Prince Shou touched his body and said regretfully, "I seem to have lost my token …"
Chen Jian grabbed the bars of the cell and said with a trembling voice, "Prince Shou, please don't scare me. This concerns my life …"
Prince Shou thought for a while and said, "Well, I'll go back and look for it. It shouldn't be lost. You wait here and I'll tell you when I find it."
Seeing Prince Shou leave quickly, Chen Jian leaned against the wall weakly. He looked at the other people in the cell talking and laughing. The atmosphere was very lively.
But the lively atmosphere was theirs, and he had nothing …
Although they were in the same cell, they were not the same …
At the same time, in another cell, Zhou Zhong said slowly, "Back then, he and I offended the interests of the upper class and strongly opposed the death exemption token issued by the late emperor. The courtiers and the emperor could not tolerate us. He was framed for treason. Although there was not enough evidence, what they needed was just a reason. Before he died, he entrusted Qing 'er to me and asked me to protect myself first and then slowly complete our great cause. For our great cause, we can give up everything …"
Li Mu asked, "This is the reason why you gave up on her?"
Zhou Zhong nodded and said, "At least, before you moved to Fu-lu School, I had no other choice."
This was the reason why Li Mu had been guarding against Zhou Zhong. This kind of person had a firm goal and was extremely rational. In their eyes, family and friends were not as important as their great cause. They could sacrifice themselves at any time.
Li Mu admired his patience and ambition, but he would not get too close to this kind of person.
He looked at Zhou Zhong and asked, "You made a choice in the end."
Zhou Zhong looked at Li Mu and said, "This is not a choice. I believe that if I didn't finish it, someone will do it for me and do it better …"
Li Mu said, "Don't look at me like that …"
Zhou Zhong continued, "Back then, the late emperor gave out thirteen gold medallions. He tried his best to abolish it, but he incurred the displeasure of the late emperor and died because of it. All these years, three of the thirteen gold medallions have been used up. Including the old concubine's gold medallion and the Zhou family's gold medallion, there are seven left. Among these seven medallions, six will be used up this time. The last one is in the hands of Prince Shou …"
"These things shouldn't have existed from the beginning to the end. In the future, we will probably never see them again."
Having said this, he leaned against the wall and sat down. He closed his eyes and said, "You can go. I'm already very tired. The prison of the Imperial Clan Temple is a good place to sleep …"
As soon as he finished speaking, his breathing calmed down and he actually fell asleep.
Li Mu slowly walked out of the prison. In the courtyard of the Imperial Clan Temple, Prince Shou and Zhang Chun were playing dice under the shade of a tree.
King Shou's gambling luck had always been bad. In front of Zhang Chun, there was already a pile of silver fragments. After losing another round, King Shou searched his chest and sleeves. Finally, he couldn't find a single piece of silver.
Zhang Chun kept the silver fragments and said, "Why don't we stop here today and wait for the next round when you have enough money?"
King Shou slammed a piece of gold on the table and said, "Who are you looking down on? Let's continue. I'm going to win back all the money I lost last time!"
Zhang Chun looked at the piece of gold and said in surprise, "This piece of gold, why does it look so familiar …"
Li Mu looked at it from afar and also felt that it looked familiar. This piece of gold was squarish. Other than the fact that there were no words on it, it looked like it was carved from the same mold as the Death Exemption Medallion.
King Shou glanced at Li Mu from afar and asked, "Little Li, are you coming?"
Fifteen minutes later, Li Mu carried the gold and left the Imperial Clan Temple. He planned to melt this thing when he returned. This thing wasn't light and should be enough to make a few pieces of jewelry. He would give one to Liu Hanyan, one to Li Qing, and two to Wanwan and Xiao Bai. If there was any left, he could give it to the Empress …
At this moment, the entire Shendu was in an uproar because of something.
Today, Li Yi's case, which affected the hearts of countless people, had a shocking turn of events.
The first person to suggest reinvestigating the case was Li Mu from the Central Secretariat.
He felt that it was unfair for Li Yi back then and wanted to reverse the case for him, but he was rejected by the imperial court.
After that, people from the Fu-lu School in the Northern County came and forced the imperial court to pay attention to this case.
On the surface, the case was reinvestigated because of the Fu-lu School. However, the officials living in the Northern Courtyard saw the head of the Fu-lu School entering and leaving the Li Residence on the day of Li Mu's wedding. It was obvious who was behind this matter.
The commoners did not know what happened after that, but they roughly knew that the imperial court did not find out anything about the old case. There were also voices of opposition in the imperial court. If there were no accidents, this matter would be left unsettled in the end.
However, no one had expected that the case would take such a huge turn.
Zhou Zhong, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who was a core member of the old party and had made many contributions to the old party over the past decade, admitted in front of all the officials and His Majesty that he had conspired with the old party to frame Li Yi back then.
He had single-handedly sent the masterminds of the old case to the Zongzheng Temple.
