Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

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Guangde Square, Jingzhao Mansion Prison.

"Tell me! Who is behind you?"

The firelight was cast from behind the interrogator. Lu Zhaolin couldn't see the face of the interrogator clearly, so he could only smile wryly, "Who is behind? I really don't know what you mean by asking?"

"Are you still pretending to be confused?" The interrogator laughed, and the laughter was full of coldness: "Lu Zhaolin, do you know where this is? This is Jingzhao Mansion Prison. If you enter here, even a wooden person can Tell him to open his mouth! Tell me, who ordered you to blatantly slander Zhou Guogong's new book!"

"Slander Zhou Guogong's new book?" Lu Zhaolin was stunned: "Are you talking about the "Thirty Kingdoms Spring and Autumn Annals"? But that day Zhou Guogong invited scholars from all over the world to taste this book, and said that if anyone finds the error So I rewarded you with a thousand pieces of gold, and I did point out some mistakes in the book, so this should not be regarded as defamation of Zhou Guogong, right?"

"Hmph!" The interrogator sneered: "You have a clever tongue, okay, let me ask you, Lu Zhaolin, why did you come back to Chang'an this time?"

"Of course I hope to improve my career!"

"Okay! Then let me ask you, who did you meet on the first day after you returned to Chang'an?"

"Deng Wang Li Jiong!"

"Why did you meet him first?"

"I used to be a clerk in Deng Wang Li Yuanyu's mansion for more than ten years. Although the former king is no longer here, it is only natural to visit him when I return to Chang'an next time!"

"Well, write it down!" The interrogator yelled to the clerk beside him: "After Lu Sheng made his confession and returned to Beijing, he immediately went to Deng Wang and Li Jiong, and we talked for a long time."

"This—" Lu Zhaolin was taken aback when he heard the words, and hurriedly said, "How can you insult people's innocence out of thin air!"

"The filthy man is innocent?" The interrogator sneered, "Go to Prince Deng's mansion, did King Deng see you?"

"Yes!" Lu Zhaolin could only answer.

"Then how long have you been seeing each other?"

"About an hour or so!" Lu Zhaolin explained, "But we just talked about some poems and paintings at that time?"

"Did you say in the statement that you were not talking about poetry and paintings?" The interrogator sneered, "You are in such a hurry, do you mean that you have a guilty conscience?"

Lu Zhaolin was dumbfounded when asked, and was speechless for a while.Seeing this, the interrogator sneered, full of complacency in his laughter, like a civet cat catching a mouse.

"What about the next day?" the interrogator asked.

"The next day?" Lu Zhaolin was stunned.

"Yeah, what did you do the next day? Don't tell me you can't remember!"

This time Lu Zhaolin didn't dare to answer casually. It was obvious that the interrogator in front of him wanted to implicate the innocent people and fabricate crimes.Seeing that Lu Zhaolin was silent, the interrogator sneered, "Is he silent? It doesn't matter, just write it down. Lu Sheng didn't answer, presumably to cover up the people behind the scenes!"

"Wait a minute!" Lu Zhaolin became anxious when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "I didn't cover up anyone behind the scenes!"

"Then why didn't you answer? Did you do something shameful the next day?" The interrogator sneered.

"No, I just can't remember it all at once, it's been a long time!"

"Okay, I'll give you half a quarter of an hour, you think about it!" The interrogator picked up the cup on the side and took a sip of water: "But you have to think clearly, everything you say will be recorded, if you lie, you should know What are the consequences!"

The last sentence of the interrogator made Lu Zhaolin tremble. His forehead was covered with beads of sweat the size of soybeans. After a few minutes, he carefully replied: "The next day I went to visit Mr. Hao, the servant of Dongtai!"

"See him?" The interrogator laughed, "Why?"

"Ask for an officer!"

"He met you?"

"See you!"

"Who gave you the recommendation? From King Deng?"

"That's right! Xiaosheng also brought some poems and essays that he wrote himself!" Lu Zhaolin felt the sweat running down his cheeks. He had a feeling that he was stuck in a quagmire. The more he struggled, the faster and deeper he fell, not only I will be finished, and many people will also be implicated.

Time passed quickly, and it was five o'clock in the blink of an eye, and the sound of a rooster crowing in the distance could be heard outside the window, and it actually passed in one night.The interrogator took the recorded statement from the scribe at the side, and clicked in admiration while flipping through it.In the end, he carefully put away those paperwork, put it in his sleeve, and said to Lu Zhaolin, "Lu Sheng, you are a smart man, and you should be very clear about what will happen to you after this confession is delivered. Your only way out now is to put Explain the whole story clearly, and confess those people behind the scenes, so that you will not only be exonerated, but also rewarded! Where to go, you should think about it carefully!"

