042. Green Plum Braised Pork Ribs

Liang Shenyu was not an official who followed the rules. Zhang Haicheng did not survive a single day in his hands. He confessed everything he needed to, including the thirteen unjust cases in Jizhou and how he had abused his power in Jizhou over the years.

When reading the confession, Liang Shenyu's nonchalant expression suddenly froze.

Fifteen years ago, Zhang Haicheng was transferred to be the governor of Jizhou, but it happened that Jizhou was hit by a natural disaster. At first, he did not set his sights on the wealthy families in Jizhou, but did a business with Qiu Sinan, the Minister of Weiwei Temple in the court.

The Weiwei Temple was in charge of the government orders concerning military equipment, weapons, and armor.

The arsenal was also under its jurisdiction.

That year, Zhang Haicheng helped Qiu Sinan sell a batch of weapons to the Xiongnu, who were at war with the Jin Dynasty at that time.

The following year, the old Marquis Dingbei and two young masters of the Marquisate died in battle at Guzhuling.

Liang Shenyu looked at it for a while and said in a cold voice: "Is there anyone who hasn't vomited it out yet?"

The subordinate responded, "Your Excellency, after half a day of interrogation, he has said everything that needs to be said."

Liang Shenyu put away the confession and said with his eyes downcast: "Give him twenty strokes of the cane and spare his life."

The subordinate was stunned for a moment. Although he was puzzled as to why the Marquis wanted to use such severe torture, he was horrified when he saw the Marquis' gloomy expression. He dared not say anything and left without saying anything.

Liang Shenyu had long learned to control his violent and murderous intent. At least in the past few years, except for the time when he went to the Regent's Palace to ask for dumplings in the middle of the night, he had never lost control.

But I still hate it to the core.

After a long time, the protruding blue veins on the back of Liang Shenyu's palms faded away, and he slowly loosened his clenched hands.

As if nothing had happened.

Marquis Dingbei investigated the case in Jizhou in a big way and arrested Zhang Haicheng right away. The lower-level officials who colluded with him did not remain rampant for long. However, most of the officials from fifteen years ago were no longer in office, and some had even died, making it difficult to pursue them. However, after investigation, it was found that there were at least dozens of officials who took human lives lightly and disregarded the law.

Liang Shenyu wrote a memorial and returned to the capital, where he received a reply from the Regent Prince: deal with it according to the law.

Therefore, most of them were dealt with in Jizhou. Those who deserved to be killed were killed, and those who deserved to be exiled were exiled. However, Zhang Haicheng had to be kept and escorted back to the capital. Liang Shenyu suffered this ordeal for nearly half a month before he set out for the capital.

On the day of leaving the city, the people of Jizhou City lined the streets to see him off, shouting "Long live the prince, long live the marquis."

On the ninth day of the eighth month, Marquis Dingbei brought the criminal minister Zhang Haicheng to the capital.

The Regent Prince personally went to the city to greet him in a carriage. Liang Shenyu dismounted and saluted, saying loudly: "I am honored to have fulfilled your mission."

Rong Se knew what Liang Shenyu had done in Jizhou. He had handled this matter more beautifully than she had imagined. Seeing him dismount from the horse, she couldn't wait to get out of the carriage. But before she could say anything, she saw Liang Shenyu's face change drastically.

"careful!"

Before Rong Se could react, he was pulled by the hand and held in his arms. He and Liang Shenyu fell on the grass and rolled twice. There was no sound of wind in his ears, only the man's panting and slight groaning, followed by a sharp shout: "There's an assassin! Protect the prince!"

“Liang…”

"How are you?"

"It's okay, just... let me go first."

Rong Se felt dizzy. He was still not used to being so close to others, especially when he was being embraced from behind. His whole body was filled with Liang Shenyu's aura, which seemed to be mixed with a not strong smell of blood.

Liang Shenyu looked down and saw Rong Se with a frown on his face. He found that his whole body was tense, even his teeth were clenched, and his jawline was clearly visible, as if he was enduring something.