Among these people were two ministers of the Six Ministries and two assistant ministers. This was the case that had the greatest impact on the court in all these years and involved the widest range of people. And this was only the mastermind. If the accomplices were included, who knew how many people in the court would be implicated?
However, why did Zhou Zhong do this became a mystery in the hearts of the people?
"Did Zhou Zhong lose his mind? Not only did he court death, but he also pulled in his accomplices. I don't understand, I really don't understand …"
"That's right, what do you think he's after?"
"Did something go wrong in his cultivation and he was invaded by his inner demons, causing him to go crazy?"
"In my opinion, it might be because of the unequal distribution of benefits that caused internal strife …"
…
In the entire Divine Capital, everyone in the streets, taverns, and teahouses were discussing this matter. No matter how they thought about it, they could not imagine that the people who framed Li Yi back then were not found by the imperial court. Instead, they were wiped out because of internal strife …
As for why Zhou Zhong did this, there were different opinions. Some said that he was invaded by his inner demons, some said that he had lost his mind, and some said that the old party had internal strife. In a restaurant somewhere, an old man could not listen anymore. He slammed his wine bowl on the table and said in a deep voice, "Did you forget that more than ten years ago, other than Li Qingtian, there was also Zhou Qingtian in the Divine Capital!"
"What Li Qingtian, Zhou Qingtian?"
"Fourteen years ago, I was only five years old. I was still playing with pee. I didn't know anything."
"Old man, what are you talking about?"
The young people in the restaurant were confused. A few of them who were over 30 years old seemed to have thought of something, and a look of realization appeared on their faces.
More than ten years ago, when the late Emperor was still on the throne, it was the darkest period of the Divine Capital in their memories.
At that time, the rich and powerful only needed to pay a fine to kill someone.
At that time, it was not uncommon for the rich and powerful to kidnap women on the streets.
At that time, the officials of the Great Zhou were corrupt, and governance was chaotic. The people suffered greatly. The people of the Divine Capital would rather take a detour than walk past the government.
Even during those dark times, there was still light in the Divine Capital.
At that time, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Li Yi, punished the corrupt officials and brought justice to the officials of the Divine Capital. The director of the Ministry of Justice, Zhou Zhong, redressed the grievances of the people. The two of them persuaded the late Emperor to abolish the Silver Penalty Act and stopped him from giving out the Gold Medallion …
At that time, they were one of the few rays of light in the hearts of the people of the Divine Capital. They were known as Qingtian.
However, this situation did not last for long.
Later, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Li Yi, was accused of treason, and his entire family was killed.
At that time, the people of the Divine Capital could not accept this result.
Assistant Minister Li was righteous and loved the people like his own children. How could he be a treacherous official?
What made it even more difficult for the people to accept was that the director of the Ministry of Justice, Zhou Zhong, was one of the officials who accused him.
They used to admire Zhou Zhong, but later on, they hated him as much.
After Assistant Minister Li's death, Zhou Zhong quickly sided with the old party and became their lackey. A few years later, he was promoted to the position of assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice. Over the years, he protected many people from the old party and helped the old party fight against dissidents and the new party. Soon, he became the core of the old party.
For more than ten years, the people who were grateful to Li Yi would spit at the Ministry of Justice when they passed by to vent their hatred.
However, no one expected that more than ten years later, Zhou Zhong would stand up for Li Yi in the imperial court without hesitation and reverse the verdict.
Someone finally recalled and said in disbelief, "Could it be that Lord Zhou has been enduring humiliation for the past fourteen years just for this day?"
"That's right, that's right. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense. Why would he give up the power he already had …"
"Could it be that we've been wrong about Lord Zhou all these years?"
"Lord Li and Lord Zhou are brothers of different surnames. Back then, Lord Zhou must have known that he couldn't save Lord Li, so he went undercover in the old party and gained their trust. He waited for the right time to reverse the verdict for Lord Li and give those people a fatal blow …"
"Fourteen years, he was scolded by us for fourteen whole years!"
"How much has he been wronged all these years …"
The truth of what happened back then had been revealed. Many people were filled with regret and their respect for Zhou Zhong was even greater than before.
Li Mu's residence. When Li Mu used the True Samadhi Fire to burn the gold cake, he realized that it was only coated with a layer of gold powder on the surface. The inside was black and looked like iron but not iron. He did not know what it was.
Li Mu then threw it into the Flask Heaven Dimension. Prince Shou actually used a gold-plated fake to trick him. He had to be more careful when gambling with him in the future …
At the same time.
In the Imperial Clan Temple.
Prince Shou sighed and walked to the front of the prison cell. He looked at Chen Jian apologetically and said, "Assistant Minister Chen, I'm really sorry. I've searched everywhere for that death-exemption Golden Medallion but couldn't find it. It should have really been lost. Don't worry. Every year on your death anniversary, I'll get people to burn more paper money for you …"
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