Chang'an.

In prison.

Dark stone walls, thick wooden railings, iron chains and moss.

The insects and rats are the owners of this territory, while the others are passers-by.

Darkness seems to be due to its long-term existence, which makes people in it feel that not only the light is swallowed, but also the time and life are also swallowed by darkness.

Looking at the weak light on the stone wall in the distance, Li Kui knew that even this faint light was not left for these prisoners, but for the jailer who came in to check, could see the way under his feet.

Everything here does not belong to him.

All his efforts have now become a complete failure...

People are dying and the money is not spent!

what to do?

Li Kui felt that he had not seen the path clearly and chose the wrong path.

He regretted it very much, but now there is no new light to shine on his way, only the oppressed darkness, and the insects and mice that mocked him in the darkness and eroded his territory unscrupulously.

These insects and mice will come to grab food when they are eating, and will secretly chew on the corners of his clothes, even his skin, legs and feet while he is sleeping.

Li Kui felt that these insects and mice seemed to have regarded him as a dead object, a piece of carrion, and if he didn't want it, he would really become a dead object and carrion.

If God can give him a chance...

The sound of footsteps came.

The cell is deep and the subtle sounds from the outside seem to be amplified inside the cell.

A voice that made Li Kui feel familiar but a little strange was heard, as if he had talked to the jailer. Then the jailer opened the lock and the iron chains were clattering.

"Brother Li, are you okay?" A black shadow walked to the wooden fence.

Li Kui was stunned for a moment.

The jailer was on the side, and seemed to have lit up some of the lights on the stone wall.

The light reached Li Kui again, and the insects and mice in the darkness went to the darker place, temporarily giving the territory to Li Kui and the guest.

"You...you, you..." Li Kui widened his eyes, "Are you a human or a ghost?! Aren't you... dead?"

The man showed half of his face in the light, and smiled on his face, "Brother Li, I have indeed died once..."

Li Kui recovered from his previous shock, with a hint of contempt on his face, "It turns out... no wonder that there were many losses in Chang'an before. It seems that he has become the rank of Brother Fan! Congratulations, congratulations!"

Fan Cong's face was a little embarrassed.

No matter what, he did do such a thing and betrayed some people...

In the eyes of some people in later generations, it may not be a big deal to betray someone, but in the current Han Dynasty, loyalty, filial piety, integrity and righteousness are still the yardsticks that many people adhere to. Fan Cong was somewhat ashamed to be thrust on the face like Li Kui.

But soon, shame became the fuel for anger.

"Even if I don't betray you, Brother Li, are you still prisoners?" Fan Cong said coldly, "Those who know the times are heroes. As if they are in a big trend today, you are here by the side of the cavalry. Brother Li, you have been to Chang'an for a while. Can't you see clearly?"

"The emperor is still in Shandong!" Li Kui said loudly, as if this was the only way to maintain his momentum.

"It's true that the emperor is in Shandong, but can the emperor in Shandong really be called the emperor?!" Fan Cong also responded loudly without any lake.

The two people's voices collided with each other within the stone wall, stirred each other, canceled each other, and then the sound was faint.

Only the heavy breathing sounds of two people were left.

Fan Cong sighed, then sat down, and separated the wooden fence with Li Kui, "I have stayed in your cell, too."

『…』 Li Kui was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say, so he simply remained silent to respond.

"Sacrifice your life for righteousness..." Fan Cong's tone was quiet, "Kong Wenju, is he famous? Do you have many righteousness? Then? He sacrificed his life, where does his righteousness fall? Haha, his family property was divided, his house was occupied, and his acres were swallowed up... What's even more ridiculous is that the people who do these things are not outsiders, but the same clan and tribe as him, and even his daily relatives and friends! Shandong, ha, the place of literary life! The hometown of benevolence and righteousness!"

『…How do you know this?” Li Kui asked, and then laughed, 『Oh…I understand, the cavalryman used these to persuade you to surrender? Hahaha…』

"No." Fan Cong shook his head.

"Hmph!" Li Kui obviously didn't believe it.

Fan Cong raised his head slightly, as if immersed in some memories, "I also wanted to die... but later, Wen Si said that he could take my family book to Chang'an...

『Ah?』 Li Kui didn't seem to hear clearly, 『What?"

"Home Book," Fan Cong pointed to himself, "My. And, I really took it...

『…』 Li Kui was silent for a longer time, 『So this is your reason? The reason you found for your rebellion?』

"No." Fan Cong shook his head again, "Although I was grateful to me for the collection of the family books... But the reason why I made me decide was not in Guanzhong, but in Shandong..."

"Nonsense!" Li Kui sneered, "It's probably just that you put on makeup and make a fuss about it, so what's the point of distinguishing?"

Fan Cong smiled, "I pretended to die at Luoyang City, and the news came to Shandong. According to convention, I should give my family a pension and suspend labor and medicate for ten years... This is the rule, right?"

Li Kui suddenly realized something and nodded with a little hesitation.

"The family book is here," Fan Cong's tone was quiet, "I asked, there was no pension, no pension. Because... they didn't see my corpse! So they "don't know" whether I was alive or dead, so there was no pension, no labor, no mediocre service!"

『…』 Li Kui was silent for a long time, then turned his gaze to one side, which was a darker corner, and the insects and mice seemed to be rustling in it, chattering, and laughing, 『Maybe... this matter should be done...』

"Yes." Fan Cong nodded, "Indeed, the process is very important. But...

Fan Cong bit his teeth and showed a fierce look on his face, "But, hehe, it would be fine if they don't give pensions, but they stopped my family's salary the month after the news was sent back! The reason is that I'm already "dead"! Hahaha, you say, Brother Li, I'm counting "life" or "death"!"

"Uh..." Li Kui couldn't answer.