Rong Se quickly struggled to sit up, and saw the arrow embedded in the tree trunk. He felt a chill all over his body. If Liang Shenyu had not pulled him away, the arrow would have taken his life.

Countless black-clad men and Jinbei Iron Horsemen were fighting together. It was the first time that Rong Se saw such a cold weapon fight, but the situation was urgent, and he quickly calmed down. The black-clad men who had just rushed to kill him this time all rushed towards the prison van. Rong Se suddenly realized what was going on. What a good trick to make a feint to the east and attack in the west. He immediately screamed: "Prisoners! They want to kill me to silence me!!"

"Don't be impatient." Liang Shenyu pulled Rong Se to stand up with a stern look on his face, and then pushed him to the side of Yun Chu and others who were holding weapons and ready to protect them. He stretched out his hand and drew the sword at his waist, with a cold light flashing, and rushed into the battle circle like lightning.

The old marquis and the prince are both good at spearmanship, but Sanlang is good at swordsmanship. In his hands, the gentleman's weapon exudes a cold and oppressive power, and the thin sword can take people's lives without being stained with blood.

Rong Se was protected by Yun Chu behind him. He watched the battle in silence as Marquis Dingbei, who was full of hostility, began to sweat in his palms.

"It's not for me," Rong Se urged. "Go help them."

Yun Chu did not give in. He had not even noticed the hidden arrow just now. He was extremely nervous and said firmly, "Marquis Dingbei's swordsmanship is as good as a god. The Jinbei Cavalry can handle it. There is no need for our help."

Rong Se himself could only cut vegetables with a knife, so he could only worry now. Fortunately, as Yun Chu said, the men in black did not pose any threat. Seeing that they were about to be surrounded, the remaining few bit the poison between their teeth without hesitation, fell to the ground one after another, and died in a moment.

"It's all dead soil." Liang Shenyu wiped the sword clean and put it back into the sheath. After checking the body, he walked towards Rong Se and shook his head. "There's nothing. It's hard to trace."

Rong Se had never seen so many corpses in his life. The ground was covered with corpses. He couldn't tell whether he was disgusted or nervous. He suppressed his nausea and frowned coldly, "Who else could it be except them? I hope the prisoners are fine."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a dark stain on Liang Shenyu's dark blue collar, which looked like blood. His face changed slightly, "Are you injured?"

Liang Shenyu looked normal, as if he didn't feel any pain, and said in a gentle voice, "It was from a few days ago, and it's almost healed."

Rong Se was silent. This must be a torn wound. He didn't know whether it was caused by falling to the ground while holding him to avoid the arrow, or it was broken during the fight. After a moment, he said, "Let's go back to the palace."

The prisoner Zhang Haicheng was to be sent to the Dali Temple and handed over to Yu Qingzhou in person, while Liang Shenyu was taken directly back to the palace by the Regent Prince.

Liang Shenyu was calm and composed all the way. He even joked with Rong Se while sitting in the carriage: "Your Majesty, I am truly overwhelmed by your care for me."

Rong Se complained inwardly, this look didn't show any sign of being flattered or surprised at all.

For a moment, I even regretted letting him get on the carriage. He didn't look seriously injured.

But after arriving at the palace and inviting a doctor, they took off his clothes and saw a sharp wound that ran diagonally from his left shoulder to the right upper abdomen, with many stitches needed. It was like a centipede winding around this strong body, and the surrounding skin was stained with blood.

When Rong Se saw it, his face changed. He stood up suddenly, wanting to say something but stopping himself, with a complicated expression.

After the doctor wrote out the prescription and left, he could not help but scold, "Are you crazy? You went to fight when you were so badly injured, and...!"

Liang Shenyu pulled up his collar and said in a good-natured manner, "Also?"

Rong Se was too ashamed to say such words as "You are still hugging me and rolling around on the ground". She was so angry that she choked for a long time, her face slightly red, and her eyebrows were full of anger.

