After Xue Shu returned to the West Factory, he asked someone to find the red rope.

He had never tied a knot before, so he naturally didn't know how to do it. But he didn't want to ask others, so he found a few knots, took them apart and studied them carefully, and tried to weave them himself. After several red ropes were broken, he finally succeeded in weaving one.

He did not weave a very complicated pattern. Two thin red ropes were interwoven into a slightly thicker chain, and the knot was made into a slipknot for easy wearing and taking off.

In the center of the bright red rope is a transparent jade auspicious buckle of the perfect size.

Xue Shu sat under the lamp, rubbing the surface of the auspicious buckle with his slightly rough fingertips, but no marks were left.

Unlike His Highness's skin, just a little force would leave faint red fingerprints, dotted on the porcelain-like white skin, like lust flowing through.

After playing with it for a while, Xue Shu found a small brocade bag and put the lucky buckle away.

He was so angry tonight that he did not go to the bathroom. Instead, he drew cold water from the well and poured it over his head.

The cool water temporarily suppressed the boiling emotions, but it could not extinguish the fire burning in my heart.

When he turned off the lights and lay down on the bed, Xue Shu touched the embroidered small bag hidden on his chest, and then touched the jade ring around his neck. Even the cool water vapor began to heat up.

I tossed and turned all night and didn't fall asleep until the second half of the night.

But I still can’t rest in my dreams.

Yin Chengyu was lying face down on the imperial concubine couch, too quiet. His purple robe fell along the curves of his body, and the room was filled with a spring atmosphere.

Xue Shu sat sideways behind him, the hem of his gold- and silver-embroidered clothes overlapping his own, making it almost impossible to tell the two apart.

The lights in the room flickered, stretching the two people's shadows very long.

Silence flows in the shadows of the lights.

It seemed like only a few moments had passed, but it also seemed like a long time had passed. Xue Shu finally moved and pulled out a small white jade seal from the ice mirror beside him.

The small seal was only as long and thick as a thumb, with one end tied with a red rope. Because it had just been taken out of the ice and had been exposed to heat, tiny water droplets condensed on the surface.

Xue Shu raised his hand, picked up the red rope, and hung the small seal behind Yin Chengyu's neck.

The end of the small seal was dipped in red mud, and it fell gently, leaving a red mark on the porcelain-white skin. The seal mud blurred and dissolved in water, but it was still vaguely recognizable that it was the two characters "Xue Shu" in small seal script.

The sudden contact of the cold jade with the skin made the quiet person shudder.

Yin Chengyu turned around, her beautiful eyes filled with anger: "Xue Shu, don't go too far!"

Xue Shu was smiling, but the smile did not reach his eyes, revealing a gnashing of teeth: "Your Highness even remembered Xie Pingchuan's birthday and asked someone to give him a handwritten painting, but you don't remember my birthday. I am very sad, so I have to ask for it myself."

As he spoke, the small white jade seal, guided by the red rope, rolled along his slightly concave back, leaving behind an ambiguous string of red.

…

When Xue Shu woke up, he was sweating all over.

It is now July and the weather is hot. The ice cubes placed in the four corners of the house have melted, but the summer heat is at its peak.

The steaming heat made my mouth dry.

Xue Shu sat on the couch for a long time before he came back to his senses from his dream.

Everything in the dream was too real.

Every reaction of His Highness moved his mind and desires. But at the same time, every word he said was like a sharp knife, stabbing his heart without blood.

So much so that after waking up, that kind of helpless anxiety and jealousy were still surging in my heart and could not be calmed down.

Xue Shu anxiously took out the small brocade bag he had been keeping close to his body. After feeling the presence of the auspicious buckle in the bag, his restless emotions gradually calmed down.

He let out a breath, luckily it was just a dream.

He would never treat His Highness like this, and His Highness would never treat him like this.

His Highness accepted his lucky buckle and promised him personally that he would prepare a birthday gift for him.

They are all different from dreams.

Xue Shu calmed down, put away the brocade bag, took a cold shower, and changed his clothes. Before leaving, he put the brocade bag in his arms again, thinking that when it got dark, he could go to Ciqing Palace and return the auspicious buckle to His Highness.

