A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 114 Be decent to yourself (Part )
After a long time, Gu Zimo, the Tongpan of Yingtian Prefecture, crawled out from under the bed, with dust all behind him.

As for his son Dou Han, seeing his father in such a state, he didn't dare to ask why.

He listened to the whole thing, but didn't understand the threat Song Xuan was talking about at all.

It was just that the talks with him broke down. In terms of relationships, the Dou family had complicated connections in the court, and what relationship could Song Xuan, a commoner, have?
In other words, Yan Shu thought he was a talent and protected him!
Could it be possible that Yan Shu could protect Song Xuan for the rest of his life?

My Dou family will always have the chance to pay it back double.

"Teacher."

Dou Chou's eyes turned, and he looked at his former student and sighed slowly:
"I've been defeated. There's no turning back. Go away and pretend you don't know me as your teacher, so you won't be implicated."

"Master, how could I be that kind of villain!"

Gu Zimo immediately knelt on the ground:
"Master, there's no need to be so depressed. There's definitely room for maneuver in this matter. I'll go to the capital right away and take a look."

"it's useless."

Dou Chou waved his hand, rejecting his student's request:

"From the tip of my tongue, I know I'm a target of public disapproval in Tokyo. Don't get involved with me lightly. Your future is more important."

Gu Zimo wanted to say something else, but saw Dou Chou waving his hand, motioning him to come over.

"My second son is useless. From now on, you and my eldest son must watch over and help each other, so that you can go further in the court."

Gu Zimo's eyes were full of confusion, but he heard Dou Chou muttering to himself:
"Do you really think that all those words just now were all thought up by that kid Song Xuan? He doesn't have that ability, do you know?"

"what?"

Gu Zimo was a little surprised and didn't understand the calculation behind this.

"Someone must have taught him to say that to me. Nothing about me is important to him. That's the key point."

"this?"

"It's useless. Why should I be important to anyone?" Dou Chou snorted and laughed. "They've been wanting to place their own people there for a long time, and they've been eyeing my position."

"Master, who is behind all this?"

"Just wait and see. Whoever sits in my position will be the one who benefits the most, and the power behind him will be exposed."

Dou Chou sighed again: "Song Xuan also said that I am from a famous family and need to be respectable. If I am not respectable myself, someone will help me to be respectable."

After hearing the teacher's explanation, even Gu Zimo, who was still confused, understood what the teacher meant.

The teacher is determined to die.

Gu Zimo quickly advised again:

"Master, don't be so discouraged. Things are definitely not as you think. As long as there is green mountains, there will be no fear of running out of firewood!"

Dou Chou waved his hands and said weakly, "That's it."

Gu Zimo clapped his hands anxiously: "It really isn't like that."

"Alright, I don't want to suffer the humiliation I endured today, day after day. I also don't want to go to Lingnan and eat insects and die from poisonous miasma, where I won't even be able to preserve my body and transport it back to my ancestral grave."

Gu Zimo was speechless.

He always felt that the teacher was being too stubborn, but he couldn't find any reason to persuade him.

Dou Chou ordered:
"Bring me some pen and ink. We can't let a brat spend three days in jail and easily end up ruining the careers of five generations of our Dou family. Only by cutting off our own arms and surviving can we ensure the continuation of our family's career."

Gu Zimo could only obey orders.

After the ink was clean, Dou Chou asked someone to pass it to Yan Shu instead of Gu Zimo.

Even if he knows that we are in a relationship, in order to save your future, we must sever our ties.

Please ask Yan Shu to help me deliver this letter to the emperor.

Then he sent his servant to the best local restaurant to order a table of food and have it delivered here.

During the banquet, Dou Yuanbin, his son and students ate and drank a lot of wine. Then he said he wanted to rest and go to bed early.

……

After Song Xuan came out from Dou Chou's place, he went straight home. After a good wash, he didn't suffer much in prison.

Tao Hong talked about the gift sent by Mr. Lei.

It was mainly to celebrate the young master's admission to Yingtian Academy, and there were also some greetings from neighbors.

Song Xuan said he understood.

Tomorrow he will invite these people to dinner as a return gift.

Tao Hong didn't say much.

The young master has completed his entrance examination, and business matters need to be sorted out and put on the agenda.

Brothers, you can't just sit back and enjoy all the benefits. Otherwise, you will become the king of the mountain.

Even though Tao Hong had followed the young master for so long, he still couldn't get used to his extravagant way of spending money, as he had never treated money seriously since he was a child.

It’s like when Song Xuan wants money, money can appear at any time.

The main reason is that Tao Hong has been afraid of poverty since he was a child.

