The more honest a person is, the more ruthless he is in deceiving others.

Especially if a person with a strong character and a good reputation suddenly tells a lie, no one will suspect it.

Except for Shen Rong, because he had suffered a lot of losses at the hands of honest people in the past. The honest person told a little lie, which almost cost him his life in Kyoto. He came to take over the defense of Yuecheng, his father's territory. From then on, he swore that he would never trust an honest person again in his life.

Shen Rong's face twitched a few times, he tilted his head and said, "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"Of course!" Mu Zhenghao said without changing his expression, "What kind of old man can I say? A gentleman's word is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Don't use your petty heart to speculate on the gentleman's words and deeds..."

"That's right, Old Master Mu is one of the Six Gentlemen of Daqing. His reputation is all over the world, and he is a man of his word!" Shen Xiaojia suddenly interjected, "Mr. Mu, you just said there is an allusion in it, can you explain it to me? "

Mu Zhenghao stiffened, slowly twisted his neck, and stared at Shen Xiaojia's face that was pretending to be shameless. He wanted to slap it hard with the cloth shoes on his feet, took a deep breath, and kept the kind smile on his face. "This allusion is quite long. I will tell it to you when I have free time, so as not to waste Mr. Shen's time..."

"No!" Shen Rong said with a sneer at the corner of his mouth, "I want to hear it too. You can do business at any time. You can't hear the Holy Emperor's anecdotes at any time."

Mu Zhenghao coughed dryly, blinked and said, "Then let me tell you?"

"Tell me about it!" Shen Xiaojia and Shen Rong replied in unison.

"Then let me talk about it briefly..." Mu Zhenghao took the white jade fan from Shen Xiaojia's hand, pondered for a moment, pointed to the three patterns on it and said, "Turtle, tortoise, tortoise, turtle. There is a word called To prove that the turtles become turtles means to call the turtles a bastard, which means to distort the facts and confuse right and wrong... It is said that one day when the wind was strong and the rain was heavy, two turtles in the palace pond climbed into the royal study and killed the palace maids and eunuchs. They were all frightened and cried. Later, the Holy Spirit walked in, grabbed the two turtles with his own hands, put them into a large tank, and asked Wei Changgeng, the Prime Minister Zuo who was following him, whether the turtle in the tank was a tortoise or a turtle..."

When Shen Rong heard the words Wei Changgeng, he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear in his heart, and asked in a low voice, "What did Master Wei say?"

"Master Wei laughed and ordered the two turtles in the vat to be made into two dishes and brought to the imperial study. After the emperor tasted them, he asked the emperor if he thought they were delicious..." Mu Zhenghao paused and continued, "The Holy One nodded, and Master Wei said, if it is delicious, the one in the vat is the bastard..."

Shen Rong frowned and asked, "Why?"

"The Holy Father also asked the same question," Mu Zhenghao cleared his throat and said calmly, "Master Wei replied, a tortoise that has been around for thousands of years and a tortoise that has been around for ten thousand years, so the most delicious tortoise is the tortoise because it is young and the meat is tender. The most unpalatable thing is the tortoise. After all, it has lived for thousands of years and is so hard that it cannot bite or swallow. It is like dry firewood..."

"What a proof that a tortoise becomes a turtle!" Shen Xiaojia said angrily, "This Wei Changgeng dares to rely on his old man to betray his old age and insult the Holy One. He should be quartered!"

Mu Zhenghao and Shen Rong looked at Shen Xiaojia as if they were idiots, neither of them dared to answer.

Shen Xiaojia also sensed that something was wrong in the atmosphere. He laughed, changed the subject and said, "Then what? What did the Lord say?"

"The Holy One only said one word, good!" Mu Zhenghao said leisurely, "Then the little eunuch took out the Snow Fan, and the Holy One drew three balls on the back with his pen, and two big balls on it. After filling in a few strokes, one became a tortoise and the other became a tortoise. The meaning is very simple. I want to distinguish between tortoises and tortoises for the world, and there will no longer be such absurd things as proving that turtles become turtles..."

Shen Xiaojia nodded in understanding and asked curiously, "What about this egg? What does it mean?"

