imperial psychologist

Chapter 194 The Wind Rises

"Empty shell..." Bo Ling repeated the word thoughtfully.

"There are many kinds of empty shells." Wei Shishi continued, "There are many family members of the court's recidivists in the Jiaofang Division, which are called criminals. Those who can become court's recidivists often have intertwined relationships in the court. When his family is destroyed, his former classmates, masters and apprentices will try their best to rescue his wife and son.

"But there is only one way to get out of the Jiaofang Division - the emperor's pardon."

Wei Shishi said the word "benevolence and pardon" slowly but emphatically.

Bai Ling thought for a while, "Is it difficult to get the emperor's pardon?"

"It's very difficult for these people." Wei Shishi said softly, "The emperor will have a batch of pardons every Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Day. If it is a good year, there will be another amnesty in the spring of the following year. Specific crimes are designated each time, and only those with lesser convictions have always been eligible for a pardon. Repeat crimes will never make it to the list. However, people can pay a lot of money The only ones who will be redeemed are the family members of these repeat offenders.

"So over time, the palace people in the Jiaofang Division came up with a countermeasure to make money - when making books every spring and autumn and entering the information of each newcomer, reserve some whiteboards with stamped letters. Then if someone outside wants to To rescue one of them, as long as you find the right way and send enough gold and silver, you can buy a white board. When the emperor pardoned him back then, use the pardoned crimes as the blueprint to create a fake identity. , so that the sinner can escape from birth."

Hearing this, Bo Ling finally understood.

"What a steal." Bo Ling couldn't help sighing, and suddenly felt something was wrong, "...do these emperors know?"

"Of course I know." Wei Shisi said softly, "This is Jianxi's original method."

"...But he didn't check?"

"No investigation," Wei Shishi lowered his voice a little, "because the money will eventually flow into the emperor's internal coffers."

Bo Ling only felt like a flash of lightning flashed across his mind.

Wei Shishi looked towards the gate of the courtyard and said softly, "For some crimes, the emperor will turn a blind eye and let them go. For others, he will be arrested after taking money and releasing them."

Bo Ling stretched out his hands to cover his face, amused by this absurd reality, but immediately felt that everything was futile.

Think about those courtiers who have been sleeping all day long to rescue their colleagues. When they secretly rescued the family members of their colleagues who were imprisoned, they probably had a lonely courage.

How would they feel if they knew that Emperor Jianxi who was in the dark saw everything they did?

"The problem appears on these whiteboards." Wei Shishi continued, "Within one year, it is equivalent to the household registration. If the criminal holds it, he can re-naturalize in the new state capital, so this is a natural one. An empty shell. Since Lin Jieyu is on the Jiaofang Secretary's roster, but she hasn't left any clues...then her identity is likely to be fabricated by the Jiaofang Secretary using a whiteboard."

Bo Ling didn't ask much, she frowned and shook her head in disbelief.

"No, something is wrong." Bo Ling murmured, "This is too unbelievable..."

Even the maids selected to enter the palace have to be innocent for more than three generations, and now it is suddenly said that the identity of a concubine may be an empty shell... How could the respect room let such a flaw go?

What's more, since the business of the white board is now under the control of the palace, if someone uses it without authorization, will the emperor not know?
"These are just conjectures." Wei Shisi said softly, "Originally, my next step was to go to the Jiaofang Division to investigate the crimes related to Lin Jieyu's age in the past five years...but I encountered a little trouble."

"how?"

"I found that someone was checking the records I recently retrieved from Beizhen Fusi." Wei Shishi said softly.

Bo Ling was taken aback for a moment, "...someone is checking what you've been looking for recently?"

"Correct."

Bo Ling looked at Fourteen, and with some uncertainty said the name he heard at the city gate this morning, "Is that... Han Chong?"

"Yeah." Wei Shishi nodded, "You saw him this morning."

——Can Wei Shishi do it?

Bai Ling remembered that the man in black on horseback left such a sentence before leaving.

"Who is this person?" Bai Ling asked.

Wei Shishi fell into deep thought, and said after a long time, "...a troublesome person."

"If this is the case, then Shisi can temporarily stop searching for clues from Beizhen Fusi's intelligence network." Bo Ling thought for a while, biting the knuckle of his index finger for a while, and finally said in a deep voice, "I have a possibility A bit of an adventurous idea.”

……

When Bai Yi brought Ah Li back to his courtyard, it was almost dawn.

Neither he nor A Li spoke, and pushed open the door exhausted physically and mentally. After walking a few steps inside, he saw Bai Ling who had been waiting all night leaning against the well and fell asleep.

Bai Yi stepped forward and gently pushed, "Bai Ling, wake up, we are back."

Bai Ling opened his eyes sleepily, and saw that his body was covered with the blanket he gave Wei Shishi last night, and both Bai Yi and A Li stood in front of him with red-eyed eyes.

"Thank you..." Bai Ling stood up, "How is Xiaoman's family?"

Bai Yi shook his head.

He doesn't really want to mention this now.

"Go inside and sleep for a while." Bai Yi rolled up his sleeves, "I'll get you something to eat."

A Li was about to enter the kitchen following Bai Yi, but Bai Yi also blocked him from outside.

"It's the same for you, you've been tired all night, go into the room and lie down." Bai Yi said, and closed the door.

He sat alone in the darkened kitchen.

In the place where he used to work, he was used to life and death, but this night was still more tormented than he imagined.

Xiaoman's home is in the southernmost part of Pingjing, and they rented a dilapidated old house.Her mother is the only one in the house, and her father and brother are still working outside, and it will take another four days to come back.