He was abducted by human traffickers and became a beggar, and was almost cut alive.

It was Song Xuan, who was also among the beggars at the time, who rescued him and sold the human trafficker to another person to be dismembered.

From then on, even though Tao Hong was two years older than Song Xuan, he was convinced by him.

The next morning, Song Xuan slept until the sun was high in the sky.

Chief Constable Ding Zhe came hurriedly:

"Shi Er Lang, something big happened?"

"No big deal can happen. The sky won't fall."

Song Xuan lay in bed thinking about how to thank Yan Shu, Fan Zhongyan and others.

They made great efforts to get the matter reported to the emperor and transferred to Dou Chou so quickly.

"That Dou Chou committed suicide by hanging himself last night. The coroner ruled out homicide after the autopsy!"

Song Xuan then sat up from the bed, his hair disheveled as he thought:
"His departure was rather disgraceful. He might as well have swallowed the gold."

If someone commits suicide by taking poison under these conditions, he will probably suffer for a long time, and he may die from intestinal pain before being poisoned to death.

Captain Ding Zhe was not surprised at all when he heard Song Xuan.

He was quite surprised.

Ding Zhe had no idea what was going on here. He didn't understand why Dou Chou, who had reached a position higher than that of a prime minister, committed suicide out of frustration.

He would rather believe that it was Song Xuan who did it and that Dou Chou was forced to commit suicide.

Song Xuan wanted to wipe out the root of the problem, and Ding Zhe was unwilling to believe that a dignified Hanlin scholar would commit suicide.

It's absolute nonsense!
"Do you suspect I did it?" Song Xuan's eyes showed a strange look.

"Absolutely not."

Ding Zhe took a half step back. Even though he had some thoughts in his mind, he didn't dare to admit it:
"I wouldn't dare to think so, but it's easy for others to suspect Twelve Lang. It was you who forced the current Hanlin scholar to death. I'm afraid it will be bad for your reputation!"

In fact, as a local tyrant, Ding Zhe was well versed in all the ways of the cat and the mouse. Ding Zhe could tell at first sight that Song Twelve was definitely not the scholar he appeared to be.

He was carrying a strong evil spirit, and after learning a little about the inside story from the poisonous scorpion, he no longer had much concern for Song Xuan and only wanted to serve him carefully. At least Song Twelve was spending real money, which was exactly what he needed.

Especially Song Xuan's methods made Ding Zhe feel extremely uneasy. Although he was eating and drinking in prison for three days, he was very worried.

Everyone calls him Dou Chou, but his official position is one that many people cannot achieve in their lifetime, let alone ordinary people. Even if they pass the imperial examination, they may not be able to reach that position.

So Ding Zhe was thinking in his mind at that time whether Song Xuan was deliberately trying to win people's hearts, so that when things went wrong, he and his men would help him escape from prison and flee to the ends of the earth.

"You don't have to look at me like that. If I really did it, the culprit, Dou Han, wouldn't be alive."

Song Xuan's words made Ding Zhe immediately believe that Dou Chou's suicide was not done by him, Song Twelve.

The fact that he became the leader of the three evils in Lema Town shows that he is indeed cruel and ruthless.

Ding Zhe was relieved. After all, this was a serious crime of killing an important official of the imperial court, and there was no way to avoid it except by rebellion.

Song Xuan began to tidy up his hair and simply tied it into a ponytail:
"Dou Chou's actions will earn him a lot of sympathy. Otherwise, as long as he's alive, no one around him will let him go."

"But I heard that Emperor Taizu said that scholars should not be killed. Even if he fails to become an official, will he be retaliated by those he bullied in the past?"

"It's hard to say whether others will retaliate against him, because his reputation is already tarnished. No matter how hard he tries to survive, his life will never improve. He's unwilling to accept this, so he's desperate."

Song Xuan stood up, shuffling his clogs and turning his body left and right:
"I think he was just using his own death to pave the way for his son."

"The culprit is Dou Han?"

Ding Zhe doesn't know much about officialdom.

After all, he was just a minor official, and he tried every means to make some money and worked hard to train his son to be a scholar.

But when Song Xuan said that Dou Chou committed suicide to pave the way for his son, he immediately understood the matter.

Then Dou Chou must indeed die.

"This guy is hopeless. I suspect it's his eldest son."

Ding Zhe nodded slightly: "Has Shi Erlang anticipated this?"

"I didn't expect to hit him so impulsively." Song Xuan drank a few sips of boiled water.

"I've made a lot of enemies now. I have to pass the imperial examination as soon as possible so that I can protect myself."

Ding Zhe came to report the news.

