red cliff top

Chapter 48 Alchemy

Hearing the news of the third brother's death with his own ears, Shen Si slowly turned his head away, and vigorously grabbed the quilt with ten fingers, but the expression on his face could not be seen, only his shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly.

The King of Jin wanted to comfort him, but stretched his hand halfway, then retracted it, hesitated for a moment, and finally said with difficulty: "Nianqing, let's be sad, if the third son is alive in heaven, I will definitely not bear to see you sad."

Shen Si stubbornly turned his back to him, and it took him a long time to shake his head numbly, with a hoarse voice: "I understand what you want to say, just let me be alone for a while."

There was a long silence, and King Jin sighed helplessly: "The residual poison in your body has not been cleared, it is better to rest more. I will arrange for the third son's funeral, so you don't have to worry about it." After finishing speaking, he quietly exited the room and ordered Renhao stayed in contemplation, and then returned to the palace with anxiety.

The streets were bumpy and the hooves of the horses were crushed, disturbing people.

Along the way, King Jin sat upright with his eyes closed, seemingly resting his mind, but his mind was spinning fast.He has always been very confident in his vision of seeing people and his judgment in situations, and the person who poisoned him will definitely not be Zhang Jinyu.But now that the third elder brother of the Shen family passed away, whether Zhang Jinyu was guilty or innocent, there must be an explanation from Shen Si.The difficulty lies in this matter. On the surface, Zhang Jinyu is just an Israeli favorite in the palace, but behind him is Zhang Shijie, and even the entire Zhang family.Three generations of allegiance, fighting in the South and North, this friendship must not be ignored.What can I do to calm the anger of contemplation without hurting the face of the Zhang family?

When the carriage arrived at the gate of the palace, Zhang's elderly housekeeper had knelt and waited there for a long time, when he saw King Jin, he immediately bowed down and said: "My master is unable to walk because of his illness, so I specially ordered the younger one to greet the prince on his behalf. The master heard that Mr. Shen was accidentally poisoned, so he specially ordered the younger one to give Mr. Shen valuable medicinal materials to nourish his body. The master also said that when my old master was dying from a poisoned arrow to save the prince, it was because of these good medicines that he saved himself from danger."

This is a blatant reminder not to forget one’s roots. The King of Jin understood it, and sneered slightly: “Your master is smart, and he has a good reason to admit that he is humble and humble. This King will always keep in mind his hard work and hard work."

After dismissing Zhang Shijie's men, King Jin walked heavily to the courtyard where Zhang Jinyu was held.Before entering the door, Zhang Jinyu yelled hoarsely from the inside: "I want to see the prince, let me go to see the prince, I have something to say to the prince! Let me out!" Then there were broken pieces of porcelain on the floor. There was a crackling sound and the muffled sound of tables, chairs and benches falling to the ground.

King Jin pushed open the door, glanced at the mess on the ground, and had a half-truth and half-fake smile on his face: "Ah Yu, what do you want to say? Now that the king is here, you can just talk."

Zhang Jinyu held a porcelain pillow high in his hand, and was about to fall to the ground. When he saw King Jin, he was taken aback for a moment, then threw away the porcelain pillow and ran to King Jin in a panic, stepping on the robe several times. Falling down: "My lord, I didn't, I didn't! I didn't do anything!"

King Jin reached out to support him, and gently wiped off the stains on his face: "Ayu, have you used all the bird's nests that this king gave you? How does it taste?"

Hearing this, Zhang Jinyu's face turned pale, staggered back a few steps, and fell to the ground, muttering in his mouth: "Yes, no one will believe what I say now. I did go there this morning. The small kitchen did add ingredients to Shen Nianqing's crispy cheese. But what I added was just laxatives. I wanted to make him feel uncomfortable and make a fool of himself, and to relieve his jealousy. I never thought of killing people. You should understand Ayu, my lord. I have always been timid, and I am most afraid of ghosts and ghosts, and I dare not go out alone after dark, so how dare I take someone's life!"

King Jin stared at him for a while, then nodded noncommittally: "Where did the laxative come from?"

