Marrying a treacherous official

Since being reprimanded by Cui Zeming last time, Zhou Boren has dared not accept bribes again and has secretly let people in to visit him in prison.

Not to mention that the visitor was Madam Cui.

He caught a glimpse of Li Xiuji silently shaking his head at him, and cleverly said:

"The trial of the scientific examination cheating case is about to begin. The higher authorities have explicitly forbidden outsiders from visiting the prison. It is my duty to let you in without authorization, Madam. Please forgive me."

"clear."

Yunji nodded in complete understanding and gave Chaohua a wink.

Hua Chao stepped forward to block the guards' view, took out a silver ingot from the lining of his narrow sleeve, and stuffed it into Zhou Boren's hand.

"This is just a small token of my appreciation; please accept it, Zhou Tuicheng."

"No, no, no, that's absolutely unacceptable!"

Zhou Boren hurriedly returned the silver to Hua Chao, explaining hastily, "Madam, you've misunderstood. That's not what I meant."

Yunji nodded knowingly again and gave Huachao a wink.

Hua Chao took back the silver, then pulled out a two-hundred-tael silver note from her narrow-sleeved sleeve with a geometric pattern and handed it over privately.

"I would like to ask Zhou Tuicheng to do me a favor."

"Madam, that's really not what I meant!"

Zhou Boren waved his hands repeatedly, pushing the silver notes back, so anxious that he was almost about to kowtow to the First Madam to apologize.

"I don't understand why Zhou Tuicheng is declining like this."

Yun Jiqing straightened his expression and said to him, still unwilling to listen:

"If we look at it from an outsider's perspective, other families can afford to pay money to visit prisoners, but I can't. It's not that I think the money is too little; does it mean my money is worthless?"

"Madam has truly wronged your subordinate."

Zhou Boren frowned and said, "The higher-ups are watching very closely and won't let anyone in. I have my reasons for doing this because I'm in this position."

Yun Ji looked at him coldly and said with a light sneer, "I wonder if Zhou Tuicheng considers General Cui one of his own?"

How could Zhou Boren dare to utter a single word of dissent?

He was promoted by Cui Zemin, so of course he could also be kicked down by Cui Zemin.

"I will always be a military advisor under General Cui."

"In that case, I won't stand on ceremony with Zhou Tuicheng."

Yunji said to the guards at the gate, "Open the gate and let me in."

Zhou Boren was driven to the brink of despair and had no other choice but to look to Li Xiuji across from him for help.

Now that things had come to this, Li Xiuji was powerless to help. He pretended not to have seen anything and tried his best to distance himself from the matter to avoid being beaten with twenty lashes.

"Rules are set for outsiders to see."

Yun Ji glanced sideways at Zhou Boren and said in an unquestionable tone:

"Since we're all on the same side, let's skip the formalities. Zhou Tuicheng can't just keep the prison doors closed and pay lip service to General Cui, can he?"

How could Zhou Boren bear such a crime?

It is said that General Cui dotes on the eldest wife of the household, and there is a fear that if the general were to wrongly accuse her, even ten mouths would not be able to clear his name.

"Open the door and let Madam Fang go in for a visit."

Prison is a place where there is no light.

A ram's horn lamp hung in the long corridor, its dim light illuminating the dark shadows of the cells on either side.

Zhou Boren led the way, carrying a torch, heading straight for Gu Jinyu's cell.

Yunji followed behind, deliberately slowing her pace.

She glanced at the cells on either side of the corridor and saw that they were filled with students suspected of cheating on the imperial examinations. Reaching a fork in the corridor, she vaguely guessed what was going on and suddenly turned to ask the person in the nearest cell:

Where was Cheng Wengong imprisoned?

The question came so suddenly that neither Li Xiuji nor Zhou Boren had time to stop him. A student rushed to the wooden fence and shouted:

"That's the cell at the very end of the straight path."

Yunji gathered her skirts and strode quickly toward the end of the dimly lit corridor.

Zhou Boren, carrying a torch, rushed back, only to be blocked at the fork in the road by Hua Chao. Li Xiuji chased after him from behind, but was blocked by Xi Kui in front of him.

With this slight delay, Yunji hurriedly arrived at the last cell.

Through the wooden fence, she watched Cheng Wengong, his white hair disheveled, sitting alone on the dry grass reading a book.

The corridor was dimly lit, and the old man had to hunch over to get a sliver of light so he could squint and read the words on the book.

She was deeply moved and bowed respectfully, saying:

"See Cheng Wengong."

"May I ask who you are, madam?"

Cheng Wengong put down the book he was holding and stared at her, but he couldn't recognize who was standing in front of him.

Li Xiuji and Zhou Boren arrived one after the other, their breaths unsteady as they spoke:

"Young Master Zhou is locked up in a cell in another corridor. I will take Madam there right away."

"Cheng Wengong is the main culprit in leaking the exam questions. He cannot meet with outsiders alone. You cannot stay here any longer. Madam, please return."

Yun Ji frowned in displeasure and coldly rebuked them:

"How dare you be so disrespectful to Cheng Wengong!"

One sentence from him silenced Li Xiuji and Zhou Boren, who dared not say another word.

"Not to mention that the Emperor has not yet convicted Cheng Wengong, even in the 'Master Cheng's Family Precepts,' which everyone in the world has read, people would bow and call him 'Master' when they see him."

Yunji said sternly, "Either you leave, or you wait here. Don't you dare act so presumptuously in front of Cheng Wengong."

Li Xiuji had no choice but to take a step back.

He couldn't very well knock his wife unconscious and carry her out; if the general found out, he wouldn't even know how he died.

If someone is sent to deliver a message to the general now, by the time the general arrives, the First Madam will have already said what she needed to say and will probably have already left the Right Prison and returned to her residence.

He had only one way to survive: to lie on the long bench and wait for the eighty strokes of the military rod to come down heavily.

After listening to these words, Cheng Wengong roughly guessed Yunji's identity.

"Are you General Cui's wife?"

"She is not only the eldest wife of the Cui family, but also the eldest daughter of the Gu family."

Yunji approached the wooden fence and replied respectfully.

"My father received a copy of the 'Collected Annotations on the Book of Rites' with an inscription by Cheng Wengong. He treasured it and still keeps it in a drawer of the library, leaving it for the scholars of the Gu family to refer to as annotations."

"You are Gu Huaiming's daughter."

Cheng Wengong finally recognized who she was.

When the news of Gu Huaiming's death by flogging in the Qin Zheng Hall reached Lin'an, he was so heartbroken that he couldn't get over it for a whole year.

He and Gu Huaiming hit it off immediately, and after only a few meetings, he was captivated by Gu Huaiming's outstanding talent and intelligence.

Such a talented and brilliant young man always evokes pity.

He hoped that Gu Huaiming would rise to prominence in his aristocratic family and make great strides in his official career, but fate dealt Gu Huaiming a fatal blow, bringing their beautiful life to an abrupt end. How could this not be heartbreaking?

Cheng Wengong stared intently at Yunji, as if he were seeing an old acquaintance, and said with barely suppressed emotion, "No wonder you have the bearing of an old friend."