"Egg, Tongdan, means the sun has risen on the earth." Mu Zhenghao rubbed his goatee a few times, showing a very moved look, "The Holy One hopes that he can be the blazing sun that pierces the dark night. Bring light to the people of the world! The Holy One always cares about the people, which really makes me feel very happy. I have such a bright master, what more can I ask for!"

"It's over?" Shen Rong stared at Mu Zhenghao with a strange expression and grinned.

Mu Zhenghao nodded slightly and said, "Well... it's over!"

"Bullshit!" Shen Rong rolled his eyes and pointed at the three patterns and said, "Although Shen has little education, he also knows that these three pictures were recently added, and the ink used is Yuecheng Pine Smoke Ink. Yue. The city is thousands of miles away from Kyoto, and it will take at least several days to go back and forth... Sir Mu, Shen dared to ask, when did the Holy Emperor come to Yuecheng? And when did he return to the imperial study in Kyoto? How did he deliver this folding fan? In the hands of the old jailer?"

"Those are your three sentences..." Shen Xiaojia coughed twice and spoke before Mu Zhenghao, "But it doesn't matter, just think of it as buy one and get two free. I can tell you everything for Mr. Mu... Your Majesty has not Driving to the Moon City, the pine smoke ink used was donated by someone, and the Holy Emperor used it as soon as the picture came up. And these three patterns were not added recently, they already existed on this page many years ago, and they look like The ink is not dry yet, it's just that the fan was damp due to the humidity in the government prison."

"Are you bluffing me?" Shen Rong snorted coldly and squinted, "Since the fan surface is wet, why are the four words on the front so dry?"

"Partially damp," Shen Xiaojia touched his nose and said, "Just like this weather, there are partial showers and partly cloudy... The white jade fan is usually placed in the prison, with the back close to the moist surface, so it naturally receives the heaviest moisture. Strange!"

Although Shen Rong knew that Shen Xiaojia was just talking nonsense, he somehow felt that there was some truth in it and asked suspiciously, "Is that so?"

"If you don't believe it, you can take a fan and stay in the prison for a while. It doesn't need to be too long, a year is enough, and then you will know whether it is true or false. Lord City Lord, do you want to try it? I can prepare a luxurious suite for you. , guaranteed to make you feel at home and forget to leave..."

"Then why is this fan in the hands of the old jailer? Such sacred objects should be enshrined and thrown carelessly in filthy places like prisons. This is a great disrespect to the Holy One!"

"Otherwise, I said before that you are an old frog sitting in a well watching the sky, but you still haven't recognized who he is. You spent all those years in Kyoto in vain!"

"Is he amazing? Should I recognize him?"

"Of course! Even Mr. Mu recognized him at a glance. You think he must be so amazing. This white jade fan was personally gifted to him by the Holy One..." Shen Xiaojia took the white jade fan back from Mu Zhenghao's hand and snapped. He put it away with a click, bowed respectfully to the old jailer, and said with a solemn face, "Junior, I pay my respects to the young minister of Dali Temple, Mr. Zhuang Gaomingzhuang!"

"He?" Shen Rong frowned slightly and said doubtfully, "Zhuang Gaoming? That sounds familiar..."

"You should sound familiar," Mu Zhenghao sneered, "He is the little prince granted by the emperor back then. Within half a year, he solved dozens of major cases in Kyoto. He was promoted successively and moved to the fourth rank of Dali Temple Shaoqing."

Seeing that he could no longer escape, the old jailer Zhuang Gaoming sighed deeply, waved his hands and said, "It's all in the past, not worth mentioning... What's more, now that even Dali Temple is gone, how can there be any Dali Temple?" Shaoqing."

Mu Zhenghao saluted solemnly and said seriously, "Master Zhuang is too humble. The people of Kyoto will always remember you, the selfless Zhuang Qingtian, in their hearts. If it weren't for you, the Three Kings Rebellion in Kyoto would have killed more people... One of the reasons why I came to Yuecheng this time is to ask you to return to Kyoto and resume your post as Young Minister of Dali Temple."

"Your Majesty, do you want to reopen Dali Temple?" Zhuang Gaoming's eyes lit up, and his drunkenness immediately receded a little, but he soon became depressed again. He looked down at the shabby jailer's cloth and sighed, "Old Master Mu, please help me report to Your Majesty. Zhuang Gaoming has died a long time ago, and now there is only an old jailer who is addicted to alcohol. Kyoto is too far away, and the old jailer has weak legs and feet. He will not be able to get there in this life... Since the matter here is over, I will go back to the prison first. , in his position, seek his position!"