The woman with a withered and sickly complexion, hugging her daughter's body, was in a daze in the barren house, neither crying nor fussing, just exhaling lightly and rubbing her daughter's stiff and cold little hands.

Ah Li lowered his head, almost unable to face the situation in front of him.He kowtowed repeatedly, begging the woman's forgiveness, and after explaining the cause of Xiaoman's death tonight, he blamed himself for her death.

"Auntie has been ill for several years." Bai Yi asked in a low voice.

"...Three or four years?" The woman replied calmly. She lowered her head and put her face on the child's face, and said with a coquettish smile, "Your daughter is trying to get me some medicine, isn't she?"

Bai Yi couldn't comfort him, he looked at Xiaoman's mother's bronzed skin and dark eye circles, and knew that this woman's time was numbered—this was a standard symptom of liver disease, liver lesions lead to endocrine disorders, And then make the skin's pigment metabolism abnormal...

This situation seems to be quite serious.

The woman patted Ah Li's head, and instead began to comfort him, telling him not to blame himself.

"...Everyone has his own fate." The woman replied in a weak voice, "It's all fate, you can't deny it."

As she spoke, the woman clutched her abdomen and bent down in pain.

Bai Yi and A Li wanted to help her to rest on the bed, but the woman refused to let go of Xiao Man's hand for a moment, she gritted her teeth to endure the sharp pain, while Bai Yi and A Li watched her endure, I just feel that my scalp is numb and suffering.

"...Are the fireworks tonight?" The woman suddenly asked.

"It's beautiful." Ah Li cried and replied, "Very, very beautiful."

In the middle of the night, A Li and Bai Yi hurriedly found the funeral procession and praying monks.

There is a saying in Da Zhou that a child's soul is light, and he cannot be buried on a chosen day like an adult, but must be buried as soon as possible, otherwise the little spirit will be dissipated.

Bai Yi never believed in these things.

But if these illusory things can bring comfort to those who are still alive, he is willing to do his best.

But when everything was arranged properly, Xiaoman's mother shook her head again, and after thanking her again and again, she said that she hoped to have the child cremated.

Ah Li cried and refused - only to be buried in the ground, there is no such thing as cremation, that is the end that only the most sinful people will have.

The woman said that she could keep it with her all the time, so that she would not have to leave Xiaoman alone in the south cemetery when the family moved around in the future.

Bai Yi's eyes were slightly hot, but he still calmly arranged Xiao Man's funeral according to Xiao Man's mother's wishes.

Before leaving, Bai Yi quietly put the two bags of money in his arms by the woman's hand, "I asked someone to find two wives, and they will be here in a while. Xiaoman is not here these two days, what does auntie do?" If you want to do something, tell the women to do it."

The woman thanked her again and again, but the voice of thanks was almost inaudible.

Ah Li's tears flowed from nightfall to dawn, and on the way home with Bai Yi, he was about to cry, but kept choking.

Looking at the withered flowers and trees above his head, Bai Yi felt completely cold.The morning breeze at the end of spring suddenly became bleak, blowing away the last remaining flowers on the branches.

When the wind blows, we have to work hard to survive.

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

A tragedy in Yinfeng Garden, like a breeze, has become a completely different story in the word of mouth of the people.

Xiaoman's age was passed down from seven to 17, and from a child was described as a lucky woman who looks like a fairy but clings to the powerful—otherwise, only the dignitaries can enter the Yinfeng Garden, how could there be someone who will be a man for a while? What about the civilians who died in a golden step?

It can be seen that his virtue must be stained, otherwise he would not suffer this retribution.

Some people also said that it was the rich and powerful who had thrown away the evil girl who deserved it into the Jiaolong Pond to pick up gold, and some said that it was not some evil girl, but some lowly maidservants who were not liked by the clan wives of the noble family—and this caused another There was a burst of panic, and some mothers who had no choice but to send their children to the noble man's house as slaves and handmaids used money to find ways to meet their children and ask about the recent situation, for fear that their children would also suffer the same fate.

Angrily, Ah Li led people into many wine shops, smashed up the stalls of some storytellers, and told what he saw time and time again in vain.It's just that rumors have wings and cannot be eliminated.

But what does this have to do with Xiaoman?

All the filthy words, partial listening and partial belief, do not constitute a ten-thousandth of Xiaoman, they are all sentient beings themselves.

　Today's chapter is relatively long.

　　When I wrote the outline before, the plot of the crocodile pool was only two or three sentences. I didn’t expect that I would abuse myself when I wrote it. The protagonist group's revenge + growth.

　　Before, a reader asked Xiaoman why he wanted to pick up the hairpin. In fact, Xiaoman buried clues in each of his two appearances.She needs money very much, and picking up a golden step for nothing is very attractive to her.Lin Jieyu's plot was inspired by the story of a noble lady who unintentionally threw gold coins into the sea on the deck to watch sharks, while Xiaoman's character was inspired by the low-level child laborers during the British Industrial Revolution.

　　I think there are many horrifying details in history. If a modern person really goes back to the past, he will be terrified by the backward society that has torn off the skin of civilization.But as I wrote before, it is very difficult for people who have seen the light to return to the darkness willingly—even if they are small people, even in extreme darkness, people can still hold on to some beliefs and go Do what you can.

　　But I'm just writing a fiction, and I don't know why I have to write it to make myself cry.After finishing this chapter, I re-improved the detailed outline. The character Lin Jieyu should receive a box lunch within [-] words (if I didn’t fly in the branch line during the process)ε-(｀;)
　　thanks for your support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)