Chapter 35 Chapter 35 Come Here
"I'm late."
Du Lingjing noticed that although everyone looked happy, everyone was injured to varying degrees, especially Hu Tinglan, who was the most seriously injured and needed someone to support him so that he could sit steadily.
She said directly, "There is no time to lose. I have brought people outside. Let's get out quickly!"
She said that she had invited many people along the way, and there were all kinds of people in the mountains, "but as long as there are enough people and they are chaotic, even if Shao Boju wanted to kill them, he would not be able to kill them all."
Just these two sentences brought light to the eyes of the people who had been trapped here for a long time.
But Ruan Gong came to report, "The situation outside is not good. There is fog in the mountains."
Du Lingjing couldn't help but frown. There was fog in the mountains, and it would be very easy for them to get lost if they went out. Calling other people to come would also add to the uncertainty.
Hu Tinglan and several other gentlemen expected, "It would have been better if we had arrived an hour earlier. The situation in the mountains is complicated. We have been hiding here for a long time and have relied on the mountain fog to cover us. But this time, the mountain fog will also be an obstacle for us to get out."
Everyone said that it was not a good time to leave the forest in the fog, "We have been here for a long time, one day is not a big deal."
Du Lingjing felt quite uneasy, but she also knew that what everyone said was right, so after thinking it over again and again, she had no choice but to agree.
She asked Ruan Gong to assign the men to different places to avoid being targeted by others. It was not convenient for her to go down the mountain at the moment, so she waited with everyone else until tomorrow morning.
The sky gradually darkened, the mountain fog became thicker, the people searching in the mountain retreated one after another, and the sounds of animals began to rise and fall in the mountains.
Du Lingjing had never spent a night in the mountains and had only heard the sounds of animals in books. When she heard them this time, she felt surprised and surprised.
But everyone around her was old friends, so she was not afraid. Tingjun even told her about the boiling spring water.
Du Lingjing held it in her hands. All the gentlemen were present. Mr. Liao looked at her carefully several times and stretched out his hand to measure her.
"The last time I saw you was in the capital. You hadn't grown up yet, you were this tall."
Lord Hong had seen Du Lingjing for a longer time. He did not measure their heights, but just said.
"I have read all the books circulated by Jingniang. I need to be more cautious in my studies."
Lord Hong was so serious that Du Lingjing thought there was something wrong with her book and quickly stood up.
Mr. Liao glanced at Lord Hong and said, "Why are you scaring the child? Mistakes are inevitable. How many people in the world can be more careful and focused than Jingniang?"
Upon hearing this, Lord Hong fell silent, and his usually serious face showed a hint of gentleness.
"In recent years, even when I occasionally go to private schools in the countryside, I can see that the books you have published are affordable and can be read by students. This was not available when I was a student."
The Du family's Mianlou could have its current reputation thanks to the support of many people in the literati circle. How could Du Lingjing sell books at high prices and raise the threshold of Mianlou so high?
She said respectfully, "I think so." Just as she was thinking that Lord Hong could be lenient at times, she saw his expression become serious again.
"But studying is a lifelong endeavor, and it applies to both men and women. Now that your father is gone, you should be even more diligent."
Du Lingjing: "..."
She bowed quickly in response.
"Jingniang remembered it."
The conversation became more serious and the whole cave fell silent. Fortunately, Mr. Feng's grandson, Feng Xiang, came forward gently.
"I didn't expect Sister Jingniang still remembered me."
Feng Xiang is four years younger than Du Lingjing. He has not yet reached adulthood, but has already passed the imperial examination.
However, after he passed the imperial examination, he did not take part in the imperial examination in the spring of the following year. He only came to the capital this year. Unexpectedly, he encountered this incident. While collecting evidence of Shao's crimes with everyone, he fell into the mountains again.
Du Lingjing remembered that he was very shy when he was young, and she didn't expect that his face turned slightly red after he just said a word to her.
