After a moment, the four major assassins began patrolling, each choosing a path, and walked by the side of the case.

The palace examination was nearly one day, and it became hot at noon. The maid put wooden cups on one desk, filled tea, and took out snacks from the tray and placed them next to the desk. Duan Ling was very thirsty, but he did not dare to drink them. Wu Zhang stopped beside him, bowed and put down a glass of water, and took away the original water. Duan Ling looked up along the man's legs. When he saw that it was Wu Du, he drank the water.

Wu Du poured another cup. Duan Ling didn't dare to drink too much and was afraid of holding his urine. He picked up his pen and continued to write. As he was writing, he no longer knew the time and was immersed in the memories of the past. The long-lasting impressions in those times, Mu Kuangda stacked in the study and accumulated memorials like mountains, and the people who fled... all came to his face.

As he finished his writing, Duan Ling's tears fell, dripping onto the paper, and the ink color of the last word at the end of the scroll was opened.

He raised his sleeves, wiped his tears, put down his pen, and let out a sigh of relief. This palace examination paper seemed to have exhausted his life's strength.

At that moment, his heart was extremely quiet, and he sat in silence. When the sun sets westward, a golden red light was thrown into the hall. For the fourth time, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet came to collect the papers. Duan Ling felt relieved and raised his head and suddenly saw Cai Yan. Cai Yan was sitting in the high place in the hall, not knowing when it came.

Facing each other, Cai Yan was staring at him tightly. Duan Ling was shocked at first, and he returned to calmness, and smiled slightly at Cai Yan. Cai Yan also smiled at him, with an inexplicable feeling in his smile.

"Thank you all for your hard work," said Cai Yan.

The candidates paid a visit to the prince and knelt down. Duan Ling stood among the candidates in the hall and looked at Cai Yan. After a few breaths, Duan Ling knelt down to Cai Yan without any obstacles, and bowed to the ground.

"Flat." Cai Yan replied, then turned around and left.

"Dear tribute students," said the eunuch, "Please go to the side hall for dinner before leaving."

After Cai Yan left, the candidates in the hall breathed a sigh of relief. Duan Ling went directly to Zheng Yan and said, "Zheng Yan, I have something to ask for your Majesty."

"Wu Du has already said it." Zheng Yan said, "You will come outside the Imperial Study room later, and I will take you in."

Duan Ling swept the hall and saw that Lang Junxia had not left yet, talking to the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, and said, "Mr. Wu Luo, I have something to talk about. I was born in the corridor to prime minister. Please."

Lang Junxia seemed to be a little surprised. After Duan Ling finished speaking, he left Yinghe Palace first and entered the corridor behind the hall. Wu Du was sitting in front of the railing and drinking water, waiting for Duan Ling.

"Go to eat something?" Wu Du asked.

"Wait a minute." Duan Ling replied, sitting side by side with Wu Du.

"How did the exam?" Wu Du saw Duan Ling's face was not very good, and thought he failed the exam. Duan Ling was still immersed in past memories and had not come out yet. When he heard this, he came back to his senses and said to Wu Du: "You said you want to take me to many places. I want to go to Yecheng."

"Go." Wu Du replied, "I'll go pack up."

Wu Du didn't ask why, as if he would accept it unconditionally as long as it was Duan Ling's decision.

"Don't you ask me why I'm thinking?" Duan Ling asked a little uneasy.

Wu Du replied: "If you can defend Tongguan, you can naturally defend Yecheng."

Duan Ling knew that it was not that simple. The last time he just went to kill someone, and protecting Tongguan was luck. Although he was familiar with military tactics, it was another matter to really lead troops to the battlefield. He was a little hesitant, so Wu Du stopped talking, looked at him quietly and waited for him to make a decision.

At this time, Lang Junxia came out. He walked along the corridor. Wu Du turned his head and saw Lang Junxia.

"He is here." Wu Du said.

Duan Ling raised his head from thinking and also looked at Lang Junxia.

He still looked the same, as if there had never been any change. He was handsome and handsome, and his jade tree was like a piece of beautiful jade, which was the person Duan Ling remembered.

