, with familiar names written in rows and rows. They were all officials with whom he had personal relationships.

"Your Majesty, I am innocent."

"Is it wronged you?"

Ji Mingxiu snorted coldly and glanced at him with a sarcastic tone.

"Do you dare to say that you are not close friends with these officials? Isn't that Wang Xiu your disciple, and he respects you like a reborn parent?"

"These people do have some personal connections with me that are not worth mentioning."

Li Qingyun responded calmly, his hand holding the memorial not shaking at all.

"Ji Qingyi and I have a personal grudge."

personal enmity?

"Really?"

Ji Mingxiu's dark eyes repeatedly looked at Li Qingyun, like a young hunter dealing with a cunning fox, trying to find clues of his panic. After all, this long-accumulated suspicion could not be resolved simply by a personal vendetta.

However, Ji Mingxiu found nothing, not even a single bit.

Li Qingyun's expression seemed too calm, as if he had already guessed that Ji Qingyi would confess like this, as if he had really confirmed that there was indeed a personal grudge.

The swords clashed, emitting a sharp light, and the hunter was the first to draw his sword.

"In that case, then the Prime Minister should go to the Dali Temple and settle the old personal grudge with Ji Qingyi."

"I want to know what kind of personal grudge could lead to such a heinous crime as colluding with an enemy country, deceiving superiors and subordinates, and plotting rebellion!"

Cheng Tianfeng, who was waiting on the side, came up and prepared to take action. Before he touched the corner of Li Qingyun's clothes, he saw him stand up calmly with a slightly raised corner of his lips, with that most confusing and elegant smile.

But at this moment, this smile has a rather dangerous meaning.

"Your Majesty has no evidence to verify and intends to use lynching. Where does the Great Xuan Law stand?"

"If one fails to distinguish between public and private, he will lose his authority. If a ruler loses his authority, what matters is..."

Li Qingyun's playful gaze lingered on the memorial on the ground for a moment, then he raised his head and looked directly into Ji Mingxiu's dark eyes without hesitation, every word he said was meaningful.

“Right or left.”

Silence lingered in the hall for a long time, a very thin thread stretched and trembled in the smoke, waiting to be broken. This time, Ji Mingxiu did not want to give in.

He knew that Li Qingyun insisted that he only had confessions but no real evidence, and that he dared to be so presumptuous because of the astonishing number of party secrets on the list.

only.

"We can get the evidence once we get it to the Dali Temple. Prime Minister, don't worry."

"Kill first and report later. This is a good method that the Prime Minister taught me."

That thread seemed to have reached its limit.

"When false is false, true is false. Your Majesty, are you sure that I am guilty?"

The corners of Li Qingyun's lips that were slightly raised finally straightened into a straight line, and a deep darkness emerged in his eyes, drowning the kind look that he had maintained for a long time.

Is it really time for a total breakdown?

Ji Mingxiu looked at Li Qingyun, who finally lost his balance, and a sense of joy rose in his heart that was hard to ignore. He waved his hand to dismiss Cheng Tianfeng, who was waiting by the side sharpening his knife and eager to try, and then sat back in his chair slowly.

Although his facial expression didn't reveal anything, his slightly raised chin revealed that he was in a good mood at the moment.

"You and I are the king and his subject. I certainly don't want to be so heartless."

"But this matter concerns the foundation of the country. If we cannot investigate it thoroughly to serve as a warning to others, there will be endless troubles in the future."

"As good as."

Although his tone was questioning, Ji Mingxiu's eyes were full of the certainty of victory as he stared at Li Qingyun.

"Prime Minister, please rest in your residence for a few days until everything is investigated and the truth is revealed."

"I will clear the Prime Minister's name."

Li Qingyun looked at the young emperor in front of him with complicated eyes. The words went around in his mouth but were cut into bloody pieces and swallowed.

Hotness and coldness were clashing in the most primitive way in every part of his bones. He used his eighteen years of experience to habitually suppress every inch of residual heat that might have risen, and it eventually turned into a restrained and impeccable gift.

"I obey your order."

Just as he was about to step out of the hall, Li Qingyun suddenly turned around, without a trace of deliberateness in his expression, as if he was just expressing his concern casually.

"Why didn't I see Eunuch Qiu serving His Majesty today?"

Only a fool is left, who has no sense at all.

Ji Mingxiu was stunned. He originally wanted to place Qiu Ling outside the city, or let Qiu Ling go wherever he wanted, but Qiu Ling was determined not to leave the imperial city, so he transferred people to manage other matters.

And he didn't like having more unfamiliar faces around him, so he simply let Cheng Tianfeng do it. Although he was not familiar with it and was a little clumsy, and Cheng Tianfeng was now the commander-in-chief of the Yulin Army and had more things to do, fortunately he looked pleasing to the eye and his mood improved a lot.

But he naturally did not explain all these twists and turns to Li Qingyun, and just made the excuse that he was busy and could not come to serve him.

However, in this moment of distraction, Li Qingyun tasted a different meaning from it, and the corners of his lips once again showed the same spring breeze smile as before. After stepping out of the layers of palace walls, a letter from Yongzhou was finally delivered to him.

He fiddled with the thin sheets of paper repeatedly between his fingertips, as if he was playing with something insignificant.

"When a turn for the better comes, it's always so gratifying."

*

At this time, Chaoyue Palace welcomed a rare guest.

"What is it?"

Qiu Ling didn't care about Su Yuanbai's extremely cold attitude, even his reluctance to let him enter the palace gate. He just stood under the red plum tree covered with falling snow, and the drooping branches half-hid the indifferent calculation in his eyes.

"I have come for His Majesty's business."

This sentence again.

Su Yuanbai frowned, his most sensitive nerves were aroused, and he, who was not good at observing people's expressions, was wrapped up in the disgusting emotions of the past.

"I have nothing to tell you about the matter between His Majesty and me. Please go back."

"You and your Majesty?"

Qiu Ling could not hide the sharp malice in his tone. He walked out from the shadow of the branches, and every step he took was wantonly teasing each other's scars.

"Can we tell the difference between you and me in this matter?"

"Don't you understand that we should distinguish between you and me?"

Weighing the options of straightforwardness and complexity, Su Yuanbai frowned and pondered for a long time in the snow, but finally turned aside.

"Come in."