Liang Shenyu sat cross-legged on the couch in his shirt, his tone still light and casual: "It's okay, this little injury will heal in a few days. I was born like this, it's hard to even leave a scar."

There were indeed no obvious scars on his body, only shallow marks at most.

The more he did this, the more Rong Se felt guilty. He could no longer get angry and sighed, "You must have gotten this injury on the road."

Liang Shenyu said lightly: "There are some blind people who stop us along the way, but since I have promised the prince, I will definitely bring Zhang Haicheng back alive."

He only entered Beijing with his life.

Liang Shenyu saw Rong Se's expression and remained calm. He knew that the more he acted like this, the more moved Rong Se would be. He had often used this trick on his parents and brothers when he was young, and it always worked.

And Rong Se was just as he thought, not knowing what Liang Shenyu was thinking. He was grateful and heartbroken, and said softly, "Thank you so much for your hard work this time."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty."

"Then you..." Rong Se paused for a moment and said seriously: "After dinner, have a good rest and heal your injuries before moving again."

Liang Shenyu clenched his fingers tightly, as if hesitating, "It's against the rules to stay in the palace."

Just now the doctor said that the knife wound was very deep and new, so it would be difficult to move. Rong Se became even more nervous. After all, such a big wound would need to be treated with anti-inflammatory and dressing in his world. He couldn't crawl and fight and practice swordsmanship like Liang Shenyu. If it got infected and inflamed, it would be a big deal here!

Seeing that Liang Shenyu was still disobedient and wanted to move, he immediately frowned and said, "I order you to take good care of your injuries. Rest here."

Liang Shenyu tried his best to suppress the twitch of his lips, pretending to be hesitant, and after a long while he nodded very reluctantly: "Then I am sorry to bother you, Your Highness."

Being quite well-behaved now.

Rong Se said expressionlessly: "Okay, it's not time for you to come to my room in the middle of the night and insist on eating dumplings."

Now his joy turned into helplessness, and Liang Shenyu really couldn't laugh anymore.

.

It was already past noon. Rong Se had been busy with unjust cases these days. Yun Zhi and Lan Ying were often stationed in the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice. The meals in the palace were light and perfunctory, but there was an injury that Rong Se had to pay attention to.

It happened that the green plum vinegar had been brewed a few days ago, and the pickled green plums were boiled with brown sugar and dried to become candied fruit. Rong Se asked the kitchen to buy a few pounds of pork ribs and pork bones. Originally, this was a good season for eating crabs, but unfortunately Liang Shenyu's injury meant that he would not be able to eat fish, shrimp, or crabs, so he could only buy pork bones and stew them.

I hadn't been to the kitchen for several days, so when I came back, I felt a little friendly.

Rong Se sighed.

I don't know when this day will end.

He would rather face the smoke than go to the court where there is no smoke of gunpowder.

I am completely exhausted.

Rongse blanches the spare ribs and pork bones, removes the blood foam, and stir-fries the spices until they are fragrant, then adds tomatoes and stir-fries the bright red tomato sauce, then adds the pork bones and adds water to make a simmered soup. Stir-fry the spare ribs until the surface is cooked, then add water and ingredients, and then add the homemade green plum vinegar, and simmer over low heat.

After cooking for nearly an hour, add a few candied green plums in the middle of the ribs, stir-fry and take them out of the pot. They are bright in color and fragrant. There is a large pot of pork bone soup. Because there are tomatoes, the soup base is not milky white, but tomato red, but the soup is thick.

After putting the food into the food box, Rong Se called Yun Chu and told him, "Send someone to deliver these to Yun Zhi and Lan Ying."

Yun Chu nodded.

"Marquis Dingbei is injured, I will give it to him, you can eat the rest yourself."

After Rong Se gave the instructions, he picked up the lacquered wooden lunch box prepared for himself and Liang Shenyu and left.

He didn't notice Yun Chu's hesitation to speak at all.