Chapter 316 The Witness Dies

Chapter 316 The Witness Dies

Chapter 316 The Witness Dies
In his previous life, Zhao Duan had seen a psychological symptom called "Scheherazade Complex", which was named after the heroine of "One Thousand and One Nights":
The emperor summoned a young girl into the palace every night and killed her the next day.

In order to stop the killing, the prime minister's daughter Scheherazade took the initiative to enter the palace. She told the emperor a story every night and omitted the key plots. Therefore, in order to hear the follow-up, the emperor had to spare her life.

The next night, he continued to tell the story to himself, and then stopped at the end... He told it for a thousand and one nights, and finally moved the emperor and gave up killing.

At this moment, Zhao Duan adopted the same strategy.

Taking into account that every practitioner dreams of becoming an immortal, and that stories with obviously inappropriate backgrounds such as Journey to the West should be eliminated, and that it also needs to be a long story... he finally chose this one.

Although he certainly couldn't remember the original text, he remembered the general plot.

Even if you forget some of them, you can still write a paragraph based on your rich reading experience... In the end, it is enough to "cater to their tastes".

"…If you want to know what happened next, please listen to the next chapter."

After Zhao Duan finished his story, he opened his eyes and saw the female sorceress in golden armor and wedding dress sitting on the eaves above his head, pretending to listen to an opera.

Stare into each other's eyes.

Pei Niannu woke up from the story, stared at him with cold eyes, and said intermittently: "Continue...continue..."

We can communicate indeed!

Zhao Duan was delighted, and he smiled and bowed, saying, "Senior, please allow me to tell you more later. I came here because I want to..."

Pei Niannu sneered, and a long rainbow suddenly flashed across the suspended scale bar beside him.

"puff!"

Zhao Duan's forehead was pierced, his body stiffened, and he fell straight down. Just before he was kicked out of the "Six Chapters Sutra", he only heard the other party's voice:

"Come again...next time."

-

"Huh..." In the courtyard of the White Horse Prison, Zhao Duan suddenly woke up, beads of sweat on his forehead, and cursed in his heart:
"This is different from what we agreed on. Is she so fierce that she even skipped the step of locking me up in the small dark room? Oh, yes, she might know that she can't lock me up in the small dark room..."

"What's wrong?" At this time, the old supervisor came back after finishing his work and asked curiously.

"It's nothing, I just had a nightmare." Zhao Duan said helplessly.

Well, considering that this method worked, he decided to persevere and try again.

The reason why the other party did not take the bait may be that what he said was too short and not attractive enough, just like only reading a few chapters of a novel, there will not be a strong reaction if you stop.

But after reading hundreds of thousands of words and being immersed in it, you can stop reading, only then the effect will be outstanding... Well, the premise is that you don't get beaten to death by an angry senior...

Zhao Duan silently summed up his experience.

"No more words, I'll take my leave."

He stood up and went home in a hurry, ready to write more and accumulate enough manuscripts to complete the guide as soon as possible.

"…I am very impatient."

Sun Lianying opened his mouth, but helplessly shook his head with his hands behind his back, thinking to himself, you kid owe me the osmanthus wine, and you haven't paid yet.

……

In the next few days, the changes in the court were exactly as Sun Lianying had expected.

The Jiangnan gentry began to lobby continuously, and the trial by the three courts gradually fell into a stalemate.

On the third day, a sudden revelation emerged, claiming that Wang Chusheng had long harbored a grudge against Gao Lian because of a certain incident, and that there were several doubts in the evidence he provided.

The meaning is obvious: it is believed that Wang Chusheng was forging the facts and falsely accusing the governor.

On the fourth day, new doubts arose in the case, this time about the informant "Song Tiju".

Some people questioned how Song Tijiu was able to obtain so much evidence and why he disappeared mysteriously. His motive for reporting became a mystery for a while.

On the fifth day, rumors began to spread, vaguely questioning the "imperial envoy" Zhao Duan.

Someone presented evidence that after Zhao Du'an arrived in Taicang Prefecture, he demanded bribes from local officials such as Gao Lian, but to no avail.

Therefore, Zhao Duan, who failed to extort bribes, was suspected of retaliating and settling personal grudges...

When the news came out, the capital was in an uproar.

