Chapter 15 : Obstruction

Pei Si Yan returned to Shide Xuan from the Rizheng Courtyard in an agitated manner, and before she stepped into the courtyard door, a black shadow pounced over, kneeling in front of her with a "thud", shouting, "Miss, please save me!"

The visitor was about forty years old, with good looks, a thick goatee, a scarlet official uniform stained with dust, and a few strands of hair draped over his shoulders, making him appear to be in a sorry state.

"Tantai Lu, the second master of the second house." Li Qingye whispered behind Pei Si Yan.

So this is the "culprit" of today's incident, thinking of the previous in the Rizheng courtyard, Wu Li's smile hidden dagger, Pei Si Yan angry, do not want to talk more nonsense with Tantai Lu, impatiently said: "Your matter by the Da Lisi to do it, to prove their own innocence is good. "

"Miss, you are pushing me to my death!" Tantai Lu cried out in pain, blocking the road to prevent Pei Si Yan from leaving, "I won't hide it from you now, miss, it's true that I helped Lord Li accept bribes and sell officials! If the Da Lisi finds out, my life is not guaranteed is a small matter, but the Tantai family ..."

"What?!" Pei Si Yan interrupted in shock, staring, "You really did those things?"

Tantai Lu couldn't wait to find a hole in the ground to drill into, nodding his head, "Yes, Miss. I am also regretting it now, please miss, for the sake of uncle and nephew, save my life!"

Pei Si Yan hated this kind of corrupt officials who took advantage of their positions, she pointed her hand in the direction of the government gate, "Go to the Da Lisi and confess your guilt! What goes around comes around, I will never harbour you."

Tantai Lu wailed and almost didn't faint.

Li Qingyan heard some so and so from their dialogue and asked, "Miss, what happened in the court today?" There was nothing he was more worried about than the amnesiac young lady standing alone in the great hall to face the imperial government, something would go wrong.

Pei Si Yan roughly said about the investigation of the case, and the uneasiness that was hidden under Li Qing Dye's indifferent complexion startled her.

"Is there any problem?" She asked.

Before Li Qingyan could say anything, a family man hurriedly came, "My lord, the Da Lisi has come to ask the Second Master to come over."

When Tantai Lu heard this, she couldn't care less and kowtowed repeatedly, "Miss, please you must save me!"

"Beg me for what?" Pei Si Yan took two steps back in disgust, "If I had known it would be today, why would I have accepted the bribe in the first place? All karma has retribution, I won't help you. Get as far away as you can!"

Tantai Lu's face was ashen, as if Pei Si Yan was trying to let herself die.

"Miss," Li Qingyan looked at the angry young lady and frowned, "You can't rashly hand over the Second Master to the Da Lisi now."

Pei Si Yan glared back at him, "Why?"

Li Qingyan looked at Tantai Lu again and lowered his voice, "With the certainty of the Feng Taishi and the methods of the Da Lisi, the second master will definitely give an account of all the crimes when he goes there, but ..." his eyes were hidden with worry, pursed his lips and continued. "Miss has thought about what effect this matter will have on the Tantai family?"

"One less rat shit, isn't it a happy thing for all?"

"No, embezzlement and bribery has always been the most abhorred thing by the Emperor," Li Qingyan's expression gradually became serious, Pei Si Yan's heart couldn't help but lift, "Once convicted, the impact is not only on your reputation, miss, but it also causes the Tantai family to lose the Emperor's trust."

As if a thunderbolt exploded above her head, Pei Si Yan was dizzy for a moment - so the real intention of those people was this! At her own expense, she had taken it as a good deed for the court, for the family, and for the people, completely unaware that she had caused trouble.

Trust is so important in the way of being an official. If you can not get the emperor's trust, even if everything is for the sake of the country and the people, will be political opponents easily slandered as self-interested in harming the country and the people. And once a political enemy makes a false accusation, it's all doom and gloom!

The first day in office, a big trouble. Pei Si Yan's face was terribly pale, her thin shoulders were trembling uncontrollably, she gazed at Li Qing Dye, and pinned the method of relief on this big backer.

"Is there any way?"

"One can only make the Second Master swear to keep his mouth shut," Li Qingyan said, his gaze skimming over Tantai Lu, who was still kneeling on the ground and eavesdropping on them, "Either ..." his gaze eventually returned to his own sword that he wore at his waist.

Pei Si Yan followed his gaze and her body gave another violent shudder as she felt her throat dry and sore.

Obviously, he had promised Tantai Yan that he would guard the family, but now he was going to kill an uncle? Even though he was guilty of a great crime, but ...

She asked with difficulty, "Is there no other way?"

"If the young lady had argued her case in the court I'm afraid that the current situation wouldn't have occurred, at least postpone it for a day so that the second master would have enough time to destroy the evidence." Li Qingyan said, his right hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

"But Feng Taishi that look, call me how ..." Pei Siyan was so anxious that she stamped her feet in place.

"You go and tell the people from the Da Lisi that the second master was ordered to go outside the city early in the morning to visit a scholar from last year's imperial examination." Li Qingyan calmly instructed the family servant, who hurriedly went back to reply.

Tantai Lu's mouse eyes immediately flashed with a delighted light as she knee-jumped forward, "Thank you, Miss, for saving my life!"