Zhang Jinyu took a deep breath and replied with a sob: "It's a long story. A few days ago, my uncle gave me a basket of dried dates from Kuanzhou. I thought the taste was too hard, so I gave it to Tong Yuanbao He was greedy for a while and ate the whole basket, which caused intestinal knots and made it difficult to excrete, so he asked for a laxative from the doctor. I saw that the laxative was really powerful, and I was fascinated by ghosts for a while, so I wanted to use it to tease Shen Nianqing. Your lord, I really didn't poison, I even inquired about the weight of the laxative, and I dared to do it only after I was sure that it would not be harmful to the body."

Seeing that Prince Jin still had his phoenix eyes downcast and expressionless face, Zhang Jinyu wept until he burst into tears: "My lord, I have been following you in the mansion since I was 16. At first it was Ge Xiaobai, then Jiang Yunsheng, now Now Shen Nianqing is here again. I know that I have never been ranked first in the prince's heart, so I dare not force it. Over the years, I have hated one after another. I have said a lot of ugly things, but I never thought of poisoning others ah."

Seeing him crying pitifully, King Jin couldn't bear it: "Okay, Ayu, this king is not a muddled and arbitrary person, you have the right to be wronged for a few days first, and after the investigation is clear that what you said is true, this king will naturally return You are innocent."

After finishing speaking, he got up and walked out, but before he reached the door, he was stopped by Zhang Jinyu's emotional "Prince", Zhang Jinyu hurried a few steps and knelt down behind King Jin, crying bitterly: "Prince, you should know, I am different from those few people. I am not entrusted to the prince to take care of my relatives after death, nor have I had to commit myself to the prince's mansion when I have nowhere to go. My grandfather, my father, or my uncle all thought that I could join the army and serve the country, but since the first time I saw you, I have been in admiration of your demeanor, and I just want to follow you. In the eyes of the world, a guy like me It must be extremely low. Because of this, my father was so angry that he almost beat me to death, but I just couldn’t change my original intention. Day and night, only the prince was on my mind, and I even went on a hunger strike to resist. My father couldn’t help it, so he had no choice but to send me to Entering the palace. In recent years, the prince has been surrounded by a cloud of talented people, and I can't compare with them in everything, but I have the same confidence that no one can compare with me. That is my favorite prince! I am the prince. You can leave your dignity, family background, and future behind, but how can you have the heart to kill the person your lord loves!"

King Jin silently listened to his words from the bottom of his heart, finally gritted his teeth and walked away.

Back in the study, Zhang Jinyu's little Tong Yuanbao had also been brought. After careful interrogation, the ins and outs of the whole matter were exactly the same as what Zhang Jinyu said.King Jin ordered someone to fetch the remaining laxatives, and compared them with the gourd vine powder that Shensi had eaten by mistake. Sure enough, the color and texture were almost the same, even if it was dropped in the middle, it was hard to detect from the appearance.

But who has the ability to know Zhang Jinyu's every move and change the medicine unconsciously?What is the other party's purpose?Toxic brooding?On the surface, it seems that the poisonous shortbread cheese is indeed specially prepared for Shensi, but it is so coincidental that Shensi was spoiled by maltose the day before and couldn't eat too much sweets.If the murderer really has the means to manipulate the people in the mansion without anyone noticing, how can he forget to investigate the daily life of meditation?

So it was to frame Zhang Jinyu?Zhang Jinyu lives in the backyard and doesn't care about political affairs. He can't strategize in literature, and he can't carry a gun on horseback. He has no other advantages except his light figure and good looks. Who would have a deep hatred with him?

Could it be that...is there any deeper conspiracy that I haven't seen clearly?

It was the sound of fighting in the night, and the drizzle was cold.One hundred and eight eminent monks invited by Chongshan Temple recited the scriptures in unison, and rescued the deceased from life and death, and reached bliss early.

Shen Si knelt and sat alone in front of the third brother's spirit, and threw the ghosts bought by Huang Quan into the brazier one by one.The shadow was cast alone on the wall, a dark mass, fluttering and swaying in the light of the fire.With the sound of footsteps, King Jin came in, put the plain robe in his hand on Shen Si's shoulders, and stood by his side for a long time.