Especially after several verifications, it was found that it was true. For a time, many people who had originally insisted on convicting the criminal became wavering.

Start to re-examine the "evidence" brought back by Zhao Duan.

Inside the Imperial College, more and more students were questioning Gao Lian, while the voices criticizing Gao Lian were gradually decreasing.

In a strange atmosphere and with the push of some people, both overtly and covertly, public opinion was reversed within a few days.

Voices supporting Gao Lian began to emerge.

"How could this happen? How could they confuse right and wrong like this?"

Inside the Lihua Hall, the young secretary Qian Kerou angrily slammed a copy of the capital's official newspaper on the table, her chubby face turning red with anger.

Hou Renmeng, who was hugging his shoulders, and Shen Juan, who was staring at the dark circles under his eyes, also looked unhappy.

"What's wrong? Are you so angry?" Zhao Duan picked up the newspaper and took a look at it. "You can't stand it just like this?"

Qian Kerou's eyes were red:

"We released the news of soliciting bribes in order to paralyze the other party. How come these people said it was retaliation? With the honor and favor you enjoy in front of His Majesty, would you do such a thing for the sake of so-called filial piety? These people are simply... simply..."

"Unreasonable." Hou Renmeng said the word for her.

"That's right!"

Several Jinyi captains who had followed them to Taicang Prefecture were also filled with indignation and felt they were being slandered.

Zhao Duan was calm, and as he put down the newspaper with a smile, he said:
"I am not afraid of what people say. If a mere slander could hurt me, would I still be alive today?"

Just a little bit of wind and frost...

Shen Juan couldn't help but say, "Your Excellency, you can ignore the rumors, but I'm afraid that if the direction of public opinion changes, it will be difficult to convict Gao Lian. Wouldn't that give the Li Party an excuse to try to overturn the verdict?"

Zhao Duan said calmly:

"You must remember that the real battlefield of the game is never these public opinions. Well, it's not that it's not important, but it's never decisive. Your Majesty wants him dead. If Li Yanfu only has these means, he can only delay time, but it still can't change the outcome. Relax and get busy."

Only then did the people in brocade clothes disperse.

Although he said so, Zhao Duan still went to the Censorate at noon to find Chen Hong to understand the situation.

"The situation is not good," said Censor Chen, who had silver teeth inlaid on his face, with a wry smile. After not seeing him for a few days, the deputy imperial envoy looked much more tired.

Zhao Duan narrowed his eyes and said in surprise:

"Because of those voices of support? Or because of the rumors in the streets?"

Chen Hong shook her head and whispered:
"Mr. Zhao, you may not know that today, urgent documents were sent to the capital from various local prefectures, especially from Jiancheng Prefecture, Huaishui Prefecture, and Linfeng Prefecture. They were memorials from local officials requesting Gao Lian's life.

Well, the Linfeng Road area was mainly submitted by some officials from Linfeng Prefecture. Taicang Prefecture was fine. In addition, the Censor Liu Ji resigned and returned to his hometown... The point is not this, but the request of the local officials. You know what this means."

Zhao Duan's expression also became serious: "Is this true?"

He originally thought that the lobbying of the southern gentry and the argument on evidence were already the limit, but he didn't expect that the local officials would jointly write a letter... This would have a completely different meaning.

The empress may not care about what the officials in Beijing say, but she cannot ignore the memorials from local officials.

The former is right under our noses, while the latter is out of reach.

Chen Hong sighed, "Moreover, today's trial did not go smoothly. Gao Lian insisted that he was slandered in court, and the evidence provided by Wang Chusheng was also found to have flaws."

Zhao Duan frowned and said, "Before we returned to Beijing, we had already verified it once. Although not all of the crimes committed by Gao Lian have been confirmed, there are several important ones that have been proven with solid evidence."

Chen Hong said bitterly:
"That being said, Wang Chusheng's words are not flawless. Some of the accusations do have insufficient evidence, or the clues have been destroyed, or he exaggerated, or he was working for Gao Lian and did not know the full picture...

In short, after the problems were pointed out, Li Yanfu's people insisted that since there were many false evidences, how could they prove that the other evidences were true? They demanded a re-verification.

But if the southern nobles continue to operate in this way, I am afraid that the evidence in our favor will become less and less.

