More than half a month of clear and sunny weather, the leaves were scorched and curled up like earth skin, and the city filled with defeated soldiers and livestock was unbearably smelly.

  In the late afternoon, dark clouds finally rose in the sky. Before they had covered the whole sky, it was already very dark on the ground. The bright and hot sunny day suddenly became like a dark night. Soon there were loud thunderclaps and flashes of lightning, followed by big raindrops pounding down, splashing up stars of mud everywhere.

  The soldiers were shouting and stripping off their clothes to jump in the streets, while the officials and laborers were rushing to cover the outdoor grain and equipment with rain gear. But it was too late. Without any buffer, tens of thousands of waterfalls poured down from the sky, and in an instant, the sky and earth could no longer be distinguished, becoming a bright white watery world.

  The rain was fast and urgent, and in just half a time, it made the streets flooded with water, and all over the place were floating trash made by the soldiers. More officials and soldiers were dispatched to rescue, waiting for all the rain cloths to be laid out, and the warehouses to be stacked with sacks, the rain stopped. The people who got soaked sat down, even without the energy to scold heaven.

  But anyway, this heavy rain relieved the sweltering heat, and the people of Hengyang City finally got a long-awaited cool night.

  The dark clouds dispersed quickly, revealing the last remnants of daylight on the horizon. If it were any other time, this would signal the start of a vibrant midsummer night with bustling streets and dazzling streetlights. However, under the ominous shadow of war, all shops closed their doors. People who had been caught outside in the torrential rain hastened back home, fearful of encountering misfortune as night fell.

  In the crowd of people rushing to and fro, there were two men wearing dark blue uniforms. The first one was none other than Wang Jinguo, the old constable from Hengyang County. The second one, with a lean build and an enigmatic smile, was surprisingly Song Duanping. As it turned out, Chen Ke had originally intended to take this trip, but was firmly stopped by Wang Jinguo. In this era, people in the south were generally short-statured, and his six-foot height really stood out like a crane among chickens, drawing too much attention.

  Song Duanping is also considered tall, just not as exaggerated as him. So only Monkey Brother can take this trip.

  Two men walked side by side on the main street, Wang Jingui shook his head and sighed as he walked: "You say I'm crazy to follow you bunch of young rascals messing around."

  "Sanlang didn't say that, this is called a sense of justice." Song Duanping chuckled and said: "My less-than-twenty-year-old young man isn't afraid, what are you, an old man in your fifties or sixties, afraid of?"

  "Hey...", Wang Jingui scolded with a smile: "Is there such comfort?" After finishing, he said seriously: "Later when we go in, you don't say anything, let me handle everything. Otherwise, one slip of the tongue will reveal our true intentions. Got it?"

  "I'm as good as mute."

  The two men chatted as they arrived at the back door of the Ti Xing government office. The Ti Xing government office, also known as the Constitutional Government Office, was in charge of handling criminal cases and supervising officials in the surrounding counties. The Ti Xing government office for Jinghu South Road was located within the city walls of Hengyang, Hunan Province. Because there was a large prison inside, the area was heavily guarded every day, and outsiders were not allowed to approach.

  But snakes have snake paths and mice have mouse holes, yet Wang Jingui led Song Duanping into the yamen and straight to the great prison.

  The waterproof oil-paper lanterns hung on the coupon door alley in front of the prison, with a flickering light. The gatekeeper saw Wang Jingui and smiled strangely: "You haven't seen this guy for a long time, how did you end up here?" In the Song Dynasty, officials were basically appointed to different places, but the jailers were all local people, living in one place for decades, regardless of their relationship, at least they weren't unfamiliar.

  "Ah," Wang Jinguo sighed and said: "Today is the birthday of our unlucky big brother, I represent my brothers to come and give him a longevity banquet."

  "This isn't quite right." The warder frowned and said: "The superior has given orders, no one is allowed to approach Commander Chen."

  "I know, it's not easy for an official to come home. I just sent him a meal, no big deal." Wang Jinguo leaned in and grabbed the jailer's hand: "Although the governor has been in Hengyang for less than a year, he has done so many good things for our county! Now he may be executed at any time, this longevity feast might be his last meal, can't you just make an exception?"

  The jailer nodded, not only moved by his words, but also by the silver he had slipped into his hand. In short, he opened the prison door and said: "The innermost cell, go quickly and come back quickly."

  "Thank you." Wang Jingui turned back and scolded Song Duanping: "What are you standing there for, don't you hurry up and thank him?"

  "Who is this?"

  "My nephew, just arrived from Guangdong, temporarily let him follow me to work." Wang Jinguo snorted: "Those guys, all talk and no action, if they really came, each one hid faster than a rabbit."

  "It's just human nature." The prison head smiled and said: "I'm going in now, you hurry up."

  "Alright."

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  They entered the dark and gloomy prison cell, walking all the way to the end, stopping in front of a solitary confinement cell deep inside. There was no light, and it was pitch black, unable to see anything.

  "It's me, it's me!" Wang Jinguo shouted.

