Chapter 35 Chapter 35 It’s my first time too
"No, I can't let my father take risks."
Xiao Mao is powerful, vicious and terrifying. If she deals with him, she will be in danger. How could she dare to put her family, whom she had finally found, into endless danger?
Grabbing the fabric on the side of her clothes and twisting out two wrinkles, Lu Suizhu walked forward on her own, not hearing a word Pei Zhiji said behind her.
When she went back and closed the door, she was still confused. She didn't understand the court or the politics, but she knew that this matter was no trivial matter. Since Fan Xi was involved, could his father really get away with it?
“Knock knock knock—”
There was a knock on the door in the quiet night.
Pei Zhiji stood by the door. His voice was a little hoarse, perhaps because he had inhaled something unclean in the forest. He pressed his clenched fist to his lips, trying his best to hide his physical weakness.
"I'm not going in. I'll just say a few words outside the door and then leave."
The figure under the moonlight was stretched out. Lu Suizhu looked at the hazy and soft figure, walked over slowly, and leaned weakly on the side.
The door separates people from each other.
"Suizhu, I was too anxious tonight. I will leave early tomorrow morning and won't bother you anymore."
The woman was inexplicably excited when she heard this and almost opened the door, but reason prevailed and she finally restrained herself. Then she listened to Pei Zhiji's gentle voice.
"You and Huai Shen are your own business, and I shouldn't interfere. For now, just pretend we've never met. Take care of yourself, and come to me if you encounter any difficulties in the future."
Pei Zhiji stared at the door for a while. The woman's posture seemed to be frozen, not moving at all. The faint light from the candle just reflected a few vivid hairs.
As his face swayed slightly, the corners of his mouth curved up.
A person like him would sometimes feel confused and reluctant to leave. He is really crazy.
The figure gradually disappeared into the distance. Lu Suizhu squatted on the ground, her throat seemed to be choked. She wrapped her hands around her knees and buried her head. She knew very well in her heart that once he left, all their fate would be severed.
They were not the same kind of people, but Lu Suizhu still felt a little uncomfortable, and tears slowly flowed from the corners of her eyes.
Perhaps it was because of the mosquitoes, the little yellow dog couldn't sleep well. It kept whining in the middle of the night, waking up Fang Dian who was sleeping soundly. She saw that there was still some light in Lu Suizhu's room, obviously he hadn't gone to bed yet.
I knocked on the door several times but there was no response.
When she pushed the door open and came in, she saw Lu Suizhu squatting on the ground crying. She was frightened and quickly squatted down and held Lu Suizhu in her arms: "Girl, what's wrong with you?"
Lu Suizhu breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Fang Dian with moist eyes, and said weakly, "He's leaving."
After thinking for a long time, Fang Dian finally realized who this 'he' was referring to. Lu Suizhu had almost finished crying, with only her shoulders shaking slightly and a few sobs remaining.
"Miss, you obviously like Lord Pei." Fang Dian's words were shocking and direct.
Confused by what she said, Lu Suizhu was speechless for a moment. She had to explain the whole process of tonight's events to Fang Dian before she could barely regain her consciousness.
"I'm not. It's not what you think. I'm just worried about my dad." After saying that, as if to confirm himself, he nodded more vigorously: "Yes, I'm just worried about my dad."
Fang Dian held her hand and advised her earnestly, "Okay, whether the young lady likes Master Pei or not, you must say goodbye properly. How can you make yourself sad and upset in vain?"
If you think about it carefully, there seems to be some truth to this.
After finally making it through dawn, Pei Zhiji's room was empty. Lu Suizhu opened his cabinet and found that the clothes she had mended were indeed gone.
A nobleman who has no shortage of beautiful clothes will also keep a "tattered" piece of clothing in his heart. Thinking of this, Lu Suizhu felt a little more relieved.
The bamboo pillow made of grass core was placed neatly on the couch, with only one corner folded in, making it look a little uneven and unironed. Lu Suizhu stretched out her fingers and put that corner in place.
As a result, a letter was taken out from below, and when it was opened, it was written by Pei Zhiji: The governor is the confidant of the prince, and he must be involved in the private mining. If your father does not want to help the evil, he should resign as soon as possible to ensure his safety.
Her hand tightly grasped the letter. He pointed it out to her, clearly forcing her to make a decision. She had deliberately avoided it and was unwilling to connect all these things together, but now... judging from the few short months she had spent with her family, her father was definitely not the kind of person who was willing to compromise or steal.
He has been an official in Fanxi for decades, and his blood has long been integrated with this place. Can she really be so selfish as to make decisions for her father?
When Lu Suizhu pushed the door open and walked out, he saw a familiar figure standing upright in the Jielu Pavilion, and he could not hide his surprise.
"You didn't leave?"
Pei Zhiji wasn't surprised at all, as if everything had been planned. He was calm and composed, yet a hint of arrogance immediately emerged. "It's been a whole night. You should have figured out the interests involved, so I'm waiting for you to tell me in person."
"Okay, I'll help you, but I have one condition. If Master Pei agrees..."
"I promise."
Lu Suizhu stared at him blankly, trying to tell from his eyes whether his words of support came from the heart.
"I will protect your family. As long as I am here, their lives will not be in danger."
There was no written contract or seal as proof, but these words, spoken by Pei Zhiji, became more credible.
Now all affairs in the county government are temporarily managed by Li Zhubu. He is a widower who lost his wife at an early age and never remarried for the sake of his son. Now that his son has started a family and lives a happy life, he is alone and simply moved to the county government office, guarding it day and night.
Pei Zhiji secretly spent some money to bribe the little beggars on the roadside to make some noise.
