Chapter 22: What have I done to deserve this?
March 3, worship temple
'When the world was first separated, giant beasts roamed the land, and the people in the temple came to the world with might and virtue, passing on their legacy to future generations...'
Before arriving at the Temple of Heaven, one could see crowds of people from afar, with storytellers loudly singing praises to the emperor.
Although the Qing Temple is where the royal family worships the gods, it is also open to the people on ordinary days. However, compared to the overly strict Qing Temple, the people of Kyoto City still prefer to go to the Dongshan Temple in the west to pray for blessings and worship immortals.
Only on March 3rd do people come to the temple to worship.
Also on March 3rd, there will be a temple fair around the temple.
Along the way, the children watched the various performances such as tightrope jumping, handstands, fire spitting, knife swallowing and somersaults with their eyes fixed on them. When they saw the exciting parts, they clapped their hands joyfully. The crowns, combs, pearls, head ornaments, clothes, flowers, collars, shoes and other toys attracted the girls to stop frequently. When they came across a toy that caught their fancy, they would whisper with their friends and bargain for the price with red faces.
Shouting, laughing, talking... the smell of fireworks became thicker and thicker, and the temple seemed to have lost its solemnity and celebrate together with the people.
"Unfortunately, Ye Zhuangzhuang likes this kind of situation the best. Whenever he sees it, he acts like a madman and runs around happily."
As if she had spent too much time with Fan Ruoruo these days, Ye Linger also pulled Wen up, and immediately received a suppressing look from Cui Yan.
Fan Ruoruo covered her mouth and chuckled, "How can it be so exaggerated?"
Ye Linger glanced at her mother and silently moved to Liu Ruyu's side, separating herself from her mother by Ruoruo and Aunt Liu, before asking, "How do you know that what I said is false?"
There was a hint of mischief in the words.
Fan Ruoruo blushed.
Ye Ling'er loved to tease her like this. Before they got married, she would tease her with a topic. After they got married, she would tease her with her reaction. Hey, what did Ye Zhuangzhuang say? Double... double happiness!
"Listen to her nonsense!" Cui Yan glared at her again, and Ye Ling'er immediately stopped smiling.
"Zhuangzhuang seldom goes out, so when he has the chance to go out, he always goes to places where there are more people. In his words, people shouldn't always live in the clouds, they should always be down to earth." Cui Yan excused her youngest son.
"Don't always walk in the clouds, you should always be grounded..." Fan Ruoruo repeated it several times, and said to Cui Yan, "The Third Young Master is very talented, and he always has thought-provoking and profound words."
Cui Yan's smile grew wider. "From now on, you don't need to call him 'Third Young Master'. It seems a little strange. You can call him by his nickname 'Zhuang Zhuang' or 'Zheng Ge'."
Fan Ruoruo smiled shyly and nodded slightly.
Ye Ling'er, who was standing aside, looked at it with keen eyes and was very satisfied.
Cui Yan and Liu Ruyu also smiled at each other.
At that moment, the carriage slowly stopped. Ye Linger could not wait any longer and rushed to push aside the front curtain, "Wow, there are so many people."
……
Fire patrol office, jail
"Come with me today to go out and patrol the fire." Ye Zheng said to Wu Xi, who had been lying in the cell almost all day and was still lying there.
"No." Wu Xi shook his head.
A few days ago, this kid insisted on doing some screening, stone locks, and some sitting postures, which caused him a lot of trouble. He hasn't recovered yet.
"You are also a son of a military hero?" Ye Zheng frowned, speaking with disdain, and then said, "Today is March 3rd. There are countless people in the city's wine shops, tea shops, brothels, tile markets and other shops, as well as in the markets outside the city and temple fairs. I will also go out to patrol the fires. There are only two or four clerks left in the government office. If you feel at ease, you can stay here. However, to this day, you have not served a single day of service. I don't know whether you are here to serve as a prisoner or to go to jail."
"I... I am the son of a noble family, so I should be respectable." Wu Xi sat up, his face flushed. After refuting, he came to his senses and walked forward quickly, grabbing the wooden fence. His eyes were no longer leisurely, but nervous. "What do you mean? What do you mean I can rest assured? Someone wants to kill me?"