The 19-year-old young man was as fair and straight as a poplar tree. He was already much taller than Du Lingjing, but his face turned red, as if he had turned into the boy he was back then.
Du Lingjing said that he remembered, "I am older than you, so it is normal for me to remember it, but you were still young at that time, so how can you remember it?"
She just asked casually, but he seemed to pause, his face turned even redder, and his pair of bright eyes only glanced at Du Lingjing, then he quickly looked away shyly.
He said softly, "I also bought some of the books that Sister Jingniang published over the years, and I read them from time to time, so I remember them."
I see.
Du Lingjing asked about a few books at random and found that he had all these books at home. She couldn't help but guess that Feng Xiang might have bought more than three or five books.
She didn't ask any more questions, but just looked at a girl sitting in the corner. The girl was young, thin, with sunken cheeks. She was sitting alone, hugging her knees, lost in thought.
Is she the girl who informed Hu Tinglan and exposed the Shaw Brothers' viciousness?
Before Du Lingjing could ask, Tingjun came over and said that her brother Hu Tinglan wanted to ask her about something outside.
Du Lingjing went over and told Hu Tinglan everything she knew, "There are all kinds of forces in the mountains now, and there are not many people we can trust."
Hu Tinglan was not surprised, but he did not expect that Shao Boju's uncle Shao Zun would use the matter of Rongchang Marquis's Mansion to consider exchanging people with Yongding Marquis Lu Shenru.
"So you had a falling out with the Marquis?" he couldn't help asking.
Du Lingjing shook her head, "Not really, we just had to go our separate ways."
Hu Tinglan heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this. The marriage granted by the imperial decree was a forced one in the first place. She had a falling out with her husband right after she got married, and her life would be difficult from then on.
The situation hasn't gotten out of hand yet, Hu Tinglan couldn't help but say.
"So you don't know what the Marquis means?"
Du Lingjing shook her head and said she didn't know, "But he's here too."
Hu Tinglan raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Jingniang and the Marquis' Mansion went their separate ways, but the Marquis came in person. What did Marquis Lu mean by that?
*
At the foot of the mountain.
Outside the house where Du Lingjing had previously taken people to stay overnight, a man stood in the wind with his hands behind his back. It was already dark, and no one was seen coming back from the alley.
Chongping stepped forward and said, "My Lord, Madam has brought so many people with her but she hasn't come back yet. It seems that nothing has happened. It is very likely that the missing Fu Party members have been found."
The man nodded and glanced at the door of the yard where she stood. The room inside was silent and dark, with no light in sight.
It seems so.
He guessed that she must have found the mark left by the Fu party members, but she was the only one who could find the person so quickly by following the mark in this whole mountain.
Lu Shenru sighed, his eyes softened, but he couldn't help but think of her letter, the medicine she had asked someone to send, and how she had met him in the mountains and refused to come over, but instead politely asked him to do as he pleased... ...the man's eyes turned cold again.
He pursed his lips and said nothing. The wind blowing through the alley blew the hem of his robe away. He stood in the wind with his hands behind his back for a long while before he called Chongping.
"The Shaw Brothers have been forced into a corner. Tomorrow, we must guard against their counterattack."
Chongping shuddered, "Yes."
*
In the cave in the dense forest, everyone slept for only two hours at night and they all felt sleepless.
After hiding in the mountains for a long time with the evidence of Shaw’s crimes, he is finally going out today.
They had sent messages earlier to ask their relatives and friends to hide. For example, Mr. Zhang, who opened a bookstore outside the capital, Du Lingjing originally wanted to find him to find out if there was anyone in the capital or even in northern Zhili who had ever collected or published Song Dynasty editions, but Mr. Zhang closed the shop and disappeared.
Feng Xiang said that Mr. Zhang also helped collect evidence of Shaw's crimes, but he was afraid that Shaw would come looking for him, so he made him hide early.
As long as this matter is resolved smoothly, Mr. Zhang will naturally come out.