  "Old Wang..." a familiar voice came from the east end of a cell.

  "There." Wang Jinguo and Song Duanping simultaneously recognized it as Chen Xiliang. His voice sounded quite confident, and they immediately felt at ease... After all, this old fellow had been carried into the prison cell, and they were worried about his poor health.

  "Tang Zun, today is your birthday, we've come to celebrate." As they approached the cell, Wang Jingui lit a firecracker. The two of them then saw Chen Xiliang sitting upright inside through the bars.

  Chen Xiliang squinted, adapting to the bright light before opening his eyes, wanting to take a look at Wang Jinguo and tell him, "You got it wrong, my birthday is still two months away." But unexpectedly, he saw Song Duanping instead. He couldn't help but let out a surprised "eh".

  Song Duanping hastily shook his head at him and made a writing motion with his hand.

  "Ah, it's hard for you to remember, I thought this birthday would be spent alone." Chen Xiliang said as he leaned against the railing: "Let me see what good food there is." But instead took over Song Duanping's left palm and quickly wrote a few words with his finger: 'How did you come?'

  "Not only me, Sanlang and Wulang have also come. Song Duanping quickly replied with his right hand on Chen Xiliang's left palm, then asked: 'What happened?'"

  "Is the adult's illness better? We've been thinking about it all along." Wang Jinguo slowly opened the lunch box and asked.

  "Yan Wangye won't take me, it's basically settled." Chen Xiliang replied to Wang Jinguo with his mouth and to Song Duanping with his hand: "Eight out of ten people want to harm me. Pausing for a moment, he continued: "The grain car was robbed, all the officials were killed, and when I returned, without distinguishing between right and wrong, they framed me with a forced crime name, even more despicable!"

  Why?

  "Maybe they found out I was investigating them."

  "Who are they? What are you looking for?"

  The transport officials of Hunan and Guangdong, perhaps even higher levels; I discovered their long-standing secret of embezzling military funds.

  Song Duanping was extremely shocked and didn't know what to say.

  I had intended to carry the account book with me for investigation, and was prepared to hand it over as soon as Mr. Yu Jingyu arrived.

  Chen Xiliang wrote disheartenedly: 'When I was captured, it was taken away directly, fortunately I used pinyin writing, they shouldn't be able to understand what it is.'

  What should I do now?

  "I'll give you a rough outline again." Chen Xiliang sighed and said, "Just remember as much as you can, and when Master Yu arrives, I'll find a way to hand it over to him." Fortunately, he had investigated it himself, otherwise there would have been a big mess.

  The next moment was spent in silent writing, during which Song Duanping concentrated all his mind and tried to remember every word.

  Then the prison head started urging, after three times of urging, Wang Jinguo whispered: "If you don't leave now, you will be suspected."

  "Alright, alright, it's coming out now."

  "You won't be in trouble, will you?", Song Duanping asked hastily, having been interrupted by him.

  "It won't happen, our imperial court doesn't kill scholars and officials, at most they will be exiled to Shamian Island."

  "But they can guilt trip you..."

  "Life and death are destined... Chen Xiliang was speechless, could only let out a soft sigh, and wrote: 'Confucius said, to fulfill one's benevolence...' "

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "How long has it been?" The two came out, and the prison head was already visibly displeased.

  "Turn back, Xu Cuilou is inviting you." Wang Jinguo said that, the prison head then eased up and said: "Hurry up and leave, officials will be coming to inspect the prison soon."

  "Alright." Wang Jinguo hastily pulled Song Duanping away from the big prison.

  Out of the prison, Wang Jinguo finally let out a sigh of relief. Looking at Song Duanping, he saw that his face was stern and his lips were moving slightly, as if he was reciting something silently.

  He asked him what he was doing, Song Duanping didn't say anything, instead he quickened his pace and started walking quickly. Wang Jinguo hurried to speed up to keep up with him, but in the blink of an eye, he only saw his back, and in another blink of an eye, even his back disappeared around the corner.

  "It's not a ghost, right?" Wang Jinguo rubbed his eyes, not daring to believe that humans could have such speed.

  When he returned home, he found Song Duanping already sitting in the house, writing something with a flourish.

  He wanted to go into the house, but was stopped by Wu Lang. He wanted to speak, but was glared at fiercely by Wu Lang, and was so frightened that he swallowed his words. In his heart, he felt extremely wronged: "This is my home, isn't it?..." He could only reluctantly squat in the courtyard, staring at the monk who sat cross-legged, with big eyes staring at small eyes.

  Inside the room, there was no table. Chen Ke stacked two trunks together. With one hand supporting the trunk and the other holding a candle, he let Song Duanping write on top of it.

  After writing for nearly a quarter of an hour, Song Duanping put down his pen, wiped the sweat from his face and shook his head: "I don't have such a good memory as you, I can only remember so much..."

  "It's already shocking. Chen Ke said in a low voice: "I really didn't expect that the great Song Dynasty, which has always been proud of eradicating corruption, would have such rampant corruption."

  "Yes", Song Duanping sighed and said: "I really don't understand how they dare."

  （）