Shen Si looked back at King Jin, got up knowingly and walked out, King Jin hurriedly followed.After leaving the mourning hall, Shen Si stopped and said, "Speak up if you have something to say."

King Jin thought about it and said, "The poisoning...someone should be framing Ah Yu."

"Frame him? Trying your best to frame a male favorite who only knows how to dress up?" Shen Si snorted coldly, "The word "framed" is a good excuse, but tell me, who wants to frame him?"

King Jin shook his head helplessly, and asked in a gentle tone: "I heard that the maltose you ate yesterday was obtained from the bezoar in the street market? Why didn't he buy it sooner or later? It just so happens that the poisonous crispy cheese appeared just in time." Did you buy it before?"

Shen Si's eyes widened: "You suspect Niu Huang? What evidence do you have?"

King Jin pursed his lips in embarrassment: "There is no proof, it's just intuition. After all, everyone in this mansion knows the whole story, but he alone has unknown origins. Maybe I'm suspicious, I always feel that he acts quite deliberately... just happened to be met by us. , just happened to do my best for you, just happened to be found out that he doesn't know martial arts, just happened to hear Ayu's drunken words, and just happened to give you candy in time yesterday..."

"Guard, you are so unreasonable!" Shen Si smiled wryly, "You sent someone to invite him on board that day, otherwise how could he have anything to do with you and me? Could it be that he can pinch and count, and was waiting for you early Appear? It's true that he doesn't know martial arts, there is no need to hide it, and he can't hide it. He only thought of buying maltose after hearing me mention that he misses the taste of his childhood a lot. Moreover, he has no relationship with Zhang Jinyu. There is no enmity, if you hadn't tricked him to come to Jinyuan, he might not have had the opportunity to know Zhang Jinyu in his life. In my opinion, could it be that Niuhuang accidentally heard Zhang Jinyu's truth, and you couldn't cover it up and became angry?"

Jin Wang knew that he was angry and his words would inevitably be thorny, so he didn't care about it: "Since Niuhuang entered the mansion, strange things have happened one after another. First, someone pretended to be you and shot the imperial envoy, and then someone provoked you to have revenge with Ayu. Ayu is not important, but Don't forget, Zhang's family is also involved behind him. Yes, I can't find any evidence, but for the safety of Jin, I can only ignore justice and human feelings. If it is really wrong, blame him It's your own fate."

Shen Si let out a long breath irritably: "Oh, I hope it's as you said, I hope it's not to catch a scapegoat..."

In the dark dungeon, Hu Buxi led people to torture Niu Huang.The thin leather whip was soaked in water, and only the tip of the whip was greeted to the body.The torturers are all experts, there is a crisp "pa", and there is strength in the hands. Although the skin is torn apart and the blood is splashed, the pain is so painful that people are dying, but it does not hurt the muscles and bones.

Niuhuang couldn't bear the beating, and cried with snot all over his face: "Please forgive me, my lord, please! Damn the villain, the villain is all made up, I didn't go out to chase any little foxes on New Year's Eve, and I didn't hear Mr. Zhang If you talk about poisoning, I... I will recruit everything! Please stop beating..."

The wailing echoed for a long time in the airtight dungeon, making the listeners feel anxious and the hearers tremble.Outside the corridor separated by a wall, King Jin and Shen Si stood side by side, each silent.Tried and tried to press for three or four days, but didn't find anything useful. Under the heavy punishment, Niu Huang pleaded guilty and begged for mercy, but no matter how he heard it, it was just a trick of torture.

Shen Si glanced at King Jin with a gloomy face: "From this point of view, if he is not too clever, he is really wronged."

King Jin was very calm, and there was no sadness or joy in his words: "What about you? Do you think it is the former or the latter?"

Shen Si frowned, and walked out without looking back.

After dinner, Shensi took a plate of chicken to feed Liuli, but the little fox just put his nose up and sniffed it, and then went back to the original place limply, even showing a lack of enthusiasm for his favorite food.I also know that in the days when Shen Si was busy serving the third brother, Nizohuang took care of it, now that the familiar smell is gone, even a beast who doesn't understand human language will inevitably feel restless.