After saying that, Zhuang Gaoming walked towards the government prison with empty steps, and the last words floated from a distance, "Boss Shen, I have given you the fan, and we are settled. From now on, besides drinking and eating meat... Annoy me again!"

Mu Zhenghao looked at Zhuang Gaoming's leaving back and sighed helplessly, "What a pity..." "It's not a pity," Shen Xiaojia gently touched Mu Zhenghao's arm with his elbow and said with a shy smile, "Old jailor I can do it if he can, and I can do it if he can't... That young minister of Dali Temple, I think I can accept it reluctantly... By the way, how much salary does one get per month from the fourth rank?"

Mu Zhenghao curled his lips and said angrily, "You should pay attention to your case first, right? I heard Jiang Qianhu say it on the way here. I thought that since all the criminals have been brought to justice, let's just conclude the trial... Shen The city lord should go back and discipline his servants, and you can also go back and find a dry place to place the Shen Yuanzhao snow fan properly. It is a sacred object after all, so don’t let it get exposed to any other moisture!" He looked sideways at Shen Rong and narrowed his eyes slightly. , "What do you think, Lord Shen?"

Shen Rong looked at the white jade fan in Shen Xiaojia's hand with a livid face, closed his eyes and nodded, "Shen will give Master Mu a face today and wipe out all the previous..."

"How can that be done!" Shen Xiaojia interrupted Shen Rong and said coldly, "You can't just leave so lightly!"

Shen Rong's eyes suddenly turned cold and he said gloomily, "Then what else do you want?"

"That's it, Xiaojia..." Liu Nai, who had been sitting behind the public case, suddenly said, "I think this is the best result. No one suffers, and everyone is happy!"

"What I mean is that Lord City Lord, you have forgotten something important. You have to eat something before you can leave the government office..." Shen Xiaojia pointed at the three blue brick mooncakes under the public case, and said with a slightly raised corner of his mouth, "That's you What you want to get from me, you can only eliminate your worries by eating all three pieces."

Shen Rong stared at the three bluestone brick mooncakes and said with an ugly expression, "All?"

Shen Xiaojia nodded slowly, "All of them! There can't be any scum left, otherwise the effect will not be enough!"

"Okay!" Shen Rong winked at Hongxing beside him and said through gritted teeth, "Pack it up and take it back to the house. I'll eat it slowly later..."

Just when Hongxing was about to step forward and pick up three bluestone brick mooncakes, Shen Xiaojia suddenly reached out to stop him, shook his head and said, "Lord City Lord, you should eat before leaving. If you eat in the wrong way, then it will be in vain..."

Shen Rong clenched his fists and squeezed out a few words through his teeth, "Is there any particular way to eat this?"

"Uh-huh!" Shen Xiaojia said sincerely, "The unique secret recipe must be solved with a unique secret method!"

"How to solve it?"

"Eat as much as you can, no matter how hard it is to block your throat."

Shen Rong sat down under the koan, picked up a piece of bluestone brick mooncake, bit it viciously, and said vaguely, "Like this?"

"Open your mouth wider..." Shen Xiaojia said with a smile, "Yes, this is the rhythm, faster, faster!"

The courtroom was immediately filled with the sound of Shen Rong chewing moon cakes, and the faint chuckles of other people.

After a cup of tea, Shen Rong finally swallowed all three bluestone brick mooncakes into his stomach, choking and letting out a few tears.

Shen Xiaojia stepped forward slowly, pretending to be concerned and said, "What's wrong with you, City Lord? Are you choking? Oops, it's all my fault. I forgot to tell you that you can drink water and eat at the same time..."

"No!" Shen Rong wiped his tears and said, "It's so delicious. Do you have any more? I'm not full yet!"

The corner of Shen Xiaojia's mouth twitched a few times, and he shrugged his nose and said, "It's because I didn't think well enough and did not do enough. I will prepare more for you next time..."

"Then you have to live until next time..." Shen Rong's expression changed, he stood up, strode towards the door of the court, and said sullenly, "The case is closed, Shen still has business to do, so let's just say goodbye. No need to send each other off!"