I thought that once Dou Chou died, Song Xuan would be extremely happy and would definitely reward me with some money.

But I never thought that there were so many crises hidden behind it.

As expected, these scholars are all cunning.

Will my silly and honest boy be able to survive in official circles in the future?
"Captain Ding, it just so happens that there's no need to invite you separately. In a couple of days, to celebrate my admission to the academy, I'll be treating the neighbors and a few classmates to a meal. Bring your family along to join in the fun."

"what?"

Ding Zhe's eyes almost popped out.

Who doesn't know that Song Xuan ranked third in the academy and was close friends with the first place Zhang Fangping? The two of them each took two first places in four subjects, and Liu Sanbian also made Song Xuan famous.

There was also Song Xuan who complained in public about the injustice done to him by the high-ranking official Dou Chou and refused to compromise.

There may be many people in the entire Song City who don’t recognize Song Xuan’s face, but there are only a few who have never heard of his name.

The name Song Xuan has been very popular among the people of Songcheng recently.

Ding Zhe is sure that such a person will have a bright future.

He actually invited me, a lowly constable, to attend his banquet!
Ding Zhe was deeply moved, but he still had some self-awareness:

"Shi Er Lang, it's not that I don't want to come. I'm afraid that if I come, others will look down on you and cause you trouble."

"Then such a person is not worthy of being my friend."

Song Xuan came over and patted Ding Zhe on the shoulder:

"How could I, Song Xuan, look down on someone like Captain Ding, who is so devoted to seeking a change of social status for his son? You have a family and a career. No matter how lowly you are, how can you be compared to a beggar?"

"When I make friends, I never consider whether they are rich or poor. Anyway, none of them are as rich as me."

"Don't worry about bringing your sister-in-law with you. The most important thing is to bring your son here to experience the atmosphere of outstanding students like us, so that he will have the ambition to study and make progress in the future."

Ding Zhe naturally knew that Song Xuan was surrounded by several outstanding scholars.

Except for the playboy from Sichuan who failed to get into the academy, all the people living in his house got into the academy.

Ding Zhe still understood the principle that birds of a feather flock together.

The most important thing is that he has never attended such a gathering, so he will have something to brag about in the future, so there is no need to refuse.

Song Xuan has paved the way for him. If he doesn't act accordingly, he will really lose face for others.

Captain Ding Zhe thanked him again.

Song Xuan pulled Ding Zhe aside to ask about the circumstances at the scene of Dou Chou's death.

After all, his leg was broken, yet he still chose to hang himself. It must have taken a lot of effort and he was very determined.

……

Hanlin scholar Dou Yuanbin committed suicide.

Before the imperial court issued the order to dismiss him, he was still a Hanlin scholar of the Song Dynasty.

Even Cao Liyong, who couldn't stand it, showed up as usual and comforted Dou Han, who was crying.

In short, his father committed suicide by hanging with a broken leg, which took a lot of effort.

Yan Shu looked at Dou Yuanbin's body and asked, "Why do you have to do this?"

You have brought yourself to this point today, it's all your own fault!
But for now, the person is dead, and both the emperor and the empress dowager will show leniency and mercy.

Maybe he could even help his son get a job in government.

Yan Shu picked up the letter in his hand and said, "Prime Minister Cao, this is the suicide note left by Scholar Dou, saying that he would give it to the emperor."

Cao Liyong took it and handed it to Li Di for safekeeping.

He was actually a little curious about what Dou Chou and Song Xuan talked about, which made the always arrogant Dou Chou decide to commit suicide.

Cao Liyong was a little confused.

Song Xuan was just a small student. How could he have the confidence to threaten Dou Yuanbin to commit suicide?

Just think about it, it's impossible.

So after Cao Liyong simply went through the motions, he left directly and sent someone to take him to Song Xuan's house to sit for a while.

Li Di and Ding Du looked at each other. It was obvious that neither of them expected Dou Yuanbin to be so "stubborn"!
Originally, the student Song Xuan had a huge advantage, and 19 was no problem.

With Dou Yuanbin's death, the chances of winning were finally fifty-fifty.

Even though Dou Yuanbin lost his own life, he at least saved his family's chance to stay at the table and rise again.

Yan Shu felt that the Dou family and Song Xuan were really going to fight to the death!

At least Dou Yuanbin's eldest son still has a great advantage over Song Xuan, a commoner.

Yan Shu glanced at the magistrate Gu Zimo who was crying beside him. Dou Yuanbin was his mentor. It seemed that the trouble Song Xuan had to face was not the son of the Dou family who was far away, but the student of Dou Chou in front of him.

(End of this chapter)