I feel a little stressed, probably because I was scared last time.
However, it’s a good guess.
"Don't you know what you have done? I heard that the only son of the Earl of Yongchang was arrested by the Kyoto Prefecture, and the eldest son of the Marquis of Dingyuan was also arrested by the Inspection Institute. With your reports and revelations, I believe it won't be long before His Majesty will issue an edict to pardon you." Ye Zheng said in a cold voice.
This person has a weak will and has been reporting things recklessly. He is doomed to die.
The founding family risked their lives to send eight of their sons and nephews to the Kyoto garrison and ten to the Beijing camp. They even endured military drills, but in the end... well, nearly half of them were captured.
But this would save Lao Deng a lot of trouble, and it is not impossible to pardon Wu Xi.
"I…"
Wu Xi felt a darkness before his eyes, and the world was spinning around him in an instant.
Seeing him dumbfounded and looking like an idiot, Ye Zheng really didn't want to pay attention to him. However, he didn't have any trustworthy helper around him, and he was worried about handing him over to the two clerks led by Sun Liuwu, so he had no choice but to keep him by his side.
Even if I die, I have to die according to his ideas!
The same thing happened to Lao Deng. He submitted two memorials, suggesting that Wu Xi be transferred. The second time, he directly asked the six ministries to reject the memorial.
So angry.
"Well, you stay here." Ye Zheng made a gesture to leave.
The instinct of survival kept hitting Wu Xi's head, "Wait, wait! Wait!"
"Take me! Take me with you."
He almost shouted, but was afraid that Ye Zheng would not agree, so he immediately softened his voice.
Ye Zheng turned around, opened his cell, and scolded, "Hurry up and change into the stoker's uniform."
"Yes, sir." Wu Xi bowed his head and responded.
Walking out of the cell, in front of the screen wall of the yamen, there were some people carrying a bunch of small flags on their backs, and some people had a lot of portable fire extinguishers hanging around their waists. Thirty-two people were lined up in an orderly manner.
These people were the fire patrol team of the Seventeenth Ward of South City. The leader among them was a middle-aged man who was cautious, in good physique, and had good communication skills. It was Yu Sanhe, who asked Ye Zheng to stay and be the team leader.
"Everyone, when it comes to patrolling fires, prevention is the most important, rescue is the second, and caution is the last. Today is March 3rd, and there are so many people in the South City. When patrolling fires, shout out warnings more often. If something is wrong, go forward to check and stop it in time. If there is a fire, report it in time. You have all seen the power of water dragons in the past few days of training. Just follow the 'procedure' and do your best. If you report later, you will only be praised and asked for credit..."
While he was arranging to give speeches to the 17 districts of Nanshi, in the other districts, the Xiaojia and night watchmen were already patrolling the streets and alleys for fire prevention. There were also night watchmen patrolling the various streets in Nanshi.
3:30 pm
Ye Zheng led 32 people to disperse into the 17 districts of Nanshi. Unlike night watchmen, they did not have to patrol fires all the time. They only had to lead all the fire-fighting equipment to the previously arranged places. His own team had 16 people in total, including 4 people to operate the water dragon, 4 people to carry water, 4 people to evacuate the people and shout warnings, and 4 people to operate other equipment including but not limited to pumps and hemp racks.
Today we plan to take a tour of the South Market, West Market and the East. To the north is the Imperial Palace, which has better fire patrols than theirs.
A moment later
Several burly stokers were pushing a cart. In front of the cart, someone was supporting it, and on top was a Qing-style water dragon.
According to the Ministry of Works, the water dragon is not difficult to make, but it costs a lot of money. In other words, it is expensive!
Because we were walking on streets and alleys with few people, our progress was not slow.
Wu Xi followed Ye Zheng timidly, his eyes constantly scanning the surroundings, occasionally falling on the "water dragon" behind.
"Ok?"
Ye Zheng sensed that there was a person rushing over from above the house on the side. His rank was not low, no less than the eighth rank.