"Yes, but what happened next day really has nothing to do with those people I met earlier!" Lu Zhaolin replied in despair.

The interrogator smiled, he waved his hand, and the clerk at the side stepped back carefully, leaving only him and Lu Zhaolin in the cell.

The interrogator smiled and said, "After you returned to Chang'an, you saw that these people are the thorn in the empress's side, the thorn in the flesh; who is Zhou Guogong? Tianhou's nephew, given the surname Wu, inherited the title of Tianhou's father, you said he was in Hongwen Who is it that the library compiled "Thirty Kingdoms Spring and Autumn"? Whose face is it that you point out his fault in public? You said that no one ordered you to do this, and you said it casually. Do you think this Does the emperor believe it? Does the empress believe it? Do people in the world believe it? Well, even if what you said is true, there is really no one behind your back to instigate you. What do you think will end up with you in the end? Is it important that many things in this world are true or false? The important thing is that you have to survive, rise up step by step, and wear red and purple. Don’t think that you are the first person to say something against your will. If your ministers were in your situation, they would only make the same choice!" Having said that, he lightly patted Lu Zhaolin on the shoulder: "Think about it! I'll see you again tonight!" Finished , then walked out the door.

Seeing that the interrogator's back was about to disappear at the door, Lu Zhaolin opened his mouth and asked, "Dare to ask your lord's name!"

"Wannian county magistrate Zhou Xing!"

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East Palace.

"Chen Wang Wenzuo pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Excuse me, Saburo come in and talk!" Li Hong waved his hand, his face was full of joy: "Come here, pour Wang Qing a bowl of buttermilk!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Wang Wenzuo arched his hands, he was already very familiar with him in the East Palace, and said with a smile, "Why is the crown prince so happy today, something good has happened?"

A blush flashed across Li Hong's face, but he didn't deny it. He nodded: "Yes, there is indeed a good thing!"

"Oh?" Wang Wenzuo was taken aback for a moment, but he didn't expect that he had guessed right: "Really? What's so good?"

Li Hong didn't answer, and a favored eunuch next to him laughed and said, "General Wang doesn't know something, His Royal Highness the Crown Princess has already been chosen!"

"Oh?" Wang Wenzuo was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed loudly: "Yes, this is a great event for universal celebration! My congratulations to His Royal Highness the Prince!" He bowed to Li Hong, and said with a smile: "May I ask which one is better?" How lucky is a woman? She was chosen by the two His Majesties and you!"

"Siwei Shaoqing's daughter Yang Sijian!" Li Hongdao, his face was full of unconcealable joy: "Father and mother gave two candidates, and the other was the daughter of General Zuojin Wuwei Pei Judao. In the end, the widow still felt that Yang Qing's daughter agreed, so she was chosen!"

Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Presumably Yang Qing's daughter, De Rong Shuxian, is more suitable to be a concubine!"

"No!" Li Hong shook his head: "Pei Qing's daughter is also very good, but I still think Yang Qing's daughter is more suitable!"

"I guess the daughter of the Yang family is better-looking! I understand, I understand, men are all visual animals!" Wang Wenzuo thought to himself, but said in his mouth: "Anyway, this is a great event, but I don't know when we will get married. ?”

"The specific time has not been decided yet, and the Ministry of Rites is discussing it!" Li Hong smiled wryly and shook his head: "I guess it will be autumn? But the widow is still a bit at a loss, really, what should I say? Does Wang Qing understand the meaning of the widow?"

"Hehe!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "It's not surprising, there will be more or less such major events before, the prince need not be nervous, there must be a way for the car to reach the mountain!"

"Really? That's good!" Li Hong glanced at Wang Wenzuo, and suddenly smiled: "Wang Qing, what about you? Will you be like a widow before your wedding?"

"Then how could it be?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Before I got married, I had already fought wars in Japan and Baekje for almost ten years. What kind of battles have I never seen? There are several children, why are you nervous?"

"Ah?" Li Hong was taken aback when he heard the words, "Will Wang Qing's regular wife be very angry?"

"No!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile, "Shan's Wife is the daughter of the Cui family from Shandong Province. She is very particular about etiquette and concubine. As long as the child I had before we got married will not affect the inheritance of the family business, she will not be angry."

"So that's how it is!" Li Hong said with a smile, "That's true. Fortunately, Wang Qing, you didn't marry the daughter of the Li family, otherwise it wouldn't be so easy!"