Pei Si Yan skimmed her head, taking another step back in disgust. Li Qingyan coldly looked at Tantai Lu, who shrunk his head in fear, not daring to speak to the young lady again.

Although he was by definition the master and Li Qingyan was the servant, but he had to bow his head as a human being when he had a request from the young lady and people were speaking for him.

"What next?" Pei Si Yan asked again, escaping the first day will definitely not be able to escape the fifteenth, sooner or later, Tantai Lu will have to be sent to the Da Lisi, and then what should be done? Look at Tantai Lu's virtues, a little torture or something, it's hard to make sure that he doesn't give up the truth, is it really only like what Li Qingyan said?

"There are no Tantai family members in the Da Lisi, unable to take care of the second master, so ..." Li Qingye's later words could make Pei Si Yan understand without saying it, Tantai Lu's sparse and confused didn't know the meaning at all.

Pei Si Yan looked at the sword in a daze, her head started to hurt again.

"Miss, this matter cannot be delayed, make a decision on the spot!"

To ask her to order to kill a person, where was Pei Si Yan able to do something. But she understands that the Feng Taishi is powerful in the imperial court, known by the people as the "Blue Country's first clean official", is it not something that she can fight over? Feng Taishi bit the matter, I'm afraid it is difficult to get rid of the responsibility.

"Can it only be so?" Pei Si Yan asked, her voice trembling.

"Yes." Li Qingyan replied firmly.

"But," Pei Si Yan walked a few steps away and put her voice to the lowest again, "This matter will definitely offend the second house, and you also know that uncle ancestor and Lady Yue Luo they ..."

Li Qingyan followed up, "Miss don't worry, my subordinate will do it cleanly and will not let the people of the second house be aware of it."

Things having come to this, Pei Si Yan understood that the only thing she could do was to abandon her pawns to protect her commander-in-chief. But she felt like her tongue weighed a thousand pounds, unable to issue that kind of order.

"Can a person who has achieved great things not be indecisive?" She laughed silently to herself, hoping to summon/raise a bit of courage in herself.

Li Qingye was silent and wordless, knowing that the decision at this moment would take a little bit of time for the young lady who had silently resolved to guard the family since she was a child.

After a long time, Pei Si Yan lowered her eyes and clenched her fingers into fists, "Okay, just do as you say."

Her voice was so light that it was almost inaudible, but Li Shengyan still heard it, "Yes, my subordinate will definitely not let the young lady down." Saying that, he stepped forward to help Tantai Lu up, "Second Master, please follow my subordinate out to take refuge."

"Thank you miss for saving my life, thank you miss!" Tantai Lu kowtowed several times before getting up from the ground, completely unaware that he was about to step into the ghost gate.

Watching Li Qingdian and Tantai Lu's silhouettes disappear behind a door on the opposite side of the courtyard, Pei Si Yan raises her hand to cover her face, trying hard to calm her mind - in fact, if Tantai Lu doesn't die under Li Qingdian's sword, she is going to ruin the reputation of the Tantai family by dying under the Emperor's imperial decree. It would be better to make it cheaper for his own family, and anyway, he did do something he shouldn't have done.

The more she thought like this, the more Pei Si Yan's heart settled down a piece. Finally, she exhaled a long breath and went back to Shide Xuan to rest.

It was only at midnight that Li Qingye came back and told Pei Si Yan that things had been done. Pei Si Yan's heart was hard again, and she had a nightmare for a night.

The next day, the Secretary of the Da Lisi reported that Tantai Lu did not show up on time, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue did tell Tantai Lu to go outside the city to visit a scholar. Pei Si Yan pretended to be unaware of this and said that she hadn't seen anyone in the mansion. Feng Taishi's party immediately jumped out and said, "Tantai Lu has fled in fear of being convicted of a crime," and the emperor ordered an immediate search for Tantai Lu throughout the city and nearby counties.

When she returned home from the Rizheng Yuan, Pei Si Yan hurriedly visited Lord Li's family together with Li Qing Dye.

On the third day, the Imperial Prefect reported that "Tantai Lu died on a mountain outside the city, stabbed several times, his money was searched for, and it was the work of roving bandits", and that the mountain led to the home of the scholar, and there had indeed been roving bandits.

Feng Taishi do not believe, think it must be hiding something fishy, with the approval of the emperor, sent people to the autopsy, confirmed that it is Tantai Lu himself is not wrong. Seeing that the people sent by Feng Taishi had said so, no one mentioned that Tantai Lu was related to the embezzlement case.

On the fourth day, that Lord Li couldn't withstand the torture and suddenly confessed to all the charges and had nothing to do with Tantai Lu.

The matter was over, but Pei Si Yan couldn't let go of her breath. After she returned to the mansion, she did not return to Shide Xuan, and went straight to the courtyard of the second house first. The courtyard was plain, and there was the sound of the woman's heartbreaking sobs.

The woman kneeling in front of the spirit was full of tearstains, as soon as she saw Pei Si Yan like a mad lion pounced over and grabbed her clothes by the neck, letting Yun Qi and Yun Shan how to pull it all to no avail.

"I am sorry for your loss." Pei Si Yan said softly to the Second Lady.

"Don't be a hypocrite here!" The second madam roared at her, her eyes glaring almost to the point of splitting open, her eyes covered in blood, eerie and terrifying, "It's you, it must be you who killed the second master, isn't it?!"