"Let's run away..." Zheng Xiunian said carefully in a trembling voice. "Second brother, let's run away! With our family background, if we go to Jinan, we will definitely be treated as honored guests by Liu Yu, become a high-ranking official there, and collect some wealth. When Zhang Jun and Yue Fei come back to fight, we can escape from the back to the sea, go to Goryeo, go to Japan... Wait until the world is pacified and then change our names and come back, or simply never come back... Isn't this a way to survive?"
Zheng Yinian's eyes flickered, and he was silent for more than ten breaths before he shook his head in panic: "This is a way to survive... But brother, have you ever thought about it? If it's just us brothers, we can escape, but what about our sister-in-law, nephews and nieces? How can we escape with them? And if we leave without them, then we will have enjoyed wealth and honor for half of our lives, but they will be implicated and imprisoned. How can you and I bear it?"
Zheng Xiunian was completely desperate...how could he bear to leave his wife and children.
But at this moment, his younger brother Zheng Yinian covered his nose and mouth slightly under the light and said carefully: "But if my brother escapes alone, I will stay, which is the best of both worlds..."
Zheng Xiunian looked up blankly at his younger brother, apparently puzzled.
"Brother..." Zheng Yinian took a half step forward and explained carefully in a low voice beside the bed. "You went to the Cuju field that day. This matter cannot be covered up. Otherwise, I will definitely take the blame for you and then ask you to report it to Kaifeng Prefecture in order to escape the crime..."
Zheng Xiunian was stunned for a moment, but he stared at his younger brother.
"Brother, please go to Jinan. I will take care of my sister-in-law for you." Zheng Yinian finally gritted his teeth and said, "At this point, this is the only way to save our family!"
Zheng Xiunian opened his mouth to argue, but he was unable to speak and could only sit on the couch.
"Brother, you should go now. A strong man has a good chance of escaping." Zheng Yinian saw that his brother was unwilling to speak, so he simply revealed the plan in response. "After you leave, I will delay for half a day and then go to Kaifeng Prefecture to report. Since I have done the report for the greater good, I can persuade our relatives to plead for mercy, so that the disaster will not affect my wife and children... By then, brother will make money in Jinan, escape to Goryeo, and then secretly return, while I will stay in Tokyo City to support the family and take care of my sister-in-law for my brother... This is the right way to live! As for me, if you are cruel enough, don't alarm my sister-in-law and others. While it is getting dark, put on makeup and sneak away. I will send you to the Ma Xing Street Night Market and wait for you. At dawn, follow the people in the night market out of the city to the east and head straight to Jinan!"
Zheng Xiunian listened for a while, and suddenly burst into tears on the bed, holding the quilt.
The reason why he cried was not because he had no other options, but because he thought again and again that his brother's plan was really the best way out at the moment...but the more so, the more he was reluctant to leave his wife, children and the Tokyo city where he grew up. The more reluctant he was, the more he knew he had to leave quickly.
Now that things have come to this, I can only say that I regret it!
If he had drunk less that day and listened less to the instigation and agitation of the brothers Gao Yaokang and Gao Yaofu (both sons of Gao Qiu), such a disaster would not have occurred.
Just like this, Zheng Xiunian cried for half a day, but in the end he was like a piece of wood. He was half-forced by Zheng Yinian to change into the clothes of a servant, and then dragged by Zheng Yinian, pretending to be master and servant, and went out through the back door, preparing to go to the Ma Xing Street Night Market.
However, as soon as the two brothers walked out of the back door and took only fifty or sixty steps, they were blocked by a group of strong men holding lanterns at the back alley, and then taken to a pot-sticker tofu stall in the opposite alley.
Under the light, facing Yang Yizhong and Wanqi Xie who were drinking tea with tofu, the Zheng brothers turned pale, and Zheng Xiunian, who had once hoped for a chance, collapsed directly to the ground.
The owner of the potsticker tofu stall and the tea stall nearby were taken away from the scene early. Yang Yizhong looked at the brothers and showed a puzzled expression: "How could you two be so ignorant? The inscription in Hanfang Garden is so flawed. Why did you realize it and escape today? Do you brothers know that the three sons of the former Taiwei Gao Qiu, the third one turned himself in yesterday and reported that his two brothers met you in Hanfang Garden, and directly hinted that you wrote the crooked inscription. If we were not waiting for you brothers, we would have arrested you long ago."
The Zheng brothers were completely speechless. After a long while, Zheng Yinian stepped forward and bowed: "I am sorry for the trouble."
"I can't say I'm tired." Yang Yizhong didn't know if it was because he was too suffocated in the palace, but his expression became more and more vivid. "It's just that I and Yushi Wanqi have to eat three meals of pot-sticked tofu here, and it's not easy to eat something else... I'm young, but Yushi Wanqi just said that he had a bloated stomach last night!"
"Okay..." Wanqi Xie was also powerless and waved his hands. "It's Zheng Xiunian who wants to leave, right? Then go! When you get to Jinan, you have two things to do... One is to find the pseudo-Qi Prime Minister Hong Ya and establish contact with him. You don't have to be too direct, be a little more subtle, and he will understand; the other is to tell the abbot of Jinan Lingjiu Temple everything you can find out about each other's situation. In this way, not only will your wife and children be safe, your brother will be able to take up a real job, and you will have a good result in the future..."
Zheng Xiunian was confused for a moment and hadn't reacted yet.
Wanqi Xie and Yang Yizhong looked at each other with some doubt, but Zheng Yinian couldn't help but pressed his brother down and bowed his head on the ground.
"How great it would be if you wrote the title?" Yang Yizhong couldn't help but shake his head when he saw this.
"How could I be so confused after coming back from Wuguo City?" Zheng Yinian smiled bitterly. "I can eat this pot-sticked tofu for the rest of my life without feeling bloated."
Yang Yi Zhong also laughed, but he paid for the tofu first, then stood up and made way for Wanqi Xie to go first, and then he left with a dozen men... as if he had not been waiting here.
At this time, Zheng Xiunian finally came to his senses.
On the next morning, big news broke out in Tokyo City - Zheng Xiunian, the grandson of the late Prime Minister Wang Gui and the eldest son of Prime Minister Zheng Juzhong, fled for fear of punishment. His younger brother Zheng Yinian, for the sake of justice, surrendered himself and confessed on the spot in Kaifeng Prefecture a reactionary group that was dissatisfied with the government and the court, and had held many meetings to "denounce the emperor" and "slander the prime minister".
The eldest and second sons of former Grand Commandant Gao Qiu, his brother Zheng Xiunian, his cousin Wang Huan, and many sons of prime ministers and grand commanders were among them.
The imperial court did not hesitate and immediately rounded up all these people. Except for Zheng Yinian and Gao Yaoqing who turned themselves in, they also destroyed their documentary evidence and offered a reward for the capture of Zheng Xiunian... This incident officially put an end to the Tokyo public opinion turmoil in early March.
There will no longer be any obstacles to depriving people of their jobs of excessive favors and privileges.
The only thing that makes people feel a little regretful is that a few days later, it was confirmed that Zheng Xiunian had successfully escaped and entered Jinan, and then he was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue by the overjoyed Liu Yu.
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