Wang Wenzuo laughed twice, but did not speak.Li Hong didn't care about Wang Wenzuo's reaction. Like all young people who are about to get married, he was full of longing for happiness at this time, and hoped that people around him could share it with him.He smiled: "By the way, Saburo's wife should not have a letter yet? How about finding a chance next time and asking the Ministry of Officials to give her a gift?"

"Isn't that necessary?" Wang Wenzuo shook his head: "Does she have any meritorious deeds? She won't be rewarded for her merits!"

"She has no achievements, so if you do!" Li Hong laughed and said, "Besides, this gift was originally given to the family members of meritorious ministers!"

"That's not too good!" Wang Wenzuo said with a wry smile, "I haven't made any contributions recently, have I? Besides, just after I returned to Chang'an, the crown prince asked the officials to give my wife a gift. I'm afraid people in the world will say that His Royal Highness is unfair. Personally love the imperial treasures!"

"Really?" After thinking for a while, Li Hong said: "Then wait until the Queen of Autumn! Originally, I was going to confer the title to the servants of the Eastern Palace! Then the world will have nothing to say! And now there is still a few days before the Queen of Autumn. It’s been a month, maybe you’ve already made a contribution by then!”

"Your Highness really thinks highly of me!" Wang Wenzuo said with a wry smile.

"Hehehe!" His Royal Highness laughed and said, "Really? But since I met Saburo, you have never let me down!"

While talking, an eunuch from the outside came in to pass the pass. After listening to the pass, the prince said: "Since this is the case, let him come in!"

When Wang Wenzuo saw someone begging to see him, he was about to retreat first, but was stopped by Li Hong: "Sanlang, you don't have to retreat, you are all from your own family, and the one who came was Wu Minzhi, the regular attendant of Zuo Sanqi, so the widow is still his cousin! "

"Wu Minzhi?" Wang Wenzuo's heart skipped a beat, and he asked cautiously, "Is this the nephew of His Majesty the Empress?"

"It's a nephew!" Li Hong said with a smile: "His surname is He Lan, and he is the child of his mother's sister. It was his mother who gave him the surname Wu! He has a great literary talent, and he is a bachelor of the Hongwen Museum. Sanlang, you are a warrior, so you just happen to be close! "

"I just heard last night that I have seen the real person now. Isn't this Chang'an too small?" Wang Wenzuo thought to himself, but said in his mouth, "I obey the order!"

While they were talking, an unusually handsome noble young man came in from the outside, with a medium build, elegant clothes and a chic demeanor.I saw him grinningly bowed his hands to the prince, and he took it as a salute, and said with a smile: "Ah Hong, I heard that you chose Yang Sijian's daughter. Why didn't you choose Pei Judao's daughter? Could it be that the daughter of Pei's family was married to her father?" Ordinary? Hahaha!"

"That's not true!" Li Hong smiled wryly, "Pei Qing's daughter is also very good, but Yang Qing's daughter is more to my liking!"

"Hey!" Wu Minzhi shook his head with a smile: "You are like this! Don't tell the truth! Pei Judao always looks like he thinks his family background is great, who would choose his daughter as his wife!"

Wang Wenzuo frowned. The rudeness and frivolity of the visitor left a very bad impression on him. No matter how close he was to Li Hong, Li Hong was also the prince. Such behavior would cause big trouble sooner or later. Is it relying on Empress Wu's favor?But the problem is that Gaozong is not dead yet. Although Empress Wu holds great power, she hasn't threatened her eldest son with the kind of cruelty she did later, right?

Li Hong's face was a bit ugly. He looked at Wang Wenzuo at the side, and already regretted not letting Wang Wenzuo back down first. Seeing Wu Minzhi's appearance, he coughed and changed the subject: "Don't talk about this matter, this one will It's Wang Wenzuo, you should have heard of his reputation, right now he is in command of the sixth army in the East Palace!"

"Oh, oh!" Wu Minzhi glanced at Wang Wenzuo, and smiled nonchalantly: "I heard that it seems that you were the one who commanded the Six Polo Team of the East Palace to defeat the Forbidden Army of the North Gate a few years ago, right? The next polo match will be held next time." Time, you come too!"

"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo replied. He could see that Li Hong was subconsciously afraid of this cousin who was ten years older than him. Although he didn't know the reason, he still didn't want to be involved in the complicated relationship in the palace.He lowered his head and said to Li Hong: "His Royal Highness, I still have some things to do, so I will take my leave first!"

"Okay, okay!" Li Hong obviously breathed a sigh of relief: "Wang Qing, let's go to work first!"

Wang Wenzuo bowed and exited the hall, but he didn't leave, but stayed outside the hall and waited. After about half an hour, he saw Wu Minzhi coming out of the hall, and went up to meet him.