Duan Ling stood up and stood in the corridor and walked towards him.

"What's the matter?" said Lang Junxia.

"I have something to say to you." Duan Ling said in a deep voice, and he slowly walked to Lang Junxia.

The time between the two seemed to have frozen, and they looked at each other silently.

Lang Junxia moved his lips as if he wanted to say something.

Duan Ling raised his hand and slapped Lang Junxia hard. With a "slap", it was crisp and loud, and the sound echoed in the quiet night.

Lang Junxia was beaten to the point of turning his head, his left face turned red.

"Your tribe." Duan Ling whispered, "An old woman was taken to Xichuan and then to Jiangzhou. She can't speak Chinese and must not talk to her neighbors. She is lonely and helpless. The only support is you. You ignore her and just give some money to do it. She doesn't ask anyone to take care of her and asks someone to talk to her. Do you know how I see it?"

Wu Du stood behind Duan Ling to prevent Lang Junxia from taking action, but Lang Junxia did not react at all and just stood quietly.

"When the flood broke out, everyone around him retreated." Duan Ling whispered, "No one took her away, why? I guess everyone knows that she is your family and doesn't want to get into trouble, so she doesn't care about her, right?"

"No one to take care of, no friends, no family affection, human favors," Duan Ling said. "The reason is very simple. You don't want her to talk to anyone, and everything is as tight as possible, right?"

"This is the reason for this slap, you can remember it clearly."

"I know you don't want someone to talk to her, so as not to get caught and ask what the details are." Duan Ling said to Lang Junxia at the end, "But I put my words here, you'd better treat her well, otherwise when I enter the court, the first thing I do is to study your book, be unfaithful, unfilial, unkind and unrighteous, and be a minister. Don't say that the superiors are the ones you have placed, even if you become the emperor yourself, you will be criticized by the people in the world."

The moon rose, but Lang Junxia was still standing in the corridor.

Turning over the Imperial Garden, Duan Ling beat Lang Junxia, ​​but his hands couldn't help but tremble. Wu Du said, "Damn, you are so brave. Master is scared by you. What's wrong with slapping in the face?"

"I'm... really angry." Duan Ling replied, "especially when I saw Fei Lian alone sitting on the terrace..."

Wu Du knows this, and Chang Liujun also knows it, but no one wants to say it, and no one likes Lang Junxia, ​​because of this.

"He has always been heartless and unkind. It hurts..." Wu Du thought for a while, turned his mind and asked, "Ele.me? There is no food for Zheng Yan today. Mu Qing asked me to take you to the queen's place to eat, let's go."

Duan Ling's hand trembled slightly, but Wu Du took his hand. Duan Ling's heart slowly calmed down. He thought of the half sentence that Wu Du didn't say later - Lang Junxia was heartless, which made Duan Ling, who was led by him, also heartless.

But is the assassin supposed to be like this? On the other hand, Wu Ducai is not like an assassin. Duan Ling has never seen Zheng Yan kill someone, so he has no good comments. Maybe Zheng Yan is also a cruel and ruthless person, and Chang Liujun started the fight without any ambiguity.

However, is Lang Junxia really heartless? Duan Ling couldn't help but recall when he was a child, when Lang Junxia was lying on the couch and was seriously injured when he was a child. Countless fragments intertwined, making him feel that Lang Junxia has feelings.

On the day when his father arrived and Lang Junxia left, he still held him and didn't want him to leave.

It has been so many years in a flash. The slap just now seemed to knock out Duan Ling's long-accumulated anger. Now when I think about it, my heart is empty.

If I get everything I have to do in the future, will I kill him and give him death?

Duan Ling never thought about this problem, but he couldn't help but think about it that night. If there is no need to do it by himself, Lang Junxia must die. Even if he pardoned him, the court officials would never let him go - however, he did not want to see Lang Junxia die in front of him.

Even if someone killed him quietly and told himself that Lang Junxia had disappeared, fled, and went to the end of the world, he would feel better, as if as long as he didn't watch him die in front of him with his own eyes, his memories would still be there. After leaving Xunyang, the short-lived happiness and new world no longer seemed like a joke.

