Young Master Liu looked at the honest-looking Zhuzi in front of him, and puffed out the light smoke from his mouth with a smile.
"Why do you respect your surname and not your given name? If you don't mind, please call me Third Brother."
"Okay, then I will call you third brother from now on."
"Okay, brother, just look at what you call me."
Liu Mingzhidan smiled and nodded, holding a dry tobacco bag emitting light smoke from birds in his hand, he lowered his head again and read the books in his hand.
A group of people who were sitting around Mr. Liu, who were puffing away their smoke, immediately suppressed their voices and retreated towards their original positions in unison when they saw him in such a state.
Although Young Master Liu did not raise his head, he clearly felt the movements of a group of people.
He took a puff of the dry cigarette and turned the page of the book in his hand calmly.
Young Master Liu seemed to be attentively reading the sage's book in his hands, but in fact he had been paying attention to the people around him.
"Brother Yang, how do you feel about that scholar?"
"It's hard to say. Judging from his appearance, he should be just a down-and-out scholar who has failed in many trials."
"Brother Yang, I have a different view."
"Oh? I would like to meet Brother Zheng."
"Brother Yang, although this person looks like a down-and-out scholar, his behavior is completely different from that of a down-and-out scholar.
If nothing else, let's just say that his behavior of distributing the tobacco without any care just now is not the behavior of an ordinary scholar.
That's not to mention just a down-and-out scholar who failed to succeed in many trials.
Tobacco is indeed not a good thing.
But don't forget what kind of situation we are in now.
In order not to cause trouble to Shopkeepers Xue and Huang, or because they don’t want to leave any clues to some thoughtful people.
Many people who are used to smoking dry tobacco would rather endure it than go out and buy tobacco.
Brother Yang, we are all dry cigarette smokers. We should know how painful it is when the tobacco is cut off, right?
But this person was different. He didn't seem to care about the tobacco at all, and distributed it to others without caring.
Think about it for yourselves, under what circumstances would he be able to distribute the tobacco to others without caring?"
"This... of course he can go out and buy tobacco at any time."
"Brother Zhang, under what circumstances can he go out to buy tobacco anytime and anywhere?"
"Of course it goes without saying that I'm not afraid of causing trouble to Shopkeeper Xue and Shopkeeper Huang, and I'm not worried that someone will make a big fuss out of it."
"Colleagues, do you still want me to say the rest?"
"Brother Zheng, do you mean to say that this person is one of those bastards?"
"Isn't it possible? Those bitches were already escorted to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment by the imperial guards on the day we entered Beijing together.
They are in prison, how could they arrange for someone to come to our place to spy on the situation?"
"Brother Zheng, Brother Yang is right, the prison of the Ministry of Punishment is Zhao Prison!
Although it is not as strict as the Heavenly Prison, it is not a place where many people can interfere.
No matter how rich their backgrounds are, those people would not dare to reach out to a place like Zhao Prison."
"Brother Fang is right. In a place like Zhao Prison, even if the Lords of the Three Justices Division want to hear the case, they must first submit it to the cabinet, submit it to the cabinet ministers for approval, and then report it to His Majesty the Emperor for approval before action can be taken."
"I second the suggestion, brothers, please don't forget the news we heard from the old man Luo a few nights ago.
The two imperial ministers who came down this time to review the list of people who were asked to be executed after the fall are our two royal highnesses, the prince and the princess.
Although we don’t know which prince and princess they are from the current dynasty.
However, as long as those two imperial ministers are really the prince and princess of the current dynasty, it means that our grievances have reached the point where heaven can hear them.
His Majesty the Emperor has personally investigated and dealt with our grievances, so what else do we have to worry about?"
"Brother Yang, I say so, but who can guarantee whether it is true or false?
Those two imperial ministers were the affairs of His Royal Highness the Prince and the Princess, and we only overheard it from the mouth of the old man Luo.
Who can prove that what that old man Luo said is true?"
"Well, that's true. After all, it's just hearsay."
"Brother Yang, you Hezhou is the first place where your documents were reviewed by one of the imperial envoys.
After the review of your case was completed, did the imperial envoy who reviewed the case of your state reveal his true identity to you?"
"No."
"Brother Zhang, where are you?"
"To put it bluntly, in the lobby of Yuezhou Governor's Yamen, the imperial envoy didn't ask anything else except some questions related to the case.
From the first meeting to the time when I rushed to the capital, I can count on my fingers the number of private exchanges I had with the imperial envoy.
How could the imperial envoy reveal his true identity to me even after saying it a few times?"
"That is to say, except for the old man Luo from Pingzhou, no one among us has heard of the true identities of the two imperial ministers?"
"I have never heard of it."
"Brothers, I have never heard of this."
"Brother Zheng, what are your chances of winning with your guess just now?"
"Hard to say?"
"Are you not sure either?"
"Colleagues, what I just meant was that the scholar's identity might be unusual.
It's just that it may be unusual, and it's not exactly said that he is definitely one of those bastards.
It's possible that he really just thought he was a down-and-out scholar.
What I said just now was just to give you colleagues a warning.
No matter what his identity is, when we deal with each other, we must pay attention to our wording.
Of course, if he doesn't come to deal with us, we will just pretend that nothing happened and we will do whatever we want.
Until the case is truly vindicated, we will remain guilty.
For the sake of your family, your life, your wife, children, and children, you and I have to be careful!"
"Brother Zheng is right."
"Brother Zheng is right. No matter what the scholar's status is, if he comes to deal with us, we must pay attention to our words and deeds.
It’s not important to tell the truth, I’m afraid someone will use our words to make a big fuss!”
"Brother Yang, Brother Zheng, how about we take the initiative to deal with them?
If he is really just a poor scholar, we don't need to be so worried."
"No, it may not be a good thing for us to rush to deal with people we don't know.
After all, we are guilty now.
Under such circumstances, if we are not careful with our words, our lives may be in danger!"
"Yes, yes, the most correct choice for us now is to wait honestly for the court to redress our injustice."
"That's right, I second my opinion."
"Well, I hope what Brother Luo said is true, and those two imperial envoys are really the prince and princess of our dynasty.
In this way, we can truly sit back and relax.”
"I hope so."
"My Holy Emperor, please bring justice to your ministers as soon as possible."
Liu Mingzhi listened to the chatter of the people in the pavilion, glanced calmly at the group of people in the backyard, and casually knocked out the ashes from the smoke pot on the soles of his shoes.
Silently, he pinned the tobacco bag to his waist. Young Master Liu closed the book in his hand, leaned on the steps of the pavilion and fell asleep with his eyes closed.
To be continued...