Author: West Lake in the Rain

Jing Qing was suddenly startled when he heard Zhang Anshi's sudden words.

".Little girl."

The images of his two daughters flashed through his mind, and Jing Qing felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly by an invisible hand, his breathing became rapid and his heartbeat accelerated.

Jing Qing, who was originally a little crazy, seemed to be poured cold water from top to bottom. He woke up instantly. He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, the madness in Jing Qing's eyes

The color faded away, replaced by dead silence.

This feeling is like a drowning person grabbing the last life-saving straw, but because the life-saving straw was taken away by others, he has endless despair. This is the case for Jing Qing. He stood there blankly, his eyes were blank, his lips were

Shivering.

Jing Qing suddenly staggered a few steps, holding on to the iron railing with both hands. His eyes suddenly opened wide, as if he wanted to see through Jiang Xinghuo outside the cell. However, all he saw was Jiang Xinghuo's calm face and deep expression.

eyes.

"Bitch thief! I want to eat your flesh and sleep on your skin!!"

Jing Qing used the remaining half of his tongue, gritted his teeth, and spoke out this sentence word by word.

Immediately, he let go of the iron railing and squatted on the ground dejectedly. He picked up the dirty and messy hair and growled in pain: "Ah——!"

His voice was shrill and tragic, like a wounded beast struggling to its death.

Mei Yin, who was beside him, frowned slightly. He turned to look at the emotional Jing Qing, a complicated expression flashed across his eyes, but he did not interrupt.

Although it sounds like the fate of Jingqing's two daughters was a bit tragic, Jingqing should have made such preparations when he was preparing to assassinate Emperor Yongle, and in the final analysis, these things had nothing to do with him.

Jiang Xinghuo, who was in front of him, looked at the crazy man in front of him, narrowed his eyes, and said quietly: "Your two daughters, I sent them to a private school in the countryside. No one knows their identities, and no one will

Disturbing their lives, as for your grandmother."

Having said this, Jiang Xinghuo paused.

"The emperor did not make things difficult for her. She was released. She never gave up hope in you. She cried her eyes out. She even borrowed money from people she knew from door to door, hoping to rescue you from prison."

Jing Qing felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his whole body trembled violently, "You, what did you say?"

Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyes, fixed his gaze on Jing Qing, and continued: "Anyway, you have a pair of daughters, and they are waiting for you to come home. If you want to see them, I can send someone to pick them up from the private school in a few days.

return."

After Jiang Xinghuo finished speaking, he turned around and left without saying another word.

Jing Qing's assassination of the emperor was a capital crime of a bad nature. No one could save him. If there was any chance of atonement, it would be nothing more than a public announcement in the newspapers to show his remorse. He himself would still die, but his relatives would always be better off.

some.

But a pedantic scholar like Jing Qing dared to risk the lives of his whole family to assassinate the king. If there were no special circumstances, it would be impossible to rely on this family affection alone to persuade him to give up the orthodoxy of "relationship between heaven and man" that he defended with his life.

possible.

Zhang Anshi, Xu Jingchang and others also left the imperial prison after visiting Mei Yin. Xu Miaojin's daughter's family was not suitable for entering such a place, and they were still waiting for them outside.

Jing Qing collapsed on the cold and damp floor of the prison, tears rolling down the corners of his eyes and dripping on the dirty clothes, staining them with filthy flowers.

He lay on his back on the cold ground, holding his cheeks with his hands, letting the salty tears soak into his eyelashes, flow along his cheeks, and into his pale, dry lips. An inexplicable pain hit his heart.

Jing Qing's body kept shaking, and his arms tightened tighter and tighter, as if he was afraid of losing something. He buried his head in his legs, and his shoulders twitched slightly, like crying, more like a helpless whine.

That night, Jingqing slept very uneasily.

He dreamed that he had turned into a fish and was swimming in the lake, surrounded by all kinds of brightly colored fish, swimming and playing happily.

Jingqing was like a fish that had been forgotten for a long time. No fish wanted to get close to him, and they were all afraid to avoid him. He watched them play alone, and he was unwilling to sink into it, so he swam desperately to the shore, and finally

He climbed ashore, but at the same moment he climbed ashore, the childish laughter of a child came to his ears.

Jingqing couldn't help but listen to those sounds, and then he saw the two or three-year-old baby.

The doll's appearance is very similar to Jingqing's, especially the black and clear eyes, which are almost identical.

The doll was smiling, holding a red fruit in its hand, and then ran toward Jingqing with staggering steps. The doll opened its arms and said in a sweet voice: "Yuyu, eat the fruit."

Jing Qing was stunned by the action of the doll. He stared at the doll blankly, and for a moment he forgot to stretch out his non-existent hand to catch the fruit handed over by the doll.

The doll seemed to notice Jing Qing's hesitation. She tilted her little head and blinked her eyes, looking innocent and ignorant: "Yuyu, eat~"

The doll's soft and waxy voice awakened Jingqing. He looked at the doll's carved face and showed a gentle smile.

He tried his best to open his mouth to catch the red fruit handed over by the doll, and took a bite. The sweet taste spread in his mouth. Jingqing's heart was filled with happiness, and even the haze just now dissipated a lot.