Thinking of His Highness wearing the gift he had given him, Xue Shu's heart was boiling with joy.

After leaving the West Factory, Xue Shu went to inspect the Yuma Supervisory Office. On the way, he met Gao Yuan, the supervisor of the East Factory.

Gao Yuan was wearing an autumn-colored flying fish suit, with a silver fish bag hanging from his waist. He was playing with two shiny walnuts in his palms. He looked kind, but his tone was aggressive: "There's nothing going on in the West Factory these days. Where are you going, Supervisor Xue, so early in the morning?"

Ever since Emperor Longfeng re-employed the West Factory and dealt a heavy slap in the face to the East Factory and the Imperial Guard, Gao Yuan unilaterally became a mortal enemy of Xue Shu.

In order to warn them, Emperor Longfeng repeatedly promoted Xue Shu. Gao Yuan only endured it after being warned several times by Gao Xian.

Now that Emperor Longfeng is away and Gao Xian has returned to the capital with the emperor's order, Gao Yuan can no longer bear it.

He is just a lucky young man. No matter how capable he is, can he really turn the tables?

Gao Yuan had been in and out of the imperial prison many times, and had seen many young men who boasted of their abilities, were arrogant and rampant at first, but later became worse than dogs. When he looked at Xue Shu again, there was contempt in his eyes.

He sighed in a pretentious manner: "If you have nothing to do, you might as well come and help Dongchang. Now the plague has spread in the capital, and your Majesty has allocated a lot of money from the national treasury for disaster relief. But these common people are not grateful at all, and they spread rumors and slander your Majesty. Their intentions are really punishable. To relieve your Majesty's worries, Gao Zhangyin specially ordered us to arrest these scholars and common people who spread rumors and interrogate them. It is possible that there are traitors and villains mixed in to fan the flames and stir up trouble."

Xue Shu frowned upon hearing this and looked at Gao Yuan coldly, not giving in at all: "Now that the lumps are rampant, people are already panicking. If you punish me for my words again, you should be careful not to arouse people's anger. If you end up making things worse, don't blame me for not reminding you."

Gao Yuan sneered: "Monitor Xue, please don't accuse me of anything. I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice. You are trying to find excuses like this. Do you not even have the guts to go to prison?"

Xue Shu was not provoked by him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Since Governor Gao has invited me, I will go with you."

Seeing that he was provoked and agreed to go to the imperial prison, Gao Yuan curled his lips grimly and walked ahead.

What happened today was something he had specially prepared for Xue Shu. He was sure to lose all his face and would no longer be able to act arrogantly in front of others.

The two men left the palace and went to the imperial prison.

The Imperial Prison was under the jurisdiction of the Northern Town Prosecution Department, which was originally under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Guard. However, the commander of the Imperial Guard, Gong Hongfei, had always been a fence-sitter and was always suppressed by Gao Xian in front of Emperor Longfeng. Therefore, the Imperial Guard was also suppressed in front of the Eastern Factory.

Almost all the people in the imperial prison were from Dongchang.

Now, all the scholars captured by Gao Yuan were imprisoned in the imperial prison.

Xue Shu followed Gao Yuan into the prison gate, and heard the heavy door behind him shut heavily. The brown-clothed guards pointed their knives and looked at him with cold eyes, which was extremely oppressive.

Xue Shu took a quick glance and realized that today's encounter was probably intentional by Gao Yuan.

But he was never afraid of provocation, and today he followed Gao Yuan's wishes, only thinking that His Highness must be concerned about this matter, so he took the opportunity to find out the situation.

His expression remained unchanged as he followed Gao Yuan deeper into the prison.

The corridor leading to the prison was long and dark, and from time to time one could hear the screams and howls of prisoners. The lights on the walls on both sides flickered, making it even more eerie.

"Today, the police arrested several scholars who gathered in a teahouse to write poems to satirize Your Majesty. After our people interrogated them, they found that the grandfather of one of them was a businessman in Wangjing and owned a theater. Coincidentally, during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, an actor in that theater assassinated Emperor Xiaozong while performing a play... These scholars may be related to the remnants of the Xiaozong era."