Taking advantage of Shensi's inattention, the little fox "slipped" out of the courtyard door, and quickly ran away from the corner of the wall.Shen Si had no choice but to chase after obediently.Following the scent, the little fox ran all the way to the dungeon where Niu Huang was held. Just as the guards were changing shifts, seeing a small crack in the cell door, it squeezed its body tight and tried its best to squeeze in.The guard was taken aback by the red ball of fur that jumped out of nowhere, and he didn't know that it was a fox until he saw Shensi who followed him.Since Mr. Shen came to chase him personally, the guards naturally let Shen Si in without hindrance.

The little fox turned around and turned around, and actually found the bezoar for it.Seeing that the bezoar was tied high on the shelf, blood was moving all over his body, the little fox stared at it for a moment with its two big black grape-like eyes, and then jumped into the iron gate, whining and whining. As he spoke, he stuck out his tongue and licked Bezoar's bare feet.

Feeling the wet and itchy soles of his feet, Niu Huang opened his red and swollen eyes in a trance, and was surprised to see the little fox squatting at his feet passionately licking and kissing him, and immediately burst into tears: "Liuli, Liuli, why are you here?" ..."

Guessing that Shen Si might chase the little fox here, he cried and called out: "Young Master Shen, Young Master, are you outside? If you want to be here, please answer. Please go and tell the prince, just say I'm willing to confess to everything, just please don't hit me again. I... I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything, I made up all the bullshit..."

Shen Si was in a dilemma, and was about to turn around and leave, but the little fox came out again, looked up at Shen Si blankly, and scratched his shoe with his paws, his eyes full of earnestness.There seemed to be a thousand catties under Shen Si's feet, and he couldn't lift it no matter what.

Niuhuang cried tears and his throat was hoarse: "Young master, I, Niuhuang, was originally a young doctor from the countryside. I don't understand the rules of rich and noble families like you. I think I said something wrong or did something wrong, which made the prince want to arrest me. Punishment. I don't expect the young master to be partial to me and intercede for me. I just ask the young master to see that I have worked so hard to take care of you all the way, and because I have done my best to feed Liuli for you, kill me with one knife! Your martial arts are so strong, and your swordsmanship is so good, presumably it doesn’t hurt to kill people. As long as you strike fast enough, a sword pierces your heart, and it’s over in the blink of an eye. gone."

Shensi walked in slowly: "You really only want to die?"

Niu Huang's face was full of surprises: "Thank you, young master, please help me, young master." After speaking, he closed his eyes and raised his chest high.

Shen Si took out a machete from the rack next to the torture tools, weighed it in his hand, squinted his eyes and stared at Niu Huang for a moment, then raised his hand "shua", the machete passed through Niu Huang's left armpit, Nailed straight into the masonry wall.

Niu Huang only felt the cold wind blowing towards his face, and then there was a crisp "clang", as if something had passed through his body, but he didn't feel any pain.He slowly opened his eyes, Shensi and the little fox had disappeared, only a machete was stabbed in his left armpit, and the clothes were not torn at all.After realizing that he broke out in a cold sweat, he saw that there was no one around. He lowered his head and grabbed the handle of the knife with his mouth. When knotting the rope, he turned his head and neck vigorously, trying to cut the rope with a machete.It's a pity that his arms are weak and the rope is extremely strong. He only cut a small opening the width of his nails, and the person hangs down limply. After doing this several times, the rope was finally cut, and the person fell to the ground with a "plop", without even the strength to raise his head.

Lie down until past midnight before Niu Huang got up tremblingly. When Shen Si left, he didn't lock the iron gate tightly.A few guards outside were lazing on the table, snoring loudly.Niu Huang supported the wall with one hand and the scimitar in the other, and slipped out fearfully.As soon as he left the cell, he ran out as fast as he could, and when he ran a long way towards the small courtyard where he was contemplating, he stopped suddenly, as if thinking of something, he turned and ran towards the back door again.

The night was quiet, the moon was covered by dark clouds, and it was dark as far as the eyes could see.Niu Huang was eager to survive, and in a panic, he stumbled on the stone steps by the lake, staggered and fell to the ground, and even dropped the knife on the gravel road.The guards watching the night heard the movement and asked loudly: "Who is it? Come out!"