"My inner man... Yes, she was just a concubine before, but now she is a wife... nothing must not be changed, right? Although the inner man has also read books, he is not an eloquent person... "Fan Cong sighed, "Go to ask the minor official, and then... this one is not clear, that one is not sure, and asked this one is not his responsibility, and asked this one is not his duty... My inner man ran around for a month and went back and forth more than ten times, and no one... no one can solve this problem... Haha, I am pretending to die, but... what if I really die?"

Li Kui remained silent.

"I was anxious, and the people in the Hucao were angry and said that they were fine. Since they were dead, they should stop their salary and food. What's wrong with this? They violated the law? They were tortured my inner person and asked her to find Gongcao." Fan Cong sneered, "Then Gongcao also said that they were fine, everything was done according to the law! Without understanding the corpse, life and death, and no pensions should be issued! Then I drove my inner person to find Hucao... The old mother in the family wanted to raise her, the children were to feed her, the fields and mulberry taxes, silk and hemp were to be transferred... The young official who collected taxes and the regents rushed into the door, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, saying that there was an order, and no one could lose a penny! Even a copper hairpin that I had a crush on with my inner person was taken away by hand... a thin coffin that gave my mother... also...

Fan Cong burst into tears and choked and speechless.

Li Kui turned his head.

Fan Cong wiped his face with his sleeve, his voice a little in his mouth, "It was from that time that I knew that I didn't owe Cao Mengde or the emperor, but only those who owe the cavalry... If the cavalry hadn't sent someone to pick up my house, I... My inner friend said that they all wanted to die at that time..."

"You... your clan members..." Li Kui asked, "Why are your clans..."

"Ha." Fan Cong sneered, "Do you still not see what Kong Wenju is doing clearly? Clan member? You have meritorious and official positions, and they are human beings. If you have nothing and become a family, they will wait to divide the houses and land! At that time, you thought they were human beings, but you didn't think that they no longer regarded you as human beings!"

Li Kui was silent. He also knew about this. There were indeed some charity scholars in the clans of the big family, and they would also distribute money and grain to the widows and widows and orphans in the clan, but the price was that the family that accepted this amount of money and grain would become vassals and servants of a large house from then on.

Moreover, even this system is not available to all families, and even some families are not for everyone...

The aristocratic families can only maintain the main branch and main house without falling down. As for the branches and branches, the help or not will depend on one thought.

"Brother Li, you are not a big family," Fan Cong looked at Li Kui and said, "You should have seen it in Chang'an... We are from Shandong, but there is no place for us in Shandong! What can you do if you learn well? Children from a wealthy family can recite poetry and books at the age of three! You can spread poetry to the countryside at the age of seven! You can publish books and make famous all over the world at the age of ten!

"What if you have the ability? They said they didn't work, but they said they wanted to recruit talents from all over the world, but they were more unconventional than being open. But in fact, the one who was hired in the end was not the son of this family, the grandson of that family, ordinary people... If not, you and I wouldn't have to come to Chang'an..." Fan Cong laughed twice, "Is it worth it to be like Shandong and the court like this? That's all, Brother Li, think about it carefully..."

Fan Cong didn't mean to ask Li Kui to answer on the spot, but stood up and bowed a little, and got up and left without waiting for Li Kui to respond.

The footsteps were gone, and amid the clanging sound of iron chains, the cell fell into silence again.

Li Kui was silent, sitting like a withered person, motionless.

『Is it worth it?』

If a court or a region prevents the living from living, the deceased from dying with peace of mind, the young and strong will not see the light of making a name for themselves, and the old will not see the hope of raising one's life...

Li Kui knocked his head on the wooden fence. With the sound of Dong, someone still seemed to be asking, "Is it worth it?"

He knocked for a while, hoping to use such an action to knock these three words out of his mind.

This time I got a little more forceful. The rough wooden fence shattered his forehead, and blood flowed down, and it hurt so much.

But these three words still failed to be eliminated in my mind, even getting bigger and louder.

『Is it worth it?』

…?囧rz…

In the prison, Li Kui was confused and difficult to make a choice, and in Chang'an City, there were also people who were confused and difficult to make a choice.

"Sir, we... this is our opportunity?"

Wei Kang stared at Wei Duan with unconcealed desire.

Since Wei retired from the officialdom, Wei Kang has really understood what it means to be a "no one".

His 'friends' who had been smiling before now avoided him like a snake or a scorpion, and then he realized that the words his father had been telling him that he needed to make friends with him carefully were true...

Wei Duan's body was slightly hunched, and his face was much older. Without authority, Wei Duan seemed to have accelerated his aging.

Previously, Wei Duan hoped to connect with Kong Rong's children, just like going through a backdoor listing in the stock market, gaining some political capital again, but I don't know if it was a fate, or was noticed, or the children of Kong's family really had to devote themselves to studying. Although they came to Chang'an, basically ordinary people couldn't see the children of Kong's family, so naturally there was no such thing as backdoor.

Without authority and position, Wei Duan felt like he was walking naked in the downtown area. After the initial period of shame, Wei Duan naturally ignited the spark of anger. He, one of the "Jingzhao Sanyou" that year, is now like a betrayal dog...

"What are you going to do?" Wei Duan asked. He did not say yes or no, but asked Wei Kang what to do.

Wei Kang had a gloating smile on his face and raised his eyebrows and said, "The fat black man was obviously afraid! He made a mistake! Now he should be gathering the three auxiliary forces of Guanzhong to deal with Prime Minister Cao, but he was in a hurry! First he had disagreements with the Crown Prince of Cavalry, and then the granaries in the city caught fire. Because the fired granaries involved Wei Wenchang, which made Wei Wenchang make a big fuss in the official party again!"
To be continued...