And everyone has been separated from their relatives and friends for too long.
Before daybreak, Du Lingjing discussed with Hu Tinglan, Jiang Fengchuan and other gentlemen for a while. When everything was almost figured out and the sky outside gradually brightened, everyone left the cave one after another and went out quietly.
There are already people looking for someone in the mountains, and you can hear them calling out.
The group continued to hide in the remaining mist and dense forest from the morning. After about a quarter of an hour, they finally came out of the forest.
Ruan Gong had followed Du Lingjing's instructions. In order to avoid exposing his whereabouts, he only allowed government soldiers, academy students, and all kinds of people invited by Du Lingjing to wait on a gentle hillside in front.
No matter which force it is, there may be people with ulterior motives mixed in. The only way to avoid being exposed is to let them all wait outside.
Everyone was now passing through the dense forest, quickening their pace, and they would be able to meet up with the others in less than two quarters of an hour.
Everyone quickened their pace. The most important thing right now was not to get separated within this quarter of an hour, and not to make any noise to attract other people.
Unexpectedly, just when they had walked a few hundred meters, the way ahead was blocked.
In the morning in the mountain forest, the sun has just risen and there is still a little bit of thin morning mist left. The birds in the forest have flown away without knowing when, and you can even hear the sound of a pin drop in the forest.
Someone walked slowly out of the woods, stepping on dead leaves.
He glanced at everyone one by one, his eyes, which had become a little gloomy due to the exhaustion of recent days, now showed a faint smile in the morning light.
"Everyone, we finally meet."
It’s Shao Boju.
His younger brother Shao Wuxing was standing beside him, holding a sharp knife in his hand, and Shao's men had been lying in ambush all around, and in a few breaths, they all surrounded him.
Everyone in the Fu Party was silent. They had been hiding for so long, and they only needed to move forward for another quarter of an hour to reunite with the outside world, but now they were stopped on the road.
Everyone was silent, and Shao Boju curled his lips even more, but this time he no longer looked at everyone, his gaze only fell on the person who was closest to him.
He didn't call him by his courtesy name, but still used the name they used when they were young and didn't have courtesy names yet.
"Lan, I thought you and I were as close as brothers, but did it have to come to this?"
When Hu Tinglan heard him say that, he chuckled, but when he laughed, the wound on his shoulder that was shot by Shao Wuxing's arrow felt painful.
His face turned pale, and Shao Boju was slightly startled, "Are you injured?"
As he spoke, he looked at his cousin Shao Wuxing who was standing beside him. The young man with the hooked nose had a sinister look in his eyes, but because he was looked at by his brother, he lowered his head and wanted to explain something, but Hu Tinglan had already spoken.
"We have been hunted by your men for months. Isn't it normal to get a little injured?" He snorted even more. "We can survive with injuries, but those officials killed by your brothers didn't even have this chance to survive, right?"
He looked straight over, and his eyes fell exactly on the face of the brother with whom he had once shared a life-and-death friendship.
Even though Shao Boju was the one who was besieging the crowd, he couldn't help but look away.
He said that indeed, in order to let their own people impersonate the original owner, they naturally couldn't bear to see the original owner live, "But what can I do?"
At first, Shao Boju discovered that two court officials had drowned in a shipwreck on their way to office. Coincidentally, when they took office, he had a difficult matter that he could not predict.
No one knew that the two men had drowned. He thought about it for a day and asked Shao Wuxing to secretly arrange two people who looked similar to them to take the positions.
He originally thought that the matter might be exposed, so he waited for a month or so to deal with the difficult matter by using the positions of these two people, and then withdraw the personnel.
Unexpectedly, more than half a year had passed and no one had noticed.
It is extremely difficult for officials to communicate when they leave their hometowns to take up posts outside their hometowns. However, they can sneak in by disguising themselves as someone with similar appearance.