Shen Xiaojia pursed his lips, spat on the ground, and muttered, "Why are you pretending to be a big-tailed wolf in front of me... This matter is not over yet. Let's ride on the donkey and read the songbook, and we'll see!"

Liu Nai watched Shen Rong step out of the court, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He leaned limply on the chair, picked up the gavel, weakly patted it, and softly uttered the word "withdraw from court" to confess to Mu Zhenghao. With a sound, he left the courtroom as if running away.

Mu Zhenghao glanced at Liu Nai's figure, sighed softly, turned to Shen Xiaojia and said, "Three feet of ice does not freeze in a day... The Shen family has been operating in Yuecheng for so many years, it is impossible for you to overthrow it all at once Yes, let’s figure it out slowly!”

"Junior, please save it!" Shen Xiaojia bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, Old Master Mu, for your help regarding the jade fan. I am not very grateful!"

"You're welcome. A talented person like you shouldn't have died in the hands of Shen Rong. I would have saved it even if I risked my life!" Mu Zhenghao laughed and said, "Let's go, you can be considered a small victory today, let's How about we go have a couple of drinks to celebrate?”

Shen Xiaojia took out a post from his sleeve and said with some embarrassment, "Drinking is probably not possible. I already have an appointment with someone..."

Mu Zhenghao closed his eyes, sniffed gently, and a wisp of fragrance floated into his nostrils. He sighed, "It turns out that the beauty has an appointment! Forget it, I won't waste your precious time... But I still want to I want to talk to you alone for a few words, but can you travel with me for a while?"

Shen Xiaojia smiled slightly and said four words happily, "I'm very happy!"

Just as the two were about to leave the court, Jiang Baotou suddenly grabbed Shen Xiaojia and said to Mu Zhenghao apologetically, "Master Mu, please wait a moment. I have a few words to say to brother Xiaojia.

…”

Mu Zhenghao took a deep look at Jiang Baotou, patted the back of Shen Xiaojia's hand, and said, "I'll wait for you in the carriage!"

Jiang Captou bowed and thanked him. After Mu Zhenghao left, he took a deep breath, stared at Shen Xiaojia's face for a moment, and said softly, "I'm leaving..."

"Let's go? Back to Kyoto?" Shen Xiaojia asked doubtfully, "Have you finished the errands you have to do in Yuecheng?"

"He's not dead. Naturally, the errands are not finished, but I have already shown my belt, so I have to leave..."

"What will happen if you go back?"

"I don't know. I have merits and demerits in coming to Yuecheng this time. It depends on how the superiors judge... Before I leave, I have something to tell you..."

"Is it about your half friend Shi Yan?"

"Clever!" Captain Jiang glanced at Shen Xiaojia appreciatively and lowered his voice deliberately, "The explosion at the fireworks store was partly his design. At least he was the one who instigated the arsonist..."

"Oh?" Shen Xiaojia touched his chin and said, "From what you say, the people who want to set the fire are not Yu Baichi and the old priest. Could it be that they are... the Fang family?"

"How did you guess that?"

"It's just a simple elimination method... It's not Yu Baichi, it's not the old priest, it can't be that Old Xie Tou can't think about it, and it can't be that Mazi lights firecrackers and plays with fire and burns himself. The City Lord's Mansion doesn't need to make such a big noise if it wants to destroy the fireworks shop...

... After all, only the Fang family of the ink-making workshop would do this. Your friend only needs to make up a story and tell the Fang family that it was Lao Xie who revealed the story of Fang Qilan escaping to the ruined temple, which caused great harm to the Fang family.

After Fang Qilan's death, Boss Fang must seek justice for his daughter. If he can't touch the Shen family, why can't he also touch his old Xie... I think the replacement of red apricots and plums with peach blossoms is also due to his plan, and everything is connected.

ah!"

"It's true, hatred can blind people's eyes..." Jiang Captou sighed, and suddenly took out a beautifully carved single knife from his waist, handed it to Shen Xiaojia, and said with a serious face, "For some reason, I have to

It is my fault to help Shiyan remove all traces of him. I will apologize to the Holy One when I return to the capital... This embroidered spring knife has been with me for many years, and I will give it to you now as an apology."
To be continued...