Sure enough, groups of children were shouting loudly in front of the county government office. After a few words, they started fighting. Passersby came forward to persuade them, and the noise became louder and louder, and the news reached the county government office.
The yamen runners cleared the passers-by away, and Li Zhubu grabbed a few children and tried to mediate with earnest words.
During lunch, the yamen runner on duty dozed off and was sleepy, which was a good opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Lu Suizhu walked into Li Zhubu's room and quietly closed the door, which was in disrepair and made some noises.
After taking a deep breath, he carefully groped under the bed, but was afraid of messing up the bed, so the movement was extremely tiring.
After searching for a long time, she finally found a bunch of keys in the drawer. There was a red rope with a thick knot on it. When she took it out, it made a jingling sound, which scared Lu Suizhu so much that she quickly grabbed it.
Just as I was about to go out, I heard footsteps coming towards me.
In a panic, she wanted to hide in the closet.
"Master Li, what a coincidence! I brought two jugs of fine wine from the capital. Come with me to try some."
Is that my cousin's voice? Has he returned from Shangjing?
"No, no, Master Wu, I have official business to attend to. I left in such a hurry that I forgot to lock the door. I have to go back and take a look."
As the footsteps got closer, Lu Suizhu became nervous again and looked around for a place to hide.
"Hey, Uncle Li, don't be so busy. There are so many people in the county government office. If you do everything yourself, your subordinates won't have any chance to exercise. The wine is at the Shen residence. It's okay to come with me for a couple of drinks."
Without waiting for Li Zhubu to refuse, Wu Lianjin naturally put his arm on his shoulder, and the two of them half-pushed and half-pushed towards the direction of Shen's house.
Without further ado, Lu Suizhu rushed to meet Pei Zhiji.
The prison in Fanxi County used to be a granary. After years of flooding and poor harvests, the county government spent some money to requisition it and converted it into a prison for temporarily detaining prisoners.
"If we rush in like this, how are we going to explain if someone sees us?" Lu Suizhu hesitated at the last moment.
"Just now, a farmer's chicken ran over here, and the yamen runners went to help chase it."
Pei Zhiji said some absurd words calmly. He took the key from Lu Suizhu's hand, looked at the structure of the lock core, and directly found the one that matched the prison door from a bunch of keys.
"Sir Pei is so skilled at stealing and cheating." Lu Suizhu crossed his arms and teased.
Pei Zhiji had never opened such a difficult lock before, and his hands were stained with the smell of rust. He poked hard for a long time, and finally heard a "click" sound, and the door slid open a gap.
He breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and said to Lu Suizhu seriously, "This is the first time I've done something like this."
The cell was dark and gloomy. Walking deeper into the cell, there were a few flickering candles on the iron frame embedded in the wall. The bright light was like a ghost fire, with a little blue light floating in the orange and yellow. Rats were squeaking on the wet ground and running around under your feet from time to time.
A foul smell came up, the smell of decay mixed with blood, and the mold and moisture invaded the nasal cavity, emitting waves of disgusting smell. However, Lu Suizhu could still bear it and move forward.
The prisoners in the cell were all lifeless, lying down and leaning against the worn thatched straw beside them. When they heard someone coming, they would just open their eyelids and take a look. They had reached a state of neither anger nor joy.
Lu Suizhu looked around carefully: "Who is from your Pei family?"
However, the man next to him was completely motionless. Lu Suizhu realized that something was wrong and looked behind him.
In a dim corner, Pei Zhiji was bent over, supporting himself against the wall with one hand, retching silently in pain.
Lu Suizhu's mouth froze for a moment, revealing an expression of trying not to laugh. When she walked over, Pei Zhiji had almost adjusted himself and had withdrawn his hand from his stomach. He coughed lightly, his pale face a little embarrassed. He pretended nothing had happened and pointed to the road ahead: "Let's go."
The cell was narrow, and when they walked side by side, their finger bones bumped against each other.
His hands were still slightly cold.
"Are you okay? Why don't you take a rest?"
"It's no problem."
When I walked to the innermost cell, there was a small window. It looked drier and fresher, and the thatched pillow was slightly higher. Overall, it was more comfortable than the environment in other cells.
Pei Wuyou was not as disheveled and miserable as imagined. Although his clothes were dirty, his face was still clean. Pei Zhiji suddenly thought of the Pei family's ancestral motto "Integrity cannot be broken".
He took a few steps forward, and with his childhood memories, he recognized the old man with white hair who was being tortured in prison. He asked tentatively: "Pei Wuyou?"
The old man sitting beside the bed had a dull look in his eyes, and he looked at the grains of sand on the ground with his head down, as if he couldn't hear anything, until he heard another sentence from the young man.
"I am the eldest son of the Pei family in Shangjing."
The old man's decayed eyes suddenly lit up. He propped himself up and stood up, looking Pei Zhiji up and down. When he spoke again, his eyes were filled with tears. He wiped his tears with a clean sleeve, staring at Pei Zhiji with a voice choked with excitement.
"I know, I know. You are—Minister Pei, you are Pei Zhiji. I knew the Pei family wouldn't give up on me, or any of their members. The head of the family must have sent you here!"
His eyes were filled with hope, and there was determination in his faint trembling. The power was about to penetrate the young man's body. He wanted to break through the cage and hold Pei Zhiji's hand.
When he was about to shake hands with it, he retreated. He smiled with tears in his eyes, wiped his hands on his pants again and again, and lowered his head to make sure there was no dust on his hands.
Only then did she dare to gently put her arm around Pei Zhiji's sleeve.
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