Moreover, Li Yanfu is now deliberately directing this matter towards the rebel party, claiming that framing Gao Lian and forcing infighting in the court is a conspiracy of the rebel party and cannot be fulfilled. "

As he spoke, he shook his head, then cheered up again and said:

“However, Lord Yuan just told us that we have two advantages right now. One is that His Majesty has only given us a ten-day deadline. As long as we can hold out, Li Yanfu will not be able to turn the tables in the remaining few days, and the situation will still be under our control.

Secondly, as long as the county magistrate Wang Chusheng is around, Li Yanfu will have no way around it if he wants to confuse right and wrong."

Zhao Duan nodded, feeling a little relieved.

But my heart was inexplicably covered with dark clouds, feeling heavy and giving me a bad premonition.

I always feel like things aren't going to go well.

However, this matter was not within his authority, so he could only leave it to Chen Hong and others to negotiate.

……

At night, at Zhao's house.

In the bedroom, Zhao Duan finished washing up and entered into meditation again.

Appeared outside a ruined temple.

These days, he has focused all his attention on conquering Pei Niannu. He enters the "Six Chapter Sutra" on time every day and tells stories to the woman in golden armor.

As the story progresses and goes deeper, although he is stabbed to death by the scale every time, he clearly feels that Pei Niannu's hostility and coldness are weakening.

Just like constantly warming a piece of ice, water will wear away the stone, and there will always be changes.

This time, when Zhao Duan stood in the courtyard, he finished telling the climax of the plot and left a sequel.

He opened his eyes, pretended to be ready to die, and thought to himself: Come on, I'm ready.

However, the expected pain never came.

The sorceress in wedding dress sitting on the eaves was in a daze, as if she was still immersed in the story of cultivating immortals and unable to extricate herself.

Although her facial mask prevented her from showing her expression and she could only glimpse half of her fair chin, Zhao Duan could tell from the amplitude of her gently shaking legs that:
"This woman is very happy to hear this..."

Sure enough, after a while, because the plot that had been held back for a few days was finally finished, Pei Niannu, who was satisfied with the story, lowered his eyes and looked down at Zhao Duan below. He mercifully did not stab him to death, but nodded slightly and said:
"……very nice……"

Although the world of immortal cultivation described in the story is quite different from reality and seems to be a set of practice methods conceived by ordinary people, Pei Niannu still enjoyed listening to it.

Better than any story she had ever heard.

"As a reward..."

Before Zhao Duan could express his gratitude, Pei Niannu uttered two more words.

Then she raised a finger and pointed it at Zhao Duan's forehead.

A wisp of white flame suddenly penetrated into Zhao Duan's brow!
Along with the burning touch, at this moment, Zhao Duan felt as if a torrent exploded in his mind.

He was not unfamiliar with this. When Old Xu taught him martial arts, he had a similar experience, but it was far less brutal and rude than this one...

"This technique... is called 'Spiritual Flame'... It can burn the souls of others... leaving no marks on the body... The burning of the heart fire is like skinning torture, which is particularly cruel to men and does no good... For women, apart from the pain, it has benefits."

There were intermittent voices in my mind.

"Reward...next time, continue."

Pei Niannu finished teaching, and the scale beside him flew out like a flying sword.

puff!
……

Zhao Duan suddenly sat up from the bed and opened his palms blankly. A white flame appeared faintly in the palm of his hand and then disappeared.

"The magic of the Divine Chapter Realm... As a warrior, I can use magic that is driven by the warrior's Qi..."

Zhao Duan's eyes flashed with surprise, he finally mastered the first technique of the Divine Chapter Realm.

"Senior Pei is very generous... I have found the correct way to open the Six Chapters Sutra..."

Zhao Duan was just about to try out his new skill when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside the door, followed by a knock on the door:
"Knock, knock, Master, someone's looking for you outside. It's an imperial censor who calls himself Chen Hong."

Censor Chen?
What is he doing at my house so late at night...

Zhao Duan was stunned for a moment, then he stood up, put on his shoes, put on his coat, and walked out with his slightly tired body. He saw Chen Hong waiting at the door with an extremely ugly face in the night.

"Imperial Censor Chen, what happened?" Zhao Duan's heart sank inexplicably.

Chen Hong looked at him, moved her lips, and uttered a word: "Wang Chusheng, dead!"

(End of this chapter)