If he were to take the appointment and serve as a county magistrate in a remote place, no one would know about his position for three years, let alone be intentionally transferred to avoid it.
Shao Boju said that he was indeed greedy. "Seeing that this method was feasible, he took a fancy to another official and asked him to replace him."
This time, the official he was looking for happened to be the ostracized party member. This person's position was not important, but his term was about to end. He found someone to replace him and then transferred the replacement to another place. That person would be his real one.
The Fu Party official had been working outside for more than ten years without moving, and he was ill from overwork. Seeing that he was about to die, Shao Wuxing was asked to keep an eye on him.
He just needs to wait for the person to die so that he can disguise himself and take over. He really needs someone to do things for him. His uncle Shao Zun is the one who is under pressure, and what he lacks is his own manpower.
Unexpectedly, Shao Wuxing became a little anxious. Seeing that the man had not died for a long time, he stopped giving him medicine on his way to Beijing.
However, this was discovered by the woman's daughter, and Shao Wuxing abducted her in a hurry. As for the anti-party official, he could not find his daughter and died in anxiety.
Shao Boju said he didn't know about this matter and glanced at Shao Wuxing, "I didn't expect that this negligence would lead to such a big mistake."
The one who came out to report and expose the evil deeds of the Shaw brothers was the daughter of the Fu Party official.
The girl's surname was Huang. Upon hearing this, she took two steps out from the crowd.
Her face was pale and her eyes were bloodshot.
"What a great excuse! So this is how a top scholar can deceive people!"
She said sternly, and Shao Wuxing raised his foot to step forward, "Bitch!"
Hu Tinglan stood directly in front of Miss Huang, and Shao Boju also stopped Shao Wuxing when he saw this.
Du Lingjing saw that Miss Huang's face became more and more miserable.
"They said that my father's medicine was cut off, that my father died of anxiety, and that I was just abducted by him..." She shook her head heavily, saying that none of them were true. She looked at Shao Wuxing fiercely.
"My father was poisoned to death by him, and I... I was taken away by him by force!"
There was a sudden shock in the forest.
Everyone in the Fu Party already knew what happened to the Huang father and daughter and was not surprised. Only Shao Boju frowned and glanced at Shao Wuxing.
"Did you really do such a thing?"
"Brother, I..."
Needless to say, Shao Boju also knew it, and he was silent for a moment.
Hu Tinglan asked, "You don't know?"
Although it was a question, it was tinged with sarcasm.
Shao Boju said that he really didn't know, but then looked at Miss Huang.
"I will let Xiaowu give you a status, which can be regarded as an explanation..."
Before she finished her words, Miss Huang suddenly burst into laughter.
"My father was killed by you. He raped me. Now you give me a status as an explanation. What kind of evil did my father and daughter of the Huang family do in the previous life to have to tangle with disgusting people like you brothers?!"
The more she talked, the more she couldn't stop. Her thin figure now cast a broad shadow in the morning. She said straightly.
"Shao Wuxing has imprisoned me for more than a year. He has committed many evil deeds!"
She only asked Shao Boju, "My father was not the only one who was murdered by him. Don't you know that?"
Shao Boju paused where he was.
Shao Wuxing told him that those officials died on their own, and they just dealt with them briefly, transferred them to other places, and found people to replace them for a few months to handle the important matters, without anyone knowing.
But Miss Huang only questioned him, "How dare you say you really don't know?"
Shao Boju was silent.
Shao Wuxing never told him about it, but he did wonder how the impersonation could go so smoothly.
But as long as things are going well, why would he ask more questions?
There are big things ahead, such as independence from the Shao clan, building up one's own power in the court and gaining a firm foothold. It is best to just turn a blind eye to these things.
He was speechless for a moment.
Shao Wuxing hated Miss Huang so much that he wanted to kill her, but he didn't dare to do it directly in front of his brother.
Hu Tinglan looked at his old friend, who was now a popular figure in front of the emperor and the top scholar.