Niu Huang hurriedly got up, but unexpectedly, his left foot tripped over his right foot, another dog gnawed shit.When he was dizzy and finally managed to touch it, the guards had rushed from all directions and surrounded him.Niu Huang gripped the handle of the knife tightly with both hands, shaking from head to toe, trembling and said harshly: "Don't come here! I have a knife! Anyone who comes here will kill him!"

The guards were not afraid of being so stern, they continued to press closer with their swords.In a moment of panic, Niu Huang swung the scimitar wildly in a circle, but ended up using too much force, lost his footsteps, and threw himself to the ground due to inertia, causing contemptuous laughter from the surrounding guards.

Niu Huang got up angrily, raised the scimitar high and slashed towards the direction where the laughter was the loudest. The opponent dodged the blade, and the knife slammed into the tree trunk by the roadside, firmly embedded in it.Niu Huang used all his strength to pull out the knife, and was about to turn around to fight again, when the man kicked him easily on the back, causing his whole body to hit a tree, bleeding from his mouth and nose immediately.

Seeing that there was no hope of escaping, he burst into tears again, weeping and trembling, aiming the scimitar at his throat, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as soon as he was about to stab it.

At the moment when the point of the knife touched the neckline, a stone flew out of the slanting stab, and hit Niu Huang's wrist with a "slap", and he let go of the machete in pain, thinking that even suicide would be prevented, and he would have to go back to suffer again. Suffering from flesh and blood, he couldn't help cursing.

After swearing a bad word, he was dragged away with his feet off the ground, and Niu Huang suddenly felt a figure floating in front of him. Before he could figure out what happened, he was rushed out of the encirclement by a man in black. Stepping on the rockery and tree branches, he jumped up to the roof in a few steps, and jumped out of the wall in a flash.

When his feet landed on the ground, he just woke up like a dream, and tremblingly glanced at the face of the man in black, he was actually thinking!

With a pair of bows and arrows on his shoulders, Shen Si has been quietly following since Niu Huang escaped from the dungeon, and has patiently watched every move since then.If Niu Huang really had the ability to escape the guards and escape from the palace, he would kill him with one arrow without hesitation.After seeing Niu Huang's desperate appearance and seeing the other party almost desperate and wanting to commit suicide, he still chose to believe in Niu Huang.

There was already a carriage waiting outside the courtyard wall, and Shen Si hurriedly stuffed a package into Niu Huang: "The dry food and the token for going out of the city are all in it, and I have arranged for the driver. There are also a few ingots of silver, which are enough for you to pay for the carriage and horse fees and to heal your wounds." If you still have spare time, then find a place to settle down and do some small business, remember, don’t go back to Jinyuan again.” After thinking for a while, he untied his saber and handed it to Niuhuang, “In the old days I met by chance on the canal, and you healed and cooked medicine for me with the benevolence of a doctor, but I have repeatedly imprisoned you and was imprisoned. I am really sorry. Although this sword is worthless, it has been with me for many years. Take it as a little thought, You can also have a self-defense guy on the way."

Seeing that Niuhuang's lips were moving and his voice was choked with sobs, he rudely pushed the man towards the carriage, and urged the driver, "Go!"

The carriage traveled a long way, and Niuhuang's head was still sticking out of the window and looking back, until the thoughtful figure disappeared into the night and could no longer be seen, he sighed softly and retreated into the carriage.

After a few more miles, there was a three-way intersection in front of him. The driver slowly reined in the horse, turned his head and asked, "Guest, may I ask which direction we are going?" After waiting for a while, there was no answer, and the driver thought the person inside had fallen asleep. , so he raised his voice and asked again, "Guest, there is a fork in the road ahead, which direction do you want to go?"

After waiting for a long time, the coachman finally lost his patience, raised the curtain with his backhand and shouted: "Guest!" Unexpectedly, there was no one in the car, and the bezoar disappeared so quietly.

The coachman was so startled that he almost jumped up, muttering to himself, could it be that he has seen hell?He hurriedly got into the carriage and inspected it carefully. The four walls were well sealed, and there was no sign of looseness on the roof. The package given by Shen Si before leaving was still intact on the seat. Bad, only the saber representing apology disappeared along with it...