He immediately stopped and took off the sword at his waist with his right hand. The sword was the standard sword of the Qing army.
Seeing this, Wu Xi immediately tried to get close to him, but halfway there he felt something was wrong, so he turned around and ran to the water dragon, carefully observing his surroundings.
"Don't damage the water dragon. Move aside and hide beside me." Ye Zheng said in a low voice.
Then he said to Yu Sanhe and the others who were a little panicked, "Don't panic, protect the water dragon."
Wu Xi could see that Ye Zheng attached great importance to this water dragon. When he was fighting with others, he might not be safe around him, and it was still unknown whether he was truly willing to protect him. It would be better for him to use the water dragon as a shield. If someone wanted to kill him, Ye Zheng would stop the attack.
He shook his head repeatedly, "I..."
Suddenly, a man jumped out from the roof. He was wearing normal shorts, but his face was covered. He had a nimble figure and his back was to the sun.
Without thinking, Wu Xi immediately hid behind the water dragon (from the masked man's perspective).
Ye Zheng was on guard. He was facing the sun and squinted his eyes slightly. He found that the man was not searching among the crowd, but was staring at him.
Ok?
He exerted force on his feet, trying to climb directly onto the roof and beat the man to death.
"Whoosh!"
From the side and rear, there was a sound like a sword being unsheathed. Realizing something was wrong, he retracted his strength in time and glanced over. When he saw a white streak suddenly appear behind Wu Xi, the scabbard in his hand had already flown out.
"Ah~"
This man was obviously an ordinary person, and should be a specially trained assassin who was only designed to kill his target with one strike when he was relaxed. However, he did not expect that the scabbard swung out by Ye Zheng had such a fast momentum and such a great force that it pierced his chest and knocked him away.
"Ding Dong~"
"Ah~"
The dagger fell and the assassin flew to the ground. Wu Xi shouted and crawled under the cart on his hands and feet, tears streaming down his face.
Ye Zheng immediately moved over to protect Wu Xi, and then raised his knife to kill the assassin...
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Four silver rays of light sprinkled down from the roof, as if they were born from the sun.
The masked man threw out four flying knives and then leaped into the distance.
The flying knife was in front of him in the blink of an eye, but its target was not him, but the water dragon.
"Ding! Ding! Ding!"
Ye Zheng had no choice but to turn around and quickly swing his sword, chopping down and sending three of them flying. The other one...
It was slightly deformed when held in his hand.
After he blocked the attack and was about to chase him, the assassin who had fallen to the ground behind him suddenly shouted, "You who betray your friends deserve to die!"
Without thinking, Ye Zheng threw the deformed flying knife in his hand again, piercing the man's chest.
Looking at the roof again, the figure of the masked man in black was no longer there. He must be someone who is very good at martial arts.
His face looked somewhat gloomy.
Destroying the water dragon is just a way to get out of this situation?
Are they... two groups of people?
If there were two groups of people, could they cooperate so well?
In a flash, an assassination happened in a few breaths.
It's not that his reaction is abnormal now. Wu Xi is dead and the water dragon is broken.
What merits and abilities did Wu Xi have? To deserve such a carefully planned assassination? And to have to sacrifice such a special assassin?
Just die, but you still want to throw the blame on the fire patrol office?
Why is it so bad?
The water dragon was broken, and it was not a big deal. It was just Ye Zheng who was embarrassed. It was no big deal to be embarrassed, he could just build another one.
"Is this man Feng Sanjin?" Gathering his thoughts, Ye Zheng walked to the assassin who was clearly pierced through the chest by his flying knife but still died from the poison bite. He looked at him for a few seconds, and asked Sanhe and the others in a deep voice with some uncertainty.
Yu Sanhe, who had already fled, walked forward with a bit of weakness, and wanted to say "yes", but he glanced at her casually...
"Hmm... it seems so, but I feel something is wrong."
Upon hearing this, Ye Zheng immediately squatted down, reached out and felt around the man's face, and found a few small pieces of soft gelatinous substance in his hand.
The original work has a disguise
(End of this chapter)