"You didn't kill Boren, but he died because of you. Connivance is also a serious crime that cannot be shirked. It's ridiculous that I have been brothers with someone like you for so many years."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shao Boju's face twitched twice. He didn't make any excuses, but he didn't order to let everyone go either.
Shao Wuxing simply spoke frankly.
"Brother, I was impatient before, but it can't be changed. These people know too much, we can't let them stay!"
The best strategy is to kill them all and silence them all.
Upon hearing this, Du Lingjing silently clenched her fists. She looked at Hu Tingjun, then at Hu Tinglan, and then her eyes swept over the several gentlemen.
Everyone exchanged glances quietly.
Everyone is here, but there are two faces that are absent.
It’s Jiang Fengchuan and Feng Xiang.
Du Lingjing looked through the woods toward the slope not far away and saw two people nodding to her from afar.
When they left the forest, they wondered how to save themselves if they were intercepted on the road.
So at Hu Tinglan's suggestion, the troops were divided into two groups, with Jiang Fengchuan and Feng Xiang taking a few of Du Lingjing's men outside. In case of an unfavorable situation, even if they were too few in number to provide rescue, they could create chaos, and then everyone would flee in the chaos.
Shao Wuxing could no longer suppress his urge to kill.
Shao Boju's hesitation also came to an end. He finally asked Hu Tinglan, "Does it have to be a life-and-death battle between us?"
Hu Tinglan's old friendship for him was wiped out by the bloody wound.
"Heaven's will is constant. It does not exist for the sake of Yao, nor does it perish for the sake of Jie. No matter whether it is friendship or power that you try to keep, there is nothing left."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shao Wuxing drew his knife.
"elder brother!"
Shao Boju took a deep breath and finally looked at Hu Tinglan.
"...No matter what, leave the Hu brothers and sisters behind."
The implication is that no one else can stay.
In a flash, Du Lingjing and all the gentlemen looked towards Jiang Fengchuan on the hillside. They could not wait any longer, as it was time to create chaos and everyone fled to save their lives.
Unexpectedly, before anyone could take action, a voice was heard in the woods.
"Everyone, stop moving."
Du Lingjing was startled——
It was Chongping's voice.
The next moment, soldiers appeared from all over the mountains and plains and gathered around.
The people that the Shao brothers used to surround the Fu party were all pinned down and surrounded, but Jiang Fengchuan and Feng Xiang who were hiding outside were also surrounded by guards with knives.
Chongping walked out from the depths of the forest, and behind him, with his long sword clearing the way, a tall man in a dark brocade robe appeared within everyone's sight.
"Lu Shenru." Shao Boju glanced over.
Lu Shenru only glanced at him and said, "Tanhua Shao wants to kill people to silence them, but it's too late."
No matter whether they are from the Fu Party or the Shaw Brothers, everyone here is under his knife. As long as he is unhappy, everyone can be killed.
The forest seemed to be surrounded by an impenetrable black cloth, and for a moment no one made any sound.
For the people of Shao Boju, the appearance of Lord Lu would not bring him any benefits.
His uncle Shao Zun was afraid that the impersonation would make things difficult for the Shao family and Prince Yong, so he wanted to make a deal with Lu Shenru to replace the person privately, and then use an excuse to make him suffer under the two eldest branches of the Shao family for the rest of his life.
The Rongchang Marquis' Mansion is of vital importance to Lu Shenru, and he will not give it up.
At this point, he had no chance of winning.
But for the people of the Yufu Party, the choice this Marquis makes is a world of difference.
If he chooses to replace them, they will surely die in Shao Zun's hands. If he makes the matter public, they can live happily.
No one knows what he will do.
Everyone looked at him, including Du Lingjing.
She looked towards him, and he just lowered his head slightly and locked her gaze in his eyes.
Her heartbeat suddenly quickened.
The man frowned, and he spoke in a low, deep voice, speaking only to her.
"come over."
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