Gao Yuan slowly turned the walnut in his hand and sighed, "What's hateful is that these remnants have some backbone. They have been interrogated twice, but they still refuse to plead guilty. Since the East Factory's methods don't work, we'll try the West Factory's methods."

He spoke in a high-sounding manner, as if it were really true, but Xue Shu secretly frowned.

The remnants of Emperor Xiaozong's reign were nothing more than a cover.

Who in the world doesn't know that Emperor Xiaozong was cruel and ruthless, forcing uprisings to happen frequently in various places? The so-called remnants were just ordinary people who were forced to live unsustainably, so they had the idea of ​​changing the dynasty.

Later, Emperor Xiaozong died and Emperor Longfeng succeeded him. He adopted a policy of appeasement, and the people had a way to survive, and assassinations gradually stopped.

It's just that Emperor Longfeng was timid and afraid of death. Although he never said it openly, he still had a lot of resentment towards the remnants of Emperor Xiaozong's time.

Gao Yuan and others knew what Emperor Longfeng was thinking, so they wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to capture a group of people and torture them into confessing so that they could seek credit in front of Emperor Longfeng.

These scholars just happened to happen to happen at that critical moment.

Not only will he be tortured into confessing, he will also be used as a scapegoat to teach him a lesson.

Xue Shu's eyes were filled with coldness as he watched Gao Yuan order his men to drag up the scholar who was no longer in human form. Also brought up were several scholars who were slightly less seriously injured. At this time, they were all locked in cages like livestock.

These scholars were tough guys, their spines had not been broken by the torture, and when they saw Gao Yuan, they started to curse him with hatred.

Gao Yuan's face darkened and he ordered people to gag them. They were all tied to the interrogation rack.

"We want to see how long you can keep your bones strong!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he ordered the execution.

A foreign servant pushed a torture device and tied up the scholar, who might be a "remnant of the evildoers during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong," on it.

Gao Yuan introduced it to Xue Shu with a smile: "This is called playing the pipa. Even the hardest bones will become softer after a tune is played on them."

As he was speaking, the dying scholar let out an inhuman howl.

The distorted face he was forced to raise had no eyes, only two bloody holes, and was looking towards Xue Shu with blood all over it.

The interrogating officer asked him, "Do you plead guilty?"

The scholar was no longer able to speak, and saliva mixed with blood flowed from his open mouth, but he was still shaking his head slightly.

Gao Yuan looked at Xue Shu's expression and saw that he was frowning, so he thought he was showing his fear. He pushed him again with a smile and said, "He can resist. The people under our command are useless. Why don't we let Supervisor Xue judge for us?"

Xue Shu turned his head, looked at him solemnly, and said with a fake smile: "Then... it's better to obey than to be respectful."

He walked up to the tortured officer and drew the sword from his waist.

Just as Gao Yuan was about to ask what he meant, he saw him raise his knife and chop off the scholar's head.

The blood splashed all over Gao Yuan's body and face. He looked at Xue Shu in astonishment and angrily said, "Xue Shu! You are so brave!"

Xue Shu threw the knife on the ground, picked up a towel beside him and slowly wiped the blood off his hands: "Didn't Governor Gao ask us to help with the interrogation?"

He smiled with a hint of hostility in his eyes: "This man of ours behaves differently from Lord Gao. Anyone who has ulterior motives will be killed. Once they are all killed, the masters will be relieved and we will be relieved. Why waste our time here?"

Gao Yuan pointed at him with trembling hands, unable to speak.

Today, he just wanted to take this opportunity to give Xue Shu a warning and kill his temper. However, he did not expect Xue Shu to be more rampant than he expected.

Although he did not use torture, the pair of eyes that looked at him were more frightening than those of the executioners over the years.

Seeing Gao Yuan's face pale as paper, Xue Shu sneered, threw the bloodstained cloth at his feet, and said, "I will remember your hospitality today, Governor Gao. I have something else to do today, so I will leave first."

After saying this, he brushed Gao Yuan's shoulder and walked out.

The Dongchang guards who were on guard nearby held their knives and retreated to both sides when they saw the situation. No one dared to stop them.

The author has something to say:

Gou Gou: I am obedient, and His Highness likes me.

Big Dog: Hehe:)