However, just when Jingqing was enjoying the rare and wonderful feeling, the doll suddenly stood up on tiptoes, stretched out her hand, and touched Jingqing's face.

"Aren't you a fish, daddy? How did you become like this?"

Jingqing's whole body froze.

The dream suddenly shattered. Jingqing gasped for breath like a drowning man being fished out. The moonlight fell and reflected on the paper covering his face.

"Di Bao" clearly stated that Jiang Xinghuo believes that there are yin and yang, contradictions, and conjectures about cloud droplets in the "rain" Tai Chi. All these conjectures will be proven in public in March.

Jing Qing, whose mind was no longer crazy, read Di Bao again, leaning against the cold and clammy prison wall, he murmured.

"Am I really wrong? Is there really no divine connection in this world?"

For the first time, Jingqing felt doubtful about the orthodoxy that he could sacrifice his life to defend.

"No! No! This is a world in which there must be a message from heaven and man. It won't rain in the south of the Yangtze River! I want to live. I want to live to see that day!"

Mei Yin, who was next door, was woken up by him and saw that Jing Qing was starting to go crazy again. Although Mei Yin did not agree with Jiang Xinghuo's theory of physics, she believed that relying on human power to make the sky rain was simply a fantasy.

But when Mei Yin thought about Jiang Xinghuo's character and style during the day, she couldn't help but shake her head.

Outside the small window of the dungeon, several wailing sounds were heard along with the sound of wind. Upon hearing these sounds, Mei Yin frowned deeply.

Could it be

——————

The timeline is set back to daytime.

Seeing that returning to the imperial prison was as natural as returning to one's own home, the three boys Jiang Xinghuo, Xu Jingchang, Zhang Anshi and Zhu Yong, who were familiar with the road, looked at each other quite a bit.

Judging from Jiang Xinghuo's attitude towards Jing Qing's family just now, the Imperial Master is either too rich or a gentle and pure gentleman. The three of them are more inclined to the latter.

But what happened next quickly made them change their minds.

A gentleman cannot do such a terrible thing.

In the gloomy and silent execution chamber, the oil lamp on the wall flickered on and off. The light illuminated Ji Gang's calm and indifferent face, but it failed to dispel the madness and ferocity in his eyes.

None of the students, including Chu Daheng, Zong Chaoyi, and Fu Zhaobin who took the lead in instigating the supervisors to cause trouble, escaped. They were all captured by the Jin Yiwei who acted efficiently.

"Master Imperial Master is here, let's begin."

Jinyiwei commander Ji Gang's voice was low and hoarse, which made Xu Jingchang and the others who insisted on coming to observe the interrogation feel chilled.

These three and a half young men had never been to a place like a slaughterhouse. The blood stains on the floor and walls were so stained that it seemed they could never be wiped off.

Ji Gang's tone was still calm, but there was already a dagger in his hand, and the tip of the knife was pressed against Chu Daheng's lower body. The cold and sharp touch made Chu Daheng swallow his saliva.

In Ji Gang's view, although this kind of threat is old-fashioned, it often has unexpected results, and is at least safer than direct execution.

If it doesn't work, it's not too late to be punished.

"What do you want to know?"

Chu Daheng finally relaxed and lowered his eyes slightly.

"That's right."

Ji Gang calmed down the violence in his eyes and returned to his smiling look, as if the scene just now did not exist at all. Even the fingers holding the knife seemed much more alive, twisting around on the handle.

"Tell me, why are you planning to incite the supervisors to go to Taiping Street in an attempt to hinder the reform?"

"Have you promised to let us go?" Chu Daheng raised his head and asked.

"It depends on what you said." Ji Gang was noncommittal.

"Ha!" Chu Daheng sneered, with a mocking arc on his lips, "Do you think I will believe it?"

Ji Gang felt that there was something tricky. These supervisors were surprisingly tough with their mouths and seemed to have already been determined to die. In the past few days, because Emperor Yongle requested that they go to the Sanfa Department for a joint trial in the future, the Jin Yiwei were afraid of bringing them to justice.

His body was covered with bruises, so he was not sentenced to death.

Ji Gang gave Jiang Xinghuo a look, asking if he wanted something serious.

Looking at these supervisors who almost caused the reform to fail, Jiang Xinghuo felt a little more irritated for no reason.

But both Jing Qing and these supervisors looked like arrogant martyrs, as if Jiang Xinghuo had become a heinous villain by promoting reforms.

Why is it so difficult to do something good for the Ming Dynasty and the people?

If Ming Dynasty clings to the connection between heaven and man and persists in the Three Cardinal Guidelines and Five Permanent Constitutions, won’t the final result be that he will continue to follow the same old path of his previous life?

Finally, the feeling of heaven and man was blasted to pieces by Western cannons, and the three cardinal principles and five permanent principles were reduced to nothing in the violent changes.

Instead of being beaten passively, why not rise in advance?

Jiang Xinghuo had no choice but to deal with the stubbornness of these people's thoughts. He was a corrupt Confucian who had been fooled by studying Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism since he was a child. He firmly believed that what he did was right and that he was upholding heavenly principles, science, and reform. Any change in the status quo was wrong.
To be continued...