Inside the hall:

"You are Wang Shan, right?" Mu Jinzhi said leisurely, "Qing'er is thinking about you every day, and my ears are calloused."

Duan Ling hurriedly saluted the queen. Mu Jinzhi said: "The people from the Mu family don't have to be too polite in front of me, so they go and eat dinner. Qing'er complained about a headache after the exam. He just asked him to go to bed, but he asked you to call him."

"No need to call him." Duan Ling replied, "Let him sleep for a while."

"That's exactly what it said." Mu Jinzhi smiled sweetly and said to Wu Du: "You go and have a meal too."

Wu Du nodded, but did not leave, guarding Duan Ling for dinner, and Mu Jinzhi did not force him to sit on the couch and watch the palace maids use pens and ink to draw a small lantern.

"How is the family?" Mu Jinzhi asked again, "Is it flooded?"

Duan Ling replied: "If you go back to the queen, everything will be fine."

Mu Jinzhi said: "I'm empty and I'm advised your master to eat some food for three meals. Changpeng is not by his side, and no one reminds him."

Duan Ling replied yes, glanced at Wu Du, raised his eyebrows, meaning he heard it? Mu Jinzhi said that Mu Kuangda, but Duan Ling often joked with Wu Du, and the master shouted, and now he was using this to drive him to have a meal.

Wu Du then stepped down to the side hall to have dinner. While eating, he still pricked up his ears and listened to the movements next door.

Duan Ling glanced at Mu Jinzhi's belly, and couldn't see any clues. Mu Jinzhi asked again: "Are you married?"

Duan Ling knew that as long as he was an individual, he would definitely want to serve as a matchmaker for a young talent like him. When he came, he had already thought of a solution and replied: "I have a strong life."

Mu Jinzhi said, "I can't see it."

Mu Jinzhi looked at Duan Ling and suddenly laughed "pop", pushed the palace maid with a round fan in his hand, saying, "Look at Wang Shan, why do I think he looks like who?"

The palace maid also glanced at it, thought for a while, and said softly: "The corners of her mouth look a bit like the fifth princess."

Duan Ling's heart skipped a beat, and he thought that there should be no problem with his eyes so sharp, so he had to laugh dryly. Fortunately, Zheng Yan finally came and probably got the news and took Duan Ling away.

Duan Ling suddenly remembered that Changpin was not with Mu Kuangda? It seemed that he had not seen him for several days. Where did he go? Now at such an important time, where could Mu Kuangda send Changpin?

The lights were still lit in the study room, and after a few coughs inside, Duan Ling began to worry about Li Yanqiu's health. He was already weak and sick, and he had been busy with government affairs for many days. He just hoped that he would not get sick. If he was empty, he would have to let Wu Du show him, so don't be poisoned to death by Mu Kuangda or Cai Yan.

Someone happened to send the medicine in. Duan Ling had an idea and stretched out his foot to trip the palace maid. The palace maid exclaimed and threw herself on Duan Ling, and the medicine soup spilled him all over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Duan Ling said hurriedly.

The palace maid hurriedly said that it was okay, so she packed up the broken porcelain and went back to decoct the medicine. Duan Ling smelled the medicine on his body, but couldn't tell the truth. He looked up at Wu Du, and Wu Du nodded and understood.

"Who is outside?" Li Yanqiu said.

"Report to Your Majesty." Zheng Yan replied, "It was Wang Shan and Wu Du who asked for a meeting."

"Come in."

Duan Ling and Wu Du exchanged their eyes and pushed the door open and went in.

"I haven't entered the court yet." Li Yanqiu looked at Duan Ling and said, "I've come more diligently than the Prime Minister."

Duan Ling replied: "I dare not forget my worries about the country when I am low."

"I have read your paper." Li Yanqiu said slowly, "Our only has this one of you in the past few years, which makes me sad for a moment and I can't help myself."

When Duan Ling looked up at Li Yanqiu, he saw that his eyes were red and seemed to be touched.
Chapter completed!